The moment the fight began, Zoya activated his wind stalker fae, instantly rushing forward with a burst of speed.
Despite his huge physique, the fifteen year old boy rushed out, running in an uncontrollable zig-zag as the distance between him and Arthur closed.
The stage itself was 50 square metres, so there was quite a distance between him and Arthur. Even as a Fae Master, someone with a naturally enhanced physique, it would still take a few seconds to close the gap.
Zoya's enormous frame darted from side to side, expending origin essence constantly as he changed directions with his wind stalker fae.
The moment he got within 10 metres of Arthur, a bright coloured tattoo lit up on the palms of his hand, causing Zoya to instinctively slash at the air in front of him, creating a brightly coloured green blade of wind to come shooting out.
The blade itself was relatively small, only about half a foot long, but its speed far exceeded that of most other similar fae abilities.
The crowd went wild, seeing the appearance of the windblade fae.
"Yeah! Get'em Zoya!".
"Kick his ass!".
"Hurry up and dodge Arthur!".
Arthur rolled his eyes for a moment, before stepping to the side, letting the wind blade dissipate the moment it brushed past him.
Arthur didn't even stay in the same position for very long, before sidestepping, avoiding another incoming wind blade.
Just like in his previous life, Arthur praised Zoya of his offensive capabilities.
'He's not bad, per se. Just hasn't had enough time to grow yet'.
For a third-tier talent, Zoya's offensive battle capabilities were pretty high, the only problem was-.
"My origin essence sea....".
The two metre tall fifteen year old let out a deep breath, sweat appearing on the sides of his face.
He had shot out at least half a dozen wind blades, all of which were dodged by Arthur with little to no effort involved at all. The distance between him and Arthur was just too much, and it gave his opponent too much time to dodge before he could use his next wind blade!
He knew that Arthur's close quarters combat ability was extremely high, so getting in too close might prove to be fatal.
Zoya gritted his teeth, activating his wind stalker fae.
'At times like this, I'll just have to risk it!'.
Bright green coloured wind started gathering at Zoya's feet again, the focus of his attention placed solely on the shorter young man roughly ten metres away from him.
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
'Is he going to come straight at me?'.
He smiled.
A slight breeze from the wind stalker fae billowed throughout the main stage. Zoya's robes violently shook at sudden increase in the amount of wind on the stage, making him look as though a demon of wind, madly controlling all the air on the stage.
Arthur on the other hand, stood silent, his back and posture straight an immaculate.
Unlike many of those who shared Kovacs blood within them, Arthur didn't display the traits of many of his fellow clansmen. Appearing tall, yet skinny, much more slim than his robust older brother, or his vigorous father.
His clothes clung to him tightly, under the strong currents emanating from Zoya. Fluttering somewhat rhythmically as he stepped forward to greet his opponent.
Zoya's eyes widened the moment he saw Arthur take a step towards him, narrowing them as he unconsciously took a half-step back.
'No! If I just keep running, I'll run out of origin essence! If I don't defeat him now, the difference in talent will be my downfall!'.
Zoya let out another deep breath before looking back towards Arthur.
He refused to look at him straight in the eye, but instead opted to look towards where he would strike him.
A second passed before the thick concreate slab beneath Zoya showed the tiniest sliver of a crack as he burst forward with an immense speed. He was getting more and more used to this level of speed, as well as how to manage his thoughts during combat.
Letting the wind on his feet dissipate, Zoya leaped forward, quartz coloured origin essence gathering in his hand as another batch of brightly green coloured wind appeared and his hand moving forward to slash the person in front of him.
Arthur smiled for a moment, spinning on the balls of his feet to dodge the wind blade, entering Zoya's blind spot as he raised his hand above Zoya's head.
The two metre tall opponent tried to turn his head in time but only felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious, and unable to defend himself.
The crowd went silent.
Before exploding in an absolute flurry of excitement!
"That was amazing!".
"Young Master Arthur didn't even use origin essence to win!".
"Could that mean that mortals could defeat Fae Masters in combat, Father?".
"Of course not! Arthur himself has a Fae Masters physique, far stronger than a normal mortals. In addition, he has obviously trained himself for a very long time in order to reach such a state".
Some of the guards who weren't on shift nodded slightly glancing at each other.
"So that's what Arthur was probably doing in the forest".
"He was probably training his martial arts, probably against lone wolves or something".
They all nodded, coming to a "realization".
It was the logical conclusion after all.
Just like learning how to manipulate fae, martial arts didn't take a single day to perfect.
It took years to reach the same level of standard as Arthur. In terms of control, speed, footwork and physical strength, Arthur was probably leagues above them at the same age.
They sighed.
'Too bad Young Master Arthur isn't a first-tier talent, then he might even be able to be scouted for a Sect!'.
If he was a peak second-tier talent, then he might be able to get in, but seeing as though he just reached the minimum entry for second-tier talents, the odds definitely were not in his favour.
At any rate-.
Niklos restrained himself from smiling as he stood up and gestured to the only person standing on the stage.
"The winner, by single-knockout is.... Arthur!".
The young reincarnate smiled at his Father before returning to his seat. The vast majority of his classmates looked at him as though he was some sort of monster.
The same thought, going through each of their minds.
'This guy.... didn't even use origin essence to win!'.
What did that mean?
It mean that in the next fight he would compete in, his origin essence sea would be at its peak! Even if he did exert himself physically out there, which he didn't, in meant that Arthur could use all of his strength in the next fight!
If Zoya somehow won and Arthur was defeated, it would be hard for the third-tier talent to win the following rounds, seeing as though he depleted more than half of his maximum origin essence!
But this guy.... this monster didn't even use a single percent of his origin essence!
He could keep fighting, so long as he kept this method up!
All of his classmates gulped as they looked at Arthur.
'What a freak!'.