"And the winner is.... Ratimir!".
"And the winner is.... Borik!".
"And the winner is.... Alina!".
"And the winner is.... Randolf!".
Arthur sat silently in his seat, listening to the booming voice of his Father from the platform overlooking the main stage.
Everything happened just like it did in his previous life.
Alina had only used her shadowstream fae to win her match, but pressing it up against her opponents neck.
Borik had used sheer overwhelming force to defeat his opponent. The combination of fiend fae and bear arms fae was an extremely overbearing one, especially for a Rank 1 Fae Master.
While Ratimir had outmanoeuvred his opponent with his swordsmanship, showing that he too was talented in martial arts, however, did use his bone sword fae in order to do so.
Randolf on the other hand, fought similarly to Arthur.
In that he didn't use origin essence, but instead used his large physique and incredible natural strength to overwhelm his opponent, and push them out of the stage.
He was up against a girl, and Arthur supposed that he didn't want to injure her.
'That was different to my previous life. Randolf didn't fight against this girl, but instead fought against a boy, leading to him using his origin essence. But this time, things are a little different....'.
Arthur and Randolf had an agreement about who would be the victor of the event, in addition as to who would get the rewards for said event.
So long as Arthur fell in the final match, all the rewards for both first and second place would be his.
'For the time being I'll just treat this as something small. But if some huge change occurs, I'll have to be a little more careful in regards to what I do, and what I say'.
The first round was completely random, with participants names being drawn at by the Clan Leader.
Every round after that though, would become a bracket, with both the participants and spectators knowing who will, or might battle each other.
Since things followed the same as Arthur's previous life, Randolf and Arthur would both fight in the final round. Even if things didn't go the same, and Arthur still won, then there was no telling how that might affect the future.
'My fight will be up next. If I'm not mistaken, I'll fight that girl.... Andrea. The one with the woodpecker fae'.
Her secondary fae, the one chosen from the Clan Reserves would be a Rank 1 flash fae, which would produce a bright searing light for a moment, temporarily blinding her opponent.
The best thing about such a fae?
Is that it's origin essence expenditure was practically zero.
Even with vapour quartz origin essence, the cost was still only about 1%. And at liquid quartz origin essence and solid quartz origin essence, it was less than 1%.
Hadron quartz origin essence and zero quartz origin essence, were different in that one's origin essence could flux in between two different states of being. Depending on which state of being it was in, one could have more control or power over their fae.
A woodpecker fae was a close quarters combat fae, while the flash fae worked well in tandem with such a fae.
It was a good combination, however, her opponent was Arthur.
Andrea sighed as she glanced towards him, not very confident in herself.
Arthur's martial arts attainments were much higher than her own, and he still had one fae that he had yet to show.
The winter fae which he awakened produced a huge gust of freezing air, which had a high origin essence expenditure rate.
It was obvious that Arthur planned on saving it, at least until the final few rounds.
Which would mean that he would try and close the distance again, and defeat his opponent without using origin essence.
Andrea's words made sense, but she still didn't feel that confident about fighting Arthur.
'Even if I don't win, so long as I make him use some origin essence, everything won't be for nothing!'.
"Could both Arthur Kovacs and Andrea Kovacs come to the main stage please. The second round of fights will begin shortly".
One of the referees looked towards Arthur and Andrea, before the former stood up and headed towards the main stage.
Never once did he even glance at Andrea. And never once did she blink as she watched his figure walk up to the main stage.
She gulped feeling a slight pat on her back.
She noticed a huge figure standing beside her, her eyes widening as she stood up herself.
"Z-Zoya! You woke up!?".
The tall young man nodded slightly, scratching the back of his head, slightly red in the face.
"Yeah, just a couple minutes ago actually. But when I saw that you were the next one to fight Arthur, I just wanted to give you some encouragement before you went up on stage".
Zoya gave Andrea a smile, but the latter seemed slightly downcast.
It was obvious what she was thinking.
Zoya sighed and sat down beside her.
"I'll stop being sympathetic and start being honest then. Arthur, is going to win. Unless you have some sort of secret weapon, he will close the distance and knock you out before you can do anything".
Andrea's shoulders slumped even further.
"But, the best thing about that, is that you know what he will try and do. He doesn't want to use his fae, and tries to keep it a secret in order to conserve his origin essence. Since he will only try and use martial arts, just focus on trying to make him use his fae".
Andrea lifted her head, showing a half-hearted expression on her face.
But, instead of becoming even more depressed, she let out a small sigh before shaking her head.
"If I don't go up there now, I'm just going to keep feeling this way, won't I?".
Zoya nodded.
"You won your first ever fight as a Fae Master, which is more than I can say unfortunately".
Andrea glanced at Zoya, who went red in the face again. She giggled slightly before standing up, her eyes focused on the main stage.
Arthur once again stood tall, and unwavering despite the crowds screaming his name. His expression distant, as if everything about this entire event was a chore, something he would do just to pass the time.
For a moment there, Andrea could've thought she swore that his figure overlapped with something else. But she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
His handsome face was a different type of handsome, in comparison to the many feeling that most of the other Kovacs Clan members gave off.
It wasn't rugged, or overly masculine, but neither was it smooth, or feminine.
It was like looking at a boundless ocean, completely still, one that mirrored the azure heavens above.
It was deep, and unfathomable.
Andrea didn't realise it, but her face turned slightly red as she looked towards Arthur.
'Stop! He's my opponent! I shouldn't be thinking like that!'.
She let out another deep breath, gathering herself as she turned to face Arthur.
Zoya had told her not to look directly into Arthur's eyes, but she couldn't help it.
Her breath hitched.
Her entire body froze as if she had suddenly dipped into an abyss of freezing cold water.
Andrea forgot to breath for a moment, unable to look away, or move her gaze away from Arthur's.
She felt as though she was a rabbit, one that glanced directly at a wolf.
Andrea hurriedly moved her head to the side, letting out a large breath of air as she gathered herself once more.
She steadied herself, glancing towards the Clan Leader who smiled as he raised his arms.
"Let the first match of the second round.... commence!".