Once again at the start of the fight, Arthur stood there silently, awaiting Andrea's eventual assault. If one side wanted to win this fight, they would have to move closer towards their opponent.
And Arthur, had no desire to take even a single step, unless his opponent made the first move.
Andrea gritted her teeth before letting her woodpecker fae tattoo appear on the palm of her hand. Her vapour quartz origin essence lit up before gathering around the tips of her fingers.
The woodpecker fae's ability was to increasing the piercing power of things in contact with the Fae Master. If Andrea could combine this ability with a sword, or even a spear, her combat strength would increase exponentially.
Unfortunately for her, weapons, other than the one's created by fae were not allowed in this tournament, but was allowed in the final tournament, a years time from now.
If the current Arthur got pierced by one of her thrusts now, it would undoubtably see blood.
He had no form of defensive fae to enhance his physical attributes, so there was nothing to defend him from attacks that he couldn't dodge or parry.
Andrea ran towards Arthur with the speed of a Rank 1 Fae Master.
It was much easier to see Andrea's movements in comparison to his last opponent, so Arthur merely sidestepped every thrust Andrea put forward, constantly spinning on the balls of his feet to get around her.
But then-.
"Ah my eyes!".
"Is that a flash fae!".
"Goddamn it! I can't see!".
Arthur's smile grew for a moment as he took a step back, opening his eyes as he looked towards Andrea.
"I knew you picked the flash fae, but to think you could activate both the wood pecker fae and the flash fae at the same time. Impressive".
Such a feat wasn't possible in his previous life. Perhaps that Mother she was talking about taught her a thing or two about origin essence manipulation.
If that was the case then-.
Arthur's smile grew slightly.
"This might be a little more fun than I expected".
If Andrea's abilities were higher in her current life than in his previous one, then the rest of the competition might also be at a slightly higher quality.
He had taught some of the other clansmen the basics of martial arts, so theoretically, their martial arts attainment was higher than in his previous life. Of course, a months worth of training was minimal in the face of things, but to compare both this life and the last, the difference was enough to be seen visually.
Arthur dodged another thrust of Andrea's fingers, only to duck down and sweep at her legs.
The girl wasn't ready to be hit by such a manoeuvre and fell to the ground, her concentration broken and her fae's abilities cancelled.
Before she even had a chance to get up, Arthur sat down on her chest, pining her arms with his knees as pointed his own fingers directly at her throat.
He didn't say anything, but the moment she tried to move her origin essence to her flash fae, Arthur pushed his fingers deeper into her throat.
He shook his head, but didn't say anything. His gaze firmly locked with the girl he had pinned down.
".... I forfeit", she said aloud.
There was a slight pause in the air, the crowd unsure of the current posture their third young master had taken, but still applauded at his victory.
Despite them both being Fae Masters, they were both male and female adults, recognized by the Clan. Perhaps young master Arthur had come into contact with women when he was younger, and still did currently, however....
"I mean, it was a good way of winning I suppose?".
"He didn't hit her, but still, just sitting down on her did seem just a little....".
Some of the more reserved individuals seemed slightly aghast by Arthur's takedown, but the vast majority seemed pleased that Arthur won.
Arthur won once again, without using a shred of origin essence. And he didn't even need to hit his opponent to win. He pinned her down and restricted her movements, as well as threatening the use of origin essence.
His opponent, Andrea? Unfortunately she just wasn't as skilled as Arthur.
"The winner of the match is.... Arthur!". The referee called the outcome of the match.
Arthur immediately got up off Andrea afterwards, heading back to his seat without so much as giving the girl a glance.
His demeanour seemed.... strange to some of the referees and Elders watching, but Niklos just chuckled and shook his head.
His wife nudged him slightly obviously displeased with both her son's and her husbands actions.
"Niklos! Look at how our son fights! It's, well, improper!".
Niklos glanced at his wife, shaking his head some more.
"Would you rather he hit her just like he did his last opponent?".
His wife already knew the answer to that question but just huffed and remained silent.
He sighed.
'This son of mine. I'm sure he knows that this was the correct action to take in battle, but in a public tournament something like this is more than a little.... strange. I mean look at the poor girl, she's completely red in the face!'.
Andrea sat up silently, her face crimson red and her gaze unfocused.
She had never in her entire life being in such close contact with a boy, one that hadn't been related too her. Too just plainly sit on her chest and pin her arms against the ground while he dug her fingers into his throat was....
"Are you alright? Do you need a Fae Master to check your wounds?".
One of the female referees came beside her, but Andrea quickly shook her head.
"I-I'm f-fine! T-thank you!".
Andrea returned to her seat, not enjoying the looks she was getting from both her classmates and the audience.
Some of the girls seemed embarrassed for her, while others seemed slightly envious of her.
Arthur didn't say a single word to her, but just sat there quietly, his eyes closed and his breathing steady.
None of the others had the courage, or madness to say anything to him about his actions, except for-.
"Don't you reckon that was a little.... too improper, Arthur?".
Arthur opened his eyes, turning his gaze to focus on the person who spoke.
A large two metre tall young man stood in front of him.
It was Zoya.
Arthur shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.
"It was improper to win?", he questioned.
Zoya sighed before shaking his head.
"Improper to win by.... pinning Andrea to the floor.... is what I mean".
Zoya's face went red, and his voice grew somewhat dimmer as his sentence progressed.
Arthur tilted his head.
"Would you rather I beat her until I knock her out?".
Zoya, as well as many others sighed at Arthur's words.
He obviously knew what he was doing, and obviously making trouble for them.
The two metre tall young man just shrugged his shoulders before looking towards Andrea.
The girl was embarrassed, yet she couldn't help but glance towards Arthur every few minutes.
A seed of jealousy sprouted deep within his heart.
His current self wasn't a match for Arthur, but there was no telling what the future may hold.
A fierce rivalry was born within Zoya.
'One day, I will defeat you Arthur, and win Andrea's heart!'.