One of the audience members sitting in the stands stood up, and pointed towards Arthur's figure.
"He's using a camouflage fae! It's ability allows the Fae Master to turn invisible!".
Some of the mortal audience members nodded slightly, digesting this new information.
"I see, with such a fae it would be impossible for Randolf to see Arthur's location".
"I've never heard of such a fae before? Is something like turning invisible really possible?".
"Of course it is! The only problem is, is that the origin essence expenditure for such a fae is extremely high, even for some Rank 2 Fae Masters! With Arthur's current origin essence sea, he could only probably use it for a couple more minutes before....".
Randolf's eyes narrowed slightly as he gazed at Arthur's figure on the other side of the stage.
'I wonder where he got such a fae', he wondered.
With Randolf's current capabilities, purchasing fae outright would negatively affect his cultivation, as well as increase his costs, needed to feed his new fae.
With external sources of revenue like the hidden shadow fae formula, or through the training of martial arts, it could be seen where Randolf's weaknesses lie.
Arthur merely smiled before charging forward, not using the camouflage fae's ability.
Some of the audience members, including some of the fae masters narrowed their eyes at this sudden change in tactics.
Randolf smirked before gathering another ball of flames in his hands. The moment he pulled back his arm, ready and waiting to through the fireball, Arthur's figure vanished, causing him to hitch his throw and nearly drop the fireball.
For a Rank 1 Fae Master, one that hadn't even reached liquid quartz origin essence, concentration was key when using a fae's abilities. If the Fae Master suddenly cancelled, or miscalculated his origin essence flow, then the Fae Master would incur massive amounts of internal damage.
Randolf would be hospitalized for weeks, if something like that happened.
He held the fireball in his hand, his eyes narrowed and his expression tense.
'C'mon Randolf, think! If I were Arthur, how would I attack, given the amount of origin essence I have-'.
His train of thought was suddenly cut short, as a fist buried itself in the side of his face.
The space directly in front of Randolf blurred for a moment, before Arthur's figure revealed itself. His fist lodged into the side of Randolf's head.
To his own talent, though, Randolf gritted his teeth and swiped out with the fireball in his hand, once again hitting nothing but air, Arthur's figure vanishing as he activated the camouflage fae once more.
The veins on Randolf's head pulsed slightly and his eyes turned red with rage.
"C'mon out Arthur! You know you can't beat me head on! Stop being such a coward and show yourself!".
Randolf turned his head from side to side, being greeted with nothing but silence.
Until-.
"You know, if this was an actual fight, you'd be dead by now right?".
Arthur stood silently, on the other side of the stage. His guard dropped purposely, and his defences lowered.
It was a form of arrogance, in addition to being demeaning towards Randolf.
In his previous life, Randolf was much more domineering, and arrogant in regards to his abilities as a Fae Master. These traits hadn't shown themselves yet, being still at the same level as Arthur and the rest of his classmates, but eventually they would show themselves.
Arthur originally wanted to find out why Randolf was so much stronger than him in his previous life, but left Parachenko Village before he could do so.
He had his suspicions in this life, but had no physical evidence of any of them.
Not that it was currently a priority for him though.
Randolf shrugged his shoulders, rolling his eyes.
"It's exactly because this isn't a life or death battle that we can show off our abilities without having to worry about dying Arthur. Showing off our strengths is what this battle is all about".
Arthur showed a pondering expression for a moment.
"How about making use of weaknesses? That's an important part of any battle, regardless of whether one wants to show off their individual strengths".
Randolf opened his mouth to retort but just shut his mouth, reading another fireball in his hands.
"Enough talk, if you want to win Arthur, come and face me!".
The thousand year old reincarnate narrowed his eyes for a moment, a glint of killing intent could be seen behind his gaze.
Randolf felt a shiver crawl up his back, but was quickly dissipated by the warm flames covering his body.
'This guy.... just what the hell is he?'.
Before Randolf could continue Arthur shot forward, his figure visible for the entire world to see.
Arthur's speed had decreased since the start of the fight, but because of his decrease in speed, he could narrowly avoid the blasts that came from the fireballs.
He had gotten within a dozen metres of Randolf, before another fae, one small skunk appeared in the palms of his hand.
The small skunk dived into Arthur's body, causing a black tattoo to appear on the roof of his mouth.
Most of the audience, let alone Randolf who was right in front of Arthur had seen this new fae.
One of the more knowledgeable audience members shouted out!
"That's a black smog fae! It can shoot out a huge amount of black smog, enough to envelop a house!".
Arthur's smile grew, as Randolf readied another fireball.
Holding up his hands to his mouth, Arthur felt his cheeks inflate greatly before breathing out through the small gap in his hands, breathing out like one would breathe in through a pipe.
A thick, black smog filled the main stage. The vision of both Arthur and Randolf grew non-existent, while the audience members shuffled slowly closer to the main stage, hoping to see something through the smog.
Arthur grinned in the smog, covering his nose and mouth as he gazed at the faint light through the smog.
Even with this huge amount of black smog, Randolf still kept both of his fae's abilities activated! Meaning that right now, despite the huge cloud covering the entire stage, he was like a lighthouse, standing brightly and tall against the raging storm!
It also meant Arthur could see where he was, even if Randolf couldn't see him!
Arthur ran forward not even bothering to hide himself as his fist shot forward, burying itself in Randolf's stomach.
He quickly jumped back, disappearing behind the thick veil of smog.
Randolf's eyes watered slightly, and an expression of resentment could be seen on his face.
But not before another quick punch to the face, caused Randolf's nose to bloody, and his lip cut as Arthur constantly jumped out of the smog and punched Randolf in his weak points.
The sounds of fist colliding against flesh echoed throughout the arena.
Most of the audience couldn't see what was going on, so they had to be quiet, and listen to the fight instead.
Shivers crawled up their spine, as only the sound of Randolf groaning could be heard.
The effects of the black smog fae only lasted about five minutes, so after another five minutes, the smog cleared, revealing the main stage.
"Oh my!".
The crowd gasped, seeing the bloodied kneeling figure of Randolf on one side of the stage, and the flawlessly looking Arthur on the other.
Despite his bloodied face, Randolf still managed to keep his flamespike fae up, which meant that he still had origin essence left to use. His head tilted up slightly, his eyes full of resentment and.... respect, despite his current state.
Arthur glanced towards the referee before raising his hands and showing a resigned expression.
"I'm out of origin essence. I forfeit".