Arthur could no longer count on his prior knowledge to discern the abilities and powers of his fellow competitors. Despite his knowledge on future events, puzzles, individuals and Fae Formula, his new influence in Parachenko was finally starting to show.
He could still count on making use of peoples feelings and emotions against them, but their abilities and Fae weren't known to Arthur anymore.
The thousand year old reincarnate let out a smooth breath before turning his attention back towards his Father.
If things were truly going to follow the path that they once did, then the first fight should be-.
"Vladya versus.... Alina!".
Everyone in the audience, including the Elders turned their attention towards the participants seating. The two girls that had been called up, lifted their heads up slightly, before narrowing their eyes at each other.
They weren't exactly friends, although both of them did talk to each other on occasion in previous months. Vladya came from a Fae Master family, both of her parents being peak Rank 1 Fae Masters.
On the other hand, Alina's grandfather was an Elder, someone with a peak Rank 3 Fae Master cultivation. Their statuses were innately different from one another.
Vladya had also been friends with Andrea when they were younger, but the latter started creating distance between them and started handing out with Alina more as time passed.
She didn't blame Arthur for the death of her friend, but Vladya did hold a slight resentment for Alina taking her friend away from her.
Arthur smirked slightly before closing his eyes and continuing to steady his breathing.
This fight was the same as his previous life, so what was there to worry about? Even if there abilities were different, Arthur knew who he would be fighting before they did.
And besides, it's not actually like he had to be careful of these random people. He had forgotten most of their names, despite having to spend nearly everyday with them for an entire year.
They were just nobodies, so what was so important about remembering nobody?
The mortals and Fae Masters watching in the stands started betting and chatting amongst themselves.
"Alina's got this in the bag for sure!".
"Totally. Her origin essence sea has reached Randolf's level, and she now has a first-tier talent!".
"I even heard that she obtained quite a few Fae during the beast tide, one of them being a Rank 2 Fae!".
There was a large amount of chatter all around the main platform.
"I don't know. Vladya is definitely weaker in regards to both combat prowess and origin essence but from what I heard she is quite adept at using Ice Attributed Fae. She even killed half a dozen venom spiders in the beast tide".
Most people bet on Alina, but some, hoping for an unexpected upset bet on Vladya just in case.
The two girls walked up each side of the main platform, which had been expanded through one of the Elders Fae. It was now more than double the original size that it was last year, allowing contestants to use more powerful moves without having to worry about stray attacks hitting the audience.
Both of the girls were quite beautiful as well, although Alina's beauty did still exceed most of the girls present.
Her long wavy brown hair and eyes seemed to carry a new hint of confidence now that her origin essence sea had expanded. She now no longer had anyone else, other than Randolf, Arthur, Ratimir and Borik in her sights.
Vladya on the other hand, possessed a dark blonde set of hair, also with brown coloured eyes. Her figure was..... more developed than Alina's, but her appearance wasn't as high as hers.
Quite a few young men, especially those a few years older than them both, eyed the two girls with a glint in their eyes.
They were still in their teens, but in a few years they had no doubt that both of them would blossom into beautiful, mature young women.
Perhaps, if they introduced themselves now, they would be able to capture their hearts later down the line.
At any rate-.
Niklos looked down at the two girls before nodding and raising his arm.
The Clan Leader swung his arm down, signalling the beginning of the first fight!
"Begin!".
The two girls figures flashed slightly Alina raising her shadowstream fae and Vladya countering with her own icesword fae. Both of them seemed quite adept at handling their respective weapon, as brightly coloured sparks sprayed all over the platform.
The two girls twirled and danced around on the balls of their feet, resembling ballerinas more than actual fighters.
Their footwork and movements had a similar appearance to Arthur's, although it was much more flexible, and much less powerful.
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
'Both of them have adjusted my footwork to their own bodies? Not bad'.
Footwork without fae was useless, and fae without footwork was even more so. Both of them didn't use their movement type fae yet, and only probed the others martial prowess.
Vladya's icesword resembled something similar to a needle, with an extremely pointed tip, yet its edges were more than sharp enough to slice or cut through.
Her technique wasn't rough, but if Arthur was to depict it using only a single word, he would use the word "slow".
It was similar to fencing in a way, but the power behind her strikes were much stronger than what should've been normally possible. The increase in power behind her attacks caused them to become much slower, although it was more than enough to keep Alina at bay.
Alina's brows narrowed slightly as she leaped back and avoided another heavy hit.
'Her physical strength is too high! It's almost as though I'm fighting Borik or something! Is that a Fiend Fae or something?'.
Alina activated another Fae within her origin essence sea and flicked her arm towards Vladya, causing numerous, thick, viscous shadow spears to come flying out of her own shadow and towards her opponent.
Vladya narrowed her eyes before activating another Fae, causing an ice wall to appear in front of her.
The shadow spears came into contact with the ice wall and caused numerous holes and dents to appear in the frozen construct, but nothing more than that.
Vladya narrowed her eyes, and retreated back several steps, not wanted to get ambushed directly in front of her ice wall.
The young woman raised her sword and summoned her own ice spears behind her, and waited for Andrea to come into view.
The corners of Vladya's mouth rose into a smirk as she noticed a foot coming around a corner, and flicked her icesword fae forward to launch the numerous ice spears floating above her.
The audiences eyes widened, as the saw the spears flying towards Alina, piercing straight through her-.
*POP*.
Alina's figure popped into a ball of thick, inky shadows as another Alina came out from around the other side, her body covered in a thick layer of shadows.
Arthur's eyes widened as he counted the number of Fae she had active.
'Shadow Helm Fae.... Shadow Pauldron Fae.... Shadow Vambrace Fae... Shadow Greave Fae.... Shadow Sabaton Fae.... Even Shadow Cuisses Fae!'.
These were all Shadow Attributed, armour type Fae! Seeing so many on one person, in such a small place like Parachenko Village Arthur's bit his lip before shaking his head.
His influence had exceeded his initial expectations.
Alina grinned as she noticed the shocked expression on Vladya's face, causing the dark blonde haired girl to frown before activating another Fae.
"If you think that you've one just because of this, then you're sorely mistaken Alina!".