The crowds were fervent, obviously keen for the matches to come.
The fight between Alina and Vladya was a great start to the second Fae Master tournament, and allowed them both to emphasize their strengths while letting them comprehend where their weaknesses lie.
For Vladya, it was her defensive capabilities. A single ice wall wasn't much in the face of Alina's Rank 2 Shadow Tentacle Fae, so it gave her an idea of what Fae she needed to best compliment her current abilities.
For Alina on the other hand, her defensive and mobility were above average thanks to her shadow armour fae. She needed some more control oriented fae, like the Winter Fae that Vladya had used against her.
After a year of study and combat training, they had started to flourish as Fae Masters in the eyes of many. No doubt, that both of them would be powerhouses that the Clan depended on.
Many of the audience members, in addition to the participants turned towards Niklos standing above the platform. In his hands held two names, to which he both smiled before shouting out.
"The combatants for the next match will be.... Randolf and Zoya!".
The foreigner beside him, perked his head up as he heard his name being called out. His eyes moved towards Zoya, whom also turned towards Randolf before narrowing his eyes at the person sitting next to him.
Arthur merely showed a polite smile before turning towards Randolf with a hint of interest on his face.
"Good luck", he said.
Randolf glanced at Arthur before shaking his head and moving towards the stage.
"I don't need it".
Arthur's smile grew bigger at Randolf's words, as he gently leaned back into his chair, enjoying the entertainment in front of him.
Zoya noticed that Arthur never once paid any attention to him, and gritted his teeth before heading towards the main stage. His smiling expression.... how could he show such a thing when he let Andrea die all alone!
It was impossible for him to know how Andrea died, since Arthur only mentioned that he failed to protect her, and even if he wanted to know, he was sure that Arthur wouldn't tell him.
He wanted the chance to beat it out of Arthur, and turn his rage and anger against him, but-.
He was up against Randolf instead of all people.
Zoya himself had only a third-tier talent, but his combat prowess had been acknowledged by Elder Vova.
Even if he was up against someone like Randolf, fighting them in the first round, where he had all of his origin essence sea to draw upon gave him a sliver of confidence.
He knew that Zoya utilised Fire Attributed Fae, so he would have to be careful not to get too close.
Additionally, his cultivation was probably already at the peak of Rank 1, so he could make use of both the qualities of hadron quartz origin essence, and zero quartz origin essence.
The two young men stood several metres apart, as they focused their attention solely on the other person.
Zoya's tall, muscular physique was bent slightly, as he readied himself in order to activate a Fae.
Randolf just stood silently, his arms by his side as he gazed nonchalantly at Zoya.
The anger within Zoya's heart surged forth, seeing the similarities in treatment between Randolf and Arthur.
Neither of them took him or many of the others seriously, due to their strength and difference in talent. It was a common occurrence in the Fae Master world, but at the end of the day they were both members of the same Clan, so why did the gap in treatment exist?
Neither of them had truly experienced the world of Fae Masters, so Zoya in particularly didn't understand.
In the Thirty Three Heavens, outside Winter Rain Mountain.... the law of strength was the only thing that truly mattered.
Massacres and genocide didn't matter, so long as one was strong enough to resist such a thing.
In some large Sects and Clans, the competitions between those who shared the same blood were equally as intense. Resources were not infinite, and those who were stronger than the others could proceed further in the cultivation.
Not every Clan and Sect was like this, but the ones that Arthur was familiar with definitely were.
Such an environment didn't only promote growth in a mental capacity, but also a physical and psychological.
If one could train someone to kill their brother, or their father, they would definitely kill whomever you pointed at.
Niklos nodded, not at all caring about the demeanour of either participant.
So long as neither was did anything detrimental to the Clan, everything would be fine in his opinion.
The Clan Leader nodded at the referees before raising his arm above his head, swinging it down with a huge force.
"Let the second match of the first round.... begin!".
Zoya blinked and took a step forward, activating his wind stalker fae and air boom fae in order to launch himself forward towards Randolf. He had seen his fighting style before, and knew that he was more of a mid to long range type of attacker, so he wanted to close the distance before he could even activate his fae.
Arthur smirked slightly, shaking his head.
'Going up against a Rank 2 Fae Master with only a solid quartz origin essence cultivation.... does he think he's me or something?'.
It was over in the blink of an eye.
Randolf turned around instantly and activated a Rank 2 Fae.
Similar to the fae that he used last year, it covered his back, legs and arms. However, it didn't possess any spikes, and only flowed down past his feet, as if some sort of wedding dress or extremely large gown.
The lengths of the flowing flame gown exceeded anything that Zoya could've expected, and caused the sixteen year old to raise his arms in order to protect his face.
"Argh! It burns! It burns!".
Zoya's arms had turned completely black as his flesh sized underneath his scorched skin. He had just been hit head on with a Rank 2 Fae, one of the more powerful Fire Attributed Rank 2 Fae at that.
Randolf just turned around, not at all feeling the intense heat that this flame gave off.
The power of the Rank 2 Blaze Gown Fae.... was fearsome indeed.
The two referees just arrived before Zoya and instantly called the fight.
"The winner of this match is Randolf Kovacs!".
Despite the pained screams that Zoya let off, the audience shouted out Randolf's name, admiring both his win, and the strength of his Blaze Gown Fae.
The power behind the Blaze Gown Fae, was more than most had ever seen before. It completely destroyed Zoya, a Rank 1 Fae Master with only a single attack.
There was no doubt that Randolf was also holding back, since this Fae was Rank 2 as well.
Arthur knew the reasoning as to why Randolf picked this Fae, and gently shook his head.
'The Blaze Gown Fae is undoubtably an extremely powerful Fae, as is its Rank 3, Rank 4 and even Rank 5 evolutions. However, the fae most compatible with it are even more rare in the Azure Envy Continent'.
One could create a similar affect as the Blaze Gown Fae, by using numerous other Fae in conjunction with one another. Not exactly an Attribute Control Skill, but still quite close in terms of destructive power.
Arthur had seen such an Attribute Control Skill be used before, and knew that it was much more powerful than the Blaze Gown Fae alone.
The Blaze Gown Fae was in Arthur's eyes.... nothing more than a cheap knockoff of that Attribute Control Skill. Arthur didn't doubt its strength, but its origin essence expenditure on the other hand....
Was by no means small.
A vapour ruby origin essence Fae Master could hardly maintain such a Fae over an extended period of time.....
Many of the Elders knew this, but none of the other participants did.
Randolf's strategy for this Tournament, was to immediately overpower everyone with a single hit! Being a Rank 2 Fae Master, he could use such a direct and dominating tactic!