Arthur tapped his fingers on his chair as he closely observed Randolf on stage.
'His Origin Fae evolved into something other than a Red Crimson Fae? It's appearance, power, range and explosiveness are all the same as a normal Rank 2 Red Crimson Fae..... Ratimir can sense that Randolf's Fae isn't a normal fae, so it must be something that can only be detected when coming into contact with it....'.
That limited the choices of what Fae it could possible be by quite a bit, however Arthur still didn't know the exact ability of this unknown Crimson Fae....
The fireball, the explosiveness, the range and even the intensity of the flames are all the same. However, it isn't a Red Crimson Fae.
'Perhaps the flames have some sort of debilitating effect? Perhaps flames that can't be healed? Or flames that ignore defences?'.
There were numerous types of Flames in the Thirty Three Heavens. Some unique flames could give birth to Fae with certain abilities or types that went against the grain.
There was the normal Crimson Fae, which could create a single large fireball, which could be shot towards an enemy.
But on the other hand their was the actual Fireball Fae, which created numerous smaller fireballs which could be shot towards an enemy.
It was possible to use the abilities of one, using the other through a Attribute Control Skill, however such a thing would just be a waste of origin essence.
'Wait.... origin essence, could it be a-!'.
Arthur's eyes widened as he looked towards the the other fireball that Randolf had created. It hovered just above the palm of his hand, and was at least the size of a watermelon, if not slightly larger.
Its crimson coloured flames flickered brightly, as an intense heat washed over Ratimir.
"It's not a Red Crimson Fae..... but a Crimson Graze Fae....".
This particular variation was unique to the Crimson Wrath Continent, in addition to Flame Heaven. Normally it could only form in either of these two locations, but as a result of Arthur's presence, it had evolved from Randolf's crimson fae.
It's flames possessed a special quality to them. They could still do immense damage to a target, just like a normal Red Crimson Fae, although the flames themselves could target origin essence.
If a Fae Master such as Ratimir got hit with both a Red Crimson Fae, and a Crimson Graze Fae, then the former might only deplete 6%-7% origin essence, but the Crimson Graze fae could take roughly 15%!
More than double!
It just burned through origin essence. At its core, despite being an offensive type fae, most Fae Masters considered Fae with such Attributes as anti-personal type fae.
It was a type of fae that was specifically used to counter other Fae Masters!
Arthur rested his hand on his chin, gazing towards the platform with a slightly different look in his eyes.
'.... I'll need to change the plan'.
His influence was reaching a point where even Arthur couldn't prevent, or see through into the future. After a year, so many things were starting to change in the people around him.
Arthur wasn't so much as focused on the fight in front of him anymore, closing his eyes and thinking to himself as the fight continued.
Ratimir dodged to the side, avoiding another fireball from the crimson graze fae.
The skin on his arms and face were hot, dry and slightly tingly from the intense heat. The watersword fae, stream fae and water shield fae were providing a modicum of relief, however the constant attacks from the crimson graze fae and the sideward strikes from the blaze gown fae had started to tax Ratimir's mind and body.
The young man bit his lip slightly, glancing towards his grandmother up above the platform before shaking his head and letting out a deep breath.
'If I don't make a move now, I'll end up getting defeated by default!'.
Trying to match the endurance of a Rank 2 Fae Master as a Rank 1 Fae Master wasn't going to get Ratimir anywhere. Even if he were to go down immediately after this, if he could just get one good hit on him, things might start to go the other way....
Ratimir narrowed his brows before activating a series of different fae.
His body glowed slightly as Randolf narrowed his eyes, throwing another fireball his way.
Ratimir didn't even flinch as he took the strike head on, completely ignoring the fact that his origin essence dipped another 15%, as he ran towards Randolf, his eyes tinted red.
The foreigner turned around and flicked his massive blaze gown towards Ratimir, but only released an intense amount of steam, as Ratimir's Water Bulwark Fae came into contact with his blaze gown fae.
Water Bulwark Fae was a Rank 1 Fae with an extremely high origin essence expenditure.
For a short period of time, the space within one meter of Ratimir would become soaked in a thick, regenerating aura of water spirit essence. It wasn't water per say, but water spirit essence, which prevented origin essence, or other types of spirit essence from getting through.
It had absolutely no protection against physical attacks.
It used about 1% of his origin essence per second, so Randolf only had about 50 seconds before the time ran out. The time was even less, considering he still had his other fae active and Randolf continuously throwing fireballs at him.
The young man activated a water stalker fae and boosted his speed even further. He was now within ten metres of Randolf.
His eyes showed a glimpse of hope within them, which was promptly snuffed out, the moment that Randolf eyes met his own.
Throughout the entire battle, Randolf had only showed two Fae. Both of which were Rank 2, so their strengths were formidable, however, if someone who had been a Fae Master for an entire year only had two fae, Elder Vova would beat them.
Randolf gathered a small ball of flames in his left hand, and used his right hand to pinch it before pulling back, as if pulling back the string of a bow.
A long, crimson flame was pulled back and aimed directly at Ratimir, whose eyes widened immensely as he quickly raised his fae to protect him once more....
Randolf released the flame arrow, and watched as it pierced through Ratimir's water bulwark fae, hitting his aqua shield fae and sending him flying back across the stage. His shield arm turned black as the faint traces of the aqua shield vanished back into tiny little motes of spiritual essence....
Arthur didn't even so much a blink as he saw the flame arrow hit and knock out Ratimir.
The strength behind that arrow was also something that exceeded the limits of Rank 1.
Many of the other Fae Masters in the audience went wide eyed as the looked at this young man.
It had only been a year, but this Rank 2 Fae Master, possessed three Rank 2 Fae!
He had solidly, and unshakably defeated every single person who had stepped up before him!
Even Ratimir, who was both the descendent of an Elder, and a peak hadron quartz origin essence Fa Master was defeated within just a few blows!
Elder Velika narrowed her eyes at Randolf, before flickering off the main platform and down towards her grandsons unconscious body. She glanced at Randolf for a moment before disappearing back towards the medical tent.
Randolf ignored her glares and turned towards the participants seating area, a small polite smile could be seen on his face.
His eyes completely ignored Alina, whom he might have to fight in the next battle, and solely focused on Arthur, whose eyes were closed as if he were sleeping.
He was finally about to see.... how much of his work and planning was about to pay off.