The two young men didn't even so much as glance at each other as they both stood up and walked towards the stage.
The fervour and excitement within the audience, both the mortals and the Fae Masters had exceeded all other previous years, even causing some of the Elders to fail when recalling a more powerful cheer.
Not only did so many people have money on this match, but a lot of people wanted to see who was the strongest Fae Master in the newest generation.
Parachenko Village had just gone through a period of immense change, and the deaths of countless Fae Masters, mortals and spirit beasts had caused reformation to occur within the Kovacs Clan.
Despite the losses to their numbers, the amount of Fae and Fae materials that had been born exceeded their initial expectations by a longshot. They thought that it had something to do with the presence of two Beast Kings, because other than that, nothing had been different from previous beast attacks.
They didn't know about Arthur's.... "blessing", or "curse" as he was currently putting it, nor did they even imagine that someone could be exempt from heavenly laws.
None of them had even achieved a proper foundation in their own Laws, so how could they even come close to heavenly laws, which was the domain of Fae Immortals?
There were many things that Arthur knew, which no-one in Parachenko Village did. However, there was an even larger amount of concepts and notions that Arthur himself hadn't quite fully comprehended, or even understood for that matter.
A thousand years may seen like a long time, but in the scheme of things, it was barely several lifetimes worth of experiences and knowledge.
Rank 9 Fae Immortals.... even the youngest one lived for over 9,000 years. Arthur couldn't even begin to imagine what type of experiences and comprehensions they had attained....
Letting out a small exhale, Arthur's eyes moved towards Randolf, on the other side of the stage.
It had only been a single year, yet the both of them gave off completely different auras than before.
Randolf had gone from a relatively stable, yet simultaneously immature young man. Back then, he looked at the world with his own childish eyes, taking in the wide and seemingly infinite world of Fae Masters.
Now.... his appearance gave off an aura similar to a mountain. Firm, steady, unmoving and eternal. He had started to carve out his own path in the world, and promised himself that his heart would remain unmoved in the face of the Thirty Three Heavens.
It may have been due to his status as a foreigner, but he truly believed himself destined for greater heights. Seeing Arthur, his appearance, his power, his talent and his skills made him slightly wary of the "geniuses" of this world, but only strengthened his resolve in the face of so many challenges.
Arthur on the other hand.... was much colder in comparison.
Last year he seemed distant, if not slightly aloof in the face of other people.
His strength and talent for fighting weren't in question, and he knew that other people in his generation couldn't hold a candle to his combat prowess.
Even today, that fact still hasn't changed.
However.....
The sharp, piercing glint in his eyes. The way his hair was messily tied back, and even his slightly hunched posture made it seem as though that power was being restrained.
His pale, flawless appearance only seemed to grow as time passed, and his temperament grew as cold and unmoving as ice after the beast tides.
Many knew what had happened, and couldn't blame Arthur for the change.
Losing the love of his life like that, at such a young age..... how horrible, they thought.
Both competitors steadied their breaths, as they gazed at other from across the platform.
Many in the audience moved their gazes from the Clan Leader to the platform, obviously eager to start the fight.
Said Clan Leader nodded slightly, smiling gently as he raised both arms above his head.
"The final fight of the second Fae Master Tournament will now begin! These two have managed to keep their positions, even over the course of an entire year, and for that, I salute you!".
Niklos eyes narrowed and his titled his head back slightly while staring at Randolf and Arthur below.
"But! Both of you have shown immense improvement, far exceeding the average! Even I cannot tell which one of you will be the victor. So as such, both of you shall need to fight with everything you have! Burn! Cut! Slice! Pierce through! At this moment, while both of you bare the name Kovacs, while on this stage, you two are enemies!".
Niklos took in a deep breath, his chest puffing out slightly as he took in an extraordinarily large amount of air.
He swung his hand down, signalling the start of the fight.
"So.... fight!".
As soon as Niklos spoke those words, the origin essence seas of Arthur and Randolf flared up, as a huge stream of flames enveloped one side of the platform.
Randolf didn't waste any time and immediately activated his blaze gown fae, spinning around and flicking the massive flaming robe towards Arthur. The power behind it exceeded the battle against Zoya or Ratimir, evidence that Randolf was holding back against the two of them.
Arthur narrowed his eyes and felt the power of Intent flicker within him.
Now that he had this power, and attained it so early, he fully wished to develop it and strengthen it as much as possible.
Just like Laws, the power of Intent was extremely important in crossing the boundary between Rank 5 and Rank 6. The benefits of strengthening it, and increasing its power and versatility was.... unfathomable.
Arthur didn't even so much as activate a single Fae, before he flicked out his hand, sending a formless wave of Intent towards the oncoming Fae, causing a section of the blaze gown fae to "bend", sending it straight back towards Randolf.
The Rank 2 Fae Master's eyes widened and he immediately cancelled his Rank 2 blaze gown fae and immediately switched to another set of tactics.
From what he understood, Arthur could cause something to "bend" or "twist", causing said object to bend, or turn in another direction. He could bend his pseudo Attribute Control Skill, that was originally designed to be shot in a straight line, to hit something that he had already missed.
He didn't know how many times it could "bend", but from his earlier fight, Arthur could "bend" something a total of 5 times before it hit Alina.
Randolf activated his crimson graze fae and threw numerous watermelon sized fireballs towards Arthur.
Even if he missed most of them, Randolf believed he could completely drain Arthur of his origin essence sea, before he could lose the fight.
It was the same way Arthur "lost" in the previous year, and was Randolf's main plan, other than just using sheer power to puncture through Arthur's technique.
Unconsciously, the corners of both parties mouths rose a fraction of an inch, as one continuously threw wave after wave of fireballs, while the other swerved, dodged and evaded all of them, while trying to "bend" a spherical object.
It wasn't as beautiful, or overpowering as Arthur's fight against Alina, but seeing those two smile gently they tried to kill each other was....
Strangely frightening.