Arthur's eyes widened slightly, as he immediately leaped back, raising hidden Forest Kelp Fae, Mangrove Fae and Winter Conifer Fae to defend himself.
Instantly, all three of the defensive fae were extinguished, and the Fae themselves were killed in the process. The sheer power and weight behind this single slash with the conflagration fae had destroyed one Rank 1 and 2 Rank 2 defensive type fae.
They burst into tiny little motes of spiritual essence, before vanishing as Randolf leapt forward, ready to slice at Arthur once more.
The Rank 3 Conflagration Axe Fae was essentially a weapon type fae. Exactly the same as Arthur's moonsword fae, halberd fae, or Ratimir's bone sword fae, or Alina's shadowstream fae.
However, its strength, power, endurance and weight all vastly exceeded those Rank 1 Fae.
Rank 3 weapon type fae weren't exactly rare, but the most common were swords and spears. Quickly followed up by other variations such as daggers, great swords, halberds and tridents.
After that, the most common were bows and arrows. Quickly then followed by axes and other larger melee weapons.
Axes.... allowed mortals and Fae Masters alike to use their own weight and rotation against their enemy. Normally, someone who used an axe would be disadvantaged against a spear in terms of reach, and a sword in terms of speed.
But Fae.... specifically Fire Attributed, Lava Attributed and even Lightning Attributed don't necessarily have this weakness. Or rather, it is offset by another strength.
The intensity it which it burns.
It could literally keep people away with purely its temperature, and could burn through most other weapon type fae that they come across.
Arthur's strongest Fae was the Rank 2 Moon Piercer Fae, which one didn't necessarily need to be close in order to be used. However, his moonsword fae, halberd fae and even the Lunar Sword Fae and the Twilight Sword Fae which he had refined earlier weren't anything special in the face of a Conflagration Axe Fae.
In fact, a Rank 3 Moonsword fae, or a Rank 3 Halberd Fae would find it difficult to match up against this particular weapon type fae. It was just extremely rare, and outrageously powerful.
Arthur felt the small hairs on his arms get singed slightly, as he narrowed his eyes and observed Randolf through the flames.
His hands and arms had turned completely black from the flames, and his eyes had turned bloodshot as all the hair, all over his body had been completely burnt off.
His head, despite being completely red due to the heat, now looked more like a boiled egg more than anything else.
Randolf's expression was enraged, and Arthur doubted that anything short of him being squished to death under his Conflagration Axe would quell his anger.
From what Arthur could tell.... the pain that Randolf felt.... or even inflicted on him, might've.... pushed him over the edge?
It wasn't even that much pain, but perhaps there was something underlying, and the pain was the catalyst for him losing control.
At this rate, Randolf would become a Demonic Fae Master, and start to tread the path of the demon.
He would need to learn control before anything else, lest he destroys himself, along with everyone around him.
Many of the surrounding Fae Masters had erected barriers to prevent the heat, or the flames from reaching the audience. Arthur glanced to the side and noticed that Leon and Dominic were waiting on the side lines, ready to help Arthur at the first available chance, but-.
"No-one interfere! The battle isn't over yet!".
Niklos' voice boomed over the entirety of the arena, and many of the frantic villagers in the front rows, suddenly turned towards the Clan Leader, whose gaze was focused on Arthur.
At this moment, he didn't seem like a Father, and was completely focused on his Clan Leader persona.
"No rules have been broken, and nobody has fatally injured. The Fae Masters will protect the audience from the flames and heat, so return to your seats and continue watching".
Leon and Dominic didn't move, even after Randolf leapt into the air, swinging his massive five metre tall flaming axe around.
Every time it collided with the platform below, a massive amount of dust, dirt and earth would be kicked up into the air, along with an intensely hot gust of wind.
Arthur twirled the halberd fae in his hands letting it glow a bright silver yellow colour before thrusting out, letting a luminous spear shaped beam of light shoot towards Randolf, aiming straight at his upper shoulder.
Despite being enraged, Randolf moved his Conflagration Fae towards his upper chest, effectively blocking the "Silver Waning Moon".
Arthur's eyes flashed with the power of Intent, and the pseudo Attribute Control Skill "twisted" around the flaming axe, before piercing through his upper shoulder.
"Argh!!".
A pain filled grunt escaped the lips of the maddened Randolf, as his face twisted into one of both rage and torment.
He started running towards Arthur, ignoring the pain that came from all over his body, only to be greeted with another barrage of brightly coloured spears of light.
Left upper shoulder.
Left thigh.
Right thigh.
Left hand.
Right foot.
Arthur had used more than 200% of his maximum origin essence in order to use those few Attribute Control Skills, using most of his power of Intent as well.
He originally wanted to fight Randolf one on one, with no holds barred against him. Even if he was still hiding a few cards in reserve, seeing what a foreigner could do after a single year did intrigue Arthur slightly.
But after seeing him enraged like this, even with the Rank 3 Conflagration Axe Fae, the battle grew dull in Arthur's mind.
Ending it quickly.... was a mercy.
Randolf took several more steps, his body bleeding uncontrollably from his extremities, as well as his upper chest. His eyes had turned blank, and his origin essence sea had completely run dry, causing the Rank 3 Fae to vanish as the flaming axe slowly returned his origin essence sea....
The battle.... was resoundingly anti-climactic.
Arthur's gaze grew cold as he looked at Randolf, noticing that despite still standing up, he had completely passed out.
Arthur didn't even take a step forward as he pushed the blunt end of his halberd fae into Randolf's chest, causing him to fall over and collide with the floor.
The entire arena grew silent, as the observed Randolf's unconscious body, in addition to Arthur's completely flawless appearance.
It just occurred to them.... that he hadn't even gotten hit once, despite Randolf using Rank 2 Fae on him.
Not only that, but as a Rank 1 Fae Master, Arthur had defeated Randolf, a Rank 2 Fae Master!
Their eyes widened, and their mouths dropped before a single small child raised his fists into the air.
"He won! Arthur actually won!".
This small child's voice was the catalyst to the entire arena exploding in screams and cheers.
"Holy shit! What the hell just happened!?".
"I don't know! I'll I saw was multiple flashes of light, and then Randolf was bleeding!?".
"Arthur used his Attribute Control Skill and targeted Randolf's limbs and shoulders. He let out a quick burst of power and immediately defeated Randolf".
One of the more wiser mortals commented.
Despite the cheers and screams of his audience, Arthur just gazed at Randolf's unconscious body coldly, before snorting and exciting the platform.
It wasn't that Arthur was angry.
If anything.... he was just disappointed.