Arlesk immediately used his musket to fire a buckshot to Serkyrio who was closing in. Serkyrio easily dodged the attack as the speed of the bullets weren't as fast as Remuel's attacks in accelerated state. However, due to the fact that the buckshot was spread out, Serkyrio received a graze on his back. After that, he began collecting energy from all of his limbs with extreme amounts of concentration. Arlesk immediately understood what Serkyrio is up to and continued keeping his distance. He used magic to perform reload on the musket through telekinesis. He mastered that technique to allow him to fight with both a sword and a musket in one go. He loaded a sniper bullet this time while amplifying its speed using wind magic. Serkyrio realized that Arlesk is trying to maintain his distance so he dashed in closer to see what his plan is about. Arlesk raised and pointed his sword up to generate a blinding ball of light. Serkyrio was just barely about to react due to Arlesk's gesture and covered his eyes. Using that opportunity, Arlesk shot the sniper bullet which ended up missing as he wasn't clearly concentrating on the shot. Arlesk simply dashed away as Serkyrio continued to follow while slowing down a bit. Arlesk quickly loaded in another sniper bullet but Serkyrio had fully charged his limbs and is forming a stance as he could now open his eyes. It was then Serkyrio teleported right in front of Arlesk and launched a kick aimed at his left shoulder. Arlesk barely dodged the kick by lowering his body and then dashing backwards. He then fired the sniper bullet as the shockwave just pushed itself out. It pretty much redirected the bullet away from the target but the combination of the shockwave and the recoil allowed Arlesk to distance himself once more temporarily. "Teleportation is so annoying..." While letting out words of complaint, Arlesk loaded another buckshot bullet into the musket. With the anticipation where Serkyrio will try to close in the position with another teleport, he realized that a cooldown is needed for Serkyrio to perform multiple blinks. Because of that, Arlesk had to use his sword to fire a concentrated laser instead. Just as the laser began melting through the ground up, Serkyrio unleashed the charged left fist to completely disperse all forms of mana that was accumulated. He then closed the position by using the piled up energy from the left leg and dashed towards Arlesk at nearly incomprehensible speed. Without much of a choice, Arlesk used the musket to fire the buckshot bullet once more and damaged Serkyrio with a bunch of bullets. "Kuh! Thought you'd go for a sniper round." Multiple bruises appeared on Serkyrio's body as he completely received the buckshot. Arlesk simply smiled in response which immediately changed into a serious expression midway as Serkyrio used the chance of getting hit to enter the form of unleashing the energy accumulated in his right fist. With less than zero time to react, the only thing Arlesk could do is to distance himself from the aim where Serkyrio threw his fist with all the stockpiled energy. At that point, Arlesk received a portion of the shockwave that was brought out which pushed him back all the way to the wall.
"Guhh!! As expected of Serkyrio, to land that much damage towards me even if it's an indirect hit." Arlesk smiled as he turned his gaze down to his body where he realized that he received damage to his bones. "You already have [Terra] active do you? Don't think that I didn't notice your technique of boosting recoil and balance while controlling the earth?" Arlesk grinned a little and responded. "Nope, I knew you'd find out eventually. [Stellar Astronomiya! Melpomene]!" A small star and a small dagger appeared above Arlesk. The dagger fell and stabbed the star which caused both objects to disperse into particles. The small particles then surrounded Arlesk and fully recovered everything in his body. He was also given the effect of [Stardust Bestowal] which makes the people who receive attacks from [Stardust Bestowed] weapons have their pain sensitivity doubled at most. Arlesk had the chant of [Stellar Planetaria N Zodiac] shortened to [Stellar Astronomiya] on Draxus for the convenience and mainly because that it won't just focus on planets and zodiacs. Arlesk added another boosting effect to himself and channeled mana into the necklace. "[Stellar Astronomiya! Capricorn]!" Arlesk began gaining more strength and speed to at least equalize himself to Serkyrio. Serkyrio simply smiled at Arlesk trying to empower himself further and tested how far his abilities will go. Arlesk charged forward with a speed that had escalated much higher than ever. With that gap between Serkyrio was lessened to some extent, Serkyrio began fighting more seriously against Arlesk. He finally brought out the three-sectioned staff and parried Arlesk's attacks. Arlesk used his musket to fire a birdshot bullet. Small pellets spread out right in front of Serkyrio which made him receive damage at close range. Each pellet was enhanced with wind magic to allow faster travel than the speed of sound. "Guhh!!" Serkyrio didn't let the transmitted pain take over his control and skillfully swung the three-sectioned staff. The first swing hit Arlesk's head which damaged his skull. Serkyrio was then moving in for a second swing. With that chance, Arlesk moved his sword underhand and swung it upwards with the intention of missing on purpose. Serkyrio committed to his attack and as the sword was swung up, Arlesk lowers his head as the sword stopped two sections of the staff by chain and swung much lesser than intended. With two sections of the staff caught, he effectively swooped under and swung his sword down to pierce through the middle of the two slashes Draxus and Remuel made. "With this, style points complete!" Arlesk stabbed through the chest but he wasn't able to pierce through at all as there was a layer of barrier inside Serkyrio. "Kukuku, [Protect me from any external objects], too bad that you didn't notice. You reached up to the point of one centimeter at most. It's good enough." Serkyrio smiled as he was unnoticeably holding a diamond-shaped citrine gem on his left hand hidden behind him. Arlesk didn't falter and immediately distanced himself while leaving the sword on Serkyrio's body. It was then that he used one of his final chances to deal real damage to Serkyrio. "[Stellar Astronomiya! Sol]!" With Terra active already, he tried to smash Serkyrio with the dirt surrounding him while he was taking out the sword. His chant was overlapping with Serkyrio which made him get major premonitions. "[The gemstone of divine protection, I beseech the creation of the ultimate barrier. One that transcends the powers of the divine, one that bends the will of deities, one that defies the law of time, one that exceeds and seals in complete protection]" Just as the laser used from the sol reached the ground, Serkyrio had created ten layers of barriers which resisted the converging sunlight. Dust spread out all over the arena which caused Arlesk to close his eyes. But it was pretty much enough information from Serkyrio. Serkyrio took the blade and threw it straight at Arlesk. The owner of the weapon himself never knew that he was unexpectedly struck by his own weapon. The channelling was interrupted and since it was a [Stardust Bestowed] weapon, Arlesk began to feel a huge amount of pain and agony. "Guhaa!!!" Serkyrio took out the sword by teleporting next to Arlesk and pulling out the sword that was lodged in his stomach. Two loud shouts could be heard from the crowd which were from Hecate and Amber. Serkyrio fully healed Arlesk using the tuquoise gem after forcefully reaping his consciousness using the onyx gem through [Silent Command].
After a while, the three archons of Preeliance woke up in separate rooms. Each group had a set of people taking care of them. First one to wake up was Remuel, who had received a powerful slug shot right in the chest. He woke up and noticed that he was fully healed already and isn't feeling any side effect. "Huh? Seems like I lost the fight huh...?" Victorina was around and reminded her of his presence. "Yep, but you landed a beautiful clean hit. I'd say you did really great today Rem." Remuel smiled and brought out a haughty tone. "Heh heh! Of course I'll answer the expectations! Though I'll probably take a while before I could actually with against Serkyrio even at least once." The two smiled at each other as the other two began to woke up in their rooms. Arlesk was the second one to wake up due to the fact that he was the last one to fight and lose consciousness. Amber's voice immediately greeted him with a smiled. "Good morning Arlesk, congratulations on finally managing a clean hit on Serkyrio." Arlesk simply smiled and pat her head. Hecate is resting her head on the bed while asleep. In Draxus's room was somewhat calm. Olivia, Lily, and Julie were asleep while waiting for him while Matilda noticed his awakening. "Had a good rest?" Draxus looked around drowsily while checking his body state. He thought that he should have the compensation and realized that it's likely that Serkyrio used the turquoise gem. "Yahh, all I can say is that I did my best..." Matilda shook her head sideways slowly while giving out her words of experience to Draxus. "Honestly, when I saw you fight to your utmost extremes like that, I felt like that you're too far ahead of everyone. But when I saw how easily the emperor defeated you, I somewhat understand now, just how high and strong you are aiming to become..." Draxus caressed her cheek and replied with a wry smile. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like that." He then pulled her in for a light kiss.
Later on, Serkyrio had a feast with Draxus, Arlesk, and Remuel along with the girls around them. Charnet and Serkyrio's secretaries joined them and simply enjoyed the food as things go back smoothly. "Interviews interviews." Serkyrio clasped his hands together while grinning and began asking questions to the three of them. """We ain't tellin shit, we're prepping for next spar soon!""" In complete unison, Draxus, Arlesk, and Remuel turned their gazes away from Serkyrio.