He then used a technique which allowed him to continuously output a certain amount of strength. With this, he was able to continue putting pressure on Clarence through the halberd.
He quickly followed up with a kick to not let him think much and successfully, it connected. He then spoke about the spell which let him defend against his mind affecting spells to disrupt his mindset.
He then attacked with another quick kick, which Clarence dodged and somehow got out of the ground. Not willing to let him have a chance to think, he closed in on the distance and engaged in a close quarter fight.
This time, rather than using heavy attacks, he used several small ones in succession to continue his momentum and badly injure Clarence physically and mentally. During the time, he also used a healing spell to heal himself of the several minor cuts he got.
*****
In the present time, the two had a faceoff for a few seconds, and the entire stadium was silent when Clarence's knees came crashing down. Strength left his arms as they drooped to the sides and one of the daggers fell down on the ground.
Almost the entire stadium erupted in cheers a second later as they witnessed this.
Bernard really didn't want to attack Clarence this badly, but he couldn't hold back against him. Every time they fought, Clarence was always the one he felt most threatened from, even though he used to win.
Bernard smiled when he saw this. He felt pity for Clarence. So he approached him as he felt like he should say some words of encouragement so that the loss doesn't affect his mind badly.
'Wait… affect… his… mind?' By the time he felt something was wrong, it was already too late as he had walked already too close to Clarence, who, as if suddenly possessed by a ghost, moved with a speed so quick hardly anyone saw it.
Holding a dagger in one hand, he quickly came up beside Bernard and used Instant halt to smoothly stop and take a turn at equally fast speed to reach behind him.
By this time, Bernard had snapped out of it and swung his hammer to the side. Unfortunately, he was late, as Clarence had already put a dagger on his neck.
"Participant 9 wins, participant 21 lost"
"With this, I announce participant 9, Clarence, as the winner of this tournament."
Everything happened so quickly, in a matter of seconds, that the people who had stood and were singing to celebrate for Bernard were still standing with mouths open. They were dazed, some were looking at each other, asking if what they witnessed wasn't just an illusion.
Some people who were supporting Clarence were also dazed for a few seconds before they started celebrating wildly.
*****
Clarence had been using Ghoul's walk from the very start of the battle. Although he had to stop several times to not let his mana, he never stopped trying.
He deliberately used it in the start to alert Bernard, then stopped for a moment. He also took that kick on his ribs intentionally so as to divert Bernard's attention or he could have used Twist like he did later to dodge the attack. But he intentionally let him have repeated victories in that brief span to disrupt his mind.
As expected, just after kicking, he spoke about the spell out of happiness and the smugness he probably felt. It put him at a high ground which made him let down his guard.
That's also when he used his spell again. When he got out of the pit, using that short period of time he was disoriented due to being pushed back, he used the spell again.
This is also what led Bernard to use minor attacks in the next round of close quarter combat that took place. Of course, Bernard might have different reasons for why he was doing these things.
But that is precisely what Ghoul's walk does: it makes the target have thoughts develop in a direction favorable to the user if not fully enamored by the user.
As for Bernard having a spell which could block mental attacks, it needed mana to run, too. Clarence had been repeatedly hitting his vital spots so that he had to use the spell which made his attacks miss. Sure, he dodged some, blocked some, but he ultimately had to use the spell sometimes.
Later, Clarence was also repeatedly cutting him at various locations. After Clarence used Agile needle for the first time, Bernard sensed the threat from it so he felt the need to close up all the wounds he was inflicting. So he used the healing spell multiple times too.
Basically, Bernard kept using other spells, so he had almost run out of mana to keep the spell for mental defense running. While Clarence only used Incapacitate once and Agile needle once to make Bernard take his wounds seriously.
When Clarence fell down to his knees and dropped one of his daggers, that was the trigger for Ghoul's walk to make a considerable impact. This image of him planted a thought of pity just for a second in Bernard's mind, which led the way for Ghoul's walk to invade.
When Bernard was close enough, Clarence sprung up with the remaining one dagger, which he deliberately didn't drop. When he came to his side, he used Instant halt and Illusory arts.
This is also the reason why when Bernard snapped out of Ghoul's walk, he swung his halberd to the side, the place where the illusion was. Rather than behind him, where Clarence actually was. As for the spell which let him see through the illusions, of course he won't use it as soon as he snapped when he saw Clarence so close to him, which was basically an illusion.
*****
Bernard smiled ruefully and said,
"It was a good match, but I still can't believe I lost in the end."
"I made a lot of preparations just for this match. I can't believe that my plans went through. Several times, I had to tweak my plans midway in the battle. I hope I don't have to fight you again, it's really stressful.
As soon as I reach my room, I am going to sleep more for my mental health rather than physical health."
Clarence replied while taking back his daggers and picking up the second dagger he dropped.
"Hahaha, I need to study and research more battles it seems. I don't want to lose this way again. Let's meet again in the academy."
With that, both Bernard and Clarence hugged and parted ways.