“So this is where my luck runs out…” Ezerid mumbled from his side as Sofia approached.

“I heard that,” Sofia called out, “Are you that sure you have no chance already?”

“The other events have made that pretty clear, no? Even with my third specialization I don’t think that’s enough to bridge the gap. I did what I could to prepare, but honestly it’s not looking good.”

“There’s always a chance. I’m looking forward to what you’ve prepared for me.”

“Let’s see if I can at least kill you a few times. You have five resurrections, right?”

Sofia smiled but didn’t answer.

“Aaaaah…” Ezerid sighed, “Well. I’m ready… I wonder who’s watching.”

“Well, if I trust my spectator count, basically everyone who’s able to, if you mean the seats… Maybe it’s better that we can’t see them anymore.”

“Yeah, you might be right… Bought anything from the shops yet?”

“Nothing much aside from the specialization ticket. I’m saving for the master items.”

“Already know which one you want?”

“I do, Pareth is still uncertain about his, though. Which one would you take if you could have one?”

“Probably the catalyst you showed me, that thing on a good scepter is just disgusting… If not… Assuredly the necklace. Getting many good items isn’t an issue with Progress’ backing, but wearing too many can quickly become one. I’ve found out that at around four enchanted rings on one hand it starts disrupting my spellcasting…”

“Ah, yeah, I have noticed that this is a thing. Only wearing two rings right now. I’d need a master hat, personally, look at this,” Sofia said, taking out the Saint set hairband and putting it on. “Between the crown and my horns there’s barely any space left for this thing.”

“I can see that. Well, I’m not getting a master item anyway…”

Sofia scratched her head awkwardly, “Yeah, sorry again about that…”

“You know what I think already. But hey! Doesn’t mean I won’t try to beat you anyway!”

“Try kill!” Pestle joyfully added.

“I sure hope so! Time to prove you aren’t all talk! … Unlike her,” Sofia added, throwing a side glance at the Goddess hovering nearby continuously speaking in a voice they couldn’t hear, to a public they couldn’t see.

“Sure is speaking a lot his time. Gotta up the bets for the semi-finale I imagine.”

“Probably that. The other match is Sun’s saintess from my team against Sen, it’s probably going to have heavy bets as well… Speaking of which, did you kick Tartaros out?”

“Uh?! I thought you were the one who got him!” Ezerid answered.

“Logical conclusion but no…”

“Can Sun’s saintess do that?”

“Hmm… Maybe? I think if she can survive the initial blows, and with a favorable terrain, perhaps she could just about eke out a win? Which round did he lose at again…”

“That was round eight, the elven city.”

“Oh, the bombs,” Sofia noted, “Yeah these things could definitely injure him so… Maybe.”

“Or it’s just the Seraph.”

“Yeah… Maybe. Any information on how he fights, by the way? You did fight him for a bit in the last man standing event.”

Ezerid lightly frowned, “Hmmm… We both didn’t have much when we fought… But basically he seems to fight with copies of himself.”

“That’s just his floor 99 item, isn’t it?”

“No,” Ezerid shook his head, “I think either he changed his skills to work with the item in between the second and fourth trial, or the item just happened to perfectly match his skills, but… You’ll understand if you fight him.”

Sofia wanted to thank Ezerid for the tip but Love finally turned around toward them, so she just gave him a nod instead.

“Finally done with the betting! You guys, I’m making soooOoo much money thanks to you today, you can come to my domain for a free meal anytime!”

“Assuming we even find a way to get there?”

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“Eheh… Just build me a temple and it’ll be the eaaaasyest thing ever. But nevermind that, we have a LOT of high profile people waiting, and as funny as it is to make them wait, they know where I live, also. So let’s get this show started! Sir Pareth, once again, the choice is yours! Love, or Zoth?!”

After a tense moment of silence… Pareth summoned an L-shaped weapon.

“Oh stop! You’re gonna make me blush!” Love cried out, throwing the coin up father than the eye could see once again.

Everyone’s eyes were fixated on the coin at it landed with a sonorous bang.

“Unluckyyyyy! It’s my lovely Zoth again!”

Intense relief could be seen on Ezerid’s face as he realized he won the coin toss.

“Space? Your home world? Sun’s bedchambers?! What will it be?!”

Sun’s bechambers? Love, are you suuuure that a valid arena? Sofia wondered, deciding not to say that out loud.

Ezerid showed no hesitation, it seemed he had a location all planned out for Sofia already.

“The Checkron’s lair.”

“Ooooh! Interesting choice. Veeeery interesting.”

Checkron? Another monster I’ve never heard of.

The white void started to shift, the air to feel dense, and sticky, and the ambient mana to shoot through the roof. Sofia felt that it was a familiar sensation, but it was hard to pinpoint, until a sudden shift occurred.

The arena was now inside of a cavern, underwater.

Oh, it’s mana water like in Skyreach’s primordial lake! Neat. And these walls… Are we inside of a mana leyline?!

Aside from these key features, the cavern was essentially a long, mostly straight flooded tunnel. The height and width were pretty uneven depending of the spot, but Sofia calculated that they averaged about fifty meters, which was not that much space to fight in but in terms of length, she couldn’t see an end to the tunnel on either side. Some dark holes of various sizes dotted the sides of the tunnel here and there, but Sofia couldn’t really see far into them from where she was.

Down observing her surroundings, Sofia analysed the situation.

Oh wow.

I can tell right away, all the mana in the water is messing with my aura badly. It’s also saturating my mana senses so much I cannot see shit. It’s like staring at a white wall…

He also has a big speed advantage underwater compared to me, unless I use my demon form. Pareth will be slowed a lot and maybe Pestle as well.

Using the rot in such an environment… Risky gamble. I’ve seen what happens when the leylines are hit a bit too hard, though this could play to my advantage.

And obviously, no sun for my mana regeneration or Bookie’s blessing.

I have to hand it to him, he really got me in the worse position possible. Well, let us see if that’s enough.

“Alright, arena stable! The mana hoarder versus the mana cheater, BEGIN!”

Both sides immediately started serious preparations.

On Sofia’s side, she started multicasting several spells. A piercing bolt appeared over her sword-form scepter in her left hand, and an explosive bolt in her right hand, protected by the draconic armguard. At the same time, she was preparing to summon the [Skull Choir], a [Saintomancer’s Star] and she got a large panel of Lumian bones out of her storage, placing almost right in front of her like a wall before giving it the [Blessing of permanent frame]. She was truly pushing her multicasting to the limit.

On Ezerid’s side, he took nine large square orichalcum plates out of his storage, they brought themselves together to form a single larger plate, which was engraved with a very intricate ritual circle. That ritual plate floated upright to stand like a large wall behind Ezerid, who swam up to be in the center of the ritual. He then further summed twelve pillar-like stakes of adamian steel that, to Sofia’s surprise embedded themselves in the surrounding leyline without causing any mana explosion, forming a large circle around the tunnel. That done, Ezerid started channeling some regular spells of his own.

Pareth, Pestle, offense together. Bookie, Priest, Pearled Snake. Sofia ordered as she tried and struggled to decipher Ezerid’s ritual circle as fast as possible while keeping all of her spells up.

Just before the end of the timer, Sofia temporarily gave up on decoding the ritual circle to get the mental leeway to proceed with a final bit of preparation.

[Title changed to ‘THE GLORIOUS’]

[Title change function is locked for the next 24 hours]

♢ UNIQUE ♢ [THE GLORIOUS]: While wearing the crown of Victory, enemies in a large area around you are consumed by the flames of Victory, dealing damage over time and preventing them from absorbing ambient mana. Damage from the flames of Victory cannot be prevented.

The barrier disappeared and chaos immediately ensued. Several things happened at once. Five huge Sandworm Skull appeared in a circle behind Sofia, slowly starting to charge their laser attack. Bookie got done summoning the High-Priest, who wasted no time casting some buff on Pareth. Pareth charged through the water, using several air-steps both from his ritual and signature skill, which was much faster than swimming. He activated his Sanctified grounds, which now covered an area vast enough to include both the places Sofia and Ezerid were standing, though barely, and swung at the water to unleash a first [Arclight] toward Ezerid. Pestle turned invisible and flew close to Pareth, and Ezerid, who was instantly starting set ablaze by the flames of Victory, raised his staff to unleash his first spell.

Pareth was hit by the same concentrated beam of light that had killed Pestle and Happy cloud at the beginning of the trial. Pestle saw it coming this time, and managed to avoid it, but Pareth took a frontal hit. His mana heart barely relocated out of the way, keeping him alive, but the right side of his body simply disappeared, engulfed by the torrent of mana. That single spell erasing almost a hundred million health points. Benefiting from the [Lingering] effect of Sofia’s close aura, he was still regenerating 10% of his health a second, so four seconds would be enough for him to be back to full, but four seconds could seem extremely long in such a battle.

His [Arclight] then reached Ezerid, almost, as it crashed again a huge spherical shield. That was what his ritual and pillars were for, much like Sofia’s bone wall, protection.

While Sofia calculated her next best move, Ezerid’s staff rose again