Raze had originally used all of his mana to teleport the entire crowd from the arena and then further bring the Crimson Crane as well as his other allies to his side. While they fought against the Dark Faction, he had been building up both his Qi and mana. After all, he had used his Qi more than he thought during the fights he participated in.
Regardless, he had managed to regain quite a bit of energy earlier on, and because he saw what was happening, he decided to intervene. Using the Dark Edge Magic Sword Arts, he combined magic and Qi into his attacks, making sure to take out one of the most troublesome individuals in the Dark Faction.
Raze had taken out Arkon with his strong attacks, using his element of surprise and superior powers, but it came at a cost. He needed to rebuild his Qi and mana all over again.
He switched between the Demonic cultivation techniques to fill up his Qi and the Dark Faction cultivation technique to fill up his Dark magic core and mana. Thankfully, due to Rayna's help, she had given him someone he could use to restore his Qi far quicker; now all he had to do was control his mana.
Yet, in the middle of it all, while Raze was recovering his mana, he sensed something: he was on the verge of reaching the next star level, and if he became a five-star mage, he would significantly increase his strength. Because of this, he had been taking longer as he focused on drawing more mana from the world, increasing it as his magic core grew larger.
While he was in the middle of this, Murkel exploded his fist into the ground, sending out his Dark visual Qi all over the arena floor. With it covering the ground, there wasn't a single person left unaffected, including Rayna. She had fallen onto her knees; she hadn't been secretly injured nor worn herself out too much in the fight, yet was still affected by Murkel's power.
'This amount of strength… it's quite possible he might be as strong as Father,' Rayna thought. 'If that's the case, is there anyone here who can beat him?'
She quickly used her strength to turn her head and look behind her. She saw Raze still sitting in a meditative state, yet around him, the dark substance wasn't touching his skin. There was a centimeter or so where it wasn't touching him. Anyone else from far away wouldn't be able to tell, but with her so close, she could.
'Why isn't it affecting him? Is Raze somehow pushing it back with his Qi, or is it something else?'
Regardless, right now, if Raze wasn't ready, she didn't want to distract him, but at the same time, she didn't know what choice they had. As she looked around, not a single other person seemed capable of moving.
"Raze…" Rayna found herself mumbling. She hated that he was always there to help her, but now she couldn't help him.
The moment she said those words, she felt a cool breeze almost come from behind her, followed by a shiver that ran up her entire body. When the shiver ran through her, she noticed that the weight she felt from Murkel's Qi had completely disappeared.
Turning her head once again, she saw it: Raze was standing. His eyes were open, and unlike the others, he was able to stand perfectly fine.
Raze was assessing the situation. 'All these young ones, they have done well, and I can tell they worked hard to protect me,' Raze thought. 'This strange Qi, it's coming from the principal. I've covered the bottom of my feet in Dark Magic, which is pushing the Qi away so I'm not affected by it, but this isn't something I can just use on the others; I need to do my part as well.'
Raze then walked toward Murkel, and that's when he passed Ricktor and now the two of them were face to face, having exchanged a few words with each other.
"You have too much confidence in yourself, and it's time to take it down a peg!" Murkel shouted as he charged forward at immense speed.
Just like with Crine, when moving forward, the dark energy from the ground seemed to rise up and wrap around his fist. Raze could already feel part of his body being drawn towards him. Murkel was incredibly fast, just like before, and he was heading in a straight path with no one getting in his way.
"Ice Break," Raze said, lifting his hand.
From both sides of where Murkel was, two giant icebergs appeared from the ground. Murkel continued forward; he had no choice as they crashed and hit his body, but his strong Qi allowed him to break through.
When Murkel broke through, Raze had used one of the Descending Steps, pushing him forward with the special Ghost blade in his hands.
"Crimson Slash!" Raze called out.
Using his fast Wind magic with Qi, the attack struck right through the floor. It pierced through the Dark Qi like a raft in a river and came straight for Murkel. It was too fast for him to completely dodge, but Murkel, with both of his hands, slammed them together on the invisible force. His Dark Qi could be seen going against something until it eventually stopped, along with Raze's attack.
"You can produce ice with your arts and can produce a large number of skills and techniques I've never seen. I see this isn't going to just be a basic fight, but I am not your basic warrior either," Murkel said.
"Don't worry," Raze stated. "That was just a warm-up. I have plenty more up my sleeve. I didn't want you to claim that this fight was unfair."
Raze had a number of different elements of magic he could use and had yet to utilize his Dark Magic. Now that he was a five-star mage, he had unlocked a whole heap of new spells. The thing was, there was something in Raze's mind telling him to play this fight out like he was fighting against another mage rather than going all out against an unknown opponent whose skill set he didn't know.
What he wanted to do was stir up the battlefield in a way that would baffle and shock Murkel. That's when he thought of the perfect thing.
At the same time, Tilon was battling in the upper stands. He was finding it hard to focus on his own fight and had been bashed in the face by Gavin, causing his nose to bleed and him to stumble backwards.
"You have such a strong shield and yet it's useless in your hands. That man on the ground isn't the only dangerous one here; I'm a Clan Head as well!" Gavin claimed.
Tilon wiped the blood off his nose and was still seemingly staring at what was happening below. Then he heard the heavy footsteps coming at him.
"Pay attention!" Garbo shouted.
This time, Tilon shoved the shield forward, and when Gavin's shield bashed against his, the shield lit up, reflecting the power and pushing Gavin back until he had broken several of the seats.
Gavin knew this pain well; it was how he had ended up in the stands in the first place, but he was still resilient and plenty strong.
'I need to get down there and help out Raze. With this legendary shield, I'm sure we could beat Murkel with ease, but how do I get down there without stepping in his Dark Qi? The moment I do, I'll be sent to the ground as well. The shield won't be able to block such a thing.'
In the middle of his thoughts, he could see Raze starting to act and felt there might be an opportunity on the horizon.
Raze lifted his hand, and rising right above it was a strange swirling black substance. Everyone was stunned because they felt like they had seen this before. It looked almost identical to the visual Qi that Murkel had created, swirling above him in the air.
"What is this, some type of imitation? Is this meant to worry me?" Murkel said.
"You think this is an imitation?" Raze asked. "You should know that this is nothing like yours, so what it can do is completely different."
Raze then threw his hand across the ground in a similar fashion to Murkel, and right from Raze's palm, the Dark magic he had created pulsed out. When pulsing across the floor, a ripple of Dark magic got rid of all the Dark Qi in its path. As it hit the ground where the others were, they felt a slight searing pain like a burn; however, now that there was no longer any Dark visual Qi, they were free.
All of them could now stand.
"What was the Dark Faction's principle again? Do anything to win?" Raze asked. "I think I learned well from you, after all."