A brief staredown later, two of the puppets rushed forward, their speed matching that of Hal’s Spirit Wolf, while the archer puppet stayed back and fired arrows at Felix.
The former top contender didn’t stay idle.
Felix willed one of his void pockets to move forward and continuously absorb the incoming arrows until it reached its limit.
At the same time, the Void Eyes launched dark-purple beams that pierced and corroded, but the Alloy Puppet at the front blocked and deflected the attacks with ease.
The two melee puppets soon closed in on Felix, weapons raised and ready to strike.
The aloof young man responded with a Void Blast, sending the Ironwood Puppet staggering back.
Unfortunately for him, the Alloy Puppet resisted the knockback due to the Reflector Shield in its hands and lunged forward, bringing its sword down hard.
Felix was forced to retreat, barely holding onto his tournament life.
It was then that Pierro suddenly spoke.
"Come on, man. Stop playing. I already saw through it back in your quarterfinal match. You won’t get me with the same trick, so why hold back? Let’s give the folks a good show, yeah?"
Felix, after landing on his feet, momentarily locked eyes with his opponent. He shrugged with indifference, a subtle, playful grin forming on his face as he praised,
"That, I am. Though I just lucked out with the angle of my seat earlier, so I’m not exactly inhumanly sharp," Pierro replied with a smile. "So, why don’t you show me the true Felix Dargon, hmm?"
At that moment, the crowd’s confusion peaked.
What were the two even talking about?
"You ask and you shall receive."
The next moment, more than a dozen Void Eyes revealed themselves and fired at the two puppets.
The Alloy Puppet somehow withstood the barrage, though it was slowly being pushed back.
The two Ironwood Puppets, on the other hand, were completely obliterated.
"Satisfied?" smirked Felix as he let his true prowess explain, drawing gasps from the crowd.
What a cunning bastard!
He had played everyone, feigning weakness in his battle against Fernan.
The big question now was: why?
It wasn’t long before a few individuals who had seen him at the betting table spoke up, and word spread quickly, leaving those who had bet on Donner in a panic.
Meanwhile, in the Gaora VIP Hall, the high-profile guests initially frowned at Felix’s questionable character, suspecting he had deliberately plotted to ruin Fernan.
It was only through a formal defense by the Dargon Clan representative that he managed to clear his name in their eyes, claiming it was all a calculated move to shift the betting odds in his favor.
Still, a few sharp old men and women weren’t fully convinced.
The Dargon Clan was incredibly wealthy and respected.
A bet of thirty gold coins was significant for most youngsters, even those from aristocratic clans, but perhaps not for someone like Felix.
That was why some suspected there was more to it.
The crowd, however, was convinced.
They easily believed that Felix’s ruthless cunning was simply another strategy meant to tilt the odds and secure a bigger payout.
After all, who would go so far as to ruin a rival without any deep-seated reason?
...Pierro didn’t reply immediately, instead channeling mana into his gloves.
A second later, around ten translucent, blackish-purple magic circles appeared on the ceramic ground in front of the Magna Prospect, from which ten Alloy Puppets—each equipped like the first—emerged.
"Now we have a battle," Pierro grinned.
As it turned out, the Prospect himself had been holding back.
Felix merely sneered in response, however, waving his void-elemental wand forward and commanding his Void Eyes to rain hell upon the puppets, continuously firing void rays.
And so began the war between the puppets and the void.
The rays continued striking the Alloy Army, and while a few managed to damage the durable puppets, none were destroyed as they pressed forward.
The void was clearly being overpowered.
But then, just as the puppet army was about to hack at Felix, a vast dark-purple magic circle lit up on the ground, from which a horrifying Void Dimension opened, trapping all the puppets inside and slowly corroding them until they dissipated into mere mana particles.
The young man didn’t even break a sweat this time, despite the massive mana expenditure.
Pierro didn’t lose his cool either, simply conjuring more puppets: ten alloy ones and ten Ironwood ones armed with bows.
"Heh, fine. You want to play the numbers game? I’ll humor you," said Felix.
In the next moment, around fifty Void Eyes opened at once, along with a large one directly above the caster.
"Hmph!" the Magna Prospect snorted in response, forming seals with his hands.
A massive magic circle then appeared on the ground in front of Pierro, from which a three-meter-tall steel golem emerged, roaring at the massive eye.
Hal couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
What lay before him didn’t mean he had no chance.
However, he would have to go all-out and not skimp on the [Rare]-tier spells, perhaps even use all their charges for a shot at victory.
’No matter...I still have 5,000 points, and I would probably earn a lot more if I win...’ Hal mused, glancing at Donner. ’That guy should also have something that would allow him to contend against those two...’
He was saving ten thousand points to upgrade the system to level 2.
But if he had to tap into those savings to win, he would, since securing the three requests from such a high-profile individual as Korvus was more important.
It didn’t take long for the battle to resume as the puppet army advanced once more.
With each alloy puppet having to deal with six Void Eyes, they weren’t having as easy a time as before.
But once the Steel Golem caught up and took the lead, the puppets were able to advance steadily.
All they needed to do was block the void rays coming from the sides.
Pierro’s conjured golem and puppets were once again proving too difficult for Felix to eliminate, when suddenly, the huge void eye trembled and a dark-purple sphere began forming in front of it.