The first semi-final ended in a way everyone expected, and in a way no one did.
Lucifer won. That much was inevitable. The Child of Prophecy, the destined victor, the shining prodigy of the North. He stepped into the ring, and he left as he always did—unshaken, unchallenged.
And yet, Rachel had stood against him. Not merely fought, not merely struggled—stood. She had shattered the limits imposed on her, reached out and seized power beyond what should have been possible. Her light had clashed against his, and for a brief, impossible moment, she had almost overwritten his order with her own.
She had nearly forced her way to White-rank, and even though she lost, she proved something that no one had dared consider before.
Lucifer wasn't untouchable.
Which meant now it was my turn.
Ren Kagu was waiting for me in the second semi-final, and I could already feel his eyes on me from across the arena.
In my past life, the readers of Saga of a Divine Swordsman had given him a fitting title: The First Hero's Clone.
His fist arts were unparalleled. His triple affinity—gravity, space, and time—was an absurd combination only seen once before in history. And his Gift, God's Eyes, made him a prodigy so terrifyingly efficient it was almost unfair.
Born with every talent the Kagu family could offer, he was the culmination of their bloodline.
During the mid-terms, I had barely defeated him. And that was with more luck than I liked to admit.
But today was different. Today, there was no luck.
I glanced up at the VVIP box, where Li Zenith sat, watching. My master. The man who had trained me in Mount Hua, who had seen my talent firsthand.
Because today, I would prove him right.
I would become the Sovereign.
"Begin!" the announcer called.
Ren exhaled, shifting into his stance. His violet eyes glinted like amethysts under the stadium lights. His right foot slid back, his left fist rising, the space around him distorting as if the very air bowed to his presence.
A fraction of a second later, a gravity well detonated toward me.
The weight of the world slammed forward, pressing down with enough force to crush bone.
Luna's sigils flared to life along my arms, silver light pulsing as I met the incoming pressure head-on. Dark mana surged from my blade, cutting through the gravitational force, scattering it into harmless tendrils of energy.
Gravity, space, and time were considered some of the most powerful affinities in existence. But there was a reason they weren't the strongest.
Because dark and light mana—the primordial forces—countered them completely.
Ren's lips curled into a smirk, his violet eyes gleaming as they analyzed me.
A truly terrifying Gift—one that made raw talent and years of training seem almost meaningless. Information flooded into his mind at every moment, turning combat into a puzzle already solved before the first move was even made. He didn't just see my movements; he saw through them, calculating every angle, every reaction, every possible outcome.
So, with all the certainty of a man who had never once doubted the results of his own vision, he moved.
The first movement of Void Fist, Collapsing Step.
Space itself warped around him. A ripple in the air. A shift in the axis of reality. And then, he was upon me—his fist coated in gravity magic, aiming to fold me into the ground with sheer overwhelming force.
I raised my sword, its dark aura rippling as I instinctively traced a five-circle dark spell along the blade.
Steel met flesh. No, not flesh—something denser, something that bent reality. His gravity-infused strike crashed against my blade like a collapsing star.
His body moved again before the first impact had even finished—adjusting, correcting, adapting. His eyes read me like an open book, already flipping to the last page before I'd even started the .
In a battle , fought on raw calculation alone—I could barely keep up.
God's Eyes were overpowered in a straightforward fight.
Supernatural power surpassing typical mana laws.
Which meant there was only one way to counter it.
A supernatural power of my own.
I let my Black Star awaken, and dark mana poured out like ink spreading through water, swallowing every trace of light in its path. Lucent Harmony wasn't a true Gift for dark mana, but it was enough. More than enough.
The battlefield shifted.
His fist met my sword again, and for the first time, he hesitated.
His eyes narrowed. The perfect calculations, the flawless predictions—they stuttered.
The second movement of Void Fist, Event Horizon.
I felt it the moment it activated—time, space, and gravity intertwining to create a movement that reflected the event horizon of a black hole itself.
He struck, certain of the result.
"What?" Ren muttered, the barest flicker of confusion crossing his usually composed expression.
He adjusted mid-strike, his instincts flawless. His fist redirected, shifting his trajectory to compensate for the error. His mind worked at lightning speed, trying to decipher what had changed.
"Wrong," I whispered.
My sword carved through the space between us, catching him at his side—just the shallowest of cuts before he disengaged, pushing back before I could press the attack further.
For the first time since this fight had begun, Ren's smirk faltered.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Incredible," Paul murmured, his fingers steepled beneath his chin, his expression unreadable. "His control over dark mana… it's beyond anything I expected."
Dark mana was an enigma—an absence of light, a void that disrupted perception and clouded senses. Against most opponents, it was a perfect counter. A clever manipulator of dark mana could slip through blind spots, distort awareness, and turn even the most honed instincts against their wielder.
But Ren Kagu did not rely on mere instincts.
His God's Eyes were supernatural, a Gift that transcended the limits of perception. They didn't just see—they understood. No illusion, no trick of light or absence thereof, could fully deceive him.
And yet, Arthur was managing it.
Kem sat in silence, his fingers idly tapping against the armrest of his chair. His lips were pressed into a thin line, his gaze sharpening as he analyzed every minute shift in the battlefield.
"That's a good counter," he admitted at last. He didn't sound pleased about it. "Even if it's not perfect, it's working."
The fact that it worked at all was already absurd.
Ren's Gift made him untouchable in combat, a human cheat code that allowed him to predict, react, and dismantle any opponent before they could even think of striking back. That Arthur had found a way to partially obscure his sight—let alone gain the upper hand—was something no one had considered possible.
"Of course," Li Zenith interjected smoothly, reclining in his seat with a knowing smile. "Arthur isn't relying on just this to win. This is merely a prelude."
The other VIPs turned toward him, sensing something in his tone.
"You'll see something far more shocking soon," he promised. "Just keep watching."
Down in the arena, Ren narrowed his eyes, frustration flickering across his face for the first time as he tried to lock onto Arthur's movements. He had expected Arthur to fight well. He had expected some challenge.
This was not what he had anticipated.
Arthur moved in a blur, his sword flashing as he exploited every fraction of hesitation Ren showed. His strikes weren't wild, weren't aggressive. They were precise, methodical—each movement a piece of a larger picture only he could see.
Ren's footwork shifted, his center of gravity lowering. His frustration didn't cloud his judgment—it focused it.
"Enough games," Ren muttered, his mana surging.
"Finally taking me seriously?"
The air around him warped.
And then the ground beneath Arthur's feet collapsed.