Hugo Brandle's fame among Rune Artists who took a fancy to combat was argued to be contradictory to his mastery in Rune Art. The man himself openly acknowledged his mediocre dedication to Rune Art mastery compared to his peers. His personalized Rune Art, Magma Limb, was one of the most elementary applications of Fire and Earth elements, simply covering his limbs in a layer of the elements.
This type of Rune Art was discovered hundreds of years ago, but was always considered to be useless, if not actively harmful. By enveloping your limbs in elements, it neglects all possibilities of using other Rune Arts and would even result in irreversible pain and damage to the skin. No one would spend their time learning this Rune Art, let alone spend more time discovering the rune patterns needed for it to occur.
Hugo Brandle and Monica Gladius, however, didn't need to worry about the drawbacks.
"The fire that sheathed her arm is not a sword, but a shield," the crimson-haired woman explained both to herself and Nathan. "To protect the Rune Artist by negating the counterforce during a physical attack. With it, the girl does not need to hold back any of her strength."
Nathan's words were swallowed back down his throat. He never knew that Monica's strength was so monstrous. Her handshakes might be slightly bone-crushing, but this was on another level. It turned out that children born and raised in army camps were indeed extraordinary.
Down in the arena below, "The Forager" found himself exposed in the open, unwilling to believe that his prominent defence system had been dismantled in one punch. The dazzling light from the fire on Monica's arm intensified in his zoomed-out pupils, ready to envelop his body in any instant.
He attempted to raise his wand, but Monica's arm was faster.
"I surrender! Don't kill me!" he cried out before the punch arrived on his face.
The host of the arena didn't seem too bothered or surprised by this avalanche victory. "Winner: 'Firelimb!'"
The audience broke into a chaotic uproar, some grieving over their loss on the bet, some commemorating their courage in risking their money on a new face, and some were simply astonished by the combat itself. It was quick, but no less exciting than the previous matches.
Nathan and David cheered among the noise. Even though Nathan's voice was considered to be energetic and clangorous, it was nonetheless submerged in the pandemonium that could deafen an old man's ears.
Thankfully, it ended after a short while, finally leaving room for the host to continue speaking.
"Contestant 'Firelimb,' you have claimed your victory under two minutes. As stated in the rules of the arena, you may choose to engage in another match after a moment of rest. How do you say?"
Before Monica could reply, the audience yelled out in absurd harmony, "One more! One more!"
Monica replied by lifting her glaring arm in the air silently, causing the excitement among the audience to reach another small climax.
"Next up! 'Firelimb' versus 'Genesis!'"
"Genesis, another new name…" people around Nathan whispered to each other, intrigued.
"Nathan, let's spend all my savings on Monica," David suggested with a greedy grin, finally looking like a member of the Edmonds family. "She can't lose."
Nathan slapped him gently on the back of his head, "Don't, it will catch too much attention." He shrugged, "Also, I doubt the arena would accept such a huge bid." He didn't voice aloud the slight suspicion lingering in his heart. Monica was formidable without saying, but his sixth sense told him that this "Genesis" was also no pushover. Nathan was never a fan of no risk, no reward.
"We had enough fun, don't waste money."
David rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat, discouraged by the fact that he could no longer gamble. If it wasn't Nathan Modernson who convinced him, he probably wouldn't have listened.
Soon, "Genesis" wandered into the arena like a curious child, his harrowing red eyes blinking innocently at the audience above. He seemed just as young as Monica, but the audience had just learnt not to judge someone's strength based on age alone.
"Commence!" the host announced, putting the audience into silence, their eyes once again focused on the match below.
"Commence what? What do I do?" Genesis tilted his head towards Monica. "Are we fighting or something?"
Monica tilted her head similarly after hearing his sentence. Was this some clever strategy to confuse her?
Shaking her doubt away, she once again lined up the same Runes by the left side of her body and inserted her arm through. The fire once again lit the arena up in radiance.
Genesis remained still. "Oh, I guess we do fight, then." Drawing his wand, he swiftly drew a small yet delicate Rune pointing towards Monica.
Nathan and some of the others could barely believe what they were witnessing; it was a white rune, a light-element rune.
"But Rune Artists with light elemental traits cannot engage in combat, right?" he murmured to himself.
"At least to current records, you are right," the woman beside replied again. "But who knows who can rewrite history? Such is the beauty of Rune Arts…"
"To what extent do we fight? To the extent that I defeat you? Or to the extent that I kill you?" "Genesis" asked.
Monica didn't reply; she swung herself at him like in the last match, the fire on her arm reaching for him like a predator hunting for prey. Her strike landed on the ground below, leaving several visible cracks on the arena floor.
The audience gasped; they were ready to see another flawless victory that resulted in "Genesis's" death, but as the smoke vanished, Genesis stood behind Monica in boredom, lifting his hand and pressing it on the rune he had previously constructed. A light ray emerged from his hand with a burst of suffocating energy; one could barely call it light at all, more like an energy beam that slashed through the air.
"I see, so to the extent that I kill you."
But Monica was not only strong—she was also fast.
Dodging to her side, she launched another round of attacks at Genesis. This time, it wasn't aimed at the ground, but directly at Genesis's rather frail body.
But Genesis disappeared once again, his figure blinking across the arena like a projection. Even Monica couldn't predict where he would eventually end up—perhaps left, right, behind, or even above.
Instead of fear or annoyance, there was only excitement in Monica's smile. This was the type of combat she was looking forward to; how could she not smile at the fulfilment of her dream?
She followed the inspiration from prior matches, weaving runes in midair as she flew across the arena and chased "Genesis," who replied with an endless assault of light rays exploding in her direction. Eventually, another set of red runes was completed.
When "Genesis" and the runes coincidentally lined up, Monica outstretched her arm through the runes and towards him. Her other arm became just like the first, burning in fury.
"Genesis" barely dodged the assault. He appeared floating a long distance away, hands flapping around him like the wings of an eagle, slow yet powerful. It was his fingers that moved the wand. Before Monica bounced up in the air and reached for him, several light beams formed, aiming in her direction.
"I win!" he laughed naively, thinking that Monica could not dodge his attacks while in midair. There was still quite a distance to cover between them; he was sure that Monica could not arrive with her punch before the light beams disintegrated her completely.
Monica, however, swung her arms wildly to the right, strong enough to boost herself towards the left and evade the bombardment. Landing back onto the ground steadily, she ploughed out a giant tile on the arena ground and threw it towards Genesis like a cannon.
Genesis, undoubtedly, blinked himself back to the ground below before the attack could land. The boulder did not stop itself even if it missed its target and soared towards the audience—more specifically, at Nathan.
Nathan widened his eyes in fear and surprise. "Monica! That was clearly on purpose!"
David shouted beside him, "No time for jokes now!"
Neither Nathan nor David had any defensive capabilities; all they could do was duck down and pray that it wouldn't crush someone behind them.
However, the woman beside lifted her arm unhurriedly, and a brown rune emerged as if it appeared directly on her hand rather than something that took time to be drawn.
Her hand caught the flying boulder while simultaneously pressing on the rune, and the boulder was instantly turned into a pile of sand that fell to the ground below.
"Turn" was the wrong word; it was rather "shocked" into sand.
Taking a while to persuade himself that he was safe, Nathan lifted his head and stared into the woman beside him. She replied with emotionless silence, as if all she had done was crush a small insect.
"That was amazing!" he exclaimed. "You might as well be Goddess Isaria herself!"
She seemed staggered by Nathan's statement. "Don't need to thank me, unless you want to miss out on more of the performance."
"Right, right!" Nathan climbed back in his seat and set his concentration on Monica and "Genesis"; their tag game was still going on wildly in the arena. At this point, it was just a matter of whether "Genesis's" elemental energy or Monica's stamina ran out first.
The audience watched the scene with their eyes and mouths wide open. This fight seemed like a clash between two legends in a storybook tale rather than two beginner contestants in an arena. Everything was so visually stunning that it almost felt as if it was carefully staged for their entertainment.
The situation wasn't looking too well for "Genesis." Monica's movements had been intentionally suppressing the space away from him. After all, his blinking teleportation didn't cover an infinite amount of distance, and that limit seemed to have decreased as his elemental energy had become depleted.
"This ends it!" Monica cried in triumph as she slammed her fiery claw on top of Genesis. Almost at the exact moment before the attack landed, he blinked behind her and began constructing his rune.
This time, Monica's force was, however, not fully absorbed by the ground, but just enough to bounce her back into the air and reposition herself to launch at Genesis.
The audience blinked, only to see the two contestants frozen in one position.
The fire on Monica's arm was like a monster that opened its gory mouth, split seconds away from devouring "Genesis's" entire head.
"Genesis" barely ducked down, his hand pressing the delicate white rune on Monica's body.
It was unarguable that neither of them could dodge each other's attacks this time; there was only one possible outcome: a mutual death.
"How did you predict where I was?" Genesis lifted his head and stared at Monica in admiration.
"Instincts, I guess." Monica attempted to scratch her head, only to realise it was still covered in fire.
"I lost," "Genesis" sighed, "just for that alone."
"No, I would've died if you activated the rune." Monica gestured towards the rune pressed onto her waist. "Victory is yours."
"Draw!" someone in the audience dragged himself back to reality from the astonishment of such a legendary battle. "Both of them are winners!"
Usually, a draw would be a dissatisfying outcome for both parties and the audience. But this time, everyone seemed to cherish that decision truthfully. It no longer mattered who won; all they knew was that neither of them should bear the title of the loser.
"What do you say?" Monica smiled.
"Draw! Thank you for your empathy." "Genesis" smiled back.
"What's your true name?" Monica patted him on the back while "Genesis" tried his best not to blink away from the sheer force of her arm. "Let's fight each other another time, too. It's hard to find someone at the same level as you."
"Genesis IS my full name," Genesis replied. "No last name, yet."
"No last name? How am I supposed to find you then?" Monica furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm usually not free. I'm a student of the Imperial Rune Arts Academy of Runalond."
"Really?" Genesis exclaimed. "I am going there too! Gonna enrol next week!"
Back on the stage, Nathan and David celebrated Monica's skill in Rune Art Combat with their hands on each other's backs. Their joy was greater than anyone around them. The woman beside Nathan seemed as hollow as always—no emotions could be seen.
"Let's go meet up with Monica," Nathan suggested. "Not like any other fights would be as interesting as this one tonight."
David nodded, and they prepared to depart. Only then did Nathan suddenly realise something important.
"Excuse me, miss, can I ask for the name of my saviour?" he turned back and grinned towards the crimson-haired woman. He was sure she wasn't anyone out of the ordinary world. Nathan wasn't willing to give up any opportunity to get to know anyone influential.
"Who? Me?" The woman laughed without turning to him; her laughter sent a chill down Nathan's spine, even if it was just an ordinary laugh. "Saviour? I'm not worthy of that name, out of everyone there is in this world!"
"You saved me and my friend's life, so you are worthy in my heart," Nathan said truthfully.
Her laughter began to halt, and she stated her name in a deafening calmness.
"Angela."
"Angela Pompeii."
"Pompeii…" Nathan repeated quietly. "Like, THAT Pompeii?"
"Yeah, THAT Pompeii." She nodded.
"Nathan Modernson, you should value your life more; the outside world is more dangerous than you think." Angela continued. "Many people want your life; try not to disappoint them."
"Are you finished talking to my apprentice?" A youthful voice appeared on the seat to the right of Angela. "If you dare lay your demonic nails on him, the last remnant of Pompeii will be erased out of this world."
"Lily!" Nathan's voice trembled, not knowing whether Angela knew his name or his mentor's sudden appearance was more surprising.
"Lily? Is that your true name?" Angela asked. "Don't worry, I won't kill your apprentice. Nathan Modernson is the son of V."
"Isn't that the reason you will?" Lily hissed, her voice not playful.
Angela seemed as if she was laughing, except that no voice came out of her mouth.
"I don't kill people I want to kill. You should see that from our past," she explained. "To kill with a reason—that's a blasphemy to the divinity of murder, a sin that should be eternally punished."
"That's why Nathan is alive, why my stupid little cousin is alive, and also why you, Lily, are still alive."