"BEGIN!" Noah's voice thunderously signaled the start of the final clash.
Noah instantly leaped backward, clearing the ring to give the two monsters space. Alex didn't wait, He was a burst of golden light, his boots shattering the stage as he bolted toward Ryan. The distance between them vanished in a heartbeat, Alex's fist already cocked back, glowing with the searing heat of the Kellen Solar Arts.
As the golden fist drew closer, Ryan's mind flashed back to the dusty, ancient notebook he had recovered from the Ragnor ruins.
The Ragnors were a family of shadows assassins who could slip through a realm unnoticed. Their techniques were designed for the silent kill, the strike from the dark. But Ryan wasn't an assassin. He was a calculating, frontal-attack strategist. He had purposefully trained David with the Ragnor assassin arts, mixing them with common techniques from the Adventurer's Association so David wouldn't stand out as a "Ragnor shadow."
For himself, Ryan had taken a different path. He took only what could fortify his direct, overwhelming strength. In his analysis of the Ragnor conspiracy, he had realized two fundamental truths. First: the Ragnor name was a magnet for danger, but it was also a key to unparalleled opportunity.
Second, and far more terrifying: the Ragnor bloodline held a secret that defied the laws of the 7-Step Realm.
In this world, talent was determined at birth. If you were born a 4-star, you died a 4-star. But the Ragnor bloodline allowed for Talent Enhancement with every major evolution. If Ryan had possessed this bloodline from the start, his 4-star talent would already have evolved to 4.3 or higher. It was this "Evolutionary Talent" that had once allowed the Ragnor ancestors to stand at the peak of the 7th Realm before a massive disaster and a shadowy conspiracy forced them to hide in the dregs of Realm-1.
Now, as the heir to that forbidden blood, Ryan watched Alex's fist approach. He didn't dodge. He didn't slip into the shadows.
He planted his lead foot, the stone groaning under the pressure, and thrust his own fist forward to meet the sun-bright strike head-on.
BOOM!!
The collision echoed through the stadium like boom - chak. A shockwave of silver and gold mana erupted from the point of impact one side was icy and other was golden, clouding the center of the ring in a thick, swirling mist of energy. The sheer weight of the aura made the students in the front rows lean back, their hair whipped by the sudden gale.
The two fighters were thrown back by the recoil. Ryan skidded across the stone, his heels carving two trenches into the arena floor before he hissed to a halt. Across from him, Alex tumbled back, flipping mid-air to land on his feet, his golden aura flickering like a dying flame before roaring back to life.
They stood twenty paces apart, the air between them still distorted by the heat of the clash.
Alex looked at his trembling hand, a manic grin stretching across his face. "Frontal confrontation? Against a Kellen? You've got guts, Ragnor. Most people try to run from my Solar Fist."
Ryan straightened his tunic, his expression as cold as a mountain peak. "Running is for those who aren't sure they can win. I'm just getting started."
on areana , lucas was like fuck that bast@ard and shouting, all other students maintained their distance and starts to away from that weirdo.
On the VIP stage, Principal Malvik's eyes narrowed. He hadn't missed the way Ryan's mana had density beyond a normal 4-star talent. He's not just using the name, Malvik thought. The blood is waking up or he had some good opportunity in recent. not everyone knows the seceret ragnor blood.
the air in the arena dropped twenty degrees in a heartbeat.
Ryan exhaled, a cloud of crystalline mist escaping his lips. In the 7-Step Realm, mana was not just raw energy; it was defined by Elemental Attributes. Through the resouces Ryan had scavenged from the Ragnor ruins and the specialized techniques of ice attributes he'd bought with his amassed fortune at the Association, he had forged his mana into a weapon of absolute zero.
He raised his hands, and a layer of jagged, translucent ice encased his forearms. The silver mana was so dense it looked like solid diamond, a concentration that would make even a Silver Peak cultivator sweat with apprehension.
"Ice Glacier: Fourth Form!" Ryan roared.
His mana surged, manifesting as massive, boulder-sized shards of enchanted ice that hovered around him before launching forward with the force of a mountain slide.
Alex Kellen didn't flinch. His golden aura flared into a miniature sun. "Kellen Solar Art: Thousand-Sun Barrage!"
Alex's fists became a blur, raining down a hundred fire-infused strikes per second. The sounds of impact—Boom! Boom! Boom!—rattled the stadium's foundations as fire met ice. Steam hissed into the air, creating a blinding fog, but the two combatants didn't slow down. They moved like flashes of lightning shk, shk, shk colliding at one point of the ring and reappearing at the other in the blink of an eye.
In the stands, the Bronze-stage students sat with their mouths agape. "Is this... is this really the power of the Silver Middle Phase?" one stammered. To them, the speed and destructive force on display felt like a battle between gods.
Suddenly, the two fighters recoiled, sliding to opposite ends of the ring. Alex's breathing was heavy, his noble silken robes scorched and tattered. He realized then that he couldn't defeat Ryan with his bare hands.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this today," Alex panted, reaching into his storage pouch. With a metallic hum, a magnificent weapon appeared in his grip. "Solar Spear. A 3rd-Grade artifact."
The spear radiated a terrifying heat that began to evaporate the lingering frost. Alex looked at Ryan with a sharp, competitive glint. "Everything is fair in a duel, right Ragnor?"
Ryan stared at the weapon. He knew the sheer probability of winning against a high-tier artifact was low, but his goal wasn't a hollow victory. He only needed to make the Noble bleed.
Ryan dropped into a low, peculiar stance. "Then let's finish this."
The temperature plummeted even further as Ryan drew every scrap of mana from his core. Thousands of needle-thin ice shards began to form in the air around him, hovering like a frozen graveyard. Simultaneously, Alex poured his golden mana into the spear; the weapon began to hum, vibrating with a pitch so high it made the spectators' ears bleed.
"Solar Nova Strike!" Alex screamed, lunging forward like a falling star.
"Absolute Zero: Thousand Needle Rain!" Ryan countered.
They met in the center. The explosion was blinding. The ice needles shredded through Alex's golden barrier, slicing into his skin, while the blunt force of the Solar Spear's shaft smashed into Ryan's chest with the weight of a falling building.
As the dust settled, the arena fell into a deathly silence.
Alex Kellen stood hunched over, his Solar Spear trembling in his hand. His noble face was pale, and blood dripped steadily from multiple cuts across his arms, chest, and face. He had won, but only by the smallest of margins.
Across from him, Ryan Ragnor was a mess of broken ribs and scorched skin. He was fully injured, his breath coming in jagged gasps, yet he remained standing, his eyes fixed on Alex with a terrifying, icy clarity. For five long seconds, he defied the laws of biology, standing like an immovable statue of frost.
Then, his eyes rolled back, and his body finally gave out.
As Ryan fell into unconsciousness, a final, cold thought echoed in his mind: Step two... complete. He had the reward, he had the connection to the Kellen house through the bet, and he had the attention of the Principal. The chess pieces were exactly where he wanted them.
Noah stepped forward, his face full of uncharacteristic respect. "The winner... Alex Kellen! Runner-up... Ryan Ragnor!"