Lucas sat in the dressing room for the first year.

His next match was against a mage who was 3-Star in rank. She wasn't from any prominent noble house but still she wa quite fearsome.

Though she is like a side character, she still appears in a scene or two.

As far as Lucas knew, her parents worked in a noble house but despite that, she was quite capable and had many odd moves.

Lucas laughed bitterly as he thought about his opponent's ranks.

Till now he hadn't fought with a single two-star warrior, all his matches were with a 3-Star or above while both Fredrick and Charles were able to get a lower-level opponent than them.

"Let's think about it later."

"Defeating her, I would advance to the top 128 positions and my rank would rise significantly."

"But the fight will be not easy. Since she is a mage she will try to keep her distance and fire long-ranged attacks."

Generally in a fight between a warrior and a mage, the mages are the ones who have an upper hand over the warriors.

Since Warriors fall short to reach the mages, they couldn't attack them unless they have long-ranged attacks or a way to breach through their defences and force them to fight in close-ranged quarters.

Though, Lucas had many long-ranged skills, showcasing them now is equally letting your opponent know your cards.

"Let's see. This match will be surely interesting." Lucas muttered and walked onto the arena.

.....

Round 256

Lucas Brightt Vs Valentina Margert.

Lucas walked up the stage and greeted Valentina with courtesy to show his respect towards her.

Valentina gave a brief nod in response to Lucas and raised her staff while Lucas drew out his sword taking his stance.

The crowd cheered for them, waiting for a good and exciting fight.

The referee raised his hand and shouted begin.

On hearing the referee's call, Lucas was about to move when his eyeball widened and he tilted his head to the left quickly as he sensed an incoming attack.

Something brushed past his cheek and a deep cut was formed on his right cheek and blood spurted from it.

"When did she attack," Lucas spoke with a stunning voice as he couldn't even see when she cast her spell.

Still, he didn't stand in his place like a fool and ran towards the left as he felt more incoming attacks.

He activated his flash steps and coupled with his boots, his speed breakthrough to the 4-Star and he dashed around.

As he ran, he carefully observed the attacks and due to the boost in his speed, he saw many small compressed dots of wind pressure shot toward him in a straight line that was difficult to perceive unless one has a high perception.

The wind pressure was concentrated and was shot in a straight line making it quite invincible to the naked eye.

Lucas knew about the move. It was one of the special moves of the mage.

Magic bullets.

Clang!Clang!Clang!Clang!

Lucas spun his sword and deflected the attack as more and more magic bullets were shot at him with an unprecedented speed but he was slowly getting used to it after getting a gist of what he was facing.

Valentina saw Lucas's manoeuvre and felt that Lucas had managed to decode her moves and increase the speed of her shots fiercely.

Lucas swung his sword and sidestepped and his image blurred for a moment and he appeared quite close to Valentina.

Valentina's eyes weren't able to keep a tab on Lucas's movement and her expression turned ugly as she noticed Lucas's incoming attack.

Lucas raised his sword and the wind started to condense in it aiming at Valentina, he took a step forward and slashed at her.

The wind around Lucas rippled and the air before him ripped apart as the wind blade emerged after Lucas slashed tore the air and went towards Valentina.

Valentina dug the staff on the ground and a muttered a spell and a huge earthen wall emerged from the ground and stood before her as a shield.

The wind blade collided with the wall and with a small thundering boom, the ground crumbled and the upper part of the wall was blown away by the collision and rock, soil, particles and dust flew all around.

Lucas didn't wait for the dust to settle in and ran towards the wall, jumped over it and was about to slash his sword when noticed that Valentina had disappeared from the spot.

Landing on the ground, he looked around but was unable to find her.

Feeling an ominous haze, he looked up to see Valentina's figure floating in the air.

"Shit! Who knew that she can fly." Lucas cursed.

But what terrified him more was the huge number of fireballs that were hovering beside her.

Valentina looked down on Lucas and raised his staff.

The fireballs that were hovering in the air around her started to fall on Lucas like a meteorite shower.

Lucas didn't want to use the skill of glacier lance or shadow steps so early in the tournament when it had just begun so he has to go through the hard way.

Lucas's sword glowed with a greenish hue as he looked up at the fireball descending on him.

"Drifting Sword Style:Wind Blades."

Lucas spoke as he slashed the sword multiple times and many wind blades emerged from his blade and went up towards the fireballs.

The wind blades bombarded the fireball and as the hot and cold air collided with each other, narrow space of vacuum was created which formed a huge bubble which contracted as much as it can.

Silence prevailed for some time following, a huge pressure burst forth and the air rippled with a loud blast

BOOOM!

Multiple blasts were heard and the huge shock wave of flames spread in the mid-air, brightening the place where the collision took place.

Lucas closed his eyes and covered his face for a moment as a huge pressure descended upon him.

While Lucas bear a brunt of the explosion, Valentina's condition was far from better.

Since she was in the mid-air, she doesn't have anything to stabilise herself and was almost blasted out of the ring by the collisions of the attacks but somehow she managed to land safely on her feet.

Valentina staff was an artifact and it was B ranked artifact. It can store two of her spells and help her to fly some distance but for a short interval of time.

But the mana consumption in doing the flight was no joke. She thought that by using flight magic she would surprise Lucas and used many fireballs to bombard Lucas and would win the match but it was far from over.

She hadn't underestimated him but even after all the calculations, Lucas turned out to be way better than he show himself.

But that doesn't mean, it was over after all she still has many tricks up her sleeve.

As the explosions cleared, Lucas noticed Valentina standing at some distance. Her face was withered and looked pale.

'She must have used a lot of mana in her previous attack.'Lucas thought as he observed her.

He thought he could get her now. Lucas taking his step forward dashed towards her but his feet skid in the midway and losing his balance, his body slid on the ground.

"What the hell!"Lucas muttered as he couldn't believe that he lost his footing.

This was beyond shameful, a mistake that even newbie warriors don't make.

Lucas tried to get up but frowned and his brows furrowed as he looked down to see, that there was mud all around him.

He didn't have to think for too long to know about how it happened as he saw the crushed wall and rocks and stones that were present before he disappeared.

Valentina must have used some spell to alter them into the mud.

Valentina swung her staff at a distance and many projectiles flew at Lucas.

Lucas jumped back and somersaulted the bombardment but as his hands touched the hand, it skids again but Lucas put more strength in his leg and as it landed,the ground cracked and a small print of his foot appeared giving a foothold.

Lucas slashed many wind blades in response to Valentina's spell that was only able to neutralise her attacks but couldn't overpower them.

BOOM!Boom Boom Boom Boom

A chain of explosions was taking place as both of their attacks collided.

As both of them are in a stalemate, Lucas slashed a strong single wind blade whose arc and destructiveness were much bigger than all the previous ones and sidestepped and ran through the arena.

Valentina frowned and fired a beam of fire toward them.

While the attacks collided and covered her vision with dust, she saw a sword coming at her and it was spinning in the air at an incredible velocity and the sword was aiming at the place she was standing.

She jumped back and had barely dodged the sword but contrary to her expectations, the sword changed its trajectory like a boomerang and followed her.

Valentina took her staff and formed a small wall.

BANG!.

The sword collided with the ground and half of its blade pierced it and passed to the other side and struck the wall.

As Valentina was about to take a step back, she felt two daggers placed behind her neck and she heard a voice.

"Please Concede."

Valentina who was panting heavily sighed and let go of her staff rasing her hands.