Heated Final

Olivia clenched her rapier now instead and still expressed her cold-hearted neutral and friendly smile.

"My! I must have gotten careless there for a second, however it is nothing to worry about," Olivia laughed.

It creeped Alex out, but he knew from the change in her eyes and her aura that Olivia was going to be fully serious from here on out.

"That is what I am talking about!" Alex licked his lips again, his blood boiled with excitement and he readied his stance.

Alex held out his flaming sword and hid his other hand behind his back, channeling a bit of fire into its open palm. He got a bad feeling that Olivia was going to go on the offensive now, even though she preferred counters.

For the first time in the tournament, Olivia stepped forward towards her opponent. Her cold smile did not waver for a second. Thomas and the rest in the crowd gulped and held onto their seats. Olivia disappeared in the blink of a second, then appeared before Alex both parrying with their weapons.

Behind his back, Alex formed a short-sword and then rapidly curled it to strike her waist. However Olivia deflected his sword then instantly parried his other weapon. Alex gulped the second Olivia countered both attacks and she broke loose swiftly then launched a strike of her own towards his throat.

He dodged the blow by leaping backwards, but in the span of a second Olivia followed him and launched another attack against his throat once more. Alex had to parry with both weapons and her rapier was halted in the middle of the two, barely reaching his throat.

"Is that all you got?" Olivia tilted her head and kept her smile.

"Shit this is not good…" Alex thought to himself.

Olivia had him pinched where she wanted him and he could not move either weapon. She prepared a high leg kick with flames coming underneath it again to sweep Alex's legs. Once she launched it, Alex jumped to dodge and in response Olivia spinned around and used her other leg to kick in his chest to blow him away.

To halt the fall Alex hunched down and scraped his left hand on the ground, then used it to propel himself diagonally upwards by jumping backwards. In the midst of resetting his balance and getting back up on both feet Olivia dashed through Alex and slashed his right cheek. It dripped a few blood drops onto the ground.

"Second round victory goes to Olivia!" Cassie declared.

Olivia laughed as Alex pondered for a bit.

"Seriously, is that all you got? Where is the real Alex buried deep down?" Olivia taunted him.

Thomas looked towards Corbin.

"What does she mean?" Thomas inquired however Corbin refused to answer.

Alex shook his head then wiped the blood streaming down his cheek with his thumb and licked it.

"You really got me there," Alex broadly smiled.

Olivia stopped laughing and resumed launching her attack. They parried and dodged blow by blow, both were in full serious mode. Only a handful of the students could keep track of their speed.

Every time Alex attempted to strike she would parry and deflect into a counter. If he used his other weapon she would block that one as well and use her legs to try and set him off balance.

Alex got careful to not jump anymore to dodge. Olivia's speed to gap close nearly matched his own, he could not sacrifice any speed at all. It looked like Olivia was in control of dictating the pace from the stands, and in reality that was what went down in their skirmish as well. Alex had a hard time finding an opener.

"This is not like him… why cannot he just finish her?" Thomas complained.

"She has definitely improved…" Corbin stated with careful doubt, he made it sound like something was bound to unfold and her improvement was not enough.

During their skirmish Alex mana started to deplete first and his weapons began to fall apart, little by little.

"Keep at it Olivia!"

"You got him!"

"His manapool is inferior to yours!"

People cheered her on from the stands. Olivia launched another attack and Alex was forced to parry with both weapons, however upon impact both broke and depleted. Her rapier moved rapidly towards Alex's throat.

"This is it!" Simon yelled.

Time slowed down for Alex, he could sense his defeat and there was nothing he could do to dodge it in time. A loud ringing noise began beckoning in his mind and a voice whispered his name.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Alex cursed and told the voice to stay away.

Only Cassie and Olivia saw Alex closing his eyes before impact and then opening them with a new look in his face. By the time most people could follow, something weird already occurred before they could catch it.

Alex's left hand was gripping Olivia's right hand. He squeezed it tight and she dropped her rapier on the ground, then it dispersed into flames.

"Wait what happened?"

"I swore she was about to hit him!"

Alex stood there with a more sadistic and villainous smile.

"Tsk… little Olivia, you did not seriously think you could beat me?" Alex waved his right index finger in her face.

"Let go of me!" Olivia demanded.

Although the instant she spoke, Alex squeezed her wrist even tighter and she screamed out from him pressing on her wrist's nerves. She prepared her leg but before it took off the ground Alex had punched her stomach and she coughed up blood.

"Listen… we are just having a friendly conversation here… why are you attacking me for Liv?" Alex smiled and Olivia's face became pale.

Thomas turned to Corbin again.

"What is going on?" Thomas shouted.

"Whenever Alex is close to losing… he changes…" Corbin replied with both his hands shaking.

Olivia did not listen and prepared her other leg, and in response Alex stumbled her right foot then pulled her wrist and threw her onto the ground.

"Get up…" Alex waited.

"No…" Olivia slightly trembled.

"Come on… we cannot let you royal folk give up like this, right?" Alex stomped her thigh and Olivia screamed out in pain.

He then pulled up her hair and tried to get Olivia back on her feet. Alex formed a small flame around his index finger and held it against her throat. He then went down to her clothing and slowly started scorching it down from the middle, breaking it up into two pieces.

"Well… I guess since you refuse to fight we have to use other methods as an incentive," Alex laughed.

"I surr---" Olivia attempted to talk but Alex immediately silenced her mouth with his other hand.

"Not before we put on a little show for everyone up there, your friends might want to see this," Alex closed down and reached her bra.

A little more and Alex would scorch it too, but Cassie ran in to intervene and a water sword was swung, separating the two.

"This match is finished… Alex is the victor!" Cassie declared and stared in utmost seriousness into his eyes.

"Tsk…" Alex cursed her with his eyes and then returned to normal while walking back to the stands.

He held his hand against his head, Alex had a massive headache and his legs became weak. Corbin rushed down while Alex tumbled.

"I got you," Corbin picked him up on time and helped Alex up.

"Thanks mate," Alex said and Thomas helped as well.

Thomas had so many questions, but he chose to save them for a different time when it was only the three of them. He stared on the ground where Olivia was sobbing with Cassie embracing her, telling her everything is alright.

Thomas almost felt bad for Olivia, but his mind chose to fixate on one thing. What happened to Alex back there?