Chapter 244: The Strongest Rose (7)

Perseus POV

I knew that I was outmatched in my swordsmanship, even though people regard me as a genius, in terms of using weapons, I am a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none, so I can't rely on my sword and have to use my gauntlet to finish him off.

Finn charged at me and once I began to move, my body felt like it was flowing like water as I danced around the Finn. He swung his weapon at me, but I easily dodged out of the way, my foot sweeping out to trip him.

He stumbled backwards, his sword clanging against the ground, and I took the opportunity to strike. My fists flew, my legs kicking out in rapid succession as I used my close combat skills to their fullest potential. Finn was caught off guard as he didn't expect me to go on full offense, and I landed blow after blow.

But he was not down for long. He lunged forward, his sword flashing with a bright light. I ducked and dodged, my body twisting and turning as I avoided the deadly blade. With a quick spin, I landed a powerful kick to his side, and he grunted in pain.

We circled each other, both of us panting and sweating. Finn was unbelievably skilled, I continued to dance around him, my body moving in ways that seemed impossible.

Suddenly, he lunged forward again, his sword swinging in a deadly arc. But I was ready for him this time. With a quick twist of my body, I slid under his blade and landed a punch to his stomach. He doubled over in pain, and I took advantage of the moment to disarm him.

The sword clattered to the ground, and I kicked it away. Finn stumbled backwards, and in his hands, he created a blade made of light and charged at me again.

The blade glowed even more dangerously brighter than ever before, he swung it at me, it was so quick and powerful that he cleaved through my left should and even chipped a part of my ear.

I then charged my right arm with all the energy I have left in my body, I gathered the rose petals to swirl around my right arm and while his arm was up over my head, I hit the side of his jaw with all my might.

His head twisted to the side, and he then dropped his sword and slowly stumbled backward, I rush in to finish him off, but he gathered every ounce of his speed to raise his right arm in front of my face, way faster than I can dodge it.

He gathered whatever bit of mana he has left in his body and he then deactivated his golden armor and used that power to support and amplified the mana in his arm, he cast a quick, but explosively powerful fireball point blank in my face.

3rd Person POV

Perseus and Phineas then collapse at the same time. The black pollen in the arena then starts to dissipate, Phineas could no longer hold his breath and started gulping for air, but some of the black dust got inhaled into his nose right before it can fully disappear.

The referees came into the arena and checked on both of them, knocked out cold, the referees then fed Phineas this black-colored pill that was dissolved into water and used magic to move the water into Phineas' body s he won't die.

Perseus discussed with them his plan to use the black rose, he skimmed through the rule book at first, especially focusing on the most important rules, he then read one rule that can impact his chance of winning, a rule that only affected him.

There was one power that was banned, the power of the black rose, a power that was banned in their rulebook, the rule was made by the guardian of the white rose right around the time the tournament started as only he and the black rose herself can cure that madness.

The rule was created to essentially stop the future lord of the black rose from showing up and using their powers and accidentally killing the other contestants.

The only way around that ban was that the lord of the black rose will have to tell the referees to prepare a special arrangement to counter every power the lord of the black rose planned to use, one of which, was to give them the cure to the madness that the black rose can potentially cause.

But the match was over now, and the audience was waiting for the result to be announced, the referee then got in a circle and started deliberating on who should be the winner, but they couldn't decide on a winner, so they decided to announce to the audience that it was a draw, much to everyone's disappointment and anticipation.

The head referee then used magic to amplify his voice.

"Thank you for your attention." he announced "According to Article 4 Section 3, in times of a draw where the referees on-site also can't determine a winner, the decision of the winner will be given to a group of voters which may include high ranking guests such as royalty or nobility, the voters are chosen anonymously and are to be tested for neutral bias before they are qualified to cast their votes..."

*****

"I remember a case like this, that was centuries ago." Cassius started to reminisce about the past "Tch, I wasted my precious time only for it to end in a draw. Perseus...you're dating my sister, so the least you can do is kill that non-believing and so-called righteous cretin."

Cassius still believed that the anti-magic cult was the ones that destroyed his cathedral, but he is merciful enough to not just kill everyone and wants to kill only the ones responsible, he can't find out who among them is though, but in his heart, he believed that only Phineas can do all that and escaped, which is why he was secretly hoping that Perseus would win.