4.28.

Sacrificing his defense for a split moment, Sequencee sent a Starfall towards Lancet. A gash drew itself across Sequencee's upper arm.

[Activated Trait: Negate Magic]

Lancet, upon noticing the flash of light, swept his sword to slice the projectile into two parts.

– It was a big mistake

The moment it came into contact with his sword, an explosion occurred. He was sent flying a few meters in the air.

Sequencee, taking the opportunity, quickly fired two more Starfalls and chased after him.

Pushing himself out of the way, the Starfalls didn't manage to hit him.

Sequencee was less than a hundred meters to Lancet.

The blade projection returned with an upwards strike.

Sequencee parried with a dowardstrike– the sword slid along the shaft of his spear and pulled through. Sequencee bent backwards, narrowly missing the attack.

Lancet followed up with a roundhouse kick– which Sequencee didn't expect. The impact sent him hurling to the ground. A blade projection manifested above and was about to end things when Lancet staggered to the strong burst of wind somewhere.

Two cyclones had just appeared on the battlefield near where the Starfalls landed.

Sequencee propelled himself away using wind magic, the sword never touched him.

The two cyclones zoned in on Lancet.

Clicking this tongue, he focused his mind and severed the storm with [Activated Skill: Negate Magic].

Sequencee fired Star Auger.

Lancet jumped away.

The impact on the site created a large dust cloud.

A blade projection came sweeping by. Sequencee held his spear in reverse hold and spun around it. Dashing towards Lancet.

Fifty meter mark.

Sequencee began firing small rock pelts as he defended against an incoming strike. Again, he failed to properly defend as a wound was incurred against his chest.

Lancet defended against the rock pelts using a simple magic barrier. Sequencee enhanced the rock pelts with anti-magic, rendering the barrier useless.. or so he thought. It seemed [Activated Skill: Negate Magic] rendered the anti-magic enchantment useless too, the rock pelts couldn't penetrate the barrier.

Obviously, Sequencee held back. If he were serious, he would be spamming Star Auger and Starfall spells by this point.

'.. he should survive.'

Sequencee needed to get closer to evoke the trump card prepared for this occasion.

Three lesser Star Augers manifested around him, they fired off like a jet engine's exploding torque.

Lancet maximized his barrier and used the sword projection to alter the trajectory of the spell. Funnily enough, the recoil of the sword projection, when hitting Star Auger sent him stumbling back.

BBAAAMM!!!

The spell shredded his barrier and..

Drove itself into the ground.

Lancet was driven into the air. The crowd gasped, the large dust cloud made it impossible to know of his condition until it settled.

Sequencee approached him.

Ten meters.

'Here we go.'

Lancet's silhouette, struggling to stand with the support of his sword.

Sequencee stabbed his spear into the ground.

Arrester.

A modified version of a spell from Din's repertoire.

A complex magic circle appeared beneath the spear and Lancet. A strong pressure suddenly riveted him in place. The air felt like lead, his consciousness felt fuzzy. Looking down at his feet, he could see a slow-spinning magic circle beneath.

The activation of [Activated Trait: Negate Magic] didn't seem to help. The magic was creating a phenomena around him, not directly on him.

With all his might, he struggled to raise his head.

"You're.. not human.."

He pointed his heavy sword at him, showing his bloodied canine.

"You demon.."

[Activated Trait: Virtual Strikes]

A translucent object shot forward.

Reinforced ice coated Sequencee's hand as he grabbed hold of the blade.

Tapping his feet on the ground, ice rippled out from underneath him.

The projection in Sequencee's hand disappeared. Lancet reactivated his system gift, the projectile came flying from another direction.

Sequencee raised a barrier of ice, thinking that it would be coming from there when.. a ripping pain shot through his body.

For a moment he thought the world went dark.. he looked down.

A blade was shoved from his flank out through his stomach.

'How did it.. bypass my barrier?'

Blood poured out from his lips. Sequencee restrained the blade with his hands to prevent it from moving any further. Lancet was seriously trying to bisect him with whatever energy he had left– worse when he was using the gravity applied on him to his own advantage.

The virtual sword moved downwards in reflection of the position of the original sword, only that Sequencee was restraining it from making things any worse.

'Damn.. it..'

Not being able to sense the movement of an object using spatial magic was a big handicap. It began to make sense why Lancet would be one of the top students in Eluive academy. The synergy between his skill and system– it was simply perfect.

'I can't kill him..'

Blood continued to pour out Sequencee's stomach, he could feel the flood of it rushing up his esophagus as the blade went down more and more.

Breathing became difficult, his vision blurred to the intense pain of healing and tearing–

'How long.. do I need to wait..'

Likewise, Lancet's consciousness began to wane, his posture crumbled– until he let go of his sword.

Sequencee was now skewered in place by a semi-translucent sword floating in mid air.

He took a careful step forward, feeling the excruciating pain of the blade moving out of his intestines caused him to wince.

'Fuck.. fuck.. a little more..'

A few seconds that felt like an eternity. Sequencee got himself unstuck from the projection and… spurted a mouthful of blood. He fell to the ground.

["W-What.. just happened..?"]

'No.. not yet..'

["This duel.. it seems.."]

Sequencee pressed his hands against the ground.

Regeneration was taking place, but it didn't do anything to stop the blood loss. Fortunately the sword didn't hit his spine, otherwise he would've been temporarily paralyzed. That said, he could barely move as a smutting pain coursed through his entire right body.

'Fuck.. fuck..'

["I-It's not over.."]

Sequencee flipped himself over.

Creating a dirt backstop to rest himself on, he faced Lancet who was still struggling on the ground.

Sequencee coughed up another pool of blood.

He had to keep the supply of mana flowing until the Arrester spell knocked him out completely.

Lancet coughed out mucus, showing how he was still fighting against the restraint through his willpower.

He reached out and tried to grab his sword.

'Someone sure has good vitality.'

Sequencee could feel the intensity of the pain grow ever more intense. A wave of drowsiness washed over him.

Let go, and fall into darkness. The next time he opened his eyes, he would be back in the infirmary– his mind seemed to say.

Lancet managed to grab hold of the handle of his sword, with one more push, raised it enough that it matched Sequencee's heart level.

"Die.." he muttered.

He pierced forward.

'Great.'

Sequencee removed the backrest and dropped himself flat on the floor, the virtual blade just coming overhead.

'I'm safe.'

Blood pooled on the ground. Looking straight up, Sequencee thought the morning sky looked beautiful.

"STOP THIS NONSENSE!!!"

"Stop it! The duel is over! It's over!"

Sequencee was barely able to turn to the source of the voice. Faintly making out the silhouette of the priest, priestesses and the hero who were coming closer, a smile formed on his lips.

"Sequencee!!" she approached his side.

"W-we're here.. we're here..don't die.. don't die.. Sequence. Can you hear me? Sequencee please.. hang on.. hang.."

"I'm not going to die okay..?"

"He's knocked out only, bring him to the infirmary and check his vitals!" The priest that went to check on Lancet's condition announced.

"Why.. why did you have to do this.."

'I don't know why myself.'

Smiling, Sequencee closed his eyes and allowed his consciousness to fade into black.

The duel ended in a draw.

===

She quickly exposed his clothes. The sight of all the blood caused tears to run down her cheeks.

'Why, why, why.. Why didn't you tell me about this? Why couldn't you have told me earlier?!'

Things could've been settled much simpler. Things could've been resolved without needing this fight!

She pulled out the blood from his airway, a disgusting ball of blood was transferred out of his mouth and spilled to the ground.

'He's unconscious, but still breathing.'

["The duel has ended. No results concluded, all audiences please remain calm. Professionals are on site to treat the wounded."]

"Please.. please.."

Evelyn exposed his bloodied clothes and examined his internal organs using medical-spatial magic.

"How is he?" Risa asked.

"Don't talk to me."

'The sword went from his liver, parts of the gallbladder ducts were damaged.. his intestines were cut..'

Evelyn began her healing magic.

First to remedy the internal structures. Then to remove the blood.

'Odd.. why..'

Something wasn't right. The recovery was going much faster than expected. If anything, it felt as if Sequencee's own body was making efforts to remove the blood and mend the visceral membranes.

Connective tissue, liver cells, fat deposits.. all of these were returning at an abnormal rate.

'W-What is this..?'

Evelyn pulled back and watched as the wound closed up perfectly. Though there was still a lot of blood stuck to his body, she knew that the recovery was perfect.

"Demons sure have strong vitality don't they?" Risa said.

"What..?"

"Evelyn, he's going to be fine," Risa patted her shoulders.

Seeing Sequencee lay there with his pale face, pale lips..

Evelyn pulled him close to her, blood stained her uniform.

"I'm sorry.."

He was safe.

Evelyn cried.

===

Cabural leaned back against his chair and watched as the team of priests brought the two participants away from the field. He placed his legs on the table and looked to the ceiling.

"Was the result to your expectation?" he asked.

"..." Trhumen remained silent.

"The imperial princess has intervened. There's nothing I can do now but hope they will be loose in their approach to handling the matter. Otherwise, things might become much more complicated."

"..."

"Forgive me that I was unable to assist you in achieving your goal."

"No sir. It was my oversight which caused the plan to fail."

"Talk to Her Highness Titania and gain cooperation in the matter. We have to mitigate the princess' fury."

"Yes."

Trhumen bowed and left.

When the heavy door closed, Cabural heaved a deep sigh. He grabbed the wine glass on the table and swirled its contents.

"All I needed was to overlook you once, and you've somehow gained the goodwill of the heroes."

He sipped on the delicious wine.

"What are the demons planning?"