The rest of the day passed in a whirlwind of rare and epic items. From a spear enchanted to cause nearly unstoppable bleeding to a shear that could harvest natural treasures with minimal losses, it was all awe-inspiring and very distracting.

  Lev had to force his mind clean of all the different ways he could craft similar, less potent items. For creating equipment of similar quality, he doubted he even knew about half the requirements.

  "Are you ready?" Isabella asked without looking at him. They were both waiting in one of the gold rooms, away from the royal booth.

  High above, illusion screens showed the scheduled matches for the day. Lev was going to face Aryan, and Elias was going to face Isabella.

  "Naturally," Lev replied, in a strangely off mood. He was going to put an arrogant rogue in his place, yet Lev couldn't bring himself to care about it.

  After seeing Aryan immediately leave the day before, Lev was re-evaluating his bet with the shadow mana user. Not only was it utterly worthless except gaining some face, it was also made in haste.

  He didn't feel haughty like he usually did, the memory came to him from yesterday. Too bad I cannot take any risks against him. My barriers are more geared toward offense than defense. Shadow mana will tear them to shreds.

  The result of the match was already set in stone. Lev was there to win, and he was going to end it quickly.

  "Good luck," Lev nodded at Isabella, who nodded back. Getting up, he made his way to the arena's entrance five minutes before the match.

  He had a hunch, and it was proven when he found his opponent waiting there already.

  "You seem to be doing better," Lev broke the silence. "Not all hissy and feral like a kitten given a firearm."

  In the background, the commentator was hyping up the people. No matter how casually Lev treated the competition, such bright hunters participating was a monumental event.

  "You're one to talk," Aryan gave him a sidelong glance. "Do you think everyone else blind to your arrogance?"

  Lev recalled how easily Ron had almost eliminated him. He had been shaken quite thoroughly from that single experience. The expanding state of his head was no longer a mystery.

  "Life always finds a way to teach, I suppose," Lev eventually replied. "Do you still want to go through with the bet?"

  They both stared into each other's eyes, trying to gauge what was going on in their opponent's head. Neither gave away anything.

  "Some of it," Aryan conceded. "Gold is easy to come by. No need to cancel that part."

  Lev couldn't help but smirk, showing the aforementioned arrogance clearly. Some of it was healthy, or so he believed.

  "Right, easy platinum for me." Lev nodded leisurely, eliciting a snort from the rogue.

  "Sure, sure."

  "HUNTERS, TAKE YOUR POSITIONS!" the commentator's voice reached them.

  Lev and Aryan entered the arena side by side, their gait confident and assured of victory. There would be no holding back in the arena today. Both were ready to give it their all and had complete faith in their abilities.

  He really is different now, Lev observed without making it obvious. Back when they were leaving for the hunt, the shadow user snapped at him instantly. The whole thing reminded him of how a cornered… animal…

  Lev's face darkened. I'll talk to him about this later.

  "WELCOME TO THE SEMIFINALS, MY DEAR SPECTATORS! ALL FOUR OF THE REMAINING PARTICIPANTS HAVE QUALIFIED FOR REWARDS, BUT TODAY, WE WILL SEE WHICH TWO HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO FIGHT FOR THE GRAND PRIZES!"

  The commentator went on about how impressive both of them were. Lev had to constantly resist the urge to roll his eyes and glare at the commentator's box.

  "3"

  "2"

  "1"

  "BEGIN!"

  Lev forewent all manner of enchantments and constructs, activating his barrier armor and flying away instantly. Where he was a moment before, a dagger wreathed in shadow mana tore through the air. From a single glance, Lev knew he would've easily been killed by that.

  Enhancement formation appeared on his armor over three seconds as he dodged another four daggers one by one. Each of them vanished in a puff of smoke, never landing anywhere.

  Is that fucking teleportation? Lev observed, unable to hold back a grin. Just as his movements were empowered, a truckload of lightning imbued his armor, further amplifying them.

  Aryan himself was nowhere to be seen but that was fine, even if Lev was just now realizing that the rogue was holding back in previous matches. Ten lances formed above Lev, each filled with a large amount of lightning and fire mana. They descended as one, illuminating the arena in one bright explosion.

  No hopes were put in those projectiles, however. Two daggers exited the flames, aimed to pierce his heart and head. Eight enchanted shields rushed to block them just in time. Six shattered, and the last two almost did as well as they finally stopped the daggers in their tracks.

  Lev's attention was never on them. Behind him, several different blobs of shadow mana approached, each indistinguishable from the last. The rogue was somewhere in there, he knew, yet they were all going to reach him at the same time.

  Not taking any chances, a huge slash of lightning was fired at the leftmost source, and four newly formed shields stood in front of the middle one. Lev himself squared off against the last approaching blur.

  Through sheer luck, the one he was facing turned out to be the shadow rogue. Aryan swung his empty palm, and Lev scrambled to bring Stargazer in the path of where he predicted the dagger would be.

  In a blink, the palm was twisted, and a dagger dripping with shadow mana appeared in it. It bypassed Lev's deflect easily, only to stop dead at the haft of Stargazer.

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  Where Lev only had one weapon though, the rogue was wielding two daggers. Lev darted back, doing his best to get out of the way, but agony bloomed on his chest, going from left to right above his ribs as flesh and armor parted without any resistance.

  Stifling a scream of pain, Lev commanded all the hastily formed arrows to launch themselves at the rogue. Before the first of them even got close, Aryan had already vanished.

  The cut is too large, Lev noted in a painful haze. I'll bleed out in minutes.

  He was now on a timer. Lightning surged out of him as dozens of arrows formed above. Each was rapidly infused and fired haphazardly throughout the arena, not sparing a single corner.

  Huge barriers became visible underneath the onslaught, protecting the spectators from the dreadful volley.

  A quiet grunt of pain revealed the rogue's position. For a brief instant, Lev noticed Aryan running on barriers, each solidified mid-air to provide a platform. The skill was seamlessly aiding his movements, no doubt a result of at least one evolution of the Mana Barrier skill.

  Ninety percent mana left.

  Eight shields surrounded him again, enchanted and infused with earth mana, ready to be imbued. For several moments, there was silence in the charred and glassy arena.

  The rogue was constantly on the run. Lev's Perception showed its worth after a few seconds, revealing Aryan only a few meters behind him.

  Lev was about to launch a slash when the world went dark. Dense, impenetrable shadow mana surrounded him like a cloud of death, utterly neutralizing his vision and all forms of Perception.

  Panic was now rearing its ugly head. The previous confidence had taken a backseat, and unwavering desire to win took its place, overshadowing panic as it settled.

  All of Lev's shields circled him, each placed to detect any hints of the rogue's location. Time slowed down to a crawl, signifying the activation of his Perception skill. From anywhere, a dagger was about to end the match.

  That was unacceptable.

  Lightning roared into his armor as Lev's constitution was immediately overwhelmed by the mana channeling. His arms and legs started to disintegrate slowly as even more of the destructive mana was created and thrown inside his armor.

  With an iron will, Lev took control of it all. It struggled to break free, unwilling to bend to such a weak will and manipulation skill, but he didn't allow it. It was his mana, and it would obey.

  When something scraped against the barrier armor on the back of his neck, Lev immediately released all of the lightning mana in an uncontrolled blast around him.

  Shadow mana was blown away like a candle flame in a storm, yet the rogue was somehow able to react in time. Like a butterfly, he deftly hopped away on a barrier and evaded the worst of the attack.

  Just before the slowed Perception ended, Lev was able to see a bright blue and white cloud of power form around him. Mana was dumped into his armor to increase its durability as much as he could, and earth mana imbued its entirety before Lev's countermeasure exploded.

  Heat, electric current, and pain. Those things became Lev's world as restoration mana sought to heal the mounting damage. The wild storm of lightning subsided after a few moments, revealing Lev who was mostly unharmed, and a charred and ruined arena.

  Still in here, Lev breathed heavily, spitting out blood inside his armor. A concussion was severely hampering his mind, but he didn't need to move right now.

  Down below, away from the rampant destruction, was Aryan. He was breathing heavily just like Lev, and the underside of his arms were blackened and bleeding. No doubt, he had sacrificed those to save his head.

  Neither of them had come out unscathed from the exchange, yet it was Lev who smiled. Just from looking at the rogue, Lev knew he couldn't use that ace again.

  The staredown continued for another ten seconds, where both the participants found their bearings. They both benefited from it, as Lev healed all his injuries and Aryan hastily formed new plans. The latter's arms seemed to be functioning just fine despite the crippling damage.

  Both of them made their move at the same time. Lances formed above Lev when his body was healed enough to handle the strain, and Aryan vanished in a puff of shadowy smoke.

  Four dark blurs originated from the same spot. They moved at the same speed and betrayed no hints about where the rogue was.

  Lev overloaded his lances this time and aimed at each of them. Feeling the sheer amount of mana inside them, Aryan immediately ditched his stealth from inside one of the decoys and threw his daggers at the two incoming lances.

  The projectiles were pierced with pinpoint accuracy, causing them to explode on the spot. Vision impaired, Lev didn't miss the chance and formed another huge volley of arrows and filled them with fire.

  Within a moment, arrows were impacting every inch of the arena yet again. Aryan stumbled out of the blast from the pierced lances, having cleverly taken the route with the least arrows.

  The rogue split into four again. Lev tapered down the bubbling annoyance at the sneaky tactics and prepared himself. Swinging Stargazer in a wide arc for maximum coverage, the attack hadn't even begun when a ball of shadow formed in front of him.

  Shit-

  Before the thought could even finish forming, it shot forward and wrapped around his head. There was no other choice but to continue with his attack regardless and hope for the best.

  His glaive moved on, searing the very air in her passing due to the amount of lightning held inside. Instead of finding flesh, Lev's heart sank when he felt the metallic edge of a dagger. The exchange was his loss, and the point was driven home as Lev's right arm went flying, along with Stargazer and his earth bracer.

  Separated cleanly above the elbow, Lev hadn't even felt it being cut.

  Excruciating pain slammed into his mind, overwhelming his brain instantly. Lev screamed as he suffered torment rivaling that of when he had faced the Chaoswalker.

  His armor and shields disintegrated, and he accidentally bit his tongue while trying to focus back on the match. Aryan hadn't pushed his advantage, which meant there was still a chance.

  It can be reattached, Lev repeatedly voiced in his head, breathing heavily. I need to win.

  Lev immediately locked onto the rogue's position, channeling all that pain into weary resolve. One of Aryan's arms had been nearly torn off, presumably the one that had met a full-powered swing from Lev.

  A thin, long barrier thread formed and carried Lev's dismembered arm and Stargazer back to him. Two more threads formed and tightly tied themselves around the stump of his arm, shutting off the bleeding.

  Putting back the amputated limb in its place to the best of his ability, Lev reformed his barrier armor around it. The skill enveloped the improvised solution well enough, letting him grip Stargazer with just his mind again.

  He didn't bother with healing the damage. Without the proper knowledge, Lev was only going to make it worse.

  "You're one tough nut to crack," Aryan shouted with a strained, pained chuckle.

  Lev laughed back. "Go look in a mirror."

  Aryan vanished again. Blinking back tears from the fire coursing in his arm, Lev reformed his shields and gripped Stargazer tightly. Like the previous times, dozens of arrows formed above the arena. Fire mana infused them all, finally dragging Lev's mana pool below half.

  Only two decoys formed this time as Aryan sprinted directly at him. Barriers formed strategically around him, letting the rogue jump between the descending projectiles like a butterfly.

  A large lightning slash forced him to veer sideways, allowing Lev to create more distance between them. Aryan visibly struggled to keep up his stealth that was unraveling at the seams.

  More arrows joined the fray, keeping the rogue at both a distance and on his toes. For nearly half a minute, Lev's mana gradually dwindled but he was winning. It was obvious at a glance.

  Finally, one of the barrier platforms underneath Aryan's feet formed only halfway before disintegrating. His mana had run out, dropping into a territory where any further usage would risk soul damage.

  Before the rogue could fall, a bright blue barrier platform formed by his opponent appeared under his feet, arresting his descent.

  Lev looked at the hunter struggling to stand upright. Aryan stared back and shook his head. A palm was raised, declaring his surrender.

  "AND THERE IT IS! JUST WHAT HAVE I WITNESSED TODAY!? I HAVE TO REMIND YOU ALL, THESE TWO ARE GOLD HUNTERS. GOLD! AT NO POINT IN OUR HISTORY HAVE THERE BEEN SUCH INCREDIBLY MIGHTY ADEPTS, AND YET, THESE ARE ONLY TWO OF OUR FINALISTS!"

  "You alright?" Lev just barely walked on solidified platforms of his own. Getting closer, he realized why Aryan had his face held down if the pooling tears were any indication.

  Exhaling deeply, Lev sat down too. His entire body hurt like hell, but the dumpster fire that was his mind was far worse. Most of his pool had been utilized in a scant few minutes, and the consequences were making themselves known.

  Why hasn't Drakys brought us out yet? the hazy thought appeared in Lev's drowsy mind just as his vision darkened around the edges.

  Unconsciousness claimed him in a blink.