"Shield Change!" he screamed.

  Azura's arm transformed into a large shield to withstand the fiery punch attack from Blaze that was extremely hot and powerful.

  "I admit, your defense is quite strong," said Blaze.

  Flaming hair blazing, orange eyes, and both burning hands stood right in front of Azura who was holding back Blaze's fire punch projectile.

  "Just give up, before my fire burns you alive," he said.

  "This is getting ridiculous," said Azura.

  With all his strength, Azura threw Blaze's fire punch projectile to the side, and without thinking twice, Azura immediately ran and jumped forward toward Blaze, transforming both his arms.

  "Sword Change!" Azura shouted.

  Both his arms transformed into two long swords ready to slash and pierce Blaze from above.

  Just as the sharp tip of Azura's sword touched and was about to pierce Blaze's chest, he suddenly transformed into fire without physical form.

  Of course Azura was very surprised to see how easily Blaze avoided Azura's attack, but he didn't give up—with his heart continuing to burn, Azura knew that Blaze would appear nearby to counterattack.

  Following his gut feeling, Azura spun his left arm backward, predicting that Blaze would appear behind him.

  And exactly right, Azura's prediction proved correct when Blaze wanted to punch Azura's head from behind—Azura's sword managed to wound Blaze's left cheek, forcing him to dodge and abort his attack on Azura.

  "Gahh! How did you!?" Blaze asked.

  "Heh! A tactic only used by cowards, you think exploiting blind spots can easily defeat me?" Azura answered.

  The bearded man was amazed seeing Azura still able to hold on even though his opponent had superior power.

  "Good lad! Keep it up! I believe in you!" shouted the bearded man.

  "Maximum Heat!" Blaze screamed.

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  An aura of blazing fire surrounded him—it seemed Azura had succeeded in making Blaze unleash his anger.

  "Heh! Shield Change!"

  Azura's left arm transformed into a large shield, ready to withstand attacks from Blaze. Meanwhile, his right arm remained a sword for defense and offense.

  When Azura wanted to look from outside the shield, suddenly Blaze jumped forward very quickly and attacked blindly with rapid-fire punches.

  With lightning-fast reflexes, Azura immediately covered his face and half his body behind the large shield to withstand all those fire attacks—despite the heat, Azura would never let go of that shield.

  "This guy is crazy," Azura chuckled.

  "How long will you hide behind that shield!? Hahahaha!" Blaze laughed.

  "Oh, you want to play? Let's go!"

  "Rope Change!"

  Azura's right arm transformed into a long, strong rope—as if having its own consciousness, the rope moved and tied Blaze's leg, then dropped him on the arena floor.

  "Hahaha! Fall, rise, fall again!" Azura laughed while continuing to play around.

  "Uhh... Still have time to play around, huh?" said the bearded man watching Azura.

  Before Azura could play around any longer, Blaze managed to grab the rope from his leg and without thinking twice, he burned the rope all the way to Azura's hand.

  "Hah!?" Azura was shocked.

  With instinct and reflexes, Azura immediately released the rope from his right arm to ensure the fire didn't spread to his body.

  "Huff... That was close."

  Without Azura realizing it, Blaze was already above him with large flames in both hands.

  "Time to get serious! Flaming Blaze Punch!" Blaze shouted.

  "Hey! Wait!" Azura panicked.

  With cold speed, Azura couldn't avoid the attack—heat like burning coals hit Azura's cheek with a forced full-hand thrust.

  Just from that punch attack, Azura was thrown far to the arena wall until it cracked into pieces.

  "Come on, lad. Show your full potential, don't play around," said the bearded man.

  As if Azura heard the bearded man's words, Azura stood up from his fall and said:

  "Alright, time to get serious. Sword Change."

  Azura took a breath slowly then exhaled again. Both his arms transformed into two sharp sword blades.

  His heartbeat began to calm, his body felt lighter, the burn on his cheek began to disappear, and his gaze became clearer.

  As if there was a monster inside Azura controlling his body, Azura released a powerful shockwave just to run toward Blaze with incredible speed.

  Blaze, who had just blinked, saw Azura almost touching him.

  "Gah!? Wall of Lava!"

  As if having no fear, Azura slashed the lava wall into an X shape. With that, Azura could create a gap to enter the lava wall.

  With that, Azura immediately stabbed right into Blaze's right chest because he didn't want to stab Blaze's heart and kill him—he just wanted to force Blaze to surrender.

  Blood began flowing out from Blaze's right chest, forcing him to fall limply on the arena floor.

  "Please, surrender, I don't want to continue this anymore."

  Everyone shouted enthusiastically at how cool Azura was, but all that immediately dimmed when Azura suddenly felt back pain.

  "ARRRGHHH! My back," said Azura.

  "Looks like I need to move more often from now on," continued Azura in pain.

  Seeing the opportunity, Blaze grabbed the sword stuck in his chest and easily removed it.

  Seeing Azura still shocked, Blaze immediately punched his face again to get out of his personal space.

  "Argh! Damn! I underestimated you," said Blaze, still in pain.

  Knowing that removing the remaining sword inside his chest would worsen the bleeding, Blaze didn't pull it out.

  The fire aura began to appear again—Blaze's legs and hands began burning as if adding speed to his agility and strength.

  Without thinking twice, Blaze flew with his fire power and released the strongest and largest fire explosion right in front of Azura.

  Barely, Azura managed to change both his hands into two large shields to protect almost his entire body from that tremendous fire explosion.

  "Come on lad, don't give up, I believe in you," said the bearded man while grunting.

  Realizing the explosion had no effect on Azura, Blaze immediately flew quickly and forced his hand into the shield.

  The forced entry was so strong it nearly destroyed both of Azura's shields.

  Without hesitation, Blaze immediately grabbed Azura's neck and carried him to the top of the arena—with the help of fire under his feet, Blaze was able to lift Azura up very easily.

  "Heh, turns out you're just a weak beginner," said Blaze with flaming eyes.

  "Weak beginner? Let me prove who's the weak beginner," Azura answered with full confidence.

  "Excalibur Change!"