"Who is going next?"
Everyone looked at Almond.
Almond swept his glance and paused on Arjun. "You are not keen on manifesting your third True Concept just yet."
Arjun smiled. "Correct."
"Then go and get so insights. Win or lose doesn’t matter."
"Haha, thanks. I’ll do just that."
The countdown hit zero, and all ten Grim Students arrived in the arena.
No one spoke.
Arjun loosened his shoulders and lifted his bow.
The string humd softly.
He exhaled.
Then everything exploded.
A hail of attacks detonated at once.
Blades scread through the air. A wave of crystallized sound tore across the arena. Fire blood, then collapsed inward as gravity inverted. Arjun didn’t run. He didn’t retreat.
He stepped sideways.
Technique: Infinite Sunder — Spatial Baseline Puncture.
The arena’s shared sense of position fractured.
Suddenly, attacks missed by ters they should not have missed by. A hamr strike crushed empty air. A lightning arc curved wrong and slamd into a caster behind it, vaporizing him instantly.
Arjun drew.
Technique: Linearity — Primary Vector Lock.
The arrow left the string without flare or glow. It flew straight, not through space, but through relation. A swordsman tried to parry.
The arrow ignored the sword and punched through his sternum, pinning him to a rotating plate that carried his corpse away.
Two down.
A woman with mirrored armor split into three identical bodies, each moving on slightly offset paths.
Illusion. No.
Probability overlap.
Arjun didn’t aim at any of them.
Technique: Infinite Sunder — Causal Partition.
He cut the link between her decision and its outco.
All three bodies froze for half a breath.
He fired once.
All three fell.
A roar shook the arena as a massive beastman leapt, axe raised, muscles wrapped in runes that scread endurance. He ca down like a teor.
Arjun jumped backward and fired mid-air.
Technique: Linearity — Inverse Drop Trajectory.
The arrow didn’t rise to et the beastman.
The beastman fell into it.
The arrow punched upward through his jaw, exiting the top of his skull in a spray of blood and bone. The corpse crashed, dead before it hit the ground.
Four.
The arena grew louder.
Angrier.
A storm-user raised both arms, pulling lightning down in a cage ant to fry everything inside it. At the sa ti, a thin man in black carved sigils into the air, space folding into slicing planes.
Arjun rolled across a drifting plate as lightning scorched where he had been.
Technique: Infinite Sunder — Attack Continuity Break.
The slicing planes lost cohesion, collapsing into harmless ripples.
Arjun fired twice in rapid succession.
Technique: Linearity — Dual-Point Alignnt.
Two arrows struck the storm-user from opposite sides at the exact sa instant. His body failed to decide which direction it belonged to and tore itself apart.
Five.
The thin man tried to retreat.
Arjun didn’t chase.
Technique: Linearity — Maximum Effective Range.
The arrow reached him anyway.
Six.
Only three remained now.
One was already dead on the ground, coughing blood, spine broken, trying to crawl away. Another was backing off, eyes wide, fear finally overriding pride.
The last one stood still.
A woman.
Silver-black armor, etched with unfamiliar patterns. No excessive aura. No visible buildup. Just calm. Too calm.
Arjun felt it then.
A pressure not forcing itself outward, but pulling inward.
He finished the wounded one with a casual shot.
Seven.
The fearful one tried to run.
Infinite Sunder flashed.
The ground beneath the runner simply... ended.
He fell into the void screaming.
Eight.
Now there were two.
Arjun and the woman, who was growing stronger and stronger.
The arena quieted, as if listening.
She tilted her head slightly, studying him. "You’re efficient."
Arjun didn’t answer.
He drew.
Technique: Linearity — Terminal Convergence.
The arrow locked onto the point where her movent would inevitably place her.
She stepped forward.
The arrow shattered against her chest without leaving a mark.
Arjun’s eyes narrowed.
She smiled faintly.
And a burst of brilliance exploded outward from her.
Those watching flickered their eyes in focused observation.
"She manifested a new True Concept."
"Let’s see if she breaks the Club Regalon’s winning streak."
The arena reacted.
Plates aligned beneath her feet. Air currents bent toward her. Even the void beyond the gaps seed to stabilize around her presence.
True Concept: Accrued Dominion.
Everything that failed to kill her beca hers.
Every missed strike.
Every blocked attack.
Every advantage surrendered.
It all accumulated.
’It looks like she drew so kind of different inspiration from Kexell’s Pain is Gain.’ Arjun’s eyes glinted.
She moved.
Not fast.
But certain.
A blade of condensed authority ford above Arjun and ca down.
He rolled, barely avoiding decapitation. The impact shattered the plate behind him.
He fired again.
She walked through it.
The arrow dissolved mid-flight.
Pressure mounted.
She was controlling the arena with her other True Concept, and she could enhance it with her new one that constantly grew.
Arjun felt his breathing tighten. His arm grew heavy. His bow resisted him, as if the world itself questioned his right to draw it.
He grinned.
Technique: Infinite Sunder — Field Independence.
He severed his connection to the arena’s authority.
For a heartbeat, he existed outside her dominion.
He fired.
The arrow pierced her side, tearing through armor, drawing blood.
She gasped.
Then laughed.
Dominion surged.
The wound closed.
The pressure doubled.
Arjun staggered.
Another blade fell.
It punched through his shoulder, obliterating his left arm in a burst of blood and bone.
Pain flared white-hot.
He scread.
Then laughed through it.
He bit the bowstring with his teeth.
Technique: Linearity — One-Hand Absolute Draw.
He fired from the ground, flat on his back.
The arrow curved impossibly, slipping through layers of authority and striking her throat.
She choked.
Dominion wavered.
Arjun pushed himself up, vision tunneling.
He drew one last arrow.
Technique: Infinite Sunder — Self-Continuity Collapse.
He severed the continuity of his own injured state, forcing his body forward past its breaking point.
He appeared behind her.
The arrow drove through her spine.
Her dominion was shattered.
Her blade, already falling, finished its arc.
It pierced Arjun’s chest and exploded outward.
Blasting Arjun into pieces.
And then she also collapsed.
The arena registered the last standing presence, so she attained the victory in this round.
"Well done."
"Jeez, it was a close call."
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