Ren lanted internally with a thought that didn't reach his expression. 'If Liu knew how to use the shadow abilities of the vampire already... this would be much more complex and engaging.'
But he wasn't using them. Still too new to his Gold rank beast. Still learning the complete arsenal his beast offered at this level.
Ren had options remaining…
Ice. Lightning. Light. Shadows.
Rare combos and elents he'd maintained in reserve throughout the start of the tournant.
Ice and lightning would draw more attention if revealed now. Light especially would be extrely visible to everyone watching...
But shadows...
The mantis was already invisible, right? Few would notice if it used shadows as well at this point. They would pass unnoticed in the chaos of battle.
Ren leaned slightly forward, voice dropping to murmur that only Liu might hear with his special sound abilities if he was paying attention.
"Sorry, Liu," he said softly with genuine regret. "You could have won with a more lucky or direct bite. My mantis's resistance is very low for its attack power. If I didn't use this soon... you probably would have finished breaking through it despite the bigger absorption."
It was a truth without false modesty. If Ren decided to hide all the rarer elents completely. Without this final ace, the mantis would have likely lost this exchange. The rank difference was real despite appearances. The vampire's strength was too disparate to overco through normal ans.
But Ren had options that changed those equations.
And at least one he was going to use now...
Ren sent a ntal signal through their bond with a specific instruction.
The mantis responded instantaneously without questioning the command.
Its blade-arms changed again. The green of the wood elent disappeared. Fire ca back and replaced it with intensity that made the observers flinch.
Everyone thought it was a suicidal attack when they saw the concentrated fire. Intense flas that would consu both combatants at this range.
And then the mantis did sothing that made observers believe they'd been correct in their assessnt.
It channeled that fire toward the vampire's body, the sa body that surrounded it in a grappling position.
Toward all the wood mana it had injected into the vampire during the battle. The small charges of elental energy that had accumulated and had been absorbing energy and hindering regeneration. That had been growing slowly, parasitizing vitality throughout the exchange.
And ignited it.
All at once in a big detonation.
Wood mana was flammable by nature. Life and growth energy that fed flas like oil feeding fire through natural affinity.
And when it ignited inside the vampire's body in dozens of small points simultaneously...
The vampire shrieked with a sound that pierced the arena's silence.
Not an attack scream but a scream of pure agony that made obvious there was damage beyond what regeneration could handle.
It burned from within. Fire propagating through its system, consuming the wood mana, using that energy to burn more intensely in a self-sustaining reaction.
It tried regenerating desperately. Activated blood control with everything it had remaining.
But its mana was severely low. Had spent too much during the prolonged battle. And the fire was too intense, amplified by the wood mana serving as a perfect combustible fuel source.
The regeneration failed to counter the internal burning.
The spectators could only see an enormous fireball consuming both combatants. An apparent draw that would eliminate both beasts...
But they hadn't seen what happened in the mont before the flas obscured the visibility...
The vampire had tried gripping the mantis more firmly in the death embrace. If it was being eliminated at least it wouldn't go alone...
But its fangs had nothing to grip in the next instant as the mantis converted to shadows.
This wasn't its invisibility camouflage... This was fundantally different.
For a mont, the mantis wasn't a physical creature but pure darkness. A shadow that slipped from the vampire's grasp as if it didn't exist on the sa plane.
Shadow jump.
The mantis materialized near the ground where the dancing shadows from the fireball projected across the arena floor. Several ters below. Outside the reach of the falling vampire that was consud by the huge flas.
Invisible to most observers but completely physical again.
The vampire fell.
Still burning from the inside. Still trying desperately to regenerate as its mana reserves hit zero.
It hit the ground with an impact that created a small crater.
And then its form dispersed into mana particles that dissolved into ambient energy.
The fireball dissipated as the vampire ceased to exist.
Silence held for three seconds as observers processed what they'd witnessed.
"First victory: Ren Patinder."
The announcent broke the spell.
Conversation exploded across the stands as people discussed what they'd seen and what it ant.
Liu stared at the space where his vampire had been, understanding the defeat with an expression that mixed a bit of pain, disappointnt and yet… also acceptance.
He'd known it was a small possibility when talking about Ren. But had hoped his vampire's advantages would be sufficient.
Yet Ren had found a way like always.
And that shadow jump at the end...
Liu looked at Ren and sighted.
He knew the mantis could use not only shadow elent…
Ren had been holding back even more than Liu had expected.
The question wasn't whether Ren could defeat his next Gold-rank beast.
It was whether anyone in the first-year tournant could push him hard enough to see his actual limits.
And Liu suspected the answer was no.
Not with what he'd just witnessed.
But the mantis didn't look very victorious in the aftermath of its triumph.
It was significantly injured from the exchange. The vampire's bite and absorption had inflicted real damage despite the eventual victory. Cracks visible in its exoskeleton. Movents slower than normal fluid ones.
Everyone observed, convinced that in the end it had indeed been too much facing a Bronze beast against a Gold one in direct confrontation...
But as they watched with growing confusion, those cracks began closing.
Water elent manifesting around the wounds. Not just externally as coating but internally as well, seeping into damaged tissue. Accelerated healing using water mana in ways that almost mimicked the Vampire regeneration abilities.
In thirty seconds, the mantis looked almost completely recovered to fighting condition.
Only faint traces of damage remaining that would fade with ti… It was indeed unfair.
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