The creep― I mean, Abbab, then took out a test tube from his pocket.

「Hihihihi! Now die! With this poison that master handed down to me!」

Upon appraisal, I found out that the poison in Abbab’s hand had the name of “Seven Blinks”. It seems that the name was derived from the fact that a person affected by that poison would die in seven blinks of an eye.

He then slammed the tube onto the stage and a huge cloud of smoke instantly erupted. It looked just like the magic potion that Eihwaz used.

Since Abbab’s Poison Resistance skill was at level 8, that poison wouldn’t work on him. On the other hand, Diaz doesn’t have that high of poison resistance skill.

「You’re strong indeed! I expected no less from the best illusion user of your generation! But alas, your defense does not amount to much. When you got hit by an unavoidable attack, there’s nothing you can do!」

That’s certainly true. Even if he’s able to use illusion, thought manipulation, or even a skill to dodge an opponent’s attack, he won’t be able to avoid a wide-area attack in such a small place.

This must be Abbab’s giant-killing technique.

「Ghaah!」

「Hihihi! This poison can enter through your skin without being inhaled too!」

「Kuh…」

「Diaz the Dragon Tripper! This Abbab of the Vicious Sword will bring you down!」

Immediately after he looked up to the sky and shouted that, Abbab’s body tilted. Then, he fell forward with white eyes.

「Taking your eyes off your enemy in the middle of a fight was a proof that you’re just a second-rate, you know?」

『T-this is…! What just happened! Just when we thought Diaz-sama was about to fell down after coughing up some blood, he was already right behind Abbab! Was that his illusion!?』

Just like the commentator stated, it was probably a doppelganger created by his illusion magic that fell. He had skillfully used Thought Manipulation and other techniques to get close to his opponent without being noticed. Then, he struck a blow with his fist to Abbab’s vital spot.

『You get that?』

「…A little」

『I could see through that from the distance, but…』

I don’t know if I would be able to see through Diaz’s every moves when facing him on the stage. His ability to kill his presence was also outstanding.

But how did he fend off the poison? Was it a skill? Or a magic tool? I can’t see what he does because of the smoke that covered the stage.

『I guess, this is not going to be easy for us』

「But we’ll win」

『Of course』

The second match ended with a quick knockout by Diaz.

That next match was also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fight. Well, there were still plenty of highlights.

In Hilt and Clicker match, Hilt chose to stand firm, a change from her previous match against Radul.

On the other side, I could see Clicker clicked her tongue. In her part, it’s mainly about countering her opponent’s attack by dodging.

They glared at each other as the fight went to a stalemate. But as time passed, I could see that Clicker was becoming more impatient.

After all, Hilt’s magic power was increasing rapidly. Even as someone who’s not familiar with Dimitris-style technique, she should be able to tell that it’s going to get dangerous for her if she left her unchecked.

Despite all that, Clicker maintained her stance and kept her eyes on Hilt. It seems like she was prepared to dodge any attack.

If this was the qualifying rounds, jeers saying “Hurry up and fight!” would be a common scene. However, the spectators just stared silently at the stage. The sense of urgency that Clicker exudes seems to had spread to the audience as well.

「Haaa!」

「!!」

Hilt released her magic power all at once. The magic power had no offensive power in itself but it covered the stage, creating a sort of smoke screen.

Once the stage is covered with such dense magic power, magic detection skill would be rendered ineffective.

Immediately after, Clicker was blown up by Hilt’s attack. Her body got thrown and spun unnaturally several times in the midair.

Surrounded by the same kind of magic power, Hilt’s magic release attack had become unreadable. Clicker was helpless and had no choice but to take her barrage of blows.

And finally, Clicker was shot down to the stage, limp and motionless, and settled the match.

Hilt is indeed strong, but that’s not all. Her current fighting style is probably what Hilt got from Radul in her previous match. In other words, she is also learning and growing.

It’s not just Frans who is getting stronger. We were reminded of that.

This means that another strong competitor has advanced to the next round.

『It’s finally their turn, huh』

「Nn. Fermus Vs Neidhart」