<h4> Tough</h4>


    Across from her, Orion stretched. He had just awoken from a nap, and though he was a bit surprised to see Aina here, it wasn''t too much. It was bound to happen.


    His lip curled into a smile as he watched her trying to catch her breath.


    "Unfortunate. I asked them not to put such a beauty through hardship, but there was only so much I could do," he shrugged his shoulders. "Those guys are pretty heartless. Well, I think one of them is just acting out of jealousy. Maybe you''ll meet her, though it seems unlikely at this point. Lumina is her name. No need to thank me."


    As Orion spoke, he suddenly moved.


    In truth, he wasn''t too worried about wasting enough time for Aina topletely recover. An expert on Aina''s level, to be tired to the point she was heaving for breath, needed to have been pushed far beyond the point a few seconds of rest would be helpful.


    That was the way of the world. The stronger your body was, the harder it was to injure it, but when you injured, it was also far harder to heal it with external items.


    And in this case, when you were tired...


    Orion appeared before Aina, a bright smile on his face, a strong punch suddenlying from him. Aina almost didn''t get a chance to read where it wasing from. Orion didn''t seem to be using Dream Force, and yet his ability to obscure vision and trick the mind was on a level that Aina had only seen from Leonel.


    Aina reacted quickly, smashing her polearm into the ground in the path of Orion''s fist.


    Just as the two, fist and polearm, were about to collide, Orion''s arm suddenly came to a grinding halt.


    Heughed, gliding backward. The sudden burst of action made Aina''s breathing even heavier. Even such a subtle action seemed to have pushed her over an edge.


    "A shame, a shame."


    The Penultimate Round gave everyone far more leeway and battles were more spread out, allowing time for rest. Although this was only Aina''s fourth fight, it had already been over a week since all of this started.


    Everyone liked the feeling of having more time to rest, but this "good news" was the exact opposite for Aina.


    "She was already so tired and it was just the fourth battle of ten. And what about the Finals after this?"


    "The Finals would have only 100 people, but it would also have the most battles. Every single finalist would fight the 99 others in order to form a perfect andprehensive ranking."


    "Of course, it seemed likely that once Aina made it to the Finals, she would just directly give up. After all, she would have reached her objective."


    "However, would she make it there given how things were going?"


    Orion''s face suddenly morphed, the flood of cloudsing out from the back of his head disappeared. Soon, he was a handsome young man with pale violet hair and irises. He stood taller and he shed a bright smile.


    Aina''s gaze turned cold.


    "Aiya, what''s with that reaction? Did I not do your hubby justice? I thought I did a pretty good job."


    Orion reached out a hand and a spear appeared.


    "Better? No?"


    He shook his head, seeminglymenting something.


    "Oh, I got it," his eyes lit up and his expression turned colder and different. "This is it, right? I was too cheery. Why a woman like yourself would want to marry a man who''s nothing but ice cold all the time is beyond me, but to each their own, right?"


    Saying such words while wearing the face of some who looked ready tomit murder felt out of ce. Even his voice itself wasced with the same coldness, suddenly mimicking Leonel''s to perfection.


    Orion moved again and spear shadows filled the skies. But they quickly lost their form, bing akin to slithering snakes andshing whips.


    Aina raised her ax to block, withstanding the barrage with the smallest movements possible. Someshed against her body and cut like a flexible de.


    "Hoho, your skin is tough. No, that''s only part of it, huh? That weird outfit you''re wearing is pretty sturdy."


    Leonel''s voice echoed as Orion continued to mimic him. He could also feel Aina''s rage, and the palpable pulsing of it was like the greatest tonic.


    "The fabric of Aina''s military outfit was, indeed, tough. It had been personally woven by Leonel himself. But the skill of Leonel''s Crafting wasn''t at his current level back then, andpared to his usual Crafting, his familiarity with weaving and disciplines of the like wasparatively weaker."


    "It was clear to Aina that Orion was a master of the whip. If he wasn''t restricting himself to a spear to keep up this fun little game of his, the situation would be much worse."


    "Tears began to appear across her shoulders and legs, but her defense was tight, protecting her vital organs perfectly. Behind her spinning de and heavy breaths, her gaze was only bing colder and colder."


    "Every time Orionughed in Leonel''s voice, spoke in Leonel''s voice, quipped in Leonel''s voice, she felt a deeper and deeper rage bubbling up inside of her."


    "''Alright, I think that''s enough fun,'' Orion suddenly said in Leonel''s voice. ''You can either die, or you can give up. But you should probably think about it reeeaaallly carefully. You''re thest human and you can''t really afford to not make the Finals. Who knows if this one loss will keep you out, right?''"


    "Hisughter echoed as the spear in his hand disappeared, bing a metallic whip linked like the scales of a silver dragon."


    "He cracked it once, causing a booming thunder that suddenly shattered the entire arena."


    "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"