As the smoke settled around the Arcane Archmage, his pristine form became visible. He was surrounded by a light blue colored transparent shield that was showing cracks due to the damage it sustained. David stroked his chin nonchalantly, observing the capabilities of his class. "[Arcane Shield], hmm... It just saved me from a great deal of embarrassment. I'm loving this class of mine more and more!"
Kaiden used the few precious seconds his sneak attack granted him to gather his bearings and stand on shaky legs.
"An ability to run fast and a fire spell, what a strange class you have, my old rival. What is the name? Red Bull? Eh, no matter... it's time I put you out of your misery. You need imminent medical attention."
Kaiden didn't reply to his constant monologuing, instead using this chance to breathe in and out slowly, regaining control over his body in full. Then, he started sprinting at his enemy.
"Hah? You can still move so well? Your perseverance is amazing; you're like a human cockroach. [Arcane Lance]." David was quickly becoming better at utilizing his class. His aim was horrible in the beginning, but in this short span of time, he got acclimated to combat rather admirably, which was best evidenced by the spear made from arcane energy impaling Kaiden right through his stomach.
"Gh!" Kaiden grunted just before spitting a mouthful of blood from his lips, yet his brightly burning eyes never dimmed. He gathered all his strength, and with the lance still being etched into his body, he jumped at David. While in mid-air, he raised his right fist and shouted, "[Doom Strike]!"
Blood spilled all over the arena from his mouth and the fatal wound in his stomach as the Paragon of Sin descended on his adversary.
His fist connected with the transparent shield and immediately shattered it apart into millions of useless little pieces. Its damage threshold had been reached and breached. Kaiden grabbed David by the throat as the two men plummeted to the ground. David lay on his back with Kaiden sitting on top of him with his knees resting on the ground on either of his sides.
Kaiden moved his head closer to David's and tried to say something, but only terrifying, guttural sounds left his throat, making him seem like a less man and more like a demon incarnate. A sickening amount of his blood flew down onto his enemy lying beneath him.
As for David, he was in the middle of pissing himself.
Literally.
The sight of Kaiden was straight-up nightmare fuel. David was just a college dork playing games late into the night, and now he was having a battle against a furious, dying opponent who simply refused to keel over. It was just too much for him.
Seeing he was incapable of speech and knowing he didn't have much longer, Kaiden moved in for the kill. He kept his left hand firmly around David's throat and raised his right hand, formed it into a fist, and brought it down on the man with all the strength he could muster.
Kaiden kept training himself religiously through the past month, and it showed. His foundations were much greater than before. "Arghh!" David screamed when the arena's ground gave him the second punch due to the force with which Kaiden's fist connected with his skull. "[Arcane Bo-]" He intoned but was silenced when the next slug landed on his jaw, breaking it with a loud crunch. Kaiden's grip around his throat tightened as well, not wishing to give his opponent any chances to fight back.
By now, the fight had completely left David. He was scared beyond reason and was fearing for his life. He wanted to surrender but wasn't allowed to—the next punch had already connected with his head.
The spell Kaiden was waiting to come off cooldown was available once again. He raised his fist high into the air for the final time. An extremely satisfied shine could be seen in his burning crimson-red eyes.
Kaiden couldn't form words properly due to all the blood oozing from his mouth, but the guttural sounds he emitted seemed to be more than enough. [Doom Strike] came down on David's defenseless head as if it were an executioner's axe and fractured his skull with a brutal, echoing sound accompanying the impact of his strike.
David was immediately teleported to safety, after which Kaiden stared at the empty spot where his opponent lay just a moment ago before slumping forward—every ounce of strength left his body.
He was succumbing to his wounds. The adrenaline and sheer willpower that kept him going all this while finally ran out of gas. He followed right after David as he was also teleported to safety, where the medical staff could immediately begin working on preserving his life. This was exactly the reason why an Awakened Duel could only take place when a high-tier healer was present.
The referee continuously stared with utter disbelief at the place where the two figures of the combatants lay a second ago, but now only a worrying amount of blood remained in their wake. "T-the winner of the duel is K-Kaiden Grey!" he shouted the words he never expected himself to utter when he received the task of overseeing this comically unfair combat.
While it was true that right after awakening was the time when the gap between high and low tiers was the smallest because it would continuously widen each time they leveled up, it was still astounding for such a wide gap to be overcome.
This F-tier awakened may've made history today, the referee thought. But then, he couldn't help but remember back to the overwhelming presence Kaiden had on the battlefield. He didn't emit the usual fragile, vulnerable aura weak-classed individuals tended to, making him question if the artifact finally made a mistake after all these years of having a pristine track record.
Immediate feminine screaming erupted as the ladies in the audience who were rooting for the underdog stood from their seats and began celebrating, while most of the men only sat frozen in their seats with disbelieving eyes adorning their features.
However, the three maidens whose honor had been wronged by the accused were nowhere to be seen, for they immediately rushed toward the healing room with eyes releasing rivers of tears.