Elemental Cats

Cark shook his head to clear it of the images of when Toz smacked him into the ground right after doing the same with his brother. He convinced himself the outcome would be different now that he had broken through to the seventh level.

However, Cark struggled to keep his calm as Toz looked as calm as ever, just like he had done when Cark tried to seek retribution for his brother that Toz sent crashing into the ground just because he tried to pick a pocket.

After convincing himself that he was going to win and beat Toz until his face was no longer recognizable, Cark summoned his weapon. The handle was attached to a square blade barely longer than his forearm. The thick blade's only edge ended with a curved tip that would tear Cark's victims apart.

Toz hadn't seen such a weapon before, but he still didn't know who Cark was, and it was only a weapon, so it didn't matter.

Cark had jumped up on the stage at an appropriate distance from Toz. While he wanted to use every dirty trick in the book to defeat Toz, he wasn't shameless enough to do that on top of the stage and in front of a crowd.

He was a fighter at the seventh level, and like any high level fighter, he could control aura not directly connected to him or his weapon. However, Cark was still more used to fighting at close range and directly with his weapon since his younger years of slacking off during training had left him with martial energy that wasn't particularly outstanding.

Cark's martial energy wasn't below average, but it also wasn't something Cark felt was boastworthy. He could only blame his past, lazy and indulgent self before moving on and concentrating on the opponent in front of him.

Cark held his cleaver like a butcher and had his other arm next to his body as he swung downward, unleashing an aura strike straight at Toz.

The burst of aura cleaved down through the air, vaguely resembling Cark's weapon in shape.

No one had rung a bell or officially started the match, and some thought that Cark used a headstart. But they were still pirates, and no one cared about it.

Not even Toz, who had been busy trying to remember Cark, thought much of it, and he sidestepped the slash with overwhelming ease. Compared to Dristel's strikes, which threatened to tear Toz's skin off, Cark's cleave was like a gentle spring breeze.

Toz didn't immediately end the fight for two reasons. He wanted to remember who Cark was first. And if he defeated Cark without anyone noticing how he did it, people wouldn't accept his reign as easily. The truth would get out sooner or later as long as Toz continued demonstrating his strength, but he wanted it over with as quickly as possible so he could get back to the more important things.

Carl looked a little frustrated and embarrassed that his surprise attack failed, but he didn't let it stop him as he sent another similar attack, this time slightly diagonal.

Toz dodged the first attack mostly due to reflex since he wanted to see if the attack could make him remember where he had met Cark. However, he didn't mother moving anything other than his arm and mana when the second attack came.

Toz covered his hand in a layer of void metal as he met the aura slash with his palm.

The slash left behind a gust of wind that barely ruffled Toz's hair before dissipating.

Cark and the spectators were stunned at the sight of Toz blocking Cark's strike without even flinching. There weren't even any signs of Cark attacking Toz since there wasn't a single scratch on the metal that covered his hand.

However, when people saw the metal, they didn't think it was completely unreasonable that Toz was unharmed by the attack of a fighter two levels above him.

Toz looked at his hand before getting rid of the metal. He turned to Cark.

"Again."

Cark felt various emotions after his strike proved its uselessness against Toz and at Toz's arrogant attitude. He was beginning to realize that it wouldn't be easy to defeat Toz just because he had broken through to the seventh level.

But Cark wasn't going to let his emotions interfere with his battle, and he launched another strike. And not because Toz told him to.

Cark held his cleaver horizontally as he stretched backward. He swung it and unleashed a horizontal slash in the height of Toz's midsection.

Toz looked at the incoming aura strike with calm eyes as he lifted his hand and met the strike with his palm again.

The strike didn't immediately dissipate as it had done the last time. It instead dug into the skin of Toz's palm. Or it tried to, but it didn't reach far before Toz closed his hand into a fist, and the aura collapsed.

Toz almost scoffed at how weak the aura was. It was obvious Cark hadn't honed his martial energy or aura control and instead focused on breaking through to the next level. It was the opposite of what Toz prioritized during training. Granted, Toz experienced greater benefits due to his multiple elements, but every mage and fighter gained by taking it slow and strengthening their foundation.

Reaching the seventh level with as weak martial energy as Cark had was a feat in and of itself, and if he had put more effort into training, he might have reached Wulf's toes when he broke through to the eighth level.

However, Cark had fucked up with his training, and it would take a lot of time to try and rectify it.

Toz didn't see a reason to continue the fight.

He held up his intact and bare hand and showed the palm to the spectators to show Cark's attack was useless even without him using magic.

Toz's hand hadn't left the confrontation with Cark's aura strike completely intact, but by the time he opened his fist, the wound had recovered, and any blood had been burned away with fire magic.

Red Hook was the only one who noticed Toz began bleeding due to her inclination, but she also noticed how quickly he stopped bleeding. She suppressed her surprise. It seemed like Toz only had more to reveal each time he showed some of his strength. She already knew how strong his body and magic were due to their previous encounters. And now it turned out he also regenerated incredibly quickly.

Red Hook was forced to take a step back and try to analyze why Toz was so strong since she couldn't figure it out. She only realized it when she looked at the cats who were sitting not far away and spectating the fight with some snacks.

She hadn't thought much of it since the cats hadn't done much in her presence, but one of her subordinates was a beast mage, so she quickly pieced it together.

Toz's strength could be somewhat explained if she used the five cats as a reason. But she still found it difficult to believe that Toz had somehow encountered five beasts suitable for his inclination, each of them with different elements.

Red Hook noticed the cats noticed her staring, and she turned back to the fight, still lost in thought.