Principal Fernandes squinted. He had to think hard. Would Auric be stubborn if he stopped this fight here? After what happened to Simon, he couldn’t be careless anymore.

That was why he needed to think about what they were going to do next.

Meanwhile, other spectators were quite impressed. This was the first time they witnessed a person with multiple elements. Auric managed to fight on equal ground by using his elements.

Unfortunately, the fight still went as they expected. The moment Tommi swallowed the entire space with his fire, there was no way Auric could have survived.

"This is the end, huh?"

"It’s such a shame."

"As expected, the absolute fire is no joke."

"The master of one is better than the master of none."

The people shook their heads in pity.

Unexpectedly, the flame suddenly moved in a different way as if another person were controlling it.

"Hmm?!" Tommi was startled. "What?"

Auric’s shadow gradually approached him within the flame. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Auric should have been defeated by that overwhelming flame.

Yet, Auric abruptly appeared in front of him and punched him in the face.

"Gah!" Tommi was launched to the other side of the stage, his back hitting the barrier that Principal Fernandes had erected.

"!!!" Some people couldn’t help but stand up, unable to understand what had just happened.

In fact, all the people here couldn’t understand it... all except Maya.

Maya narrowed her eyes, thinking, ’Don’t tell me. That guy has gotten the absolute fire element and is using it to rewrite the control by using his skill as an evolution master? Now that I think about it, I’ve seen many cases where there were two people with the exact same elements fighting.

’However, none of them were an evolution master. What if an evolution master had the same element as their opponent? Could they control the same element?’

Maya couldn’t ask that question out loud, but the answer might be lying right in front of her eyes.

Auric smiled while saying, "That was hot."

A few spots on his clothes were already burnt, but Auric managed to survive that attack.

Tommi was shocked as well, but this was actually what he had been hoping for.

The fact that Auric could still fight against him meant he had the power to stand on equal ground with him. This was the match he had been waiting for—a match where the winner wouldn’t be decided until the fight ended.

A smile appeared on Tommi’s face. "This is good. Let’s continue!"

Auric used the wind element to push the flames to Tommi. Tommi, on the other hand, did his best to burn the wind away with his overbearing flames.

So, Auric leaped forward as though he were challenging Tommi to hand-to-hand combat.

Tommi didn’t plan to back down. He might focus on his element, but his hand-to-hand combat was nothing to scoff at. Meanwhile, Auric might not have the same expertise, considering he specialized in using all his elements.

That was why this move was a feint. Auric never intended to fight him that close. In fact, the punch he landed earlier was merely a way for Auric to create distance from Tommi.

The moment he reached a certain distance, Auric slid his foot on the ground to a complete stop.

After that, Auric used his ’Explosion’ but with his lightning element.

"!!!" Tommi was taken aback. Instead of an explosion, a massive spark hitting Tommi head-on.

"Khhhh!" Tommi gritted his teeth, enduring the electrocution. His body was enveloped in flame as the flame expanded and freed him from the lightning.

Tommi raised his right hand and sent out a drill toward Auric.

Auric pointed his palm toward the fire and used the wind to clash with the flame drill.

To everyone’s surprise, he actually dispersed the flame drill.

"!!!" The governor’s eyes widened. He glanced at his advisor and asked, "How did his wind disperse that flame drill? Shouldn’t the flame drill burn through the wind?"

The advisor thought for a few seconds. "The wind was covered with lightning. All this time, Auric managed to combine two elements, but he used the stacking method, which meant layering the element on top of the other.

"He might not have the ability to completely fuse them yet, but this was more than enough to disperse the flame drill.

"The absolute fire might be extremely powerful, but his lightning was also an extreme variant, so it could resist the absolute fire element to a certain degree.

"By coating the wind with this lightning, the lightning could withstand the fire for a moment while the wind dispersed both the lightning and the fire."

The governor crossed his arms. "I didn’t expect that I would witness a battle at this level. What do you think about their talents?"

The advisor looked at Tommi. "Tommiseus is definitely a genius. His strength is not something to scoff at. In fact, I believe that his talent is equal to that of only a few people in the world.

"We’ve been instructed to keep an eye on his growth, and I certainly understand why the country pays special attention to his growth.

"Meanwhile, Auric’s talent is something I can’t really describe. His talent as an evolution master is certainly monstrous, enough to be on par with Tommi’s absolute fire element.

"However, he also possesses multiple elements. There is simply nothing that can generalize these elements, so unless we know his exact condition, I can’t really say much about his talent."

"I see." The governor frowned. "So, does that mean we don’t have to pay attention to him?"

"We have to pay attention to him. However, I suggest that we should find out all of his information first before making a big decision. If everything checks out, giving him our support is necessary. In fact, I suggest that you bring it to the executive level."

"In that case, I need all the information about him." The governor nodded. He would make a decision after seeing the report later.

"Understood."

The governor originally planned to take a look at Tommi, but Auric had shown his potential.

He crossed his arms before saying, "You know what I like more than two geniuses?"

"What is it, sir?"

"Two geniuses supporting each other. It looks like these two geniuses won’t be at odds." The governor smiled. "After all, if they’re at odds, one of them might end up leaving somewhere.

"I’ve seen my fair share of that occurrence. It’s still manageable if they simply move to a different province, but it’s going to be a bad look on us if they leave this country."

"Naturalization."

"Yeah." The governor squinted. "If they leave this country and even create their own success there, the citizens will blame the government for losing them. However, it will be different if they fail there, but you should know what it means to have a top fighter, right?"

"Yes. It means that our country will be protected by the top fighter. In case other countries or the beasts decide to attack us, we have the strength to resist."

"That’s right. That’s why having two geniuses who are friends with each other is important. It will be better if they can push each other to the limit and grow together. It looks like Auric is able to manage it just fine."

The advisor agreed. From the beginning, Auric didn’t intend to make Tommi his enemy.

The governor chuckled. "In any case, gather the report about Auric so that I can report it to the higher-ups."

The governor felt blessed, thinking that a top fighter and a top evolution master would hail from his province.

The others also realized that they were witnessing the two most talented young people in their region.

And neither side was planning to lose.

The two continued to clash with their own elements, but it looked like they were having fun on their own.

When looking at this sight, Maya couldn’t help but mutter, "You really see it as a mistake..."

Maya closed her eyes for a moment. She remembered what happened to Simon.

Originally, Simon challenged him by giving him a warning on their first meeting, but Auric overwhelmed him.

It was supposed to be a small friction, but it escalated further after Auric defeated him in a duel.

Auric had the justification to crush Simon, but it escalated further because of Abel. The fight with Eric was the last push that Abel needed to make Simon go crazy.

Auric killed Simon because Simon tried to kill him. However, after seeing the Lightning Emperor, something might have changed in Auric.

It was true that he fulfilled his own principle, but it was also true that Simon’s death might hurt someone else. The Lightning Emperor blamed himself because he had been persuaded to let Simon go to Grand Magica College.

That was why, before this match started, Auric actually made a small bet with Tommi. If he won, they would become friends.

This shifted the narrative in Tommi’s head from crushing each other to healthy rivalry.

Instead of pushing Tommi like Simon, Auric wanted to make Tommi similar to Eric. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Maya smiled wryly. Whenever Auric made a mistake, she didn’t have to reprimand him because Auric looked at his mistake carefully and tried to fix it.

This time, Auric was doing his best not to make the same mistake.

"You won’t realize you’re making the same mistake. In the future, it could happen. However, I’m glad that you are someone who is doing your best to fix your mistake," Maya muttered with a small smile.

The clash continued for quite some time. They didn’t expect that Auric could hold his own against Tommi to this extent, but it looked like the winner was about to be decided.

"Ha... Ha..." Tommi began breathing heavily.

Meanwhile, Auric maintained a composed expression.

Auric had one big advantage. Tommi indeed had the elemental advantage. His absolute fire could overpower even Auric’s purple lightning.

However, Auric had all the energy he needed to keep fighting him.

After all, Auric’s lightning element had already evolved, meaning he had 100% lightning element. His wind element had already reached 54%, while his plant element had already increased to 40%.

This meant Auric was close to having twice as much energy as someone who was close to evolving.

Compared to Tommi, who only had about 40% element, Auric had a far superior reserve of energy.

Auric couldn’t gain the advantage without using his other elements. Since he didn’t plan to reveal the other elements in this battle, he could only pull Tommi into the war of attrition.

"What’s wrong? You’re tired already?" Auric smiled.

Tommi might have exhausted most of his energy, but the smile hadn’t disappeared from his face.

He realized that while he was bored in his university because there was nothing exciting, Auric continued to increase his strength.

Now that he had fought him, Auric seemed like a massive wall standing before him.

Tommi didn’t make any petty excuses either.

Since he might lose the fight if this continued, Tommi knew that he had to end this battle with one move. This was the only way to defeat Auric.

Tommi took a deep breath before leaping toward Auric.

"Haaa!" His wings flared up, increasing his speed even further.

Auric snapped his fingers, summoning the Plant General to slow Tommi down.

Instead of taking it head-on like he previously did, Tommi abruptly circled around and closed the distance.

Compared to Tommi, Auric already had far more experience fighting both beasts and humans.

So, even with the surprise move from Tommi, Auric managed to maintain his calm. Besides, Auric’s eyes could see through Tommi’s movement.

The moment he activated the Plant General, he could see the energy particles flowing differently than during his previous approaches. So, he realized something like this would happen.

Tommi gathered all his flames in both hands before waving them down. "Take this!"

Multiple waves of absolute fire flew toward Auric.

If Auric chose to defend here, he might end up losing. Yet, Auric knew it would be disrespectful to use his Lightning Step to evade the attack.

So, he stood his ground and gathered his energy.