It took a while for the laughter to finally die down.

Many of them could already see the nasty look on Victor’s face, hinting that he was prepared to finally do battle.

Shrrr!

He pulled his blade free from the sheath.

Then, without uttering much, he pointed it directly at Adrian.

"I have given you all the time to think about your decision. And yet, you have not begged for your life. Too bad. Your death will be forgettable."

Adrian gave a small bow.

"Be sure to keep your word. Losing here will be an embarrassment."

Hearing the child utter such arrogant words, Victor lost it.

"You brat!"

Charging forward, the first thing he did was send a powerful sword strike down at Adrian.

Adrian reacted quickly, shooting flames from his legs to use as rockets so he could cover the distance and dodge.

However, due to his small body, there was only so far he could go.

Before he could put enough distance between them, Victor grabbed him by the leg and slammed him heavily into the ground.

With a loud thud, Adrian’s head struck the earth, blood immediately spilling out from the impact. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Everyone watching fell into stunned silence at the sight.

Other than Adrian’s supporters, who could barely look at him without shedding tears, the rest were mostly shocked that the battle had ended so gruesomely.

They had expected a loss, but not at the expense of the child’s life.

Victor stood before Adrian’s immobile body, a look of victory settled comfortably on his face.

"That easy? Hm... my fault for expecting more than—"

His words froze.

He had noticed the blood pooled across the ground was slowly beginning to crawl back into Adrian’s skin.

[The skill Instant Heal has been activated.]

Before Victor could make sense of what he was seeing, Adrian’s eyes snapped open.

Using his magic, he drove Victor’s legs into the ground and locked them there, then leaped to his feet using air magic.

Once upright, he smiled at Victor, who stood rigid with confusion.

"Do forgive me. I got caught off guard there. Shall we start again?"

A wide smile spread across both Erica and Liora’s faces the moment they saw him standing.

"Rrghhh!"

Victor, furious that he had been outplayed by a child, could not stop himself from retaliating.

He drove his blade into the earth, shattering the ground beneath him to break free from the hold. The speed at which he did it was so extraordinary that Adrian could not react in time.

Shrr!

Victor drove the blade into the child’s chest, pushing it as deep as it would go, his grin stretching wide.

Adrian stood there, eyes open, blood spilling from the corners of his lips.

[Analysis update.]

[You lack the combat capability to match a Fighter class in raw speed and strength.]

’I know... Instant Heal.’

Once again, just when Victor was certain he had won, the words died in his throat.

Not only did Adrian grab hold of the blade embedded in his chest and freeze the entire thing solid, he was slowly drawing it out of his own body, and not a single drop of blood remained where the wound had been.

"What...?"

"Gluttony!" Adrian called out.

Immediately, a massive surge of dark mist erupted from his palm and devoured the blade whole in seconds.

Though it was a single act that caused no direct harm to Victor, the sight alone was enough to stop most of the crowd cold with fear.

Because in that moment, all they saw was a vast, churning creature charging out of a child’s hand and swallowing a blade as though it were nothing.

Without thinking twice, Victor leaped back, putting a wide gap between them.

Adrian took a few measured steps back as well, feeling the rush of new energy seep steadily into his body.

Which could only mean one thing.

[You have devoured the A-rank blade of Rian.]

[A new skill has been gained.]

[Slash of Death: With a single movement of the hands, release a powerful slash capable of cutting through almost anything.]

[The Great Sage has evolved the skill.]

A smile crept across Adrian’s face the moment he read it.

After all, he had used Gluttony on several things before and had not once extracted a skill from any of them. For this blade to yield one, it had to carry considerable power behind it.

He raised his head and found the shocked, pale look on Victor’s face staring back at him.

The crowd wore the same expression.

They had just watched Adrian shrug off what should have killed most grown men.

"What... what on earth are you? You should not be able to use that many different types of magic. What kind of skill was that?"

Adrian looked down at his open palm for a quiet moment.

"I can understand why that would surprise you. How could someone who just used elemental magic suddenly display a skill like that? Should he not simply be an elemental mage?"

Victor said nothing, because those were precisely his thoughts.

In this world, a person’s skills were tied to their class, and nothing more. Elemental mages used elemental magic. That was the rule. That had always been the rule.

Adrian was the single living exception to it.

Before he spoke again, he turned his gaze toward Victor and smiled, slow and deliberate.

"The answer is simple. I am not a mage."

Victor broke.

A child was looking down on him.

A mere child.

He coated both hands in mana and hurled himself forward.

Slash!

"Eh?"

It happened so fast that Victor did not register it until it was already done.

A clean, devastating slash had erupted from Adrian’s direction and removed both arms in a single motion.

Bam!

Victor dropped to his knees, eyes blown wide, blood pouring from the stumps where his arms had been.

The crowd went absolutely silent.

Then—

"Arrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The scream tore through the arena.

"My arms! He cut off my arms!"

Adrian himself was genuinely surprised at how cleanly the newly acquired skill had performed. He had not expected the output to be quite that decisive.

But it was exactly what the situation had called for.

With slow, unhurried steps, he closed the distance and stood before Victor.

Victor raised his head, tears and snot streaked across his face, his entire composure shattered beyond recognition.

"You... you are not a child. No child could wield this kind of power."

Adrian placed one hand on top of his head.

"Wait, wait! Do not kill me. You win. You can take everything. I will not bother you again."

Silence settled over the arena for a long moment.

Those were the exact words he had been waiting to hear.

Under different circumstances, he might have killed him then and there and sent a message to the powers watching.

But this outcome carried its own weight, one that would reach further and last longer than a corpse ever could.

"Very well. I shall spare your life. But on one condition."

"Yes, yes. Anything. I will do anything."

[Would you like to make a contract with this person?]

...

[A/n: A new slave?]