"You’re going to have to try harder than that," Aku said in a murmur, barely audible over the noise of energy and impacts. His words were dry, short, without emotion, simply an observation comment.

Antony frowned and charged his next attack. This time, the combination of brambles and fire converged at a single point, seeking a definitive break in Aku’s defense. The attack’s pressure was felt even at distance, the condensed energy forming a tangible weight that made the surrounding air vibrate.

Aku retreated slightly, deflecting the brambles with fluid movements, but each Azoth impulse began requiring more concentration, more precision.

His liquid and dense tentacles crashed against the fire and brambles, undoing them, but the attack ’s force was increasing.

From the stands, Gerald exhaled forcefully, adjusting his glasses and murmuring something unintelligible, while Bīng Xuě leaned forward, enjoying the combat ’s tension.

Antony saw the opportunity and launched a final blow, direct, seeking to pierce through Aku ’s defense with a combination of fire, brambles, and pure brute force from his artistic energy. The Azoth sphere Aku had formed before him began wobbling under the pressure. Each tentacle he launched was forced to move rapidly, but Antony ’s energy was intense, and the attack combined speed and power, seeking to overflow any containment.

Aku felt the blow’ s weight approaching, measured the distance, the trajectory, and the impact’ s force. He was restraining himself, maintaining maximum efficiency without revealing all his potential, evaluating Antony’s capacity to sustain a sustained attack, anticipating each movement.

Just when Antony was about to touch him, when the Azoth sphere seemed like it would give way and the attack was going to impact directly on him, the scene remained suspended. The room was charged with tension, the air vibrating with energy, and the tuxedoed professor remained observing from his place, indifferent, while students held their breath.

Aku was about to face the blow, aware that any slip could allow Antony to have a minimum advantage, but without intention of releasing his true power. His dark violet eyes fixed on Antony’ s, measuring each millimeter of distance, evaluating each fraction of second passing, as the energy clash approached.

At that instant, the duel’ s narrative suspended, leaving the confrontation’ s conclusion open, anticipation floating in the air and tension impregnating every corner of the duel room.

Aku remained firm, feeling how each blow Antony launched shook the air around him, each bramble and flame striking the Azoth sphere surrounding his body.

Aku thought about using some artifact, but at the same time didn’ t want to always depend on them.

Besides, going all out wasn’ t what he wanted. It was better this way, training his mastery with azoth.

That was more important to him.

The dense dark liquid vibrated with each impact, undulating and transforming without losing cohesion, adapting to the pressure. His concentration was absolute, measuring each movement, each attack angle, evaluating Antony’ s force and speed without needing to move excessively.

He knew that if he showed his complete power too soon, he wouldn’ t learn anything from this test, and besides, he wanted to see how far his arrogant opponent would go.

"You’ re going to have to try harder," he murmured with neutral voice, without tension, without emotion.

Just a brief comment, almost dispassionate, while extending an Azoth tentacle to deflect a new fire attack combined with brambles.

That combat, while contained, wasn’ t as fun as the one he’ d had with his Asian blue haired "friend." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

And much less as exciting as his duel against Alexander.

But it was "productive."

Antony tensed, frowning. His movements began becoming more aggressive, more desperate. He tried combining brambles with more complex patterns, launching simultaneous fire explosions, trying to corner Aku, to force him to retreat and show some fissure. His golden eyes shone with determination and rage, his arrogance still intact despite each blow that failed.

Aku remained calm. Each gesture of his hands and body was calculated: the liquid tentacles moved fluidly, intercepting bramble after bramble, absorbing part of the impact, breaking another part into nothing, transforming spheres into projectiles that impacted at distance on Antony’ s roots and flames, dispersing them with surgical precision. The flame’ s light reflected on the Azoth spheres’ edges, making the dark liquid shine with a deep and metallic tone.

"Come on!" Antony shouted in a moment of frustration, quickly painting more brambles with green and red strokes on the ground. His gestures became broader, faster, launching bursts of artistic energy that swirled toward Aku. He tried taking advantage of the pressure to find a gap, a weakness that didn’ t exist.

Aku felt the attacks’ weight, but each one was predictable. He analyzed the movement pattern, measured the cadence of Antony’ s strokes, the speed at which he propelled them forward. The Azoth tentacles moved in perfect synchrony, intercepting, deflecting, absorbing. The dark energy vibrated under pressure, extending in fine lines, forming structures that bordered the efficiency of a perfect mechanism.

In an instant, Aku decided it was time to counterattack. His eyes darkened even more, and the Azoth’s density around him increased. He formed solid spheres, each the size of a fist, charged with internal pressure seeking to explode on contact. He launched the first toward Antony, who dodged it for an instant, but the following ones intertwined with tentacles that pursued him, blocking exits, limiting space.

"What...!?" Antony exclaimed, trying to react as he found himself cornered by the dark tentacles emerging like liquid serpents, forming barriers and projectiles.

Aku said nothing more. He moved his hands with precision, creating new Azoth patterns that became whips and spheres, striking Antony’ s brambles and dispersing his fire with liquid explosions that evaporated into dark vapor. Each of Aku’ s blows was controlled, measured, sufficient to neutralize Antony without destroying him unnecessarily.

The air filled with the metallic aroma of condensed energy, the scraping of breaking brambles, the vapor emerging from Azoth’ s evaporation upon contact with fire. Spectators remained silent, some holding their breath, others with eyes wide as they watched Antony begin losing ground.

The red-haired youth tried one last desperate attack, combining fire and brambles, trying to surround Aku completely, seeking an impossible opening. But Aku had already calculated each millimeter of space, each millisecond. His Azoth tentacles closed like a perfect net, immobilizing Antony’ s attacks and limiting his mobility.

"You’ ve tried very hard," Aku finally said, his voice firm and calm, while barely leaning forward, "but this ends now."

With a controlled movement, he extended a liquid tentacle toward Antony, wrapping his arm and torso, and then condensed the Azoth into a sphere that completely immobilized him, pressing gently but precisely. Antony struggled, trying to free himself, but each movement was anticipated, neutralized, and finally, Aku used a last energy impulse to send him backward, falling to his knees on the ground, defeated but unharmed.

The silence that followed was heavy. The tension slowly dissipated as the Azoth withdrew, transforming again into liquid that dissolved without leaving traces. Antony breathed with difficulty, his chest rising and falling rapidly, but his gaze recognized defeat without need for words.

From the stands, Bīng Xuě applauded enthusiastically, jumping slightly, while Gerald leaned forward, adjusting his glasses with serious expression, but with a gleam of approval in his eyes. Even some of the other students murmured among themselves, surprised by Aku’ s efficiency and control.

The tuxedoed professor remained motionless, observing each movement, and finally nodded.

"Good work," he said, his grave voice filling the room. "Both demonstrated interesting abilities, but it’ s evident this student’ s energy control is superior."