Advent of the Three Calamities

"Begin!"

As the referee's voice faded, Julien raised his head and adjusted his physical and mental condition.

He didn't make any significant movements and remained standing in the same spot.

At the same time, Carmen's leg muscles bulged and wiggled as though they were alive, tensing and twisting before releasing all the tension at once and speeding up in Julien's direction.

With a quick burst, he appeared right before Julien, and he lowered his body further down.

Cra Crack-

Carmen's steps were so heavy that he left deep imprints on the ground behind, fine miniature cracks spreading from the area of compression.

"Huuuap!"

With a loud shout, his legs tensed further as he lowered his stance, readying himself for a shoulder tackle aimed at Julien.

Everything was as he envisioned in his mind.

Anyone else in Julien's position would have likely been flustered by the situation, but he remained calm and composed.

Tak-

With a light step forward, Julien raised his hand, effortlessly pressing it against the incoming shoulder.

Although his movements appeared slow to Carmen's eyes, they were deceptively fast, and his hand soon made contact with Carmen's shoulder.

Carme immediately became confused by his action.

Was he thinking of blocking his attack with his hand? But he soon understood.

"Uekh!"

Abruptly, Carmen felt his shoulder become incredibly heavy, pulling it downward and throwing his center of gravity off balance.

Bang, bang, bang-

Carrying the momentum, Carmen stumbled past Julien, his feet digging deep into the ground as he struggled to regain his balance.

But how could Julien give him a chance?

Without even glancing at his opponent, he raised his right hand as threads materialized, positioning themselves in Carmen's path.

With no time to evade, Carmen's eyes locked onto the approaching threads, his expression hardening. His thigh muscles tensed as he twisted his torso, raising one leg high.

In a desperate move, he slammed his foot down behind him, the ground cracking under the force of his stomp.

Bang!

Carmen's body skidded back a few centimeters, dangerously close to the threads.

A flicker of alarm crossed his mind, but he quickly steeled himself, clenching his teeth as veins bulged along his neck.

"Arkhhh…!"

He pressed harder against the ground, forcing more power into his thighs, determined to stop his body.

He was eventually able to come to a stop.

"Hooo."

Only then did he sigh in relief.

"That was close."

He looked at the threads behind him and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Taking another deep breath, he shifted his attention back toward Julien.

Crack!

Fissures spread from the ground beneath Carmen's feet, forming a web of cracks across the platform.

With his incredible stamina, he barely paused before launching himself forward again. His muscles twisted and tensed, coiling like springs as they gathered immense energy for the next charge.

He arrived before Julien in a matter of seconds.

'Again.'

Carmen repeated the same pattern as his first attack.

Twisting his back and waist he threw a punch in his direction.

"Haa!"

The air twisted around his fist, producing a faint whistling sound.

Julien, who had just fended off Carmen's initial attack, was momentarily taken aback by how quickly Carmen could recover and gather his energy.

What surprised him even more was the sheer force behind each of Carmen's attacks, which erupted with the intensity of a volcano, holding onto tremendous power.

A single hit would mark the end of the fight.

Bang!

Julien repeated his previous action, positioning his hand against Carmen's incoming punch and applying 'Step of Suppression' over it.

Just as Julien thought Carmen would stumble forward, Carmen planted his foot firmly against the ground and threw another punch in his direction.

'What the…!'

Faced with this sudden change, Julien had no choice but to intercept the attack once more, pressing his hand against Carmen's fist and barely suppressing it.

Bang!

Julien then kicked him directly in the chest, distancing the two of them from each other.

"Наа… Наа…"

'Endless stamina, and a tremendous burst of strength…'

Carmen came yet again.

Swooosh!

Julien started to feel the pressure of the fight.

Despite his body growing stronger and now being Tier 4, he didn't think about taking on the fist head-on. That would simply be suicide.

Instead, he opted for the same trick as before.

Taking a step back, he raised his hand and tried to press it in the fist's direction.

"Ha!"

Unexpectedly, Carmen saw through the action and swiftly adjusted his strategy.

He pressed his left foot forward, twisting his heel, which altered the trajectory of his punch just as it was about to make contact with Julien's hand.

The immense strain on his bones was evident, creaking under the pressure, but Carmen pushed through the pain.

"A… Pity…"

At the last moment, he just managed to move his hand and block his attack.

Julien had come dangerously close to losing.

Carmen was satisfied with this result as he grinned.

"Things will be a lot easier for me now.'

He still didn't quite understand the mechanics of the weird gravitational technique, but he understood something.

'He needs a little time to adjust the position. Most likely, the reason why he uses his hand is to help him set the position.'

In that case, things were easy now.

Crack!

The ground split apart yet again as Carmen's body thundered forward.

His right arm shook as The fixed his gaze on Julien's weakened side.

He didn't waste a second and pretended to throw a faint in that direction.

As expected, Julien's eyes trembled as he hesitated. Activate skill or not…?

Carmen smiled.

Swooosh!

He took advantage of Julien's slight hesitation to attack in that direction.

'Got you!'

Clank-!

"Uh!?"

Carmen's expression changed as he felt his fist hit something hard.

Lowering his head, he was shocked to see a thick chain appear around Julien's torso. It directly acted as a shield as it absorbed most of the impact.

Nonetheless, Julien still stumbled back due to the rebound force of the attack.

"Наа.

. Наа…"

Carmen's breathing was extremely heavy.

Looking in Julien's direction, his expression crumbled.

'…He blocked it.'

This was problematic. It made almost all of his actions until this point useless.

Clench.

Just as he thought he had managed to find a breakthrough, his opponent found a new way to defend.

It was as though he was facing a massive fortress. Tall and impenetrable.

"Haa…!"

It was frustrating.

'No, I've got to stay calm.'

Carmen was an experienced fighter and thus was able to quickly recompose himself. He started to think about all the possible things he could do.

'I'm starting to become exhausted. At this rate, he'll win.

I need to find a way to bait his Emotive Magic…'

So long as Julien used his Emotive Magic, Carmen was confident in winning.

For some reason, since the start of the match, Julien had not once used his Emotive Magic.

'Right, I just need to bait his Emotive Magic out. I nee-'

"You want to bait my Emotive Magic, don't you?"

A cold voice suddenly reached him from the front, and Carmen felt his entire body shudder as his head flicked up in shock.

How did he know…?!

Massaging his arms, Julien met his gaze and his lips gently pulled up.

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

His voice was quiet, yet he managed to reach Carmen's ears smoothly.

"…You've got a pretty talented Emotive Mage from your Empire. It would be weird if you didn't have countermeasures against Emotive Magic. I can tell with a glance that you want me to use Emotive Magic."

"Ah."

Carmen came to a sudden realization as his eyes widened.

But before he could open his mouth to say anything else, Julien spoke again.

"But to be honest, even if you did have countermeasures, they'd be useless."

He suddenly brought his hand forward in a snapping motion.

Before Carmen could figure out what was going on, he heard a low 'snap' and his mind grew blank. Something flooded his mind, overflowing his consciousness like a tsunami.

His face grew pale, his eyes lost focus, his entire body started to tremble, and his breathing stopped. It all happened so suddenly that the referee didn't even notice a change before Julien thrust his body forward and arrived right before Carmen.

Throwing an undercut, his fist directly landed against Carmen's stomach.

Thump!

Falling face flat against the ground, Carmen remained motionless as the referee's voice echoed out.

"Match over! Julien Evenus of the Nurs Ancifa Empire Wins!"

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