As soon as he cornered me, he started casting Flamethrower again, and that's when I drew, steadying my aim. No tricks, no traps, just power. "Piercing Shot!"

  Flamethrower was a powerful skill, but it had it's drawbacks. It could melt my HP in 5 seconds. 2 second cast time and 3 second of DoT. However, Piercing Shot connected in 1.5, bringing Cyrus down to around 25% health. If he kept casting, he could have possibly killed me then and there, however I immediately shot another basic shot after Piercing Arrow, and he decided to cancel the cast and dodge it instead.

  If he took the hit, he risked getting poisoned, and he was too low on HP to take the risk. Besides, if he tried to finish the cast, I already had Leap Attack off cooldown, and he possibly knew that, so he definitely made the smart choice.

  "Direct hit!" Shieldbreaker cried out. "This is Orion's second breakout!"

  "That's Piercing Shot at full charge!" Virtune added. "Must have hurt."

  And just like that, our HP was almost even once again.

  Cyrus looked frustrated for a moment; he clearly thought this match was about to end soon.

  He twirled the staff once in his palm, runes flashing crimson, and planted it in the sand. The magic circle beneath him expanded outward, swallowing half the arena.

  " Oh... that's...new?" Virtune said, half asking.

  The sand darkened. The air trembled. Then the world caught fire.

  "Cinder Storm!"

  Flame erupted from every direction. A swirling inferno that rolled across the battlefield, swallowing everything in its path. It wasn’t a wall, or a cone, or a line; it was an ocean of fire.

  I dove backward, trying to Quick Step clear, but the heat overtook me instantly. My HP plummeted as the flames washed over my armor, warning icons flashing red across my vision.

  There was no gap, no escape.

  Except up.

  "Silk Shot!"

  I fired the filament into a collapsed banner post near the rope and let the string yank me clear of the inferno, swinging over the firestorm as it tore across the sand below. I landed in a crouch, cloak smoking, breath coming in ragged gasps, on one of the boulders. I definitely did a what you'd call a superhero landing; fitting for my Spider Man-like usage of the Threadweaver.

  I didn't get hit by Cinder Storm, and yet I lost 15% of my HP. At this point if he shot a Fireball at my current location, I couldn't do a thing.

  As I was waiting for the inevitable, I realized his staff was glowing white-hot from the channel. Maybe this skill applies Silence or Exhaust for a while after use?

  It had to be the case. I was a sitting duck. There was no way he wouldn't capitalize on that if he could.

  I decided not to think about it too hard and let loose a couple of arrows, but he dodged and parried them all.

  Cyrus exhaled slowly, shoulders rising and falling with the rhythm of his breath.

  "I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use that," he said softly. Then his tone changed, pride mixed with reverence. "But now that I did, you should take some time to appreciate the craftsmanship."

  He tilted the weapon slightly, letting the light hit the grain.

  The staff was... delicate, for lack of a better word. It was wood, dark and charred, with veins of red mana running along its length. They pulsed like the glow of dying ember, slowly and rhythmically.

  "It's called the Cinderbark Staff," he continued. "Level 15 Epic staff, crafted on request."

  The crowed erupted into shock. A level 15 Epic weapon, and crafted on top of it?

  I knew who the maker was, of course. The Carpa Crafter Group? will have their hands full for a while after VODs go online.

  I expected it. When Danza said they crafted a strong staff, I was almost sure it had to be for Cyrus.

  "We are both representing Danzaburou and his group then," I smiled. We're making really good advertisement for him here.

  "They know what they're doing, that's for sure," Cyrus said.

  After our brief exchange we continued the fight. I had a feeling he started talking to mask his inability to cast, but the residue from Cinder Storm would have finished me anyway had I tried to get back to the ground, so I played along.

  The wind carried the heat across the beach, the air between us wavering like liquid glass. My fingers tightened on the bowstring.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  And I felt like round 2 was about to start.

  The heat from Cinder Storm still lingered in the air, curling off the sand in faint red threads. The arena looked like a battlefield; half scorched, half glassed, still trembling with heat distortion.

  Cyrus stood near the center, calm as ever, staff raised slightly, the Cinderbark veins pulsing intensely.

  My mana bar was running low. Every dodge, every skill, every attack took a toll. We were both low enough that one mistake would mean the end.

  But his mana regen was much better than mine.

  I loosed a basic arrow with low arc. He flicked his wrist, Gust dispersing it like smoke. I immediately fired another from the opposite angle, twisting mid-step to shift my aim. That one forced him to side-step. He answered with two Arcane Bolts, quick and precise.

  I ducked the first, rolled under the second, and punished the follow-up with Piercing Shot. He caught it with a Gust, barely in time, the wave pushing sparks off the collision. That spell really shouldn't be able to deflect skills.

  I knew it was hard to time, and probably 1 out of a 1,000 mages could do it against a fast moving projectile like Piercing Shot.

  The problem was, I had to fight that 1 out of a 1,000.

  We moved in sync: two metronomes of motion and timing. Every step I took, he mirrored. Every shot he cast, I answered.

  "Orion is adjusting his attacks, feinting with minimal mana usage to bait the Gusts. Top-tier execution," Virtune casted.

  "Cyrus isn't panicking either. He's using Gust reactively, never preemptively. With that he might miss a second, but he can make sure it's a valuable exchange," Shieldbreaker added.

  The sand erupted in small plumes with every dodge.

  I grazed him once with a Fan of Arrows spread that got past his timing. The poison ticked again, small but visible. He winced.

  For the first time since the fight began, he took a step back, and the crowd felt it.

  "Cyrus gives ground! For the first time this match, it feels like Orion is dictating the pace!"

  "Both of their muscle memories are flawless, they aren't wasting a single frame!" Thorax said.

  I drew another arrow, charged halfway, then canceled. The feint made him flinch into a Gust: the exact reaction I wanted. Before the wind cleared, I stepped through it, using Quick Step to reset position. My next arrow burned clean through the air, and although he dodged, it still caught his left arm. Minor damage, but enough to make him react.

  Every Bolt that passed me left a trail of heat on my skin; every Arrow I fired whistled in his ears.

  It was a fight of surgical precision.

  But ever since the Cinder Storm, I felt like I was slowly, imperceptibly winning.

  He was burning mana faster, despite his superior regeneration. Every Gust cost him something, and I could see the exhaustion building in his stance.

  My arrows were finding gaps, my dodges were cleaner, my footwork steadier.

  Then he changed up the pace and stopped casting.

  He started walking forward, dodging incoming shots without using spells.

  At first, I thought it was bait, another setup for Flame Burst or Flamethrower. But his expression didn’t change. Calm. Focused.

  He stepped again.

  Then again.

  Each one smaller, quieter, deliberate.

  "Cyrus is closing distance. What is he planning?" Shieldbreaker asked.

  I took a step back and fired an arrow, but he parried it with his staff. Then he dodged another. Then he took a hit, loosing HP. He was getting real low.

  It took too long for me to realize he hadn't used Gust in a while, and yet he was closing the distance. By the time I realized what he was doing, he was already within distance.

  The next Gust wasn't aimed at my arrows. It was aimed at me.

  The force slammed into my chest like a wall, boots scraping across sand. My balance broke for half a heartbeat, just enough to throw off rhythm, just enough for him to move.

  He leveled the staff. The runes flared red. I saw the shape forming before he spoke it.

  No hesitation. No warning.

  "Flame Hydra!"

  The ground under him erupted, fire coiling into three massive serpents of molten light. Their jaws opened in unison, roaring with heat so intense it felt alive. The air turned to liquid fire.

  I checked Quick Step: on cooldown.

  I had no time to hesitate.

  The impact hit like being punched by a mountain made of heat. Fire filled every pixel of my vision, every sound drowned under the roar of the spell. The ground buckled, the rope behind me disintegrated, the sand itself turning to red-glass shards that cracked under the pressure.

  "Direct hit! Flame Hydra connects clean!" Virtune shouted, standing.

  "That's a guaranteed kill! Orion had less than 20% health remaining!"

  "That's... over," Thorax said.

  The roar of the crowd broke like a wave, part cheering, part stunned disbelief.

  Cyrus lowered his staff, exhaling slowly as the flames raged. The three fiery serpents unraveled into chaotic flames that drifted upward, eating up the space itself.

  He stood there for a moment, letting the staff rest against his shoulder, gaze fixed on the fire.

  Then he saw it. A silver thread, barely visible, coming from the flames, passing next to him, attached to something outside of his field of vision.

  The referee took a hesitant step forward, ready to call it.

  "What--?" Shieldbreaker suddenly gasped.

  Before the word finished leaving his mouth, the filament went taut.

  I burst from the haze, dragging myself through the fire like a shadow being pulled by its own will, bowstring already drawn. My armor was cracked and scortched, edges glowing dull red from the heat, and every breath I took hurt. They really made the pain receptors work overtime, huh?

  "Piercing Shot!"

  As I yanked myself towards Cyrus, I fired a point blank skill right through his chest, and his HP dropped to less than 2%. The impact made him stagger, half a step back, disbelief flickering across his face.

  "Orion's alive!" Virtune shouted.

  "He.. He couldn't have survived the Hydra, that's impossible!" Thorax was in disbelief.

  "What is happening?"

  Cyrus threw out his left hand instinctively, activating Gust that erupted in a last-ditch counter, as he was trying to intercept another arrow from me. The pressure wave tore the air between us.

  But I wasn't drawing an arrow. I stepped into Gust, closing the gap instead of resisting it. My left hand let go of the bow as I summoned another weapon from my inventory. Something small.

  A dagger.

  Simple, unadorned. A level 10 steel dagger made by Danzaburou a while ago to increase my skinning speed.

  I twisted under the air current and drove the blade forward with everything left in me. Gust couldn't counter melee weapons.

  The sound wasn't dramatic; there were no explosions, no roar. Just a quiet, decisive thud as steel met armor seam.

  Cyrus's eyes widened, not in pain, but in disbelief.

  Then he smiled.

  "Of course you'd find a way."

  His HP hit zero.

  The crowd erupted.

  "And it's ower! Unbelievable! Orion wins it back in the most impossible comeback of the tournament!" Virtune couldn't hold his excitement back.

  "He should have been vaporized! What just happened?" Thorax asked.

  I staggered backward, barely able to stay standing. Every step felt like walking through syrup, but I still managed to breathe out, half-laughing, half-exhausted.

  Cyrus was on one knee, looking up at me with quiet curiosity.

  "You’re going to have to explain that one," he said, smiling.

  "Yeah," I said. "I owe you that."