Chapter 176: Brother Vs Brother
As soon as the medical staff carried Selene out of the ring, Lumen’s voice boomed through the stadium speakers once again.
"And now, the time has come for our second match! A fight the entire Colosseum has been eagerly waiting for since this morning!"
"Two brothers. One fight. Same blood — different paths, On one side, the proud prodigy who secured his place in the Top 5 of Sovereign Monolith Academy, the master of ancient artifacts — ADRIAN VALEMONT! And on the other side, Astraviel Academy’s wild card, the dark horse who shattered all expectations to claim his spot in our Top 5 — LUCIAN VALEMONT!"
An intense wave of cheers and whispers swept through the crowd as Lumen smiled and pointed down at the arena.
"We all know how these two brothers clashed fiercely during the second exam! But the past is the past! Today, we aren’t here to judge! Today, we will simply watch and see which of these sons truly deserves the pride, power, and the ticket to the second round! Fighters, please step into the arena!"
As both brothers began walking toward the center from their respective gates, the focus shifted high up to the Valemont family’s VIP box, where the tension was becoming undeniably palpable.
"I’m sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for how a street-plucked orphan made it this far..." Lysandra murmured as her eyes drifted lazily toward the arena below.
"Standing in the same ring as Brother Adrian of all people. Isn’t that right, Father? You don’t actually believe he earned it, do you?"
On the other side Cassia remained completely silent. There was no emotion on her doll-like face. Without even glancing at Lysandra, she kept staring at the arena, absently fidgeting with an antique watch chain in her lap.
"You speak the truth, dear," the Duchess sighed, waving a hand as if bored by the very topic of his existence.
"He was brought into this house solely to serve your brother. It is almost pitiful that the boy actually believes he belongs here. Her gaze drifted down toward the arena as a thin smile settling on her lips.
Today, however, Adrian will surely remind him of his place in front of the entire audience — that wrapping a weed in silk does not change its roots."
"Enough."
That single word dropped into the box and killed every other sound.
Duke Valemont hadn’t moved. Same posture, same blank expression, not even a glance toward his wife or daughter. His eyes stayed pinned down on Lucian the entire time — watching him step into the ring below like he was the only thing worth looking at.
"Let the results speak," the Duke said softly.
Before stepping fully out of the shadows and into the ring, Lucian paused. He glanced back over his shoulder, his eyes meeting Seraphina’s first, and then shifting to Elira.
Both girls instantly understood the silent cue. He was waiting for his goodbye cheer.
Without a second thought and ignoring the thousand eyes around them, Elira stepped forward while wrapping her arms around his neck as she pressed a slow, lingering kiss to his cheek.
"Good luck, darling," she murmured with a confident smile as Lucian rubbed her cheek.
Seraphina, on the other hand, was practically vibrating with embarrassment, doing something so intimate in front of a huge audience was a long no for her, though still not wanting to be left behind, she forced her legs to move.
Staring fixedly at the arena floor, she stiffly shuffled forward while her hands fidgeted nervously at her sides as she awkwardly mumbled, "U-Um... G-Good luck... D-Lucian."
A genuinely affectionate smile broke through Lucian’s expression.
Stepping closer he leaned and placed a reassuring kiss on her forehead.
"You know I love you too, Sera, right? You don’t have to force yourself."
With that, he turned around, as his demeanor instantly shifted back to cold indifference and walked out toward the center of the arena to face Adrian.
The unapologetic display of affection from Astraviel’s top two female prodigies sent the crowd over the edge. Deafening cheers, sharp whistles, and aggressively jealous shouts instantly exploded from the stands.
At the edge of the staging area, Seraphina still stood stiff as a board, her flushed face burning so hot it looked like steam might actually rise from her ears.
Elira glanced as an amused, teasing smirk playing on her lips. "Take a breath, Sera, If your face gets any redder, that announcer is going to mistake you for a Blood Oak student and announce you instead of them."
Sera puffed her cheeks like a red panda which did the work.. drawing a rare, genuine chuckle that completely melted Elira’s icy aura.
All of Sera’s annoyance vanished in an instant, leaving her staring wide-eyed with a single, helpless thought: She is so absolutely pretty.
On the other side, both brothers stood in the center of the arena, about ten meters apart.
Adrian glared at Lucian with burning intensity. He looked less like a student and more like a walking armory. From head to toe, he was completely loaded with artifacts. He wore enchanted boots that hummed with a faint energy. Over his uniform sat a thick, reinforced chest plate. Every single finger on his left hand was adorned with a different glowing ring. But the most eye-catching piece of equipment was on his right arm — a mechanized gauntlet with three distinct, hollow slots lined across the knuckles, looking eerily similar to a beast’s claws waiting to slide out.
Lucian lazily kept his hands shoved in his pockets.
"So, here we are again, brother," Lucian said while gazing at all Adrian’s equipped form. "Looks like you’ve brought half the world’s artifacts with you."
Adrian didn’t take the bait.
He reached up and snapped the protective eye-visor of his helmet open, revealing his eyes. Raising his right arm while pointing a metallic finger at Lucian’s chest he mumbled.
"Y-You did it..."
Lucian tilted his head. "Huh? What did I do?"
"You killed Liebe."
Silence stretched between two brothers for a few seconds.
Up in the stands, Crowd and the VIPs were starting to exchange confused glances. From their perspective, Lumen had already signaled the start of the match, but the two combatants were just standing there staring at each other. That sheer distance and the roaring ambient noise of the Colosseum made it completely impossible for anyone to hear their private conversation.
Despite hearing the name of the murdered Zandar prodigy, not a single muscle on Lucian’s face twitched.
"Liebe?" Lucian asked, his voice laced with a chillingly calm mockery.
"Who is that? Don’t know what you mean. But I will say this... throwing these wild, baseless accusations at your older brother right in the middle of our second... no, wait. Let me correct myself. I mean our first match."
He took a relaxed step forward. "Because honestly, how can we even call what happened back that day a fight, when you couldn’t even manage to land a single hit on me?"
Adrian’s eyes twitched too hard. The metal of his gauntlet creaked loudly as he clenched his fist. He manically wanted to scream, to lash out and curse at his too damn calm face, yet he forced his jaw shut.
He knew this was coming, and this time, he had a plan. So, he simply swallowed his pride and took a deep breath to rein in his anger.
He wasn’t the same arrogant, impulsive fool from the second exam. He knew deep down that he couldn’t easily defeat Lucian in a straightforward clash anymore. That was exactly why he had raided the Duke’s private vault and stepped into this ring as a fully prepared, walking fortress.
Lowering his stance, Adrian’s eyes locked onto Lucian, his mana beginning to flare around his heavy armor.
Enough of this" Adrian lowered his helmet visor as gathering his brute force to lunge forward.
Without even blinking, before Adrian could launch himself, Lucian opened a portal. Stepping back, he vanished instantly, only to reappear right behind him.
However, instead of panicking or looking surprised, a smirk spread across Adrian’s face under his helmet.
Got you.
"Void Ring," Adrian murmured under his breath as his thumb rubbed one of his flashy, looking purple rings.
Instantly, a big intricate magical circle illuminated the arena floor, quickly expanding and drawing complex runes across a precise 10-meter radius around them.
Right behind Adrian, Lucian’s body went completely stiff. His movements were forcibly halted mid-step, locking him in place like a statue.
Seeing his trap work flawlessly, Adrian slowly turned around. A mocking laugh escaped his lips as he casually walked up to his frozen older brother.
"Surprised, brother?" he taunted as his eyes glowing with arrogant superiority.
"With this ring, I can seal and solidify the space within a 10-meter radius. That means none of your cheap tricks. No teleportation, no portals, no fancy footwork... nothing can save you now. You can’t even move a single muscle."
He leaned sneering in Lucian’s space
what!! Aren’t you going to mock me now?"
