Inhuman Warlock

"Why?" That's the only thing Malin could ask Lucifer.

Why would he surrender? He was the one who gave her all the confidence that she could win any Battle as long as she wanted! He was the one who told her that initial rankings didn't define who was stronger. And now he didn't trust her himself?

Lucifer stepped on the stage. "The battle isn't worth it. I know you could've won, but at a cost that you can't bear to afford at this point. There are more battles to fight next. I don't want you to end up at the ninth rank only. I want you to go Higher and show others what you are capable of in the finals."

He explained his side of the story, so Malin didn't misunderstand him. In any case, he had decided to win the next battle. He was confident about it. They didn't need bonus points to qualify, so it was quite stupid to give their all in the second battle. Unlike him, Malin couldn't heal whenever she wanted.

"You..."

Malin didn't know how to react. On one side, she could see that Lucifer did it for her in a way. On the other hand, she felt slightly discontent that he didn't let her decide for herself. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do now. It was the captain's decision to even forfeit a battle. If he wanted, he could've disqualified the entire team before even starting.

Malin picked up the red handkerchief and went down the stage, leaving Lucifer on the stage.

Jaek was still laughing. "And here I was hoping to enjoy the battle. What cowards. Why don't you surrender as well? Instead of bothering our captain to come on the stage?"

Lucifer squinted his eyes, feeling somewhat insulted.

He snapped his fingers. A wind blast appeared right before Mander, sending him flying back to his seat.

"You aren't big enough to stand before me. Let your father come."

"You!" Jaek yelled. He was so furious over being attacked out of nowhere, even though Lucifer made sure to keep the wind blast tame enough to not hurt Jaek.

Jaek was another to jump back on the stage, but a flaming wall appeared before him, stopping him.

"Stay where you are."

Mander started walking to the stage with calm steps. A flame burned around both of his fists.

"Your wind is not bad." He jumped on the stage.

"You haven't seen half of it," Lucifer answered.

"I don't know where you came from or which family you belong to, but you definitely deserve to be here. One day you'll definitely reach the Captain Rank in the Star Alliance, but that day isn't coming this month."

"It's more than just about becoming a Captain at this point. I've promised someone that I'm winning this whole event. And I intend to keep my promise."

"I'm afraid your promise will be broken today," Mander explained. "But you can still be proud of all you've achieved in this place. You can go back with pride, even after losing."

"Shall we begin?" he asked the old man.

This was the battle that everyone had been waiting for. It was a battle between the Two Seeds, both being stronger than the others. It was also going to be the battle between two equals, being more intense than anything. Almost everyone here was excited over this battle, including all the Administrators.

Mander was the prime contender to win the entire Captainship Tournament, but if Lucifer could defeat him, it was going to be the biggest upset ever. It was going to be the first time where the lowest ranked person was going to reach the finals, that too after defeating the candidate who was placed at the top in the initial rankings.

"This will be the last battle, and it'll decide who goes to the finals," the old man explained. "Are you two ready?"

"I am." Mander nodded.

Lucifer also nodded. "I'm ready as well. We can start."

"Alright. You can begin!" The old man declared, finally signaling the beginning of the battle.

As soon as the old man signaled the start of the battle, the entire stage lit into flames. Over twenty feet tall flames rose everywhere, covering the whole battlefield. The only area that wasn't on fire was where Mander stood.

Mander didn't play around at all. He started with the finishing move right away. Moreover, he didn't go easy either. He didn't worry about hurting Lucifer or even killing him. Death was allowed in battles like this. Furthermore, he already allowed Lucifer to surrender. It was his fault that he didn't surrender.

"And the battle is over. If anyone expected another result, they were an idiot," Raayi muttered, smirking.

"As expected, the three seeds will go to the finals," Another youngster signed. "I don't know why I expected more."

"It's not over yet," Ron commented.

"What do you mean?" Raayi heard him. She couldn't help but ask what he implied. How could he think that the battle wasn't over?

"Scream..." Ron answered. "There is no scream. If Lucifer were burned, we would've heard at least some resemblance of a scream or pained yell. However, there is none. That means the Flame hasn't hurt him, which is quite interesting in itself. It's not often that we see Mander's flames fail.

It was only now that others also started noticing it. There were flames, but there was no scream.

Even Mander was surprised by it. He stopped his flames. All the flames that were covering the battlefield disappeared, revealing Lucifer still standing where he previously stood. The only difference was that there was still fire around him. However, that fire was different. That fire appeared to be frozen in time.

As soon as Lucifer removed his time barrier, the flames also disappeared.

Lucifer glanced at Mander. "You did surprise me."

Even he hadn't expected Mander to attack right away. Fortunately, as soon as he felt his skin burn, Lucifer cast his time barrier around him, stopping those flames in time while giving his skin a chance to heal. When the flames were canceled, Lucifer removed the time barrier and watched the flames disappear.

'When he sat in the absolute freeze, I had a feeling that there was something more to it than his resistance. And now with these flames... This guy... He can control time. That's interesting... Very interesting. The Time Lords.... One of the Three Commander Level Species along with the Baltics that were wiped... Just what actually is this kid...?'

The old man hadn't seen someone stop time before. Even though others couldn't understand how Lucifer stopped the flames, he was able to see it clearly. Especially now that it was with flames, that made him even more curious about what Lucifer actually was.