The violet spear exploded against the arena floor, and the blast swallowed Hector before he could move away. Violet flames surged upward through the smoke while shattered pieces of stone scattered in every direction, forcing the protective barrier to ripple once again beneath the impact.
With the explosion completely obscuring the arena floor, for several seconds, nobody could see what had happened inside.
Then, just as the spectators began searching through the smoke, something burst out of it.
Hector's large body flew backward like a cannonball, spinning once before his shoulder struck the arena floor. The impact threw him back into the air, and when he came down for the second time, he rolled several meters through broken stone before finally sliding to a stop.
As Hector finally stopped moving, the last traces of violet flame faded behind him.
With the flames gone, the damage left behind became much clearer. Several sections of the dark scales covering Hector's arms and torso had been scorched, while cracks had spread across those that had already taken repeated punishment from Knox's gauntlets. Steam rose from the damaged surfaces, mixing with the smoke that continued drifting across the arena.
Faced with Hector's battered condition, no one in the stands spoke.
Instead, their eyes moved from Hector's battered body toward the other side of the arena, where Knox's silhouette gradually became visible as the smoke thinned. The violet glow running through his armor appeared first, followed by his white hair and the two elongated armor pieces extending behind his waist.
Once the smoke had cleared enough around him, Knox slowly lowered the arm he had used to throw the spear.
"Don't worry. I avoided a direct hit."
A strange silence followed those words.
Confused by what he meant, some of the spectators instinctively looked toward the crater near Hector, and only then did the meaning become obvious. The spear hadn't struck him at all. It had buried itself into the ground directly in front of him, and the explosion alone had been enough to send Hector flying across the arena.
That realization made several people glance back toward Knox.
However, Knox hadn't said it to mock Hector.
There was no smile on his face, nor did his voice carry the playful tone he sometimes used during a fight. Knox had simply stated what he had done, and somehow, that made the difference between them feel even worse.
That difference wasn't lost on those in the VIP section either. Among them, Darkos Moore remained silent.
His expression had grown considerably heavier since the beginning of the duel. He could see the damage covering his son's Dragon Scales, and he understood better than most people present what would have happened if that violet spear had struck Hector directly.
While Darkos continued watching from above, back on the arena floor, Hector's fingers moved.
His claws scraped against the broken stone as he slowly pushed himself upward. The first attempt barely raised his chest before his arm trembled and nearly gave out, but Hector clenched his teeth and tried again until he managed to bring one knee beneath himself.
As Hector struggled to rise, Knox watched him without approaching.
By the time Hector finally managed to stand, his breathing had become ragged. His body swayed slightly before he forced his legs to steady, and the jet-black Darkness around him was now little more than several unstable wisps escaping through the cracks between his scales.
Seeing him force himself back onto his feet despite his condition, Knox finally spoke.
"Still not giving up?"
Hector's head snapped upward at the question.
The words were enough to reignite the anger that had barely settled beneath the pain. His claws curled tightly, and for several moments, he simply glared at Knox as his breathing became heavier.
Rather than answering him, Hector's hand moved toward the empty space beside him.
Following the movement of his hand, a distortion spread through the air.
Several students immediately recognized the opening of a subspace, but what emerged from it wasn't another ordinary weapon. Two large objects slowly came into view behind Hector, their long shapes folded inward as they passed through the distorted space.
The moment those objects became visible, Darkos saw them, and his expression changed.
His chair scraped backward as he abruptly moved. "Hector! No!"
Darkos abruptly rose from his seat, drawing surprised looks from several of the other VIP guests. The composure he had maintained throughout his son's beating disappeared as his eyes fixed on the objects emerging beside Hector.
Realizing exactly what his son intended to do, Darkos immediately shouted again. "Don't use those! You can't control them yet!"
Hector heard him. His eyes shifted toward the VIP section for only a moment before returning to Knox. Despite his father's warning, he said nothing. Instead, the two objects moved behind him.
Heavy mechanical sounds echoed across the arena as their inner sections opened, revealing connection points beneath the folded armor. Both pieces aligned themselves with Hector's back before locking into place on either side of his spine.
CLANK!
The instant they locked into place, Hector's entire body jerked.
"URGH...!"
The sudden strain nearly caused his knees to collapse beneath him.
As his body struggled against the equipment, jet-black Darkness immediately surged around the connection points, but instead of flowing smoothly into the newly attached equipment, it flickered violently. The dark energy repeatedly swelled and contracted as Hector's Dragon Factor struggled to synchronize with the additional armor.
Seeing the unstable reaction from above, Darkos shouted once more.
"Hector, stop!" Darkos's voice reached the arena again.
This time, however, Hector didn't even look toward him.
Ignoring his father's warning completely, he dug his claws into his palms and forced himself upright. His shoulders trembled beneath the strain, while the muscles across his back tightened so violently that several damaged scales shifted around the connection points.
As Hector finally managed to straighten himself, the folded structures began to open.
One section extended outward, followed by another, until the equipment spread wide behind Hector and revealed its true form.
Sea Dragon Wings.
The sight immediately stirred the spectators, but their murmurs were quickly drowned out by a violent surge of Darkness. Jet-black energy poured along both wings, spreading from their bases toward the tips while Hector fought to keep his body upright.
As the Darkness continued flowing through them, the wings twitched once. Then, as Hector tried to force more power into them, they twitched again.
Hector gritted his teeth at their unsteady response. "Move...!"
As if answering his command, Darkness erupted from them.
WHOOOOSH!
The sudden force lifted Hector from the ground.
However, his ascent was anything but smooth. His body lurched sideways almost immediately, forcing one wing to open farther as Hector desperately corrected himself, but instead of returning to the ground, he poured even more Darkness into the equipment.
Under that increased flow of Darkness, the Sea Dragon Wings responded.
This time, Hector shot upward.
Within seconds, he had climbed high above the arena floor, and although his flight remained visibly unstable, he finally managed to hold himself in the air. His damaged body hung between the two dark wings as jet-black Darkness streamed from them in uneven trails.
Following Hector's ascent, down below, Knox raised his head.
With one now high above the battlefield and the other still standing below, the two stared at each other across the distance.
From above, Hector's chest rose and fell heavily. Every part of his body hurt, the Sea Dragon Wings were placing a strain on him that he could barely endure, and even maintaining his altitude required far more concentration than he wanted to admit.
But despite all of that, none of it mattered anymore. If he went back down now, he would lose. With that thought driving him forward, Hector opened his mouth and drew in a deep breath.
Jet-black Darkness immediately began gathering around him in response.
It flowed from the Sea Dragon Wings first, then from the damaged scales covering his body, converging toward his chest before rising along his throat. A small black flame appeared in front of his mouth, but unlike the Dragon Breath he had used moments earlier, Hector didn't release it.
Instead, he kept gathering more. As more Darkness flowed into it, the flame expanded.
Darkness compressed into its center until the black fire became dense enough to distort the air around it. Even from the stands, the spectators could see the sphere steadily growing as Hector forced more and more of his remaining power into a single attack.
Watching the growing sphere from the VIP section, Darkos stared upward with his jaw clenched.
He knew exactly what his son was doing. From the amount of power Hector continued pouring into the attack, it was obvious that he wasn't simply trying to win anymore.
He was throwing everything he had left into one final attack.
As Hector continued forcing more power into it, the black flame swelled again.
Behind him, Hector's wings spread wider as he struggled to remain airborne beneath the pressure gathering in front of his face. Jet-black currents spiraled around his body, while the damaged scales along his neck and shoulders rattled from the amount of Darkness being forced through them.
Once the attack had grown even larger, Hector looked down. His eyes immediately found Knox standing alone beneath him.
"I'll crush you...!" As those words left his mouth, the black flames trembled.
Hector forced the last of his breath inward, causing the mass of Darkness in front of his mouth to suddenly contract. What had been a large, unstable sphere compressed into a smaller and denser core, while black flames spiraled violently around its surface.
With the attack compressed in front of him, his eyes widened with fury.
"KNOX AZNABLE!!!"
As his shout echoed over the arena, the spell formula appeared.
[Moore Family Original - Dragon Breath]
With everything finally prepared, Hector fired.
FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Jet-black fire erupted downward.
The condensed core expanded almost instantly into a massive torrent, far larger than the Dragon Breath Hector had released from the ground. Black flames roared across the air as the attack descended toward the arena, and the sheer heat surrounding it distorted Knox's figure beneath the incoming wave.
Yet even with the enormous torrent descending toward him, Knox didn't move away. Instead, his eyes remained on Hector.
As he continued staring upward, the violet light running through his armor slowly brightened.
Then, following the growing light, the flames began to rise.
Violet fire surged around Knox, flowing past his shoulders and along the armor pieces attached to his body. The glowing sections across them brightened together, while the two elongated pieces behind his waist shifted with the growing current of energy.
Meanwhile, above him, Hector's Dragon Breath was already descending.
The enormous torrent of jet-black flame rushed toward the arena, but Knox remained where he was. His eyes stayed on Hector as he shifted his weight onto one leg, then began raising the other in front of himself.
Continuing that movement, his right leg rose upward until it was lifted high, almost vertically beside his body.
At the same time, violet energy gathered around his raised leg, with several streams of light extending outward before curving around it. The streams connected as more energy flowed into them, gradually forming the outline of a large violet bow.
As the outline continued taking shape, its curved limbs stretched around Knox's raised leg, formed entirely from condensed violet energy. More light gathered along its edges as the shape became clearer, until the enormous bow stood upright with his leg held high and pointed toward Hector in the sky.
Once the bow had fully formed, Knox's right hand moved.
His fingers closed around the glowing string stretching between the ends of the bow, and he began pulling it backward. His elbow followed the motion until his hand drew close to the side of his face, while his raised leg remained straight and steady, keeping the enormous bow aimed toward Hector and the descending torrent of jet-black flame.
As Knox continued drawing the string, violet energy gathered along it. The concentrated light stretched into a long shaft before sharpening at the front, forming an enormous violet arrow aimed directly toward Hector.
With the arrow taking shape, flames immediately wrapped around it, flowing along its shaft and gathering around the pointed tip. The farther Knox pulled the glowing string, the brighter the violet flames became, until their light illuminated the armor pieces across his body.
By then, with both the bow and arrow completely formed, it was finally clear what Knox was doing.
Knox looked almost like an archer drawing a bow, with his right hand pulling the glowing string back beside his face as he took aim. The difference was the unusual posture of his body, with one leg raised almost vertically and held toward Hector as part of the enormous violet bow.
While Knox held that unusual stance below, above him, Hector's Dragon Breath was already closing in.
Jet-black flames filled the sky over Knox, their heat distorting the air as they descended toward the arena. Even with the attack almost upon him, Knox held the fully drawn position for another moment, his raised leg remaining steady while the violet arrow burned brighter against the darkness overhead.
Yet just before he released the fully drawn string, something suddenly crossed his mind.
"Hmm... I remember Durandal saying something pretty chuunibyou when she used this move."
Despite the enormous Dragon Breath bearing down on him, Knox remained completely calm as he tried to recall the words.
After thinking about it for another brief moment, he finally remembered.
"If I'm not wrong..."
A faint smile appeared on his face as the words returned to him.
"This strike... will pierce through the stars!"
With the line finally delivered, his right fingers released the string.
The glowing string snapped forward, and Knox's raised leg moved with the release as the enormous violet bow flashed brilliantly around him.
[Durandal's Original - Knox Aznable Version: Seiros Ballista]
WHOOSHH!
With the bow releasing all of its gathered energy at once, the violet arrow shot into the sky.
It tore upward in a brilliant streak, carrying violet flames behind it as it flew straight toward Hector. The recoil sent a wave of violet energy sweeping across the arena floor, while the enormous bow around Knox broke apart into streams of fading light.
A heartbeat later, Seiros Ballista met the Dragon Breath.
At the point of impact, violet light collided head-on with jet-black flame.
But despite the enormous amount of Darkness Hector had poured into it, the Dragon Breath couldn't stop it.
There was no struggle between the two attacks, nor did the Dragon Breath manage to slow Seiros Ballista even for a moment. The violet arrow drove straight through the center of the torrent, and everywhere its pointed tip passed, the jet-black flames were split apart and scattered to either side.
Seeing his strongest attack being pierced apart in front of him, Hector's eyes widened.
"Impossib—"
Before he could finish the word, the violet arrow reached him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The rest of his words vanished beneath the explosion as violet light swallowed him completely. The blast expanded across the sky in an instant, forming an enormous sphere of violet fire before a powerful shockwave burst outward from its center and slammed against the protective barrier surrounding the arena.
Unable to remain still beneath the force, the entire barrier trembled.
Ripples spread across its transparent surface as the shockwave rolled over it, while the violet light from the explosion illuminated the stadium from above. Students throughout the stands instinctively looked up, and even many of the nobles and invited guests in the VIP seats could only stare at the sight unfolding over the arena.
Faced with the enormous explosion overhead, no one said a word.
Gradually, the violet flames began to disappear, but a massive cloud of smoke remained suspended high above the battlefield. It completely covered the place where Hector had been moments earlier, with only a few fading traces of violet light occasionally flickering through the darkness within.
Then, as everyone continued staring at the smoke, something suddenly broke through the bottom of it.
A figure fell from the cloud.
The moment Darkos recognized who it was, his voice rang out. "Hector!"
Darkos immediately shot to his feet.
As the falling figure became clearer, everyone finally saw Hector's condition. The dark scales that had previously covered much of his body were gone, and the additional armor protecting him had been destroyed along with them, leaving his battered body exposed beneath the smoke and burn marks left by the explosion.
Compared to the rest of his armor, the Sea Dragon Wing equipment had suffered even worse damage.
The large attachable pieces that Hector had forcibly equipped earlier had been almost completely destroyed. One was simply gone, while only several broken sections of the other remained attached to the mounting point on his back, trailing smoke as Hector continued falling toward the arena.
Even more concerning than the destroyed equipment, however, Hector himself showed no response.
His arms hung loosely at his sides, his eyes were closed, and there was no attempt to control his fall. He had already lost consciousness, leaving his body to drop helplessly from high above the arena.
Realizing this, Darkos's expression changed immediately.
Beside him, one of the men he had brought to watch the duel had already moved as well. Both leaned forward almost simultaneously, their bodies tensing as they prepared to jump from the VIP section and catch Hector before he reached the ground.
However, before either of them could move, someone else was faster. The referee had already disappeared from the arena floor.
By the time the others noticed him, his figure was already shooting upward toward Hector, closing the distance in seconds before reaching the unconscious student. He caught Hector securely in both arms, then twisted his body in the air and began descending with him.
A moment later, after safely controlling their descent, the referee landed back inside the arena.
His knees bent beneath the impact before he straightened again, still carrying Hector in his arms. Only after confirming that the unconscious student was secure did he turn his attention toward the monitor displaying the duel evaluation.
There, a single result was shown beside Hector's name.
[Hector Moore: 0%]
The referee stared at the number for a moment before releasing a slow breath.
With Hector's barrier completely depleted, the result was final.
Having confirmed that result, he adjusted Hector slightly in his arms before raising his head, and when he spoke again, his voice carried throughout the silent stadium.
"Duel end! With this result, the winner of this duel is..."
As he reached the final announcement, his gaze moved toward the white-haired student standing on the other side of the battlefield.
"Student Knox Aznable!"
Even after the winner was announced, for a brief moment, the silence remained.
Then the entire stadium erupted.
"WHOOOOOOOOAAAAAA!"
Cheers poured down from every direction, filling the arena so suddenly that they almost seemed to shake the stands themselves. Students jumped from their seats and shouted Knox's name, while others clapped hard enough that their voices disappeared beneath the overwhelming noise around them.
And the reaction wasn't limited to the students.
Many of the nobles and invited guests in the VIP section joined the applause as well. Jean, Tenerife, and Molly watched the white-haired student below with their own expressions, but even among the influential figures gathered there, there was no denying what they had just witnessed.
After everything they had seen throughout the duel, the result was undeniable.
The Violet Knight had slain the evil dragon.