Chapter 57: Alexander Thorne (II)

  The blinding flash of light momentarily erased the area from the eyes of every single spectator. They had to throw their arms up to prevent the searing pain from stabbing into their retinas. When they lowered their arms, two of Damon’s bracer barriers had already been broken through. Silence descended on the arena for a couple of seconds before everyone erupted into another uproar.

  The two commentators had also covered their eyes, unprepared for the sudden radiance.

  “What was that? Wow! Alexander displays the might of a first seed from the very start, destroying two of Damon’s five barriers! What kind of ability is that? It doesn’t seem like a spell! Alan, do you have an idea?” Wesley jumped onto his feet and yelled out as he brought his face as close to the board as possible to get a better look.

  “Hmm… I suspect it’s a unique ability of his artifact. Have a look at that sword… It’s covered in a white glow. That’s auric power, isn’t it?” Alan smoothed out his mustache as he scrutinized Alexander’s sword.

  Wesley brought his eye almost right against the part of the screen that displayed Alexander’s sword. “You’re right! That’s auric power! Does that mean he’s an Auron? But wait, auric power cannot be externalized until the Inner Fortress realm!”

  “Idiot, the flash attack wasn’t solely auric power.” Alan scoffed. “He is a dual cultivator, similar to Lilith from your Military Academy! His artifact appears to be able to shoot forth blades of light. It’s likely a fusion of auric and arcane powers.”

  “Oh, he’s a dual cultivator as well? That’s very interesting!” Wesley exclaimed before sitting back in his chair with a suspicious look. “The Towers don’t teach auric arts… He’s got more secrets than just his sword technique!”

  Alan sighed as he said, “Enough about that, the battle hasn’t ended yet! Let’s see if Damon can overcome his opponent’s speed.”

  Damon quickly regained his focus as he kept a close watch on Alexander. He was frozen in place, unmoving from his lunged posture. His chest was heaving with each ragged breath, as though he was completely spent.

  That attack… It definitely took a lot of power to use. He hasn’t recovered yet. Now is the best opportunity to attack!

  Two spears of ice quickly crystallized above Damon, spinning rapidly as they prepared to launch at Alexander. At the opposite end of the platform, Alexander’s haggard expression vanished as he smiled. He suddenly sprinted forward, brandishing his sword at Damon again and again. Blades of white light shot forth with each swing.

  Damon’s pupils constricted when Alexander smiled. Thankfully, he was very proficient with his Ice Spear spell and had finished the cast by then. They shot forth, at the same time as the arcs of white light arrived. The spears of ice pierced through any of the light blades they encountered with ease.

  With his Mindsense activated, Damon could feel the incoming projectiles with clarity. Their trajectory, speed and strength. These attacks weren’t faster than he could think, meaning he could react to them. As each light blade reached him, he blocked it by creating a barrier with a simple wave of his hand.

  Near the middle of the stage, Alexander was facing the two frozen lances straight on. Or at least it appeared that way until the last second when he fell back and slid along the smooth tiles on his knees, dodging right under the spears. Without losing any momentum, he got back up and continued sprinting toward Damon while firing more light blades with his sword.

  Alexander grinned from his elation at having successfully evaded Damon’s attack, but was bewildered by the smile on Damon’s face. As panic blanketed him, he stopped his mad rush and leaped to the side. Not even half a second after he had dodged, four long shards of ice rushed past.

  As Alexander rolled across the platform, he kept his eyes on the shards of ice. They stopped in mid-air, only a few feet from where he had been standing. They broke apart into half, forming eight small shards, and zoomed toward him again. Beads of sweat fell down his forehead as he leaped to evade them once more. However, they did not fly in a straight line. This time, they curved at the last second and stabbed at him. With not enough time to react, he only barely managed to cut through half of them with his sword and blocked one more with a hastily cast mini barrier.

  The other three shards pierced through a singular bracer barrier each, bringing his artifact defenses down to two barriers. Gritting his teeth, he finally had the time to glance at Damon, and his face became pale at the massive ball of water floating above Damon’s head. He stomped on the ground with a solemn expression as he began chanting hurriedly. Jagged walls of soil and rock rose around him.

  Damon sneered with his arms extended straight up above his head. He brought them down in a mighty swing, launching the Hydrosphere the height of an average man at the crude earthen walls Alexander had hid behind. No loud explosion occurred on impact; only the splashing of liquids and the grinding of rocks rang out. The rock and soil were unable to withstand the weight of the huge ball of water, breaking down and being washed away.

  The water turned brown from mixing with the soil as it surged off the edge of the stage. The cultivators from Argent Flame who had been watching from that end had to scramble to dodge the incoming torrent of water. The flowing water crashed into the arena below, immediately draining away through the dark gray stone slabs below. Damon’s expression hardened as he looked around. There was no sign of Alexander. Even his Mindsense was unable to sense him.

  Where is he? Wait. There!

  A ripple in his Mindsense alerted him to Alexander’s presence, causing him to look up at the sky. A large figure encased in a metallic sheen was free-falling from high above, directly toward him. Now it was Damon who had to leap away from his spot, tumbling across the stage as Alexander crashed into the platform with a mighty boom.

  A cloud of dust billowed out from the point of collision, where a man in a suit of metallic armor stood up, still wielding his longsword. The reddish-orange armor shone under the sunlight, so seamless that it looked more like liquid metal flowing along Alexander’s body.

  Not far away, Damon got back on his feet, observing Alexander with clenched teeth. The muscles in his face twitched, and he crouched as he brought his hands to his waist. A gleaming ball of water materialized between his hands.

  Alexander’s every step rang out with a loud thud as he steadily marched toward Damon. He no longer shot light blades. Instead, his longsword shimmered with a thick layer of white light, almost like a glowing fluid. It seemed very different from arcane power.

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  When he had closed half the distance between them, Damon yelled out as he pushed his arms forward, and a dense stream of water shot forth. It crashed into Alexander, who had braced against it. Slowly, he was being pushed back by the water spout.

  Just as Alexander’s feet neared the edge of the stage, the surging water weakened into a trickle before stopping completely. Damon still held his initial posture, but was now gasping for breath with a flushed face. Alexander’s face was covered by a metal helmet, so it could not be seen. However, Damon could still tell he was smiling. Perhaps it was the slight tilt of the helmet, or the straightening of his shoulders, or maybe just intuition, but he just knew that Alexander was smiling.

  With heavy crunch after heavy crunch, Alexander approached Damon again. This time, he shot light blades at him as he did so. Damon retreated as he blocked each blade of light with his mini barriers with every wave of his hand. Soon, he had been pushed to the edge and had no more space to retreat.

  Below the stage, Claire clasped her hands tightly as her gaze fixated on Damon.

  Please, Damon! You can do it! Just a bit more!

  Thomas had his arms crossed, and his face was impassive as he watched the battle. However, his right foot tapped on the ground incessantly, and his palms were clammy.

  What’s going on? I know you are stronger than this!

  Sitting on a chair she had brought herself, Lilith crossed her legs and leaned back as she squinted at Damon.

  Is this all you have? Maybe you’re not as interesting as I thought.

  “Are you watching, everyone? Look at that! Now that is what I’m talking about! The constant back and forth between advantage and disadvantage… The trading of blows… Attacking one moment and defending the next… That’s a prime example of high-level combat! These two kids are strong enough to even take on some average Disciples!”

  Wesley’s face was bright red from yelling too loudly nonstop. At his side, Alan’s smirk was nowhere to be seen, and his face was completely dark as he stared at the arena with bulging eyes.

  You’re still keeping your true abilities hidden at a time like this? I know you’ve got more cards up your sleeves! Use them right now! Or else…

  His hand tightened around the wooden slip still hidden in his sleeves. Sweat dripped down his neck and drenched his back. His entire life's savings were at stake.

  Alexander arrived right in front of Damon and raised his sword high. Damon had fallen to one knee, and his head drooped low. Through his helm, Alexander’s muffled voice rang out.

  “So, this is all you can do? I honestly expected more. I thought you were a dual cultivator like me. I guess the Adept Masters were mistaken.”

  He swung down, aiming to cut through every bracer barrier with one blow. Two bulky figures swiftly approached from the sides, preparing to intervene at the critical moment. Suddenly, Damon looked up with a sly grin and met the incoming attack with his bare left hand.

  The five bronze rings on his fingers flickered with bronze light, and the longsword halted mid-strike. The sword whined as sparks erupted from the white radiance surrounding it, before the light dissipated and the sword crumpled into a metal ball. The vibrations from the sword were so strong that the hilt ripped itself out of Alexander’s grasp. He had no choice but to give up his sword and jump away. However, this only caused him to fall onto his back.

  His lower legs and feet had been encased in ice, and the frost continued to climb up his body, the process accelerating due to his fall. Damon cast another Ice Spear spell, the spinning spear looming over his restrained opponent. The whistling of the high-speed rotation drowned out Alexander’s muffled shouts as he attempted to escape.

  Alexander struck his chest, upon which the suit of armor melted away. With the suit gone, he was freed from the frozen chains, and he hurriedly leaped away. The spear of ice shot after him. He retaliated by forming a ball of fire in his hand, holding it in front of his mouth, and blowing out air.

  His throat and chest radiated white light as he did so, and the air flowing out of his mouth was similar to the wind funnel Claire used as an attack. It pushed the flames forward in a cone, covering a large expanse of the stage in searing heat. The ice spear melted rapidly and exploded into steam due to the surging flames. Using the cover of the steam, he was able to retreat to the edge of the platform.

  Both Damon and Alexander stood on opposite ends of the stage, their ragged breaths the only sound echoing through the silent Colosseum. Every single person in the crowd held their breath as the tension built up throughout the fight. Even now, when the two competitors were only panting while standing still, the pressure in the arena increased.

  Alexander calmed his breathing first. He cast a quick spell, and two small balls of reddish-orange liquid emerged between the white tiles of the platform, before elongating and solidifying into two sharp longswords. He grasped one in each hand, covering them with a dense white glow.

  Damon, on the other hand, extended his left arm forward as his right hand waved through the air so quickly that it was just a blur of movement. He chanted in a low voice while doing so, and the temperature in the Colosseum dropped rapidly. The atmosphere even turned gloomy, as though the sunlight was being suppressed. Tiny shards of sharp ice formed around him. One. Five. Ten. Soon, a total of 50 shards floated around him.

  I wanted to keep this technique hidden for my battle against Thomas or Claire… It’s a shame, but I have no choice. Damon narrowed his eyes as he cleared his thoughts and focused wholeheartedly on casting his spell.

  Alexander gritted his teeth as his hands clenched his swords so tight that his knuckles turned white. A barrier of fiery red light formed around him, flickering as though it was formed from actual flames. Even the temperature surrounding him rose due to the heat radiating from the barrier. Holding his swords in a cross shape in front of him, he roared as he charged toward Damon.

  “Go.”

  At Damon’s command, the shards of ice swarmed toward Alexander. However, right before they made impact with his barrier, they curved and circled him. His steps faltered at the sight. He had been prepared for a wild clash with the shards, tracking each one to ensure he could destroy them before they snuck past his defenses. Yet, the shards did not move in the way he expected.

  As Alexander frantically glanced at the encircling storm of ice, Damon smiled triumphantly. He closed his left hand into a fist.

  “Shardburst.”

  Each flying shard flashed with dazzling red light, at the center of which was a glowing ‘explode’ rune. They exploded in unison, forming a huge burst of flames and engulfing the arena in an even larger cloud of dust. The steam and smoke emitted by the explosion rose into the sky like a colossal tree sprouting out from the Colosseum.

  Just as the shards began glowing, the four Adjudicators had rushed into the heart of the attack, showing no hesitation as they attempted to save Alexander. The ensuing shockwaves pushed the cloud of dust into the sky, revealing the scene on the platform.

  Alexander had curled up into a ball, and a prismatic barrier of light surrounded him, radiating from a pendant attached to his belt. Around him stood the four Adjudicators, each glimmering with lights of different colors. Two of them had withdrawn weapons and offset the attack with their own, and another had hidden behind a tall shield. The last one, the main Adjudicator, just stood tall with his burly arms crossed on his chest, like a mighty pillar glowing with golden light.

  The two Adjudicators who had defended with their weapons dropped onto their knees as they coughed up blood, parts of their bodies charred black from the ravaging heat. Thankfully, the other two had managed to escape unscathed.

  The barrier around Alexander disappeared, and he stood up, looking around at the devastation caused by Damon’s attack. Even the usually pristine white tiles had been blackened or yellowed close to the epicenter of the explosion. He turned to Damon with a ghastly white face, his eyes and expression blank. The only thing that entered his vision was Damon’s victorious smile.

  Damon's duel against Alexander!

  bronze rings reveal, or Alexander's combat techniques, or the first real usage of Shardburst!