Chapter 54: More Top Contenders

  The raucous audience at the Colosseum was abnormally silent as Claire was supported down from her platform by Zoltan. Only the sound of rustling clothes could be heard, and not a single word was spoken. That was until one audience member began clapping for Claire’s victory. It was Dylan. Soon, the crowd broke out into a standing ovation.

  Though they had not been able to see what happened within the spiraling tempest, they had seen the injured apprentice being taken away. Though unsure what had caused Claire’s breakdown, it was more important that they supported their number one participant.

  Wesley also clapped alongside the rest of the audience. After sitting back down, he spoke into the crystal orb. “I hope Miss Claire is okay! I wonder what transpired in there. Were you able to see through it, Alan?”

  The red glow faded from Alan’s eyes as he replied, “No, I was not. Whatever happened in there doesn’t matter now. All we need to know is that Claire has secured victory, meaning it is now time to move on to the next two battles of the round of 32.”

  He glanced at Claire with a small frown. He had seen exactly what happened from start to finish. It was actually quite extraordinary. He did not expect her to be able to produce minute vibrations through her masterful control of the wind. That was a technique that would be hard to counter without a full-body barrier already prepared.

  “That’s true! It’s time for the next set of battles! The competitors are now climbing up onto the stages. We have the third and fourth seeds this time. The platforms to keep an eye on this round are platforms two and three. On the east side is Thomas Blight from the Arcane Academy, and we have Nolan from the Military Academy to the south!”

  Wesley excitedly introduced the new candidates, mainly focusing on the Assembly, especially the apprentices from the Military Academy.

  “Thomas needs no further introduction. He is a true descendant of the Blight family and possesses the rare bloodline abilities of his ancestor! Now, Nolan, on the other hand, is famed in the Military Academy as the second strongest Auron in the Node Awakening realm. Do you know why that is, Alan?”

  With a small sigh, Alan asked, “No. Why?”

  Unfazed by the lack of enthusiasm in the response, Wesley continued yelling into the orb. “Well, that’s because he cultivates a fighting style! Usually, most Auron focus on tempering numerous parts of their body simultaneously to form a solid and tough physique. What Nolan did instead was to place all his attention and resources in one specific location. Oh, look, they seem to be starting now! Make sure to keep your eyes on platform three, folks, or you might just miss it!”

  On platform three, a lanky boy wearing a common cotton tunic and pants stood on one side with his hands tucked into his pockets. He was chewing on a long piece of jerky. He looked so plain and normal that you would be able to find someone who looked just like him in any random village or town. Only one thing stood out. His boots.

  They were encased in shiny silver metal and had curved blades protruding from every surface. The front and back each had a straight blade poking out, the sides had a long curved blade along the entire length, and the bottom also had two curved blades that were over two feet long.

  His opponent, a fat man wearing the Lunarsol Tower’s robes, yelled out. Forcing the volume of his voice to increase caused his multiple chins to wobble. “Listen to those commentators praising you endlessly. What a joke. I’ll show you why I am the third seed, while you are only fourth.”

  The Adjudicator, who had been admonished by the Adepts, remained on the platform for the duel. His shoulders drooped slightly, and he looked listless. Still, his eyes were clear and focused.

  “Let’s not use any tricks, or I will disqualify you immediately. If possible, finish him off as quickly as you can, Nolan.”

  The Lunarsol Initiate’s entire body jiggled as he trembled in anger from those words. He spat on the ground and withdrew a round crystal orb pulsating with white light. With a fierce scowl on his face, he pointed at Nolan before drawing his thumb across his neck.

  Nolan ignored his opponent’s gestures and looked at the Adjudicator. “Okay, Senior, I’ll listen to your instructions. However, you owe me for this.”

  The Adjudicator shook his head and sighed as Nolan grinned at him. He then raised his arm to give the signal to start.

  The moment the Adjudicator dropped his arm down, Nolan spat out the remaining segment of jerky he had been chewing on. As it tumbled through the air, a sharp whistling sound rang out. By the time it finally hit the sparkling tile of the platform, Nolan had vanished from the spot.

  On the other end, Nolan stood behind his opponent, his hands still tucked away in his pockets. He withdrew a new piece of jerky and bit down as he walked down from the platform, the blades on his boots clanking with every step. In his wake was a rush of wind and the fat Initiate who had fallen onto his backside. His chubby face turned bone white, and his beady eyes were opened as wide as they could be. Around his neck, the protective amulet had already shattered.

  “See that! What did I tell you? I told you he was good! Another instant victory from our Assembly! Let’s give Nolan some love, everyone!” Wesley shouted and whooped in delight, causing the crowd to cheer thunderously in response.

  Alan had an eyebrow raised so high on his face, it almost connected to his hairline. His trademark smirk slowly appeared on his face. His gaze was fixed on Nolan lying on the ground, staring up at the sky while still chewing on his jerky. What an interesting kid. Not as interesting as Damon, but this one’s got some style.

  “The duels between the Towers on the north and west platforms are quite boring. It doesn’t look like they intend to give it their all against each other. Meanwhile, the battle on platform two is heating up!”

  On the east platform, Thomas had one arm raised, pointing to his opponent. A constant torrent of golden-green spores poured out from within his sleeves, surrounding a short girl from Violet Mist. Countless vines emerged from the encirclement of spores, lashing out at the girl in an endless stream.

  The girl from Violet Mist had a watery blue barrier around her, which kept the vines at bay. However, it was quaking violently, and cracks were forming in numerous locations. She had lasted this long by constantly casting new barriers, yet there was no hope if she kept doing the same thing. With a crafty glint in her eyes, she raised both her arms to the sky while chanting.

  Thomas watched her actions with intrigue when he heard the crowd erupting into deafening cheers from the south platform. He glanced over and saw the Auron from the Military Academy slink off the platform. He’s already finished, huh? Maybe I’m holding back too much. I should finish this quickly.

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  He turned back to his opponent and gasped. A huge ball of water hovered over the girl as she panted for every breath. Even through the heavy breathing, she could not hide her delight at completing the spell and the annoyance at her opponent having looked away mid-battle. The ball of water froze from within, forming a sphere of ice the size of a carriage wheel. With a mad roar, she flung her arms down, her entire body falling with them.

  The frozen ball fell toward Thomas slowly at first, but picked up momentum rapidly. His face darkened as he felt the pressure from the incoming attack. He brought both his hands to his hips and then pulled them up with his palms facing toward the sphere of ice. His arms moved slowly, as though he were lifting an immense weight.

  From his surroundings, the golden-green spores emerged from thin air, and countless vines shot out and fused to form two huge arms. The two green arms met the falling ice head-on, a resounding boom blasting out from the collision.

  The vines making up the arms snapped in several places, springing back from the loss of tension. However, new vines took the place of the destroyed ones and managed to keep it at bay. With incredible effort, Thomas twisted his body to the side, throwing his arms backward. The vine arms copied his movements, shifting its position and throwing the ice ball to an empty side of the platform.

  Boom!

  The frozen sphere crashed heavily onto the dark gray stone, causing the platform to shake for a moment. Thomas breathed out a long breath and looked back at the girl. She lay prone on the ground, looking toward Thomas with dull eyes, the earlier glint having vanished. She was still besieged by the countless whipping vines, and the barrier finally collapsed.

  Although her protective amulet had not been used yet, she was completely spent in terms of arcane power. She had no option other than to forfeit, granting the Assembly another victory.

  “Aaaaand there it goes! Boom! The ball of ice crashes down onto the arena after having done nothing to Thomas! The girl from Violet Mist forfeits, making that the fifth victory for the Assembly!” Wesley’s voice began to turn hoarse from all the yelling. He stopped momentarily to drink some water.

  Needing to take over the commentating during Wesley’s small break, Alan continued analyzing the current situation.

  “Yes, out of the 12 matches we’ve had, the Assembly has managed to secure five victories. Violet Mist and Argent Flame both secured three wins each, and Lunarsol is in last place with only their first seed securing victory.”

  After gargling a mouthful of water three times, Wesley swallowed it and grabbed the crystal orb in front of him again.

  “That’s right, Alan, Lunarsol is not having a good run this Convergence! Though that is the usual outcome, as they are, after all, the weakest of the Towers! The cleanup of the platforms has been completed, and the final pairs of contestants are walking up to the platform! From our Military Academy, we have the second seed, Lilith, on platform four! Alan, please introduce the Initiate from the Arcane Academy standing on platform one!”

  Alan ignored his request and asked, “Actually, I’m curious about one thing. There was a massive show of dominance by Nolan in the previous set of matches, yet you only called him the famed second strongest. Does this mean we can expect even more from Lilith?”

  “That’s a great question! Lilith is actually a special case. She attends the Military Academy, yet she is a dual cultivator! She treads both the physical and arcane paths! With her sturdy physique combined with her formidable spellcraft, she remains unbeatable in the Node Awakening Realm! At least, in the Military Academy.”

  Wesley pointed at platform four and yelled, “There she is now! The matches are about to start, so watch her closely! Her combat techniques are always interesting to watch!”

  On platform four, Lilith stood facing a girl from Lunarsol. They were both tall and lean with pale skin, yet also could not be more different. Lilith had bright orange hair, shiny amber eyes, and was wearing tight leather clothing. Her opponent had long black hair, brown eyes, and wore the black and white robes of the Lunarsol Tower.

  Lilith flashed a jaunty grin at the pale girl. “It’s such a shame for your Lunarsol Tower. They’ll be receiving another loss. How unfortunate!”

  The pale girl’s cheeks flushed red as her brows furrowed so deeply they almost connected at the bridge of her nose. She snorted in response and took out a large rectangular artifact shield from her storage pouch. It planted itself in front of her, as though a metallic wall had formed between the two contestants. She glanced back at Nox, who smiled and nodded at her.

  The Adjudicator inspected the shield before looking at Lilith. “Any artifacts for you?”

  Lilith shook her head with a smug smile. “No. I don’t need something like that to beat this little girl into a pulp.”

  The Adjudicator sighed and raised his arm to give his signal. The day had been long, and he just wanted to go home.

  The moment his arm dropped, the pale girl began casting a barrier spell, hidden behind the powerful shield. Her Senior Brother Nox had given her this artifact to defeat her opponent. He said this sturdy shield would be able to withstand even blows from a Channel Weaving Auron. With this, there was no way she would lose. She had to win and gain the affection of her Senior Brother.

  As these thoughts crossed her mind, her barrier spell had almost finished casting. She smiled as she planned out her next action when she realized something felt off. A shadow had cast over her when the sky was clear a moment ago. She looked up, and her pupils constricted from what she saw.

  Lilith was falling straight down from the sky, her fists encased in a reddish-brown rock. An amber glow pulsated from small cracks in the rock, and a layer of pale yellow surrounded the already hardened fists. Her devilish grin remained on her face.

  Without the barrier completed, the pale girl’s protective amulet would not be able to last long against an Auron. She struck the shield in front of her, which made it float up to meet the falling madwoman. When the artifact moved away, she saw a rocky protrusion jutting out from where Lilith had been standing originally.

  To the side, Nox sighed and shook his head before looking away. He had instructed his fellow apprentice about the proper usage of the shield, yet she seemed to have completely forgotten about it.

  Without any sign of hesitation or anxiety, Lilith crashed into the metallic shield with her rock fists. The shield groaned as it resisted the impact for a moment, but then immediately fell and collided with the pale girl’s horror-stricken face. Or at least, it would have if the barriers from the protective amulet had not activated just in time to defend her.

  Still, the shield forced her to the ground, and she collapsed under the weight of the attack. The protective amulet finally shattered, and she was trapped beneath the artifact with scrapes and bruises all over her body. Standing atop the shield was Lilith, who raised both her fists, still encased in rock, high into the air and howled with exultant laughter.

  The Adjudicator had to physically drag her off the platform so that the defeated girl could get back up.

  The other duels finished up without any upsets, as it was the second seeds against the fifth seeds. As the crowd buzzed from excitement and anticipation for the round of 16 matches that were about to begin, Zoltan flew out from the private box and hovered above the arena.

  “Everyone, I have some unfortunate news. We have decided to postpone the round of 16 matches for two days due to some logistical issues. We will allow free entry for all of you in two days, so make sure to receive tickets from our Academy staff on your way out. That is all.”

  With that, he disappeared back into the private box. The crowd began debating the issue in hushed tones, yet not a single person raised their voice in complaint. There was nothing they could do, so they just focused on discussing the day's matches with their friends and colleagues as they made their way out of the Colosseum.

  Damon glanced around in surprise at the sudden change in the schedule. The cultivators around him began walking to meet up with the others from their Towers. Thomas had already left as well. Damon looked around to find Claire when his eyes met someone else’s. It was Alexander, who was also standing in place. Only two dozen feet separated them.

  “I guess our match will have to wait. I’ll see you in two days. Make sure you’re ready.”

  After saying that, Alexander turned around and walked toward the Argent Flame apprentices who had grouped up near the southern exit.

  Damon’s gaze lingered on him for a few seconds before he turned around and headed toward the northern exit by himself.

  “Indeed. Let’s see how incredible a ‘talent’ from the Arcane Tower is.”