Questioner

Sauron vs. Sha Miara

Will Wight

This hasn't been explored yet, but basically the nature of Sha Miara's madra is countering and controlling other people's skills.

He could raise armies, and she could banish them or take them over. Any spell he cast, she could break it.

More than that, at her level, she could simply walk into Mordor. She'd leave it a crater. She's the nuclear weapon of her nation.

Chris646

You’ve said that Sha Miara counters/controls other people’s skills. Would this work as well with pure madra or could someone sufficiently powerful just disperse everything she does?

Will Wight

Her powers would work against pure madra. However, not absolutely.

***

EITHAN VS SHA MIARA

The arena was a white square with a tiled floor, a simple grid large enough to host a small city. It was surrounded by tall white-brick walls.

Along where the ends of the tile floor met the arena walls, thousands of alternating black and white puppet constructs were lined up all around; they were the same puppets used in the first trial of the Uncrowned King Tournament. Except these were Overlord-level as they were there to prevent any techniques from crossing over into the crowd. Each practiced its own Path designed to neutralize any madra that made it past them.

Sha Miara hopped up and down, practicing a series of punches and kicks, as the Ninecloud Soul introduced her opponent. She was dressed in a pink robe, and her red hair pooled down to her waist.

Eithan stood fifty paces away, smiling at her like a father looking at his daughter. She was tall enough to come to his shoulders.

After Eithan had won his fight with Sophara, the Ninecloud Soul had asked him what he called the chains that his Archlord weapon had turned into. It was surprisingly good at conducting pure madra.

Eithan had responded with an innocent grin. “Longhook Jr.”

His words had caused quite the stir in Reigan Shen’s tower.

Miara’s punches became more violent, and she even performed a spinning kick that hit an imaginary Eithan between the legs.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said the Ninecloud Soul as Eithan’s introduction was finished, “in this final round that will determine the Uncrowned King, for our second contestant, we present to you an Underlady from a distant branch of the royal family! Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sha Miara!”

Sha Miara did a backflip at her name. The crowd loved it, roaring louder. She had become their favorite after her fight with Ziel. Miara felt a flash of sympathy but extinguished it as she basked in the audience.

She considered doing another backflip but landing doing the splits this time, when Northstrider stepped up.

Miara stopped hopping around, pointedly ignoring the Monarch. She thought about sticking her tongue out at him but decided it would be unproper for a queen. Or so her Herald guardians told her. They were no fun.

Eithan turned his beaming face to Northstrider, waving lightheartedly. His two front teeth poked out, and his cheeks had big dimples on them.

The Monarch ignored her them both, his face stone serious. His eyes glanced over to the Ninecloud’s tower at the highest point, where everyone expected Queen Sha Leiala to be.

Eithan and Miara stared at each other. Slowly, Eithan’s smile slid off his face as he matched Miara’s serious expression.

“Begin.”

When Northstrider vanished, Eithan made a forward claw, and a grid of pure madra lines were Forged into existence, separating the arena in half with a wall of madra almost as tall as the arena walls themselves.

It rushed at her, extending from the eastern wall to the western wall. A laser-wall of death that would devastate her madra channels if it pierced her soul.

Cycling royal madra, Miara reached out and grabbed the wall as it hit her. Exerting her control, she ripped it like cobwebs, and it coalesced into a long whip that she slammed onto Eithan.

Eithan Forged a shield of pure madra to block. Miara’s shaky control over the whip slipped as it withered away, only to see a glinting object blasting towards her.

Eithan had thrown a Forged spear, vibrating through the air with Overlord soulfire. Miara jumped over the spear, using a soulfire-infused jump. As she did, her fingers slid along the spear’s haft. Miara let her Royal madra flow into the spear. She had done her research on Eithan. He practiced a Pure madra Path. Normally she could send out a Royal madra striker technique to intercept an attack and command it. But Pure madra was harder to control. And this was an Overlord-level attack. She had to physically touch his techniques to control them

Eithan’s spear suddenly reverted course and shot back at him like a cannonball, causing a sonic boom. Eithan’s shot forth another Forged spear to match her, knocking Miara’s spear off course.

As Miara fell to the floor, she gathered Eithan’s remaining pure madra around her, using a Royal madra Forger technique. This Forger technique was able to replicate an opponent’s techniques. Thus, Forged stars appeared behind her, identical to the ones she had seen him use against Sophara. She peppered Eithan with Forged stars as Eithan responded in kind, Forging stars of his own.

Both sides crashed in midair, sending sparks like shuriken’s clashing against each other. Pura madra was harder to control, so her stars died out quickly. And Eithan’s kept coming, more than she could control, overpowering her.

Miara called on her soulfire, and the wind aura responded.

For a moment she vanished, though not to Eithan’s eyes.

Sha Miara appeared sliding on the ground on one knee. She reached Eithan. her red hair swinging behind her like a crimson flag.

Sacred artist on the Path of Celestial Radiance had no Ruler techniques, so they had to rely on soulfire to manipulate vital aura. Miara’s use of soulfire was exceptional, having manipulated the wind vital aura around her to reach these speeds; it was as if she was a wind artist herself. Keeping her hand on the white tiled floor as she came to Eithan’s feet, she kicked up, pushing against the floor with her hand to extend her leg all the way up. Her left foot connected with his chin.

Eithan avoided using any Enforcer techniques. If she contacted his armor, she could turn that against him. He would be trapped in a suit of madra commanded by Miara.

Instead, he jumped back to lessen the blow, but Miara immediately jumped up and dove her fist into his stomach. She was trying to pressure him into using his armor.

But Eithan was still an Overlord, and his Raindrop Iron body was swift enough to react. He grabbed her wrist and used her arm to pull himself over her and land behind her. As he landed, he twisted her arm behind, but Miara did not stay still. She used soulfire to power the wind vital aura around her, increasing her speed as she spun in the air and escaped Eithan’s hold on her arm. As she landed, Eithan’s Archlord scissors swept through her hair, missing her head as she instantly ducked.

Miara understood what he was doing. If he did not use any techniques, she could not control them. He would wait until he had a shot. He was taking a risk, as Miara was still Enforced by her Royal madra. Miara smiled in her mind. She would play along.

As they exchanged blows, Eithan dodged all her attacks. Miara began to giggle. Miara swept in with her elbow, striking at Eithan’s throat. Eithan caught her elbow, and for a moment they stared at each other: Eithan with his eyes shining, and Miara in midair with her red hair flying behind her. Miara had a huge grin on her face. Then Eithan stabbed his scissors down, aiming behind her neck.

Miara twisted in the air using the wind aura and kicked his wrist. He lost his grip and the scissors went up in the air. They flashed in the sunlight, spinning.

Eithan extended his soulfire to blast Sha Miara away. His control over wind aura was nowhere near as refined as hers as he pushed her away.

Her madra control was as efficient as an Overlord, her reactions just as fast as Eithan’s. She moved with the confidence of the powerful.

As she was pushed backwards in the air, Eithan pointed his finger at her core, soulfire swirling around his tip. A line of Pure madra shot out.

Miara used soulfire to change trajectory, the wind aura sending her upwards as her clothes fluttered in the wind and her hair rippled behind her. But Eithan had expected that as his line of pure madra branched off, extending to where she was about to be.

With a call of wind aura, Miara brought the airborne Archlord scissors to her hands.

The Archlord scissors met Eithan’s striker technique, dispersing it with a stab, commanding the pure madra to disperse.

Buffeting the scissors with her Royal Madra, she took control of its script. She could not change it in whatever weapon she desired like Eithan as it was linked to him now, but she could activate what he had been planning to transform the scissors into.

The scissors stretched and turned brown, transforming into a wooden broom.

Miara smiled in delight. As she began to fall towards Eithan, she stood on top the broom, balancing herself as wind aura pushed her from behind.

Sha Miara spiraled around Eithan in a wide circle. Combined with her contorl over wind aura plus the Archlord broom, she was a smear in the wind to Eithan’s physical eyes.

She was so far from him she skirted near the construct puppets against the walls of the arena, far enough away he could reach up and pretend to crush her with his thumb and finger.

Eithan regretted that she had stolen his Archlord weapon. He could have unleashed his chains right away—he had already been forced to reveal that after all—but It was too risky to use Longhook Jr. with a Celestial Radiance Sacred Artist.

As Eithan watched her make a complete circle in less than ten seconds, his eyes widened as he sensed what she was doing.

This fight was about to ruin his clothes.

***

“She’s like a crimson blur!” the Ninecloud Soul was saying, “She’s like a…..firebolt! For her to override the Archlord’s weapon script, she must have exceptional….skills …hey, what are you doing?!”

The puppets shivered as Miara completed the circle, filling them with Royal madra.

Suddenly Eithan was teleported near the wall.

He blinked. That was a spatial Path. Miara did not have any spatial techniques.

His bloodline ability showed him that technique had come from one of the black puppets, its fingers interlocked in a complex pattern.

Eithan had ended up right behind the puppet constructs on the eastern wall, two feet of space between them and the white-brick wall that stood high above.

All at once, the puppets turned towards Eithan, thousands of puppets all around turning to look at Eithan in silent synchrony.

There was a moment of silence, when suddenly Fury’s voice bellowed through the air from the Akura tower

“OH HELL YEAH!”

Eithan did the sensible thing anyone would do when you were suddenly being eyed by thousands of face-less Overlord puppet constructs being controlled by a powerful teenager.

He jumped onto the wall.

“Hey, you!” the Ninecloud Soul said in an angry voice, “get off the dang wall you rascal!”

“Its in need of some cleaning!” Cried out Eithan in a pleasantly forced voice.

Eithan ran across the wall, using his madra to stick the soles of his feet to the walls. He Enforced his abdomen muscles and back to ease the pain of running against gravity. As he ran upwards, his senses told him of the fifty-six striker techniques already firing upon him by the closest puppets.

The spatial puppet user teleported a mass of black and white puppets above Eithan, sixty of them falling to crash into him, or running across the wall down to meet him. As they fell, a wave of different madra Striker techniques rained down onto him. Some intermingled and transformed into something else, some were canceled out, and others were enhanced.

A pulse of madra erupted form Eithan. It hit the wave of puppets below and above him, disabling the Striker techniques coming from both directions. Some of the running puppets above him lost their grip on the wall and plummeted below.

Eithan grabbed one of the falling constructs and threw it at Miara.

The madra pulse had only reached out about ten feet from Eithan, but Miara made sure to swoop in close enough to seize upon the power with her Royal madra. Using one of her techniques, she Forged the Pure madra into something else.

A razor-sharp glove of pure madra formed around her hand. But before she could do anything, she was forced to evade the flying construct, directing wind aura to dive the broom under the puppet. Pure madra would not do anything to physical objects, so she could not use the glove to cut the construct out of her way.

During the evasion, her control destabilized, and the Pure madra glove vanished. Miara turned back to Eithan.

Only to be faced with the next twenty puppets Ethan had thrown. The constructs filled the space where she had been planning to dodge, cutting off her escape. They flew with high speeds that could splatter her Underlord body. Miara was forced to control the spatial user to teleport her away.

Meanwhile, the remaining puppets in the first wave reached Eithan, quickly regaining their madra.

Eithan ran through the puppets, his blond hair streaming behind him as he ran. When he reached them, he snapped their heads off as he went.

They continued to shoot techniques at him, including the puppets from behind that were now climbing the walls.

The techniques ranged all the way from water aspects to even including Blackflame. They massed in front of him as he ran, his left foot almost getting stuck in the same sticky madra Fisher Gesha used.

Behind him Miara had thrown puppets of her own. The closest puppet was preparing an Enforcer punch, shadow madra rippling around its fist.

Eithan sent out a quick burst of pure madra, and the first puppet’s Enforcer technique disappeared as its punch fell weakly on Eithan’s head.

Eithan grabbed that puppet and used its body as a shield from a burst of arrows that a Blackflame archer had unleashed. The airborne Blackflame puppet landed on the wall, Forging arrow after arrow.

One of the Forged Blackflame arrows bounced off the puppet and flew towards the Akura tower where it crashed at the base.

Lindon jumped out of the window above.

He landed, examined the arrow, nodded appreciatively, and tucked it away into his void key.

Eithan cast aside the puppet he had used as shield, its smoking body falling apart in his hands, and ducked under the swing of a Forged sword from another puppet. Eithan knocked the Forged sword out of the sword puppet’s wrist and split the sword puppet in half from groin to head. Eithan then jumped over to the Blackflame archer, beheading it before the Forged sword dissolved away.

As Eithan finished off the first wave, a second wave of sixty puppets fell.

Sixty puppets seemed to be the spatial user’s limit, noted Eithan. He needed to take that puppet out now, but his bloodline ability told him the spatial user puppet was no longer in the arena.

The puppets on the other side of the wall from where Eithan was at were all running towards his side of the wall, like a mob of zombies from all directions. The spatial user helped get some of them close faster, teleporting sixty at a time.

As Eithan drew closer to the second wave of puppet’s, facing their Striker techniques, something else caught Eithan’s attention.

Miara was leaking madra from the puppets. The madra began to form into globes of different powers floating behind Miara. She sculpted them with her Royal madra, thousands of miniature cores forming behind her. They were linking her to each puppet, her Royal madra connecting to all their madra. As the cores formed, the techniques the puppets used became more powerful and faster.

Focusing back on the second wave with a grim feeling, Eithan Forged sixty spears of pure madra behind him as he ran up the wall, each aiming for their target. They would pierce through the striker techniques and puncture the puppet heads.

Eithan fired, and Miara zoomed in on the broom as expected, her knees bent as she stood perfectly balanced.

It was to her surprise when she found that Eithan had only shot one spear.

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As Miara realized her mistake, fifty-nine spears shot into the spot where she was about to fly in. They each brimmed with Overlord soulfire, and even if she controlled most of them by touch, there were too many. In seconds she would be ripped apart.

Eithan saw before it happened. Behind her, a mass of cores was arranged in a giant sphere, packed together with no space in between. It was about the size of his Arelius cloudship

Eithan spotted what he was looking for. One of the dark purple cores nestled in the center of the mass of cores was from the spatial madra user. Royal madra flexed that core, and the spatial user teleported Miara away. The spears turned in the air to hit their targets.

Eithan followed the direction of madra that the spatial core was feeding into. It led up about a mile above in the clouds, where the spatial user was hidden in safety.

Eithan neared the top of the wall amidst the Ninecloud Soul’s voice commanding him to stop.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Prepare for impact!”

The crowd there started to scream and stand up.

Curiously, Eithan noticed the puppets underneath him were suddenly amassing into a big group, piling on top of each other.

BOOM!

The stone under his feet exploded out. Unbalanced, Eithan was thrown into the air.

A Forged hand of stone madra had torn through that section of the wall, sending him flying.

He flew into the air, trailing smoke.

The puppets below him gathered, swarming like a mob as they built a tower of writhing bodies that got higher and higher, reaching up to him in seconds. The closest puppet was reaching for his robes, a striker technique forming. At the same time, 60 puppets were teleported above him in midair.

Then they exploded.

Eithan was caught between two explosions as shrapnel of puppet matter flew everywhere, his pure madra unable to block physical objects.

Eithan Forged a giant hammer of pure madra that swing into his chest. The blow blasted him out of the danger zone, flying backwards…all the way to the opposite side of the arena.

The crowds parted away from him as the Ninecloud Soul ordered their evacuation. At the same time, he felt thousands of Ruler techniques focus on him.

Miara swooped in to touch the hammer of pure madra. She dissolved it, integrating her Royal madra into the mass of Pure madra. She used one of her Royal madra techniques to replicate the star technique Eithan used.

A mass of Forged blue-white stars appeared behind her, spinning with energy. They grew bigger than Eithan usually made them, until they were as big as horses. She fired all ten of them.

They followed Eithan like glue as he flew backwards, the stars shooting sparks behind them. As Ruler techniques were forming around Eithan, a bubble of spinning Pure madra spun around him.

The Ruler techniques was washed away by Eithan’s spinning ball of madra.

It also caught the stars like a whirlpool and swung them right back at Miara.

Miara dodged the first seven, Eitan placing the techniques strategically to force her into the position he wanted.

Two Forged stars the size of horses spun towards her almost on top of each other, a third star right behind them. Standing on her broom, Miara made a “hmph” as she threw herself sideways off the broom. The top star skimmed the back of her head while the bottom star skimmed her stomach. They were so close her skin was almost cut, but they passed her without incident as she twisted in the air acrobatically.

The third star was inches away, about to fit in between the two stars perfectly and consequently cut Miara in half.

As the top star passed her, Miara caught one of its edges. She threw the star, swatting the third star off course. The broom swooped under her as she landed feet-first on it

As Eithan finally slammed into the stands, he saw the puppets running over from the eastern wall and heading towards him. He had bought himself some free time before they reached him. The people around him had already split away like the sea, running for their lives.

But he only had seconds before the spatial user started teleporting puppets here.

Eithan had his dilemma. He could not use Striker techniques as she would easily take control. He had to avoid using his chains, as with madra as efficient as hers she could easily control them as well. He had to keep close to her, but that had its own dangers. This was not going to work. Miara was too in control of her movements, matching his Overlord body. If he wanted to win, he was going to need to reveal more of his power to overwhelm her control. Eithan grimaced, knowing this was going to take a lot of madra. More madra than even her Underlord spirit could control. Luckily, he had tons of it.

He hated revealing his true power, but this was the final fight. After this, he would win Penance, and would finally save his Rosegold continent.

A torrent of madra burst out of Eithan, blue-white light bursting out of him and forming into a giant mass of madra in the skies, as big as a thundercloud.

It was the same technique he had used to kill the man who had inspired his Archlord chains: Longhook.

Now it gathered with Overlord-level soulfire. The power radiating from it was so great the clouds began to part away, letting in the sunlight.

And exposing the spatial user.

The puppet stood no chance as Eithan’s madra engulfed it. As its body was torn by the power, Eithan cut the giant mass of madra in half. He siphoned one half into a swirling cyclone of Pure madra. It shot at Miara, funneling her in and trapping her inside. Behind her the open end of the cyclone closed. Her Underlord spirit could not command this much power. It would destroy her.

The remaining half of pure madra thundered down into the arena.

Thousands of puppets were demolished.

Eithan sensed Miara’s collection of cores begin to dissolve away. She was left with only a handful left, reflecting the remaining 200 puppets.

***

Inside the cyclone, Miara knew this was over. She did not need the Arelius bloodline ability to see what would happen. The pure madra cyclone was about to collapse inwards, spinning and tearing her limb from limb. She could not defeat Eithan.

Not as an Underlord.

She let her veil slip, and she was an Overlord now.

Miara made a claw and added Royal madra to Eithan cyclone. Since she had control, she could shape it into whatever she desired. It turned into a massive dragon, its head forming in front of Eithan and giving a roar like crystals shattering.

With a touch of her Royal madra, the dragon grew longer. Its wings were large enough to take up half of the arena, its body long enough to reach the other end. Its eyes glowed a multitude of different colors, blue one second, and red the next.

Eithan directed the mass of pure madra that had destroyed the puppets to coalesce into a single point underneath the dragon, acting quickly. A finger-thin line of power slipped upwards, breaking off at the tip before it reached the dragon. It split into branches, wrapping around the dragon’s wing and neck in ropes of Pure madra.

Eithan flexed his Overlord spirt and tore Miara’s dragon apart.

But she now seized contorl of this new source of Pure madra.

The stands exploded as Pure madra met Pure madra, Striker techniques devastating their half of the arena. The Monarch towers shuddered, and fires began to pop up all around the arena. It was two oceans of madra clashing with each other, forming into animals and weapons. At one point, Eithan made a twenty-foot-tall replica of himself. The Pure madra giant ripped apart Miara’s giant Pure madra phoenix, creating a thunderclap that instantly made everyone Lowgold and below die from the shockwave.

Miara made a pure madra shark descend from the skies, massive enough to swallow one of the Monarchs towers whole. Eithan raised both his hands up, his hair raising up as his entire body glowed. He screamed as a river of Pure madra burst from his hands, bisecting the shark in half as its jaws engulfed him. For a second there was no sign of Eithan as the shark’s body crashed into the stands. Then Eithan burst out and continued the fight.

As the fight wore on, it became clear that even with Overlord Royal madra, Miara was at a disadvantage. She stood on the broom in midair, her eyes glowing pink and her hair rising in the air as Royal madra swirled around her. But sweat began to bead around her face, and she was breathing heavily. Her teeth gritted together.

Her control was too unstable, and Eithan seemed to have an endless supply of madra. So when Miara’s hold on Pure madra faltered from fatigue, Eithan seized his chance.

A sea of power rose behind Eithan. The tsunami washed over Miara, a fifty-foot tall wave of destruction that would instantly burst her channels apart.

As the sea washed over her, she vanished.

Miara materialized behind Eithan.

How had he not sensed her?

This was not spatial madra, and neither was it wind aura she controlled with soulfire. One of the remaining puppets must have had a veiling Path great enough even to escape his senses. It was then that Eithan noticed the new madra starting to envelop Miara. Not Royal madra, but something familiar.

Rainbow madra.

Eithan did not need to turn around, seeing with his blood line ability, as Miara slammed the broom onto his head like a sword. Her face was injected with livelihood, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

As he moved to dodge, Miara anticipated that. Inside her Soulspace, she reached for a floating pink gem, her Archlord weapon. Inside, she stored the madra that was most compatible with her Royal madra. It led to fastest techniques in existence. It was used to power the Ninecloud court Cloudships

She released more Rainbow madra from her soulspace, her speed picking up so fast even an Archlord would have trouble keeping up.

Eithan considered his options through his bloodline ability, watching in his head how the crystalizing Rainbow madra would expand and stab him wherever he went at this distance. If he dispelled the Rainbow madra with Pure madra, he still had an Archlord-level broom about to smash his head open.

It was too much even for him to deal with at the same time.

Eithan breathed heavily, his hair plastered to his forehead. Closing his eyes, he felt rage burn through him for the first time since years ago when Tiberian Arelius, Monarch of the Arelius clan, had been killed.

Sorry, Eithan thought. I didn’t want to reveal this. But it is the only way I can win.

***

Miara was surprised that Eithan had taken the fight to the stands. So far, the Monarchs had not intervened as they knew Northstrider would just revert everyone back to life.

But it would all end here.

Her opponent, a Sacred Artist who could see the future according to legends, had nowhere else to dodge. Her heart skipped a beat at the exultation, having outsmarted an Arelius.

Eithan did not dodge.

He caught the broom with his left hand, his back still to Miara. The Rainbow madra broke into his skin, then blew away like smoke.

There was a moment of silence, Miara with her eyes widening, sensing the familiar madra running through Eithan’s body.

There was no way. Nothing was faster than Rainbow madra. And Eithan was a Pure madra user, wasn’t he?

Eithan turned around, staring her in the eyes with a dead look in his eyes. The whites of his eyes began to darken, turning black. His irises turned red, and his hair turned from blond to white.

Then their portion of the stands detonated as Eithan slammed her into the ground.

The crowds remaining on their side of the arena died.

Miara had held on the broom as Eithan heaved over his head. He had smashed her through the floors, causing her to blast all the way through the arena walls and bounce across the arena floor, her body skidding back to the center of the arena.

The strike sent the entire wall caving in, having had enough punishment. As the wall came falling in pieces, Miara jumped to her feet, breathing heavily. Her hair was wild, and strands were in her face. Her raspy breath sent one of her strands fluttering.

What the hell was this?

He had caught her broom using the speed of Rainbow madra.

But that was crazy. Unless Eithan had two cores, he only practiced a Pure madra path. And he didn’t have the clothes fashion for it, Miara added in an afterthought.

No, Eithan was not a Rainbow madra Path user. As she ran the memory of his madra when he had caught the broom, she realized what it felt like.

Her madra.

Eithan had used Royal madra to take command of her Rainbow madra, increasing his speed enough to catch the broom.

***

Information requested: The Reaper’s Gift

Beginning report…

The Reaper’s Gift is a secret passed along, known only to the Monarch family of the Arelius clan.

It is a Hunger madra technique first created by the originator of the first Hunger Path, Ozriel Arelius, when he had been a Monarch. Even though it is a hunger madra technique, all Sacred Artists carrying the blood of Ozriel can use this technique.

It is a powerful technique that can steal the aspect of any madra as well as steal their techniques, momentarily creating a second core in the user’s spirit holding that stolen aspect. The victim who has their aspect and techniques stolen retains their powers, unaware of what has happened.

With every minute that it is used, it shortens the life aura of the Sacred Artist significantly. But it gives the user full access to that person’s abilities for five minutes, but not their memories or skills of how to use said techniques. Thus, members of the royal Arelius family with potential to become Sages or above are encouraged to increase their core depth. For even if they lack the skill to use the stolen techniques, they can overcome their opponent by sheer brute force.

Tiberian Arelius himself taught Eithan this technique, making him swear to never use it until he was at least a Herald or Sage, else the strain kill him immediately. And to never use it in public, for they would become the target of all the Monarchs who hunger for its secrets. To this date, no one has every known but a select few Arelius members

Suggested topic: Northstirder and Regian Shen’s relationship to Tiberian Arelius’s death. Continue?

Denied, report complete

***

In the dust and rubble of the stands, Eithan retrieved his Archlord weapon. Miara could feel the weapon connecting back to its master, breaking her hold on it.

When a line of gold chains came rushing out of the dust, Miara was not surprised. It was faster now, using Rainbow madra. Miara moved her head to the side as the chains flew by her shoulders, using Rainbow madra of her own to enhance her refelxes.

Finally!

In a smooth motion she slid her hand along the chains as it passed, taking control of the madra. She wanted the chains to redirect onto Eithan, planning to wrap him in his own weapon.

Instead her Royal madra was unable to penetrate.

Eithan’s Royal madra was like an ocean, impenetrable, and Enforcing his chains.

He walked out of the debris, smoking rising from his robes.

Behind him specks of blue-white Pure madra flew out of the dust, attaching to his feet and forming into boots. The armor worked its way up his body as he walked to her, calling upon his Enforcer armor.

It was so thick that the Pure madra was almost solid. It was the same samurai-like armor he had used to match Sophara in strength, aided by his Archlord weapon. Half of his lion mask had already formed in a snarl as it covered half of his face. As the mask continued to form, the lion’s blank pupil-less eye reflected her horrified expression. On the other side of Eithan’s face, his visible eye burned with rage and pain, as if his entire body were under immense strain.

Even as he walked, he was dying from trying to control a technique that was stages above him.

His skin was beginning to peel away around his mouth, revealing bone. His skin dissolved, and then his muscles followed. His organs liquefied. His blood boiled and evaporated away. Only his long white hair remained, floating outwards like a lion’s mane.

All that was left was a walking skeleton, kept alive only by Norhtstrider’s Authority. His Royal madra core floated next to his Pure Madra core, each having their own channel system that floated inside and around his ribcage.

Miara watched in shock at his cores. Inside his pure core, she saw a spinning black object made of something that was not quite madra: a scythe.

How had an Overlord formed an Icon?!

The duplicate Royal madra core was tinged pink with the same Icon in the center. Miara felt hunger radiating from both Icons.

Eithan’s eyes were the last to dissolve away, glaring at Miara with a red and black glare. The sight of his eye liquefying and running down his cheekbone before dissolving away, accompanied with his grinning skull, sent chills running down her back.

His mask finished forming and his skull was fully hidden behind the lion’s glare.

As Eithan unveiled the full pressure of his Overlord spirit, Miara stepped back, feeling the depth of his Royal madra and Pure madra cores. Her hair blowing back from the pressure, eyes wide open. His Overlord pressure was so dense she felt her body tightening up. Her Royal madra seemed to whimper in her channels.

This man….was a monster.

Golden chains erupted from his hand as his Archlord weapon finished transforming. Streams of chains poured out, unspooling into the air, floating. It was one long continuous chain, but with multiple branching off points. Some floated around in the air, others were able to remove themselves from the main links, and others still wrapped around Eithan’s armored body.

The 200 remaining puppets dashed at him, a faceless army read to die standing.

Eithan left not even a speck of them as he set himself loose on the army. A thunderous clap shook the arena, the sound of puppets being demolished as Eithan’s chains slammed through them. Eithan caught one around the neck with his chains, pulling it words him and punching its face in.

He whipped his chains around in a circle, smashing the puppets surrounding him. He ran among the army, his whip catching more and joining the spinning wheel of chains, puppets, and dust. Forged stars began to shoot from the ends of the chains, whirling stars all around him and destroying more puppets.

Eithan stopped as the last remaining puppets began to retreat. He smashed his foot down, the strength causing a section of the tiled floor to jut up. Eithan’s chains wrapped around the jutting cliff, and the chains pulled him forward at rapid speeds, catching up to the retreating puppets.

As his chains left his body, circling around in the sky, he grabbed the first puppet by its face and tore its head off. He whipped around and threw it with such force it destroyed twelve other puppets before the puppet head was reduced to dust.

Five puppets were running to reposition themselves, but Eithan stomped the ground again and the ground under those puppets jutted up, sending those five puppets flailing in the air. As that happened, another puppet ran up to him with a spear, Stellar Spear madra flowing through its body.

Eithan punched through its face and fired a lance of pure energy that pierced the five airborne puppets in a row before spearing them all into the far end of the wall.

That section of the wall began to crumble.

This happened all in one smooth motion.

Miara watched as scythes of chains and Striker techniques obliterated Miara’s army in seconds. The last of the puppet cores behind her vanished.

As the dust and shrapnel cleared away , too finel to even be seen, Eithan had vanished.

She cast a net of Royal madra around her, directing Rainbow outwards. It shot up, looking like when a rock was dropped into water. The madra spread upwards in waves, droplets catching the sunlight. Wherever she looked, she only saw spinning chains whizzing with Forged stars around her, so thick she could barely see the arena walls anymore.

She felt the Rainbow madra disperse behind her, and Miara turned around. And came nose to nose with Eithan’s upside-down face.

Eithan was standing upside down on a floating line of chain, his lion mask glaring into her face. His shiny lion mask reflected Miara's surprised gaze, the sparks of the stars reflecting off his pupil-less mask eyes. White hair waved around his head as if he were underwater.

Miara shot a blast of Rainbow madra at his face, but Eithan moved his head to the side to dodge, focusing power into his fist.

Miara barely had time to cry out before he uppercutted her with the speed of Rainbow madra. She blasted upwards, her jaw broken, but Eithan reappeared standing on a floating chain above her, kicking her back down.

A strand of floating chain looped around Eithan, throwing him underneath Miara. His fist stopped Miara in midflight, punching through her ribcage and exiting out her back. Miara coughed up blood, her eyes rolling in their sockets.

Miara grasped at his arm, trying to inject her Royal madra into it. His pure madra held strong, too reinforced by his Royal madra to let her pass.

Eithan retracted his fist out, and Miara fell the last ten feet to the arena floor.

As she closed her eyes, she saw Eithan standing over her, resting on a floating chain. His armor reflected the fire around them, his hair reminding her of the moon. Her blood was splattered across his hands and mask. It dripped from its teeth, giving him a grisly appearance.

The Ninecloud Court Soul interjected “……Uh, Ladies and gentlemen (those who are still alive that is) Eithan is your new Uncrowned King! Congratulations for the Arelius clan. Even though Miara illegally took control of the puppet constructs to all attack Eithan (seriously why did nobody stop this fight?), he still came out on top! I must say though, are we sure he is only an Overlor–HOLY SH—”

Sha Miara unveiled herself, her Monarch power radiating outwards. The remaining crowd gasped.

The Ninecloud Soul’s voice was drowned out as Miara redirected her madra towards the rainbow light that was the Ninecloud Soul.

Immediately the Ninecloud Soul starting praising Miara.

Miara stood up, her wounds instantly healed.

Eithan staggered back as if Miara had hit him, his chains drooping.

Miara smiled sweetly at him as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes glinting mischievously, she gave him a curtsy as if she wore a dress.

Then she made a claw motion and took control of Eithan’s Enforcer armor.

Sha Miara locked him in place in his own armor, easily overriding his Royal madra that tried to block her out Even his chains were frozen in place.

Now that she was a Monarch, she had no need to touch his techniques to control them anymore. Before the other Monarchs could intervene, Miara casually exerted her power.

Eithan’s armor collapsed inward. Bone crunched instantly, turning to powder, and expelled as a fine dust that began to rain down. It dissolved into light before it reached Miara, which she nodded appreciatively.

As the armor and chains faded away, only strands of Eithan’s white hair were left floating down, but even those dissolved away.

Miara looked over the crowd, feeling Northstrider and all the other Monarchs unveiling themselves.

“Bow down to your new Uncrowned King.”