Book 2. The Grand Gathering. Chapter 17. Fight to the Last Breath.
Before Yin’s second sword strike could reach him, Laien released some of his spiritual energy and converged a barrier of ice directly in the sword’s path. The lightning-infused blade slashed at the ice and after being halted for a brief split-second, sliced through it; missing Laien’s body by a hair’s breadth.
“I still can’t stop him even after using this much spiritual energy to block?” the alarming thought crossed Laien’s mind. If he was forced to use more energy to block each respective attack of Yin’s, then he wouldn’t be able to hold out for more than a hundred such exchanges!
“His swords… I can tell they carry the Principle of Energy, just like my magic. They also have Aspects in them… and this lightning attribute Qi! I can’t afford to stay on the defensive if I want to win,” Laien ascertained the situation in an instant. Thus, instead of retreating he decided to go all-out from the very beginning!
Raising his spear to defend, Laien drew onto a considerable amount of spiritual energy. The very moment his guard had once again been broken by Yin’s slash he created three sharp spikes of ice around Yin’s body, each of them targeting either Yin’s stomach or chest. He quickly threw the spikes in motion, hoping that at least one of them would be able to give Yin a good wound.
When he fought against Anatis, it had been impossible for him to fight in this manner. Anatis’s flames were more than enough for him to defend himself, but Yin’ lightning had weak defensive properties to begin with. Even if Yin was incredibly strong, he would find it hard to dodge this attack, especially if he hadn’t seen it coming!
However, when Yin’s smile widened slightly the confidence Laien had in his tactic wavered. Then, when Yin’s body was suddenly enveloped by lightning and he literally disappeared from before Laien’s eyes, that very confidence was completely shattered. Laien felt like crying out in shock but had little time to do so.
“Behind me!” Laien recognized the danger with almost no delay thanks to his spiritual sense. Without hesitation, he created a large and sturdy barrier of ice at his back against which one of Yin’s swords scratched but failed to slice it apart.
Not having even turned around fully, Laien controlled the barrier and caused it to transform into five spikes which seemed to have grown out of it. The magic proved to be too slow, however, as Yin simply jumped back and created some distance to dodge it.
“He’s used to fighting spiritual practitioners?” Laien frowned slightly while looking at Yin, who was now standing about twenty meters away from him with a happy smile on his face. He was so focused on Yin’s movements and the ongoing fight that he totally failed to recognize the deafening cheering coming from the half a million people in the audience and the degree of awe their first exchange caused everyone to feel.
“Twin swords! Lightning element!”
“Movement technique! It’s a true movement technique!”
The five hundred thousand people were going crazy over the abilities and power displayed by Yin. Even though it was prohibited for the spectators to use their Qi to enhance their voice, their shouting was so loud that the whole Royal Arena was trembling, the roaring of theirs being clearly audible in the greater part of the Two Weeks City.
As for the experts who were located mainly in the private sectors, they were perhaps even more amazed than those average commoners. In the keen eyes of martial masters, the ‘greeting’ which Laien and Yin exchanged would have had been more than enough to send almost any practitioner below the Realm of Heroes to the Netherworld.
“He really has gotten a lot stronger in the last weeks,” Rudford mused in appreciation, his gaze focused on Laien. “However, this new friend of his… his speed is already beyond the mortal realm, even without taking that movement technique into consideration. Can Laien really win against him?” Rudford asked himself silently, beginning to wonder what in the world was this phenomenon which seemed to be occurring throughout the whole Starlight Continent.
Young practitioners growing stronger at an astonishing rate and gaining insights into the arcane arts which until now were thought to be reserved for those at the very peak of strength. If this trend truly were to continue… then the whole world would soon be thrown into another era of savage wars.
“You ready? I’m coming again,” Yin called out merrily. He had sensed the powerful Aspects merged into Laien’s spiritual energy and recognized the Principle of Energy Laien was using to create ice-element magic. He could tell that Laien was very strong… but so far, he wasn’t all that impressed. If Laien had no more tricks up his sleeve which he could use against him, then this duel would end up reaching quite a boring conclusion.
Laien smirked slightly in response. After seeing Yin’s movement technique, he understood that no ordinary means would be enough to challenge him. Even with his ‘Primordial Energy’ of the Principle of Energy and his fused Aspects of Tranquility and Wrath, he was considerably weaker than Yin in a head-on clash. Even if he had enough time to chant spells… it wasn’t like chanting ever made that big of a difference to the strength of his magic.
“It didn’t work out well when I tried it two months ago... but I’ve got no other choice,” Laien smiled grimly and slowly breathed out. “Come,” he said calmly, at the same time pulling upon a massive amount of his spiritual energy all at once.
“So he does have more!” Yin rejoiced in his heart and rushed in to attack. He liked Laien very much and he would have been pretty sad had Laien turned out not to be strong enough, so when his battle sense began crying out ‘danger!’ as he approached, he was actually delighted.
Truth to be told, Yin was very self-aware of his strength and knew that his abilities and fighting style was very much a near perfect counter against a water-element spiritual practitioner like Laien. However, when he came into a close proximity to Laien and the Aspect of Awareness he wielded told him clearly how much power was about to surge at once, he only then realized how real this sense of danger was!
His eyes snapping wide open as blood oozed from Laien’s eyes, nose and ears, Yin unhesitatingly executed his movement technique and retreated with a flash of lightning. He moved nearly twenty meters in an instant but failed to get out of the area which had been filled by the ridiculous amount of Laien’s highly pure spiritual energy.
With Laien as the center, incredible masses of water began converging and reaching out to swallow and tear apart everything in their path.
“This kind of magic…! He’s using attributes of the water element?!” the realization hit Yin like a ton of bricks. Disregarding the well-being of his muscles and Qi-paths, he performed the Lightning Steps movement technique two more times in quick succession and kept sprinting away afterward, thus getting more than seventy meters away from Laien. Then, however, he staggered and even though he tried to keep running, the fifty meters high and over two hundred meters wide tidal wave swallowed him up.
“Now turn back,” Laien willed it and made a grasping motion with his hand, exerting himself much beyond his limits. The massive tidal wave began churning and twisting, then proceeded to roll over in a circular path while ripping away the rocky floor of the arena, causing hundreds of blocks of which many weighed hundreds of kilograms to join the chaotic and deadly currents inside it.
Frightened, the judge hurriedly leaped away from his wooden podium and landed on the arena’s inner walls. Just a second or two later the front half of the construction got torn into pieces by the wave and the rest of it got pulled in as a consequence.
“Magic… is this really magic?!” the judge shivered. He was a martial master of the first rank himself, but if he were anywhere close to Laien at the moment the boy released this tidal wave, he was quite sure he would end up dying. Just looking at the manner the churning and twisting currents inside the wave were ripping tens of meters into the ground and literally grinding and splitting apart the rocks which had been lifted filled him with utter terror.
The half a million spectators were all shouting, crying out and losing their minds over the scene happening before their very own eyes. They had always considered magic to be something silly, something which required the person to mumble some incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo, but the instantly released grand spell of Laien’s shocked them to their very cores.
The many martial masters in the private sectors who until now had been sitting were now all standing straight, many of them slamming the windows either open or into pieces to see better. For Laien to release this much spiritual energy at once and to be able to control such a mass of water without any chant… it wasn’t unbelievable, it should have been impossible!
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Even the likes of supreme martial masters like Rudford, the twin brothers accompanying Sauras or Carkan who was with Finella were flabbergasted. If Laien was capable of unleashing magic this powerful when he was merely at the seventh mortal realm, then how strong would he become when he would finally enter the Realm of Heroes? Just thinking about it was frightening.
“Good… good, good!” Rudford called out silently and clenched his fist in anticipation. He never knew Laien mastered this kind of destructive, wide-scale magic but with it, Laien could really beat this green-haired youth! The only question was how badly hurt Yin would emerge when the magic would inevitably collapse and dissipate in a few more seconds!
As the excitement in the Royal Arena was peaking, Yin was struggling to keep his body in one piece in face of the ever-changing and currents inside the tidal wave.
“I should have curled up the moment it hit me, now I can’t even bend my limbs properly,” the half-conscious thought passed through Yin’s mind. His body had been practically stretched to its limits and was being spun and twisted around by the water. The only reason all four of his limbs were yet to be broken was because thanks to his acute instincts, the battle sense and the Aspect of Awareness he was managing to properly counter the force of the currents pressing randomly onto his body in order to keep his arms and legs from being wrung out.
“He’s strong… damn!” the half-happy half-frustrated thought hit Yin the same moment the first rocks and boulders started crashing against his body. In normal circumstances, these things alone wouldn’t be any danger to his powerful body… but now, they were causing him endless headaches. It had already been hard enough to control his body perfectly when he needed to deal with just the currents, but now he was also being smashed by rocks…!
“How much longer can he sustain this magic?” Yin thought alarmingly, the sensation of water forcing its way up into his lungs and stomach becoming harder and harder to bear. He was growing increasingly desperate… and finally failed to keep his body in balance. His expression changed to one of intense pain as his left shoulder got instantly dislocated and forced out of the joint, then broken both in the elbow and at the wrist.
Not used to the sensation of intense pain, Yin failed to keep his concentration and cried out soundlessly, even more water forcing its way into his mouth, as his left leg suddenly got itself into two opposite currents; one pressing his foot and calf forward and the other pressing onto his thigh from the front. Despite his best efforts, his knee began cracking dangerously… but suddenly, the pressure lessened and all the chaotic currents became weaker.
After about seven seconds, all the spiritual energy Laien used to bring this magic forth had been exhausted and the spell began collapsing. The mass of water splashed into the circular canal it had dug into the battleground’s surface, at the same time spitting out Yin’s body which fell onto the undamaged ground and rolled over a few times before stopping.
The moment the magic was released Laien feel to his knees, his eyes clouded and his consciousness hazy. Including the brief exchange from the beginning, he had used up about seventy percent of spiritual energy. The last magic he had somehow managed to pull off exhausted him greatly, both physically and mentally. Were it not for his stubborn desire to win and a degree of experience with fatigue and pain which he had, he would have already fainted.
Simultaneously, Yin raised himself up a bit with the help of his right hand, then started coughing and vomiting all the water which had overflowed his lungs and stomach. As far as the physical state went, he had never felt so miserable in his life. His left arm was utterly wrecked, causing him so much pain that he could barely stand it. His left leg was hurting a lot, which would further limit his mobility.
To think that he had been arrogant enough to think that Laien wasn’t anything too special… and that he would choose some nice person after defeating him or her relatively effortlessly… oh, how wrong he had been!
After about ten seconds, Yin finally coughed out all the water, which also began naturally disappearing by now. He raised his head and looked at Laien, who was glaring back at him and breathing heavily as he supported himself on the spear, desperately trying to stand up.
At first, there had been only a desire to have a good, fun fight in Yin… but now, he truly came to desire the victory. He liked Laien and now, he came to respect him… and that was why he wanted to win against him so much! Refusing to succumb to pain, he stood up and produced a sword from one of his interspatial rings, grabbing it firmly with his right hand.
The crowd let out a collective gasp of surprise and acknowledgment. They could clearly see in how bad of a state Yin was in, but despite that, the boy didn’t want to give up!
Then, when they saw Laien finally standing up and also reading himself to continue the fight, they all exploded with an ear-shattering roar of cheering. The display of will by these two kids brought all of them to the verge of madness as many of them began disregarding the rules and shouting the names of their favorites while aiding themselves with Qi.
Soon, the whole Two Weeks City could hear the deafening chant of two names; Laien and Yin, of which the latter one seemed to be a fair bit louder. The windows in the Royal Arena all began shattering one after another, even some of the windows in the nearby buildings sharing the same fate. This level of excitement during a fight between two twelve-year-olds… it was out of this world.
Laien smiled weakly, his lips beginning to move lightly as he began chanting a spell. Even though the effects wouldn’t be spectacular… in the state he was currently in, he needed to seize every advantage. Since Yin wasn’t coming at him yet, he wouldn’t stand there idly and do nothing.
Yin quickly recognized what Laien was doing, but instead of attacking him immediately he wavered for a few seconds. It took him a while to realize that he was actually scared of being hit by a similar magic to the last time, though when he did realize that he grit his teeth and jumped onto the natural platform in the center of which Laien was standing at.
His expression flinching due to the pain in his left hand as it fluttered uncontrollably, Yin didn’t even notice the throbbing sensation in his left knee. He landed and rushed at Laien right afterward, filling his sword with everything he had; the Principle of Energy, the fused Aspects of Pride and Humility and the Aspect of Awareness.
Yet, the moment he got as close as five meters to Laien, another gust of spiritual energy filled the air. His heart skipped a beat before he realized the amount wasn’t nearly as large as the last time and decided to follow the attack through… but then, the spiritual energy suddenly transformed into a large amount of mist which this time wasn’t ice-cold, but instead boiling-hot!
Feeling the skin all over his body being painfully burned, Yin cursed for the first time. He had two choices; bear through the pain and keep attacking Laien to deplete his energy and beat him down, or retreat and allow this whole spell to have mostly gone to waste.
“No, it will only give him more time to chant another spell. It’s not that bad, my body is strong enough to withstand it!” Yin made the split-second decision and kept going forward. He wouldn’t allow Laien to pull any more tricks, he would be the one to win!
He swung his sword and slashed downwards, aiming at Laien’s chest. Laien responded in kind and raised his white spear to defend himself, the effects of his mist diminishing at the same time.
Laien’s plan was to block Yin’s attack in the same manner as originally. He was ready to have his guard blown away and was ready to follow up with magic. However, as Yin’s sword approached he suddenly got the feeling that it increased in strength… and that another Aspect had been added on top of the three which already were there!
The enhanced slash nearly forced the spear out of Laien’s hand, the worst only not happening because at the last moment Laien switched to one-handed grip and allowed one end of his weapon to be smashed into the ground. Yet, due to this completely failed defense Yin’s blade sank into his flesh, leaving a fairly deep and long slashing wound on the left side of his chest.
“Time to end this!” Yin grabbed the opportunity and forced himself to execute the Lightning Steps, almost instantly appearing behind Laien and slashing at his back as fast as possible.
“I don’t have enough spiritual energy for a broad defense…” Laien thought he would be more desperate, but for some reason, he was quite calm. His gaze became dull as his whole focus shifted to his perceived surroundings… and all of the sudden, a clear ‘image’ of Yin slashing at his back appeared in his mind.
Yin was pretty sure the fight would reach its conclusion just then, but when his lightning-engulfed sword reached Laien’s body, it collided against a small and thin layer of ice which appeared directly on top of it. His sword slid off, not wounding Laien in the slightest.
“This feeling… he gained an insight into the Aspect of Awareness?” Yin couldn’t help but smile in disbelief. He thought he would become the final victor solely because he awakened the Aspect of Desire, but here Laien went and did the same with the Aspect of Awareness!
“I never thought I would be forced to use that technique,” Yin thought with a laugh, intuitively dodging the back-blow of Laien’s spear. “Lightning Rush…” he murmured, spreading Qi throughout his whole body and causing continuous sparks of lightning to dance all over his skin.
Before Laien could even form any magic, he slashed at his shoulder and back at a great speed. What surprised Yin was that the same thing barrier managed to take shape in time once more… but with him using his Qi at maximum output, the ice proved to be unable to stop his blade which wrung out a serious, gaping wound from Laien’s shoulder to halfway down his back.
“Wait, he’s still…?!” Yin found out to his amazement that the moment he was being wounded, Laien began turning around and swung with his spear, pouring all his remaining energy into it.
“If I dodge this one, it’s over!” Yin rejoiced, but when he attempted to once again execute his movement technique… his knee gave away. “Damn!” having lost his balance, Yin was forced to block with his sword. He slashed out and poured more Qi into his blade, meeting Laien’s attack head-on.
The highly concentrated energies clashed against each other, then destabilized and caused a small explosion to occur. The backlash blew away both Laien and Yin, throwing them on the opposite edges of the round, undestroyed piece of battleground they were fighting on.
A few tense seconds passed during which not even the sounds of breathing could be heard from the five hundred thousand people in the audience. Then, one of the boys groaned and got up to his feet, glancing at the other one with a very content smile.
He was so happy to have won this fight it was even a bit surprising to him. When the judge officially declared him a victor and the cheers rang out once more he chuckled a little, then began walking towards his opponent.
“I lost,” Laien smiled resignedly and glanced at Yin from the ground. He, of course, would have liked to win, but he didn’t have any regrets about his performance.