Alistair watched as Riseth finished off her opponent by restricting her teleportation and nailing her with her finisher, which tore the lamia apart. Alistair noted how the tear in realspace created by her Vortex Tear skill was even larger and more devastating. Considering his own space affinity, he might need to ask her to teach him that skill. As they were teleported out of the arena, Alistair directly headed to where he sensed Riseth, who seemed to have the same idea. As they found each other, they cheered and celebrated their victory with an intimate kiss.
Days passed as they continued climbing the ladder. Alistair quickly realized that, despite his opponents being formidable, he had lucked out. There were true monsters in the Milky Way ladders, and he was considered one of them. He learned that Aggressive and expansionist species and cultures dominated the ladders. While these weren't rare, they also weren't the norm; the majority of the galaxy was made up of more peaceful, defensively oriented cultures. These cultures fought only for what they termed the greater good or out of necessity rather than being driven by an inherent desire to expand.
While challenging, the first three matches were all weaker than Savagio and Marilyn, both of whom were still climbing the Universe ladder. Nessyra was struggling a bit, and Alistair suspected she would fall off soon as she wasn't a dedicated fighter at all. They also prepared for the trial to end by storing their assets and finishing projects. Alistair and Riseth spent most of their free time gathering essences in the study room in preparation for their long travel times once they left the Trial. They wouldn't get much essence once they were exploring with the Artemis.
Alistair continued to spend additional time refining his ribcage and pathways to better absorb and contain energies beyond kinetic and its related concepts. He aimed to convert these energies into something useful with the help of his Arcane Energy Manipulation skill. Though he felt his ability to contain energies he had a poor affinity for within his spheres and skinguard skill was still lacking, his most recent upgrade in Arcane Energy Manipulation allowed him to at least temporarily store and rapidly convert these energies, albeit with quite the loss of efficiency. This improvement had already aided him in some matches, although it hadn't yet led to any tier upgrades.
Much like the Galaxy Ladder, the System remained quite secretive about its matchups for the Universe Ladder. However, two things were clear: fighters never faced the same opponent twice, and the higher one finished on the galaxy ladder, the fewer fights they had to attend. As a result, Alistair and Riseth had half as many matches as Simon, who in turn had half as many as Nessyra, much to her displeasure. Alistair and Riseth both knew they would soon be matched against the universe's strongest. Both struggled in their fifth matches; around this time, Nessyra fell off after facing a True Dragon that had polymorphed into a Dragonkin-like form. Simon and Desily were next, with Simon losing to a Lushu beastkin and Desily to a former Human turned Angel. As the ladder shrank, only incredibly rare and high-tier species like Dragons, Phoenixes, Hydras, and the occasional high-tier Vampire remained. Riseth finally met her match against a True Dragon.
Alistair cursed as he watched the overwhelming magical power of the Dragon restrain her before piercing her with his long claw as if preparing a marshmallow before burning her. It could hardly be considered a fight, as the Dragon was already well past the halfway point of Grade 8. To his surprise, she wasn't upset at all and felt much more powerful after falling off the ladder. Annoyingly, whatever titles she received were protected by the usual system secrecy measures, so he could not ask her what they were exactly. However, through their resonance, he knew that even if he fell off now, it would not matter as they had done more than well enough.
As they reached the last two weeks of the trial, Alistair hoped that he could hold on until the rewards from the Automata Trial were distributed, as it would likely give him an edge that would perhaps help him to win one more fight he otherwise would not have. He had gotten extraordinarily lucky with his matchups and was faced with a Roc beastkin for his 6th fight, which primarily used concepts and attacks of a physical nature, which he managed to abuse.
However, he was sure his luck ran out when, one day before, he would have received his Automata Trial rewards. He was faced with Zathen Enasis, a phoenix who was considered one of the strongest fighters in the entirety of the Tournament.
"Guess that trial reward wouldn't have mattered," Alistair mused as he looked at his opponent.
Zathen had taken on an elf-like appearance with pointed ears and slightly androgynous, sharp facial features. His long red hair was adorned with feathers, and his piercing golden eyes hinted at his true nature. He wore white combat robes with gold and red sashes, and Alistair could tell that Zathen's armor was far more densely enchanted than his own. Smaller in stature compared to Alistair, Zathen's deep tan and unnervingly sharp features were complemented by his intense gaze, which made Alistair double-check his armor for warping, though it remained undisturbed. What unsettled Alistair most, however, was that Zathen, despite holding the Primal Revelation title, looked at him with sheer boredom.
Alistair, from what he knew and sensed of the Phoenix, was hard-countered, as Zathen primarily used fire and could turn incorporeal. Alistair doubted his disruption magic was powerful enough to prevent a Phoenix from reforming. So his own affinity for fire would only allow him to absorb most of it for his own usage but wouldn't allow him to prevent the beast from regenerating, as burning a phoenix was a losing proposition. He also sensed that the Phoenix had a lot more energy than him to the point where Alistair wondered if Nephilims were merely middle-tier rather than true high-tier.
"Ah, the Nephilim. My luck is good as usual," Zathen said as Alistair felt an Identification hit him. Alistair tried to identify the Phoenix but couldn't.
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"Guess my luck finally ran out," Alistair quipped as he retrieved his poleaxe.
"Indeed," Zathen said as Alistair felt the Phoenix's aura wash over the arena and disrupt his ability to teleport.
The next thing Alistair saw was Zathen summoning a huge fire elemental that loomed over them. Alistair activated his boosting skills and Bloodcurdling Presence, but this time, he found himself futilely scratching at his opponent's Mental Fortress. Zathen wasn't intimidated in the slightest. Realizing this, Alistair abandoned his bloodcurdling aura. Zathen stretched out his arm, unleashing a massive stream of blue flames towards him. Alistair attempted to dodge with a flash step but couldn't completely evade the attack. He managed to absorb, convert, and contain most of the energy within a battle sphere, but the intensity of the blue flames melted the arcane construct.
Alistair stared at the disintegrated sphere in disbelief. He then felt some of the absorbed energy burning him from within as his augmented organs struggled to contain the flames. Quickly, he redirected the energy to his Sunforge Organs, which successfully contained the flames, allowing him to process the phoenix flames into essence instead.
"Wait, that's an option I could try to consume and absorb foreign energies to be converted into essences," Alistair realized. However, he knew that the amount of energy he would be able to contain would be limited to the processing speed of the Sunforge organs.
"Are you for real?" Zathen questioned in sheer disbelief as he looked at Alistair, a wide, wicked grin painted across his face, his bored expression from before gone.
Alistair returned the smile as he summoned a new set of battle spheres, unleashing kinetic and dispelling blasts before charging at the befuddled Phoenix. As Alistair closed in, the elemental summoned by Zathen enclosed them in a dome of fire. The intense heat pressed down on him, making him feel like he was being cooked alive. Despite timing his blasts correctly, they seemed to pass harmlessly through the Phoenix, who raised an eyebrow before summoning two curved blades made of sheer flames. Despite their ethereal nature, the Phoenix effortlessly parried Alistair's metal weapon and exploited an opening. Alistair managed to block the strike with his shield, which now bore a deep, burnt-out gash. Quickly retreating, Alistair reassessed his approach, feeling the intense heat pressing down on him from the fiery dome that encased them.
"Who taught you to swing a weapon? Your technique is awful." Zathen questioned, disappointment evident in his voice.
"I am self-taught, and before you, I had no problems," Alistair retorted as he re-engaged with probing strikes and stabs, which Zathen casually dodged and batted away.
To Alistair's annoyance, his opponent's parries hardly gave him any kinetic energy. Zathen's flame blade resisted his attempt to rob them of kinetic energy, they felt incredibly firm and under control which ensured they didn't provide the energy Alistair needed to use against his opponent. He summoned his Razor Aegis, directing the blades to cut the phoenix into ribbons. Still, the beast continued to evade his attacks with a bored expression, his disks immediately melting upon contact.
"Why would you use the Razor concept instead of Vorpal?" Zathen questioned, appearing next to Alistair in a flash of light. With a swift backhand, he sent Alistair tumbling. Alistair managed to ram his poleaxe into the ground, halting his tumble near the edge of the dome of fire as he failed to claim Zathen's momentum. He scrambled to reengage, noting he had only gained a portion of the kinetic energy from the slap as his body failed to convert the energy fast enough. Alistair continued to have his Battle Sphere shoot at the Phoenix as he gritted his teeth.
"Why do you insist on wasting your talent on a wide array of nonsense instead of specializing in your strengths?" Zathen questioned while shaking his head. "So much potential for a good fight, yet all you do is disappoint me," the Phoenix spat. Alistair didn't even need to look at his armor to know it was warped under the intimidating pressure the Phoenix exuded. In another flash, Zathen lashed out with his arm, turning into a talon for a second and bypassing his attempts to block, carving an excruciatingly painful scar across Alistair's chest.
Alistair glanced at the wound, seeing that it wasn't just burned but had red, molten-like streaks arcing out of the wound, reminiscent of lava. Zathen tsked and slashed him again.
"Eyes on me, Nephilim. You can't afford to look away from your opponent. Extend your senses if necessary," Zathen chided him.
Alistair clenched his teeth as his Arcane Energy Manipulated rapidly circulated his Qi into life force to stem the burning pain from the wounds. What gave Alistair some pause were the instructions Zathen gave him. Alistair doubted he could defeat the Phoenix, so getting some pointers wasn't bad; questioning it was dumb, but curiosity got the better of him.
"Why are you instructing me instead of just killing me?" Alistair asked.
"Because you might become a good stone to sharpen my talons on," Zathen replied casually. "Your affinity and talent are sufficiently high. Watching you waste them feels like a crime."
Alistair was drenched in sweat and was getting woozy. If it wasn't for him refining his skin as much as he did, he was sure it would have molten by now.
"Wasted how?" Alistair managed, feeling his energy dwindling.
Zathen cocked his head to the side, like a bird of prey inspecting its next victim. Alistair felt as if the Phoenix was looking through him. "Embrace your concept of Kinetics. Why try to contain different kinds of energy instead of converting it all into the one you need?" Zathen's piercing gaze intensified. "Your understanding of concepts is lacking. Use your kinetics and force to crush my flames. Why waste your time learning something you are barely passable at, like dispelling or disruption?"
Alistair stared blankly at Zathen. Despite the pain the bird was inflicting upon him, the phoenix clearly had a much deeper understanding of magic and concepts, and he felt a surge of gratitude.
"Thank you for your guidance," Alistair said with a slight nod, fighting through the growing agony.
"Don't give me that shit. Go seek out a good master, and then face me again. If you disappoint me, I will kill you," Zathen replied, raising his arm, which transformed into a wing of white flames.
Alistair wasn't about to give up. He pooled all his saved energy, converting it into power and enhancing his Temporal Combat Reflexes as he rushed Zathen. The Phoenix looked at him with disbelief. Alistair directed all his telekinetic power to restrain and crush Zathen, whose gaze grew more intense. Alistair lashed out with utter disregard for his energy reserves, his body straining and breaking as he extended his aura through his weapon and empowered it with his concept of Kinetics. As the poleaxe connected with Zathen, the flames failed to fend off the strike for a brief moment, leaving a small gash on the Phoenix's shoulder before melting the head of the weapon. Alistair could have sworn Zathen smiled as his wing of white flames lashed out, erasing Alistair from the arena.