Chapter 206 - Spirit Armor's Defensive Formation
"Could it be? Teacher Jing, can you tell us who that child is?" Feng Qing asked.
As dean of the academy, Long Jing should know the academy's most promising students well. It was he who informed the others about Hei's talent. Yet, in this case, the dean Long Jing was also surprised. He knew the background of Leon's story and how he got into the academy. He also received reports of his growth from time to time. But none of those reports mentioned the armor and especially the power of his attacks.
"That boy's name is Leon. He is a special student who was admitted to the academy even before he met the requirements. The reason is that the Test on the Elemental Law Affinity was negative even though he was able to advance to the sixth stage of the Spirit Apprentice rank. We speculated that it could be an anomaly concerning the Law of Energy. However, all tests came back negative, and no Elemental Seed was formed. Just in case, I allowed him to stay at the academy to evaluate his growth. Honestly, we had lost hope as all the experiments failed, but apparently, we were wrong." Headmaster Jing answered, explaining the situation behind Leon.
Hearing this, all the VIP spectators couldn't help but open their mouths wide. Even Hu Luoyang and Feng Qing stared in amazement at Leon.
The Law of Energy. Leaving aside the Law of Space and Time, which could be learned later by anyone who had the ability and talent, it was the only Elemental Law among the groups of the Elemental Laws that could be awakened but which had never been confirmed. Only once it had happened, and it didn't happen to a member of the human race or demon race, but a divine beast.
Consequently, any information on the Law of Energy was valuable as there were only very few. Furthermore, the Law of Energy was said to be superior to other Elemental Laws except for the Law of Space and the Law of Time. It was no coincidence that these three Elemental Laws were cataloged together and separated from the others.
"I would like to say one thing before all of you start to develop strange thoughts," said Long Jing, who knew well the implications of what was unfolding, "As you know, the academy plays the role of a training place for all the young martial artists. To protect the Sun Empire's future, we welcome those promising seeds so they can be developed. For this reason, the rule of non-interference by families is imposed.
In this tournament, there are unusually several promising independent youngsters; they aren't affiliated with a specific faction. We all know its implications and how it could affect the balance of power between families and other organizations. But I warn you - as long as they are students of this academy, none of you are allowed to put pressure on these students. You are allowed to make proposals, but if I find that any of you have dared to threaten any of the students to force them to their side, the repercussions will be massive. Likewise, I, who represent the Imperial Family, will abide by the same rules."
When Headmaster Jing finished his speech, most of the VIP spectators' faces darkened as a shiver of fear ran over their backs. Indeed, this year there were many talented young people who didn't yet have an affiliation, meaning candidates to join their families.
It had to be known that in the system of powers within the Sun Empire, the acquisition of new blood was a fundamental factor. If they could get the right person, their families' reputation and influence would rise, and they would have more resources from the empire. And it was also for this reason that the academies had been founded - to prevent the various families from biting each other to snatch talented martial artists for them.
'Long Tian… you didn't tell me anything about this in your reports. Weren't you aware of it? If so ... 'Long Jing began to think. His intervention had momentarily slowed down the problem, and it hadn't contained it. Unfortunately, however much authority he might have, there was a limit to that.
Meanwhile, Sawa Takuboku had recovered from the attack. Even though he had been blown away and his defensive layer of spirit power had diminished a little, that damage wasn't enough to make him unable to fight.
"Shit… you will pay for this, bastard. Ghost Type Elemental Essence, Bone Monster!" Sawa Takuboku shouted.
In that instant, something inside his body began to glow, although it couldn't be seen from the outside. Soon after, the bones in his body popped up all over his body. It was like sharp spikes had pierced Sawa Takuboku.
"Take this!"
Sawa Takuboku threw the two bone swords at Long Tian, who swept them away using his greatsword. Even though those two swords had been flung violently, the size of the greatsword combined with Leon's muscular strength had no problem deflecting them.
"Bone Knife Rapid-Fire!"
Sawa Takuboku used another technique. Instead of making long bones like swords, he pulled short bones like little knives out of his wrists this time. Once created, he immediately hurled them against Leon while spawning two more. It was a continuous assault that left Leon with no room to breathe.
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"Heavenly Sweep." Leon tried to sweep away the rain of knives swooping down on him in one fell swoop. At the same time, he also aimed to hit Sawa Takuboku, who was approaching little by little.
Sawa Takuboku, however, responded by creating bone spikes from under the soles of the feet to adhere to the floor of the fighting stage. That way, even if Leon's attack power were greater, it wouldn't blow him away as before. And indeed, his plan was successful.
"NOW!" Sawa Takuboku told himself as he gleefully hurled himself at Leon.
It should be known that, although his attacks were powerful, Leon needed a few seconds to charge the spirit power back into his weapon. It meant that he couldn't use such powerful hits consecutively, thus leaving a margin of time between each attack.
"Piercing Bone Fighting Style - Dance of Bone Spines."
Sawa Takuboku then executed a series of blows performed at high speed against Leon. Whether given with his fist, leg, or any other part of his body, each of his attacks contained the power of his bones. Without a chance to react, Leon was overwhelmed by this avalanche of attacks.
Peng!
When Sawa Takuboku finished his last attack, it was Leon's turn to be blown away. Given the violence of Sawa Takuboku's assault, it was incredible that Leon had resisted standing to the last hit.
"It's over with this. You may have a strong attack power, but if you believe that stupid armor can make up for your poor defense, you are very mistaken." Sawa Takuboku said.
The young bone manipulator firmly believed that the fight was over. The attack he had used was the killing move he used when he wanted to kill the enemy. Even though killing the opponent was forbidden, Sawa Takuboku felt it wasn't a problem to use this technique. After all, not even Song Yazhu had stopped him, and there was no way that a Spirit King like him could misjudge the progress of the fight between two Spirit Soldiers.
'His defensive layer of spirit power was intact at the time of the attack. Considering the thickness of his spirit power and the armor on him, even if that armor has collapsed, he shouldn't die.' Sawa Takuboku thought to himself.
Clang! Clang!
Metallic noises rang out as Sawa Takuboku opened his eyes and jaw in disbelief. Across the fighting stage, Leon was rising to his feet. Since he was covered from head to toe in armor, it wasn't possible to see his condition. However, the fact that he could get up so quickly was a sign that his injuries weren't as threatening as Sawa Takuboku thought.
'Ouch. I feel pain all over my body. I felt the rumble of his blows, but I'm not hurt. Yes, the armor worked. I'm not hurt.' Leon thought to himself as he let himself go in a smile full of excitement.
The Spirit Metal Armor contained numerous formations ranging from speeding up the condensation rate of spirit power to stabilizing the flow of spirit power, and so on. In one of those formations, there was one that activated automatically as soon as the armor received a trauma. That is, the armor would automatically take the user's spirit power to increase the toughness of the defensive layer of spirit power, creating an additional layer. It was like a kind of armor of spirit power added to the one martial artists usually used.
"How is it possible?! How can you stand as if nothing had happened? "Sawa Takuboku asked. The young man's face was pale, and his back was shivering at the thought that he might lose.
Leon wasn't listening to him, however. His eyes were still focused on examining his body. An attack like this previously would indeed have hurt him, but now he was unharmed. Yes, he had less spirit power because it had been consumed by activating the armor's automatic defensive function, but that wasn't a problem at all.
"If so, then I don't have to fear anything. I can continue to be by their side." Leon said as he condensed his spirit power into his left fist, activating another armor function that allowed him to gather the spirit power into a single spot and hurl it at great speed.
"Fist of Heaven!"
Leon's left fist's spirit power was projected out as a kind of bullet of spirit power. Given his speed and Sawa Takuboku's momentary inability to think with a cool head, the punch attack hit his opponent hard.
Boom!
The punch landed violently on Sawa Takuboku, pushing him away for tens of meters. The bones he was so proud of broke under this attack's power but still managed to do their job and reduced the damage inflicted on their user. Even so, Sawa Takuboku was now out of the game.
"The winner is Leon." Song Yazhu proclaimed, ending the fight.
With the formalization of the end of the fight, the audience exploded in a series of exciting cheers and whistles. In particular, in the stands, a family couldn't contain their enthusiasm after Leon's victory.
"Yay, the big brother won! He did it!"
Leon's brothers and sisters were celebrating their brother's victory with irrepressible joy. Leon's parents were also happy and had tears in their eyes. Their son, of which they were so proud, had won in front of such a vast audience, not to mention the high-level figures in the VIP section.
'Go, son. Fly. Fly and change your destiny. Not for us, but for yourself.' Leon's father said in his mind.
Meanwhile, in the area prepared for fighters, Leon had just returned but was overwhelmed by the cheering and the enthusiasm of his companions.
"You did it!."
"Good job. Now only Lang and Lian are missing to win their fights."
While Hei and his companions were intent on celebrating Leon's victory, Long Tian turned his gaze in their direction and sent a spirit message to Hei.
'I thought it was already amazing to use so much Spirit Metal for a greatsword of that size, but even armor? I have to admit that the final result is better than I thought, though.'
Hearing Long Tian address him, Hei replied, 'Do you want to tell me something, Long Tian?'
He knew Long Tian wouldn't contact him so furtively just to compliment Leon's armor functionality. There had to be more.
'Yes. You should be well aware of the consequences of this revelation, shouldn't you?'
'Yes, I am aware of that. I already calculated the pros and cons when I gave Leon the Spirit Metal.'
'And despite the dangers and other inconveniences that may arise, you proceeded anyway.'
'I thought that even in the worst of cases, I could offer trading pieces to the right person.'
While the two were speaking, Song Yazhu meanwhile proclaimed the next two fighters.
"The next fight will see the battle between two beast tamers - Lang of the Ice Wolf Beast Family and Chloe Elliott."