[Author's note: Just gonna give up on editing/PRing for now and concentrate on writing the rough chapters as editing demotivates me too easily, and I want to reach a certain point of the story quickly]
Chapter 50: Windle’s Goal
“Final round begin!”
As the start of the match, the old man stood there motionlessly as his eyes were partly closed. Akin to a statue, he waited for his opponent to make the first move.
The fighter from the Estoc guild did not care much about the old man’s decision and lifted his sword. They were very far from each other but as he swung his sword, thick Qi surrounded the edges of his blade. A beam of Qi slashed through the air directly piercing towards the old man.
The attack was fast and it traveled with great speed, but when it reached 1 meter from the old man, a strange line of light flashed along the beam’s path and blocked it. The flash of light was quick and not many individuals caught sight of it.
Most of the commoners who watched this exchange could only tell that an small collision occurred 1 meter from where the old man was. Some of the more experienced fighters clearly saw that a thin and concentrated flame emerged almost instantly within the range of 1 meter.
“What happened?”, Windle asked
Rowen and Gina could not answer as they could not see what the old man did, but Tordin briefly saw it.
“It seems that this old man is an elementalist. I saw something block the wave of Qi the other guy sent”, he answered.
Teo on the other hand saw it as clear as day. His eyes were truly a god-sent gift.
“This old man is not simple!”, Gina announced
The sword wielder smiled as he saw his attack was easily blocked. His initial attack was to test the waters, from this single exchange, he learned many things about the old man. The old man was probably no weaker than he was and was an elementalist at that.
The old man carried no weapons which made it seem as if he was a pure bred elementalist that did not relied on cultivating for his strength.
An elementalist’s weakness was the amount of stamina they had, and so his plan was quickly formed. He dashed forward and unleashed an unrelenting chains of blows. His huge sword easily danced in the air akin to a light feather, but the power it brought was exceedingly terrifying that the guards whose role was to contain any aftershocks barely managed to contain it. Starting from 3 layers of guards, they increased it to 5 layers.
The old man moved a little bit, but he would parry the attacks with accurate and concentrated elemental flames. He used just the bare minimum amount which showcased his precise control of the elements, but as time passed his face was no longer calm, but rather irritated.
The barrage of attacks were non-stop and was giving him no time to breathe. He lifted his hand flames gathered forming a fire serpent. The fire serpent as similar to a live snake but the pressure it gave was enough to easily cause a heat haze. Hot air blew across the spectators as the serpent crawled on the floor.
The enchanted floor tiles were easily melted by the red hot serpent. The serpent looked at the sword wielder and attacked ferociously.
As the snake approached the sword wielding expert unleashed several blows towards it. The snake dodged the several blows and ram into its target. The expert created a wall of Qi around his body, thick enough to easily block it. After attacking, the snake became an easy target and with a slash of the Qi endowed sword, the snake easily dissipated.
The sword wielder had a grin on his face. This technique must have used a considerable amount of elemental energy to form. Perhaps even a large amount of Qi to control. He looked at the old man who created a large distance between themselves while he was being attacked by the serpent, but this distance was nothing too big that he couldn’t cover within a few seconds.
The old man’s eyes filled with killing intent. His previous uncaring attitude disappeared and he finally took his opponent seriously. Thin layer of red flames surrounded his body. It was so thin that it did not resemble flames at all but rather a red layer of aura visible to the naked eye.
The old man concentrated and was gathering more elemental Qi in the air. The sword wielding did not want to give the old man time and quickly rushed towards him, continuing his series of attacks.
-BOOM!-
His sword finally reached a few centimeters towards the old man but the thin layer of flames was rigid and was powerful as a rock. His Qi could not penetrate it and if his sword were to continue without his Qi, it would only melt from the heat.
“Boy, your attacks are indeed powerful, but I warn you. Concede defeat or taste the full force of my attack”, The old man said.
“Ha ha ha, Who is this boy you speak of? Do you think that just because you look a little older than me that you are actually my senior? I have lived far longer than you, a mere elementalist have!”, as he retorted, his Qi formed layers upon layers onto each other thickening his Qi to the extreme. He was no longer taking this match playfully and instead going for the kill. His thick layer of Qi became sharper and sharper. This precise control of his Qi took him a while to create and he could only maintain it for a brief moment.
Although he could win this match if he played smartly and had a battle of endurance, he was confident that he could pierce through the old man’s layer of defense. Even if he couldn’t it will still sap the old man’s strength even more quickly. It was a decision with several benefits. He could also win magnificently and teach the old fool who he was dealing with.
He lowered his blade and pulled it back, preparing to unleash an upward slash. He dashed forward using his body to increase the power of his strike.
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As his sword hit thin red aura of protection, the thin layer of protection changed color from red to white.
-FIZZ FIZZ-
The crowd expected a large explosion from the impact of the fighters but it was replaced by a sound of fizzling liquid.
The thick sword easily melted along with the layers of Qi surrounded it. The thin white layer emitted such an extreme heat that the layer of Qi around the sword wielder was being burned.
This scene shocked the sword wielder and for a brief moment the thin layer or white flames expanded out like an explosion.
Barely reacting, the sword wielder jumped back and ran with all of his speed towards the other direction. His body reacted faster than his voice as he screamed
“SENIOR I CONCEDE!”
He became fully aware of the difference in power between the both of them. This move could probably match up with class 6 fighter so he conceded respectfully and recognized the other as his better, but the white flame did not pause and struck him on his back before stopping.
-SHHHSSH-
The sound of melted flesh could be heard, and a black char appeared on the man’s back. Although he thicken the layer of Qi that protected his back, it was quickly melted as if it was butter. Thankfully he his body tempering and layer of Qi was enough to minimize the damage to his body. It was a heavy wound, but a wound he could recover from, his life was more important than this event.
“Ha Ha, I am sorry that my control is quite terrible that I could not stop in time”, The old man smiled and apologized, but within his eyes a fierce killing intent still lingered.
“WINNER THE FLAME GUILD!”
The crowd who were suppose to cheer was stunned. This was the power of an elementalist! Although they were in the same category, with advance control of elemental properties he easily overwhelmed his opponent.
The old man stepped down from the stage and sat down. On the outside he was only slightly tired but his reserves of energy were almost empty. This move required almost all of his elemental energy and Qi.
After a while, the crowd finally gave a cheer for the battle.
“FLAME GUILD! FLAME GUILD! FLAME GUILD!
“What was that?!”, Windle who was a flame elementalist saw this battle and became fully excited.
“Why was his flames white?! This… this is awesome!”, he continued
The others could not answer his question as they did not know what happened. The only thing they knew was that the old man was stronger.
On the VIP seats, Briar was stunned as was the head of the Rizon branch family.
“This… this old man’s control is astounding, he might be able to contend with class 6 fighters”, the head of the branch family said.
Several members of the Mirth family had dread on their faces. A class 6 fighter was a threat to their rule. They only had 3 class 6 fighters so having an organization having a single class 6 fighter would be troublesome.
Briar shook his head and said “This old man is extremely weak after using this move, I doubt that he can continuously use this move. At most he can still be considered as peak class 5”
The award ceremony was held afterwards and the whole city celebrated the event. All the taverns and restaurants were packed, cheers and talks of the fights spread through the city.
In a corner of a tavern, Teo and the rest were enjoying a feast as they talked about the fights today.
“That was awesome, the Flame guild is just too powerful!”, Windle was still affected by the strength shown by the old man.
“Windle, thinking of joining the Flame guild after you graduate? I hear they take special care to flame elementalists. I’m sure their recruiters will invite you once you guys participate in the academy’s tournaments at the end of your 3rd years”, Gina said.
Windle thought about it a little bit but then said
“No, this Flame guild is great and all but my goal is much higher than this little city. If one has to aim for greatness they should aim for the capital and maybe the imperial city!”, Windle declared.
Normally Windle would not wantonly announce his goals but he was affected by earlier fights.
Tordin, Rowen and Gina gave a smile to Windle’s goals because in fact, they too planned on doing the same.
“Then we’ll meet at the capital!”, Tordin said with a laugh
“Sister are you going to the capital too?”, Teo could not help but asked
“We are, even brother Aran is aiming to go there once he comes back. What about you little Teo, what do you want to do?”, Rowen said
Teo thought for a moment but still did not give out an answer. He was undecided on what he should do in the future. He loved books, but was interested in arrays and inscriptions. He was also interested in fighting but was a little dissuaded from the blood he had seen in the arena.
“I’m not sure yet”, Teo said.
“That’s okay, take your time and decide your future little Teo”, Rowen replied
“What about you Lia?”, Gina looked over at the quiet Lia
“Um… I like fighting but… I don’t like blood”, she said
“Lia, if you become strong enough to decide the outcome of a battle you can avoid bloodshed, but you must remember that if you are weak, you can only follow what the strong decide”, Gina said.
“I understand senior. By the way, why are we staying here for 2 days? Isn’t the event already over?”, Lia asked
“Oh that, we’ll be participating in the arena tomorrow. Do you guys want to watch?”, Gina answered