A large Suijin No Ikari the size of a house materialized around Francis, imprisoning her in a spherical cage. The high-speed rotation of the sphere caused the air in and outside of the water mass to become hysterical. Francis was forced to hold her breath as the water sphere laced with sword force placed a great mental pressure on her.
The feeling of being on the precipice of inescapable death made her feel uncomfortable. Frozen Asgard Sect disciples were not pampered. On the contrary, they experienced many bloody battles. But they usually enter these battles from an advantageous position and would only reach an experienced mental state at later levels.
Hence even though she had killed thousands upon thousands, she had only had her life at risk a few dozen times. This disparity resulted in her mental weakness.
Frozen Asgard Arts weakened if one lost control of their emotional state, this was even more so when one was at lower levels. Her Valkyrie's Guard weakened greatly as she saw the spherical water prison form around her.
'He shouldn't have much mana left. Just how is he doing this?'
With every passing moment, she neared the abyss of despair. She even felt Gleipnir's Hold suppressing her even more. But this had less to do with the chains and more to do with her weakening state of mind.
Under normal circumstances, one should not be able to cast such spells under level 100. However, she was unaware of one factor she had dismissed.
Classes.
Towards higher levels, one would shift from depending on class-reliant skills and more focus would be placed on cultivation manuals such as the SSS manual or the Frozen Asgard Arts. Because they could grant greater power than what the system offered. But they required time, effort, and resources and had a greater demand for one's talent.
But one should still not underestimate class abilities. After all, it was mankind's desire to organise knowledge about classes that gave rise to the IB. That desire was born for a reason.
The IB was so detailed in their research of classes that they likened it to the way the system rated skills. Immortals often said that it's not what class you have, but what you do with that class. Nevertheless, some classes were simply more powerful and rarer than others. Hence sages with information gathering classes came together and created the IB. Once they transcended and became Immortals, the IB became part of the system itself.
The IB had created a ranking for everything, including the class rarity ranking based on the system's original lettering system from G to SSS. The top 1000 on that list were all classes that were powerful enough to guarantee ascension to immortality if one lived long enough. While the top 100 classes were held by beings who would be guaranteed immortality if they lived for more than a few centuries. The top 20 classes were capable of upsetting the balance of the system, and there had only ever been a handful of users gifted enough to possess these classes There had only been a few dozen naturally born Water Mesiter. This attested to the value of the class.
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Since each class in the top 20 only ever had handful of users in history, there was very little known about what such high tier classes could do. After all through out history only a few hundred such people existed . These were the only classes that were rated SSS.
From rank 21 going up the rating was below SSS. But rank 21 is unique because it possessed the 8 Elemental Meisters. Which were above SS but below SSS, which is why positions 21-28 had been taken by them. Not only were they rare and powerful classes, but they had certain aspects unique to them.
Never would Francis have expected that her opponent had a class above SS classes in terms of rating. The experts among the crowd had long since assumed that Will had a class with a high rating. Possibly a B Tier class, which was the watershed for the top 10000 classes.
Francis' class was Frost Maiden. A peak B Tier mage class with an emphasis on mana quantity and output But most of its useful class related skills were active in nature and weaker than most Frozen Asgard Spells. Nevertheless, it made her a force to be reckoned with.
But Will was a bonafide Elemental Meister. One of the same element as her. Had she known what class he had, she would have known that fighting with him over control and mastery of the water element was a pointless endeavor. Primarily because of two skills present in every Meister class.
[Skill: Water Manipulation (passive) –This skill allows a player to manipulate water freely. This can be any type of water given that it is not within another life form.
Skill: Water Enlightenment (passive) –This skill allows a player to gain a complete comprehension of water and a connection to the laws of the element of water.]
Elemntal Manipulation and Elemental Enlightenment.
These two skills seemed simple but they were frightening because they lessen one's effort and energy consumption to frightening degrees. Assuming that a spell costs 10 units of energy for a highly talented Frost Maiden like Francis, the same spell would only cost Will 2 units of energy, due to the presence of these two passive skills.
Not only did they lessen consumption, but they guaranteed that every skill or spell Will used had a hint of the laws of water within them. Increasing the magnitude of their effects. This was the difference in class tiers. A difference that could not be made up for with backing alone.
The sphere started rotating faster and faster, while Will started a slow crushing gesture. The Suijin no Ikari rested above a simple matrix that oscillated at high frequencies. The sphere slowly changed shape. Becoming a whirlpool. After a few seconds, the spherical prison had become a giant whirlpool that threatened to encase a desperate Francis. This was a gift Odin had given to Will after modifying Suijin no Ikari a bit.
Suijin No Ikari: Uzumaki.
Under normal circumstances, a Suijin no Ikari would explode outward, slicing all in its way. Uzumaki was more of an implosion, destroying what was within the whirlpool.
Will made a crushing gesture with his hand as the whirlpool shrunk and swept up Francis.
A huge surge of frigid mana force was emitted by the latter to resist the former's attack but it was a futile endeavor. Francis was sliced by the countless water blades imbued with sword force while the water pressure crushed her with every passing moment.
The concentration of water attribute energy in the environment amplified the strength of the spell. Resulting in Francis' complete defeat. The crowd could not help but quiet down as Francis was ripped apart by the stupendous chaotic swirl of water. Once the spell had run its course, the waters receded and spread out, revealing a bloody figure within...