Our school has gained many allies and even more enemies over the years because of the way that we refuse to bow our heads to the noble families. However, despite this most of the noble families themselves will not act against us openly. This is mostly because of the story about how Telram nearly destroyed an entire city just so that he could escape which earned him the name the Demon Child of Palamar. As many of you know this was only the first of the names that your master has earned over the years, but many of our detractors still use it in an attempt to make us look bad.
A quote from the lessons of Diane Ulinde.
About half an hour later the guard returned to lead Telram back to the arena. When Telram stepped out into the ring he felt like his opponent might actually give him a bit of a challenge. This was mostly because the young man that he would be fighting had a build similar to his own although not quite as pronounce and a quick check with his spiritual vision told him that his assumptions were correct. His opponent was using a body cultivation technique and a fairly powerful one at that. He was also an Ascendant Realm cultivator which meant that the body cultivation technique probably incorporated at least one of his Elemental Affinities.
Sure enough, when the fight began earth and rocks began to form around the body of the young man who turned out to be named Joavin Grenz. Seeing this a frown appeared on Telram’s face as he realised that there was no way that he could overpower someone who was using an Earth Affinity body strengthening technique and it would also be very difficult for him to land a hit on him that would actually do some damage. Or at least it would be unless he actually went all out.
Thankfully with the rules of this tournament he might not have to. But he didn’t have the time to consider his options any further because his opponent shot towards him riding on a wave of earth that he had seemingly conjured from nowhere making Telram curse out loud as he was forced to leap to one side.
Telram continued to curse inwardly as his opponent followed his dodge with ease. He vaguely recognised the technique his opponent was using, and he knew that if he didn’t use his own movement techniques, he would lose the only advantage that he thought he had. The sound of an explosion echoed around the arena the next time Telram’s feet touched the ground and he all but disappeared from sight leaving a crater in the floor of the arena before reappearing where his opponent had been standing when the fight had begun.
As Joavin turned towards him on the back of his wave of earth grey mist appeared around Telram. Funnelling more Mana into his Dissonance technique the grey mist spread throughout the arena causing the wave of earth that Joavin was riding started to crumble away but then stabilised as the other cultivator channelled more Mana and soul energy of his own into the technique.
Seeing this Telram frowned once more but still chose not to add the new type of soul energy that he had been refining to the technique. When he did this the technique became something that even Gerry and the others had difficulty with, but it used up a truly massive amount of both types of soul energy so he couldn’t use it for long and it took a longer time to restore his bestial soul energy than it did his normal soul energy. As such he wanted to save it until the main tournament both so that he didn’t run out of the bestial soul energy and he could surprise the more powerful opponents that he was certain he would find there.
He fully expected that a number of the members of the audience were scouting both him and Joavin out for other participants so keeping some of his techniques a secret was definitely a must if he wanted to do well against the more powerful opponents that he would be fighting in the following rounds.
Even if his Dissonance technique wasn’t enough to completely prevent Joavin from using his strange movement technique it would definitely cause him to use more Mana and soul energy to keep it active than normal so that would have to do for now.
Another explosion sounded throughout the arena as Telram made his own room making Joavin’s eyes widen I surprise as he found himself unable to follow Telram’s movements. Coming to a skidding halt beside Joavin, Telram lashed out with a powerful kick that was augmented with another shockwave much like his steps had been. The kick hit Joavin in the shoulder with enough force to send him flying off of the wave of earth and bounce several times off the stone floor of the arena before he managed to recover just before he flew off the edge. The attack hadn’t hurt him much with his tough body, but he was still shaken. He had also realised that Telram used a body strengthening technique. He had been expecting that Telram was more power based like him because of the similarities of their physiques but the blow itself had been lighter than he had been expecting which combined with the sudden speed that Telram had moved with left him confused.
To reach anywhere near the sort of speed that Telram could move at Joavin had to use a rather odd movement technique that his master had taught him and even then, he couldn’t turn or come to a halt nearly instantaneously like Telram could. Joavin could tell that both the kick and the movement technique that Telram was using used the same shockwaves to work but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how Telram was able to control them well enough that his legs could handle the strain even considering the fact that Telram had a body strengthening technique.
Unfortunately for him these few moments of thought were exactly the thing that Telram needed to launch his next attack and arrows of Mana had been forming around his body the entire time. This was an incomplete technique that was based off of the one that Iris had shown the class on the first day of lessons with a few tweaks of his own. The problem was that it still took longer than he would’ve like to form the projectiles but he had hoped that his earlier attack would’ve caught Joavin off guard enough that he would have time to make it work and as it turned out he was right.
With a shout which revealed the strain of creating all of these projectiles the arrows of Mana all shot in Joavin’s direction. The other young man was able to deflect or outright block most of them with his hands and forearms which were reinforced with extra Mana for precisely this purpose. A few of the projectiles did get past his defences but individually they barely did enough damage for him to notice them.
It was the crowd however who were most surprised by this turn of events. Not because Telram knew a rare ranged technique that could be used in the Human Realm which was surprising enough but that the projectiles that Joavin had deflected hadn’t dissipated but were instead stopping in mid-air directly behind him.
Telram smirked as he saw that his plan was working. This technique was based off one he had seen in an old tv show that he had watched back on Earth when he was a kid. However, because of the difficulty of controlling each individual projectile at the moment he was only able to use the technique while his Dissonance technique was also active. This might seem a bit counterintuitive because of the complexity of using the Dissonance technique but the reasoning behind it was that Telram could sense everything within the range of his Dissonance technique. Since the range of his Dissonance Technique was also the same range that he could control any of his techniques using them both together allowed him to control the projectiles with much greater finesse. Telram was still hopeful that he would be able to eventually control the projectiles without the aid of his Dissonance technique since using them both together was a massive drain on his mana and soul energy but for now this would have to do.
As soon as the last Joavin had deflected the last projectile away he sneered at his opponent. The reason ranged techniques that could be used before entering the Ascendant Realm were so rare was because they used up a truly enormous amount of Mana for someone who was still in the Human Realm. As such he wasn’t surprised to see that Telram was panting like he had just run a mile. The young cultivator foolishly decided to take his time approaching his seemingly exhausted opponent and was surprised when Telram suddenly stood up straight and returned his sneer with a smirk of his own just before multiple objects smashed into his back with enough force to send him flying forwards into Telram’s outstretched fist which sent him flipping head over heels.
The crowd continued to watch in shock as Telram shook his hand with a pained expression on his face. Whatever body strengthening technique Joavin used it made him incredibly tough and he doubted this attack had done much more than piss his opponent off. This was confirmed when an enraged looking Joavin leapt back to his feet and charged in his direction.
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Telram easily dodged the first blow and deflected the next with a grimace of pain before performing a counter that Joavin barely even seemed to notice. Try as they might neither of the two cultivators were able to gain the upper hand in the melee that ensued. In his enraged state Joavin wasn’t able to land a clean hit on Telram but likewise Telram simply wasn’t strong enough to deal any real damage to Joavin even if he landed a clean counter. This was the difference between their cultivation levels rearing its ugly head. Telram was much more skilled than his opponent but his opponent’s earth affinity body strengthening technique had made him far tougher and stronger than Telram was.
Then something started to change. Upon realising that Telram couldn’t really harm him Joavin had managed to come down but to his surprise he still wasn’t able to land a clean hit on his opponent who now had a strange, almost blank look on his face. Telram’s movements had become even smoother than they had been at the start of the brawl as he parried attacks with ease and returned with counters that would easily knock out most other cultivators but did little to his current opponent.
However even this was beginning to change and soon Joavin was sporting a nasty looking black eye while his opponent only looked slightly tired. Telram’s flowing movements became more and more obvious as he allowed himself to be pushed away by Joavin’s powerful attacks before surging forward to land a blow of his own that was more powerful than any of his previous attacks. A strange feeling began to descend on the arena and the cultivators in the audience all frowned as they started to feel ripples in the atmosphere around them as what looked like grey clouds started to appear above the arena.
Understanding dawned on the faces of some of the more experienced cultivators as they finally understood what was happening.
“Martial Breakthrough,” Gerry breathed in shock as he looked down at his student who was slowly but surely gaining the upper hand over his opponent.
“You’re kidding!” Fergus exclaimed as he turned to stare at his old friend. He had heard of this particular phenomenon before, but he had never seen it.
“What’s a Martial Breakthrough?” the ever-curious Henry asked.
“A Martial Breakthrough is an extremely rare occurrence,” Gerry explained. “So rare in fact that most people think that it’s nothing more than a myth. You all know what a Battle Trance is right?”
The students all nodded in agreement. A Battle Trance was a special state that cultivators occasionally entered when they were training or fighting where they rapidly increased their understanding of one of their martial arts or techniques. People who had entered a Battle Trance were considered to be some of the most talented cultivators around and were quickly approached by noble families who were interested in recruiting them.
“Well a Martial Breakthrough is to a Battle Trance what a Human Realm cultivator is to an Immortal Realm cultivator,” Gerry explained as Telram’s Dissonance technique slowly faded away now that the young man was no longer truly in control of his own body.
“Or at least that’s what I’ve heard since this is the first time, I’ve ever seen one in person. The books that I’ve read on the subject state that anyone who can experience a Martial Breakthrough will come out of it with an extremely powerful martial art or technique that may even be unique to them if they are lucky. These books also said that the state that one is forced into when experiencing a Martial Breakthrough also increases your cultivation level, but it doesn’t look like that part is true.”
However, as he was saying this a new phenomenon occurred. When someone with powerful soul energy cultivated a small funnel of energy that was a couple of metres sometimes appeared over their heads. In fact, this happened when Telram himself cultivated but this minor phenomenon was nothing compared to the skyscraper sized tornado of grey energy that descended on him now.
No one was surprised by this more than Joavin who had been growing increasingly more frustrated at his inability to land a hit on his opponent that actually did some damage so when the massive funnel of Mana appeared he thought it was a new technique that Telram was using and attempted to retreat. Although Telram himself didn’t realise this because he was currently in an incredibly deep trance state thanks to his Martial Breakthrough Telram’s body reacted automatically to this leaping forwards with a strange swaying movement before driving his fist into his opponent once more.
Joavin had managed to figure out that Telram was using the power of his attacks to increase the power of Telram’s own attacks since he hadn’t been able to do anything to Joavin with his own strength. So the idea that Telram could suddenly unleash enough power on his own to actually hurt him without borrowing Joavin’s own surprised him which caused him to take another three punches full on before he finally put up his guard. However, this didn’t stop Telram sudden rush of attacks each more powerful than the last. Normally the exaggerated swaying movements that he was using right now would be a prime target for a counter of Joavin’s own but Telram’s speed was only increasing and each blow had enough power behind it that Joavin only had enough time to recover his own guard before the next one landed.
Joavin’s eyes widened as images seemed to form around Telram. These illusory images resembled walls of water that matched the timing of Telram’s punches. Like most people on Nerrus Gerry had never seen the ocean since the area where humans lived was located in about the centre of a continent much larger than any that exist on present day Earth and as such had never seen waves like the ones that he was seeing now. These images slowly started to seem more and more real until Joavin was almost completely unable to discern where the waves ended and Telram’s fists began.
Even some of the cultivators in the audience could see these images that had formed because of the sheer power of the image that Telram was using for the base of this modified martial art combining with the mana that was being drawn down from the atmosphere. Even the referee swore that he could feel cold water lapping against his legs as he watched the suddenly one-sided fight continue.
Despite the vicious fight that was occurring in the real world in the strange mental construction that had formed when the Martial Breakthrough had begun Telram was surprisingly calm as he sat on a beach watching the waves cash down upon the shore. He wasn’t entirely sure what was happening right now, but he could feel his physical body moving in a way that reminded him of the violent waves in front of him. He had often sat on the beach like this and watched the waves back on Earth when he needed to think. He’d always found it somehow calming despite the power that he knew that the ocean possessed. Each and every grain of sand on this beach had once been a part of a much larger whole but the waves had beaten and ground it down over the years until all that was left were grains of sand. As such Telram also knew that if his newly evolved martial art was based off of the sight before him then Joavin would eventually suffer the same fate. Even if Telram wasn’t powerful enough to beat him with a few hits like Joavin was able to do to him no matter how tough he was he would eventually be worn down by the continuous assault that Telram could feel himself performing right now. Just then the water suddenly flowed back, and his eyes widened in shock as he realised that he had forgotten about something.
Back in the physical world Joavin had finally had enough of being pummelled by Telram’s attacks and had summoned a large amount of Mana from his reserves and coated his fist in a gauntlet of rock before lashing out at his opponent. This time his fist connected, and a look of savage glee appeared on his face as Telram stumbled backwards under the massive force of the blow. Stepping forwards he coated his other fist in the same gauntlet of rock that his other had been coated in and made to finish his opponent off. Then everything went black.
The crowd which had been watching in stunned silence roared in surprise as Joavin went flying across the arena to smash into the wall with a sickening thud. They had thought that Telram had let his guard down for a moment there after almost completely turning the fight around but that had been a mistake and Joavin had paid the price. Standing alone near the centre of the ring Telram slowly blinked like someone who had been gazing off blankly into the distance only to be interrupted by someone demanding their attention and looked down at his hands which were slowly turning purple. While none of his bones were actually broken, he had several cracked knuckles and the more obvious bruising. But he had won.
Throwing his head back he roared in victory and the crowd answered. No one in the audience had been expecting to see a fight quite like this in the preliminary rounds but Telram had continued to surprise them at every turn defeating enemies who were much more powerful than him in terms of cultivation with both physical strength and skill. Even the people who had bet against him roared excitedly at the young man’s victory. Even those who didn’t understand what had really happened with the tornado sized funnel of Mana knew that they had borne witness to something truly incredible.
It was at this moment that Telram’s body swayed once more before he fell flat on his face in exhaustion. He had pushed himself well beyond his normal physical limitations in this fight. I fight he almost didn’t expect to win without revealing more of his techniques, but he had surprised himself with whatever it was that had happened. However now that he had won all of the stress that had built up over the course of the fight caught up with him all at once.
The cultivators who had been watching for the members of their own families or their employers all watched with complicated looks on their faces as Telram was carted away. They had all expected Joavin who was one of the favourites to win the tournament itself to win this fight and knew that their young masters and mistresses had all learned technique specifically for the purpose of defeating him but Telram had ruined all of that. One of the watching cultivators cursed as he finally realised where he recognised Telram from.
“Red and black hair, a powerful build and extremely skilled in martial arts,” he muttered to himself. “There’s no mistake; that’s the Demon Child!”