Chapter 88: The Apex Duel 2

The cloud of dust was dispersed by the shockwave behind Arthur’s punch. Arcs of blue lightning crackled around him and covered his body in a protective shell.

The tips of his hair turned back into their original black color, and his eyes once again became red.

Valerian’s body was thrown away like a ragdoll by the punch enhanced by [Lightning God’s Descent].

After it crossed over 100 meters in less than a second, Valerian twisted his body mid-air. His form flickered for a second as he used a convenient fold of space to remove all the velocity and landed on his feet.

His chest, which took all the force of the punch, had a deep hole in it, revealing the empty abyss that is his body.

But he didn’t have to wait for long, as his chest began to knit itself back together, reforming his body to its peak stage.

"That was the first time Valerian von Astrea got hit in the whole tournament!! And did you see that?! His regeneration healed him instantly! Just what monsters are these two!"

Selene used everything that happened in the ring to continue to hype up the crowd, and it worked, as they were shocked that Valerian, whom no other contestant was even able to touch, was thrown out of the cloud with a deep wound in his chest.

And then, to top it all off, the wound that would have normally activated the barrier for anyone else just closed itself in seconds.

Valerian ignored Selene and the crowd; all his focus was on Arthur’s figure that stood a hundred meters away from him. His easy and relaxed expression was replaced with a wicked grin and a vein that threatened to pop on his forehead.

’You fucker cheated. You will regret that.’

On Arthur’s side, a drop of sweat fell down the side of his face as he saw the pissed-off face of Valerian.

’Shit, I knew his healing was strong, but is there even anything that could activate the barrier?’

The only way to win this match was to make the barrier activate by delivering a lethal blow, but how do you land a lethal blow against someone that has as much healing as Valerian?

’I just have to hit him harder.’

There was nothing else Arthur could do; he could try and hit him with his void affinity, but he couldn’t control it enough to land a hit on someone with a space affinity.

Valerian took a single step forward, and his body disappeared between the folds of space before his foot could hit the ground.

Arthur’s instincts flared when Valerian’s form disappeared from his view. He channeled his mana through his mana veins, but before he could form a thought, he felt a strong force impact the back of his neck, sending him flying forward.

After teleporting, Valerian appeared behind Arthur and delivered a powerful kick to his head, and as Arthur was sent flying from it, his body disappeared again.

Arthur’s head hurt and everything was spinning, but before he could stop himself from flying, he felt a second strong kick on his side that changed the direction of his flight.

’Fuck.’

This time he managed to twist his body barely and avoided the third kick. Lightning coursed through his veins as he spun on his hands, fire covered his foot, and he sent his own kick flying towards Valerian’s face.

His eyes met with Valerian’s cosmic purple ones, and for some reason, he had a bad feeling in his stomach.

Without even flinching, Valerian caught the burning foot with his bare hand; the fire burned his skin, but the healing of his physique and [Genesis Spark] healed it just as quickly.

Arthur felt Valerian’s iron grip on his boot, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to break free normally.

That’s when his form disappeared from his place, leaving Valerian holding air.

Not fazed by the sudden disappearance, he casually turned his gaze to the side. And at the place the cloud of dust was previously, Arthur now stood with his daggers in his hands.

’He used his [Skill].’

Immediately realizing that Arthur used his [Mark] [Skill] on his dagger that he must have hidden under a rock that dislodged when he impacted, a smile formed on Valerian’s face.

"You know you can’t run."

His form flickered as he appeared only meters in front of Arthur.

"So come and fight me."

His body disappeared again and now stood directly in front of Arthur; now in his hands was a giant hammer formed from [Starlight]. The hammer shone in a brilliant silver light, and with every movement, constellations followed behind it.

Unlike normal light magic, [Starlight] had actual mass. So the hammer wasn’t just a simple construct; it functioned like a real weapon that could crush opponents like a bug.

Valerian swung the hammer down on Arthur, who activated his [Lightning God’s Descent]. A thin layer of wind covered the daggers to increase their cutting force. With the enhanced speed, his body weaved past the hammer, and he aimed his daggers at Valerian’s neck.

As the blade neared his neck, a barely visible distortion of space appeared. When the dagger reached the distortion, the tip of the dagger disappeared, and Arthur felt a slight stabbing pain in his abdomen.

Before he could stab himself even further, he pulled back the dagger and tried to back away. But a small dot of darkness formed in the air between him and Valerian. The small dot of [Event Horizon] began to pull Arthur closer with the increased gravity.

He channeled more of his mana into his limbs to resist the pull, but unfortunately, Valerian was already on him and hit him square in the face.

That single punch in the face turned into a jab into his side, then a kick into his back, as Valerian’s body began to rapidly teleport around him, hitting him from every angle.

The mood in the arena dropped as the students watched Arthur being beaten by the teleporting Valerian.

Trying to break free of the chain of punches and kicks, Arthur discharged a large amount of lightning from his body. Valerian blinked out of the range of the lightning, giving Arthur a little breathing room.

"Haa... Haa..."

Arthur panted as he felt the bruises already form.

"Is that... haa... all you got...?"

Even beaten black and blue, Arthur looked at Valerian with a grin. Seeing his friend take the beating so well, Valerian let out a laugh, causing a wave of confusion to spread through the stadium.

"Why don’t we take this up a notch?"

"Haha, if you can keep up."

Arthur and Valerian faced each other, each holding a grin on their face.

"It seems the two are holding a conversation in the middle of the match?! And why are they both smiling?"

Selene voiced the thoughts of the other students, as they couldn’t hear what the two were talking about.

Arthur moved first and sent out a razor-sharp wind blade. The wind projectile raced towards Valerian faster than sound.

Valerian raised his hand, and a floating ice shield formed in front of him. The wind blade transformed mid-air into a wave of fire. The seamless transition between the elements caused the ice shield to melt slightly.

Thanks to the orb of the elemental that Valerian so graciously weaved into his body during his bloodline integration, it removed the elemental boundaries that normally hold back a caster.

And thanks to that, he was able, just like an elemental, to transform his spells mid-flight into whatever element he wanted, regardless of opposing mana.

A fireball could become a water blade; a lightning bolt could become a ray of light. The options were only limited by Arthur’s creativity and elemental mastery.

Valerian canceled the ice shield, and with the wave of his hand, dozens of ice projectiles of every form took shape in the air. They rotated fast, and to enhance them even further, bolts of purple-black lightning crackled around them.

On his command, the projectiles flew towards Arthur at breakneck speeds.

Without hesitation, Arthur activated [Lightning God’s Descent] again. The world slowed down under the enhanced perception, and the ice projectiles became just slow enough that he could move around them.

For the onlookers, it looked like a bolt of blue lightning raced from ice to ice, using the previous icicle, sword, or lance to jump further.

But Arthur had to be careful to only touch the places of the ice that [Void Lightning] wasn’t currently occupying. If he were to get hit once, he wasn’t sure what would happen, as he had seen the erasing nature of the menacing lightning.

He weaved between the ice and closed the gap between him and Valerian quickly. But Valerian didn’t just watch Arthur jump across his ice while doing nothing.

As Arthur neared Valerian, he could see that his horned friend was not moving and was deep in concentration.

He used this opening to increase his speed even more. But with every step he took, a weird feeling formed in his stomach.

Like his instincts were telling him to retreat and not engage. Arthur knew better than to ignore his instincts, but before he could change his direction and retreat, Valerian’s head snapped in his direction.

His purple eyes seemed to glow in a brilliant light, and there was something in his hands.

It was a black sword-like object; to call it a sword would be an insult to every forged sword out there. It was more like a sharp rod.

But around this black sharp rod, space fractured and bent in unnatural ways. Valerian and Arthur locked eyes, and time seemed to stand still.

Arthur couldn’t move his eyes away from the black rod, and his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest.

Valerian moved, and in slow motion, he slashed the rod down in Arthur’s direction.