Chapter 112: Awakened Tournament Crisis (18)

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let the final match of the semifinals begin!"

The announcer’s voice thundered across the stadium, accompanied by a deafening wave of cheers.

Inside the arena, Elio and Sonne stood several dozen meters apart, watching each other carefully. The reinforced battlefield stretched beneath their feet, its surface already scarred by the previous matches, though the stadium’s restoration systems had repaired most of the damage during the break.

For Sonne, this was the most important fight of her life so far.

She had defeated Alexis, the Lightning Prodigy, by pushing herself beyond her limits and awakening the full potential of her Ice Lord’s Soul. She had proven that her strength was more than just a promising skill or a famous name. She had earned her place among the tournament’s strongest participants.

But the opponent standing before her was different.

Elio was nineteen years old, an A-Rank Awakened, and a monster whose talent had attracted the attention of some of the most powerful people in the country. He had fought Jax, a man whose martial prowess was so extraordinary that even experienced S-Ranks would hesitate to underestimate him.

And Elio had survived.

More than that, he had forced Jax to surrender.

Sonne wasn’t foolish enough to believe she could defeat such an opponent by playing it safe.

The instant the announcer finished speaking, she moved.

[Ice Lord’s Soul]

A surge of pale blue Essence erupted from her body.

Frost crawled across her arms and legs, enveloping her limbs in a layer of crystalline ice. The temperature inside the arena plummeted, and the air around her shimmered as moisture condensed into countless glittering particles.

Then, above her head, a crown of ice materialized.

It floated several inches above her blonde hair, slowly rotating as intricate patterns formed along its surface. Each movement left behind a faint trail of frost, while the Essence radiating from Sonne grew denser and more oppressive.

The audience immediately recognized the transformation.

"She’s activated it right from the beginning!"

"She’s not holding anything back!"

"Of course she isn’t! She’s fighting an A-Rank!"

In the observation area, several guild representatives leaned forward.

Sonne had learned from her previous battle. Alexis had initially dominated her with lightning-fast attacks, forcing her into a defensive position before she found an opportunity to turn the fight around. Against Elio, she wasn’t going to wait for an opening.

She needed to create one.

And to do that, she had to overwhelm him before he could establish control over the battle.

"Let’s see how you handle this."

Sonne thrust out her right hand.

The arena trembled.

A dozen enormous ice spikes erupted from the ground around Elio, their sharpened tips gleaming beneath the stadium lights. They rose at different angles, converging on him from the front, sides, and rear in an attempt to restrict his movements.

At the same time, massive walls of ice surged upward, cutting off possible escape routes. More spikes formed above him, pointing downward like an executioner’s blades.

The entire attack unfolded in less than a second.

Sonne had barely finished her first gesture when the battlefield had already become a frozen cage.

Elio didn’t even blink.

Purple Essence spilled from his body.

It flowed over his shoulders, wrapped around his arms, and spread down his legs like a living mantle. The same violet energy coiled around the whipblade in his hand, tracing the length of its segmented metal edge.

His expression remained perfectly calm.

He moved his wrist.

The whipblade snapped outward.

A sharp metallic crack echoed through the arena as the weapon extended, its segmented blade twisting through the air with unnatural precision. A thin streak of purple light followed its movement, slicing through the first wave of ice spikes before they could reach him.

The enormous formations shattered.

Before the fragments could hit the ground, Elio turned his wrist again.

The whipblade curved around him, cutting through the second wave from a completely different angle. The ice walls split apart, collapsing into thousands of glittering fragments that scattered across the battlefield.

He hadn’t taken a single step.

Sonne’s eyes widened slightly.

’He’s tough.’

She had expected him to be strong. She had expected him to possess excellent control over his Essence and a weapon skill capable of keeping opponents at a distance.

But the ease with which he dismantled her attacks was unsettling.

It wasn’t merely that he was faster.

It was that he seemed to understand the trajectory of every attack before it reached him, adjusting his weapon’s movement with the minimum amount of effort necessary to destroy it.

There was no wasted movement.

No unnecessary flourish.

He wasn’t fighting the ice.

He was simply removing it from his path.

Elio glanced at the fragments drifting around him.

"Is that all?"

The question wasn’t particularly loud, yet Sonne heard it clearly.

For a moment, she felt a flicker of irritation.

Then she swallowed it.

’Don’t get distracted.’

He was trying to provoke her, whether intentionally or not. She couldn’t afford to let her emotions dictate her next move.

Still, the situation was becoming increasingly clear.

Her ordinary attacks wouldn’t be enough.

Even with Ice Lord’s Soul active, the difference between their ranks was simply too great. Her Essence reserves were limited compared to his, and every attack she launched could be destroyed with a fraction of the effort it took to create it.

If she continued like this, she would lose without ever forcing him to show his true strength.

Sonne clenched her fists.

There was only one option left.

She had been saving it for the right moment, but waiting any longer would be pointless.

If she wanted even a chance of competing with an A-Rank Awakened, she had to go all out from the very beginning.

She raised both hands.

The floating crown above her head shone brilliantly.

The world turned white.

A colossal sphere of ice expanded outward from Sonne, engulfing the battlefield in an instant. Its curved surface rose like an enormous frozen bubble, cutting off the arena from the outside world.

The temperature dropped so sharply that frost spread across the reinforced ground in branching patterns. Towering ice formations emerged from the floor, while countless crystalline particles floated through the air like snow suspended in time.

Then the sphere sealed itself.

The stadium’s noise vanished.

The roaring audience, the announcer, the footsteps of the officials watching from the sidelines. All of it disappeared behind an impenetrable wall of ice.

Inside the domain, there was only silence.

And Sonne.

Her ice crown glowed above her head as she stood in the center of the frozen world. The frost covering her body thickened, and her Essence spread through the domain like an invisible network, connecting her to every wall, spike, and fragment of ice.

This was her absolute territory.

Within the domain, the environment itself obeyed her commands. Ice could rise wherever she wished, walls could appear in an instant, and attacks could emerge from any direction without warning.

Against an opponent of equal rank, it would be a terrifying advantage.

Against someone stronger, it was her best chance to bridge the gap.

Sonne exhaled slowly.

"Now..."

She looked toward Elio.

"Let’s see if you can still look so relaxed."

Elio stood several meters away, examining his surroundings.

His purple eyes moved across the frozen landscape, following the towering formations and the intricate patterns spreading beneath his feet. He even looked upward, studying the curved ceiling of ice above them.

Then he tilted his head slightly.

"So this is what a Domain skill looks like from the inside."

His tone was almost conversational.

There was no fear in his expression, nor did he appear particularly impressed. If anything, he seemed curious, as though Sonne had shown him an interesting exhibit.

Sonne frowned.

"You’re taking this rather well."

"Should I be doing something else?"

"You’re trapped inside my domain."

"Am I?"

Elio glanced at the wall beside him.

He extended a hand and tapped it with one finger.

The ice didn’t even crack.

He hummed thoughtfully.

"I see."

Sonne’s expression tightened.

She couldn’t tell whether he was mocking her or genuinely examining the skill. Either possibility irritated her, but she kept her composure.

Elio turned back toward her.

"Can I ask you something?"

Sonne didn’t lower her guard.

"What?"

"Is it true that people outside a domain can’t see what’s happening inside?"

The question caught her off guard.

For a brief moment, she wondered why he would ask something so obvious. Anyone who had witnessed her previous match against Alexis would already know how the skill worked.

But perhaps Elio hadn’t been paying attention to that particular fight.

Or...

Perhaps he never bothered watching it in the first place.

Both possibilities upset Sonne.

’Does that bastard think im a pushover?!’

Either way, the answer was simple.

"Yes."

She raised her chin.

"The domain separates the space inside from the outside. People watching the match won’t be able to see what’s happening in here until the domain disappears."

Elio remained silent for a moment.

Then a faint smile appeared on his face.

It was subtle, barely more than a slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth.

But something about it made Sonne’s instincts scream.

"Is that so?"

His purple Essence began to flow more rapidly.

Sonne’s fingers twitched.

"What are you—"

"You’ve made a very, very big mistake."

The words were delivered in the same calm tone he had used throughout the match.

Then Elio moved.