Chapter 130: Lilith’s Battle [2]

Everyone watched as Andros was engulfed by the blood tentacles that burst out from the circular rune. He was engulfed in a cocoon of crimson tentacles.

For a few moments, everywhere was silent. Everyone waited to see whether he would escape or not.

The cocoon pulsed and writhed, the tentacles tightening around him. The students held their breath. A few leaned forward, eyes wide. Lilith stood on the other side of the arena, her crimson eyes fixed on the cocoon, her expression calm but watchful. The bloody rune on the ground continued to glow, feeding more tentacles into the mass.

Then something changed.

A faint light appeared at the center of the cocoon. It was small at first, barely visible through the layers of crimson. But it grew brighter, sharper, until it was impossible to ignore. The tentacles began to sizzle and smoke, their surfaces cracking and peeling.

Then the cocoon burst open.

A slash of pure white sword qi cut through the blood tentacles from the inside. The arc of energy sliced clean through the mass, sending severed pieces flying in all directions. They dissolved into red mist before they even hit the ground. Another slash followed, then another, each one precise and powerful.

The tentacles fell apart, unable to hold their form. The cocoon collapsed, dissolving into a puddle of dark red that hissed and bubbled on the stone floor.

Andros stood in the center, his lightsword raised, its glow brighter now. His clothes were torn in a few places, but he was unharmed. His icy blue eyes were sharp and focused, his breathing steady. Sword qi still crackled faintly along the edge of his sword, fading slowly.

But as he got free, he sensed danger.

The students watching saw Lilith’s figure appearing behind him like an assassin. Her nails elongated, becoming sharp enough to cut a head off. They gleamed under the arena lights, thin and deadly.

But one thing confused everyone. There were two Liliths on the arena.

Andros also noticed, but he had no time to think about it. He was in danger.

He bent to move, to dodge the strike coming from behind. But as he moved, the Lilith behind him shifted too, as if she had foreseen exactly where he would go. Her crimson eyes tracked him perfectly, her lips curling into a knowing smile.

Then another Lilith appeared.

She stepped out from the side, blocking his escape route. Her nails were just as long, just as sharp. Then two more Liliths appeared, one on each side, closing in from every direction. They moved in perfect sync, their steps silent, their eyes glowing with that same ancient, otherworldly light.

Andros was cornered. There was no space to move. No gap to slip through. The four Liliths surrounded him in a tight diamond formation, their claws raised, ready to strike.

The students gasped. A few shot to their feet. The air in the arena grew thick with danger, heavy and suffocating.

Andros’s eyes darted around, searching for an opening. There was none. The Liliths closed in, their claws inching closer.

Then something surprising happened.

Andros disappeared.

Not in a blur. Not with a flash of movement. He just vanished. One moment he was there. The next, he was gone.

The four Liliths closed in on empty air, their claws meeting nothing but space.

This move surprised everyone, even Lilith, who was standing at the side of the arena. Her crimson eyes widened slightly, her smile fading for just a moment.

The four Liliths’ gazes scanned the arena for any trace of Andros.

But he reappeared behind Lilith, his lightsword already swinging. The blade cut through the air, a sharp arc of white light aimed straight at her back.

The students held their breath.

But Lilith didn’t flinch. She didn’t move. She didn’t even turn around.

Her hand shot up, and she caught the blade.

The lightsword stopped dead, its edge pressing against her palm. The glow of the sword flickered against her pale skin, but it didn’t cut through. Her fingers wrapped around the blade, holding it firm. A thin line of blood trickled down her palm, but she didn’t seem to care.

She turned her head slightly, looking at Andros over her shoulder. Her crimson eyes gleamed with amusement.

"How sharp," she said, her voice light and almost admiring. "I like it."

Andros’s eyes widened. He tried to pull the sword back, but her grip was like iron. She wasn’t letting go.

"And you are a rare talent. I never thought you had an affinity for Space."

Lilith’s words made everyone let out a collective gasp of surprise.

Space Talent. It was one of the rare talents that could be found.

Lucien wasn’t surprised. He had scanned him, but this was the least of the surprises.

Andros had SS-Rank Space Talent, SS-Rank Fire Talent, SS-Rank Ice Talent, SS-Rank Sword Talent, S-Rank Light Talent, and S-Rank Wind Talent.

Honestly, this was surprising. He had a physique, the Heaven-Splitting Sword Body. It was this physique that gave him the Space and Sword talent. But Fire and Ice talent was surprising. The two opposing talents, and they were both at SS-Rank.

His talent was strong, but alas, he had to face Lilith.

The four Liliths charged toward him.

Andros’s eyes darted between them. They moved in perfect sync, their claws raised, their crimson eyes locked on him. They were fast. Too fast. They were mid-air, closing in from all sides, leaving him no room to dodge.

He didn’t let go of the lightsword. His other hand was free.

He raised it. A circular icy-blue rune appeared before his palm, spinning rapidly. The air around it turned cold, frost spreading across the stone floor beneath his feet. The rune pulsed with a sharp, freezing light.

The four Liliths were mid-air, their claws inches from him.

Then the rune released.

A blast of icy-blue energy shot out in all directions, sudden and devastating. The frost tore through the air, sharp and fast. The four Liliths were pierced through before they could react. Their bodies froze mid-motion, impaled by shards of ice that shattered through their forms.

The ice tore through them, and the clones burst apart as they exploded themselves, splattering into pools of dark crimson that rained down onto the arena floor.

The students gasped. The air in the arena grew colder, frost still clinging to the stone.

Andros stood in the center, his breathing heavy. His lightsword was still in Lilith’s grip, still caught in her hand. His other hand was still raised, the icy-blue rune fading slowly before him, its light dimming.

The real Lilith stood at the side of the arena, her crimson eyes wide for just a moment before her smile returned.

"Oh," she murmured, her voice light and amused. "Interesting."

The splattered blood that could still move gathered. It pulled itself together, crawling across the stone, merging and rising. But there wasn’t enough. The frozen bits stayed where they were, hard and useless.

Three Liliths reformed from the blood. Their bodies rebuilt in seconds, whole again, their crimson eyes locked on Andros.

They had reduced from four to three, which showed that Andros’s attack was effective.

But the real Lilith still had his sword. The frost he released earlier hadn’t affected her. Her grip was tight, yanking him closer.

Meanwhile, the three clones charged.

Andros didn’t try to pull free. He moved his other hand again, releasing the same circular icy-blue rune.

Of course, the same attack couldn’t work on the clones this time. They had already seen it. They had tactics to defend against it now. The clones split apart mid-charge, moving in different directions, forcing the ice crystals to spread thin. They dodged and weaved, avoiding the worst of the blast.

But Andros wasn’t depending on the attack to finish them. He was using it to slow them down, to buy himself a second.

At the same time, frost spread from the hand that held the lightsword. It crawled up the blade, over the hilt, and onto Lilith’s fingers. It kept going, creeping up her wrist, her forearm, her elbow. Her skin turned pale, then white, then blue. Ice crawled along her arm like a living thing, biting into her flesh.

The frost covered her entire arm, but it stopped there. It couldn’t go further. Lilith’s strength wasn’t for show. The frost only claimed the arm that held the sword.

Of course, this couldn’t affect Lilith. The frost was nothing more than a nuisance to her.

But the sword did something else.

The lightsword pulsed. A powerful sword intent burst from the blade, sharp and heavy, pressing down on everything around it. The air grew thick. The students in the front row flinched back, their skin prickling. The intent wasn’t aimed at them, but they could feel it anyway, cold and cutting, like standing in the path of a storm.

Lilith’s crimson eyes lit up. Her lips curled into a smile, wide and genuine.

"There it is," she murmured.

She released the sword.

Her fingers opened, letting the blade slip free. She stepped back, her frozen arm cracking as she moved, ice falling away in chunks. She didn’t seem bothered by it at all. If anything, she looked pleased.

Andros caught his lightsword and spun it once, its glow flaring back to life.

But there was a problem. The three blood clones were already on him.