Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Duel With The Strongest

We walked down a short corridor and entered a training hall located right near the elite dorms.

This room was heavily reinforced to withstand all sorts of extreme damage.

It was designed this way for a very good reason.

Everyone else trains in the public hall down below the hill, where the floors are just stone.

But the top awakeners use this private place to spar and conduct their high-level duels without worrying about collapsing the roof on innocent freshmen.

Sometimes, they even fight with the senior combat teachers in here to test their limits, try to break through to another rank, and continue their climbing.

I walked straight to the centre of the padded mats and took my fighting posture quickly.

Arthur was casual.

He just stood there with his hands resting easily at his sides, his face bored by the entire situation.

"Are you ready?" I asked, keeping my eyes locked firmly on his shoulders.

"Hmm," Arthur hummed, barely giving a nod to acknowledge me.

Both of my hands immediately started emitting different colours of raw mana.

A freezing white fog curled around my right fingers, while an orange flame sparked to life in my left palm.

But before I could bring the energy forward into a proper attack, Arthur actually held up a hand and interrupted me.

"Wait, wait," Arthur said, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"What are you doing?"

"Huh?" I paused, keeping the magic active in my hands.

"Preparing to attack you, of course."

"Yeah, I see that," Arthur sighed.

"But why are you using two opposite elements at the same time? Did someone tell you that using two is automatically better than one?"

"I have always fought with two," I lied smoothly.

"Is that so?" Arthur’s interest slightly increased.

Wielding two different elements is not something people usually fawn over.

It usually means the user has split their focus and mastered neither.

But my solid posture and mana control were clearly different from the usual arrogant nobles who just want to show off flashy tricks to look cool.

"Come," Arthur started to say.

Before he could complete his sentence, I closed the space between us in a blink.

A sharp, cone-like structure of ice formed rapidly in my right hand.

I aimed the deadly point directly at his exposed neck.

Arthur reacted instantly.

He threw his body backwards into a flawless back handspring, his calm face barely escaping the cold.

While he was upside down in the air, his foot kicked squarely against the side of my ice cone, shattering it into dozens of shards that scattered across the floor.

I did not stop moving.

I pushed my weight forward and used my other hand to burn him before he could regain his footing.

A blast of fire shot out from my palm.

But Arthur totally expected the follow-up attack.

Instead of landing normally on his feet, he stayed balanced upside down on one hand.

He twisted his body and kicked my left wrist hard, physically changing the direction of my fire attack so it blasted harmlessly into the ceiling.

’Tch,’ I clicked my tongue in annoyance.

I jumped backwards quickly, putting some safe space between us.

Arthur flipped back onto his feet, still looking bored with the entire exchange.

The elemental mana from both of my hands disappeared completely.

Relying on basic elemental spells was not going to work against a guy with his insane reflexes.

I ran straight toward him normally, closed my fist tight, and threw a fast, straight punch aimed right at his nose.

He easily dodged to the left side, letting my fist hit empty air.

Then, he immediately countered by using his left arm for a quick, brutal jab to my ribs.

My reflexes took over.

I caught his incoming fist with my open palm, holding his arm down hard.

Using his trapped arm for leverage, I jumped high into the air and drove my knee straight toward his face.

Arthur’s blue eyes widened just a fraction.

He quickly steadied his neck and braced for the impact.

My knee smashed directly into his forehead. But instead of knocking him out, it felt like I just hit a solid block of granite.

A sharp pain shot right up my thigh.

Before I could land on my feet and steady my balance, Arthur moved first.

His right fist suddenly spiralled in flames.

At the same time, he made a weird, complex symbol with his free hand.

The air in the room suddenly felt heavy.

’Shit,’ my eyes went wide.

Once you reach the stage of a Master, a very special skill gets unlocked for your core.

It is a terrifying way where an awakened fighter can hold absolute authority over their given skill for fifty meters in their surroundings.

It is designed to make sure that everything and everyone trapped inside that specific zone suffers the same damage or pressure.

[Gravity Manipulation] 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

An invisible pressure started forcing my body straight down to the ground.

It felt like a massive boulder had just dropped directly onto my shoulders.

At my current level, I could not withstand it, no matter how much mana reserve I had hidden away.

My knees buckled instantly, hitting the mats with a loud thud.

Blue electric sparks started forming rapidly on my boots.

I desperately tried to use Lucien’s speed technique to escape the pressure zone.

But Arthur was way too quick to notice the buildup.

He just pressed his hand down further through the air, increasing the invisible weight pressing directly onto my spine.

"Gah," I gasped painfully, my hands flat on the floor, trying to hold my chest up.

I was almost pressed completely flat to the ground when a crazy thought suddenly formed in my struggling mind.

Closing my eyes tight, I imagined the complex geometric patterns of a basic spell.

I forced my remaining mana out, rapidly forming a small but highly unstable magic circle in the empty air right in front of my face.

Arthur was just too lazy and confident to notice the tiny shift in the mana flow.

But the moment the circle finished forming, I triggered it.

Bam.

The small space between us exploded loudly.

The blast of force sent my body flying several meters backwards, blasting me out of his gravity zone.

Arthur had to jump back quickly and cover his face with his arms to avoid the collateral damage from the heat and flying debris.

I hit the ground rolling and quickly scrambled back to my feet.

"You know how to use formal spells, too?" Arthur asked, lowering his arms.

The boredom was finally gone from his face.

"Just the basics," I replied, panting heavily as I rubbed my bruised chest.

I walked over to the side of the hall, grabbed a training sword from the weapon racks, and turned back to face him.

The moment my fingers gripped the hilt, the metal blade instantly turned black, entirely coated in my concentrated mana.