Chapter 557: Icy Rematch

The third round of the final stage was when it finally became a little more interesting, mostly because people weren’t as confident about who would win as they had been during the past two rounds.

Of course, there were plenty of upsets. Some people had emerged from the secret realm with incredible treasures and rewards. While they might have been toward the latter part of the pack in terms of combat strength in the beginning stages of the tournament, that might not be the case anymore.

However, Julius tried not to care too much about this stuff. It also helped that he had a lot of other things to focus on at the moment. As a matter of fact, he was busier than ever on top of participating in the Empire’s largest tournament.

He had his life mana exercises he had learned from Tezuko Willow’s book, which, by the way, were slowly becoming easier to manage. They were almost always active and would have been active more frequently, but he hadn’t managed to figure out how to hide his efforts.

Anyone with halfway decent mana senses would be able to tell that he was doing something. It brought a lot of attention to himself, especially with the atypical nature of the exercises.

The other thing he was working on was his kinetic abilities. He was getting familiar with [Kinetic Shell] and doing his best to learn how to use it with [Kinetic Energy Refinement], just as Cain had advised him to do.

However, that part was easy. [Kinetic Energy Refinement] worked well as long as he was using kinetic energy in some way.

[Kinetic Shell] was a totally different story. He was able to pick it up very easily, and the skill seemed amazing, despite it only being a rare-ranked skill. He could feel that the skill wasn’t even close to its full potential.

However, there was so much he could do with the skill that it was hard to decide where he wanted to direct its development. He chuckled to himself as he imagined what Aubrey would say to him if she heard him complaining about that.

He also needed to figure out how to acquire an offensive kinetic energy skill at some point, too. That was becoming a much more difficult task than he could have ever expected. He tried not to think about it too often, but he was well aware that it was taking a long time.

Cain knew this as well, but he was mindful not to say it out loud. That was probably a pretty big reason why he went out and found his new sparring partners, thinking that variety would help him in this matter.

Julius hoped that it would, but he didn’t know what to expect.

All of this didn’t even include the skills he was trying to refine every day. Add that to his Concepts and aura abilities, and this meant he was quite literally swamped with work.

It was kinda weird to say this, but the days of his matches were somewhat of a nice break from the relentless training. At least it was different, and he was able to do something other than train.

However, he didn’t expect his matchup to be against someone he already knew, though with the dwindling number of participants, it was bound to happen at some point.

“I was wondering when I would get the chance to fight you again,” Liam stated from his position across the field. There was an eager expression on Liam’s face, one that Julius didn’t expect to see there.

He would have thought that Liam would be more upset about this situation. Julius had been the one who knocked him out during the Goldencrest Tournament.

“I see you have made some improvements,” Julius noted. He was honest, too; he wasn’t just saying that to be nice. He could tell that Liam had made some significant improvements of his own since the last time they had fought. Just like Julius and his friends had done, Liam had made sure to take advantage of the past several months.

Liam’s aura was quite different than the last time they fought. It was still cold, but there was this eerie feeling as well. Additionally, something else was attached to it.

A totally different flavor, something profound and dangerous. Julius knew right away that he would have to be a little careful. He wouldn’t be able to play around as he did with his last opponent.

“I may have made some improvements, but I have seen your fights. You have improved even more.”

“Sounds like you are already admitting defeat,” Julius noted with a hint of disappointment.

Liam scoffed. “As if. I am still going to do my best to bury you. Don’t forget I have to repay you for the last time.”

“Scary,” Julius said with a teasing smirk.

“Haha, laugh now. While you can,” Liam said, letting his cold aura bloom out even more powerfully.

They stared at each other, waiting for the fight to begin. When the signal was given, Julius was surprised to see that Liam didn’t attack him straight away. Instead, the Abram’s Scion took control of a shit ton of mana. Julius was quite surprised by how potent it felt despite the short channeling time.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

A blast of ice-cold frost hit him in the face. He had tried to block it, but to his concern, [Kinetic Shell] was unable to entirely prevent it from hitting Julius. It was undoubtedly a surprise right from the get-go. It wasn’t just because it was able to hit him or because it had gotten through his field of kinetic energy.

No, he found it more shocking because Liam had somewhat ignored Julius’s ruinous aura as well.

It hadn’t overpowered it, but instead stepped right around it. The effect was quite potent as well. He could feel a deep-seated tiredness and fatigue hit him. His eyes were already drooping.

He reacted instantly, and a pulse of his aura wiped out the weird effect. He was able to wipe it away with his ruinous aura this time around.

Julius was intrigued and narrowed his senses to examine this weird phenomenon.

Or he would have liked to. Unfortunately, Liam wasn’t going to allow him to do that. It was at that moment that Julius finally saw what Liam was using all of the mana for.

A massive blast of icy mana rippled outward, and at the center of this explosion, a prominent blue figure slowly stitched itself together with the ribbons of ice and frost floating in the air.