Chapter 117: Old Scores
Arthur metal-formed a blade from the water’s surface and slashed at Valérie.
Clang.
Valérie caught it with a construct of hardened light — a flat shield that appeared in her palm. The impact sent water spraying in every direction, but her feet didn’t move. She stood on the lake surface like it was solid ground.
"You should have come to the France academy, Arthur." Her voice was light almost friendly. "We would have been guaranteed the ICL title."
Arthur formed another blade and swung. Valérie ducked, stepped forward, and drove a light-enhanced palm into his guard.
Boom.
Arthur slid back across the water, feet skimming the surface. He stopped himself with a metal anchor driven into a submerged rock.
"Nah." He smirked, wiping blood from his lip. "The France academy is just an academy of frauds."
Valérie’s smile faded. "Say that again."
"You heard me."
She moved.
Light Steps — but faster, more refined than anything Arthur had seen. Her body flickered across the water surface, leaving afterimages that shimmered and faded. Arthur’s eyes tracked two of them before the real Valérie appeared at his left — already mid-strike.
Clang.
He blocked with a metal forearm guard. The impact sent a shockwave through the water, cratering the surface beneath them. Valérie was already gone — another Light Step — reappearing behind him.
Arthur spun. Metal blades erupted from the water around him in a defensive ring. Valérie weaved through three of them, deflected a fourth with her light shield, and kicked him in the ribs.
Crack.
Arthur grunted and swung back. She wasn’t there.
She’s fast. My strength is control, not speed. At this rate, I might lose.
Across the arena, Mickey Adeyemi caught Antoine Moreau’s fist on his forearm.
Boom.
The impact sent him skidding backward across a stone platform, boots scraping against rock. He stabilized quickly, frowning.
Antoine was running on the water like it was pavement — each step propelling him forward with explosive speed, Speed Force turning his legs into blurs. He closed the distance again and threw a punch.
Mickey didn’t dodge this time. He took it.
The fist hit his chest. The kinetic energy — absorbed.
Antoine’s eyes widened. "What—"
Mickey countered with a punch of his own. Antoine dodged, leaning backward at an impossible angle, and kicked Mickey in the stomach.
Boom.
Mickey skidded back again. He activated a different ability. Lightning crackled around his legs. Lightning Speed.
He matched Antoine’s pace.
Crack. Bam. Crack.
Their fists collided in rapid succession — speed against speed, each impact sending shockwaves across the water. Antoine’s eyes were wide with disbelief.
"Three abilities?" Antoine gasped between exchanges. "Fire, absorption, lightning — you have three fucking abilities?"
Mickey didn’t answer. His fist caught Antoine across the jaw.
Crack.
Ryan Duncan’s ice armor suit glowed faintly as he stood on a small island platform. The water girl — Mid Core Realm, A-Rank Water Manipulation — attacked from the lake itself.
Tendrils of water rose like snakes, lashing toward him. Ryan raised his palm. Ice beams shot outward, freezing the tendrils mid-strike. Crack. Crack. Crack. The frozen snakes shattered against the rocks.
The girl clicked her tongue and raised both hands. A wave — three meters tall — rose from the lake and crashed toward Ryan’s platform.
Ryan stamped his foot. Ice spread across the platform’s surface, then raced outward across the water, freezing the wave into a solid wall. He followed up with an ice lance through the frozen wall.
The girl dodged, but the lance clipped her shoulder. She hissed and retreated across the water, reforming her attack from range.
She’s quite careful, Ryan thought.
At the same time, Charles Martin charged toward EASA’s crystal, Flame Body blazing. Heat warped the air around him as he ran across a stone bridge.
A mana-powered railgun shot hit the bridge in front of him. Pew. Stone exploded, blocking his path.
Iris Langford descended from above, exoskeleton thrusters humming.
"Get out of my way, bitch," Charles snarled.
Iris’s visor glowed. "Not happening."
She fired three rapid shots. Pew. Pew. Pew. Charles burned through them with Flame Body, but each one slowed him down. He was getting nowhere near the crystal.
Lucian and Bastien met in the center of the arena.
They stood on a large stone platform, water lapping at the edges, evening light catching the silver of Lucian’s hair and the lightning crackling between Bastien’s fingers.
"Lucian." Bastien’s smirk was familiar. Visceral. "Still alive, I see. Thought you died in that shithole."
"Damn fucker," Lucian said quietly.
Bastien laughed. "Still mad about Vienne City? We did what we had to do. The strong survive. The weak die. That’s how the world works."
"You left children to die."
"Children who couldn’t fight weren’t worth saving." Bastien’s eyes gleamed. "Just like you weren’t worth saving."
Lucian drew the Moon Shattering Blade.
Bastien raised both hands. Lightning gathered between his palms, humming with raw voltage.
They charged simultaneously.
Crack. Bam. Boom.
Lightning and light clashed in the space between them. Lucian’s blade met Bastien’s lightning-covered fist. The impact sent water spraying in every direction. The platform beneath them cracked.
Bastien was Mid Core Realm. His physical stats were high — lightning-enhanced speed, lightning-enhanced strength. But Lucian’s Transcendent Core and vampire physique gave him the mana reserves and physical stats to easily match the output.
Their weapons clashed again. And again. Clang. Clang. Clang. Each impact sent shockwaves rippling across the lake.
Bastien kicked. Lucian blocked with his forearm — crack — and was pushed back two meters.
Lucian swung. Bastien ducked and drove a lightning-infused uppercut into Lucian’s guard. Boom. Lucian slid back.
They separated.
"Lightning Ball," Bastien snarled, raising his hand to the sky. Electricity spiraled upward, condensing into a dense sphere of crackling energy.
Lucian pointed two fingers in Bastien’s direction. "Light Bolt."
The spells fired simultaneously.
BOOM.
The Lightning Ball and Light Bolt collided in the space between them. Energy spiraled outward — lightning and light mixing, crackling, screaming. The clash hung in the air for two seconds — a sphere of mixed energy that neither side could overcome.
Then Lucian poured more mana into the Light Bolt.
The sphere shifted. The light overpowered the lightning. The mixed energy shot toward Bastien — the residue of the broken clash.
Bastien’s eyes widened. He dove sideways — barely — but the residue clipped his shoulder.
Zzt.
He hit the water surface, rolled, and came up sputtering. A burn mark ran from his shoulder to his collarbone. His uniform was scorched black.
He stabilized himself, staring at Lucian with shock.
How? His thoughts were racing. That mana output... he’s Early Core Realm. There’s no way an Early Core should overpower my Lightning Ball. He has to have a massive mana reserve. A perfect core? No — that’s impossible—
Bastien frowned.
Across the arena, Arthur was not having a good time.
Valérie had settled into a rhythm — Light Step in, strike, Light Step out, repeat. Arthur’s metal defenses were holding, but barely. Each exchange left a new cut, a new bruise. Her speed was suffocating.
"Your control is impressive," Valérie said, ducking a metal blade and driving her knee into his ribs. Crack. "But control means nothing if you can’t touch your opponent."
Arthur grunted, stumbling backward. Light wounds covered his arms and chest.
Her speed is getting annoying.
"Ryan. Nadia. Now."
Ryan’s voice came through the link immediately. "On it."
He froze a water tendril that had been creeping toward his blind spot.
Then Ryan closed his eyes and chanted.
A Critical Mind Palace spell — one he’d developed specifically for team support. It created a thirty-meter radius of perfect spatial awareness around a target. The target could feel every movement, every shift in mana, every heartbeat within that radius without looking. No blind spots. No sneak attacks.
He bestowed it upon Arthur.
The effect was immediate. Arthur’s posture shifted — his shoulders relaxed, his stance widened. He could feel Valérie’s position without seeing her. He could feel every ripple on the lake surface.
Nadia’s enhancement hit him a moment later. Her A rank enhancement ability had a secondary function — she could amplify any target’s physical stats, ability output, and mana efficiency by 1.3x.
The enhancement flowed through Arthur like a warm current. His metal constructs sharpened. His reaction speed jumped. His mana output surged.
Valérie appeared at his left — same Light Step pattern she’d used five times already.
This time, Arthur was ready.
He blocked her strike with a metal forearm — clang — and for the first time in the match, he didn’t slide backward.
Valérie’s eyes narrowed.
Arthur’s metal blade caught her light shield. Clang. He pushed forward. She stepped back — actually stepped back — and her eyes widened fractionally.
Arthur smirked.
"What changed?" she murmured.
"Wouldn’t you like to know."