Chapter 115: Solar Flare
Ethan closed the distance to the crystal. Ten meters. Five.
The Spain captain appeared in front of him. One moment he was fighting Iris, the next he was simply there, his hands blazing with condensed solar energy.
"Solar Flare — Point Blank."
BOOM.
The blast hit Ethan square in the chest. The impact was devastating — a concentrated beam of solar energy at point-blank range that sent him flying backward through two ruined buildings.
Crash. Rumble. Crash.
Brick and concrete rained down. Dust billowed into the sky.
Ethan lay in the rubble, his uniform scorched, his chest red and raw. But his eyes were open. His body had absorbed most of the kinetic energy at the moment of impact — S-Rank Kinetic Absorption didn’t care if the energy came from a fist or a solar beam. What it couldn’t absorb was the thermal damage. Burns covered his chest and arms.
The captain went back to engage Iris and in a few minutes,
Her exoskeleton was damaged — one arm hanging by a few cables, the chest plate scorched, the visor cracked. She’d held the captain off for seven minutes, but he’d figured out her patterns. Data Stream could predict attacks, but it couldn’t predict raw mana volume.
The captain had simply overwhelmed her.
He’d fired a Solar Flare burst that her shield couldn’t fully absorb. The overflow had melted through the left side of her exoskeleton and burned her shoulder. She’d retreated, tried to reposition, but the captain had pressed the advantage.
Now he stood over her, golden light flickering around his fists.
"You fought well for an Early Core Realm," he said. "But your tricks have limits. Mine don’t."
Iris’s visor displayed data through the cracks. Mana analysis. The numbers didn’t make sense.
He has an insane mana reserve. He has to have a perfect core. His output hasn’t dropped below seventy percent despite fighting for seven minutes straight.
She tried to raise her railgun arm. The mechanism sparked and died.
The captain’s fist hit her shield.
Crack.
The shield shattered. His second fist hit her chest plate.
Boom.
Iris flew backward and hit a wall. Her exoskeleton powered down — emergency shutdown to prevent further damage. The components fell away from her body in pieces, leaving her in her burnt uniform, clutching her ribs.
Her bracelet flashed blue.
"EASA — Iris Langford eliminated."
Iris sat in the rubble, breathing hard, staring at the sky. Her glasses had fallen off somewhere. Without them, her eyes looked naked — sharp, angry, frustrated.
He’s too strong. My data was useless against raw power.
He sat up slowly. Groaned. Got to his feet.
"Still standing," the Spain captain said, landing in the street ahead of him. "Impressive."
Across the ruined city,
Ethan watched Iris go down. His jaw tightened.
He charged the Spain captain again.
The captain met him mid-street. They clashed — fist against solar-enhanced palm. Boom. Bam. Crack. Each collision sent shockwaves rippling through the ruined buildings. Glass shattered in the windows of structures that hadn’t been destroyed yet.
Ethan absorbed every hit. The kinetic energy fed his muscles, making him faster, stronger. But the thermal damage was accumulating. His arms were reddening. His movements were slowing.
"You’re durable," the captain said between strikes. "But you can’t touch me."
Ethan grabbed his wrist. The captain’s other hand blazed.
BOOM.
Ethan took the hit to the shoulder — crack — and headbutted him.
Crack.
The captain staggered. Ethan swept his legs. The captain jumped. Ethan fired a Kinetic Absorption counter — all the stored energy from every hit he’d taken, released in a single concentrated burst from his palm.
BOOM.
The captain was launched through a wall.
But he was already getting up, golden light flaring brighter.
He won’t stay down, Ethan thought. And I’m running out of time. There’s a limit to what my body can absorb and I don’t want to use berserker at maximum power before I lose control again.
Near Iberian Sun’s crystal, Carlos went all out.
The ice user was good — A-Rank Ice Creation was a strong ability, and he used it creatively. Ice walls, ice spikes, ice zones. But Carlos had been holding back. conserving mana for the right moment.
Now was the right moment.
"Burning Sun."
The same technique he’d used against Bosphorus Crescent Academy. A sphere of compressed fire — dense, hot, white at the center — formed between his palms and launched at the ice user.
The ice user created the thickest barrier he could manage — three layers of reinforced ice, each one a foot thick.
The Burning Sun punched through the first layer. Crack. The second. Crack. The third held for two seconds.
Then it shattered.
The sphere hit the ice user directly but at the same time, the ice user fired his own speell too. BOOM. Fire engulfed him. He screamed. His bracelet flashed blue.
"ASA — one eliminated."
Carlos dropped to one knee. His hands were shaking. Burns covered his arms. His mana was nearly empty — Burning Sun had consumed almost everything.
Worth it, he thought, coughing.
He’d taken damage too. The ice user’s final attack — a point-blank ice lance through Carlos’s side — had pierced his armor and opened a deep wound in his ribs. Blood soaked his uniform as he was eliminated too.
"EASA- one eliminated."
Rose’s voice came through the team link. "Carlos is down. Amira, switch to Plan B."
"Copy."
Rose turned to face the Mid Core Realm fighter who had been harassing their crystal defense. The man was tired — Amira and Rose had been wearing him down for ten minutes — but still dangerous.
"Plan B," Rose muttered.
She clapped her hands. Aegis concentrated —compressed into a single point. A cube of green barrier energy formed around the fighter.
Clang.
The cube sealed shut. The fighter inside punched the walls. Fire blasted against the barrier. Nothing. Rose’s Aegis was purely defensive — once locked, it was nearly unbreakable at her current level.
"That’s not going to hold forever," Rose said through gritted teeth. "Amira — go. Now."
Amira ran.
She sprinted through the ruined city, sand swirling around her feet, toward Iberian Sun’s crystal. The Spain captain saw her coming from a hundred meters away.
He disengaged from Ethan — a Solar Flare burst creating a wall of fire between them — and intercepted Amira.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
He raised both hands. A massive fire blast — wide, concentrated, devastating — roared toward Amira.
Amira crossed her arms. Sand erupted from the ground in front of her, compressing into a dense barrier around her body. The fire blast hit the sand barrier.
Sizzle. Crack.
The sand superheated and partially melted, but held. Amira was pushed backward — scrape, scrape — her boots carving furrows in the street.
"Damn," she muttered, sand re-forming around her arms. "He’s strong."
The captain advanced. Another blast. Amira blocked. Another. Blocked again. He was pushing her back toward the center of the arena, away from the crystal.
He’s trying to keep me away from the crystal.
Ethan watched from fifty meters away. His chest burned. His arms burned. But he could still move.
He saw the opening. The captain’s back was turned. Amira had his attention.
Ethan charged.
The captain sensed him but too late. Ethan’s fist connected with the captain’s spine.
BOOM.
Every ounce of stored kinetic energy released in a single point. The captain was launched forward — skipping across the ruined street like a stone across water — and crashed into a building.
Crash. Rumble.
The captain hit the wall and slumped. Dazed. Winded.
"Amira — now!"
Amira didn’t hesitate. She broke into a sprint, sand propelling her forward, and reached Iberian Sun’s crystal.
The remaining defenders were gone — the ice user eliminated.
Amira raised both hands. Sand gathered — compressed — formed into a single dense spear.
She threw it.
Whoosh.
The sand spear hit the crystal.
Chime.
Cracks spread across the surface. Light spilled through. The crystal shattered into blue fragments that swirled upward and dissolved.
The Spain captain pulled himself out of the rubble. He saw the dissolving crystal fragments. His face twisted.
"Noooo—"
"Match over," the referee announced. "European All-Star Academy wins. Time: eleven minutes, forty-two seconds."
The crowd erupted. The EASA section was on their feet.
The other quarter-final results came in over the next two hours.
Chinese Vanguard Institute dominated Roman Imperium Academy. 6-2. China’s fighters were terrifying — their captain, Wei Chen, eliminated three Italian fighters alone in under four minutes with an S-Rank Sword Spirit ability that bordered on sword intent. The host nation was eliminated in front of their home crowd. Silence fell over the Italian section of the stadium. It was brutal to watch.
American Apex Academy beat Amazonia Emerald Academy. Closer match — 4-2. Sarah Mitchell, America’s top fighter with S-Rank Seismic Impact, was impressive but showed vulnerability against Brazil’s plant-based abilities. She won her fights but looked frustrated doing it.
Elysian Lumière Academy beat Siberian Frost Academy. 5-3. France looked very strong.
Lucian stayed to watch that match. Halfway through, his expression shifted.
Two familiar faces in France’s lineup.
Bastien Xavier. Lightning manipulation. Mid Core Realm. The same bastard who had abandoned students to die in Vienne City. Who had used Lucian’s group as bait for zombies.
And Charles Martin. Flame Body. Early Core Realm. Bastien’s loyal lackey.
Lucian’s crimson eyes tracked them across the arena. Cold and calculating.
Still alive. Still fighting.
The semi-final bracket appeared on the screen.
Match 1: Chinese Vanguard Institute — China vs American Apex Academy — United States
Match 2: European All-Star Academy — United Kingdom vs Elysian Lumière Academy — France
The conference room was quiet when Arthur announced the lineup.
"Lucian Grimaud. Mickey Adeyemi. Ryan Duncan. Nadia Okafor. Iris Langford. Arthur Chevalier."
Lucian leaned back in his chair. Mickey raised an eyebrow. Ryan adjusted his glasses. Nadia looked surprised — this was her first fight of the tournament.
Iris said nothing. Her arm was bandaged from shoulder to wrist, but her eyes were sharp behind a new pair of glasses.
Arthur turned off the display.
"Semi-finals. Tomorrow evening. Against France. Let’s kick some ass."
Everyone in the room knew what facing France meant.