Chapter 218: Rhain VS Lyra
Chapter 218: Rhain VS Lyra
The moment Lyra’s slender figure landed onto the arena floor, the atmosphere within the central plaza, which had already reached a boiling point, suddenly stilled.
For a brief moment, the hundred thousand spectators even forgot to breathe.
On one side stood the dark-robed youth who had single-handedly torn through every elite genius the Academy had to offer without breaking a sweat.
On the other stood the undisputed queen of Stormveil City’s younger generation, a prodigy who was unrivaled since her birth.
Beyond the Academy’s gates, the millions watching through the projection arrays were entirely electrified.
Streets were now packed shoulder to shoulder, bodies pressing against each other as they craned their necks upward toward the luminous screens.
Even the elderly and the children had been swept up in the collective frenzy, dragged outside by their families to witness what everyone instinctively understood was a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.
"Who do you think will win? Lyra or Rhain?"
"Are you mad? Lyra is at the ninth level of Spirit Manifestation! She’s been trained by Matriarch Seraphine herself since birth! There’s no way she loses!"
"But Rhain defeated everyone today without even trying! He crushed Zane’s full-power attack with a bare fist! A bare fist!"
"Zane is strong, but he’s not Lyra. There’s a reason she’s considered a completely different existence from the rest of the younger generation. She stands above the entire generation!"
The debate raged like wildfire, splitting the massive crowd into two fervent camps with neither side willing to concede a single inch.
Up on the grand stage, the titans of the Solathane Dynasty watched the unfolding scene with expressions that ranged from intense anticipation to calculated wariness.
Thorian stroked his thick beard slowly, his expression caught between excitement and genuine concern. "Two monsters of this caliber clashing at the Spirit Manifestation Realm," he rumbled quietly. "I haven’t seen anything like this in decades. Perhaps not in my entire lifetime."
Patriarch Caelan leaned forward in his ornate seat, his eyes narrowing. The casual dismissal of the earlier matches was completely gone.
Carmilla’s bright eyes sparkled with a fascinated light as she watched the arena, while Matriarch Seraphine remained outwardly composed.
However, in the depths of her eyes, a sharp, profound condensation hid as she fixed her gaze entirely upon the dark-robed youth standing opposite her daughter.
Down in the arena, Rhain looked at the blazing tip of the rapier that was pointed at his face.
His dark grey eyes didn’t ripple in the slightest.
"I already told you," Rhain spoke, his voice completely indifferent, carrying a tone one might use to dismiss a persistent beggar. "You are very weak. It is best if you just return to your seat and do not embarrass yourself."
The crowd sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
"He said it AGAIN! He actually said it again to her face!"
"Is this man made of iron? Does he not know that Matriarch Seraphine is sitting right there?"
"Calling Lyra Emberford weak... in front of a hundred thousand people... in front of the Crown Prince... in front of her own mother..."
"He’s either the bravest man alive or the most suicidal!"
Lyra’s breathtaking face, usually plastered with an expression of haughty arrogance, flushed with a burning fury.
He dared to call her weak. Again!
"You..." Lyra’s voice was filled with rage, "If you are afraid to fight me, Rhain Voss, then just admit it. Drop to your knees and surrender. Do not hide your cowardice behind insults."
Hearing her accusation, Rhain simply let out a low, amused chuckle.
"If you are so eager to lose," Rhain opened his arms, and shrugged, "then fine. I am ready."
Lyra’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
She lowered her rapier slightly, her chin tilting upward with a mocking sneer.
"I saw your fight with Zane," Lyra said coldly. "You can rest for a while if you want. Recover your essence. I don’t want you to cry later, making excuses that you lost because you weren’t at your best."
Rhain didn’t respond immediately.
Instead, he leisurely raised his arms and stretched his shoulders, letting out a soft sigh as if he were waking up from a nap.
"There is no need," Rhain said unbotheredly, lowering his arms. "Everything up until now was just a warm-up anyway."
Then, he casually raised his right hand and curled his fingers inward, provocatively beckoning her to come at him.
"Come."
The sheer disrespect of the gesture made the entire plaza erupt.
"He... he actually dare to beckon at her!"
"My God, does this guy have a death wish? Matriarch Seraphine is going to incinerate him where he stands!"
"Forget the Matriarch! Lyra herself is going to tear him apart!"
Up on the grand stage, Matriarch Seraphine’s sharp eyes flickered.
A complex thought crossed her mind as she observed the dark-robed youth.
’He is deliberately trying to anger her,’ Seraphine thought, her brows knitting together slightly. ’Is it because she would lose his calm during the battle and make a mistake? What a ruthless, calculating boy.’
What Seraphine didn’t know that Rhain wasn’t humiliating Lyra like this because he wanted to take advantage of Lyra’s chaotic state of mind during the battle, it’s just that he just didn’t like this arrogant girl after her proposal during the negotiations, and her repetitive challenges.
But Seraphine’s observation wasn’t entirely wrong.
Lyra was absolutely infuriated.
The arrogant dismissal, the provocative gesture—it shattered the last remnants of her rational composure.
"I’LL BREAK THAT INSOLENT MOUTH OF YOURS!"
Lyra exploded forward with raw physical force, crossing the thirty feet between them in a single instant.
She pulled her arm back and threw a punch directly at Rhain’s face.
To the naked eye, it was just a small, white, and tender fist.
But the kinetic energy and compressed essence packed into that single strike could easily shatter a small mountain into dust.
Rhain watched the incoming fist calmly.
He simply raised his own right hand, curled it into a fist, and punched forward to meet her strike head-on.
BANG—!!!
The moment their fists collided, a devastating shockwave of kinetic force erupted outward.
The sheer concussive blast of their bare hands clashing was actually louder, and more destructive than Zane’s all-out Astral Dragon’s Piercing Strike!
The golden defensive arrays around the arena violently rippled under the immense pressure.
In the center of the impact, a figure was violently pushed back.
Lyra’s boots skidded across the hard stone floor before she finally managed to stabilize herself thirty feet away.
She looked up, her crimson eyes widening in utter disbelief.
Rhain stood firmly on his original spot.
He was like an immovable mountain, not moving even an inch.
The hundred thousand spectators were completely dumbfounded.
In a direct, physical clash against the undisputed number one prodigy of Stormveil City, Rhain didn’t even take a single step back, while Lyra had been pushed thirty feet away!
"Impossible..."
"Did... did Lyra just lose a direct exchange?"
"Does this mean the best prodigy in the history of Stormveil City is actually going to lose???"
Lyra clutched her trembling right hand, the hand trembling from the monstrous recoil of striking Rhain’s fist.
"You do have some strength," Lyra admitted begrudgingly as she looked at Rhain,. "You are not just a foolish bragger."
Rhain lowered his fist, his dark grey eyes staring right through her.
"And I will still say," Rhain replied mockingly, "that you are incredibly weak."
The words landed like a slap.
The fragile sobriety in Lyra’s mind shattered instantly. The anger reignited, burning hotter than before.
"SHUT UP!"
Lyra rushed again, but this time she used her weapon.
"Epic-Grade Martial Art: Crimson Tempest Rend!"
A massive, overwhelmingly oppressive wave of crimson sword aura erupted from her blade.
The attack carried an embryonic Law of Fire, threatening to incinerate and slice everything in its path.
It was an Epic Grade martial art of the Emberford Noble Family!
Rhain looked at the approaching inferno and simply shook his head.
He just gathered a dense layer of dark essence around his hand and swatted the air like he was brushing away a cobweb.
CRASH!
The majestic crimson arc of blade was ruthlessly crushed into a shower of dissipating red sparks the moment it made contact with Rhain’s bare hand.
Lyra stood thirty feet away, watching her attack being crushed so easily by Rhain.
A trace of solemnity was slowly appearing on her face.
Rhain was stronger than her expectations.
"Boring," Rhain sighed lazily, "I am not interested in wasting my time."
"Just shut up I said!" Lyra screamed again, launching herself forward again, her rapier raised for a lethal thrust.
But just then, something unexpected happened.
CRACK!
The solid stone beneath her suddenly fractured.
Before Lyra could react, heavy metal chains forged from pure, condensed dark essence erupted from the ground like a nest of striking vipers.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The heavy chains moved with impossible speed, instantly wrapping around Lyra’s delicate body.
They bound her arms tightly to her sides, coiled around her waist and legs, and forcefully pinned her in place.
The entire plaza looked at the scene with stupified expressions.
Lyra Emberford, the untouchable prodigy, was completely immobilized, wrapped in heavy dark chains like a captured prisoner.
She struggled furiously, her Level 9 Spirit Manifestation essence erupting as she tried to burst the bindings, but the chains merely tightened, refusing to yield a single inch.
"She can’t break free?"
Up on the grand stage, Lucius’s amber eyes widened with utter disbelief.
How could Lyra be subdued so effortlessly?
It’s impossible!
"Earth-Binding Iron Chains," Carmilla murmured, her melodious voice carrying a tone of surprise. "That is yet another Epic-Grade Martial Art of our Academy. It is notoriously complex, requiring an insane level of essence control to execute without warning. Yet he has mastered it to perfection as well."
Carmilla turned her head to look at Seraphine.
"Sera," Carmilla said seriously, "Your daughter might actually lose."
Seraphine’s sharp eyes were locked onto the bound figure of her daughter in the arena.
Despite the overwhelming disadvantage, Seraphine simply shook her head.
"It is impossible," Seraphine replied, her voice carrying absolute confidence and certainty. "You know nothing of her true powers."
Down in the arena, Rhain looked at the fiercely struggling girl bound by his chains.
"Stop struggling," Rhain said casually, his hands clasped behind his back. "Your combat strength is indeed impressive. It is completely comparable to an early-stage Core Formation Realm expert. But these chains are infused with my essence. Even a middle-stage Core Formation Realm expert would find it incredibly hard to free themselves."
He looked at her with a dismissive gaze. "It is over."
Hanging in the air, bound like a captured prisoner before the eyes of the entire Solathane Dynasty, Lyra felt a level of humiliation she had never known existed.
For nineteen years, she had been a queen. She had been untouchable.
And now, this dark-robed youth was looking at her as if she were nothing more than a minor inconvenience he had just swatted aside.
She stopped struggling.
She slowly raised her head, looking at Rhain through strands of crimson hair that had fallen across her face.
Her eyes were no longer just angry; they were ocean of fury.
"You..." Lyra whispered with a chilling voice. "...will regret this."
BOOM—!!!
An extremely powerful, ancient aura suddenly burst from her bound body. It was a pressure so terrifying it instantly bypassed the Spirit Manifestation Realm entirely.
Her cascading crimson hair suddenly erupted into flowing, orange-crimson fire.
In a fraction of a second, her entire delicate body was enveloped by a majestic, roaring flame.
The heat radiating from her was so cataclysmic that the indestructible, dark essence chains binding her literally evaporated into nothingness.
She looked like a literal goddess of fire descending to enact divine judgment.
As she walked slowly toward Rhain, her crimson eyes suddenly began to glow with the mesmerizing colors of the flame itself.
"Now," Lyra said looking at Rhain, the flames on her body intensifying, as her fury raged, "Still bored?"