Chapter 1201 The Royal Finals
The twins arrived on stage and were greeted with great enthusiasm by the host who was more than happy to see the royals at the finals.
He knew that the Emperor and the Crown prince were up in the tower, and they would be more than happy to see the two of them there.
Just as he expected, they were indeed quite happy to see the two there. The Emperor had a smug smile on his face as he watched his two direct grandchildren appear as the finalists of the competition that had students from 3 great empires in one place.
"Congratulations, your majesty. The royal family has managed to grow such amazing individuals. They will surely be a great aid to their uncle when he gets the throne."
The Crown Prince smiled meekly at the people that said that, but his smile hid a worry that none of them could see. Not even his own father could see.
"Of course," the Emperor said. "They are my descendants. If my own history is anything to go by, they will do incredible."
"Yes, yes," the nobles said.
"Who do you envision winning the finals, your majesty?" the ruler of the Redraven region asked.
"I do not care. Neither of them will prove anything to me in this match that they haven't already. Win or lose, they have already made me proud."
"Of course," the woman smiled and looked toward the stage.
Everyone did.
The host spoke a bit to hype up the arena while the prince and princess took the stage. The best of the best referees were brought for their competition, as simple ones wouldn't do it for two people that were both in the High Essence Soul realm.
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While they prepared, the headmaster remembered something. They were to wait here after the competition ended. Which also reminded him of the piece of paper that he had handed Ning.
He nudged Ning who was standing below him on the seat. When Ning turned around, he asked him what had gotten him curious.
"That piece of paper I gave you, what did it say?" the headmaster asked.
Ning thought for a brief moment before he remembered that he had taken a paper at all. He had almost erased it from his mind, half believing that what was written on it was fake.
"Why did you give me that piece of paper, headmaster?" he asked. He wanted to know why the headmaster would say what it did on the paper.
"It wasn't me," the headmaster said. "I was told to give you that piece of paper."
"You were?" Ning got curious. "By who?"
The headmaster's eyes moved ever so slightly in the direction of the tower, but it was pretty much imperceptible. He shook his head. "I can't tell you that, young man. Just tell me what it said," he asked.
"Nonsense," Ning answered. "Or at least something that sounds like it. It was almost like someone was trying to prank me to make me lose in the competition."
The headmaster frowned. 'Prank? The Emperor?' he couldn't believe it.
"There's no way that was a prank," the headmaster said. "Are you certain it wasn't anything important?"
"If it was true, then it was important information," Ning said. "But it wasn't something I could apply right here. Not if the importance was true."
"What?" the headmaster's eyes narrowed.
"I'll have to check later to see if what was said in that letter was true or not," Ning said. "It's not something I can reveal to the public, even to you headmaster. I'm sorry."
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The headmaster nodded. "That's alright. There must have been a reason why I wasn't allowed to look at it in the first place," he said.
Ning nodded and turned around to look at the stage.
He still couldn't believe what was written on the paper was real in any way. But… with all the weird things happening all day, there was no reason not to give it a try.
If it was a prank, nothing bad would've happened. If it was true, then he would have acquired a very fascinating asset to his arsenal.
His attention wavered at the loud sound of cheers as the prince and princess both brought out their weapons.
The prince brought out his signature axe that he had shown so much but hadn't used at all. The axe with the Fire Essence head and the Ice Essence shaft made its appearance.
Cold white mist dropped off from where the prince held the axe, making for a cool display that got everyone cheering again.
On the princess's side, her thin light sword appeared in her hand. She had only used it before when she had her Moonlight Essence on display, but this time, it was going to be her Magma display that she was going to fight with.
Neither the prince nor the princess wore any sort of armor at all, as nothing they could wear could possibly protect them from the attacks that were going to come at them.
Not only that, they both had Essence that was simply too strong to be bothering to use any other Essence. The Light Essence in the princess's sword was merely to distract her opponent.
Which made people wonder why the prince even had his axe out. Surely he didn't need the axe to use Ice Essence, and using Fire Essence made no sense for someone with Ice Essence core.
However, despite the confusion, the prince was still determined to fight with the axe.
The referees looked on either side and when they noticed that they were both ready, they began the match.
Allen did the honor of starting the match by quickly creating a few icicles around him that he sent flying.
Alena retaliated by sending 3 small blobs of Magma as well toward the prince.
The attacks crashed in the middle with the icicles immediately subliming to vapor that created a small explosion that left steam in the air.
When the steam was swept away by the breeze on the stage, they both started attacking each other at the same time.
Chapter 1202 Ice and Magma
Alena started the real fight with a Magma javelin that she create in her right hand. She threw it at her brother without hesitation, with the full intention of hitting him in the face.
Allen smiled and slammed his leg. Three spikes of ice appeared from the ground, like icebergs in the ocean, and stopped the magma from getting through, even though they were destroyed in the process.
The steam from the boiling ice hung in the air for a moment before it immediately condensed and dropped to the ground as the prince used his own attack.
It was a skill not different from Yorsha's Burning Sun in which he turned the entire area around him into a freezing hellscape. Ice spread from where he stood and covered the ground.
At the same time, snowflakes fell from the surrounding air as the remaining water vapor condensed due to the frigid cold.
The princess stood where she was without moving and looked at what her brother was doing without being impressed at all.
When the ice started creeping toward her, she thrust her hand forward, and molten magma burst forth from the ground, engulfing the area around her in a blaze of heat.
The hot air from the magma met the cold air from the tiny blizzard that the prince was creating and steam began rising back into the air, creating a layer of visible mist where the two temperatures met.
The audience was shocked to see one side completely engulfed in magma and hot air, while the other one was frigid cold with ice spikes growing from the ground due to the coldness.
When the two seemed to be at a standstill, Alena chose to break it again. She used her hand to reach into the magma that surrounded her and spread it forward at her brother.
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As multiple drops of magma were flung at the Allen, he couldn't use simple spikes to block them at all. He needed something large.
Without missing a second, he poured Essence out of his core and poured it into the stage where ice crystals grew at a rapid pace. They touched each other, conjoining on top of each other as they turned into a giant ice wall that shielded him from the coming Magma.
The magma landed on the ice wall and burned through it, but it couldn't go past it. It simply melted the ice and fell to the floor where it became nothing more than hot rock.
Alena looked at that and smiled. She slammed her feet onto the ground and a wave passed through the molten stage around her. The wave of lava was barely knee high at all, but the wave wasn't the problem that was coming at all.
When the wave reached the furthest they could go, which was the layer of mist in between the two siblings, they suddenly split into serpents made of magma, that easily glided through the ice path.
Alena seemed to be guiding it as they moved forward and dive through the stage itself, going below the ice wall that was protecting Allen.
Allen realized what was happening and immediately dropped to the ground, placing his two palms flat on the surface of the stage. Then, he poured his Ice Essence into the stage as much as he could and began freezing the rock underneath him.
The coldness reached the tendrils of magma that snaked toward him, solidifying and no longer able to move.
Alena frowned when she realized that she could no longer control the snakes that she had sent in her brother's direction.
Allen decided to become proactive as well. He struck the ground with his fist which shattered the ice wall that was already half melted by the previous attack.
As they shattered into a hundred pieces, Allen used his technique to send them flying in his sister's direction.
Alena waved her hand and the magma that was on the floor around her suddenly moved up like a fabric of cloth as it wrapped around her.
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The ice shards all landed on the magma cover and did practically nothing to them except leave dark spots when they hit them.
The cold from the ice had turned those portions into just rock, which would need to be heated again to become magma.
The magma dropped around the princess and she appeared out of it very much unharmed.
The crowds were shocked to see that the prince was struggling so much against his sister when they were both supposed to be just as strong as each other.
Why was the prince so much more tired than the princess? Was that going to lose him the match?
Allen knew that was not the case. While Alena was most definitely not as panicked or fatigued as he was, she was also suffering from the same problem he was, perhaps even more so given that she had fought another enemy before him.
They were both wasting their Essence fighting each other.
The prince was somewhat tired, yes, but that meant nothing in the match when the victory was going to be decided by whoever could keep their Essence while making the other one use more.
The prince had made a show of creating ice around him not because he wanted to show off, but because he wanted to make his sister create an environment just the same as his.
Since Magma was denser than Ice by a lot, it required more Essence to be created. By forcing his sister to create a pool of Magma around her, he was forcing her to use her essence in a pretty wasteful manner.
While he had somewhat succeeded in that, the princess had also been quite efficient with the magma she was created.
Scooping it to attack, sending tendrils of it, using it as a defense.
It was obvious that she had also seen through the trick that her brother was trying to use to force her to lose.
She wasn't going to.
Alena finally gave a massive grin as she prepared her next onslaught of attacks that were surely going to edge her toward victory.
1203 Shocking Attack
The magma surged around Alena like a living, breathing thing that wanted to leave from where it was. With a simple gesture, it elevated to a certain level before descending.
Allen prepared for another wave of magma snakes that would burrow underneath the ground to come for an attack. However, that didn't happen at all.
The waves that should have come toward him stopped and moved backward, going back to where they first started as two different waves crashed in a circle around Alena, and the force they crashed at sent a layer of magma high into the air.
Alena kept the attack going and sent it higher into the air, and then tossed it all in her brother's side.
Allen looked at the spray of magma that fell for him.
"Shit!" he cursed.
There was too much magma in the air for him to try and use his ice to stop. Instead, he stepped back and pointed a single finger toward the magma.
A beam of cold light fell on the magma that was flying in his direction, all freezing at the touch of the attack, turning into solid volcanic rocks that still came in his direction.
He then produced a simple ice wall that covered him from the spray of rocks.
As soon as the rock shower was over, Allen send the remaining ice shards from the ice wall toward his sister, who was waiting for it.
She sent her own magma projectile, some of which were stopped by the shards, while the rest Allen dodged. Alena dodged the remaining shards too.
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Allen looked at his sister and immediately used his freezing beam again. Instead of using ice itself, it sent extremely cold air directly at the target.
It used a bunch more Essence than normal, but that would be worth it for this attack.
As long as his sister was forced to use more magma, it would have done its job.
Alena gathered the magma around her to protect herself, but that had been the wrong move at this moment. The ice beam froze the magma around her, surprising her at how cold it was.
Not only that, the magma had now turned to solid rock, which trapped her as she couldn't quickly get away from there.
Allen seized the opportunity and formed ice blades that were so razor sharp that they could cut through even the thickest rocks. He created 5 of them and sent all 5 toward his sister.
The blades whistled through the air, moving at a speed that left cold mist behind them. The heat on Alena's side didn't even melt them before they arrived where she was.
They all struck the dark rocks that captured his sister, but to his surprise, his sister did not move, and neither did the referees.
He realized something had happened and it only became apparent when the rocks shattered from the impact of the ice blades and what remained underneath became visible.
Alena's body glowed orange as a layer of molten rock lay all over her body, like armor. The armor covered every inch of her body, except for her head, which she had purposefully left without any armor to give the illusion that she was a helpless girl who would lose at any moment.
The armor was a living thing, melting, moving around the princess's body, showing the curves around her body perfectly.
The magma moved up her neck, slowly moving to her head as it covered it all entirely with long tendrils of magma hair flowing behind her and only two holes for where her eyes were.
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A whip appeared in her arm, completely made up of magma, while her light sword was held in her other hand.
Allen looked at his sister and couldn't help but chuckle a little. It seemed she was planning to end it all.
Mist drifted down from him as ice formed around his body. They grew from all over and slowly encased themselves in it, making layers of it to protect the prince.
It covered him entirely from head to toe, leaving a helmet with a simple visor for him to see through.
An ice sword formed in his hand while his left hand held his axe.
Then, the both of them moved forward at once.
The prince was faster and arrived on the magma side, bringing the blizzard that force everything with him. The temperature of the area lowered, but then it rose once again as the princess poured her Essence into the ground, melting it all.
The sword fell on Alena's shoulder, doing absolutely nothing while she used her whip on her brother. It wrapped around his body, but Allen used his ice sword to cut right through the whip.
The part that remained on him turned into hard rock and broke as they fell to the ground.
Alena's whip regrew to cover the part that had been cut off and she struck with it again. Allen dodged the whip, but the end of it caused a sonic boom that sprayed magma all around him that fell on his ice armor.
Allen moved in and swung down with his ice sword, but Alena moved backward to dodge. However, as she did, she realized that her brother's sword grew to match the distance that she moved back.
She tried to dodge but it was directly on her left shoulder again. While the sword couldn't get through the armor, the force did, making the princess buckle a little.
Rage filled her as she snapped her whip at her brother again. Allen was ready to dodge or block as needed, but suddenly a bright light caused him to flinch back as he was momentarily blinded.
He used the axe in his left hand at the last moment as the whip struck him in the chest. Even as he was thrown back, the attack he used activated.
A blinding white light struck the princess and immobilized her for a few seconds after it struck her.
To everyone's surprise, she had been struck with lightning.
People wondered where the lightning came from at all since the price wasn't supposed to have any way to use lighting at all.
The audience wondered if just like the princess, he too had dual cores.
The prince breathed in and out as the pain in his chest slowly subsided.
The princess also got up, bedazzled by the fact that she was electrocuted, and it had been all because it had gone through the holes she had created to break and see.
"You!" she shouted from afar as she struggled to stand up straight. "You tricked us all."
The prince took a deep breath and chuckled. "It's all about the long con, sister," he said. "The more you make someone think something works one way, the more you can surprise them with the sudden twist."
The princess's eyes fell onto the axe on her brother's left hand. The white handle of the axe that always dropped white mist from it no longer did.
"You made us all think that was an Ice handle. You made your own sister think that" she said.
"Only Grandfather knows what this is, sis. No one else does," he said.
Every time he had to fight, the prince brought out his Axe to show the Fire and Ice Essence he could use thanks to it. Or so he wanted people to believe.
He gave the illusion that it was ice by making it look like it was cold. When in fact, it was his hand that was dripping cold air. All this time, he was making people think he had an Ice axe, when in fact, he had been hiding a Lightning handle.
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Because they had the same color and the prince's extravagant use of ice in the early battles, no one even suspected to sense just what element the handle it was.
It was all for this one moment when he could use it without anyone getting ready for it.
"Are you ready to continue the fight, sis?" he asked her.
Alena's eyes grew cold inside the magma armor. "I'm ready to win."
"Haha!" the prince laughed at her. "With how much Essence you've wasted in this fight already, we'll have to see if you can do that or not."
The princess frowned, but she said nothing.
Instantly, the audience was greeted with two Essence Souls, one of which was only just revealed in the final match.
Alena's Magma Essence Soul was 10 meters tall with hands that split into long vines that dripped magma whenever they moved. The soul had no legs, but a single long magma fountain that sprayed all across the ground.
The soul's hair freely flowed behind it, dripping magma there as well, just like how her current hair looked with the Magma armor. Soon, there was a pool of magma all around Alena as her Essence soul came out fully.
Allen's Ice Essence Soul was 10 meters tall as well with hands that had fingers made up of icicles. The humanoid soul had two normal legs as well and it had a head that looked like that of a human.I think you should take a look at
On its chin were many icicles that dangled, like a beard to a normal person. Its hair was nothing but shards of ice that stuck up.
Massive ice spikes grew from its back, like a porcupine as it all seemed so incredibly sharp. The Ice Essence soul fell to the ground with a thud and everywhere around it the ground froze as beautiful snowflake designs covered the ground, freezing what was frozen all over.
The prince's Ice Essence Soul and the princess's Magma Essence soul stared at each other for a few seconds before the two of them resumed their fight once more.
Allen's Soul stuck together its hands and its finger shot out projectiles that all shot toward the princess.
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Alena's Soul's hands split into vines and snapped at the incoming attacks like the whip he used with her Magma armor.
She flung orbs of Magma back at her brother, who stopped it by freezing it all before it came at her.
Then, the prince attacked back.
The back and forth went on for a minute and a half, as the two of them stood in one place, throwing attacks at each other.
The previous intense fight had died down, which confused most of the audience as to what was happening.
Even the students were confused and they looked towards their elders for answers.
"They both know that they can't win against each other with normal methods," the headmaster explained. "Like fire and water, unless one can do something that the other one won't be expecting, the ice and magma attacks were doomed to reach a standstill."
"So, before they go back to fighting seriously once again, they are doing what they can to make the other person run out of Essence."
"The fight was destined to become one where the person with more Essence won from the very start, so they are both pushing each other to their limit to make exactly that happen."
Just as the headmaster explained, both Allen and Alena were fighting to expend the other person's Essence as quickly as they could. However, there would come a point where one would have to move first.
Fighting until they ran out of Essence was not the right way to win, so when they were close to running out of Essence, the person would attack in desperation to keep themselves in the match.
So, whoever moved first would most likely be the loser.
The two royals threw attacks at each other as piles of volcanic rock filled the gap between them.
Then, the princess suddenly disappeared. When people searched for her, they saw of a pool of magma where her spiritual soul had been that was rippling a little.
Allen smiled when he realized his sister had disappeared into a tunnel of Magma, from which she could resurface anywhere around him.
He prepared for the upcoming fight, knowing that if he made no mistake, he would most definitely win.
Allen sensed Essence moving through the ground underneath him. When he sensed the correct location, he jumped high into the air, his Essence Soul turning around.
Alena appeared in a pool of magma where her brother had been and was not surprised to see him no longer there. No one would wait for her to attack them, so she had already guessed that he would fly into the air.
She looked up just in time to see the Ice Essence Soul turn around with his back full of spikes pointed at her. Then, it shot out the spikes.
Like bullets from a machine gun, the ice spikes all fell to where the princess was. The princess immediately reached out with the tendrils of her own Essence Soul, forming a sort of net above her that took the brunt of the entire force.
She felt a slight pain in her body because the Essence Soul took some damage, but it wasn't something she could handle. The net disappeared and a javelin appeared in the Essence Soul's hand that dripped with magma.
She targeted it at her brother who was in the air and had nowhere to go.
The magma javelin flew through the air, arriving right where the prince was. A referee moved close just in case, but he sensed some Essence being used at the last second and stopped.
The javelin went right through the prince, leaving a hole in his body. The crowd gasped in surprise when they saw that the princess had killed her brother.
However, when one looked closely, one could see that the prince that had been pierced through was melting.
From a clump of ice, the prince reappeared with a sword in his hand that he struck at the princess. The princess moved back and let the lava pool underneath her jump up like a volcanic eruption.
The prince stopped right before he hit the wall, but he sent the sword flying anyway. The princess didn't expect that at all and had to abruptly pull back her arm where the sword was going to hit.
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The sword landed on her Light sword, immediately breaking it into a million pieces. The light sword turned back into bright light, disappearing from where it was, no longer to be of any use to the princess.
The prince huffed a bit as he felt his core drain every time he used a technique. The Ice puppet teleportation technique especially was something that cost a lot of Essence.
Even so, he knew that his sister had even less Essence than him. He just had to keep up. He shot two ice blades that flew through the air toward Alena.
Alena crossed her arm, letting the Magma armor she wore take the brunt of the damage. The princess was sent flying backward, but she hadn't been damaged at all. She quickly got back up, revealing two large black streaks that remained on her armor where the blades landed.
The frozen rock was not turning back into magma at all.
Allen's eyes widened in surprise. Alena was terribly low on Essence.
He pointed a finger at the princess and suddenly used his Ice beam. The princess tried to dodge it, but her left arm was hit once again, leaving a black rock that covered the entire left arm all the way up to the shoulders.
She tried to move her arm, but the most she could do was crack the rocks. She needed a few more seconds to fully get it off, seconds she did not have.
The prince sent two more ice blades. The princess used her whip to hit both of them, destroying them before they even got to her. However, in the process, she destroyed her own whip.I think you should take a look at
She threw away the remaining whip and looked at her brother's angry eyes that only he could see through the two holes in her magma helmet.
The prince was short of breath, but he was only moments away from victory. He could sense absolutely no Essence from his sister, so he knew he was going to win.
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He just had to force her to use any if she was hiding before dealing with the final attack.
The prince's Essence Soul turned around once again, sending out a barrage of ice spikes in the princess's direction.
The princess quickly jumped to the side, rolling around quickly to dodge the incoming attacks. She got back up and jumped again as another volley of ice spikes landed where she was.
When she got back up, she was short on breath. The magma on her body was starting to drip away as she could no longer keep it up. Her Essence Core had run dry completely.
The prince saw that and realized what had happened. His sister had indeed run out of Magma Essence.
She still had her Moonlight Essence core, but that was a Low Essence Soul core. It could not be used during their battle at all.
He had won.
"I'm sorry, sis," he spoke. "But I win."
The ground stirred as all the ice around him started shaking. They all came toward him, gathering near him like metal shavings close to a magnet. When they all gathered, it was enough ice to fill up an entire house.
And then, the prince sent it all in his sister's direction.
A wave of snow and ice all flew sky high as they all dived toward where the princess was.
The princess's face changed from frustration to nothing as she gave up on trying to get away. The pile of ice slammed onto her, like an avalanche it drowned her completely.
The ground shuddered at the weight of the ice and then everything went still.
The prince finally slumped to the ground, having used every last bit of Essence in his body. He had won.
He smiled and was ready to cheer when a warm orange light grew from the pile of snow. Before the prince realized what had happened, something stirred in him.
From right next to him, the princess appeared through a pool of magma with a javelin in her hand. She pointed it at the prince's neck.
"No, I win."
The prince sweated from the heat of the javelin that was right next to him. He had no Essence in him at all, so he couldn't even do anything.
A look of frustration appeared on his face for a moment before he let it aside. He sighed. "I guess it's my loss then," he said.
The javelin disappeared from the princess's hand as she stopped using her Essence entirely. She breathed in relief as she no longer had to fight anymore.
The fight had gone on for far too long.
She slumped a little, using her brother as a support, and got down to the floor and she started breathing heavily along with him.
The referees all looked in silence as if they didn't know what to do.
The host arrived right on time and walked up to the royals to check on them before anything. After seeing that neither was hurt as badly as they could have, a massive grin appeared on his face as he turned around toward the audience and announced the result.
"Princess Alena of Blackhawk Academy has won. She is the winner of our competition!" he shouted.
Following his shout, the crowd erupted. What was noise, what was cheer; it became impossible to tell. The prince closed his eyes and let the sound all drown out.
After a few moments, he opened his eyes and looked toward his sister. "Congratulations. You did it."
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Alena sighed and looked toward her brother. "You did not bad yourself," she said. "You had nearly won. I feel like I had to cheat to win against you."
"You did?" he asked for a second before remembering something. "Oh right, you ran out of Essence. How did you manage to use it again?"
"I just borrowed a little from my other core," she said with a foolish little grin on her face.
"Borrowed… what?" the prince was a little confused. "You used Moonlight Essence to use Magma skills?"
"No, I used Moonlight Essence to turn it to Magma Essence to add a bit of Essence to my Magma core for the final attack," she said.
"Wha— you can do that?" he asked. "How does one Essence turn to another one?"
"Moonlight Essence is the closest thing to Pure essence. It has little trouble being absorbed by other cores," she said. "It takes some time, which was why I had to run around without using either Essence. I could've used Moonlight Essence, but I knew I couldn't win against you that way."
"This method, however, paid off beautifully," she said.
Allen remained stunned for a few moments before he finally said. "That's cheating!"
Alena chuckled a bit and got back up. Her Moonlight Essence core replaced her empty Magma Essence core and she could feel her fatigue lessen a little, even though it wasn't completely gone.I think you should take a look at
The crowds were still cheering, so she helped her brother get up as well and started waving at the crowd finally.
The host praised both of them, but the princess was given most of the praise. The members of the Blackhawk Academy were let into the stage, so they all came rushing in to celebrate the victory with the two of them.
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Shana and Hyandus immediately arrived next to the prince and princess to protect them from the group of people that would want to hug them. They were doing their duty as a guard.
However, the prince tapped their shoulders and sent them away, letting the people all come to them with praises. He hugged whoever wanted to hug him, and shook hands with whoever wanted to shake hands.
He drifted more towards girls than boys, and the princess had to pull him away at the end. Ning got caught up in the cheers as well and people started praising him for getting 3rd in the finals.
After a bit of cheering, everyone was sent back to the stands as the final tally of the competition was made.
While the people already knew which Academy had won the overall competition, the final numbers were yet to be displayed. Once the tally was completed, the numbers were revealed.
Essence Heart Academy came last with 1452 points. As they had been disqualified from the final competition, they could not get any points at all.
Crimson Wings Academy came 9th with 1614 points. Most of their students had been disqualified early, so they couldn't get many points.
Frolane Academy came 8th with 1761 points. As an academy that carried the Empire's name, this was not the sort of result they wanted to have.
Light Dance Academy came 7th with 1933 points. As the host of the competition, people hoped they would do much better, but the competition was simply too stiff for them.
Ash Wind Academy came 6th with 2119 points. It was the first academy to cross the 2000 points threshold in the list.
Grand Will Academy came 5th with 2185 points. It was barely higher than the Ash Wind Academy but had managed to land itself in the 5th place.
Dream Dust Academy came 4th with 2269 points. They had done rather incredibly in the competition and had managed to gain quite some points. However, still, they hadn't managed to reach the final 3 on the list.
Blue Spark Academy came 3rd with 2447 points. For an Academy that had won the competition last year, they had barely managed to secure the top 3. If it was not for Essence Heart Academy's disqualification, this would not have been possible at all.
With 2794 points, a huge jump from the 3rd place, Peace World Academy had secured the 2nd spot. Thanks to its student reaching the top 4, it had managed to gain a significant amount of points, without which it wouldn't have reached here at all.
Finally, as everyone already knew, Blackhawk Academy won the entire tournament. And the number of points they had gathered to do so had left every single other academy in the dust.
Even with just 8 students taking part in a competition that allowed for 20, they had managed to acquire an amazing 3645 points, becoming one of the higher points earners in the history of the tournament.
With the academy ranked, the audience started leaving the arena.
There was no award ceremony or anything. The exposure these academies got was award enough. They were already popular and now they became even more so popular, with every kid that wanted to join on knowing that Blackhawk Academy stood tall and strong amongst all.
The headmaster's face was filled with a grin from ear to ear as he couldn't keep it hidden at all. A few of the teachers teared up, especially knowing the pain it had been for them to come all the way here.
It wasn't every day that 80% of your participants were poisoned and you still came out on top.
The students all happily celebrated in their seats, but none walked away. Seeing everyone walking away, they were a little confused as they should have been leaving too.
After all, all the other schools were leaving.
Even the audience and academies leaving looked back at them, some wondering why they hadn't left yet. Most assumed they were still celebrating, while others simply didn't care.
Few that tried to stay behind were quickly sent away by the many staff members of the arena. And yet, the Blackhawk Academy still remained.
A few nobles came by to visit them, singing praises of the matches they had seen, congratulating not just the two Twins, but also Ning, who had shown them something incredible.
They thanked them all back and watched them leave.
The rulers of the Redraven region, Bluesparrow region, and Greendove region also came to congratulate them. Even Saburn came to congratulate, despite not being the true ruler of the Whiteowl region.
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Kaleb was asked to be taken away by the Greendove region ruler, promising to bring him back the next day. The Redraven head, Yorsha's mother was incredibly proud of her daughter as well and wanted to take her with her to celebrate.
However, the headmaster had to refuse. When asked, he simply notified them that it was his majesty's request that they all remain behind.
Finally, the students understood the reason why the headmaster had forced them to remain behind. They immediately started getting excited learning that the Emperor of the Dominion itself was coming to meet them.
The rulers had no choice but to accept what was told to them. After all, how could they refuse the Emperor?
Someone looked to the side and saw the Emperor walking toward them. The moment they notified the others, they all turned around in anticipation of the Emperor that they would meet for the first time today.
Ning looked toward the emperor and saw the white-haired old fellow. Next to him, he saw his son, the middle-aged man that had saved his opponent in the other arena. The Crown Prince.
The Emperor arrived next to the rulers and looked at them. "Have you not finished saying your congratulations yet?" he asked.
"We have," Yorsha's mother spoke. "I was simply trying to take away my daughter, but I hear you wanted to talk to them, so I decided to wait."
"Hmm?" the Emperor looked at the young red-haired lady and nodded to himself. "You can take her away if you want. I have no requirement of most of them staying here."
"Thank you, your majesty," the ruler said and called her daughter before walking away.I think you should take a look at
Kaleb left as well, walking away with the head of the Hass family.
The Bluesparrow region's ruler walked away after bowing to the Emperor while Saburn did not want to leave just so early. He wanted to see if he could find a moment to take the sword that Ning had with him.
He acted as if he left, but instead, he planned on waiting to the side.
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By the time the Emperor was alone and stood before the students of Blackhawk Academy, the sun had already hidden past the arena, filling the arena with darkness.
Bright lights were still high in the air, however, giving enough light for everyone to see.
"As an academy that bears the name of my family, I applaud you for the achievements you have gained today. It is no small feat to become first in the Interschool Tournament, even less to do so by such a large margin."
"As such, I would like to congratulate you all for your performance in the competition," the Emperor said.
The students felt proud, the headmaster even more so, but even then he knew it wasn't him that had achieved it. "I'm afraid while the others helped a lot, it was these three that did the most work."
"Had it not been for them, we wouldn't have won by such a large margin," the headmaster said, looking toward the twins and Ning.
"Yes, I know," the Emperor said. "Leave me with these three. The rest of you may leave and go back to your lodge."
The headmaster quickly thanked the Emperor and took the students and teachers away, leaving only Ning and the twins alone with the Emperor and Crown Prince.
There were other people there, he could tell, but they were all the Emperor's bodyguards certainly. With that in mind, they were gone from the new arena in a matter of minutes.
The Emperor looked at his grandchildren and hugged them both at the same time. "I always knew you would do me proud," he said. "You especially, Alena. You beat your brother, even though he trains more than you ever do. That is no easy task."
"Thank you, grandfather," the girl said with a small happy smile.
"Don't think I think any less of you for losing," the Emperor told Allen. "You lost against someone with two cores. Had it been a regular fight, you would have won that match."
"Yes, grandfather," the prince said.
"Alright, you two leave as well," he said. "I have business with your friend here for now."
"With Ning?" the prince asked.
"Yes," the Emperor answered. "Damien, take them away and send them back to their academy. I will remain here with this young friend."
The crown prince looked at his father with a bit of a hesitating look, but he quickly nodded. "Yes, Father," he said.
"Come on, you two," he spoke. "Let's go."
"Uncle, did you watch our battle?" Allen asked. "It was amazing, right?"
"Yes, it was great. Your sister was better than you," the Crown prince said.
"No she was not," the prince said. "She cheated. She said it herself."
"I won," the princess said simply.
The uncle, niece, and nephew went on their way, quickly leaving the arena door, leaving Ning and the Emperor alone in there.
Ning looked at the Emperor and quickly bowed in respect. "It is an honor to meet someone of your status, your majesty," he spoke. He didn't know much about the Emperor, so he decided to take it slow. He didn't even ask why he was made to stay back.
The Emperor looked at Ning for a few seconds before asking. "Where did you find the Pure Essence to reach such a high realm?" he asked.
Ning thought for a moment and wondered if he should lie, but decided not to. Maybe the Emperor knew what it was that he had eaten.
"I ate a fruit, your majesty," Ning answered. "It helped me improve my Essence a lot."
The Emperor frowned a bit. "Fruit?" he asked.
"Yes," Ning said. "It was some sort of fleshy fruit that contained a lot of juice inside. The juice from what I could tell was a highly concentrated Pure Essence. That is how I started my Essence journey."
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The Emperor thought for a bit and asked. "Was it white?"
Ning's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes," he said. "Do you know it, your majesty?"
"Where did you find this fruit?" the Emperor asked.
This one Ning had to lie about. He couldn't just tell that he had found it on top of a damn Divine Beast, or he would call him crazy. Even if he did believe him, he would then have to explain how he got to the turtle's back in the first place.
"A few fishermen in our village found them floating in the ocean, and my father bought it from them. I, being a mischievous child ate them when I found them," he said.
The Emperor certainly knew what the fruit was, or at least had heard about it, but he didn't reveal what it was to Ning. Instead, he asked another question.
"Your sword, may I see it?" he asked.
Ning was slightly perplexed at the request, but he didn't think anything weird with that. He had used an amazing sword, so the Emperor would most likely want to buy it from him.
He simply wasn't going to sell to him.
He took the sword out from his storage artifact and presented it to the Emperor with two hands holding either side.I think you should take a look at
The Emperor looked at it closely and nodded. "Good sword," he said. He had confirmed up close that this was indeed the continental sword. "Where did you find the sword?" he then asked.
"It floated in the ocean and was pulled by the fishermen, same with the fruit. I think because I had eaten those fruits, it bonded with me," Ning said.
"Hmm," the Emperor looked at the sword again and spoke. "I had initially intended on coming here to order you to give this sword to me."
Ning's eyes narrowed the moment he heard that. In the back of his head, he had an inkling of this being a possibility, but he hadn't expected the Emperor to be so blunt about it.
"I was going to force you to give me that sword," he said as a silver sword formed in his hand, with a unique Essence that Ning recognized from one of the previous battles.
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Crystal Essence.
"However," the Emperor continued. "Since you are going to become even stronger most definitely, I cannot let you live. Thank you for bringing the sword to me. You can rest easy in your afterlife now."
Ning's eyes widened as the sword slash came down at him with an incredibly fast speed. At the same time, crystalline spikes grew from behind him, intending to pierce his back while the old man cut him down from the front.
He had already created a spatial portal to go through, which had appeared behind him out of nowhere.
The crystal that sought to kill him from behind went into the portal from the other side, while Ning was trying to escape from this side.
However, it was too late. The old man was simply too fast.
Even if he had managed to surprise the old man by creating the portal out of nowhere, he would've still been cut down by this sword that he had no way of dodging.
Suddenly, something struck the side of the sword, sending it aside so that it didn't hit Ning at all.
Ning entered through the portal and fell 4 meters into the stage where he had made the come out. He quickly looked up through the portal to see what had happened and saw someone there that had saved him.
"Clara!" he shouted in surprise when he saw that the person that had saved him was none other than the boss of Paradise Hunters, Clara Grazer.
She held a dark sword in her hand that clashed with the Emperor's white sword, neither gaining an inch on the other.
The Emperor was surprised, even confused as to what was happening for a moment. However, when he saw that the person in front of him was using Shadow Essence, his heart skipped a beat.
"You!" he couldn't help but say in a fearful tone. He recognized the face. "How… how are you still alive?"
"Surprised to see me, old man?" Clara spoke with a merciless grin. "Did you think you had killed us all?"
"No! NO!" he shouted. "Only the younger son should have been alive."
"It was not the son, I'm afraid. It was the daughter," she said. "I had planned on letting the past be past, but no. Now that I have my chance, I'm not going to let it pass."
"I am going to kill you."
"I can't believe it," the Emperor said. "I had always thought it was the son that had lived, not the daughter. Not that it matters to me anymore. I never planned on going after you, but if you come to me yourself, I will simply finish the deed from 30 years ago."
"You bastard!" Clara shouted and spikes of shadows grew out from underneath her.
The Emperor, despite his age, nimbly jumped back to avoid the spikes, while sending his own crystalline spikes back at Clara.
Clara pulled up a veil of shadow that devoured all the spikes. She was about to go back to attack the Emperor when she sensed movements from around her. She fell into the shadow beneath her, dodging the attacks that fell on her from all sides at once.
The Emperor's guards had come to his rescue.
The 7 men, all with different Elemental Essence gathered where Clara had disappeared from and looked around.
The Emperor frowned. "You lot, stay behind. You are not her match," he said.
The guards turned back to look at the Emperor in utter disbelief. Each and every single one of them here was a True Essence Soul fighter. So how could the Emperor say that they weren't strong enough?
Unless…
Fear grew in their heart for a possibility, which the Emperor confirmed when he spoke.
"She's in the Stellar Harmony realm. You guys are absolutely no match," he said.
They were shocked beyond belief as the Stellar Harmony realm was nothing but a tale to most people that they only knew truly existed because the Emperor himself had reached it after hundreds of years of absorbing Essence.
He might have been slow as finding Crystal Essence was damn near impossible in this world, but still, it was far more readily available than when compared to something like the Shadow Essence, which this girl had.
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Then… how could this girl have taken it?
"The treasury was missing when we first looted the Grazer family," the Emperor said. "She must've used it all, a great Essence crystal mine's worth of Shadow Essence, all in that little girl."
The Emperor didn't know if he was getting angry or not. He had believed that he had stopped caring about the lost Shadow Essence, but seeing it being all put into one girl, he was quite angry.
He looked around for the girl, but he couldn't see her at all. He closed his eyes and started sensing the world around him to find the girl that couldn't have been far away.
As he was doing that, he sensed something else. Another person with a decent amount of Essence was running away.
He quickly opened his eyes and looked toward the stage when he saw Ning running away.
"Capture him!" he shouted, pointing at Ning. Ning had already made it past the stage, so he could quickly reach the gate if they didn't stop him.
Once he left, it would be complicated.
The 7 guards all turned to go after him at once when suddenly, one of them swung their hammer to the right.I think you should take a look at
It was a man with Fire Essence that swung the hammer, and the one that was nearly hit was a person with Wind Essence. He had pulled up his sword at the last moment to block the hammer attack and was sent a few steps back, stumbling on the uneven stage.
"What are you doing?" the other men asked, but the man with the hammer struck again.
They dodged easily as the man wasn't very fast, but he seemed relentless. He was attacking them one after another.
"What's going on!" the Emperor shouted. "Go capture h—"
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His words stuck to his mouth when he saw the pitch-black eye of his guard who had most certainly been corrupted by Shadow Essence.
The Emperor immediately looked down and stared in horror as the entirety of the stage was in nothing but shadows, and they were all stepping on it.
"Get off the ground!" he shouted, suddenly creating a platform of crystal that pulled him up a few meters from the ground. The crystal wasn't in the shadow that Clara had gone into, so he felt safe.
The guards tried to move as well, but the guard with the hammer continued attacking.
The Emperor moved and threw a blunt crystal at the man with a rapid speed, hitting him on the side of the head. "Create light!" he shouted.
The guard with Light Essence immediately created a brightly glowing light that drove away the shadow that the evening had placed in the arena.
The light even seemed to be so bright that it drove away the shadow that covered the man with the Fire Essence. He looked around, dazed, and his head hurt a little.
It was impossible to tell whether the Emperor's attack had been helpful in him waking or not, but he had so nobody questioned.
With the guard that created the bright light, they all felt safe. With brightness, they thought they sent away the shadow.
Only, they had forgotten that the brighter the light was, the darker the shadow became.
Clara appeared from behind the man that created the light with a black scythe in hand that moved imperceptibly fast the moment she arrived. The other people noticed and tried to attack her, but a veil of shadow appeared in front of them, and from it flew out crystal spikes that she had stolen from the Emperor early in the fight.
When the veil was gone, so was she. In her place was the Emperor, who struck the ground with his crystal sword, barely missing her once again.
"Dammit!" the Emperor shouted. "We need to find her qui—"
His words stuck to his mouth when something glowing appeared next to him.
The ball of bright light disappeared as the man fell to the ground, his head rolling into the ground. In his stead remained an Essence soul, one with bright butterfly winds, two antennas, and sharp claws for hands.
The Emperor looked at it and immediately realized what had happened. One of his men had died, and his Essence Soul had come out.
And it was most definitely going to want to fight them.
The Essence Soul realm was a realm where one create an Essence Soul and grew it alongside them. They were both separate enough in that realm, and the Essence Soul even had intelligence. But it was little, and always overshadowed by the normal intelligence of the body, so it never showed up when the person was alive.
However, when the body died and the Essence Soul remained behind, it finally had its own intelligence to control itself. And the intelligence it had was way too little to tell anything.
Most Essence Souls were confused when they appeared. After all, they had no idea why they could even think. The body did it for them all the times before.
However, now that they could, they knew that the body was gone. If the body was gone, it had died, and death frightened it. It had no intelligence to tell how it had even died, so all it could assume was something bad had happened.
When it saw people around it, especially strong ones, it couldn't help but assume that it was these people that did it.
So, when the Essence Soul of the Light Essence guard appeared among the 7 other people, its first thought was that it had been killed, and it was the 7 people that had been responsible.
So, it was going to attack.
Before it could attack, however, the Emperor sent crystals directly into the Essence soul, driving it away from the other 6, into the lower area of the arena.
The Essence Soul was pierced through and half gone when it looked back up and saw another volley of crystal come at it. After being struck by those crystals, it died and the soul dissipated into Light Essence, returning to the environment like a conduit that was destroyed.
Unlike an Essence Soul that was attached to a body, an Essence Soul of a dead person had no Essence Core to pull their energy from to heal themselves. As such, if you damaged them enough, they would die easily.
Still, if one had to kill someone in the Essence Soul realm, they had to do it twice and that was incredibly difficult for someone in the same realm.
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"Don't gawk around," the Emperor said. He had known what would happen, so he had taken action and killed the Essence Soul before it could attack them. "Do you want to die at the girl's hands too?"
The people quickly shook their heads.
The Emperor looked at where Ning was and his eyes narrowed. He had thought that Ning would have already run far away, but for some reason, he was still next to the gate.
When the Emperor looked closely, he saw someone else at the gate that had blocked him.
"Saburn?" he couldn't help but wonder when he saw the man.
He was a little glad that Ning hadn't managed to run away, but he was also a little concerned about why Saburn of all people was stopping Ning.
He was worried that Saburn would steal the sword from Ning before he could, but that didn't seem that bad an outcome. He could simply take it back from Saburn. If things went well, he could even pin Ning's death on his head and execute him while having nothing to do with the kid's death.
Seeing that he had no reason to hurry down there, he decided to finish this fight. "You 6 get away from me, and go catch that kid of Saburn lets him escape. I'll find this bitch for no," the Emperor said.
The 6 nodded and ran away. I think you should take a look at
The Emperor then closed his eyes and felt for the aura around him, especially one that sensed like Shadow.
His eyes suddenly opened wide and a grin appeared on his face as he jumped up. From below him, Clara appeared with her scythe, ready to kill him if she could.
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The Emperor swung his sword to stop the scythe and their battle continued.
Ning had taken the chance to run away from the arena and go into the public where they would have a hard time justifying killing him. He could even go find the other rulers and ask for help, which he may or may not get.
Anyway, he needed to get out of here first.
However, when he got to the door, the man that he had only seen in passing had been waiting for him and immediately started attacking him. Ning fought a bit and had to go back into the arena as he was pushed back by this man that was a True Essence Soul realm fighter.
He used Wind Essence, which was generally weaker among the Essences, but given that he was so much stronger than Ning, Ning could do nothing against the Wind at all.
He teleported out using his Space Essence and tried to run away, but the man caught up to him and sent him back inside.
Ning realized that he wasn't trying to kill him. At least, not until the Emperor was here most likely.
"Give up, kid," Saburn spoke. "You're not going to survive this at all."
"Who even are you?" Ning shouted. "Are you this region's fake ruler?"
"You do recognize me," Saburn said. "Why even ask?"
"Damn," Ning shouted, sending back a pile of rocks at the man that he shot using his sword. "Like father like son, I suppose. Attacking someone weaker than him, I see where your son got that trait from."
Saburn tossed the rocks aside, revealing a face full of anger. "You don't have to run your mouth just because you are going to die," he said.
"Die?" Ning chuckled. "We'll see." He was looking around for a way to run.
Suddenly, Saburn sent a wind blade at him that targeted his right arm. The blade was so quick that Ning couldn't possibly dodge it at all.
In a moment of panic, he swung his sword with Essence poured into it. He wanted to create some sort of earthen wall, but seeing the wind blades, he could only think about wind and nothing else.
Suddenly a massive gust of wind appeared from where he swung, destroying the wind blade and sending away Saburn along with it.
:)