Ning stood frozen where he was, looking in front of him where there was a large gouge on the land before him, a large cloud of dude and Saburn who had flowed far away.
Saburn balanced himself with a Wind technique and looked back in shock. Had that… been wind? Since when could the young man create such a large gust of wind, enough to throw back someone in the True Essence Soul realm?
Ning was still very surprised, perhaps a bit too much even. He had just created a gust of wind, and it had not been from any technique but from the sword.
He couldn't help but remember the words written on the piece of paper that the headmaster had handed over to him before he went to the match against that girl. It had said something that he hadn't believed at the time and had thought that he was being pranked.
He was told that the sword he held, the one that he used to create the large earth pillar, was in fact capable of creating many more such Essences with the same level of production.
And that he had to use it in the battle.
Ning hadn't believed the note. That had to have been false. After all, it went against what he understood about Conversion as a whole. To convert something physical into a conduit, you needed to fill the object with Essence.
If the Essence was similar, it could be used to create a fantastic conduit. If it was not, the effectiveness of the created conduit dropped by a lot.
As such, someone with Fire Essence Core would never create a Water Sword, even if it was possible, as the effectiveness of the sword would never be as good as what they could with a Fire Sword.
Another truth was that the more the element was used for conversion, the harder it became. The increment in the types of elements used also exponentially grew the difficulty.
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Since people would rather just use two good swords, instead of a mediocre single one, no Converter wanted to create something like that.
The Prince's axe had been a result of something similar as well, but he was done well enough that it didn't seem much of a problem.
However, for something like his sword, which already had quite a lot of matter compacted into it, just imagine that there was another entire element in there was a possibility that was simply not there.
Or at least that had been the case, until he sent out a gust of wind.
Now that he had seen that, he had to believe, at the very least that there was Earth and Wind element in the sword. Someone had managed to compact a lot of Earth and Fire into that sword, creating an artificial conduit at a level that was never before seen in this world.
If it was, it was incredibly rare. Earth and Wind at the same time; Ning wonder what sort of genius could pull this off. When he thought about that, another possibility entered his mind.
If this was the case… then was it possible that the rest of the elements that the paper had said would also be there? It had mentioned that it could use many different Essences, more than just Earth.
Surely that didn't end at Wind, right?
Ning didn't know what exactly the elements in the sword were, but he knew where to start. He saw Saburn in the distance and saw him ready to fly back at him.I think you should take a look at
Ning poured a bit of Essence into his sword and imagined himself using another element in a different matter.
This time, it was going to be Water.
The moment he thought that orbs of water appeared around him, surprising him positively. It had worked.
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There were nearly 8 different orbs of water that soon grew bigger and bigger until each and everyone was half the size of Ning. Then, he attacked.
A sharp string of water flew out from the orbs at an incredible speed, piercing through the wind and the dust as they all targeted Saburn.
Saburn realized what was happening and instantly used a Wind technique. He was suddenly tossed into the sky, dodging the water threads that moved through underneath him.
Ning looked at the man in the sky and pointed his sword, thinking of another Element.
Fire.
A massive fire tornado that brightened the entire stadium appeared out of nowhere, quickly moving to where the Whiteowl region's unofficial leader was moving around.
Saburn tried to move away, but the fire followed. Not only was the cyclone of fire quick, but it was also equally hot and damaging. It left glowing earth through which it moved, and burned anything else that was there.
Saburn started getting annoyed at the fire and drew out a massive amount of Essence before throwing enough wind below him to dispel the entire fire tornado at once, huffing as he did so.
He couldn't believe that he, someone in the True Essence Soul realm, had to use up a lot of Essence to just fight off a single attack from the young man.
"You… bastard!" he spoke, breathing in and out at a quick rhythm. He was as angry as he was surprised.
Ning smiled at the man's anger. He wanted him angry. He wanted him mad. He didn't want him to have a good time.
He was definitely here to kill and steal from him. There was no way Ning was going to let this be fun for him, even if he were to lose this match.
The man, in his anger, used a lot of Essences to create a massive wind saw in the sky that spun, threatening anyone that it would be coming for.
Ning frowned when he saw that. He thought for a moment and put down the sword. At the same time, he put up his hand, pointing a single finger at the man and his Wind Saw.
Then, he used something that hadn't appeared in this world in centuries.
"You know, I should have frozen your leg to keep you from moving. I could have won if I did that," Allen said as reflected back on the match against his sister.
"I would still have won," Alena mentioned. "I was ready to transfer my Essence from one core to another. You might have won if you knew what I was doing. But since you didn't, you wouldn't."
The two siblings bickered a bit on the street while their guards were too used to such a display to even be embarrassed. They simply walked next to them, sending away anyone that tried to come close to them.
Well, even if they did, it wouldn't be for the prince or princess at all. After all, behind them was the Crown Prince, who walked without saying anything.
The two siblings ignored their uncle for long enough that they nearly even forgot that he was there. When they did remember, they turned around to ask him for advice on which of the two was a better fighter in the competition.
When they looked back, they saw their uncle completely lost in his own thought, not paying the two of them any attention at all.
"Uncle?" Alena called out to him.
"Uncle!" Allen spoke a little loudly, finally catching his attention. "What's wrong with you, uncle? Are we boring you? Just say so and we won't talk about the match."
"Hmm?" the man asked, completely not understanding what his nephew was even saying.
Alena narrowed her eyes. She looked around discretely and back at their uncle. "Are you alright, uncle? You seem sick," she said.
"No, I'm… alright," the Crown Prince said. He was… alright, right?
His mind was consumed with the thought that his father was going to do something once again out of impulsiveness and ruin the future of someone that could truly be the pillar of their land.
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He knew, just as his father said, that they could turn out to be evil and be a danger to their family. But wouldn't they be trying to befriend them?
If you squashed every little bud that seemed strong enough to grow to be a giant tree, what would happen to the forest?
There was strength in unity, and his father seemed keen on dividing it all.
"Uncle, are you truly ill?" Allen asked, bringing his attention back to them again. Damien shook his head and nodded furiously.
"I'm alright. You guys don't have to worry about me," he said, roughing up his nephew's hair. Let's continue. We should reach the academy folks if we hurry," he said, continuing to walk through the road.
The two siblings went back to talking about more mundane things, but they kept an eye on their uncle, who they were worried about.
Had he been feeling under the weather?
As they talked, the topic changed to Ning, who had shown such incredible results. Hearing them talk about it, Damien couldn't help but be a bit curious.
"How is he? This Ning fellow. Do you like him?" he asked.
"He's… pretty good as a person, I guess. He's quite strong, but didn't appear arrogant at all," Allen said.
"He's old too, around our age, but… he never acts out age," Alena said. "It's hard to say what age he acts like. He seems completely oblivious to many obvious stuff, but he somehow still appears reliable."I think you should take a look at
"Right, right. That," Allen said. "Can you believe it? he said he would've likely beaten me if he wasn't slow to break through to the Low Essence Realm. And somehow, I completely believe it."
"He did?" Alena asked.
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"Yes," Allen said. "And I sensed his Essence too. So pure… I can't help but wonder just what sort of Essence Soul he has formed. Do you know what a Pure Essence Soul usually looks like, Uncle?"
He turned to ask his uncle, but his uncle seemed completely out of it.
"Uncle?" he called out.
Damien's mind raced from one side of the fence to the other, trying to make up his mind on what to do. He looked at his niece and nephew, their young and innocent eyes.
The young man would be no different. So innocent… so happy. If he could keep them then—
'But he is most likely dead,' Damien thought. But… but… if he was not…
"I need to go," he said, turning around right there. "You two, take the prince and princess back to your academy friends as soon as you can."
"Yes, your highness," the two young guards said in a serious voice as Damien rushed back toward the arena.
They wondered what was happening. Where he was going. But they had been ordered, so the two of them decided to leave.
Damien employed the wind to his cause as he rushed as quickly as he could to go back to the new arena. He hoped he prayed that his father hadn't already killed Ning. He wanted to help the young man survive.
He couldn't let his father kill another innocent person again. He had been young and had no authority to speak to his father back then. He had done what he could to appear to be against him, but he never truly could.
However, now he was going to. Even if it required him to directly oppose his father, he was ready to take on that option.
He arrived close to the arena and sensed strong Essence fluctuation from there. They were a few people outside, wondering what was happening inside, but they didn't go in.
Damien, however, rushed without waiting. The moment he arrived at the door, he noticed the destruction there. He looked at the source of the destruction, Ning, who pointed high in the air.
Damien looked up and saw Saburn creating a massive wind blade with which he was about to attack Ning.
Damien wanted to help, but then he sensed something.
A ball of dark colorful light flew into the sky, containing all Essence and none at once. It struck the wind blade in the air and simply vanished into it.
A moment later, however, it showed its effect.
The Wind blade exploded.
Not all of the Wind Blade exploded at once; just a part of it. But, that part alone was enough to tear the rest of the blade down to the point where none of it could even come close to Ning at all.
Saburn looked at the scene in absolute shock as he had simply no idea what had just happened. One moment he was preparing his attack and the next moment… his attack got destroyed? By a Low Essence Soul kid?
Had the world gone mad today or what?
Damien looked at Ning in surprise as well, and so did the other 6 True Essence Soul realm guards who were standing far around Ning to just make sure he didn't run away from the location. Once the Emperor was done dealing with the girl that he was fighting with, he would soon come to deal with it.
They too had no idea what Ning had done at all.
Not a single person did, because not a single person knew what Essence he had just used. It was… black, and yet it was colorful. Like every other color mixed into one, shining through a veil of darkness that gathered it.
'What was that?' Damien wondered.
"Hahaha!" Ning laughed out loud when his technique worked way better than he could have expected it to. "You can't do shit, bitch!" he shouted at the man in the sky. "Do you think you're safe? Nah! I'm gonna kill you."
His roaring laughter caused the other people in the area confused and worried. Most didn't know what to think of the situation.
There was no way someone at the Low Essence Soul realm could possibly beat someone at the True Essence Soul realm… right?
At least, that was what nearly all of them thinking. Saburn on the other hand wasn't thinking much at the moment.
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His mind was filled with rage. Rage at the fact that he was being humiliated by a youngster that was barely at the Essence Manifestation realm just a few hours ago. "You little shit!" he shouted out loud as the green Essence of Wind flowed around him, covering him all around. At the same time, two giant bird wings spread wide behind him in the sky.
Then he flew down at an incredible speed.
"Shit!" Ning realized he was in great trouble. He poured Essence into his sword, creating a giant pillar of stone out of pure instinct. At the same time, a portal opened up and he teleported somewhere close by.
When he reappeared, he quickly closed the portal and watched Saburn burrow through the ground to land where he stood before. He looked around searching for Ning, saw him, and then paused.
Ning was a little surprised that he paused, but then he saw someone standing behind him. He quickly turned around to see a person dressed in completely black that he had seen attack Clara in the audience area of the Arena before.
These were… the Emperor's people.
Now that Ning looked around, there were more people than he had thought. "Are you here to kill me?" he asked.
"We do what the Emperor commands of us," the man said, bringing out a Fire sword. "Now, just remain here, the Emperor will come for you soon."
Ning's eyes rapidly moved around, trying to think of what he could do. He could fight this man, most likely, but… could he fight the rest of the 5? And what if Saburn joined them? Could he fight them?
He also saw the Crown Prince at the far end of the arena, walking towards him. 'Great!' he thought. 'Another one to add to my problems.'I think you should take a look at
Ning was starting to get a little annoyed.
"You! Stand back," Damien shouted as he came toward the man. "Don't you dare touch him?"
"Your Highness," the man in black spoke, a little surprised to see the prince here. He was supposed to be with the twins.
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"No one will touch this young man while I am around," he said and walked up close to Ning.
Ning was confused and even believed this was a ploy and remained alert. But the Prince showed no hostility at all.
"Your Highness, we are ordered by the Emperor to make sure this young man doesn't leave the premises of the Arena. I am afraid we cannot do as you ask," the man spoke even as he lowered the sword.
"I don't care," the Prince said. "I'm here to oppose my father. I'll oppose all 7 of you along with him."
The man showed a slight grimace at the word '7', but the prince didn't see it. "Don't worry, I'll save you. I won't let my father do something like this again," the prince said as he patted Ning's shoulders.
Ning was genuinely confused. Was this still a ploy?
"Where is his Majesty?" Damien asked. He was a little surprised to see Ning alive for sure. He was sure he would have been dead by now.
A few noises and a single finger from the black-clothed man took Damien's focus toward something that was in the distance, away from his sight. He turned around and saw his father… fighting.
He looked at who he was fighting with and saw a girl dressed in black clothes. He watched only for a second when the girl brought of black spikes from the ground, trying to stab his father, who brought out white crystal spikes to fight back.
He shot a few toward the girl, who quickly hid herself in the shadows, appearing at a different location to attack the Emperor.
At that time, her hair flipped, revealing her fair and beautiful face to the light that shined on her.
The moment Damien saw her, his heart skipped a beat. He walked away from Ning, in a daze as he walked toward where the fight was.
Those skills. Those Essence. THAT FACE.
He couldn't help but look at her in shock. Was it truly her? Was the love of his life truly returned again?
He couldn't help but rush close enough to see her. When he did, he couldn't help but shout out her name.
"Clara!"
Clara swung a shadow scythe that she had created herself. It was a weapon that she had converted herself and thus used in a fight.
She had only just destroyed the spikes that flew at her when she heard someone shout her name.
She looked toward the voice and for a moment felt her heart drop. "Damien…" she whispered, confused and melancholic at the sight of him.
She didn't know how to feel about him. She had seen him in the competition, coming to save the one kid, and had thought to herself that she wouldn't interact with him ever, so she had nothing to worry about.
However, she hadn't expected to meet him directly, what more in such a situation. She didn't know what to do. What to say?
She had loved this man once, secretly, as he had loved him, but that was a long time ago. The love had ended when her family died at the hands of his. Her love for him had turned to hatred that day and then slowly died down to nothing as her hatred vanished.
She had truly believed, until a year ago, that she would want nothing to do with the southern half of the continent as she wanted nothing to do with her past.
However, her past didn't let go of her at all.
Hearing him call out his name brought out the love she felt for him all those years ago, and at the same time, the hatred she felt for him.
The Emperor saw that she was distracted and shot two crystal spikes at her again.
Clara quickly focused back and swung her arm to fight off the first crystal. However, by the second one, she was too late.
It struck her, right in the right shoulder, gouging out a chunk of it as it went past it. Immediately, she felt pain like never before. Her vision blurred and her ears went numb.
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She couldn't hear or see anything as she faltered to the ground. Without hesitation, she called for the shadows underneath her and disappeared into it.
Inside the Shadow, she floated, sunk, drifted, and hung all at the same time. She couldn't breathe down here. Neither could she see anything other than outlines of shadows.
Even if she could, it wouldn't be helpful to her. At least, she was safe.
She gained control of her senses as it all slowly returned to her. She hadn't taken a breath before coming down here, so she needed to do so again.
She focused upward and saw two silhouettes in front of each other, seemingly talking. She couldn't hear the conversation, but she could hear echoes.
One of them was Damien.
"Stop, Father!" Damien spoke to the Emperor.
"What are you doing here, you idiot?" he shouted. "I sent you with the kids."
"I came back to stop you!" Damien shouted at his father, perhaps for the first time in his entire life. He didn't remember shouting before this. "Enough with the killing, Father! How many people must you kill? How many more lives will you take?"
"As much as I need to," the Emperor said.
"You don't need to kill anyone, Father. Please, stop with this obsession. Not everyone is a threat. Not everyone will hurt us," Damien said.
"What if they do?" the Emperor asked. "Do you want to see your brother's corpse before you regret it? Do you want to see the twins murdered right in front of your eyes before you realize what you should have done?"
"I do what I do so you and the damn family can sleep well at night. If you can't see that, then you are more stupid than I ever thought you were," the Emperor said. "Now, if you're done with your childish rage, move aside. I've got a ghost to kill."
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The Emperor walked past his son to where Clara had disappeared to. She had left behind Shadow Essence when she went into her escape technique, and he needed to sense it to see how far she had moved.
There would be a trail left behind where she moved temporarily. If he could catch it, he could catch her.
As he was searching, the girl came out, but not where he expected. She appeared, haggard and disheveled, next to his son and pointed 6 dark insect-like sharp limbs at him, all coming out from her back, made completely out of shadows.
"Move… and he dies," she said, gasping for breaths that she missed while in the shadow space.
She stared around her, looking for anyone that might come attack her, and looked back at the Emperor after realizing no one was coming.
"Clara, it's me, Damien," the Crown Prince started speaking. "You—"
"Stop speaking or I'll kill you," she shouted directly into his ears.
The prince flinched, not because of the sound, but because the sharp needle-like arms that were coming out of Clara started digging into him a little.
The Emperor frowned a little and also got a little curious. He was surprised that the girl hadn't immediately killed his son, and was instead taking him as hostage.
Was she too wounded to get out of here on her own… or was something else going on?
"I told you," he spoke. "You let your guard down and they will come for you."
Damien remained quiet, finding it hard to say anything at all as the arms dug into him. He turned his head toward Clara and saw the angry look on her face.
It reminded him of the old days… and remembered the fact that he could not protect her back then. The day he got the news from his father that the Grazers had died had been one of the worst days in his life.
"I'm… sorry," he said. "I'm sorry."
"Stop speaking, or I'll kill you," Clara shouted at him. Even as she did, he couldn't find it in him to stop his words.
"I'm sorry," he said once more. "I… I tried to protect you all, but I couldn't. I'm so sorry."
Clara teared up, unsure herself if it was from the pain or from what Damien was saying. The sharp shadow limbs that grew out of her stabbed slightly deeper into him, drawing blood. However, she found it hard to push it any further.
She steeled herself, bringing back the ferocity that she had lost with the pain. "Your apology means nothing to me," she said. "Your family is the reason I do not have mine today."
The shadow dagger in her hand moved closer to his neck. And further and his neck too would start bleeding.
Damien was instantly mortified at the thought that he was going to be killed here, all at the hands of the woman he had thought he had lost all these years. Somehow… that thought didn't bother him at all. He felt like he deserved it.
The Emperor saw this all and thought something to himself. He grinned internally as he realized something.
"You stupid little son," he spoke. "I told you we had enemies that needed to die so we could be safe. Do you see what I mean?"
The Crown Prince's eyes widened. He was trying to say that now? When he was about to die? Did he not realize what was happening?
His breathing increased rapidly as anger filled him. Words came out of his mouth before he could think and he finally said what he had wanted to say to his father all these years.
"You have enemies, Father," he said. "Not we, YOU! Anyone who could become strong is a threat to you. Whether it was her family or the young man that is in the arena; you kill everyone that shows any sort of hint at becoming a strong individual."
"You do not see the good in them all. What you see is a reflection of your own heart. That is what you do. You think of ways not to befriend a person of higher authority, but to get rid of them."
"You have no faith in people at all, Father," he said. "I am ashamed to be called your son. Kill me, I would rather die."
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Damien closed his eyes, ready for death. He had said what he wanted, apologized to the girl and her family that he felt he had done wrong, and now he was ready to die.
Except, the blade never came.
"Dammit!" he heard Clara curse from behind him as he was pushed forward. He heard her run away and turned around to catch a glimpse of her disappearing into the shadows.
Had she chosen to not kill him?
"Pathetic!" the Emperor spoke to him as he rushed past his son arriving at the location where Clara had disappeared into.
"You won't run away from me, girl. I have killed your people before and I can do it again," he shouted. A long snake-like white Essence Soul floated out of him and immediately expanded to become a massive snake in the sky.
The Emperor used a technique, creating giant crystal spikes in the sky, and shot them into the ground. He made multiple ones of these and shot them down in a circle, enclosing the area where Clara had run off to.
He threw spike after spike on the ground, and once there was not a gap remaining, he used his Essence to grow out the spikes to a point where they completely enclosed the entire area in a dome.
The inside of the area was dark and shadowy, so the Emperor immediately brought out a Light sword and used it, creating a glowing ball of light that floated in the center of the dome.
Then, he turned around, looking at the only piece of shadow in the room that Clara could now access to come above from her Shadow Space. His own shadow.
"There is nowhere else you can run off to, little girl," the Emperor taunted her. "Come out quickly, so I can kill you."
Ning sent a large burst of fire on the man that attack him with fire as well. The two fires collided, the quantity and quality countering each other.
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Ning then ran away from the man when another one came up close. The man didn't attack him, but he also didn't let Ning escape. They were all waiting for the Emperor to be done with his fight so he could come and kill Ning himself.
Ning was frustrated at the black-clothed men as he really didn't want to push back against them since they were strong enough to hold him on their own.
He also saw Clara being captured in the dome and was worried about her as well.
"System, keep track of Clara," he said. "Save her if any attack that lands on her ends up being lethal."
Understood
He hadn't used his system in over half a year because of his own self-imposed rules. But he would be fine to break it if it was for someone else.
"Don't save me though. I asked for this," he said as he looked around, thinking of a way out of this sticky situation.
Understood
Once the system's words vanished, Ning started trying to list down what was happening around him, and what he could do.
The first fact was that Saburn had attacked him to keep him in the Arena. Ning wasn't sure if he was under the Emperor's orders, but he surely was helping him.
The second fact was that the Emperor was busy with Clara and wasn't going to attack him in the meantime. Damien was there as well, trying to break into the crystal dome, but completely unable to.
The third fact was that the black-clothed men were here to keep him from escaping, and would only attack him if he tried to leave. If he stayed, they did nothing.
Gathering all those facts, Ning couldn't help but frown at the knowledge that there wasn't any fact there that was especially helpful to him.
'No,' he thought to himself. 'That's not true. There is another thing I'm forgetting.'
His eyes turned to Saburn in the distance.
Fourth and probably the most important fact right now was this; Saburn was angry.
Ning ran toward Saburn.
He had a general idea of what he could do to get out of this situation as soon as he could, and it only lay in Saburn's direction.
The other 6 people were about as strong as Saburn, but they were unified. If things got too dangerous, they would move in to help each other. But Saburn… it was rather unlikely.
Maybe he would get some help if he was an actual ruler of this land, but as the fake ruler, Ning had more chances than not.
Saburn, even through his seething anger, realized that Ning was coming toward him. He looked in the direction of the men that chose to not pursue him and wondered what he was supposed to do.
"Can I kill him or not?" he shouted at the men.
"You must keep him alive for the Emperor," one of the men said.
"What about hurting him?" he asked.
"Only alive," the men said.
That was all Saburn needed. Instantly, the wings on his back unfolded, sending out multiple green feathers at Ning, all of which were made up of Wind Essence.
These feathers were razor sharp and tore through the field as they went toward Ning, and would surely kill him if he did nothing.
Ning didn't stop at all. Instead, he used his sword to create an earthen that was nearly 5 meters thick that stopped most of the feathers. The ones that did manage to pass through were weak enough that he could simply dodge it.
For the ones he couldn't, he blasted a massive burst of fire that thwarted the rest of them.
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Wind covered him as well as he sped up and jumped over the thick earth wall. He crossed it all in a single leap and saw Saburn using another skill.
A massive cyclone formed in front of Ning, threatening to engulf everything in the area.
Ning frowned a little but quickly gained his composure as he pointed toward the incoming cyclone with his sword and used another skill.
A massive blast of water that nearly pushed Ning back erupted out of the sword, hitting the cyclone with a volume that seemed to dwarf it as well.
The cyclone, burdened by the force and weight of the water it now carried, destroyed itself as the remained water was flung into the air to come down as a short burst of heavy rainfall.
Ning created a protective shield over him using the earth to stay out of the water, and when the water had disappeared, he jumped out of the cover and looked at Sabrun in the distance who had managed to remain dry thanks to his wind skill.
However, even if his upper body was dry, the water in the ground still surrounded him and was enough for Ning.
Ning pointed his finger on the ground and Saburn sensed the Essence.
Lightning.
He jumped at the last moment as a thunderous noise shook the ground. Ning's massive bolt of lightning spread through the ground but touched no one in the end.
Saburn took the opportunity and used the opportunity to send 3 Wind Blades at Ning, none of which were particularly strong, but were strong enough to hurt him badly.
Ning noticed that and quickly created a portal in front of him, through which the blades flew and came out on the other side, right behind Saburn.
Saburn's wings fluttered once and a gust of wind threw the blades into disarray, which then dissipated into thin air.
Saburn stared down at Ning who seemed to be able to fight him on equal for some reason. Was it because he himself was holding back? Or was it because of the sword that was somehow creating many elements now?
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This wasn't working, but he was simply too angry to give up. He was already angry that he couldn't kill him, but not even being able to hurt him was not something he wanted to happen.
At the very least, he wanted to cut off an arm or two.
The green wings on his back widened as it slowly grew to be larger than before. Along with the wing grew a head with two ox horns and a face that looked not so similar to Saburn.
No hands grew, but legs did, which looked like bird legs as well. They held talons at the bottom.
Ning frowned a little when he saw that.
One thing he knew now about Essence Soul was that they were generally in the shape of an animal or insect or plant, the last one being the rarest.
As one grew through the Essence Soul realm, their Soul would drift further and further from having human features and would quickly envelop the features of whatever it was that they started with.
By the True Essence Soul realm, there were few human features left in an Essence soul, and that was what was required.
The lesser the human feature, the more one had the chance to enter the Stellar Harmony realm, where one's soul and body would become one.
The soul could harness the power of one's body and the body could harness the power of the soul.
Seeing how close to a bird Saburn's soul was, if he continued training enough, he could enter the Stellar Harmony realm in the future. This surprised and worried Ning.
He was definitely strong enough that if he wanted to, he could have at least injured Ning, if not killed him.
Now that the Essence Soul was out, he could use more techniques with even more effectiveness.
The amount of Essence he could pour into attacks now would be ridiculous.
At this moment, there was only one thing Ning could do if he wanted to survive. Just one thing.
He needed to improve the power of his attacks as well, and for that, he needed to bring out his Essence Soul as well.
Ning hadn't done this before, so he was a little worried about how it would go. However, this was no time for caution at all.
So, with a blinding white light, his Essence Soul started forming behind him.
A pure white ball of Essence floated out from behind Ning. There were some wisps and tendrils of energy growing from the white ball, but they disappeared as quickly as they came and didn't remain there long enough to be a permanent part of the white ball.
The people looking at him were surprised and confused at the same time. After all, what they were seeing was not something that they had ever seen before.
"Is that… an Essence Soul?" a person asked, very much flabbergasted by the situation.
Saburn looked at the massive white ball that was nowhere near the shape of any living beings out there. He could not tell just what he was looking at.
Ning took a deep breath and released it before looking toward Saburn.
"Come, let us start again," he said.
A small tendril floated out of the Essence Soul, that instantly glowed with blue light. At the next moment, a massive bolt of lightning flew through the sky, hunting for Saburn.
Saburn swooped below immediately the moment he sensed the attack. He dodged the lightning bolt and came for Ning.
Ning looked at the man and pointed his sword at him. "Hmm, I wonder what else it can do," he thought. And then, used another essence.
A geyser of mud sprung out from in front of Ning, shooting into the sky. Saburn had to stop and move away from it, to not get hit.
He took a bit longer coming this time around and when he did, multiple crystal spikes shot at him.
Saburn stopped in his track again, having to dodge the crystals. When he dodged it, something else came for him.
Magma.
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He dodged that too, but it had been really close. He could feel the heat as the magma went past him.
He stood there for a moment, stupefied as to what had just happened, before flying in another direction as a massive ball of fire flew in his direction. He stopped at one point and instantly created a volley of wind feathers from his Essence Soul that he sent toward Ning.
Ning frowned a little. This was the thing about using a conduit that was always a con. He could never use techniques with specific shapes as the sword he used would never have that.
He could create arrows, feathers, or some other shape. The most he could do was give a rough shape to his creations and hope it was good enough.
A wall of rocks formed in front of Ning, followed by a wall of crystals. Both were thick enough that when the barrage of feathers landed on him, they were stopped.
Ning pointed his sword to the sky. Another Essence.
Nothing happened.
"Ok, no Void Essence," he thought. "What about the other one?"
That didn't work either.
"Light," he tried. It worked. A bright light spread from the sword, lighting up the area around him to the point that Ning himself had to close his eyes.
The burst of light was mostly directly in Saburn's direction and was fast enough that he couldn't stop it. Of course, they were also so weak that it barely tingled the man when they landed on him.
Ning then created a sandstorm around him, only now realizing this was why he could create a Sandstorm during one of his fights when the sword should have been just a normal sword.
"Just how many Essence does this damn sword have?" he wondered. He threw the sandstorm in Saburn's direction while running in another direction to dodge the next incoming attack.
Saburn was tired of this all. He wanted to end it, go kill the young man. He couldn't handle being played around by someone two realms lower than him.
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With the many people watching, he was destined to not have a favorable impression on the Emperor in 4 years when it would be his time to become the ruler of the Whiteowl region.
"Come here you little bastard!" he shouted, following Ning's Essence even when he couldn't see him at all.
He arrived out of the sandstorm and looked in Ning's direction. However, to his surprise, he couldn't see him at all.
'What?' he thought, surprised. 'What's going on? Where is he?'
He could swear that he could sense him right in front of him, but he couldn't be seen. Saburn focused a little more and looked at the place more carefully.
When he did, he noticed something that he would've otherwise missed easily had he not tried to look for it.
Down on the ground, near a ruined spot, there was a small boulder, and next to the boulder was a shadow that was a bit too dark and large for that boulder.
'Shadow Essence?' the man looked in shock. That was one Essence he was quite careful about since that was what had gotten the Grazers killed.
He was well aware of the fact that it was the Emperor that had killed them but had to act like he did not know that.
"Do you think hiding there will help you in any way?" he asked as he prepared a tornado around him that he was ready to throw down.
The wind gathered around him, green in color as it was filled to the brim with Wind Essence. As it gathered more and more, he got ready to send it all down at Ning.
However, before he could do it, he sensed Space Essence form behind him. "You won't catch me off guard," he shouted, turning around at the last moment as he pushed the Wind into the portal that opened.
However, as Ning appeared out of the portal with his sword in hand, something else came from within him that terrified Saburn.
It was an Essence he had never felt before, being used by the massive pure white sphere that was the Essence Soul.
A bubble of Void Essence spread out of Ning, erasing any and all Essence that was in the surrounding, removing the tornado.
Then, Ning arrived on top of the man who was temporarily without any Essence to use and swung his sword.
In a single strike, Saburn was cut into two.
1218 Run
Void Essence was a simple Essence that on its own did nothing. It was an amalgamation of Essences that remained in a harmonious state where it could turn to any other Essence it needed to.
When it came into contact with anything that had any sort of Essence in it, it would turn itself to the exact opposite of that Essence, consuming it, making it vanish.
It was called a Void because everything that touched it disappeared, becoming a form of Essence that was simply pure.
Ning's Void skill created a domain around him that destroyed any and all Essence, including the skills that were used. As such, when he used it, Saburn could not use anything to protect himself.
Ning landed on the ground and next to him was the now-dead Saburn.
No one expected Saburn to die. Why would they? He was fighting against someone that was 2 realms below him, so there was no threat to him.
Sure the person he was fighting was strong and had many tricks up his sleeve, but even then, pure strength was hard to beat.
So, when the two halves of Saburn— cut diagonally through his chest— fell to the ground, no one could comprehend why that had even happened.
Why had he not saved himself? It didn't look like he was caught off guard.
And what was that Essence they just sensed?
The 6 men that watched Ning were more than curious to know what had happened to him. Even the Prince that had given up trying to break in was now curious as to what was happening.
As for Ning, he was panicking.
Using Void Essence wasn't easy for him. To destroy the Essence of someone as strong as Saburn, he had to use up a lot of Essence. Due to that, his body was now in terrible pain that he couldn't handle, and the Essence in his core was as low as just a tenth of the total.
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He was lacking a lot of Essence, but that wasn't even the worst of it.
What was worse was that next to him, a green bird-like Essence soul was slowly appearing from Saburn's corpse, the part that had the core.
This was Ning's plan all along. He wanted to kill Saburn while he was angry and underestimating him. However, he did not expect to be so useless the moment he did so.
Using Void Essence left him unable to use Essence for a few moments, so he couldn't do anything right now. All he could do was jump up and run away from the location.
Ning showed no hesitation in doing so as he quickly found himself running toward the closest man he could find.
The black-clothed man that saw Ning coming toward him understood what was going on. Ning wanted him to fight the Essence Soul.
He could easily run away and let Ning fight. However, there was a problem. He wasn't sure what the Emperor would do if he left the young man die before he came.
The man frowned for a moment before sighing to himself. He had no choice.
Two giant pillars appeared out of the ground around him, slowly becoming fists. They were less solid earth and more a collection of small rocks.
He punched the bird-like soul that flew next to Ning. The soul reacted in time, using a barrage of feathers to attack the man.
'Shit!' the man thought. His own Essence soul was not non-humanoid at all, so he was weaker than the Essence Soul in front of him.
He had quantity though, so he had to use it.
While the man fought the Essence Soul, Ning made his escape. He ran away from the place, running in a direction to leave the arena if he could.
However, another man in a black cloth arrived next to him and sent a burst of steam next ot him, stopping him from running away.
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Ning stepped back and evaluated the situation again. He saw that 3 other people had run up to the other one to help him fight against the Essence soul while this one fought Ning.
Ning looked at the last man that seemed conflicted about who to help at first, but in the end, decided to help aid the man confronting Ning.
Just then, Damien flew into the arena and arrived in front of Ning. "Go, leave this place," he told Ning before turning toward the men. "You will not stop him."
"Your Highness, please," the man said, looking at the Crown Prince. "Don't make this hard for us. We're under his Majesty's orders."
"If you won't listen to me, then fight me," Damien said and instantly created multiple blades of Wind Essence that he used to attack the two men at once.
One of the black-clothed men created an explosion of steam to protect himself, while the other one created an ice barrier.
"Run," the Crown Prince said to Ning who was stunned that the prince was helping him.
"Thank you," Ning said and ran away.
The two men tried to catch upto him but the prince stopped them both. A tiger-like Essence soul came out from behind him as he got serious about the fight.
The two men got serious as well.
It was going to be impossible for them to fight the Crown prince without hurting him, and only remaining in defense wasn't going to help them at all.
At the same time, Ning was running away, so they needed to stop him as soon as they could.
However, before the fight between them even began, a loud voice spoke to them all.
"Pathetic!" the Emperor cried out as he arrived outside the crystal dome, Clara nowhere to be seen.
The Emperor dashed forward and arrived in the arena, sending a crystal spike that pinned Saburn's soul to the ground.
"He died, huh?" he asked. "Too weak. And he wanted to replace the Grazers? Hmph."
His eyes turned toward Ning who was doing his best to run away.
"No," the Emperor said. "You are staying behind."
A spray of crystal surrounded the exit in front of Ning who quickly opened up a portal to the other side. Even when he went through it, the Emperor followed behind him as well, going through the portal to grab him.
He tossed him back sending him through the portal that had yet to close entirely.
Ning skidded along the floor, rolling for a few dozen meters before coming to a stop. The portal disappeared and the Emperor destroyed the crystals the walk back to where Ning was.
Ning wanted to run away, but the black-clothed men had gathered around him, stopping him from going anywhere.
"You guys leave," the Emperor said, walking back up to where Ning was. "That girl is wounded and should be coming out of the shadows anytime soon. Go and kill her; even you lot should be able to do that now."
"Yes, your Majesty," the men said and immediately ran toward the crystal done where only a single door was available out of the place. They arrived outside, and circled it, ready to kill Clara.
Ning was a little happy to know that Clara was still alive at the very least. Even though he knew the system would save her, he still couldn't help but worry about her.
She had grown on him in just a few days he had spent with her, and knowing her tragic past, made him empathize with her even more.
'So she sunk into the shadows then, huh?' he thought. It seemed he had no reason to worry about her. For now, he needed to worry about himself.
He stood up, with pain all over his body, but not enough to keep him down. He looked toward the Emperor who stood tall in front of him and glared at him.
The Emperor held a light sword in his hand, which he had used against Clara.
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The Emperor watched him slowly stand up, then turned to look in the direction of where Saburn's corpse was and where his Essence soul was pinned to the ground. "Not bad," he said.
"To kill someone in the True Essence Soul realm is not an easy feat. You are a strong fighter, stronger than what you showed in the tournament it seemed. You would've certainly won against my grandchildren had you had the chance for it."
Ning grinned at the man, hiding his grimace. "Well thank you for the kind words," he said. "I will definitely appreciate that as you try to kill me."
"Sarcasm?" the Emperor raised his eyebrow. "Cope with it however you wish."
"Father!" the Crown Prince shouted.
"The woman you love is about to die at the hands of the Royal Guards," the Emperor said, without even looking toward the prince. "Are you going to stay here and save him, or are you going to go save her?"
The Crown Prince looked stunned for a moment, staring at his Father and then toward the Crystal dome that was surrounded by the guards. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do.
"Save me," Ning said. "Clara will be fine, I promise."
The Crown Prince hesitated even more. On one side was perhaps the most talented youth in the history of Blackhawk Dominion, and on the other side was the woman he had loved since they were but mere teenagers.
The prince wanted to save what could be the future of his country… but he also wanted to save the woman he loved, the one he thought he had lost and had come back.
He couldn't bear to lose her again.
"I'm sorry," he said and turned around to run toward where Clara was.
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The Emperor finally looked at his son leave and sighed. "Truly pathetic," he said. "Guess I'll need to prepare Darmon to take over the throne. I let this one try and change himself, but it is clearly not happening."
"Maybe you're just a bad father," Ning spoke.
"That's not something you should say to your executioner," the Emperor said, turning back toward Ning. "You could die this way, you know?"
He swung down his sword without warning. Ning had been ready for it, but even so, it was very quick. He barely managed to move a bit to the left when the sword fell on his left arm.
The muscle on his left arm was flayed open, the sinews and bones inside being clearly visible for a moment before they started bleeding.
At the same time, before the pain hit Ning, he swung his sword as well, slashing at the emperor's wrist.
The Emperor pulled back his hand, but the sword was too long to fully pull back, and as such Ning hit it.
The entirely light sword shattered in a single hit by Ning, turning into motes of light that brightened the dark area momentarily before vanishing altogether.
"Not bad," the Emperor said. "As expected, the Continental Sword truly is the greatest legendary treasure of all time. The fact that I managed to find it centuries after it went missing is a blessing in disguise for sure."
"Don't get so excited, you're not getting this sword," Ning said with a pained look on his face. The wound on his arm hurt him so much that his vision blurred to the point that he nearly fainted to protect his mind.
However, he persevered. He had managed to stay awake and now, he wanted to do anything to get away from here.
He pointed his sword toward the emperor as he started pouring Essence into it as much as he could to use an element, any element.
Fire, water, magma, ice, steam, any would work. He just needed to use it.
His mind landed on Magma as it felt the most damaging of the lot and used—
A crystal sword flashed be a second and Ning's right arm that held the sword was ripped from his torso, the sword and arm falling to the side.
The last attack that was supposed to save him never even formed before he was defeated by the Emperor.
Ning cried out in pain, finally as his other arm was ripped away.
The left arm hurt because it was flayed open, but the right one was completely gone, and yet he felt the felt on his arm that wasn't even there.
The Emperor ignored the pain and wounded Ning before walking over to the sword that had been flung to the side. He kicked Ning's arm to the side and stood in front of the sword with greedy eyes shining at the prize.
"You!" Ning cried out. "You truly…"
He couldn't form words. The pain kept taking away his focus from the thoughts that he tried his best to form. He couldn't speak his mind at all.
"Shut up," the Emperor said without glancing back. He didn't want anyone to disturb him while he made the sword his. He let Ning suffer for the moment and reached down to grab the sword.
His hand gripped the hilt of the sword tightly and he pulled on it. Instantly, he felt the unbudgeable nature of the sword.
He grew blue and red in the face, turning purple as he tried his hardest to pull on it. But even with the strength of a Stellar Harmony realm individual, he couldn't even budge a single dirt off the sword.
It lay on the ground, unmoving.
"Truly amazing," the Emperor said. "This is a sword that holds the weight of half a continent."
He smiled as the years of knowledge that had been passed down through his ancestors were finally helpful to him. He tried to move the sword around a bit more and only smiled more when he couldn't move it at all.
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"Ha! Hahaha! Hahahaha!" he laughed out loud with happiness he hadn't felt in ages.
Clara looked toward the emperor even though she was fighting for her life at the moment. She was surrounded by the 6 True Essence Soul guards, who normally should have been easy for her to win against.
However, she had lost movement in her right arm, and her left leg was completely cut off. She had formed a fake leg with Shadow Essence, but it would be destroyed if it took too much damage.
Behind her grew out a massive black Shadow Essence Soul. It was a giant black spider with 8 pitch black eyes that seemed to stare into the soul of a human being. It was wounded too under the constant barrage of attacks that Clara had received.
She was wounded… and confused. She looked to her left at the Prince who fought against his own people to protect her.
Why did he do that? Did he really feel guilty about killing her family? She couldn't forgive him though, but she also needed his help.
The other 6 were staying far away so they only attacked her and didn't take on any attacks themselves.
She looked at Ning in the distance, wounded and dying. She wanted to help him, but… her own life was at stake at this point and there was nothing she could do about him.
He was going to die, and she could only let that happen.
'I shouldn't have fought,' she thought. 'I shouldn't have attacked him, and instead should have just taken him away.'
She regretted her past actions but that was of no use now. She could only hope for the best. At worst, she was going to die before they could torture her.
The Prince knew he wasn't going to die, but he was still being attacked so much that he would get injured if he couldn't hang on there properly. Even with his Essence Soul out, it was a risky situation to fight in.
Ning was all alone at the moment, but that did not make him scared. "You're not getting that sword," he said loudly, fighting back his pain.
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The Emperor turned around with a confused look. "Now, why would you say that?" he asked. "You're dying. What are you going to do with it?"
"Even after I die, you won't get that sword," he said. "I'm certain that you require extremely pure Essence to bond with that sword. Otherwise, it's not happening."
He wasn't sure if that was the case, but he had a hunch about it. He couldn't imagine why else the sword hadn't been bonded until now or had records of being used anywhere else.
"Do you know about the sword?" the Emperor asked. "I'm certain you do not. This is a sword made by someone so strong that he converted half a continent and everything inside of it into a sword."
"This is a sword that can use almost all of the Essences in the world. You don't need a pure essence to bond to it," he said. "You only need it to be unbounded. Which, unfortunately for you, means you will now have to die."
"Even if I do, you won't get your hand on the sword," Ning said, feeling his vision slowly fade, his head a jumbled mess. He was rapidly losing blood and he couldn't do anything about it.
"You know?" the Emperor spoke. "For a kid, you talk a lot of crap. And here my son was suggesting that I let you marry Alena to bring you into the family."
Those were the words Ning last heard before a single tone enveloped his hearing. Still, he replied back with what little voice he had.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in someone so young, even less to become part of your family," he said. "You can kill me now."
He closed his eyes and lay there.
"Okay," the Emperor said as he used a bit of essence. Crystal spikes appeared from beneath Ning, shredding his body as they all pierced through it, killing him in an instant.
The Emperor shook his head and turned around to grab the sword. Now that the sword's owner was dead, he could finally claim it.
However, when he looked at the sword, his eyes widened in shock. The sword was not there at all.
"Where…" he searched in shock.
Then, a voice drifted from a distance to his left.
"Looking for this?"
:)