Chapter 325: Determining Victory and Defeat
"Sleeptalker Presley, one of the three celebrity fighters of Abel Academy," Ayrin thought to himself upon seeing Presley step forward, his eyes immediately lighting up. "This time, there will be no tricks or artifacts, or any support from my teammates. A battle against such an opponent… it is the perfect opportunity for me to see just how far I've come!"
"What strong confidence… but you are only a first-year student of Holy Dawn Academy, and I… I am a third-year student of Abel Academy! Are you all not looking down on me a little too much?!" Presley thought to himself as he stepped towards the beckoning Ayrin. A tidal wave of emotions was currently crashing through his mind.
In the past, he had only relied on his natural abilities and the strong skills of Abel Academy, but now, he would have to rely on his own courage and will as well.
"The look in his eyes have changed!" Ayrin thought, his eyes becoming even brighter as he extended his arm towards Presley and shouted, "Come, brave warrior!"
"Watch out, I am about to start!" Presley replied before taking a deep breath. A tense atmosphere descended upon the sunlit plain, slowly causing Presley's blood to boil.
"You bastard, we are the team which won runner up in last year's national tournament, and I am one of the strongest celebrity fighters!" Presley roared to himself as his gaze sharpened and his eyes narrowed to slits.
But right at this moment, Ayrin abruptly shouted, "Wait a second!"
Presley, who had been about to make his move abruptly froze as he asked, "What is it?"
Ayrin abashedly scratched the back of his head as he replied, "I forgot that I have yet to replenish my arcane particles…"
He laughed in embarrassment as he continued, "So let me condense some arcane particles before we fight."
"You can even forget something like this?"
"You only thought of replenishing arcane particles at this moment?"
"And here we thought you could spontaneously regenerate your arcane particles…"
The group from Abel Academy felt like slamming their heads into the ground.
"……" Presley himself was completely speechless as well. All the will to fight he had built up just now had completely disappeared at this moment.
"Alright! I'm good to go!"
A while later, Ayrin signalled to Presley that he was ready.
"Okay!"
Presley's eyes glinted as they narrowed once more.
In the next moment, he abruptly disappeared from where he was standing opposite Ayrin. Afterimages of himself began to appear all over atop the plain.
At the same time, he quietly made an invocation under his breath.
Syllable after syllable of Draconic emerged from his mouth as a strange arcane energy fluctuation began to ripple across the plain.
"It's Draconic Assimilation!"
"A Draconic skill! Indeed unique!"
Cries of shock emerged from Stingham and Rinloran as they exchanged bewildered looks.
As Abel Academy had been founded by Draconic Scholars, they obviously would be in the possession of many top tier Draconic skills.
Many Draconic skills had an extremely powerful ability to absorb arcane energy, so much that arcane masters joking referred to them as skills with an appetite. This was because they not only absorbed the energy of the user, but also all the arcane energy around the user, sometimes even including the opponent's arcane energy.
Such a skill had been used by Holy Dawn Academy's Professor Plum during the battle against Dias which destroyed the Holy City's water tower. His 'Sound Absorption' made it so that any sounds created by the enemy, whether it be normal sounds or invocations, would amplify his other skills. Specifically, it absorbed energy created by vibration and assimilated it.
It was evident that Presley's Draconic Assimilation skill worked the same way, only it drew its energy from arcane energy fluctuations instead of sound.
Although they were dozens of meters away from Presley, Stingham and Rinloran could feel some of their energy being sucked out of their bodies towards Presley following his invocation of the skill.
A skill like this only became stronger as more and more arcane masters were present.
"Ayrin… won't use his favorite Skunk Devil Summoning again, will he?"
As the idea arose within Stingham's mind, his face turned color and he abruptly pinched his nose.
"Eh?"
But much to his surprise, a ring of silver light suddenly erupted from Ayrin's body.
Numerous silver seals abruptly appeared in the air above the empty plain and descended onto the dozens of images of Presley.
The sound of Presley's chanting disappeared.
His mouth was still moving, but no sounds were coming out.
"Domain of Silence!"
"How can it be?! How can he use our skill against us?!" Lotner blurted out. He had regained consciousness just in time to see the battle unfolding before him.
"How is this possible?!"
"Did he really…"
Looks of complete shock emerged across the faces of the Abel Academy students as they all had a shocking revelation.
At the same time, Ayrin began an invocation of his own.
And it sounded exactly like Presley's.
"This guy… he must have managed to master these two skills during our maddened rush!" Stingham inwardly exclaimed as he watched Ayrin use the exact same Draconic Assimilation which Presley had used. He could feel the energy which had been flowing towards Presley now gathering around Ayrin.
"He really managed to learn the skills of our Abel Academy?"
"He actually learned the skills he wrested from us?!"
"Just what kind of learning ability is this?!"
All the Abel Academy students felt a sense of madness welling within them.
"This kid… no wonder Minlur was so confident!" Kelly felt speechless as he finally realized just how large of an error he had made.
Not only had he misjudged the opponent's artifacts, but he had also misjudged their speed of progress and their talent!
"He actually…!"
Presley's body stiffened as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer.
Presley had mastered Draconic Assimilation during this past year, and it was something he took great pride in. But now, right when he had used it to try and establish an advantage for himself, Ayrin had used it as well! Ayrin had somehow mastered the technique!
And Domain of Silence as well!
His heart thumped wildly as he felt his arcane particles begin to roil within his body.
Whoosh!
The air around Ayrin trembled as a dust-like silvery white particles appeared.
The ground beneath Ayrin's feet cracked as if Ayrin's body had abruptly become hundreds of times heavier
"Silent Invocation!" A look of surprise flashed through Rinloran's eyes.
"It's Dust Binding! It's a skill which immediately limits an opponent's movement. The real attack is still on its way," Minlur explained to Stingham and Rinloran as he wildly swung his fists through the air.
Crackle!
Without any pause, a cluster of silver light appeared and took the form of a massive and sharp dragon fang and thunderously shot towards Ayrin's body.
"Consecutive attacks?"
"What a fast invocation speed! And it was all silent invocation!"
"Dragon Scale Absorption!"
A look of excitement emerged on Ayrin's face as he faced the massive dragon fang which was even larger than himself. He quickly crossed his arms before his chest and braced himself.
Boom!
A loud explosion sounded as the silvery dragon fang shattered into countless pieces.
Ayrin slid several meters backwards from the force but was otherwise completely fine as he lowered his arms.
"So strong and calm!"
"This guy was able to defend against Presley's combination with just a Draconic Assimilation enforced Dragon Scale Absorption!"
The other students of Abel Academy couldn't help but take deep breathes as they watched. Ayrin wasn't doing anything fancy, he was simply overpowering Presley.
"Evil Flaming Eye?"
Presley's current state was one of complete focus. His senses had been thoroughly awakened as he carefully observed Ayrin with eyes and spirit. As a result, it was as if everything had slowed down. He could clearly see the moment when arcane particles began to gather in Ayrin's right hand and form flames.
"Evil Flaming Eye is no threat to me right now!"
A sharp light flashed through Presley's eyes as he prepared himself to dodge Ayrin's attack and immediately counterattack.
"What?!"
"How can this be?!"
But in the next moment, he, along with the rest of Abel Academy's students, let out a gasp of disbelief… because not one, but seventeen Evil Flaming Eyes had shot out from Ayrin's palm!
Seventeen violently blazing Evil Flaming Eyes approached Presley, almost completely filling up his vision.
Presley had thought that with his own spiritual strength and Ayrin's abilities, the Evil Flaming Eye would not generate much of an effect against him. But at this moment, there were seventeen of them flying towards him! Nonetheless, he steeled himself, his face turning serious as he stomped his feet on the ground.
"Draconic Energy Shield!"
A radiant barrier of light surrounded Presley.
At this point, it was too late for him avoid the attack, he could only do his best to defend against it.
Boom!
Flames began to spread atop the barrier of light as the Evil Flaming Eyes collided.
But the barrier remained completely intact. At most, it barely trembled.
"Those were illusions! There was only one real Evil Flaming Eye!"
Presley immediately realized that he had been tricked. But in the next moment, his pupils abruptly shrank as he heard Ayrin cry out, "Crown of Ice and Snow!"
He watched as Ayrin burst through the flames and charged towards him like a flaming meteor.
Boom!
A massive chunk of white ice loudly slammed into the barrier of light around him.
"Activate: Fist of the War God!"
Presley felt his breath catch in his throat.
He trembled alongside the barrier as he watched Ayrin's fist thunderously punch the ice.
Bang!
The barrier of light around him completely shattered.
Presley felt powerless as a powerful shockwave swept across him and sent him flying backwards.
Countless shards of ice peppered his body, causing him immense pain.
"Water Dragon!"
Another bang rang out as a massive water dragon slammed into Presley in midair.
"What?!"
Stingham's eyes widened as he agitatedly hopped around where he stood and shouted, "Ayrin, you even managed to learn my skills?!"
"Draconic Energy Shield!"
Presley couldn't open his eyes as he sensed the danger he was in. He knew the outcome was about to be decided.
"What?"
But the powerful attack he was waiting for never came.
But right at this moment, presley felt a sensation of great fear wash through his body.
It was a feeling which made him completely powerless.
Everyone on Abel Academy's side was completely speechless.
They watched as a huge shadow appeared over Presley's body, which was still surrounded by tides of water.
They watched as Ayrin split through the water and landed a single thunderous punch onto Presley's chest.
They watched as Presley crashed into the hard ground and then bounced up and down several times like a rubber ball.
They watched as Ayrin landed on the ground and took no further action, a look of joy on his face.
The outcome of this fight had been decided!
