"Well fought young man." The rider said as his torso started sliding from his waist.
The destructive power that his fused skill had when boosted by the [ Lightning Charge ] skill was incredible, that coupled with the [ Severing, Lightning Slash ] made it impossible for the rider to survive.
Reign had used up pretty much everything at this point, he had used all the boosts that his rank A items provided, and the ones from the rank S ones. The boosts would only last for about a minute longer and then he would be left with nothing.
"You went easy on me, that's the only reason why I won." Reign said as he panted, he had used a lot of power in the last couple of attacks which had made him quite tired.
"Won, you said anything about winning?" The rider suddenly said as black smoke appeared around him. His torso suddenly re-attached itself with the help of the black some as even the wound that was made by Reign's lance started healing with visible speed.
There was no armor on the place it was getting healed however, only dark skin. His arm suddenly shook before flying toward the rider and attaching itself back to the body. In mere seconds, the rider that was supposed to be dead had healed himself completely.
"What the hell?"
"Relax, when fighting those below Tier IV, they are never expected to win, it's simply too much, you have already shown enough to pass the round, and your friends as well, but I want to see more, I have a feeling that you still hadn't gone all out." The rider said as he pointed his sword at Reign.
"Worry not, I won't make you do it, I know that you have more rounds to fight after this so I will make it easy for you, survive this attack of mine, and I will let you pass the round." The rider said as his sword suddenly started turning black.
The black sword made the hair on the back of his neck stand up as cold sweat drenched his back. The feeling the sword gave off was one of desolation, as if nothing would be able to escape its power.
'Should I use [ Etherial Truth ] ?' Reign thought before quickly dismissing it.
'No, it's too slow to be used right now.'
'Then that leaves only one way to get out of this fight alive.' Reign steeled himself as he poured all of his mana into his sword and body. Lightning flickered around him as his hair stood up straight.
[ Mana Coating ]
[ Lesser Lightning Body ]
[ Mana Slash ]
[ Lightning Roar ]
Reign coated his sword with an incredible amount of mana as its white blade disappeared and only the blue mana coating it was visible. Reign's body was buffed by the [ Lesser Lightning Body ] and his speed was significantly increased, although a bit inferior to the speed boost he received from the [ Lightning Charge ].
The lightning body did also boost his strength and defense a bit so it more than even that out.
The [ Mana Slash ] skill was one that Reign rarely ever used. The reason for that was simple, even though it was a powerful skill, the power was equal to how much mana was used for it.
Compared to his other skills, the mana usage would be higher to deliver the same power, making it pretty much obsolete. This time, however, Reign was going all out and he poured almost all the mana he had into the skill.
His sword suddenly became 5 meters long as the sky-blue mana covered it completely. He used the [ Lightning Roar ], not to attack the rider, but the sword itself.
As the beam of lightning hit the sword, it actually fused into it as Reign controlled both the lightning and mana to enter an equilibrium, at least for a short period of time.
The control needed in order to do so was high, not as much as a real fusion, but close to it.
"Hmm, not bad, you might actually make it." The rider said before slashing at Reign with his black sword.
Reign did the same, all the mana and lightning that was around his sword was sent to the rider as Reign moved by about 1 meter to the front. The movement was instantaneous and the sound barrier broke, he used his boosted body to move and add more power to the attack.
The blue sword light that was filled with lightning collided with the pitch-black sword light that the rider had sent. The power behind the attacks exploded as they crashed, there was first silence before a loud sound akin to an explosion reverberated through the arena.
Both of the attacks exploded and the explosion hit both the rider and Reign, sending them flying back and hitting the walls of the arena.
The rider's body was once again injured, his armor cracked and some parts fell off, but he was still in the game. He flexed his back and detached himself from the wall in which he was embedded before stopping and staring in Reign's direction.
Reign was much worse.
His body was filled with injuries and a lot of blood was spilling from his body. His eyes, however, were still filled with power as he gave it his best to get out of the wall.
The rider was a bit wobbly on his legs, even though he was in a much better condition compared to Reign, he was still injured by the blast their two attacks had produced.
As for Reign, he could barely stand. Even though a fighting spirit was evident in his eyes, his body was different, even standing straight was a challenge right now.
His mana was almost completely depleted and his vision was hazy, the rider's figure was blurry and he couldn't even muster enough power to hold his two swords anymore.
"Impressive, coming up with such an attack with so little time given, you have truly gone over my expectations boy." The rider said with his raspy voice.
"I hereby declare that you have passed this round!" As the rider's voice echoed in the arena, the other three riders suddenly stopped fighting and made their way to him.
Wolf and the others fared no better than Reign. Their bodies were in a bad state as the battle against the riders was a hard one, each of them used up everything they had, only to find that their opponent was much more powerful than they ever imagined.
"We declare that you have passed!" The three riders suddenly said in unison as they stood next to the rider that fought Reign.
Their armor was tattered and parts had broken off, their black skin showing itself to everybody. None of them had had it easy during this round, but they were clearly the winners, and yet they just declared that Reign and the others had passed.
"You seem surprised." One of the riders said as he looked at Wolf.
"When it comes to those that had reached Tier V or above, it is near impossible to be defeated by someone of a lower Tier, even if we are restricted to the same tier." Another knight said before they all turned around and made their way to the gate that had opened.
"You have done well, you pass this round." The third knight said before the four of them disappeared inside the tunnel of the arena.
"YYAAAA!!"
Suddenly loud cheers shook the arena as all the participants loudly cheered for Reign and the others. Even though they were in a bad state, they managed to pass the round.
The angels ran towards Mia, Reign, and the others, each one grabbing one of them and making sure that everything was alright.
Reign didn't know that, however, as his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.
He didn't know how much time passed before his eyes opened, but when they did, he was no longer in the arena.
"Where?" Reign said with a coarse voice.
"Nowhere" Another voice answered.
Reign turned back, only to find an identical copy of himself who was clothed in all black sitting on a rock and looking at him with a smile.
"It has been a while, hasn't it Reign?"
"You again." Reign scoffed at the copy before standing up.
He was currently located in a field. Wheat and barley could be seen all around him, the field seemingly stretched endlessly as Reign could see no end to it.
There were no hills, no trees, nothing except for barley and wheat in his sight, and the rock on which the dark copy was sitting.
"Why have you called me here, where is this?" Reign asked the copy who simply smiled and shook his head.
"I didn't call you over, it was you who came here, was it simply an accident, or something you did subconsciously, who knows?" The copy shrugged his shoulders as he stared at Reign.
"As for where this is, well, like I already said, it's nowhere, but also everywhere." The copy said before waving his arms and changing their surroundings.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l