Chapter 255 Chapter 255 – Alaric and Tiara in the Arena
*Dong!*
A strong clang was heard and a few ice shards blew up near Alaric's spear. He charged forward, his legs leaving a trace of lighting as he thrust his spear to attack Tiara.
The young woman did not falter. A layer of ice covered the whole area nearby, and she began skating in a graceful dance with her saber. Alaric, doing his best to keep his balance, had to slow down and support himself with Lightning Qi to remain standing, and he barely held back the deadly saber with his spear while being pushed backward.
Thumping the butt of his spear against the ground, a strong vibration passed through the ice, making it shatter. Tiara tried to recast her ice layer, but the sound had echoes that continued breaking the new layers even after the first sound was over.
"It had been a good spar as always," Alaric said while bringing water out of his storage ring when they finished their match.
"You too," Tiara was never a woman of many words, not even after getting closer to someone.
"I've been wondering, why does your fighting style resemble a dance so much? Wouldn't you be able to defeat me if you used more efficient moves?"
"Hmm, I wonder, I know you're holding back yourself," Tiara refused to elaborate beyond that. "I think it's time we go and make a name for ourselves here," she quickly changed the subject.
"True. It'd be better if we could prepare the place for Team Leader. It'd be embarrassing if he comes here and finds out we're still at the bottom rung."
The pair were on friendlier terms now after 3 months of practicing together. At first, Tiara was indifferent and aloof like always, but now she opened her mouth much more often than before, even if not enough to call her talkative.
As for Alaric, he always regarded her as a backstabber that Ken was mistaken to recruit, but he was also warming up to her now.
They walked to the Hall of Glory to issue their challenges.
"Hello, how may I help?"
"We want to challenge the two highest-ranked disciples we can."
Alaric spoke for them, aware of Tiara's dislike for talking. The receptionist at the counter scanned their discipleship tokens before giving them her answer.
"I see you're still unranked, so you can only challenge those between rank 901 to 1000. Would you like to challenge ranks 901 and 902? I'd recommend searching for information about them first, maybe you could find more suitable opponents."
"No need, please issue a challenge against them. It doesn't matter who gets which."
"Sure. If you win, you can challenge the people ranked between 801-900, and so on."
The receptionist finished registering the challenge and handed them their tokens back.
"You will be notified of the time for your challenge, it will be within 6 days. The challenged disciple has 3 days to answer the challenge and then can pick any date and time he wants within 3 days from the answer."
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"Good luck," Alaric sent off Tiara to the arena. She was fighting first, and her opponent was a man in the lower fifth stage. When the match began, a formation was activated, suppressing the man's nascent soul completely, making it impossible to use.
'So he still has the advantage of having his soul nourishing his body,' Tiara thought to herself. Even if he couldn't use the advantage of executing multiple techniques simultaneously nor could he absorb Qi faster, the nascent soul nourished the cultivator's body all the time, making it more powerful than a fourth-stage cultivator's body.
"Tiara Glacier vs. Toman Anderson, begin!"
"Be careful, Junior Sister." Toman's polite words were met with a silent nod from Tiara.
Tiara drew out her saber and charged at the man who welcomed her with two swords in his hands. She swung her saber down in a beautiful arc, and her opponent responded by raising a sword above his head, blocking the saber.
A wave of Ice Qi was sent to freeze his body, and he deflected it away with his Sword Qi, but the force behind the strike sent him stumbling back. He was caught unprepared; he believed he'd be able to block her strike with a single arm and use the other sword to retaliate, but her strength proved to be equal to his or higher despite her stage.
'Ken's pills do work miracles,' Tiara thought to herself. She enhanced her cultivation and foundation with Ken's manuals and pills, turning her significantly stronger than three months ago.
Tiara charged forward and thrust her saber before Toman could regain his footing, and this time, Toman blocked it with both swords. With the momentum gained from the clash, she then performed a captivating pirouette with her bare hand reaching forward.
The crowd watched in surprise, expecting Toman to easily block it with his sword and cut the woman's hand off, but surprisingly, the man watched the palm come his way silently, accepting the slap without resistance.
*SLAP*
The sound reverberated in the arena, and the man's face froze instantly, leaving him unable to think and react. Tiara's saber was soon placed on his neck, and he had to surrender.
"Winner, Tiara Glacier!"
The judge, just as surprised as everyone else at the weird development, announced her victory. The crowd was not sure why Toman could not react at the last moment.
"It was beautiful, I lost my breath for a moment. Good luck in the future, Junior Sister." Toman bowed slightly with his fist cupped and stepped out of the arena.
"Thank you for going easy on me." She spared him a few polite words this time before leaving. Even if she didn't like to speak, she wasn't a dense woman who could not say a few polite words to prevent useless enmities in the future.
"How come he did not react to that last slap?" Alaric asked curiously. He also noticed his reactions were slower when he fought against the ice princess and wondered if she had a way to chill them with her Ice Qi without them noticing.
"He's a man, maybe he was busy looking at the wrong places." Aware of Alaric's observation, Tiara teased the righteous man, prompting a snort in response.
"I'm going now, wish me luck."
"Defeat her with skill."
Alaric rolled his eyes and stepped into the arena with a light jump, his spear ready in his hand.
"Alaric Sonora vs. Rikka Reno, Fight!"
He looked at his opponent, a burly woman with shredded muscles and shoulder-length orange hair.
"Please go easy on me, Senior Sister," he said politely.
"Be careful."
The two charged against each other, and Alaric soon felt a strong headache when the woman pulled out two daggers and tried to slit his throat. He retreated, unsure how to deal with the weird circumstances.
'I should've asked for the information instead of being overconfident. There are too many strange Qi types in this sect,' he mused bitterly as he tried to burn whatever was affecting his mind by coursing Lightning Qi throughout his flesh.
"Junior Brother, you seem confused. Maybe you didn't gather information about my abilities before challenging me?" Rikka asked while rolling on the ground and trying to pierce his calf with her right dagger.
He lifted his leg, using the butt of his spear as a staff to help push himself back faster. He did not bother to answer; since she already observed the situation correctly, he knew she'd capitalize on this advantage to the fullest. Only a fool would disclose their advantage. Besides, she was in the same situation.
"AHH!"
He shouted in rage, sending waves of Sound Qi straight to the woman's ears. Everyone would take precautionary actions when facing a Sound Qi user, but she could not gather information about his Qi types – he was new to the sect and had not fought in the arena before.
"Argh!"
She groaned in pain as blood leaked out of her ears. She was a Mind Qi user, and she did her best to block the sound waves from her brain, but the Qi was surprisingly overwhelming for a fourth-stage cultivator.
Alaric felt his headache alleviated, and he rotated his spear quickly to pierce the woman's side. She managed to deflect it with her dagger, but still disoriented from the shout a moment ago, she failed to react in time to the kick that followed. Alaric's foot connected with her shin, causing her left leg to lose its grip on the floor.
Unwilling to lose the chance to take down the kneeling opponent, he attacked. With a quick spin of his spear, the shaft hit Rikka's chin and sent lightning into her head, making her lose consciousness momentarily.
"Winner, Alaric Sonora!"
This time, the crowd at least understood the flow of the fight and the way Alaric defeated his opponent.
"Thank you for letting me win, Senior Sister." He cupped his fist and bowed before leaving.
"You're strong and talented. Good luck climbing the ranks."
Alaric and Tiara left the arena together and headed to the Hall of Glory to issue their next challenges.
"You still use your old spear. I thought you were supposed to switch your weapon?" Tiara asked with an intrigued tone.
"You're right, but I keep it secret for now to surprise you later. It's not very well suited to one-versus-one fights anyway, at least not in my current stage."
They both kept their lips sealed regarding the real secrets of their inheritances, each with another agenda in mind.
"Well, maybe the top 10 can force you to reveal your secret moves. Anyway, let's go and challenge the next opponents, we should get to the top 20 before Ken comes here."
"You're right. I wonder when Team Leader will finally be here."
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