Once he was announced victorious, Ning walked away from the stage amidst many cheers and applause. He had a bright smile on his face as he walked away and returned back to the hall.
Only then did his face go from a smile to a slight grimace.
His right hand was entirely numb after being shocked by his own lightning. 'That's way too much lightning for my own good,' he thought.
The offensive technique that he had chosen from the school's skill shop had been this very lightning technique that gathered and sent out a very large bolt of lightning in the general direction pointed by his finger.
It was a strong offensive technique, but the downside was that he too was hurt by it to some extent as he could not fully send all the Lightning Essence in the other direction.
"Brother Ning! How did you do that? How did you use that lightning technique?" Tenn asked the moment Ning returned to the room.
"First Space and now Lightning. Is there anything you can't learn?" Kaleb asked, equally curious about it all.
"Hehe!" Ning gave a massive smile. "That's the benefit of having a pure core. You can use whatever skill you want. I learned that technique back in the academy."
The two young men were a little jealous of Ning for being able to learn whatever technique he wanted to learn.
The prince patted him on the shoulder. "Good work, little brother," he said. "You did a lot better than I had even hoped for. That lightning bolt was a work of art I must say. The pure crystal I gave you to absorb yesterday was fully worth it."
Ning smiled. "Thank you, your highness," he said.
"No, no, call me Brother Allan from now on. Congratulations on entering the Top 16," the prince said. "No other school has managed to have anyone in the Essence Manifestation realm into the Top 32, and yet our school managed to get one into the Top 16. Blackhawk Academy is truly great, isn't it?"
Ning smiled, but he could see that the last part of the words wasn't meant for him. They were rather there to taunt the other people that were focusing on them.
The next couple of matches were a sight to see as well. As there were only 16 different matches in the top 32, each one was going to be worth it to watch.
It was also important to watch especially because this late into the competition, people would start revealing techniques that they had been hiding all this time.
Ning saw his next opponent in the 2nd match, a man with a ponytail that had a water Core in him. He saw the Water Essence soul that he brought out, which looked like an armadillo fused with a human in some instances.
The next 3 matches after that were entertaining as well, but it was only after that that the students got a little tense again.
The prince's match was up.
The prince walked into the stage and saw his opponent, a blue-haired girl walk out as well. "Hello!" he waved to the girl as they walked up to the stage, only to be completely ignored by the girl.
The girl had heard rumors about the prince being a playboy, so she didn't want to talk with him at all unless he sweet-talked her into not fighting as hard.
The prince had no such intention though. At the moment, he wasn't even thinking of the girl as a girl, but as an opponent he needed to defeat.
He pulled out his axe, the one with the redhead and the bluish-white handle. As he grabbed it, cold mist drifted down from where it was held, clearly telling everyone that the handle of the axe was made out of ice.
The fight began with the prince taking the first turn. He sent out a small fire attack at his opponent and watched her dodge.
He spread the fire this time around and forced her to use Wind Essence, which he could see came from her sword.
The girl had a Fire Core, which he already knew, but he still wasn't sure what other Essence Conduit she had. He could see the sword, but the armor was still missing.
3 ice spikes grew from the ground around him as he sent them flying in the girl's direction.
The girl waved her palm, and a massive arm made out of the fire came out as it completely destroyed the 3 ice spikes. The Fire Essence soul then came out in its entirety as the girl prepared for the upcoming fight against the prince who was a realm stronger than her.
The prince smiled and started sending out a barrage of attacks.
The girl stopped everything she could and even sent out attacks of her own that the prince had to stop. The prince tried to close in on the girl at multiple times, but the fire skill she used was too much for him to get close.
While not on the level of Yorsha's, this girl's fire burned hot as well, melting each attack he made with his ice before it even got to her.
He only had 2 options now, which were to either use a large ice attack that wouldn't melt entirely before it reached her.
Or find a way to get just close enough that he could use the Essence in his sword's handle. He decided to keep it for the next couple of matches and started fighting with just his Ice Essence.
He jumped in close enough as he could get and slammed his feet onto the ground. The ground cracked, and from the crack formed ice that spread all around the stage, but mostly in the girl's direction.
The ice melted before they reached the girl, but it also weakened the heat quite a bit.
The prince continued pouring out ice along the surface until the heat was weak enough, and some of it reached right next to the girl.
At that moment, he suddenly turned into ice, shattering into many crystals, while his real body popped out from the ice that had reached the girl.
The girl panicked as the prince had just teleported right in front of her and was ready to deliver his finishing blow.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om