Chapter 364 Finalists
364 Finalists
Reece switched up his pace as his aura became stronger and his movement became sharper.
Kiara, on the other hand, was matching Reece's rhythm.
Reece made a powerful strike, making Kiara dodge it.
Both of them were utilizing the entire stage as they went from one end to another.
Kiara would always swiftly change the direction of her back, so she was never pushed towards the boundary.
Kiara Everett was a hunter who excelled in an environment where she had the support of other hunters around her.
But in a one-on-one scenario, Reece was still stronger.
She had no choice but to carefully choose which way she moved and constantly change it so that Reece couldn't corner her.
Reece was intentionally giving Kiara a chance to counterattack him even now.
'It seems like she will not take the bait,' Reece concluded.
But because both Reece and Jayden had seen Kiara's strength and fought her, they knew how hard it was to fight her.
The odds would have been reversed if this was a Team Tournament.
Because Kiara's specialty lay in taking advantage of the wide area around her, she wasn't as strong in a strictly confined space.
Even though the stage looked very big for other students, for A Rank Hunters, that was still a small space to fight in.
Slash!
Reece slashed near the feet of Kiara instantly as his sword got countered by the first strike.
Kiara jumped in the air as she got upside down while Reece twisted his body to strike Kiara, who stopped Reece's sword in mid-air.
Kiara smiled as crystals appeared on her wrist.
It was a special usage of Earth elements that Kiara could do.
Kiara could use crystals to support her body at any moment and remove them the next.
It was a powerful ability that allowed her to minimize any damage done to her.
Earth Element was the element Kiara had the highest affinity for. It was one of the applications of earth elements she mastered after years of practice.
She used the strength Reece was applying on his sword to push her body back and land on the ground.
Both of them stopped for a second as they looked at each other.
"That's a troublesome ability," Reece muttered as he intensified his aura.
"But can you defend against this," Reece said as he dashed towards Kiara, leaving a trail on the stage.
It was extremely fast, and Kiara knew the power behind Reece's attack would not be small.
A formation of crystal armor formed around her, and it was something that all Fourth Year Students had seen.
Kiara's crystal-created armor was something that she could utilize, and even use her aura to make it denser.
Water droplets started to gather around the sword that Reece had in his hands.
Something Kiara noticed, and as their sword met, those droplets became like sword slashes that Kiara felt around her body.
Part of her Crystal armor broke, but the crystals appeared again.
Till Kiara could keep her concentration and mana, she could endlessly fill the broken part of her armor.
Something that made Kiara a fearsome hunter, especially in a dungeon facing monsters.
Kiara could react to surprise attacks or even protect herself from critical injuries.
Which made her the perfect leader to lead and command her party.
In all the Dungeon Activities, Kiara scored the same score as Jayden Hargrave.
But this was a duel, not a place where she could rely on her teammates.
Each time Reece would move his sword in the same direction, those droplets would act as blades.
Small wounds appeared on Kiara's hand.
Reece was not stopping his sword slashes at all.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Their afterimages were appearing everywhere, but it was obvious that Reece had gained the upper hand in this battle.
He was not giving Kiara any time to think and disturbing her concentration to create a crack in her crystal armor to wound her.
And it was working, but he was paying the price as well.
If not for the Aura protecting him, Kiara's sword would have almost made a huge cut on his body.
'Crazy bastard,' Kiara thought as she kept deflecting Reece's sword.
She made some distance between them and charged first this time.
Kiara already knew how far both Reece and Jayden could go to win, and their previous battle was the perfect example.
She knew that Reece would take risks while battling her, but he wouldn't push it unless Kiara did it first.
Reece also knew that Kiara had no interest in the rankings, so he was also trying to end it as fast as possible.
But both of them had their pride. Neither of them would go down without a fight.
"Flow of..." Reece muttered something while Kiara was coming at him.
He swung his sword in a full circle as water emerged around the area. But it was not normal water; and it was denser, very sturdy, and most importantly, it was enough to stop Kiara's sword.
As soon as Kiara saw it, spikes made of earth appeared as Kiara stepped and slammed her leg on the ground.
Reece stepped back gracefully, avoiding each of them.
But while doing so, he noticed that Kiara was already within his close range.
Taking a huge leap back, Reece took the sword beyond his shoulder and brought it forward, making a slash-like action.
Suddenly, Kiara felt a sensation of danger as she jumped up.
BOOM!
Reece's attack of condensed water droplets made an impact on the barrier, making a huge sound.
Reece didn't appear hesitant to use killing sword techniques in this tournament because he knew Kiara would dodge.
Due to how much time they had spent in dungeons, in dangerous situations, all the fourth-year students had honed an important skill that every hunter needed.
And that was instinct or sense of danger, which was extremely useful in dungeons where any kind of situation could arise.
She sensed that if the attack hit her, her sword would have taken a lot of damage.
Both of their swords were A Rank Swords, and they were not enough to handle the attacks if it was on the level Reece used earlier.
"That's too bad," Reece said as he looked at this attack that had barely missed Kiara.
He had purposefully done this when Kiara was coming at him finally, but Kiara managed to dodge it at the last second.
"So this is the level of World Academy," The Students from other academies were shocked to see Reece and Kiara fight with their own eyes.
It had been two minutes, and Kiara and Reece had both shaken the barriers multiple times.
They could feel the movement in mana due to their fight.
Kiara and Reece were merely 18 years old, and they were this strong, and it was shocking for students for other academies.
"Wow, they are still going on," The First Year student muttered.
"Yeah, no wonder they are the strongest in the Academy," Another added.
The fight was still going, but Kiara had some wounds, and Reece was breathing a bit heavily.
But it looked like Kiara was more tired than Reece.
She had been moving a lot, making Reece's attempts to push her out of the stage useless.
But that also meant she was tiring herself quicker.
Using her crystal armor and keeping her concentration in such a battle was draining her.
"Let's end it this time," Kiara said as Reece stopped and swung the sword around him.
The water droplets in the air stuck to his aura while Kiara gathered a lot of energy in her sword.
The crystals around her body started to get thinner while the amount of mana in her next strike kept increasing.
"Flow of Water," Reece muttered as he felt his body lightened.
But suddenly, the weight increased, and it gathered around his sword.
Both of them were preparing a powerful move, but Kiara was the first to open her eyes, and Reece did the same a few moments later.
Kiara moved her sword slowly towards the sky.
And Reece moved the sword towards his right side.
One of them was going for a vertical strike, which used a special technique that hardened the blade.
And the other was going for another deadly sword art technique.
Reece opened his eyes, and the whole crowd was silent, but in the next moment, both of them disappeared as they appeared in the dead center of the stage.
"The unshaken will of the mountainous strike..." Kiara muttered as she imagined the technique she had mastered till now.
Both of them moved their swords, but it didn't look like much happened. In the next second, a sharp vibration in the mana was felt.
Their swords clashed to create a huge disruption in mana around her.
Both of these techniques were powerful, but one had to be stronger.
And it happened, the winner was in clear.
"It was a good match," Reece said as he wiped the blood from his face.
On the side, Kiara was present with both her feet just beyond the boundary of the stage.
"The winner is Reece Williams, and now we have all the finalists," Gazil announced.
"Tch," Kiara clicked her tongue.
But looking at her few injuries despite fighting Reece Williams showed how good of a talent she was.
Updater's note: I'll be spending most of today and tomorrow in the hospital, so updates will be irregular or paused -- until I get back.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)webnovel