Chapter 165: Next (3)
The Celestials murmured in disbelief.
“What... was that?”
“W-What just happened?”
“Did Deneb’s apostle really just go down in one hit?”
They stared at the dust-covered arena, unable to comprehend what had just happened. No matter how many times they looked, the outcome didn’t change.
Silver Sword Liu Yihao was the youngest of Deneb’s twelve apostles, but he was still a powerful Awakener known for his exceptional skills. However, less than a second after the match began, he fell unconscious with his eyes rolled back.
Spica, the host for this proxy battle, glanced down at the arena with a dazed expression. After a brief moment, she forced an awkward smile and raised her hand.
“Uh, ummm. T-The winner is Vega’s apostle, Awakener Kwon Oh-Jin! Did Liu Yihao let his guard down? What an unbelievable result!”
Only after her announcement did the stunned Celestials slowly begin to applaud.
Even Deneb felt equally shocked by the unexpected outcome. “T-This can’t be happening...”
Liu Yihao and Kwon Oh-Jin were in the same rank. However, Liu Yihao had been at seven stars for over a year now. Considering the vast difference between someone who had just reached seven stars and someone who had been at that rank longer, Liu Yihao was supposed to easily beat Kwon Oh-Jin.
The result turned out completely different. Liu Yihao couldn’t even land a single proper attack before getting knocked out cold.
Deneb gritted his teeth and glared at Kwon Oh-Jin. “Ugh!”
His hands trembled slightly on top of the chair’s armrest.
Allen placed a hand on Deneb’s shoulder. “Calm down.”
“I know,” Deneb replied curtly.
If he panicked now, he knew the other Celestials would ridicule him again.
“Bring Liu back and treat his wounds first,” Deneb ordered.
“Okay.”
Allen nodded and headed toward the arena.
“Now then! Next up from Deneb’s side will be...” Spica trailed off and glanced toward Deneb.
“Ivan. You’re up next.”
“Yes, sir!”
Ivan Veroyev was ranked ninth among Deneb’s twelve apostles. Though his rank wasn’t far from Liu Yihao’s, Ivan was a beginner eight-star Awakener.
A one-star difference was enormous. Ivan couldn’t possibly lose like Liu Yihao.
Deneb bit his lip anxiously as he glanced at the stands packed with Celestials.
Though I’d rather send out someone with a higher rank...
The Celestials were well aware of the strength and hierarchy of Deneb’s twelve apostles. Many already viewed Deneb as petty since the rules required Kwon Oh-Jin to take down three of his apostles. If he sent out a higher-ranking apostle now, even a victory wouldn’t spare him from disgrace.
“Don’t worry, Папа(Papa)!” Ivan brightly smiled. “Liu Yihao just let his guard down! Now that I know how strong he is, I’ll take care of it!”
Deneb’s lips curled into a smile, and his blue-and-black eyes shifted toward Ivan. “Is that so? I trust you, Ivan.”
“Of course!”
Ivan effortlessly lifted his massive greatsword with one hand and jumped off.
Standing nearly two meters tall, his heavy frame hit the arena floor with a thunderous impact.
Thud!
“Deneb’s next apostle is Ivan Veroyev! An Awakener known for his destructive swordsmanship!” Spica cheerfully commented.
Ivan flashed a grin as he locked eyes with Kwon Oh-Jin. “I apologize on behalf of Liu Yihao for underestimating someone of your skill!”
Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled softly and gripped his spear. “Well... Do you really think he lost because he let his guard down?”
Even if Liu Yihao had been fully prepared, he would still be no match for Kwon Oh-Jin.
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
Ivan lifted his greatsword high. The Stigma of Cygnus on his left chest radiantly glowed white as the light gathered along his oversized blade. He swung down at Kwon Oh-Jin with a fierce stomp.
“Haaaaaaaah!”
They stood over thirty meters apart. Despite how large his sword was, the distance should have been impossible to cover.
Crackle! Crackle!
A burst of bright, cold energy exploded from the greatsword and swirled around them. A blade of ice several meters long flew toward Kwon Oh-Jin, who instinctively raised his spear to block the sword strike.
Clang!
The sheer force of the impact sent Kwon Oh-Jin sliding across the ground. The cold energy traveled down his spear, leaving his palms bruised and blue as if frostbitten.
Kwon Oh-Jin furrowed his brow slightly.
So this is the power of the Stigma of Cygnus.
The Stigma allowed one to freely manipulate the cold. He had heard about it, but experiencing it firsthand felt entirely different.
Kwon Oh-Jin smirked as he gripped his spear tighter with bloody hands.
It was certainly an impressive ability, but the Stigma of Lyra was by no means inferior to Cygnus.
Exceed.
Blue lighting flowed through him.
Crackle!
His mana circuits contracted rapidly to explosive levels of speed. The Dragon Vein mana in his heart also surged forth, merging with the lightning.
“Azure Dragon Strike.”
Blue lighting formed a dragon and shot toward Ivan. In response, Ivan calmly raised his greatsword and swung toward the incoming lightning.
“Haaaah!”
He cut the lightning in half, but the lightning simply flowed down his sword and spread through him.
Ivan painfully groaned, “Argh... This stings a bit!”
The cold energy from his Stigma quickly expelled the blue lightning within him.
“Let’s see you try and block this one too!”
With a confident look, Ivan swung his greatsword once more. The air around them grew frigid as his greatsword slashed through the air. A wave of ice shot forward and caused the ground to tremble.
Kwon Oh-Jin crouched low as the destructive wave of ice barreled toward him.
“Is there really a need to block it, though?”
Lightning blazed through his legs, and Kwon Oh-Jin shot up into the air.
Crackle!
The ice wave passed beneath him, sweeping through the ground. Seemingly predicting this outcome, he smirked and swung his greatsword up at Kwon Oh-Jin.
“Blizzard Smash!”
Ivan unleashed a blizzard of sword energy at Kwon Oh-Jin.
“Haha! Now you’ve got no choice but to block it!”
Kwon Oh-Jin had no choice but to block it unless he could somehow move in midair. However, if he did...
He won’t survive it.
Ivan felt confident that he could rival even high-ranking Awakeners in terms of destructive power alone. Kwon Oh-Jin’s palms had bled from just blocking the previous simple sword strike. This time, Ivan had poured about five times that power into this attack.
If Kwon Oh-Jin attempted to block it, it wouldn’t just freeze his hands. His entire arm would turn into an ice sculpture.
Space twisted as the energy Ivan unleashed spread like a net toward Kwon Oh-Jin. With nowhere to escape, Kwon Oh-Jin gripped his spear tightly and looked down at the incoming energy storm.
Spica’s eyes gleamed with anticipation as she excitedly shouted, “Here it is! Ivan Veroyev’s signature move, Blizzard Smash! Will Awakener Kwon Oh-Jin be able to withstand this overwhelming attack?!”
Ivan Veroyev had created this signature move himself. Even the Celestials knew of its destructive force. They eagerly watched to see how Kwon Oh-Jin would handle the attack.
“Phew.”
Kwon Oh-Jin curled into a ball in midair as blue lightning spread around him like fog.
Crackle, crackle!
He then sprang from his curled position and stepped on the fog-like blue lightning.
Recognizing the skill, one of the Celestials gasped in shock. “L-Lightning Steps?”
Lightning Steps was known to be Riarc’s signature move. Even Riarc, a high-ranking Star Spirit, had taken decades to master this skill. Kwon Oh-Jin, who had only awakened last year, was performing the very same technique.
“But there’s nowhere left to dodge...”
Perhaps because Kwon Oh-Jin wasn’t used to the skill yet, Ivan’s attack had already come too close by the time Kwon Oh-Jin stepped into the air with Lightning Steps. As the energy closed in, Kwon Oh-Jin threw himself straight into the heart of the incoming strike.
Ivan’s eyes widened in disbelief. “W-What?!”
Did he just throw himself directly into my attack? He can't possibly withstand it even at full strength!
Regardless, Kwon Oh-Jin plunged into the net of bright energy.
Swoosh!
The net-like sword energy could tear him apart at any moment, but he smoothly slipped through the seemingly impenetrable gaps as if precisely calculating everything.
Kwon Oh-Jin appeared on the other side without so much as a single scratch.
“N-No way!” Ivan exclaimed.
He had spread the bright sword energy like an inescapable net that not even a rat could have slipped through, yet Kwon Oh-Jin made it out unscathed. Even if a small gap did exist, such a feat should still have been impossible.
H-How the hell did he do that?!
How many would unhesitatingly dare throw themselves into a narrow passage that barely allowed one person to squeeze through and had razor-sharp blades lining the walls?
Even if one couldn’t die on the Sacred Ground, the pain still felt very real. The slightest wrong move, even just a millimeter, would have shredded him into pieces.
Who in their right mind would willingly hurl themselves into that?!
Kwon Oh-Jin descended with a smirk, stepping down on the blue lightning like stepping stones.
Crackle! Crackle!
“I told you. I don’t need to block it.”
In an instant, Kwon Oh-Jin appeared right in front of Ivan. He drove the shaft of his spear into his dumbfounded opponent's chest.
Smack!
“Kugh!”
Ivan’s eyes bulged as he clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground.
“Urk... Bleeeergh!”
A thick stream of vomit spewed from his mouth as he fell unconscious.
A heavy silence fell over the arena.
Stunned by the unexpected outcome, Spica shouted in disbelief, “T-The winner is Awakener Kwon Oh-Jin! He has now defeated two of Deneb’s apostles without a single injury!”
Cheers erupted from the stands.
The Celestials, who had thought that Kwon Oh-Jin stood no chance, now roared with excitement at the unexpected turn of events.
“This is what it means to be an apostle of the North Star!”
“As expected of Vega’s apostle!”
“Where did she find such a talent?”
It was comparable to how humans watched dog fights. The Celestials felt more ecstatic than ever as they witnessed the spectacle before them.
Amid the deafening cheers, Kwon Oh-Jin raised a finger and casually flicked it back and forth, provoking Deneb.
“Next.”
Deneb’s expression twisted in frustration. Even Ivan, whom he had trusted, lost in an instant. Now, he only had one chance left. If he lost this time as well, he would be forced to give some of his divinity to Vega.
At that moment, a woman who had been quietly observing the battle calmly stepped forward. She possessed an icy aura, like a lone flower blooming in a snowfield.
“I’ll go next.”
Deneb’s eyes widened as he turned to her, clearly taken aback.
Xiao Lin, ranked fifth among Deneb’s twelve apostles, had stepped up.