Chapter 208: Ash vs Ray (5)
A strange scene was happening inside the arena, one side Ash was teleporting all over the place creating an illusion that he was simultaneously present at many places.
Meanwhile, Ray was dancing in the middle of the destroyed arena, his hands and body performing a deadly sword dance, his slashes sweeping through the air with terrifying precision, each strike leaving faint trails of violet aura behind.
Those aura slashes were cutting through everything in their path, and the brunt of all those attacks was being absorbed by the barrier formed by the instructors. Even then, the barrier shuddered violently, small cracks appearing for a moment before being forcefully healed.
The power radiating from every single strike was enough to make even experienced warriors feel uneasy.
The arena itself was pretty much nowhere to be seen anymore. The once-proud elevated stage had been reduced to nothing but debris and dust, its surface completely shattered. Now the whole battlefield was simply the ground, torn and broken, the middle platform no longer existing.
Somewhere from the crowd, Alice was also watching the fight, though she was hiding for reasons only she knew, concealing her presence so that no one realized she was even there.
I knew Ray was strong....but this strong? I will be damned.....what the hell is that child...
She was truly shocked by the power he displayed. Even among geniuses, seeing someone use strength far above their rank was an extremely rare occurrence.
But what are the chances that two of them appear in the same era and at the same age group...they are abysmal...
She now understood why she was hesitating to bring up the topic of claiming Ash as her disciple. Deep down, her instincts already knew that he would refuse it.
Of course he will....he is already this powerful.....he only needs a bit of guidance, and he can take care of the rest himself...
At least, she evaluated Ash to that extent.
-Boom!!
-Boom!!
-Boom!!
Explosions echoed in the arena, shockwaves spreading as Ray and Ash clashed. This destruction continued for almost five minutes, until finally Ray’s skill began to wear off.
But it was not like Ash was unscathed. Because of how fast he was teleporting, everyone thought Ash was dodging every strike, but the truth was different. There were moments when Ray’s attacks would land on him, almost cutting his body apart, only for those wounds to heal within seconds.
Ash didn’t know if it was luck, Ray predicting his movements, or simply the difference in stats, but one way or another, it was true that he was still hurt.
As soon as the crimson glow around Ray faded, his body staggered and the whiteness of the protective skin around him began to fade slowly. It was getting absorbed into his body.
But Ash did not waste this chance. The rain, which had been falling in steady sheets, suddenly turned into a heavy downpour, hammering against the ruined arena and soaking the broken ground. Yet none of it mattered to him. His focus was locked entirely on Ray, every thought sharpened to a single point.
This is my chance...
Even if Ray would recover after using Overclock, this was still his first time experiencing such a sudden surge—being drained of all energy and then filled with power again. That kind of violent shift was not something the body or mind could adapt to instantly.
He was bound to feel uncomfortable, maybe even lose focus for a fleeting moment
Using that as an opportunity, Ash teleported behind him and hugged Ray’s body tightly like a raccoon clinging to a tree.
Although he could have used his lightning chains again to bind Ray and follow up with a barrage of attacks, this time Ash knew Ray would not let his energy build up freely. He would definitely release it before reaching the limit. So Ash didn’t try to repeat the same thing.
What he needed was a single attack powerful enough to exceed the skill’s limit in one strike, something that would force it to crumble immediately. And to produce such an attack... Ash needed something else.
Saints were said to be natural disasters, forces of nature themselves, often referred to as gods among men. But they were not gods. Their powers were only slightly beyond the forces of nature, not truly divine.
So Ash simply had to use nature as well. And what could be better than lightning, the very element he was most attuned to, especially in the middle of a thunderstorm?
The dark clouds covered the entire sky now, glowing with violent flashes of lightning. Ash just needed one or two direct strikes, maybe more, and Ray’s skill would surpass its limit.
But that was easier said than done. First, he needed something to act as a lightning rod. And since there was nothing else he could use, Ash would have to become the lightning rod himself.
I can’t die. Ray won’t die either, not with that skill of his. If I time everything perfectly... it will work.
With this reckless plan forming in his mind, Ash tightened his grip around Ray’s torso like a raccoon refusing to let go of a tree.
In the next moment, both of them vanished from sight.
There was no trace of them anywhere. The audience was stunned, staring at the empty space with wide eyes. Their shock was so overwhelming that many of them instinctively stood up, unable to process what had just happened.
"Where did they go...?" someone whispered, their voice trembling slightly.
"Are they fighting in another dimension now?"
"Don’t be stupid, that’s impossible... right?"
"Impossible? After what we’ve seen today, nothing feels impossible anymore!"
"I swear I blinked for half a second and they were gone!"
"Don’t tell me they’re above us... oh crap, check the sky!"
As soon as those words left someone’s mouth, a chain reaction occurred, and everyone’s gaze shot upward in shock. But even before that voice, the Saints and the instructors had already turned their eyes to the sky, sensing the storm of mana gathering above.
Far above the arena, almost blending into the dark clouds, Ray and Ash reappeared. At that height, the wind howled violently, but Ash’s body was unmoving, locked onto his opponent with a death grip. Slowly, his entire body began to radiate lightning mana, and in mere moments, a layer of raw, destructive energy wrapped around him like a second skin. The arcs of lightning snapped and hissed in the air, illuminating his figure like a living storm.
This wasn’t just for show. By forcing lightning mana through every corner of his body, Ash had turned himself into the perfect lightning rod, artificially increasing his electrical potential to attract the storm’s fury.
What the...? How am I in the sky..?
Ray’s thoughts faltered, his mind struggling to process what was happening. But before he could even understand—
Blinding whiteness consumed everything. The world around him disappeared in that instant, replaced by a flash so intense it left no room for shadows. Even though he felt no pain, an instinctive chill ran down his spine, a primal warning that screamed danger louder than anything else.
A low, guttural rumble followed, like the growl of an ancient beast. It wasn’t a beast, though. It was the storm itself, roaring in fury as the lightning tore through the sky and struck them.
When the blinding light receded, Ray’s focus returned, but the sight left him shaken. They were still suspended high in the air, but his skill was glowing faintly again, a soft white hue forming around his body, signaling that the Indomitable Mantle was close to reaching its limit.
{You were struck by lightning.}
Hearing Aetheris’s calm voice in his mind, Ray’s heart skipped a beat. His eyes widened, but what shocked him more wasn’t the strike—it was Ash.
He was still holding onto him, his hands gripping like iron chains. Both of their academy uniforms were charred and torn apart, smoke rising lazily from the fabric, as though the storm had tried and failed to burn them down.
{What you are thinking is correct. Ash deliberately turned his own body into a conductor to attract the lightning.}
The words were so absurd, so reckless, that Ray almost shouted at him.
What kind of maniac would willingly call lightning onto themselves just to push my skill to the limit?
But before he could speak, a strange tension filled the air again. The atmosphere around them began to buzz, vibrating with violent energy, and even the dark clouds above seemed to tremble in response.
Ash leaned closer, his voice low, edged with a grin that felt half-insane and half-exhilarated.
"Eat my Divine strike again, fucker!!"
And then, the sky itself split apart.
-BOOM!!!!
Whiteness. It was the only thing that filled Ray’s vision, a blinding surge that devoured everything around him.
He earlier wanted to trigger his skill to discharge the energy, but lightning was faster than any reaction he could muster. It struck like a predator, unrelenting and absolute.
When the whiteness finally receded, Aetheris was silent once again.
Ray noticed the unusual silence of his companion, but there was no time to think about why Aetheris was speaking less or what he might be thinking.
Because they were falling.
From an absurd, stomach-twisting height.
The wind screamed past his ears, whipping against his face and roaring so loud it almost drowned out his thoughts. He sensed a presence close by and turned his head. Ash was right next to him, also falling upside down.
And he was smiling.
It was not the smile of someone panicking or desperate. No, this was a grin filled with fun, mockery, and a thrill that bordered on madness.
There was something almost lunatic about it, like he was enjoying every moment of this insane fall.
Strangely enough, Ash did not have a single injury on his body. Well, the same was true for Ray, but that only made the situation feel more unreal. And yet, Ray could see faint white sparks flickering and fading across his own skin, remnants of his skill that had been forcefully overcharged.
Ash had done it. He had pushed Indomitable Mantle beyond its limits. Now, that skill would not respond for the entire day. The fading sparks were proof of that.
Ray’s gaze turned cold the moment their eyes met. Now that the microphones embedded in their academy uniforms were destroyed, they could finally speak freely without anyone listening in.
"You.... You are Unknown, aren’t you, fucker..?" Ray growled furiously, grabbing Ash’s collar even in their upside-down free fall, his voice sharp with anger and frustration.
"Yes, I am. So what?" Ash’s voice came out slow and almost lazy, as if this revelation meant nothing to him. His tone carried a quiet confidence, the kind of confidence that came from knowing he could take Elysia and escape in an instant if anything went wrong.
And deep down, Ash knew something else too.
Ray would not tell anyone about this.
Why?
Because Ray had his own secrets.
***