Chapter 114: Awakened Tournament Crisis (20)

The announcer’s voice rose above the crowd once more.

"Ladies and gentlemen! With the result of our last match, the finalists of the National Awakened Tryouts have officially been decided!"

The enormous holographic display above the stadium changed.

On one side appeared Eden, his black hair and silver eyes illuminated by the bright arena lights.

On the other appeared Elio, his silver hair framing a composed face and purple eyes.

Two young Awakened.

Two monsters whose strength had already surpassed what most people could hope to achieve.

One had overwhelmed every opponent placed before him, revealing increasingly terrifying abilities with every battle.

The other had defeated his way through the tournament with an arsenal of skills that even experienced Awakened struggled to comprehend.

The announcer took a deep breath.

"One fighter has demonstrated overwhelming versatility, an extraordinary ability to adapt, and the power to defeat any opponent who dares to stand in his way!"

The display zoomed in on Eden.

"EDEN!"

The crowd roared.

"And the other has proven that even the most dangerous opponents can be overcome through talent, precision, and an extraordinary refusal to fall!"

The display shifted to Elio.

"ELIO!"

The cheers grew louder.

"THE FINAL OF THE NATIONAL AWAKENED TRYOUTS WILL BE EDEN VERSUS ELIO!"

The stadium seemed to shake beneath the audience’s collective excitement.

Guild representatives rose from their seats. Cameras turned toward the two finalists. Across the country, countless viewers leaned closer to their screens, eager to witness the battle that would decide the tournament’s ultimate victor.

Eden walked toward the arena entrance.

Elio stood on the opposite side, waiting.

Neither fighter waited for the crowd to finish cheering.

Purple Essence erupted from Elio’s body, enveloping his limbs in a dense, purple aura. It coiled around his shoulders and flowed down his arms, gathering along the segmented length of his whipblade. The weapon vibrated with a low metallic hum as its individual sections shifted, ready to extend at a moment’s notice.

Across from him, crimson Essence burst from Eden’s body.

The red aura spread over his shoulders and down his arms, forming a turbulent mantle that seemed to devour the light around it. Corrupted Surge had already increased his attributes, while the additional Essence output and regeneration gave him enough power to sustain an aggressive fighting style.

The difference in their auras was striking.

Elio’s purple Essence moved like a living creature, coiling and twisting with an almost deliberate intelligence.

Eden’s crimson Essence was more vicious. It writhed around him in countless shifting mouths and jagged teeth, as though the very concept of consumption had taken physical form.

For a brief moment, the two young men stared at each other.

Then Eden vanished.

[Burst-Step]

The ground beneath his feet cracked.

He crossed the distance between them in an instant, his body appearing directly in front of Elio as a blade of purple Essence formed in his hand.

[Aura Blade]

Elio reacted immediately.

His whipblade snapped inward, its segmented length contracting into a rigid sword just as Eden’s Aura Blade descended.

The collision sent a shockwave across the arena.

Dust erupted from the ground, and the protective barrier shimmered as the impact’s residual force struck its surface. The crowd’s cheering faltered for a split second before rising even louder.

Eden and Elio stood face-to-face, their weapons locked together.

Eden’s silver eyes met Elio’s purple ones.

Neither man spoke.

They didn’t need to.

The force behind their blades was tremendous. Eden’s enhanced attributes pushed against Elio’s weapon with enough strength to make the reinforced ground beneath their feet fracture, yet Elio held his position without showing any obvious signs of strain.

Eden twisted his wrist, attempting to force Elio’s blade aside.

Elio adjusted his grip and redirected the pressure.

Their weapons scraped against each other, throwing off sparks of purple and crimson Essence.

For a moment, it seemed as though neither could gain the slightest advantage.

Then Eden felt something brush against his hand.

A thin tendril of purple Essence had slipped from Elio’s blade and was creeping along the surface of Eden’s Aura Blade, attempting to reach his arm.

Eden recognized the sensation immediately.

’There it is.’

’Elio’s attribute-draining ability.’

The purple Essence spread another inch before abruptly stopping.

Then it began to disappear.

The crimson Essence surrounding Eden’s arm devoured it, swallowing the invading Essence as though it were nothing more than an insignificant morsel.

The tendril vanished without leaving behind even the slightest trace of its previous presence.

Elio’s eyes narrowed.

’It didn’t work?’

He felt the connection break.

His Essence had touched Eden, yet none of the expected effects followed. There was no weakening of the opponent’s attributes, no transfer of power, and no noticeable disruption to Eden’s movements.

It was as though the very thing his ability was supposed to accomplish had been erased before it could take effect.

’Interesting.’

Elio pushed against Eden’s blade one final time before abruptly retreating.

He leaped backward, creating several meters of distance between them.

Eden didn’t immediately pursue him.

’As I thought.’

Instead, he watched the purple Essence gathering around Elio’s weapon.

’It behaves similar to a Debuff, so Devour takes care of it for me.’

He had suspected as much when Jax described the ability, but seeing it happen firsthand was reassuring.

Eden already had a way to counter one of Elio’s most troublesome advantages.

That didn’t mean the fight would be easy.

Not even close.

Elio’s whipblade extended with a sharp metallic crack.

"Let’s see how you handle this, then."

The segmented weapon lashed toward Eden.

Eden tilted his head, allowing the blade to pass just beside his face. Before Elio could retract it, Eden shifted to the side, avoiding the returning strike and stepping over a shallow groove the weapon carved into the ground.

Another strike came from above.

Eden ducked.

The blade changed direction midair, sweeping toward his legs.

He jumped over it.

The whipblade snapped back into Elio’s hand, only to shoot forward again from an entirely different angle.

Eden moved continuously, evading each attack by the smallest possible margin. Sometimes he leaned aside, sometimes he pivoted, and sometimes he used Burst Step to cross a short distance just as the blade reached him.

He didn’t waste a single movement.

The audience watched with growing amazement.

"He’s dodging everything!"

"That weapon can change its trajectory in midair! How is Eden keeping track of it?"

"Look at his footwork! He’s not just reacting to the blade. He’s predicting where it’ll go!"

The Audience followed the exchange with particular interest.

Eden’s physical attributes were undoubtedly extraordinary, but raw speed alone couldn’t explain the precision of his movements. He was reading Elio’s attacks, identifying the subtle movements of his wrists and shoulders, and using them to anticipate the weapon’s trajectory.

It was the kind of combat awareness that usually came from years of experience.

And yet Eden was only nineteen.

Elio noticed it too.

’He’s stronger than I anticipated.’

The thought came without frustration.

If anything, he was pleased.

He had expected Eden to be dangerous. The previous matches had made that much obvious. His versatility, his ability to adapt to unfamiliar opponents, and his strange rate of growth had already marked him as someone who couldn’t be underestimated.

Eden’s movements were more efficient than Elio had expected, and his reactions were sharp enough to make the whipblade’s changing angles far less effective than they should have been.

Even worse, his purple Essence wasn’t weakening him.

That meant Elio couldn’t rely on his usual advantage to gradually tilt the battle in his favor.

’Then I’ll have to use something else.’

Elio’s expression remained calm.

But the amount of purple Essence surrounding his body began to increase.

It flowed from his shoulders, gathered along his weapon, and poured over the segmented blade in thick, twisting streams.

The air around him seemed to grow heavier.

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

The Essence moved differently now.

It wasn’t simply coating the weapon anymore.

It was taking shape.

A massive purple serpent emerged from the whipblade.

Its elongated body was formed from dense Essence, its scales shimmering with violet light. Two glowing eyes appeared above a broad, fanged head, and its body coiled around Elio’s weapon as though the blade were the creature’s spine.

The serpent raised its head.

A wave of pressure rolled across the arena.

The audience fell momentarily silent.

"What the hell is that?"

"Is that a summoned creature?"

"No, it’s coming from his weapon!"

Elio rotated his wrist.

The serpent moved with him.

Its enormous head followed the whipblade’s trajectory, while its body stretched and twisted through the air, turning every movement of the weapon into a far more destructive attack.

Eden’s expression sharpened.

’So that’s what you were hiding.’

Elio flicked his wrist.

The serpent struck.

Eden immediately moved to evade, but the creature’s head changed direction with the whipblade, snapping toward him with startling speed.

He twisted his body aside.

The fangs missed his shoulder by inches.

Then the serpent’s body whipped around.

Its tail slammed into Eden’s side.

The impact tore through the arena.

Eden was launched across the battlefield, his body crashing through a cluster of stone formations before striking the ground with enough force to carve a deep trench through the reinforced surface.