Chapter 68: The Last One Standing

Chapter 68: Chapter 68: The Last One Standing

For the past ten minutes, the remaining students exchanged fierce blows, systematically defeating one another until only six individuals were left standing in the arena.

Aeon, Leonhardt, Seraphina, Lunaria, Velzaria, and another talented student named Jiang Han each held their ground. They maintained a defensive stance, keeping their guards up as they looked toward Professor Tharos.

Tharos grinned, his eyes sweeping over the victors. "Huhuhu, that was a decent match. But what are you all still standing around for? I want only one person left standing in here. I never told you to stop the fight."

Without needing any further prompting, the students instantly lunged at one another again. Seraphina moved first, launching a relentless assault against Velzaria without giving her a single moment to breathe.

Velzaria was an exceptionally captivating demoness. She possessed flawless, bright skin, elegant long ears, and a pair of dark demonic horns that rested seamlessly against her pitch-black hair.

Her large, violet eyes were deeply mesmerizing. Even after a grueling battle, she remained perfectly graceful, holding herself with absolute dignity and pride.

The moment she sensed Seraphina’s incoming trajectory, she raised her sword, parrying the blade with fluid precision. Their eyes locked in mid-clash.

Clang!

Seeing the unyielding pride and arrogance flashing in Velzaria’s violet eyes, Seraphina gritted her teeth. She instantly flooded her blade with a thick layer of Martial Cosmic Energy, intensifying her onslaught.

Clang! Clang! Booom!

Blow after blow, they exchanged devastating strikes, with Seraphina driving the momentum of the engagement. Sensing the raw, unbridled emotion packed into each of Seraphina’s swings, Velzaria asked mid-clash,

"Excuse me! Do we know each other? Why are you emitting such intense hatred toward me? I don’t believe we have ever met."

Seraphina offered no spoken reply, countering only with an advanced technique.

[Darklight Sword Series: First Technique — Darklight Eclipse Slash]

Seraphina raised her sword high as thick, volatile Darklight energy covered around the steel. With a sharp downward swing, she unleashed a massive, crescent-shaped blade of dual energy.

One half of the crescent shimmered with dazzling, brilliant light, while the other half actively swallowed the surrounding illumination. It created a terrifying conceptual contrast as it tore violently through the air.

Whooosh!

The crescent shot forward at blinding speed, leaving a faint, distorted trail of dark and radiant energy in its wake. The local atmosphere warped visibly around the projectile as it hurtled toward Velzaria.

Velzaria maintained her composure. Channeling her own Demonic Martial Cosmic Energy, she executed a defensive counter-technique to intercept the attack.

[Hellfire Sword Technique: Second Form — Hellfire Fang]

Deep crimson flames instantly erupted from Velzaria’s blade, their outer edges turning a corrupt pitch-black as they condensed tightly around the tip of her sword.

With a swift, powerful thrust, Velzaria transformed the raging hellfire into a condensed, fang-like piercing point, driving it straight toward Seraphina’s incoming crescent.

Whooosh!

The highly concentrated flames spiraled tightly around the blade, granting the attack tremendous piercing and penetrating power.

The two techniques collided dead center, their volatile energies clashing to generate a massive pocket of pressure and a blinding explosion of light and heat that lingered for a long moment.

Boooom!

Once the blinding radiance finally faded, both Seraphina and Velzaria were seen standing firmly in their original positions. Neither of them showed any signs of fatigue or physical trauma.

Without breaking her rhythm, Seraphina moved again, seamlessly transitioning into another high-tier technique. While they continued their fierce exchange, Aeon was busy dealing with his own opponent.

Clang! Clang!

Aeon wielded a sleek black katana, casually deflecting Leonhardt’s continuous sword strikes. Slash after slash, Aeon parried the oncoming blade with absolute ease.

Whoosh! Clang! Booom!

For the next minutes, both men attacked and defended in a continuous blur of motion, their movements becoming incredibly difficult to track.

After gauge-testing Aeon’s physical boundaries, Leonhardt rapidly retreated several paces, allowing a brilliant golden energy to envelope his entire body. He took a deep, focused stance and darted forward, flooding his weapon with a massive surge of Martial Cosmic Energy to trigger his sword technique.

[Sword of Thousand Lights: First Technique — Thousand Light Slash]

Moving forward a few rapid paces, Leonhardt executed a wide swing. In an instant, a thousand brilliant, crescent-shaped slashes of light erupted from the steel, completely saturating the air before him.

Whooosh! Whooosh! Whooosh!

The countless light slashes rocketed forward in rapid, seamless succession, locking down the surrounding space as they converged entirely on Aeon’s coordinates.

Faced with the incoming wall of light, Aeon simply raised his black katana. He channeled a completely standard, dark-purple Martial Cosmic Energy into the blade and swung it down with precise force.

[Void Sword Series: Third Form — Void Severance]

Whooosh!

A thin, pitch-black line materialized across the fabric of space right in front of him. The exact millisecond the countless light slashes made contact or get closer with the black line, they were cleanly severed out of existence, vanishing entirely into the underlying void one after another.

Shing! Booom!

In a second, the entire radiant barrage of a thousand attacks had been completely erased from reality.

Seeing his attack completely neutralized, Leonhardt didn’t panic. He transitioned fluidly into another stance, sprinting forward in a flash to reappear directly in front of Aeon.

Whoosh!

With tremendous physical force, Leonhardt brought his blade crashing downward. Aeon calmly raised his katana, parrying the heavy strike cleanly.

Whoosh! Clang!

For the next ten minutes, they continuously exchanged high-level blows, destroying large portions of the arena floor and surroundings. Leonhardt cycled through a vast repertoire of complex martial techniques, while Aeon primarily focused on parrying, only throwing out casual counters that forced Leonhardt to exert everything just to defend himself.

Clank! Boooom!

After a long stretch of utilizing his entire arsenal to no avail, Leonhardt prepared to adjust his trajectory for another strike, but Aeon suddenly blurred, materializing directly before him.

This time, Aeon wasn’t even holding his weapon, and approached with bare hands.

Shocked by Aeon’s sudden, close-range positioning, Leonhardt desperately tried to swing his sword to force a separation.

But Aeon gave him no such luxury. Moving his write hand in a rapid, seamless sequence, Aeon struck several precise pressure points across Leonhardt’s body, instantly rendering his muscles completely unresponsive.

Clatter!

The strength vanished from Leonhardt’s arms, causing his sword to slip from his fingers and hit the stone floor. His body swayed unsteadily, unable to maintain its balance. But before he could collapse face-first, Aeon lightly placed his open palm against Leonhardt’s chest.

Though the gesture looked gentle, the underlying kinetic output was anything but light. The next thing Leonhardt registered was a catastrophic impact rippling through his sternum, feeling as though his chest had been struck point-blank by a falling mountain.

Bam! Ptuh!

Leonhardt hacked up a mouthful of blood. In the next instant, he found himself rocketing backward through the air, catching a brief glimpse of the blue sky as his consciousness rapidly blurred.

Boooom!

Leonhardt slammed heavily into the arena wall, fracturing the dense stone upon impact. Once the debris settled, he lay motionless on the ground, completely unconscious beneath a few pieces of shattered stone.

Aeon lowered his palm, turning his gaze toward the crater for a brief moment before casually looking away. ’I played along with this guy for quite a while, but really, I despise prolonging fights. I guess I’ll just have to get used to pacing myself in the future,’ Aeon thought, mildly annoyed by the prospect of enduring similar drawn-out engagements down the line.

He refocused his attention on the remaining fighters. Seraphina and Velzaria were still locked in a fierce, high-speed duel, while Lunaria had already successfully neutralized and defeated Jiang Han.

Suddenly, Aeon made direct eye contact with Lunaria across the arena floor. Without a single word, both of them immediately charged at one another.

------

Twenty minutes later, Aeon stood entirely alone in the center of the arena. He had successfully defeated both Lunaria and Seraphina—the latter having emerged victorious from her grueling bout against Velzaria.

Before long, the medical staff arrived to transport the unconscious and exhausted elites to the infirmary, leaving Aeon alone on the field with Professor Tharos.

Tharos looked down at Aeon’s perfectly calm face, a massive grin breaking across his features as he spoke.

"Amazing! Truly spectacular! I can easily tell you didn’t even use your full power, yet you still dismantled every single one of them.

I like you already, young Aeon. As a reward for your performance, I am awarding you 100,000 Academy Points," Tharos boomed, tapping the interface of his heavy wrist guard.

Ding~

A clean electronic chime echoed from Aeon’s arm guard, indicating that the massive transaction had successfully gone through.

"Splendid work, boy. You are dismissed," Tharos concluded before vanishing from his position in a blur.

Aeon stretched his limbs slightly and began navigating his way toward the medical department, intending to check up on Sophia’s condition.

------

Two hours later, once the injured and unconscious students had fully recovered their strength, the group regrouped at the central cafeteria to share a quick, hearty lunch. With their energy replenished, they reported to their final scheduled class of the day.

The Monsterology class was conducted by a female lecturer. For three continuous hours, she broke down the complex history of the Voidborn, detailing their distinct sub-types, evolutionary traits, and underlying physical weaknesses.

To Aeon, the class provided a subtle useful framework for his personal research, and he listened to the lecturer with rapt attention.

Ding~ Ding~

Soon, the class bell rang across the lecture hall, ending the lessons for today. After the professor left, Aeon and his group headed outside toward the main courtyard.

"Hey, it’s still afternoon and we have some free time. Is there anywhere you guys want to go?" Alex asked enthusiastically as they walked.

Aeon thought for a moment before suggesting his idea. "I was actually planning on going to register as a Hunter today."

The others looked at him in surprise. Then Alex asked. "A Hunter?"

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#A/N: Sorry for the late Chapter today, everyone! 🙏 I got a little delayed, but it’s finally here. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoy the Chapter!