Chapter 298: Threat or Rest |
Jualim stepped onto the stage, his gaze focused. It looked like he was prepared for Riyan to leap forward at any time. There was a bit of apprehension in his demeanor, but his strides were confident enough that it was well hidden.
The two young geniuses faced off against one another, only waiting for Mello’s words to trigger things.
‘What is it…?’ Theron looked toward Jualim deeply, as though trying to find what made him so confident.
The only ways for Jualim to survive were to get his flag on the runes Riyan was protecting at his back, get Riyan to accept his defeat, or force him to be unable to continue the fight.
As far as Theron was concerned, none of this was possible for the Sangun Clan genius.
Suddenly, Theron’s heart twitched.
"Begin.” Mello’s voice descended.
‘What was that?’
Theron only had the thought for a moment before Jualim crossed the distance between himself and Riyan. His arm extended, a spear appearing while he was in the process of thrusting.
But as far as Theron was concerned, “wasn’t too bad” was a metric of how these geniuses would react. He could see through it immediately. That was because Jualim’s hand, while formed into a fist, was angled in such a way that it was obvious he wasn’t throwing a punch. Plus, that was also the hand his spatial ring was on.
With Theron’s speed of thought, he could see through it. As for Riyan, even if he couldn’t think through all of this, his instincts as a fighter would have long kicked in and reacted appropriately.
As expected, Riyan seemed prepared, but then his body hitched. In that moment, it looked like he was taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the spear.
He managed to pull himself out of the way, but the blade tore into his shoulder, leaving a bloody gash down the line of his body.
This probably shocked Riyan more than anything else. There was a subtle glow of gold on his body that very obviously came from his Earth Mana. His defenses were far too strong to be ripped into by a Third Resonance Mancer like this.
‘Hm Theron’s eyes narrowed for a moment, and then he closed them.
He already knew how this would end now. That was unfortunate. He didn’t think that they would go so far, but they were indeed more subtle than was manageable in this situation.
Elder Kelyne Black was frowning, but she couldn’t quite feel or expose it either. But… that gave Theron quite a bit of information as well.
The Black Clan was a Water Mancy Clan; there was little they could do about this—not when the targeting was coming through the use of Spirit Mana.
‘It seems they really are here.’
…
"Hahaha!” Jualim’s laughter filled the arena, his spear dancing in continuous thrusts through the air, moving with a sharpness that cut into Riyan’s body again and again.
All things considered, Riyan did his best to hold on, and he never uttered a single word. At some unknown point, a hammer and shield had appeared in his hands, glistening with a golden light as the rays of the sun danced across their surface. Unfortunately, as he continued to lose blood and suffer more wounds, he only suffered more and more.
"I didn’t expect that after all of that talking, the Gold Clan would actually be so weak. Just a little trick and you couldn’t even withstand past the second exchange.”
The crowd seemed to feel the same way Jualim did. From their perspective, it really did look like Jualim had caught Riyan off guard with his spear trick and then never let up the downpour. It seemed plausible that Riyan had just underestimated his opponent.
Riyan had never once tried to plant his flag on Jualim’s side. He held strong and true, refusing to take even a single step back. But that only made him suffer all the more.
"Elder Saularon frowned. She was certain that something was wrong, but she couldn’t prove it either. If Kelyne Black couldn’t, then how could she?
In response, Elder Black could only hold up a hand, her gaze shifting to Theron, who was reclined in a chair with his eyes closed. It looked as though he was sleeping, but every slow breath he took came with another wave of Water Mana.
He was cultivating even in this situation.
Let Little Theron handle it.”
Saularon’s lip twitched. Little Theron? You’d think the old woman had adopted a grandson without anyone knowing.
"There’s a reason they’re being so brazen, and I still haven’t figured it out yet. It’s not smart to act.”
What Elder Black didn’t know was that the very reason they were so brazen was because of her “Little Theron.” There were only two people in the world who knew that Theron was tied to the movement of the moons… and that was Theron himself and a certain Spirit Mancer.
This was no longer a simple political game. It was a battle that was far beyond that. The Spirit Mancer had long decided that things in this world no longer mattered so much—because he had eyes on Theron.
The longer the Black Clan took to realize this, the more they would get caught in the crossfire and suffer as well. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to just guess at such a thing.
PUCHI.
A blade passed right through Riyan’s gut, just barely missing his Core as he pivoted to the side.
Jualim clicked his tongue, ready to pull his blade out and strike more true, but Riyan slumped over, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.
"The General of the Gold Clan is unable to continue battle.” Mello spoke out almost too fast, a cold sweat matting his back as a sharp aura fell onto him.
"General of the Sangun, you may issue a Threat or take a rest. The decision is yours.”