The third round of the final stage was when it finally became a little more interesting, mostly because people weren’t as confident about who would win as they had been during the past two rounds.

  Of course, there were plenty of upsets. Some people had emerged from the secret realm with incredible treasures and rewards. While they might have been toward the latter part of the pack in terms of combat strength in the beginning stages of the tournament, that might not be the case anymore.

  However, Julius tried not to care too much about this stuff. It also helped that he had a lot of other things to focus on at the moment. As a matter of fact, he was busier than ever on top of participating in the Empire’s largest tournament.

  He had his life mana exercises he had learned from Tezuko Willow’s book, which, by the way, were slowly becoming easier to manage. They were almost always active and would have been active more frequently, but he hadn’t managed to figure out how to hide his efforts.

  Anyone with halfway decent mana senses would be able to tell that he was doing something. It brought a lot of attention to himself, especially with the atypical nature of the exercises.

  The other thing he was working on was his kinetic abilities. He was getting familiar with [Kinetic Shell] and doing his best to learn how to use it with [Kinetic Energy Refinement], just as Cain had advised him to do.

  However, that part was easy. [Kinetic Energy Refinement] worked well as long as he was using kinetic energy in some way.

  [Kinetic Shell] was a totally different story. He was able to pick it up very easily, and the skill seemed amazing, despite it only being a rare-ranked skill. He could feel that the skill wasn’t even close to its full potential.

  However, there was so much he could do with the skill that it was hard to decide where he wanted to direct its development. He chuckled to himself as he imagined what Aubrey would say to him if she heard him complaining about that.

  He also needed to figure out how to acquire an offensive kinetic energy skill at some point, too. That was becoming a much more difficult task than he could have ever expected. He tried not to think about it too often, but he was well aware that it was taking a long time.

  Cain knew this as well, but he was mindful not to say it out loud. That was probably a pretty big reason why he went out and found his new sparring partners, thinking that variety would help him in this matter.

  Julius hoped that it would, but he didn’t know what to expect.

  All of this didn’t even include the skills he was trying to refine every day. Add that to his Concepts and aura abilities, and this meant he was quite literally swamped with work.

  It was kinda weird to say this, but the days of his matches were somewhat of a nice break from the relentless training. At least it was different, and he was able to do something other than train.

  However, he didn’t expect his matchup to be against someone he already knew, though with the dwindling number of participants, it was bound to happen at some point.

  “I was wondering when I would get the chance to fight you again,” Liam stated from his position across the field. There was an eager expression on Liam’s face, one that Julius didn’t expect to see there.

  He would have thought that Liam would be more upset about this situation. Julius had been the one who knocked him out during the Goldencrest Tournament.

  “I see you have made some improvements,” Julius noted. He was honest, too; he wasn’t just saying that to be nice. He could tell that Liam had made some significant improvements of his own since the last time they had fought. Just like Julius and his friends had done, Liam had made sure to take advantage of the past several months.

  Liam’s aura was quite different than the last time they fought. It was still cold, but there was this eerie feeling as well. Additionally, something else was attached to it.

  A totally different flavor, something profound and dangerous. Julius knew right away that he would have to be a little careful. He wouldn’t be able to play around as he did with his last opponent.

  “I may have made some improvements, but I have seen your fights. You have improved even more.”

  “Sounds like you are already admitting defeat,” Julius noted with a hint of disappointment.

  Liam scoffed. “As if. I am still going to do my best to bury you. Don’t forget I have to repay you for the last time.”

  “Scary,” Julius said with a teasing smirk.

  “Haha, laugh now. While you can,” Liam said, letting his cold aura bloom out even more powerfully.

  They stared at each other, waiting for the fight to begin. When the signal was given, Julius was surprised to see that Liam didn’t attack him straight away. Instead, the Abram’s Scion took control of a shit ton of mana. Julius was quite surprised by how potent it felt despite the short channeling time.

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  A blast of ice-cold frost hit him in the face. He had tried to block it, but to his concern, [Kinetic Shell] was unable to entirely prevent it from hitting Julius. It was undoubtedly a surprise right from the get-go. It wasn’t just because it was able to hit him or because it had gotten through his field of kinetic energy.

  No, he found it more shocking because Liam had somewhat ignored Julius’s ruinous aura as well.

  It hadn’t overpowered it, but instead stepped right around it. The effect was quite potent as well. He could feel a deep-seated tiredness and fatigue hit him. His eyes were already drooping.

  He reacted instantly, and a pulse of his aura wiped out the weird effect. He was able to wipe it away with his ruinous aura this time around.

  Julius was intrigued and narrowed his senses to examine this weird phenomenon.

  Or he would have liked to. Unfortunately, Liam wasn’t going to allow him to do that. It was at that moment that Julius finally saw what Liam was using all of the mana for.

  A massive blast of icy mana rippled outward, and at the center of this explosion, a prominent blue figure slowly stitched itself together with the ribbons of ice and frost floating in the air.

  Julius stood by and let it happen, making no move to interrupt the technique until it was completed.

  When the last piece of mana fell into place, he let out a slight whistle.

  What floated in front of him was ten feet tall and made entirely of ice. It looked like a massive eagle—an extremely realistic one at that. The detail of it was incredible. He could count each feather on the eagle’s wings.

  He knew from experience how difficult it was to mold one’s mana to create such delicate features physically. He used to practice using small figurines, but nothing on the same scale as Liam was demonstrating. Just this display of mana control had Julius smiling to himself.

  “Beautiful,” he commented to Liam, who still hadn’t attacked yet. “It is a beautiful and elegant technique.”

  Liam laughed, controlling the eagle so that it flew overhead, not sending it to attack Julius quite yet.

  “Yeah, it really is. Sadly, I have to rely on the skill for the time being. It’s a little too draining otherwise,” Liam admitted.

  “Does it attack?” Julius asked, tilting his head curiously.

  Liam, who had been looking at his creation with a proud expression, slowly turned to Julius with a blank expression.

  “Of course it can attack. What kind of question is that?”

  “How am I supposed to know? If it’s capable of attacking, then why haven’t you attacked me with it yet?”

  Liam gestured at Julius with a roll of his eyes. “Because you are standing there all arrogant and stuff, waiting for me to make the first move.”

  “I’m not being arrogant,” Julius argued.

  Liam scoffed and pointed at him. “Then what is that you have going on in there?”

  He was pointing directly at Julius’s chest, where most of the life mana he was carving into his channels was held. That was another surprise.

  He knew that some people with decent senses could see that he was doing something with mana. However, he had assumed that most people would expect this to be a body-enhancement technique, not a training technique.

  But from Liam’s tone, he seemed to have grasped its true purpose—or at least some of it. And was clearly not pleased by Julius’s lack of seriousness.

  “Fair enough,” Julius said, dispersing the technique, being careful not to blow a hole through his chest while doing it.

  “Well? What are you waiting for? We don’t have all day,” he said with a teasing smirk.

  It was only then that Liam decided that he could begin the attack. The eagle, which had been floating above, suddenly shattered into a million pieces.

  Julius was stunned by this, watching this piece of art break apart before his very eyes, which hurt his soul. However, that split second of mourning cost him. These shards were suddenly flying directly at his face.

  He was barely able to react in time, throwing up a shield of dense mana woven with aura. He also ensured [Kinetic Shell] was active. But that only helped so much.

  These shards were like the frost from before, and his shell wasn’t able to stop them.

  However, his barrier was enough, and they slammed into it. He began to see cracks form on its surface as it literally froze before his eyes. He hadn’t been able to channel as much mana as he probably needed, and the barrier was slowly collapsing.

  He didn't just stand there, though.

  He shoved a shit ton of kinetic energy through his body as these shards of ice broke through the barrier and hunted him down. He angled himself, closing in on Liam. From his memory, Liam wasn’t the most capable in close combat. He had a special skill that helped, but compared to his other abilities, it had been lacking.

  To Julius’s curiosity, this seemed exactly what Liam had been hoping for. He could practically feel the excitement blooming in Liam’s aura the closer Julius got.

  He quickly found out the reason for this.

  Half of the ice shards that had slammed into his barrier suddenly turned tail and flew back to Liam in an impressive display of speed. They coalesced together and swiftly formed into a smaller version of the eagle before Julius could reach Liam.

  While this was happening, Julius sensed something move with his spatial senses. He was barely in time to avoid the second, but smaller eagle attacking him from behind. He threw up another barrier to block it, but the creature made of ice slammed its sharp beak directly into the barrier. There was a lot of power behind it, but the barrier ultimately held up.

  However, it didn’t hold up when the first and larger eagle crashed from the other side. His shield shattered, and he threw himself to the side, barely avoiding its beak and razor claws. They were sharp enough that they tore up the ground where they had missed him.

  There had been so much going on that Julius didn’t even see Liam until it was too late. His senses had been overloaded by all of the mana and movement that he failed to realize that Liam had vanished from his original position.

  His spatial skill had indeed improved, and Julius failed to sense it due to his negligence.

  The only warning he got was a swift punch in the face that was immediately followed by a mountain of ice falling on top of him.

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