Julius was impressed. He didn’t think that many things in Tier 3 could still threaten him. But that sword light from Eren was stupidly dangerous. There was definitely some kind of unique property to it. He was ninety percent sure it was some kind of advanced ability that drew on a mix of Concepts and willpower.

  He leaned out of the way of the flashing sword, the sharpness radiating from its edge almost split his skin just by sheer proximity. He was very wary of getting hit by any of these sword strikes.

  After all, he almost had his head cut off moments earlier. The cauterized wound was a stern reminder that he couldn’t be lax in his focus. The sword light also appeared to act as an overall enhancement, much like how he used his aura to enhance his body, but on a more extreme level.

  Despite the danger posed by such an ability, he still made sure to observe what Eren was doing. No matter how much he wanted to win, he also wanted to learn things. And examining this sword light in person might later give him some inspiration for his skills.

  Fortunately for Julius, this buff wasn’t going to last long. He could already see that the sword light was wavering, flickering as if it were on its last legs. The more logical side of him told him to play defense and avoid Eren until he tired out.

  However, the fun and exciting side reminded him that it would have been boring to win that way. Hence, he dashed forward instead of back with a feral grin on his face. He waited until the very last second to dodge the sword as it sliced toward his throat.

  He had already placed several sturdy barriers around his vitals just in case. He knew that the barriers wouldn’t keep out this sword light for long, but he only needed to delay it in order to react appropriately. He slammed his staff up, blocking the follow-up thrust, and kicked at Eren’s legs. [Graveforce Impact], alongside several other of his skills, combined into a powerful strike. Eren flicked his wrist and threatened to cut Julius’s leg off at the knee, but he had been waiting for this.

  Just as the sword was about to hit his skin, he used another pulse of kinetic energy to knock the sword off course. His prediction of where the sword would land was slightly off, and instead of avoiding the sword completely, it nicked his leg. The barriers staved off the worst of it, but he still received a small cut for his troubles.

  He immediately flooded the wound with his ruinous aura, destroying whatever energy from the sword remained. Despite getting cut, Julius was still able to connect his leg to Eren’s hip. The blast of kinetic energy rocked the field, sending Eren skidding backward. The light around his body was flickering even more frequently.

  Julius didn’t give him a chance to breathe. He went on the offensive. Large amounts of kinetic energy and aura bloomed from his body. Each step was enhanced to his limit, and he crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.

  Many swords from the sky tried to pierce him, but with his perception, he was able to avoid them without too much issue. He saw that Eren was preparing for another attack, and as he was gathering more light to his sword, Julius sent out a massive wave of flames from his crown. The blue wall of flames covered Eren’s vision, and when Eren cut through the fire, Julius was gone.

  Instead, he had used his teleportation skill to appear above Eren. With several spikes already prepared over his shoulder, he sent them blistering down to the ground. Eren slashed his sword in a wide arc, eviscerating the spikes with a single swing. However, he wasn’t ready for Julius’s next attack.

  All of the mana constructs surrounding Julius’s body melted away and reformed into his hands. The staff was swiftly changed into a large warhammer, azure flames roaring around its surface. Eren’s surprise didn’t stop him from reacting. The sword talent shifted his feet and, in one fluid movement, slashed upward, right at Julius’s arms.

  The speed that Eren displayed was on another level compared to his already fast strikes. Julius tried to deflect the sword at the last moment, but Eren was too fast, and the sword light was too powerful.

  He only managed to nudge it, but the sword still managed to slice through his left wrist, severing the limb in one flash of light. However, this didn’t stop Julius’s attack. He kept control of the construct with his mind and smashed it down at his exposed opponent.

  Eren attempted to get out of the way with his tricky movement skill, but Julius took control of his kinetic energy to immobilize the teen. A powerful will rose up to protect Eren, but Julius pushed forward. Eren staggered as kinetic energy locked him in place for a precious second. He might have had an impressive willpower of his own, but Julius was absolutely ruthless this time around. He held back nothing, and the results were clear. His titanic aura crushed the sharpness aspected aura.

  He felt something in Eren’s soul bend when experiencing this aura attack. This wasn’t even the main component of the attack. That was still to come. The warhammer crashed into the forearm he managed to throw up at the last second, briefly halting the warhammer despite its immense force contained within it.

  The sword light that was surrounding Eren was powerful. But it wasn’t omnipotent. Julius detonated every ounce of kinetic energy, fire mana, and aura he had infused into the head of the hammer the moment it made contact with Eren’s arm.

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  It was like a blanket of pure destruction, and hunger covered the construct. A dull black haze covered the azure blue warhammer. This hunger devoured the sword light as if it were some kind of delicious morsel. Eren’s defenses were wiped away, and the warhammer continued forward like a falling meteor.

  Eren’s limb exploded into a crimson mist, as well as half of his shoulder, before getting launched fifty feet, crashing into the barrier once more. Julius wasn’t safe from the shockwave either; he tried to siphon as much kinetic energy as he could with [Kinetic Shell], but it wasn’t enough. He was also sent tumbling away, unable to fully control his momentum.

  However, he recovered much more quickly than Eren and subconsciously used some mana to weave together a new left hand to replace the missing limb that was lying on the floor somewhere behind him. A little bit of fire, and the bleeding was stopped as well.

  Then, while Eren was stumbling to his feet and reaching for his sword, Julius was already blasting kinetic energy through his feet.

  He was tired and starting to feel the strain of recklessly using so much kinetic energy at once. His mana channels were also feeling scorched from the fire mana he had been sending through them. But he endured and let out a laugh as he closed in on his opponent.

  His warhammer, which had been partially destroyed during the last exchange, was nothing more than a cracked staff with a broken ball of mana at its tip. But it was enough for Julius’s purpose. He didn’t even bother to reforge it; his mind was already feeling too much stress, and he could feel blood running down from his eyes. He grunted as he swung the broken weapon at Eren’s chest.

  Eren managed to send a blast of sword energy at Julius, but [Kinetic Shell] mixed with his other skills was enough to blunt the blow so that he only experienced several lacerations across his chest. But by the time Eren was preparing another attack, it was too late. Julius was already slamming his broken warhammer into Eren’s ribcage and felt the bones give way as they were crushed into fragments.

  Eren slammed back into the barrier, and Julius sensed his opponent gathering mana for some kind of technique. He didn’t know what it was, or what its purpose was, but he wasn’t going to wait and find out.

  Well… maybe I could, he started thinking about all the reasons he should let the technique form.

  However, he shook his head. He had already messed around too much as is, and so before the mana could come together, he teleported in front of Eren. There wasn’t any panic in Eren’s eyes, only firm resolve. Julius respected the other guy when he saw this, and so he finished it.

  He hefted the shaft with his remaining arm and used a bit of his control to change the shape of the tip into a spear. A flash of sword light tried to blast him, but Julius used his aura to dismantle it before it could hurt him.

  Then, with a vicious thrust, he slammed the makeshift spear into the throat of Eren. Several skills tried to prevent him from doing this. An enormous blast of sword light exploded outward, threatening to cut Julius into tiny pieces.

  He tanked this attack and let the light tear apart his flesh as he continued to push harder. It became a battle of wills. Unfortunately, Eren was too tired, and Julius was too fast. Just as he felt the tip piercing into Eren’s throat, a brilliant white light protected Eren, whisking him away.

  With no target to stab into, his spear slammed into the ground, and Julius stumbled to his knees. He let out small, shaky breaths as he kneeled on the floor, with a dazzling smile on his face as he basked in the victory. Blood from his collection of injuries was dripping onto the stone floor.

  [Armaments of the Arcane lvl 25 -> lvl 26]

  [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin lvl 23 -> lvl 24]

  [Inexorable Aura of Ruin lvl 22 -> lvl 23]

  [Spirit Fortification lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

  [Kinetic Shell lvl 14 -> lvl 16]

  [Graveforce Impact lvl 7 -> lv 10]

  ***

  Wesley Greyson POV

  He stared down at the fallen form of Eren with a mixture of disbelief and fear. He knew better than most how terrifying Eren was for a Tier 3. With the deal he had formed with Eren’s master, the boy had become even more terrifying.

  A fully developed sword intent at Tier 3 was practically unheard of. It was what allowed Eren to pierce the defenses of Tier 4s and combat their authorities. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter when faced against the likes of the black-haired teen.

  Eren's loss meant several things. First of all, House Greyson just lost a shit load of money. They had already bet on Eren to win and several safer bets on him at least making it to the finals. However, that had obviously failed.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t even the biggest reason why he was scared. He was scared about what the Conclave would do. They had plans contingent on Eren winning, or at least being in the finals.

  The two finalists were given a privilege that the other members wouldn’t receive. Wesley wasn’t informed of the exact nature of this, but he was made aware that it was very important.

  He was worried that the Conclave would lay the blame at his feet. After all, Garrett was supposed to have beaten Julius so that he could lose to Eren. Garrett had even been given several powerful treasures before the matches so that he could go past his limits if he needed to.

  His failure of a son still ended up losing. Just thinking about it made Wesley want to lock Garrett inside a Spatial Severance Chamber for a whole week. Perhaps that would demonstrate to the miserable boy the severity of his failure.

  Wesley chewed on his lip as he desperately thought of a way to get out of this. He needed a new plan, one that didn’t involve the Conclave punishing him for his son’s failures.

  He looked over at the tired form of Julius down below and glanced over at where the representative of the Conclave was sitting a dozen feet away. The man was wearing a mask, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking, but Wesley had enough social skills to know when someone was irritated.

  Everything in his gut told him that the representative was positively furious. He just didn’t know if it was directed at Wesley or at the boy down below. However, what Wesley did know was that it would be better to fan the flames of resentment toward the Julius boy, while the coals were still hot and the anger still fresh.

  With that thought in mind, he came up with a plan on the spot. It wasn’t the best one, but he thought the man would go for it once he heard it out. Wesley could only hope that it would be good enough to save him and his house from the Conclave’s wrath.

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