Chapter 142: Rain Sword Technique
"How, how come?!"
Ezra stood in shock as he stared at Asher's figure a few metres away from him.
Asher, who was thought to have been devoured by the wave, was encased in ice with a grin on his face.
"That was close." Asher said.
Ezra fumed but couldn't do anything at the moment. He had just consumed a large amount of mana utilising those series of moves, and although he still had some to spare, Ezra had to take a breather otherwise he would stress his mana points.
As a peak second-stage Guardian mage, he only had two mana points unlocked and this limited how much mana he could use as well as his speed of casting spells.
Asher realised this but didn't push on the offence as he broke the ice coffin that encased him and stepped out of it.
Asher somewhat admired Ezra despite being disgusted by his personality. The admiration wasn't aimed at Ezra as a person, but his talent and potential. A dual elemental physique with one of his elements being a superior derivative of the Wind element; the Azure Wind. Also talented with magic spells and had a rapid yet fluid attack pattern, and from the looks of things, Ezra also had a constitution that gave him more mana than an average second-stage Guardian mage his age. Just looking at the fact that he had consistently cast spells and even created such a massive wave to knock down Asher yet is still standing, shows that Ezra's mana tank was beyond average.
No matter how much one hated him, it was undeniable that Ezra was a genius, and one at the top.
Excluding the members of the Seven Pillars, Ezra was the strongest direct descendants of a duke, even surpassing Vergil Forster based thanks to his absurd talent. In fact, if the Seven Pillars were chosen based on talent and strength, and not family background, it was possible that Ezra would have seized a spot on the rankings, booting Alexander Sutton or Asher (based on public opinion)[1] from the spot.
'Is that why he's trying to hard to severely injure me? He's jealous?' Asher suddenly had this thought.
Ezra, who had just recovered enough to resume a fast-paced battle, didn't move to attack as he usually would. Having failed to take down Asher with his prized one-hit kill move, Ezra understood that this was the toughest opponent he was facing and holding back could lead to his loss.
"I didn't want to use this before, but it looks like I have no choice now." Ezra said, a mix of vexation and disappointment in his voice.
With those words, Ezra retrieved a pouch from within his clothing. It was a space pouch, a similar equipment to space rings but with a much crude structure and technique and was less convenient than the latter. For that reason, it was cheaper when compared to a space ring and was easier to acquire.
Putting his hand into the bag, Ezra finally took out the artefact given to him by his family. Just like Vergil, Ezra's artefact was also a sword. In the Great Dawn kingdom, the sword was the most popular weapon as it was called a legend amongst weapons. It was often recognized as a weapon of justice, control and authority, so most of the noble families had artefacts shaped like a sword.
"It's been so long since my swordmanship has seen the light of the day. Prepare yourself, Asher Arnhaunt." Ezra said with a look of derision on his face.
In his opinion, the battle was already over once Ezra took out his sword. Even if Asher had an artefact, thanks to the rules for this stage of the tournament, it had to be within a certain limit which was the same as Ezra's artefact. Apart from that, Ezra also had a complimentary sword technique to go with his weapon, which would further boost his strength. He was confident that no one else had a similar fate with him in this regard.
So, once the battle comes down to one with artefacts, Ezra was confident that it would be his victory. But if Asher refused to use his artefact too, then it was an easy win for Ezra.
"A grade three weapon but closer to the peak. With that weapon in hand, you should be roughly as strong as a third-stage Guardian mage, right?" Asher asked.
"Scared now? It's not too late to surrender." Ezra said, hoping Asher would take his 'advice' as that would help keep his artefact's ability a secret.
"Surrender? Haha. That's funny." Asher chuckled.
"Fine then." Ezra said as he brought his sword horizontal before him.
"Rain Swordmanship, Tears of the Sky." Ezra whispered.
The air around the stage suddenly dropped in temperature and became colder. The air turned humid as if it were foreboding a change in the weather. As there was a barrier that prevented any magical attacks from escaping the stage, this change in temperature was only obvious within the stage.
Apart from the change in temperature and the air, even the water that filled the stage was affected.
The stage was covered with water from Ezra's last attack as the barrier around it contained all mana attacks within. Since the water was made by his mana, there was a chance that Ezra could utilise this water to his advantage just as Emma had done with her mist. This was something Asher wasn't new to, so he had filled his feet with ice mana, freezing the water with every step he took and successfully standing atop the water.
Originally, he presumed that doing this would be enough to be safe, however following Ezra's low chant, ripples appeared on the surface of the water, similar to those found on the surface of a lake after it has been disturbed by a pebble or something similar.
Just as Asher was beginning to wonder what was going on, Ezra swung his sword at him.
"First Chapter: Troubled Waters."
[1] In the minds of the majority, Asher is one of the weakest on the Seven Pillars ranking.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Tengu_of_Old
Tengu_of_Old 3/9
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone