Chapter 143: Indomitable Genius Versus the White Emperor
"Rain Swordmanship, Tears of the Sky."
"First Chapter: Troubled Waters."
The ripples on the water's surface intensified following which Ezra swung his sword at Asher despite the distance between them.
Whoosh.
Asher couldn't see anything with his naked eyes, but he could hear the sound of waves brushing against the water's surface. His instincts kicked in right away as he dodged to the side, moving more than ten feet from his original position.
Boom.
A explosion sounded by the barrier that was behind Asher's original position. Despite the force of the explosion, the barrier only shook a bit but remained standing still, sign of impressive strength. Nonetheless, the fact that Ezra's move managed to shake the barrier was a testimony to the power behind the attack.
"Huuu." Ezra breathed out after the attack.
It seemed like that move has caused a burden on him despite the large amount of mana he possessed.
"You survived that, impressive." Ezra smirked.
Asher couldn't help but frown as he touched the side of his clothing. Just beneath his armpit, eighty where his ribs were, a cut had appeared on his battle wear. It seemed that he had underestimated the young mages of this world.
If Asher was just a step too slow, he would have died just then.
"If you surrender now, this will all be over." Ezra stated.
Even though he believed he had the upper hand, using the Rain Swordsmanship, Tears of the Sky, was a large burden on him. This was a technique meant for peak third-stage Guardian mages and above, but because he had an above-average mana capacity, Ezra could barely utilise a few moves in the manual.
Nonetheless, the fact that Ezra could use it was a testament to his power and talent. Some of the special guests and knowledgeable individuals were already looking at him with complimentary eyes and sighs of praise.
The indomitable genius of the Klein family.
"Surrender?" Asher looked at him.
"That merely tickled me."
Not just Ezra but even the spectators were shocked at the overbearing statement from Asher. An attack that had almost taken his life, shook the barrier and manager to damage him -which no one else had managed to pull off since the start of the tournament-, yet Asher called that a tickle.
"That's our young master right there!"
The fans and supporters from Red Maple cheered Asher on. Even though it seemed like the odds were against Asher, these supporters would still stand behind their young master.
"Humph. Pride is a slow and horrible poison." Marquis Falni commented.
At this point, it was pretty clear that he was an antagonist to Asher and stood on opposite sides against the Arnhaunt family.
"It's not as bad as being a shameless liar." Ol' Fang fired back with a derisive grin on his face.
Marquis Falni was angered but as he prepared to retaliate, Marquis Von Maeur grabbed him by the hand and shook his head.
Marquis Falni had almost stirred a fight the previous day when Mischael fought with Asher. It took Duke Graham's intervention to stop the battle from happening. This meant that the Duke was already aware of the situation between Marquis Falni and Ol' Fang. So, if the Marquis started another fight today, it would seem as if he was disrespecting the Duke.
Marquis Von Maeur had to prevent this old friend of his from making such a mistake that could cost him a lot.
. . .
Ezra was irritated by Asher's statement and he swore to defeat Asher today. Even if Asher admitted defeat right now, he wouldn't stop until he took an arm.
'The command was to just severely injure you, but I think I might as well take your arm too.'
"Second chapter: Mirrored Waters." Ezra whispered as he held his sword horizontally again.
Once more, ripples appeared on the surface of the water, increasing size and intensity.
Asher couldn't help but sigh at how this technique always alerted the opponent just as the user made their move. However, he attributed that to the fact that there was a pool of water present otherwise, this phenomenon wouldn't occur.
Just as he was on high alert for Ezra's slash, Asher raised an eyebrow in surprise as he watched as Ezra slashed his sword downward.
Confused but alert, Asher focused in front of him as the previous attack had also come from this direction, but his senses failed to spot anything.
'Not from the front!'
Asher's eyes widened as he felt the pool of water beneath him reacting strangely to Ezra's move.
Previously, all it did was create ripples that were harmless. Now however, Asher's fifth-senses discovered that Ezra's second move had stirred up the water.
At the same time that Asher spotted the change, within the pool of water, mana combined with the water and immediately formed blades in the shape of a whip, which burst out from underneath and moved to Asher's position. In total, there were about five water-blade snakes all with the power of an average second-stage Guardian mage.
Luckily, Asher had already sensed it in time and made his move. At the same time, he didn't retreat instead but pushed forward for a counter. Asher was tired of this battle and decided to end it right away lest he exhausts his ten minutes.
Ezra saw Asher not only dodging his attack but heading his way. This shocked Ezra as he never expected that Asher would notice the trick behind his second sword move right before it happened. Sadly, that was the reality now and Ezra had to face him up front.
'Even better.' Ezra's eyes flashed with a desire for a challenge as he swung his sword at Asher.
There was no fancy technique, spell or whatsoever. It was a typical sword slash except that the blade was imbued with mana to increase its force.
Asher dodged the first slash, but Ezra had seemingly expected it, boosting his attack speed with Azure Wind and brandishing his sword in a flurry within the space before him.
The rapid swinging of the artefact seemed to turn the region between Ezra and Asher to a dead zone, but Asher didn't seem bothered by that. He extended his hand forward, an ice spear rapidly forming with it.
Clang.
The spear collided with the sword briefly, yet that short moment had created a loud metallic sound that seemed to signify the start of the third round of this battle.
Clang. Clang.
Asher and Ezra once again engaged in an intense battle but of a different nature. The first time saw them battle hand-to-hand, the second time was more of Asher dodging and Ezra using the Tears of the Sky sword technique. However, this third round was one with weapons, but only one person had an artefact while the other used a weapon formed from his element.
As his weapon was one formed through a magic spell, Asher's spear stood no chance in a frontal confrontation with Ezra's sword as its head broke each time they clashed blades. However, Asher had a precise control over his element and spells, and was able to form a new spear head right after the previous one was destroyed. This enabled him to remain in the fight and keep up with Ezra despite not having a real weapon.
Ezra would occasionally sneak in a spell in between the battle, trying to catch Asher by surprise, however the latter would dodge and then utilise that opportunity to press on the attack and force Ezra to be on the edge. In the end, Ezra couldn't even cast a spell any longer and had to keep his focus on the fight else he would lose.
Ten seconds went by and under the intense assault from Asher's combat moves with the spear, Ezra's defence began to break down. When that happened, Asher didn't even need a spell to finish the job as he found a gap in Ezra's defence and stabbed his spear in.
"Ugh." Ezra grunted as the spear lodged into his shoulder.
Looking in front, Ezra could see Asher's cold eyes staring at him.
"I win."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Tengu_of_Old
Tengu_of_Old 4/9
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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