Michael twisted his body to evade a few wind spears. They shot past him and pierced into the ground.
Meanwhile, the wind blades around Michael moved irregularly, cutting his arms and legs.
He could avoid severe injuries, but still sustained minor injuries all over his body. Nonetheless, Michael was not discouraged.
His eyes moved through the arena at all times, analyzing Frederik's combat style and the true extent of his Soultrait's current prowess.
'His wind blades never exceed 20 at a time, and his wind spears don't exceed 10. The wind blades move through the air through simple commands, but the same doesn't apply to the wind spears. They fly in one direction and don't stop. However, they're also much faster than the wind blades!'
The wind spears were fast but Michael could still react in time and avoid them. His perception, Agility and Eagle Eyes allowed him to detect the wind spears and determine their trajectory early enough, providing Michael enough time to duck or parry.
Despite being able to move, Michael couldn't approach Frederik. Frederik was utilizing his Soultrait well. He turned the range of 20 meters around him into his little domain of control that Michael was trying to figure out a way to breach.
Even changing to the Siltang Bow was not useful. Michael released a few arrows, but Frederik blocked them easily. Each arrow was first blocked by a wind blade that burst into wind currents the moment they collided before a wind spear destroyed the energy-condensed arrow.
Michael switched back to Tigerfang after his attempts to shoot Frederik failed. He used Lesser Enhancement on his Artifacts once again before he put some of his remaining energy into his lower body before he kicked off.
The moment his feet kicked on the ground, Michael turned into a cannonball. He ignored the wind blades and wind spears around him, leaning his body closer to the ground, and appeared in front of Frederik in the blink of an eye.
A wind spear was all that separated them. Michael took care of that quickly. Tigerfang arced through the air with high velocity and cut through the wind spear before it could reach Michael.
In the next moment, Michael appeared next to Frederik, Tigerfang held high in the air to cleave down.
However, before he could bring it down, Michael suddenly felt disoriented. He couldn't see anything separating him from Frederik, but he heard the faint sound of something cutting through the air. Simultaneously, something subtle – conjured with energy – had manifested in front of Frederik.
The problem was just that Michael couldn't see it. Something was wrong, and he moved instantaneously, pulling down Tigerfang to block his throat and head. Simultaneously, he ignored his high speed and changed his movement path by force.
His ankles screamed in agony when he changed direction all of a sudden, but Michael ignored the pain spreading through his ankles. He continued to move and charge forward.
And it was not too late. The moment he sensed that something was off, the invisible object shot forward. It shot past his head and scratched his neck before it dispersed.
Warm blood trickled down Michael's neck, but he couldn't even feel the pain. The adrenaline coursing through his body blocked the pain he was supposed to feel.
'He can control the wind without making it visible?' Michael concluded in shock.
Until now, Michael had been certain that the wind Frederik controlled, or conjured, would be clearly visible for everyone to see. However, that didn't seem to be the case anymore now that his Soultrait had grown stronger.
But that was not the only thing Michael had noticed. When he was about to cleave down, Michael noticed that Frederik was ashen pale and that he was drenched in sweat.
He was gasping for breath and his feet were wobbly indicating that he was already past his limit.
'He quickly ran out of the energy to keep using his nourished Soultrait! His energy is limited as a Tierless Lord!'
The moment Michael realized that Frederik was at his limit, he unleashed more energy. He had more than enough reserves to unleash the protection enchantments on the Onyx Dragon Armor Set simultaneously and at their highest level.
The protection enchantments strengthened the Onyx Dragon Armor Set, but that was not everything. They also manifested small energy barriers around his vital spots to decrease the impact of incoming attacks.
Because of the protection enchantments, Michael was not worried about his safety. He charged at Frederik once again by changing his movement pattern. His ankles begged for respite, but they obeyed his command, nonetheless.
Michael turned into a flash and appeared in front of Frederick once again. Several wind blades impacted all over Michael's body, but he simply ignored them as he sliced down.
Frederik grit his teeth and slashed at Tigerfang with his two shortswords. However, Michael just smiled.
His Soultraits were also stronger than before. The number of his Summons was not small, and they had grown much stronger than before. Last but not least, their Links of Loyalty were extremely firm. The value of his subjects' Links of Loyalty was at least three times higher than the Links of Loyalty of ordinary subjects.
Michael could see the wind spears Frederik manifested to his left and right, but he knew that they would never hit him.
Instead of backing off now, Michael put more force into Tigerfang. Frederik's arms trembled wildly while trying to block Michael's attack with his shortsword, but it worked somehow. He could stall enough time to focus on the wind spears, finish manifesting them and order them to pierce through Michael.
It was just a moment later when Frederik realized that he made a grave mistake. He had only focused on Tigerfang and his wind spears while ignoring various other factors that were crucial in a fight.
But it was too late to react. Michael's left leg moved fast and deadly, kicking Frederik's right leg hard before pulling it closer. At first, pain spread through his leg, and it was only after a second that he noticed that he lost balance.
He crashed down onto the ground, while Michael cut upward with Tigerfang. The sudden change in force caused Frederik to lose one of his shortswords as he landed on the ground.
But Michael was not yet done. He twisted Tigerfang mid-air and cut downward with the blade's tip facing the ground.
Tigerfang shot past Frederik's head by a hair's breadth, grazing his neck before it lodged itself into the arena ground.
Frederik gasped for air as he stared at Michael who was towering right above him. A faint but confident smile appeared on Michael's sweaty face before a bell rang through arena two.
"Victory goes to Michael Fang!" The referee announced at last.
Michael retrieved Tigerfang back into his War Rune and stepped aside.
"That could have been your head," He mumbled before he turned around, "I hope you know what that means."
Michael was a little exhausted, but he was quite satisfied with his performance. He may not like Frederik as a person, but the young man from the Kolbenheim family was certainly strong.
"It's not over yet!!!" Frederik growled, seething in anger just as Michael was about to leave the arena.
Michael sensed ripples of energy around him, and he heard the referee shouting loudly, "Stop right there!!"
However, despite shouting loudly, the footsteps didn't quiet down. On the contrary, Michael could hear clearly that Frederik was rushing at him like a mad bull.
He knew that Frederik was a sore loser, but Michael didn't expect him to be unable to control his emotions during the aptitude assessment. A loss didn't mean that his application to the Saphirelake Military Academy was rejected, after all.
Michael accessed his War Rune at once. He retrieved a wooden spear, grasped it tightly, and gathered great momentum by turning around with a blinding speed.
The moment his body turned to Frederik, Michael threw the wooden spear. It soared through the air with great precision and tremendous force, and it impacted exactly where Michael wanted it to be.
Frederik didn't expect such a sudden attack, and even the referee couldn't react in time. The referee had been more focused on Frederik and how to calm the youth's bad temper when a wooden spear pierced Frederik's stomach suddenly.
The wooden spear possessed enough force to slow down Frederik and force him down to his knees.
"I don't think you understood me when I said it the first time," Michael spat coldly while staring at the severely bleeding youth, "I told you that I spared your life by piercing the ground instead of your bean-sized brain. Be graceful enough and accept your loss, idiot."
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