244 Finish Line
“What happened here?” Alyssa, who was using Gravity Magic to accelerate herself in the air, looked around.
Broken ground, dead monsters, destroyed cages.
No matter what, she couldn’t comprehend how all this had happened.
The traps that Asher had triggered affected the whole route, breaking the path here and there, but Alyssa was fine as she floated above.
“Found them,” Alyssa muttered as she sensed the mana of multiple people.
At that moment, Asher sensed Alyssa’s presence while he was chasing after Matthew.
Knowing she was there, he didn’t need to waste time anymore.
“Mir Steps,” Asher disappeared from his spot, and Eva looked in his direction with a worried look on her face.
She tried to create a barrier to delay Asher a bit, but in an instant, she felt that all her barriers, which were protecting her, had been destroyed as well.
She looked back, as she felt a massive burden on her body, the result of the Gravity Magic Alyssa was using.
“Eva, he escaped,” Ria shouted to alert Eva.
“Should I-,” Ria started, but Eva shook her head.
“Kevin will have to handle the rest; we need to hold our positions,” Eva reminded her while she flared her mana to counter Alyssa.
But the difference between E+ and D Rank was quite significant; it didn’t help her much.
Eva glanced at the flame blast near one of the walls, and she felt the mana of a D Rank Hunter.
“So she was fine,” Eva breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Elena, who was flaring all her mana.
Elena created a blast to remove the rubble around her as she looked at Alyssa, who was floating in the opposite direction.
And Alyssa did the same.
‘Kill her, Kill her, Avenge your mother,’ voices in Alyssa’s head started to scream.
‘You will die just like your mom,’ The voices kept bothering her as Alyssa’s eyes locked onto Elena’s blue eyes and blond hair.
Alyssa clenched her hand so hard that blood started to drip, but she controlled herself.
“It’s not time yet,” Alyssa whispered to herself.
“I should help him first,” Alyssa remembered meeting Asher’s gaze once before he left, and she knew what she needed to do.
“Ice Cage,” Alyssa used a lot of her mana to create a cage around the entire room with her Ice Magic.
Unlike Asher, Elena didn’t show any reaction to Alyssa.
For Elena, Alyssa’s existence was not worth her trouble.
After all, she was doomed to die sooner or later. And knowing that, Elena didn’t consider Alyssa a threat.
‘She doesn’t care, you are not worth it,’ The voices kept getting louder.
Alyssa could see that in their eyes; they didn’t care about the suffering Alyssa had experienced throughout her life because of their families.
“One day, I will have my revenge,” Alyssa muttered, but nobody knew anything, as she was wearing her mask that covered half her face.
The hatred she carried was not small enough to disappear after defeating the people in front of her.
She looked down as she saw Elena summoning multiple Fire Vortexes to counter her Ice Magic, but it was useless.
She could defeat Elena, but that was not her goal.
She just needed to trap them here for some time. There was no need for her to show her true strength.
“Restrain,” Lishia raised her hand as she looked at Alyssa.
This was the first time Lishia had faced Asher in a fight, but she was relieved she was not his target.
In the Representative Tournament, she had the worst impression of Asher when she saw him beat Alan Astaria in a brutal manner. But when she looked back and saw his emotionless crimson-red eyes, she understood why people avoided him.
Even when charging at Matthew, Lishia aimed to cast a spell on Asher to stop him, but she was scared when she felt the killing intent from Asher.
‘Both of them are dangerous,’ Lishia was getting the same feeling of killing intent from Alyssa as well.
But this was something that only she could feel, after all, this was the bloodline ability that ran through all the Halcyon Royal Family’s descendants with the Golden eyes.
Out in the rocky terrain, a white-haired young man was running towards a specific direction.
“It’s a cliff!” Kevin noticed as he looked in the direction he needed to go.
He turned his head to the left and noticed a bridge, but it was a bit far, and it would cost him many seconds to take the longer route.
“I have time-,” Kevin was talking to himself when he felt a presence behind him.
“Did he already defeat them all?” Kevin said.
He was confident that this presence belonged to Asher Greville.
And his suspicion was confirmed when he saw the Crimson Red eyes looking in his direction.
Asher noticed Kevin, as he used Mir Steps to close the distance between them.
But as he was nearing, Kevin started running straight towards the cliff.
And in the next moment, Asher noticed sparks of electricity appearing around Kevin, as his white hair started to flutter in the air.
‘So he learned it,’ Asher recognized the technique that Kevin was using: Lightning Aura.
Although not everyone mixed elements with their aura as it didn’t benefit them and it damaged their bodies if they were not careful, the lightning element was different.
It was an advanced element that helped its user not only increase their physical potential but also their senses.
But the effects became entirely different if the element was integrated into your aura.
Kevin could do it because he had the Bloodline Ability that made his body perfect for learning Lightning Aura, and the legacy of Spear Art that Farnus Calmort had made.
In the next instant, the distance between them doubled as Kevin’s speed increased, and he went straight towards the cliff.
“I need to reach the finish line fast,” Kevin said, his eyes shone blue, and multiple sparks of lightning started appearing around his body.
Right now, Kevin had become comparable to a C- Rank Hunter, but it was only possible because of the artifact he was wearing.
It was one of those rare artifacts, just like Alyssa’s ring, that boosted and affected their mastery with specific elements.
But even with that, Lightning Aura was a special technique that Kevin could not use for long.
Right now, he was gambling it all on the fact that he would reach the Finish Line in time.
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In the next moment, Asher saw that Kevin had already crossed the cliff.
“This generation is truly talented,” Zacram said as he looked at the screen before him.
Everyone was focused on spectating the final struggle between Asher and Kevin, but right now, it was obvious that Kevin was in the lead. The Lightning Aura he used made even Zacram a bit surprised.
Xander was silent the whole time, from the moment he saw Asher use the Tier 2 Blink Spell.
Using Space Magic wasn’t forbidden, and this was the reason they had stored those books in the restricted section, but he still didn’t want a talent like Asher to venture too much into the Space Element.
But Xander didn’t have the power to stop him either.
“Isn’t this race over?” One of the staff members said as they noticed the distance between Asher and Kevin and the final location where they needed to place the Medallian to complete the race.
But something unexpected happened, as Asher slowed down a lot and stopped as he looked at Kevin.
“What is he doing?” Zacram said.
Even Xander frowned as he saw Asher give up chasing Kevin, who was increasing the distance between them.
“Blink,” Asher disappeared from his place as he crossed the cliff in an instant.
Asher flared his mana to the very peak of C- Rank, but his mana concealing ability made it appear like a D+ Rank Core.
In the next instant, Asher disappeared as he chased after Kevin using Mir Steps but this time, each place Asher stepped on, a small crater would appear due to the impact of his mana.
His speed increased so much that the distance between them began closing in, and Kevin noticed it.
He looked back and saw Asher nearing him.
“Damn it,” Kevin muttered as he pushed himself even more, but the strain on his body was increasing.
His mana was depleting at a high rate, but he looked ahead, and at the far end, he spotted a big stone with the Emblem of World Academy visible on it.
It was the finish line, where all he needed to do was put the Medallion in and win.
“I can do this,” Kevin said, using his lightning element even more as his mana kept depleting.
Asher’s indifferent eyes looked at Kevin, who was trying his all to win the race.
“Shadow Bind,” Asher muttered. Kevin immediately sensed a surge of mana beneath his feet and turned his body to use his Rank B Spear to deflect the black chains.
He glared at Asher, who used the spell against him.
Kevin wasn’t ready to fight a person who could use both Mage and Weapon Art, as nobody had taught him to do so. It was impossible for a person to have aura and be a mage at the same time.
“Lightning Slash,” Kevin swung his spear while deflecting the chains and sent an arc of lightning towards Asher.
He turned immediately, as he couldn’t waste time fighting Asher.
Asher brought out his sword and cut through the lightning slash that Kevin had used against him.
His sword absorbed the aura in the attack, and Asher could feel it.
In the next instant, Asher used a surge of mana to close the distance between them even more.
‘How much mana does he have?’ Kevin sensed that Asher was much closer than he had thought.
‘Just a little more,’ Kevin thought as he saw the finish line just 200 meters ahead.
Kevin tightened his grip on the Medallion as he raised his hand to put the Medallion in a circular cavity on the Stone in front of him.
“Do you think you can win?” Asher asked.
As he closed the distance enough to run beside him, Kevin spun his spear at Asher, but before he could do so, Asher disappeared.
Kevin looked ahead but all he could see was the palm of Asher’s left hand, which grabbed his face.
“No!” Kevin shouted as he flared the lightning around his body.
Doing so, the entire nano-armor around Asher’s hand got burnt, but his hands were fine as the difference between their aura was too significant.
And in the end, Kevin felt the strength in his body leave him as Asher slammed him on the ground.
Kevin’s eyes saw the Finish line that was only 20 meters away, but he couldn’t do anything as he felt his consciousness fade away.