Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 13: Whisper of Wind

The roar of the arena settled into a buzzing murmur as the battlefield shifted again.

A brand new terrain emerged from the void. It was a vast flat platform made of polished white marble again, but no floating platforms now. The glowing green runes are inscribed into the smooth, polished surface.

It was a sophisticated battlefield for testing speed. The grand announcer’s enchanted voice echoed through the colosseum, cleaving through the murmurs of the crowd.

"The arena is set! We move to the Final Match of the Luminary Bracket: Idris Avelar of Solaris versus Julius Frankster of Sylphyros!"

This would be the duel of the indiscernible blade, which may come to an end in the blink of an eye.

The heavy portcullis of the East Gate slid open. Idris Avelar walked out of the Solaris entrance. He was tall and lean, dressed in a lightweight white tunic that clung to his hip, looking like a Greek king. His hair was white gold and tied back in a practical, versatile ponytail. His eyes were sharp, pale grey, and lacking emotion; they looked like two blades of frozen breeze. He carried a silver lance resting on his shoulder.

Opposite to the white plain, the West Gate opened. From the Sylphyros entrance walked Julius Frankster. He was wrapped in deep-sea blue armor, plated and linked with chainmail for fluid movement. He wielded an appalling, unorthodox halberd where the sharp-edged blade head was bent to touch its shaft, looking like a coiled metal.

The two warriors confronted in the center of the vast plain. The wind whipped between them, tugging at their clothes with a groaning howl.

Julius smiled politely. He clenched his wrist tightly around the shaft, and his weapon extricated slightly. The chains clinked loudly, loosening and clattering to the stone like metal serpents preparing to strike.

"It is a genuine honor to face the ’Death Lancer’ of Solaris," Julius said, his voice smooth and lingering in the wind. "I truly hope you are as fast as the legends say you are."

Idris didn’t smile. His voice was strangely quiet, breezing softly like a chilling whisper.b"You will not see death today, Julius. You will only see the wind."

High above, the bronze bell rang out.

GONG!!

Julius struck first. He didn’t wait to see how fast his opponent was. He vigorously spun his halberd around his body. The lock mechanism removed, the long chains whipped clattering across the while marble, creating sparkles from contact. Thick, coerced water currents surged from the metal to trap a fast opponent and slice them apart.

Whoosh... Whoosh...!!

The water-blades sliced through the empty air precisely where Idris had been standing. In a second, he was gone. Idris simply wasn’t there anymore. He had moved without any warning. It looked like flashy blur speed, enhanced by his sheer wind magic.

ZZTTT!!

A blur of white and silver flashed to the side. Julius’s fight instincts instantly flared. He perilously jerked his head back just in time to avoid a lethal, horizontal slash to his throat, but he was a fraction second slow.

Idris capered past him, using the extreme, razor-sharp, howling wind pressure crafted by his own wind pressure.

SLASH!!

A shallow cut opened cleanly on Julius’s cheek, splattering a thin blood line on his cheek. The roaring crowd gasped in shock. Julius slid and exhaled a shaky, uneven breath, veritably surprised by galloping speed. He reached up, touching his stinging cheek, looking down at the smear blood stained on his glove.

"Fast," Julius muttered to himself, his polite smile fading into a grimace. "Very fast."

He shifted his meticulous grip on his chained weapon. High-pressure water surged from the glowing runes chiseled on the halberd’s shaft, forming a swirling, dense liquid shield around his body.

Idris moved with sheer speed away from Julius after striking him. He held his lance at his side and watched the Sylphyros warrior with chilling calm.

Their powerful auras jarred in total silence. It was stubborn Water actively resisting erosion, rumbled against cutting, untethered Wind refusing to confine.

Julius made his move.

"Waterfall Execution!" he roared.

He swirled the chained halberd high above. The five split metallic chains of the halberd whipped like a moving snake. They moved in wavy across the arena in every conceivable direction, cutting off all possible escape routes. It was an inescapable cage of rushing blades closing in fast.

But Idris simply stepped sideways. It was a magnum opus in combat timing and spatial awareness. He moved at the exact impulse event, the blades came crashing down, wafting his body through a gap in the water cage.

Julius’s eyes widened. He had absolutely no time to retract his chained weapon and recover his guard.

Idris placidly raised two fingers. The ambient wind in the stadium instantly clenched around his lean body like a suit of invisible, razor-sharp armor. "Zephyr Claw."

He slashed his straight hand in front of him, howling into the air.

Schwing! Schwing! Schwing!

In less than a single second, three piercing blades covered the distance between them. They slashed convulsively across Julius’s torso and armored arms. The thick, pressurized water armor cracked, rumbling under the sheer force of the wind shears.

Julius staggered, coughing backward, his boots carving debris on the platform. His breath became fast and ragged with exhaustion. His armor was damaged with jagged scratches that missed his skin.

But Julius voluntarily bit his own tongue, drawing fresh blood in his mouth. The pain instantly cleared his dizziness and sharpened his lingering focus.

He vehemently slammed the halberd into the white stone floor. "Activate: Abyss Core."

The platform shook once. Massive geysers of water rushed apart from the moist in the arena. The water converged and took shape. A terrifying Water Dragon rose immediately behind Julius’s back, spiraling protectively around his armored body like a wrathful deity of the ocean.

"Tyrant Dragon Form!" Julius yelled, his voice roaring along with the waves. The liquid dragon rumbled, crushing the jagged rocks across the arena. It lunged forward across the plain, its sharp jaws opening wide to swallow Idris.

Idris didn’t move a single muscle. The crowd screamed in sheer panic, leaping to their feet. "He’s frozen! Move out of the way!"

The rushing water dragon reached him, its massive jaws suddering right over his head.

POPP!!

The terrifying dragon shattered mysteriously upon contact. It dissolved and rained into sprinkling water on the stone around Idris’s boots.

Julius’s eyes widened in horrifying disbelief. He dropped his halberd with a clattering sound. "What...?"

Idris just stood there perfectly still, his hand raised into the air. He had compressed the water into the drilling machine just before the water dragon hit him. The massive water dragon hadn’t missed him at all; it had been shredded into fine mist by the wind pressure the moment it touched.

"You... you just shattered my water with sheer wind pressure...?" Julius whispered in awe, his arms plunging to his sides.

Idris clenched the silver lance tightly.

SSHHKKK!!

"Wind is not simply motion, Julius..." Idris said softly, his grey eyes fixated on his opponent. "Wind is an absolute decision."

He slowly lowered his combat stance, bending his knees slightly. In the blink of an eye, Idris vanished. He is the magnum opus of wind magic. He covered the distance in a fraction of a second with sheer wind pressure. He attained a state that a normal human can take their lifetime to acquire.

SNAP!!!

The cascophonous sound of a sonic boom roared, cracking like a whip over the arena.

Julius stood completely frozen. An impeccable straight thin slash suddenly appeared on his deep-sea blue armor, obliquely from his right shoulder to his left waist.

CRREAKKKKK!!

His water-enhanced armor got split into two pieces and fell to the ground with a loud clattering sound.

Idris dwelt behind him, slowly and deliberately sheathing his silver lance. The clicking sound of the weapon was caused due to sheathed, resting on his back.

Julius’s trembling knees finally gave out, after agonizing few seconds. He fell forward onto the hard stone. His mind was reeling with waves of thoughts. Idris’ ance had perfectly shattered his thick, enhanced armor without leaving a single scratch on his actual skin beneath it. It was a coup de grâce delivered with precision, and the impossibility of the strike was surpassed.

Julius was struggling for breath and utterly felt defeated.

The heavy bronze bell rang out.

"The match is concluded! Idris Avelar is the winner!"

The entire arena reverberated with thunderous applause. It was an exciting release of the suffocating tension that the audience held in their chests for a long time.

Idris walked back to where Julius was kneeling on the stone plain and offered a generous hand to Julius.

Julius looked up at him, breathing hard, his chest heaving.

"What... what exactly did you do...?" Julius asked, reaching up and clenching the offered hand tightly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Idris easily pulled the heavier man up to his feet. He answered without a single ounce of arrogance or mockery.

"I simply removed hesitation from my thoughts," Idris said calmly, "you thought about striking me and planned the trajectory. I simply struck it."

Julius let out a laugh, wiping blood from his jawline. "Then one day... You are going to teach me how to do the same thing."

Idris nodded once with respectful acknowledgment of a worthy, honorable rival.

High above, the golden scoreboard shifted.

Winner: Idris Avelar: Solaris Kingdom.

****

Over in the competitor area, the members of the Solaris kingdom stood tall and proud. Ignis grinned widely. Teravauros nodded his head in approval, and Marin clapped her hands happily. Their team was undeniably strong.

Up in the Royal Pavilion, Princess Seyana smiled a breathtaking smile of pure relief.

"Strong," she breathed happily to her mother. "Solaris is so incredibly strong today."

Down below, leaning against the cold stone railing, Kairos Vedaryan took a slow breath, his hands folded. He was watching and analysing.

Idris is unbelievably fast, Kairos thought, his sharp mind dissecting the final sonic-boom strike. He relies on absolute, explosive sheer speed. But he travels entirely in straight, predictable lines, and wind... my wind... can curve.

A few seats away from the Princess, Brandon Sylphyros only stared obsessively at Seyana once again. He clearly saw her profound relief. He saw the beautiful, glowing pride she held in her heart for her kingdom’s warriors. A toxic, rotting jealousy permanently took hold in Brandon’s heart. His pale hands gripped his knees tightly.

I will wipe that smile from your face, or I will make you smile only for me, Brandon thought darkly, the shadow in his eyes completely masking his handsome nature.

****

Down on the arena floor, Grand Chancellor Vaelon stepped forward, raising his golden staff high into the air.

"The Luminary Bracket is officially concluded!" he announced, his voice lingering with ominous weight. "The battlefield will now shift for the next phase of the tournament. Prepare yourselves!"

The white platform of the arena immediately began to rumble and shift downward. The pristine white stone disintegrated into black ash. A sinister, dark red glow began to rise ominously from the widening, jagged cracks in the floor. The temperature skyrocketed in a matter of seconds.

The Infernal Colosseum was finally waking up.