Infinite Ascension: 100,000x Amplified-Chapter 43: Clash of Prodigies

The battle concluded as abruptly as it had begun.

Kaelith leaped down from her boulder observation post, stepping across scattered stones with the grace of a dancer — her movements so light and precise she barely disturbed the volcanic dust beneath her feet.

She arrived beside Nova, surveying the carnage surrounding him with an expression carefully crafted to convey superiority.

"Adequate performance," she said with studied indifference, tilting her chin upward in a gesture of imperial dismissal. "Though if I had intervened, the encounter wouldn’t have required so much time."

The future Ice Empress will never admit inferiority.

"Yes, yes. You’re incredibly powerful," Nova agreed in a tone so casually dismissive it was almost mocking.

His attention remained fixed on his status notifications — the upgraded level indicator, the merit points accumulating on his record card. A genuine smile touched his features as he reviewed the gains.

[Current Level: LV3] [Merit Points: 15]

Hunting Abyssal Spawn is the optimal leveling method. The combination of active hunting and passive cultivation running simultaneously will accelerate my progression exponentially.

Observing his pleased expression, Kaelith felt irritation spike through her carefully maintained composure. This insufferable attitude... I need to find an opportunity to demonstrate my actual capabilities to wow this fool.

"What should we do with these spawn corpses?" Nova asked, gesturing to the scattered remains.

"Leave them," Kaelith said flatly. "Unless you plan to carry several tons of rotting meat through the Rift?"

"Seems wasteful though..."

Kaelith’s smile turned razor-sharp. "You’re welcome to take them with you. Or perhaps make a fire and consume them now, so nothing goes to waste."

Her tone dripped with such venomous sarcasm that Nova couldn’t help but appreciate the artistry.

I didn’t expect her to be this cutting, he thought with grudging amusement.

They continued advancing deeper into the Abyssal Rift, establishing ground rules as they navigated the treacherous volcanic terrain.

"When encountering Abyssal Spawn," Kaelith declared with the authority of someone accustomed to command, "we alternate engagement rights. Whoever claims a target has exclusive kill credit. Equipment and material drops belong solely to the eliminator. The non-combatant must observe without interference."

Nova nodded agreement. The arrangement prevented conflict over resources while allowing both to accumulate gains efficiently.

"By the way, Academy Beauty Kaelith," Nova said with deliberate casualness, "you awakened as a Medic — a support healer profession. Do you actually possess combat capabilities sufficient for solo spawn elimination?"

Kaelith’s ice-blue eyes flickered toward him. "Aren’t you the same? I’ve never encountered a common Shadow Reaper who deals 50,000 damage at LV2."

Their gazes met — two exceptional prodigies, each recognizing that the other concealed far more than they revealed.

"It appears we both maintain substantial secrets," Nova observed.

"Indeed."

As if punctuating their exchange, both teenagers flashed sideways in perfect synchronization — their combat instincts triggering simultaneously.

"FWOOSH!"

A meter-long obsidian spike erupted from the volcanic rock where they’d been standing, missing them by centimeters.

"BOOM!"

The ground before them shuddered violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the surface as something massive forced its way up from below. Soil and stone fragments exploded outward as a two-meter-tall reptilian creature emerged — its body covered in razor-sharp barbs that gleamed like black glass.

[Abyssal Spawn Identified] [Species: Earthsplitter Lizard] [Skills: Barb Projection, Seismic Fracture] [Notable Traits: Possesses rudimentary intelligence. Ambush predator that attacks from underground. Despicable and cunning by nature.] [Weakness: Relatively slow reaction time when above ground. Vulnerable to overwhelming force or environmental control.]

"My turn this time," Kaelith announced, stepping forward with her hands still casually thrust into her jacket pockets.

Nova observed her with genuine curiosity. What exactly gives her the confidence to solo dive Abyssal Rifts? Her official Medic classification obviously doesn’t reflect her true capabilities.

Kaelith positioned herself ten meters from the Earthsplitter Lizard. Despite wearing only casual jeans and a black hooded jacket — completely inappropriate combat attire by conventional standards — she radiated absolute authority.

"HISSSS..."

The Earthsplitter Lizard released a piercing shriek. Its thick forelimbs slammed forward with tremendous force, creating shockwaves that rippled through the volcanic rock. A jagged crack propagated rapidly toward Kaelith’s position.

Kaelith raised her head slightly. Her icy blue and silver hair fluttered in the displaced air. The beautiful face beneath her baseball cap remained perfectly calm — almost serene. Her ice-blue eyes held an expression of profound indifference, mixed with unmistakable authority.

Her cherry-colored lips moved, speaking a single word that carried the weight of absolute command:

"Stop."

The fracture racing toward her feet simply ceased.

Instantly. Completely.

Nova’s eyes narrowed — but not for the reason the Earthsplitter Lizard’s primitive intelligence couldn’t comprehend. While the creature froze in confused incomprehension, Nova was reading something else entirely.

She just used a law.

He had felt it — the specific resonance of laws being invoked, the particular quality of universal principles responding to a cultivator’s will. The word "Stop" hadn’t done anything. It was a trigger, a personal activation sequence, the same way his single step was a trigger for his spatial teleport. The actual work was done by the laws underneath — and from what his senses were telling him, those laws were Time and they were not operating at 5% or 8% comprehension.

They were operating at a level that made his own law comprehension feel preliminary.

How.

Nova genuinely felt surprised. His own situation he could explain — Absolute Insight, a soul that was ancient across multiple lifetimes, the specific convergence of circumstances that had led to where he currently was. He was, frankly, the main character of a situation so implausible it bordered on the absurd, like he was in a novel. He knew that about himself.

But Kaelith was standing here at what appeared to be the same age, invoking laws at a mastery level that should have required decades of dedicated cultivation, doing it through casual speech commands while her hands were in her jacket pockets.

She’s not just talented. She’s something else entirely. And she’s been hiding it even more thoroughly than I have.

Kaelith spoke again, her voice carrying crystalline clarity:

"Freeze."

Two of them. Nova thought.

The temperature surrounding the Earthsplitter Lizard plummeted catastrophically. Frost materialized from every direction simultaneously. Within two seconds, the creature was completely encased in translucent ice that sparkled with prismatic beauty.

"Shatter." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

CRASH!

The frozen Earthsplitter Lizard exploded into countless glittering fragments. The creature’s health bar evaporated instantly.

[DING! Kaelith Frostborn has slain Earthsplitter Lizard (LV6)]

Kaelith bent gracefully and retrieved something from the pile of ice debris — a delicate bracelet that gleamed with faint enchantment.

"Lucky," she murmured, examining it briefly. "Equipment drop. Though it’s only Common-tier. Disappointing."

She tossed it aside dismissively.

Nova stared. "You’re discarding it?"

"Common-grade equipment isn’t worth my inventory space." Kaelith glanced at him with obvious superiority. "If you want it, take it."

Nova genuinely bent down and retrieved the bracelet, storing it without comment.

50,000 points minimum on the open market. Only an idiot refuses free money.

When he looked up again, Kaelith had already disappeared from her position.

Her voice echoed from approximately two hundred meters distant:

"Lightning Strike."

Electrical discharge crackled through the gray atmosphere. A bolt of devastating white-blue lightning descended with apocalyptic force, striking a cluster of Earthsplitter Lizards that had been converging from below.

BOOM!

The impact crater glowed orange with residual heat. Charred spawn remains scattered across the blast radius.

She used Lightning Law that time, Nova noted. And Space Law to move. She’s not just concealing her cultivation level — she has multiple laws at peak comprehension.

He had to know the full picture. He needed her to stop being careful and start being genuine.

"It’s MY turn!!" Nova announced, his voice carrying deliberate theatrical outrage.

He released his spatial sense outward, locked the coordinate beside Kaelith’s position, fed the Space Law a trace of Ancient Chaotic Origin Qi, and stepped.

He was beside her before the sound of his voice had finished traveling.

Kaelith felt it the moment he invoked the law.

Space Law.

Her ice-blue eyes widened fractionally — a genuine crack in her composure. She had felt Space Law invoked before, in her previous life, by warriors who had spent decades developing the ability. This boy had just used it with the casual ease of someone who breathed through it.

They looked at each other.

Both of them reading the same recognition in the other’s eyes. Both of them reassessing rapidly.

He has Space Law, Kaelith thought, a chill running through her that had nothing to do with Ice Law. At his apparent level. How is that possible.

She sensed it, Nova noted simultaneously. She knows exactly what that was. Which means she has enough law comprehension to recognize Space Law being invoked, which means her own comprehension is deeper than I initially estimated.

A beat of charged silence.

Then Nova looked at the thoroughly electrocuted Earthsplitter Lizard corpses and turned his golden gaze toward Kaelith with deliberate annoyance. "Academy Beauty Kaelith, casually breaking established rules doesn’t seem appropriate."

That’s the second reason, he thought privately. The first was to see her laws. The second is to see what she does when she’s actually provoked. I want her real colors — not the carefully constructed front she’s been showing since the waiting room.

Kaelith recovered her composure with impressive speed. "You eliminated so many Ironskull Wolves earlier. Therefore, this entire cluster represents fair compensation."

"Is that so?" Nova’s smile turned pleasant in the specific way that suggested it was not pleasant at all. "Very well. I understand perfectly."

Subtle vibrations rippled through the ground nearby — telltale signs of another Earthsplitter preparing to ambush from below.

Kaelith’s eyes flashed with competitive fire. Her lips parted: "Thun—"

Nova had already stepped.

Space Law. A trace of Chaotic Origin Qi. He materialized directly above the disturbance zone, already in mid-strike. His right fist descended with Vibrational Force wrapping it in crimson ripples.

BOOM!

A five-meter-wide section of volcanic rock collapsed inward. The Earthsplitter Lizard attempting to ambush from below was crushed flat.

[DING! You have slain Earthsplitter Lizard (LV7)] [Experience gained: +70 EXP]

"You—!" Kaelith’s outrage was genuine.

Every time she identified a target, every time her lips began forming command words, Nova was already there. Space Law made every distance irrelevant. Combined with his devastating one-shot damage output he became an absolute spawn-elimination machine.

After seven consecutive stolen kills, Kaelith’s composure finally gave way.

Her ice-blue eyes blazed with cold fury. She spoke a command — not directed at spawn, but at Nova:

"Binding."

Invisible force manifested around Nova like ethereal ropes, constricting his limbs and torso. The restraints yanked him to a halt mid-movement, suspending him several meters above the ground.

Time Law, Nova registered immediately. Localized temporal binding applied to physical movement. Clean execution. Very high comprehension level.

There it is, he thought with quiet satisfaction. That’s the real her.

Kaelith looked at him with frigid authority, her beautiful features arranged in an expression of imperial displeasure. "I’ve been tolerant for the sake of our academy connection. Don’t force me to become serious."

Nova smiled — genuinely amused.

"In that case..."

Terrifying Ancient Chaotic Origin Qi erupted from his body. Crimson energy exploded outward in concentric waves, each pulse carrying the purification and annihilation properties of the Eternal Chaotic Origin Scripture operating at full passive output. The Time Law binding held for exactly one second before the Chaotic Qi simply dissolved the temporal structure holding it together.

He descended gracefully to the volcanic rock, landing without sound.

A layer of crimson ripples now covered his entire body — Vibrational Force Technique at enhanced capacity, the oscillating energy visible as heat shimmer rising from his skin. He twisted his neck experimentally, rolled his shoulders, flexed his fists.

His light golden pupils reflected Kaelith’s figure with perfect clarity.

"Since neither of us is willing to yield..."

He adopted a proper combat stance — weight distributed perfectly, every muscle coiled with compressed power.

"Let’s settle this through combat."

Kaelith’s ice-blue eyes narrowed with calculation and anticipation. Her competitive spirit — forged through a previous lifetime of deadly battles — ignited completely.

He broke a Time Law binding with pure energy output, she thought, the analysis running cold and fast beneath the surface of her expression.

His Qi is very chaotic and it disrupted the temporal structure directly. I’ve never seen that before. What is that energy type.

She had never believed she could lose to anyone at equivalent life level.

She still didn’t.

But she was no longer certain what his equivalent life level actually was.

"Exactly what I wanted," she declared, her voice carrying absolute confidence.

The boy and girl faced each other in the alien environment, surrounded by the corpses of Abyssal Spawn they had casually eliminated. The gray sky pressed down overhead. Volcanic rock crunched beneath their feet.

Two exceptional prodigies — each concealing world-shaking secrets, each possessing power far exceeding their apparent classification — prepared to test their strength against an equal for the first time since awakening.

Neither would hold back.

Neither would surrender.

The Abyssal Rift held its breath.