CHAPTER 80: SECOND DAY OF THE GRAND SPRING TOURNAMENT (PART 2)

After a long exchange, Kael and Jones paused, while blood petals could still be seen slowly falling onto the combat platform.

[OHHH! What a great exchange we’re witnessing on this second day!]

The announcer shouted at the top of his lungs, raising the crowd’s excitement to new heights. Since most of them were commoners, this type of combat was what they enjoyed the most.

Kael, breathing steadily, smiled slightly when he heard the crowd erupt.

This was exactly what he wanted to achieve with his fight. The more exciting it was, the more attention he would get and the more people would talk about him. That way, the news about the destroyed villages would fade into the background.

And that was what would benefit him the most. Because when everything blew up, he would just reap the rewards he had worked so hard for all this time.

On the other hand, Jones was breathing rapidly. He had never faced this type of person who handled the flow of the fight so well.

Throughout the entire fight, Kael hadn’t launched a single attack. He had been attacking the whole time and had only been blocked.

I can’t go on like this; I have to find a way to change the flow of the fight. Otherwise, at this rate, I’ll lose. Thought Jones, as his tired gaze filled with determination once again, and he gripped the hilt of his sword more tightly.

He exhaled slowly, calming both his body and mind, and circulated his mana essence back to his dantian. The navy blue aura took on a different hue, turning purple-blue, and two dragons formed around the sword.

The combat platform was in pieces.

The roar of the crowd filled the air, vibrating like a war drum, while the last rays of sunset bathed the scene in a fiery red.

Jones took a deep breath.

The heat of the stares, the euphoria surrounding him, the weight of the spectacle... It all fueled him. Attention was power, and he fed off it.

A smile curved his lips.

Without further warning, he lunged forward. His figure blurred in an instant, leaving a trail of dust behind each step. Around him, twin dragons emerged with force, tracing watery orbits around his sword. They spun in sync, like celestial serpents.

Kael smiled. This was what he wanted: he was going to light up the stage even more. As long as he was in the spotlight, the better it would be for his pieces to move in his shadow.

The sword, a gift from his mother, glowed with a crimson aura. A dance of blood petals began to spiral, enveloping the blade.

The twin dragons synchronized their attack. Launching themselves toward Kael, they sliced through the air as if tearing space itself apart, one from above and one from below.

Kael swung his sword once with a clean, elegant cut, and the ground split open. From the line of the cut, a bloody cherry tree sprouted, its branches formed by multiple overlapping cuts. The flowers that emerged were fragments of condensed blood.

The twins were absorbed by the blood cherry tree as they disappeared into particles.

Jones’s powerful attack was destroyed by Kael’s attack, which left the shape of a cherry tree made by all the cuts on the platform.

"WOOOAAAAAAH!" The spectators erupted at what they had just witnessed. This would remain etched in their memories until the day they died.

Jones, seeing that his most powerful attack had been so easily destroyed, fell to his knees. When he looked up, he met Kael’s indifferent gaze, and all his fighting spirit and determination vanished completely.

And he uttered in a broken voice:

"I give up."

[What an unexpected turn of events! Jones, after a fierce battle, is unable to continue. Kael takes the victory on this second day of the grand spring tournament, leaving the audience speechless with his flawless performance!]

Kael stepped down from the sand with an indifferent expression, leaving the place in an eerie silence. As he walked away, the cries of the crowd reached his ears.

Now we just have to wait for those screams to turn into cries. He thought as his figure disappeared into the corridors of the coliseum.

The fights continued until night fell, bringing the second day of the grand spring tournament to an end.

With the elimination of 26 participants.

...

At the Medici mansion, the atmosphere was quite good, thanks to Kael’s performance, which had the whole city talking about the battle. Thus, the destruction of the villages was completely forgotten, and the disappearances were ignored.

Unaware of the danger approaching Kiran Mountain.

"Young Master Kael’s fight was incredible. I didn’t know he had such skills."

"But it’s quite normal. He almost always came back covered in blood when he left the mansion, so all those experiences helped him."

"True, and tomorrow he’s facing young lady Jenna. Tomorrow will also be a great battle. But Jasper is incredible; he’s not giving his opponents a chance."

The servants’ conversations filled the halls of the mansion as they went about their tasks.

Meanwhile, Kael was in his room, sitting in the lotus position with a bag full of mana stones beside him.

The time had finally come to reach rank 8.

With a serious expression, he brought his consciousness to his core, where his sea of mana was practically a greenish-bronze color, but there were also many silver parts, characteristic of rank 9.

Kael couldn’t help but remember his past life; at this point in time, he would still be in the early stages of rank 9. But now was not the time to dwell on his past life.

With a single thought, he began to refine his essence of mana, which began to form large swirls, while the level of the sea of mana began to decrease greatly over time.

Not long after, the sea of mana was about to dry up completely.

Kael, without opening his eyes, raised a hand and took a stone of mana. He absorbed it without hesitation.

One... Two... Five... Ten... Twenty.

With each one, the sea stabilized a little more, and the level returned to its limit: 97%.

But it didn’t stop.

As soon as it stabilized, it forced the refinement technique again. This time with more intensity, more demand. The entire sea began to burn in a silent collapse. Its entire core vibrated.

And then, finally...

Clack!

A sharp sound echoed inside his mind. It didn’t come from outside, but from deep within his essence.

The silver veins cracked and dissolved, as if they had never been there. In their place, the entire sea of manna took on a uniform, metallic, greenish-copper sheen.

Kael slowly opened his eyes. There was no emotion in his pupils.

He had reached rank 8.