Chapitre 273: Warm Tears

Dawlish and Arthur wasted no two seconds, as they clashed immediately. The difference in their cultivation level was not a small one. After all, even after leveling up, Arthur was still stuck on Immortal Establishment level 7, while Dawlish was at the peak, level 10. Yet, similar to Gobuta earlier, Arthur was able to take Dawlish's sword, and return one not one millimeter less ferocious.

The two clashed once, twice, a dozen times every second, leaving behind craters everywhere around the battlefield.

By now, everyone had found an opponent to fight. Those left with no enemy stood on the sidelines and watched anxiously, yet at the same time, they were astonished. A dozen battles took place at the same time, and each one was more breathtaking than the previous.

Akira, who was forced to promise, by Arthur, to stand back and remain in the sidelines in order to protect their allies in case of a hidden force of Blood sect, watched, full of worry, as his son and his comrades fought with their blood and sweat. A burning sensation of rage and disappointment raced around his flurried mind; he wanted to be on the frontline fighting. But, a promise was a promise, and to back down would sully his precious pride.

Hayato and his enemy stared daggers into each other. His opponent was one of Johan's teammates, which accompanied him in the tower when he first met Ed. He was a tall man with reddish-brown hair and a herculean build. His eyes were brown and his visage gave the impression that he didn't smile a lot. He carried a mace. The shaft was made of pure wood, glazed with steel to make it easy to hold, while the head was made of Mythril, and several spikes protruded out of it.

The two of them made a move at the same time, and the result was as expected…Hayato drove his enemy's head into the ground, cracking it. However, as if nothing had happened, the man stood up right away.

Similar battles were happening all over the place, with Alicia, Ellie, and Leon fighting the rest of Johan's teammates.

Emilia, however, had another goal in mind. Ed had planned on avoiding such an outcome, but it came to be this way. She stood in front of Sarin, a fire burning at the pit of her stomach, yet her ice magic felt colder and deadlier than ever. The Poison sect master bit on his molars so hard, cracks started to form on them. They dared to use his existence as a way to attack the master; they tarnished his name and made fun of him. They humiliated him. He stared at his hand, as a purple liquid started to ooze out of them. His magic returned to normal, but why did it malfunction earlier? The question plagued his mind. He didn't know that Ed had set a rule on the dimension that he created. Fire magic would transform into Poison magic, and vice versa. It was all in order to make the transformed Gobuta appear more believable.

Of course, he had the choice of summoning the Kraken, but Ed was worried that the Blood sect master would notice the difference between an Avatar summoning, and a normal summoning.

"Edward Avalon won't even face me this time?" Sarin spoke as he sent half a look towards Emilia. "He sends his late night whore to entertain me, is that it?"

"You should be careful," Emilia stated. "His ears are quite sharp, and if he were to hear you, he'd chop you up into pieces."

"That's quite the confidence. I failed to see it last time when I pumped him full of poison," Sarin smirked and said. "I wonder how he survived. Did he get you to suck it out for him?"

"No not really," Emilia, still maintaining her cool, answered Sarin, but her cold gaze never left him. "He simply overcame your poison. Right now, you're no longer a threat to him if I dare presume. That's why I'm here. I'm more than enough of a match for you right now."

"Ha…HAHAHA!" Sarin broke into a fit of maniacal laughter. "I fail to see how you'll survive my poison, little princess of Aaragon!"

Sarin thrust his hand forward and poison surged out like a torrent. It didn't take long for it to surround Emilia's whole body. But, soon enough Sarin started to notice how it got less dense as if it was being sucked up.

"I never said I was going to fight you alone," Emilia said from within the poison mist. Soon it disappeared and she emerged spotless from within, right above her head, a golden slime sat. "We're far past the point of fair fights, am I right?"

Her Qi spiraled around her, creating a field of icy mist. Her silver hair fluttered in the wind and Suika jumped up and down her head. Quickly, the area around her and Sarin turned into a snowy plain.

Sarin didn't take the hint from before and started to attack from a distance with his poison. But, each and every time, without failure, Suika sucked up everything. Emilia took the chance to counterattack with ice pillars, which punctured the ground under Sarin, or ice spears which followed him like homing missiles.

Emilia created an ice arena, which surrounded Sarin from all direction, leaving him with only one way out, above him. He realized that it was a trap, but noticing hundreds of ice spears and arrows surrounding him, he had no choice but to fly up. There, he was met with an ice hammer, the size of a small house, hurling towards him. He used his poison to melt it almost immediately, but he noticed the colossal figure of ice golem approaching him.

"Impudent!" Sarin screamed as he released his poison magic in a sphere that formed around him. The golem which ran toward him dissipated into nothing almost immediately.

Sarin realized that he wasn't going to get far by using ranged attacks and thus switched to close combat. He rushed almost immediately towards Emilia, who managed to dodge his poison infused fists by a close margin. It was thanks to her daily training against Ellie that she managed to foresee the attacks' direction before they hit.

But, Sarin was much stronger than her, and it was only a matter of time before he could connect. Emilia was retreating further and further, every time, Sarin grazed her closer. It reached a point where she tripped, and as she was falling, Sarin accelerated until he was mere centimeters away from her.

Just as he thought of how he was going to finish her, he noticed the lingering sensation of Qi on the ground under him, and before he could even react, he felt dozens of areas all over his body burn up. Sarin looked down, but it was too painful to move his neck. He felt a liquid rush upwards, and couldn't hold it in. he puked blood all over his clothes. It was only then that he realized what had happened.

He stepped into a trap, which caused over twenty different ice weapons to pieces his body. On top of that, his hands and legs were bound by Ice Mountains.

The crimson red blood dripped all over the beautiful ice sculptures, and Sarin's hazy eyes focused on Emilia who started to approach him. In her hand was the most beautiful weapon that his eyes had ever seen. It was the same weapon of the strongest ice user that he encountered…no it was the second strongest now.

"Do you have any last words?" Emilia asked him out of courtesy.

"Heh…" Sarin struggled to produce any words, but he forced himself to look up, right into Emilia's cloudy eyes. "You look just like your mother."

Emilia could feel that her rage was slowly leaving her body. Maybe it was a pity, or maybe it was because she knew Ed would share all of her burdens, but she no longer hated the man in front of her. She looked him right in the eyes, and in one fell swoop, her rapier pierced his head. His warm blood froze on the cold edge of the rapier.

But, no matter how cold the rapier was, it couldn't change the warmth of the tears that fell from Emilia's eyes.

L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS
Shigun

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Chapitre 274: Lightning Stomp

The battlefield had already changed beyond recognition. The red plains disappeared and only soil and dust remained. The sun struggled to keep the area illuminated, but the clashes of the Immortal Establishment cultivators helped clear the area due to the intense winds that resulted.

Leon was on the losing end of his fight. His opponent was a hard counter for him. Leon relied on his Body Strengthening to enhance his basic abilities, while his enemy was a one trick pony who relied on his speed. Leon was already full of cuts and injuries, as blood trickled all over his body, and his eyes started to lose focus due to the blood loss. The only things keeping him conscious were his memories.

Helplessness. The memories of his helplessness once No-bō revealed himself to be the teacher he had trusted and aimed to be like surged through his mind. The memories of the desperate actions he took in order to accelerate his cultivation and catch up to Ed and the others who had all disappeared in order to grow stronger. The memories of the time he spent with the one he loved…

Leon steeled his resolve, while at the same time he lowered his guard. He felt sweet relief, as it took him a great deal of power just to keep holding his hands up, protecting his vitals.

"Have you finally given up?" his opponent asked, but Leon was too weak to answer. He raised his head and rubbed his eye, all in order to get a good look at his opponent…in order to catch every motion.

Leon exhaled, and soon after, his enemy rushed in, a smile on his face. He thought about how he lucked out with such an enemy, a weak enemy. He was glad to see that his opponent was not moving. It meant that he would finish him off with a single attack. He didn't worry about what was coming next, as he had full faith in the sect master. The invincible sect master would surely decimate all the enemies. All he needed to do was to kill one of the strong ones and retreat.

With such thoughts in his heads, the young man accelerated to his maximum speed and stabbed towards Leon's heart. Yet, just one moment before contact, Leon undid his Body Strengthening, which had bulked up his body, and turned back to normal. Thus, the rapier, which should have pierced the heart, ended up going through the left shoulder instead.

The young found himself frozen with shock as he realized he was now open for any attack. His eyes moved slowly, searching for the position of Leon's sword. Beads of sweat rolling down his back.

But, soon he regained his smile.

Leon was incapable of moving. He was out of energy, he was too tired, he wanted to lay down and sleep. But, he didn't give in to the thoughts that plagued his mind. He was a head taller than his enemy, so he looked down on him; eyes full of determination. He knew that he couldn't kill his opponent, but at the very least, he wanted to make the battle easier for the ally that would come after him.

Leon grabbed the elbow of his enemy, and with the last bit of willpower he had, he tried to twist it off. But, it wouldn't budge.

"Ha…hahaha! Of course, you can't hurt me!" his enemy laughed, but his face was stricken with worry and fear. "With your weak body, you can't go through the defenses of my equipment!"

The young man pulled out his rapier from Leon's body, and this time aimed for his heart. There was no escape now; Leon was out of Qi.

Leon closed his eyes and submitted himself to death. He counted down the seconds left before the rapier pierced through his heart, this time killing him for sure. Yet, just as he thought 'zero', he heard the crackle of thunder and the sound of bones breaking.

Leon opened his eyes to see bright golden short hair buzzing in the air. A figure as tall as him towered over his enemy, as its fist lodged its self deep into the enemy's face.

"Griffin…" Leon muttered and he felt his knees buckle, yet before they could hit the ground, he felt a hand support him.

"Hang in there buddy," Griffin said. "Liz is on her way, she'll help you. You don't want to show her your disappointing side, right?"

Leon couldn't help but smile as he listened to his friend. He could feel a Qi coming their way that was all too familiar. Liz approached him, and without saying a word, carried him. His blood seeped into her clothes, turning her into a crimson maiden, carrying a battle-scarred knight. She retreated with Leon and sent one final look to Griffin, a look of gratitude. Her face was wet with tears.

"Why did you butt in?!" the young man stood up, clutching his swollen cheek. "I was about to finish him off, and that would have guaranteed me a grandmaster's position in the sect! After all, Most of them are already dead!"

"Why? Because I'm his friend," Griffin answered. "And it's too bad I was fighting some of the minions otherwise I would have fought you instead."

"Don't get cocky just because you got a lucky shot in," the young man stood up, his black eyes full of fury, and a tinge of fear that had stuck there from the moment he couldn't kill Leon.

He accelerated once again into full speed and disappeared from sight. It was as if he never existed before. Not even the sound of his clothes could be heard.

Griffin closed his eyes and exhaled. Then, as he took in a deep breath through his nose, he twisted his body and clad it in Golden lightning. He squeezed his fist hard against his palm and threw a punch right behind him. The crackle of thunder exploded as his fist made contact with something…his enemy.

"How did you find me?!" the young man said as he held his broken nose and looked bewildered.

"It's easy; I fought people faster and stronger than you. Plus, cowardly people tend to attack from the back," Griffin said as he stared at the young man. "I could tell you know. You chose Leon because you believed he was the easiest prey."

Griffin disappeared from the young man's sight, and before the latter could look around, he felt a major force collide with the back of his head, sending him into a spiral of confusion and pain.

"How does it feel, to fight someone stronger than you?"

The young man, once again, felt a great impact in his abdomen as he was struggling to stand up. The impact was powerful enough to lift him into the air.

He plummeted into the ground and struggled to turn and lay on his back. He was down to a tenth of his Qi, as it was consumed from trying to fend off against Griffin's lightning.

Griffin walked in a slow and rhythmic manner. The sound of his leather shoes tapping the ground seemed like a nightmare to the young man, who looked at him in fear.

Griffin stood on top of his enemy and looked down at him. Then, without warning, he stomped on his head, as a great lightning bolt descended from the sky. His enemy was dead.