Capítulo 49: Chapter 49: Quarter Finals & Semi Finals
Once Starlet destroyed all of my attacks, she flew toward me while also attacking with the same technique she had previously used, and now that I could see it, I understood why she was able to destroy all of my attacks.
Bringing Hokori up to block the attack, I felt a massive amount of force collide with Hokori's sheath, causing my entire arm to tremble slightly from the impact.
'For something so small, it carried an impressive amount of power, I'll admit.' Thought Elif as he blocked a few more of the same attacks before launching a Heavenly scar at Starlet when she got close.
Using my movement technique, I flashed behind Starlet, who had just blocked my Heavenly scar; I lifted Hokori above my head and slashed down at her back, though she managed quickly place her sword behind her, effectively stopping my attack. Starlet then pushed off me and spun around a few times while releasing a couple of sword waves at me, to which I sliced in half using my sword intent.
Our fight continued for a bit longer, with me having a slight advantage during most of the battle, while Starlet stayed more on the defensive as she would only counter-attack; however, eventually, I decided to end the match, as even though I was having a little fun, I still wished for the tournament to continue. From how the battle was playing out, it didn't look like the match would conclude any time soon.
Parrying Starlet's sword, I flashed away from her only to appear high up in the sky, yet this time my face was much more serious than before; extending my arm, I faced my hand toward Starlet in the distance and performed a Royal Elf's Palm, except this time I'm no longer holding back. Now that I'm using my full strength, a giant purple palm appears right above me, twice as big as the ones I've previously attacked with and denser as well; looking down at the nervous Starlet, I lower my hand, causing the large purple palm above me to go shooting at Starlet with speeds much faster than before.
Starlet, who was not expecting my attack to display such speed, was almost caught by surprise. Still, she managed to quickly activate a protective talisman just in time, though since its power could only stop an attack at the peak of a Half-step Divine, it was merely a thin glass wall before my palm; however, it did give Starlet just enough time to evade my attack.
I wasn't worried, though, since all that did was prolong Starlet's inevitable defeat. Starlet also knew that, considering she came charging at me with her fastest speed using her movement technique, hoping to catch me while I couldn't retaliate. However, it's not like I need to retaliate anyways, I may not be able to attack while controlling my purple palm, but I can still use my movement technique to easily evade her, though once she reached my position and was about to strike down at me with her sword, she got grabbed by my purple palm that caught up to her from behind.
Squeezing her until she starts grunting in pain, I throw her to the arena below me and slam my palm on top of her, causing the entire coliseum to shake from the power. However, no need to worry, as from what I know about this coliseum, even a Royal guard wouldn't be able to damage it.
Landing back on the ground, I find Starlet injured while coughing out some blood, but what surprised me was how she could still fight, considering I wasn't holding back when I attacked her. Seeing her trying to stand back up, I flashed behind her and hit her on the back of her head before she could respond to my arrival, knocking her unconscious. Floating her body over to the servants that just appeared, I fixed my clothes and hair before heading back to my booth, only to find Illumia still hadn't returned, much to disappointment.
"Marvelous battle, and congratulations on winning the match, Prince Elif." Said Mandy with a slight bow while sounding even happier than Elif.
"It was quite a fun match; she's the first to force me to use my full strength." Commented Elif as he sat back down comfortably on his throne while a bowl of lighting cherries appeared in his hands.
The next match was about to start while I was eating some lighting cherries, but I didn't bother watching the next match as it consisted of Marley, and from seeing the previous matches she fought in, I knew it was going to be over quickly, and I was correct, she didn't even allow her opponent a chance to fight.
'This isn't good; I haven't seen Marley actually fight this entire tournament, and every single one of her opponents has been defeated too quickly; I know very little about Marley's fighting style while she has seen me fight a few times.' Thought Elif as he put away the bowl of lighting cherries and started recuperating, since even though he didn't receive many injuries from the fighting Starlet, he did use a decent amount of Qi, and with his next opponent being Alf, he was going to need to be at his peak.
I would personally love to watch the next match considering Kare and Maga were going to fight against each other, but observing them fight isn't too important as the person I'll most likely be facing in the finals will be Marley. However, if I even want to reach the finals, I must defeat Alf first, which is already difficult enough.
While in a light meditation, every now and then, I would feel the entire coliseum shake from Maga and Kare's match, and this went on for quite a while until the coliseum violently shook once before calming down. Using my divine sense, I looked at the arena, only to find a heavily injured Kare lying unconscious on the ground with blood all over her body, while an equally heavily injured Maga stood above her; however, that didn't last long as he too collapsed on the ground shortly after, though he was still conscious.
'Now I kind of wished I watched the fight. Oh well, the tournament is being recorded; I'm sure I can watch the fight later; however, now I only have thirty minutes until my fight, time to get serious.' Thought Elif as he recalled his divine sense and went back into his mediation, all to prepare for the battle against Alf.
After what felt like the fastest thirty minutes ever, I stopped meditating and opened my eyes; no longer was my demeanor so nonchalant like usual, but now it was replaced by an air of solemnity with my eyes radiating indifference. Standing up, I fly out my booth and head towards the arena with Alf doing the same; quickly arriving, we land far away while carefully observing each other.
"I'm impressed that you've achieved such strength at merely the age of six, but Prince Elif, I must disappoint you as this will be where your journey ends." Said Alf with respect as she swung her hammer in intimidation, causing a large gust of wind to advance toward Elif.
"I appreciate the compliment, but as the Crown Prince of the Empire, it would be quite disgraceful if I couldn't at least make it to the finals, wouldn't it?" Responded Elif as he unsheathed Hokori for the first time during the tournament before casually slicing his sword towards the incoming gust of air, resulting in the gust of wind dissipating.
We stood still and looked at each other for a second before we suddenly began fighting.
As I charged at Alf, brandishing Hokori while using my movement technique, Alf did the same as she swiftly headed towards me with her giant golden hammer; once we arrived near each other, I swung my sword at her while Alf smashed down her hammer at me. The moment our weapons collided, it caused the entire coliseum to shake slightly; however, I immediately knew Alf would win this exchange as the strength behind her swing was incredible.
Letting up, I allowed Alf to fling me in the distance while also launching a few Heavenly scars at her, though in response, her skin turned all jagged, causing my attacks only to leave a few centimeter-deep marks on her skin. Stopping myself in the air, I summoned forth a large purple palm and slammed it at Alf, who was approaching me, yet when she saw it coming toward her, she didn't slow down at all, and instead, Alf slammed her hammer down on my palm and destroyed it before continuing her charge at me.
Once she got close again, she rapidly swung her hammer at me ferociously, and having already experienced the power behind her attacks, I didn't dare take it head on; instead, I would deflect her attacks from hitting me, something quite dangerous, but it allowed for me to stay close to her. As I deflected her consistent attacks, I would quickly take the time between each attack and slash at the weak points I could reach; however, none of my attacks did any actual damage to her; they merely made a shallow cut on her defensive technique.
Deciding to try something new, I once again deflected another attack before quickly using that chance to gather all of my sword intent at the tip of my blade before piercing Alf's abdomen, and surprisingly Hokori penetrated right through her skin-like armor with some resistance; however, it didn't go much further as Alf had backed away before it went too deep, though I could tell I injured her from the blood dripping out of the hole.
'Well, well, well, her previous opponent was really onto something; it just seemed like he didn't have enough power behind his attacks; however, that's not the same with me, though, since it's the first time I ever tried gathering my sword intent at such a small point it could use some improvements.' Thought Elif as he mentally smirked at the revelation before again gathering all of his sword intent at the tip of Hokori, this time doing it slightly more efficiently.
Once we were locked back into battle, I noticed that while Alf's ferocity didn't disappear, I could tell she became much more cautious, knowing I could now harm her; however, that also made things much more complicated than before since that time I caught her off guard. Though it wasn't so bad since as the battle raged on, my ability to gather my sword intent at a single point continued to improve, allowing for quicker attacks at Alf.
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