The Absolute: Humanity's Second Chance

"Whoa... they... they are amazing." Fiona marveled. As a princess, she wasn't allowed to see swordsmasters fight like this on the stage, hence why this fight was beautiful to her.

"Mhm. I have to agree, they are amazing. It gives out a feeling like, they could take on hundreds by themselves." Quipped Juliette, yet unlike Fiona, she was used to seeing something like this.

In fact, amongst the Gray House, almost all of them gave her a feeling of being a one man army. And another one, had literally proven this feeling once. 'Which is why most nations hate the Gray House.' She added in bitterness.

Keng~

Adonis blocked yet another attempt at his life, as the force from the strike pushed him backwards. 'I managed to block it again, but at this rate, I'll lose... I cannot keep defending forever.' He assessed.

[ Name: Adonis Adams ]

[ Mana: 58 425 ]

[ Epithet(2): Natural Born King, King Candidate ]

[ Class: Lvl 6 Primordial Star Emperor ]

[ Sub-Class: None ]

[ Life Essence: 3,951 ]

'Level 6 still, and yet I have a lot of Life Essence in stock.' He thought, pulling back from Lanzelet. 'And the other party... must have reached above level 20 by now.'

He always knew that he had enough Life Essence to reach a very high level. But the fact that he always felt like his skills were still not enough for that required level, he held back.

'Yet nows not the time for that. If I want to win, I'll have to reach a very high level as well. Skills alones are not enough!!' And with determination, Adonis changed his posture.

From defense, he was on the offense.

...!!!

And that alone, changed his aura completely to that of a ferocious beast, ready to devour anyone on its path. 'This is minor attempt at using the oppressive force from senior Sixth. A far cry from the original, but an assert nonetheless.'

He was not stupid. He knew that Lanzelet was a powerful opponent, even when he agreed to the duel. And he had his reasons for that, regardless.

One, he had enough Life Essence to reach a higher level as well. Two, he had experience at taking a beating. And lastly, his enhanced physical condition.

'Level me up to the max!!' He willed, his body uncharacteristically exploding out in obscene waves of power and bluish magnificent aura.

Boom..!!

[ TING!! ]

[ You have spent 3,840 units of Life Essence to Level up all the way to Level 23 ]

[ You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... ] (×3)

[ You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... You have Leveled up... ]

The bluish aura around Adonis exploded out in fervor and excitement, riling the sorounding Mana to circulate around him in joy. Like a child welcoming back it's father, like a–

"–servant bowing down to its king." Damien said, shocking everyone abounding him. No, he did no such thing, Adonis did the shocking at this moment.

'This... This feeling traversing through my veins... is it, power..?' And he thought in stupor, seeing the world in a different light, a different form if beauty.

Instead of trees and buildings, he saw particles of varying colors and nature. He saw colorful waves of varying sizes, snaking past the countless particles.

He saw... 'Elegance at its finest...' He marveled at the scenery before his eyes.

And at that moment, one particle suddenly erupted in light frequency, attracting his attention. The particle shot a beam of light towards a nearby particle of the same color, resonating with it.

Once that particle lit up as well, it transmitted the light towards another one, then another one, until finally, the beam was fired straight to his forehead. 'This is..!!'

...!!!

Adonis widened his eyes and swiftly dodged the beam, his eyes flashing in blue brilliance and seeing the world as it was, the beam rushing past him... now a blade cloaked in red aura.

'I... see...' His eyes flashing a brighter brilliance of blue, staring down at the slow moving figure of Lanzelet, whose own blue eyes flashed with an oppressive red brilliance, who, side eyed Adonis in shock.

And during the instantaneous exchange, Adonis hurriedly swung his sword and Lanzelet flipped his wrist, forcefully rotating his blade almost 180° over his shoulder and blocking the attack.

Keng~!!

And he was forcefully pushed back a couple of meters away thanks to Adonis' new found strength, and his previously unstable posture when blocking. 'Im...Impossible..!!' He exclaimed in shock.

'Such strength...' Meanwhile Adonis marveled at the power dancing at his finger tips. Yet even then, the young man felt unsatisfied. 'What if... What if I poured Mana into my blade..?'

The desire of a King stretches beyond the bounds of land and distance, and likewise, exceeds the barrier of logic and common sense!!

He put such thought to action, slowly putting Mana into his blade, yet he felt it tremble in unstability. 'No good..? Well it's fine. I'll ask sir Damien after this. For now...' He looked up at Lanzelet, his expression calm.

His Unique Ability, [King's Temperament], taking its effects without his awareness.

'Let's end this..!!' Lanzelet grit his teeth and tightened his grasp over his sword, looking menacingly at Adonis. Their thoughts resonating together.

Lanzelet held his sword linear to his chest, and focused his intent around it, releasing a much more potent red aura around the blade. 'Focus. Focus. Focus..!!'

Boom~!!

The red aura exploded out, destroying the floor beneath him, and spreading out as tendrils of invisible waves of power. Deep and fathomless oppressive power!!

The aura then forcefully guided the Mana from his body to circulate around the blade, and enforce itself into the aura and onto the blade, turning it red as if heated in molten lava.

'So that's how you do it... not by just forcing Mana into the sword, but guiding with one's will.' Adonis thought, first enforcing his will onto his sword. 'But what was my will..? No, to be precise–'

What is my goal? To become King.

What is my desire? To rule.

So, what is a will? Both of the two? I am not too sure, but I believe it is as such.

He thought, the Mana around him settling itself down to him, as if respectfully bowing down to his will bottled up within his sword.

And when his will was felt, the Mana willingly circulated itself around his blade, empowering his sword will and beautifying his presence... Like a king on a pedestal.

Rising oppressive red aura on one side, and calm royal blue aura on the other. The two young swordsman were ready to end the fight right there. Their spectators watching with bated breathes.

"Might be only me, but I'm feeling like things won't end well here." Sixth snickered, leaning casually on a pillar. "Agreed. I feel like we are in danger by just standing here." Harold affirmed, feeling greatly uneasy.

"That's to be expected. The aura of a swordsmaster would easily oppress a large range." Damien added, "And if they do collide, this entire castle will collapse. If not the entire district."

"Really?! Then why are we not stopping them?!" Fiona panicked. She wasn't the only one though. "Dammy, a lot of people might die if we don't do something about this." Juliette frowned.

"I know." Damien sighed. 'Let alone the entire manor, even the soroundings would be affected. Luckily, they are still just novices, and have yet to properly go through the baptism of realm breakthrough, otherwise... a large portion of the city would be affected.' He thought.

At that moment, Adonis and Lanzelet silently rushed at each other, only seeing one another as opponents. 'This battle–' '–Ends here!!'

'–Right now..!!'

They both thought in synchronization, the latter stabbing ahead, and the former slashing forward, but regardless... both swords would still clash at the center of it all.

...!!!

"Damien..!!" Everyone held their breathes, as their hearts skipped a beat.

Fiona burst into flames, and Juliette spread out her hands, Mana intricately circling around her with more fervor and excitement than when it was around Adonis.

Yet Damien, remained standing, with his hands folded before his chest. To him, everything was in slow motion, as if a video was being watched at 0.5× seconds.

He then sighed, and lightly called out, "Senior..." "No problem." And the man called, responded with a smile, before moving at insane speeds, like a jet on full speed.

He was so fast, he exceeded the short span of time that Fiona required to summon her flames, or the even shorter span of time that Juliette needed to command a magic circle.

He disappeared from his initial position, and appeared right before both Adonis and Lanzelet's swords, shocking the two greatly.

'This man..!!'

'Senior..!!'

They both exclaimed in shock, yet were unable to stop themselves. Hence the two swords, one red, one blue, were still going to clash, or rater, piece through him.