Chapter 1289 Anomaly

Swisshhh!

Olivier once again dominated the fight with his extreme speed and moves. It looked as if he could speed up time and rewind it back at will. The audience gasped in shock and confusion when they saw the strange spectacle unfolding in the arena.

In order to stand on the same ground, Emery had to depend completely on his [Blink] spell for mobility otherwise he could only receive the fate of being bombarded with attacks by the Sword Saint.

From this, Emery also guessed the distortion of space created by the spatial magic he cast seemed to be the key to escape the time anomaly his opponent had imposed on him.

As he continued to dodge Olivier's attacks, he couldn't help but think he had never really used his [Blink] spell this often in any fight before. He also couldn't help but notice that tiny sparks appeared every time he dodged or charged at his opponent with his [Blink] spell. It was a phenomenon he had never seen before.

Both continuously attack each other, each move could land a devastating wound.

[Sonic Thrust] [Motion Stream]

Fortunately, by this point Emery had gotten used to dodging the two extraordinary sword arts Olivier employed. He even devised a way to deal with them efficiently. By utilizing his gravity spell [Repulsion] and [Attraction] at opportune moments, he managed to alter the trajectory of the attacks and keep the master swordsman at bay.

He also kept his [Gravitation Pressure] spell active. He continued to channel spirit energy into the spell despite the cost, after realizing it was able to weaken Olivier's time spells to some extent.

With these Emery was able to put up a good fight against the Sword Saint.

Due to the area-of-effect spells originating from the two illustrious elements – gravity and time –  being cast on the arena, what the onlookers could see was only an area of ​​approximately one hundred square meters turned into a dome where streaks of darkness and light flickering about.

While the audience were wrecking their brains to see the blurry sight of what was taking place inside the mystifying dome, Emery's figure continued to phase in and out of existence as he moved around with [Blink] clashing his sword against Olivier's over and over.

"What kind of fight is this?!" shouted the spectators, who could see the ferocious exchange happening inside. They were fully mesmerized by what they saw, even some of the figures seated in the VIP area started to rise from their seats to get a better look of the unbelievable fight.

[Omega Strike]

CLANKKKK!!

A sharp ear-piercing sound resounded in the air when Olivier managed to block what was supposed to be a killing move by Emery.

He was sent tumbling several meters back by the attack, but quickly regained his footing as if the attack didn't affect him in the least. With a composure look on his face, he brandished his silver sword at Emery again.

Meanwhile, after seeing that his sword attack was still unable to land a hit on the Master Swordsman, Emery decided to add another skill into the fray. Faint swirls of darkness were seen revolving around his body.

While his attention was still completely on his opponent watching out for surprise attacks, he urged his dark core to pump up its spirit power and channeled darkness energy into the sword in his hand. As the black sword was filled to the brim, he unleashed one of the sword arts taught by his master.

[Shadow Edge]

Swish— BAAMMMM!!!

A crescent-shaped black slash broke through multiple layers of temporal and gravitational force, etching a line of separation in the middle of the dome of two contrasting colors.

It was clear the attack surpassed the Sword Saint's expectations as a startled expression appeared on his face. Fortunately, he was barely able to stop it from reaching him, turning it into a blur that sped off another trajectory.

"How can such an attack work here!"

​ Now that he knew his sword art was effective inside Olivier's time spell, the fire within Emery's heart blazed even brighter as he promptly consecutively threw a few more of [Shadow Edge].

The crescent-shaped slashes rapidly traveled across the arena, whipping up ferocious gales in their wake. As he was still recovering from the earlier attack, Olivier was forced to further increase his speed to dodge the attacks and launch retaliation.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

At this point in their fight, the two of them could no longer fully dodge or parry their opponent's attacks as fatigue and exhaustion set in. Therefore wounds began to appear all over their bodies, which further increased the toll on them.

However, instead of slowing down to ensure their injuries didn't get worse, the speed of the two gradually increased as if they had come to a unanimous agreement. This both surprised and excited the audience.

The space distortions Emery's [Blink] formed, Olivier's extreme speed due to his temporal manipulation and the numerous clashes that created tears all over the area; these three factors got entangled with each other and started giving rise to another anomaly.

The gravity spell Emery had cast, which should have exhibited a downward gravitational force pulling them to the ground, underwent a change that gradually turned the area weightless.

As gravity seemed to cease in the arena, the two who were consumed by their fight began rising above the ground, clashing in the air with even greater speed and ferocity.

At the same time, following their rise, the dome gradually turned into a giant sphere and most spectators whose cultivation below magus was no longer able to see the figures of the two, let alone their fight.

Spllaattt! Splaatt!

[Stellar Sword]

With the gravity anomaly, Olivier's sword skill gained another advantage and managed to land several hits on Emery, inflicting more gushing wounds on his body. However, although he bled profusely, Emery persisted and continued to resist the Sword Saint.

Inwardly, he knew he couldn't hold on much longer.

"Will I be defeated here?"

Fighting continuously using the [Shadow Edge] brought much exhaustion, but at the same time reminded him of his Master Xion whose fate was unknown.

"Master, are you seeing me right now?"

"Am I doing well?"

"Is this enough, Master?"

While Olivier sword laid more cuts into his body thanks to his overwhelming sword skills, Emery persistently blocked, parried, and countered.

"No! Not Enough! Not Yet!"

His strong will erupted into the world, followed by a mysterious change within his dual core. All the light energy from his nature core burst into his dark core creating one explosion of power directed into the sword in his hand. The dark gleam on the sword's blade got increasingly brilliant as rich energy went into it.

Letting out a roar of defiance, Emery managed to shoot another volley of his destructive [Shadow Edge]. Even more astonishing was that these crescent-shaped slashes were a few times larger than its predecessor, thus carving an even larger tear into the surrounding sphere.

One clashed against Olivier's sword and entirely destroyed the defense he put up.

Emery fiercely charged forward and appeared right before the Sword Saint, shouting inwardly as he swung his sword downwards.

"Master, this is for you!"

The slash contained a powerful intent of the sword and managed to blast away Olivier's last attempt of parrying with his sword.

Spllaaattt—

Blood splattered, followed by one flesh flying into the air.

Olivier's sword arm.

"Arrrghhhh!!!"

There was a flash of disbelief in Olivier's eyes, but Emery was not finished.

His mind was sent into pause but his body instinctively moved so as to not let go of the chance in front of it. He landed another hit, carving a deep gash on the man's chest.

Spllaaaattttt!

This should have ultimately put an end to this fight. However, just as Emery was about to claim victory, his body was suddenly being pulled by a strange force.

He now realized the tremendous changes happening to the area around them.

Multiple sparks of light and dark energy covered the sphere he was currently in.

"What's going on?!"

As if answering his question, Emery saw the arena outside the ball begin to change. The sight of all spectators moving in flash and started to blur while an excruciating pain struck his mind.

It was definitely time magic, hence he couldn't help but glance at his opponent thinking it was all Olivier's doing, but the famous Sword Saint currently had a face even paler than him indicating his condition was far worse than his.

"I must get out of here!"

Alas, before he could even do anything, the excruciating sensation in his head intensified sending his mind spinning as he closed his eyes. But even with his eyes closed, he could see flashes of images – one that engraving themselves into his memory.

He was shocked by the terrifying visuals leaving his body shaken.

When the spinning agonizing sensation stopped, the next thing he saw was him standing in the arena surrounded by the cheering of millions of people. His opponent, Olivier, was kneeling in front of him with one of his arms decapitated and soon fell to the ground unconscious.

With still much confusion, Emery heard the referee shouts.

"Emery Ambrose wins!"