1157 Aiming for the Skies
Swoosh!
With him unable to flee from his current position due to Valyr's obstruction, the man gritted his teeth as he hastily conjured a shield above his head, completing it just before the phoenixes could strike him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Feeling his arms quake whenever the phoenixes struck his shield, the man paled even further, briefly glancing at the young man beside him with fear as he infused more of his energy into the shield.
With how consistent the phoenixes struck the shield he made, it went without saying that most, if not all of the man's focus was on defending himself from the onslaught of attacks.
Because of that, the man did not notice that at some point in his defense, the vines constricting him in place disappeared without a trace, giving him the option to escape Valyr's attack if he wanted.
However, as the man's focus was mostly on the phoenixes raining down above him, the realization of his regained freedom came quite late to him, only realizing that he could move once more after the phoenixes cracked his shield.
With the newfound realization, it went without saying that the man escaped as fast as he could from the range of Valyr's attack, even going so far as to activate another stat-boosting skill in order to do so.
Unfortunately for him, it wasn't as if Valyr didn't have an idea of what was going on in the man's mind.
Whoosh!
Continuing to infuse Prime Azure Energy to continue raining down more phoenixes on his opponent, Valyr conjured yet another strand of blue-white energy in a bid to bind his opponent in place once more.
After all, just like his purpose in binding the man in place the first time, he planned to bind the man in place once more in order to control the tempo of the entire fight.
Though, with how the man now seemed to act like a slippery snake, the chances of Valyr successfully landing the combination of mana and Mystic Energy on the man was considerably lower than before.
Then again, it wasn't as if he didn't have any ways to solve that.
"[Four Paths Azure Magic Arts]."
"[Azure Dragon's Fang]."
Swoosh!
Imbued with the element of Wind, Valyr hastily conjured a large fang out of Prime Azure Energy in front of the man, causing the latter to immediately take a few steps back to avoid the attack. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Though, in exchange, he'd opened himself to yet another attack from the young man, ultimately leading him to be bound in place once more.
Realizing that he'd been led around by the young man he was fighting all this time, it did not take another barrage of phoenixes raining down the sky for the man to come to the conclusion that his chances of winning were abysmally low.
Thus, while glancing at Valyr with slight fear in his eyes, the man eventually voiced out his surrender, prompting the young man to swiftly dispel all of his ongoing attacks in response.
Swoosh!
Witnessing how all of the attacks that tormented him earlier simply disappeared without a trace in response to his surrender, the man slightly shuddered in terror as he gained a renewed impression of the young man in his mind.
Noticing that, Valyr's opponent let out a slight scoff, wondering whether the young man had let all of the attention he got throughout the tournament get his head.
With that in mind, the man put in all of his strength in his first strike, unsheathing the sword behind his back before slashing out in Valyr's direction.
Bang!
With the incredible amount of strength the man put in to the attack, it went without saying that his attack kicked up a storm around the two, causing both sides to not see what the other side was doing.
"Heh." Taking a couple steps back, the dark-clothed man faintly smirked as he thought to himself that the young man had received a grievous injury from his attack.
Though, as the dust began to settle, he soon began to realize that reality took a different course from his train of thought.
Whoosh!
With a multi-layered barrier, Valyr continued to look at his opponent with a calm expression, the large slash mark on the barrier gradually repairing itself by the second.
Feeling a hint of fear creep into his body after seeing how calm his opponent was, the dark-clothed man soon shifted his attention upwards, only for his pupils to shrink as a maelstrom of azure phoenixes began to rain down where he stood.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Having fought against three victors in a row, Valyr eventually decided to stick with the approach he used against the victor of the Early Rank 5 tournament, which was to overwhelm his opponents with quantity instead of quality.
Though, with how refined his Prime Azure Energy was thanks to his efforts, it could be said that he was leveraging both quantity and quality to their extremes, which was being supported by his immensely large energy pool.
Unsurprisingly, his fight against the winner of the Mid Rank 5 tournament ended more or less the same way it did in the previous fight, with his opponent admitting defeat after realizing that anything within the young man's vision was considered as his domain.
After exchanging a few more words with the man before leaving, Valyr then moved onto his fight with the winner of the Peak Rank 5 tournament after Scho'doxa upgraded his item from the second round to its Heavenly Potential version.
Whoosh!
Assessing his opponent for the next fight, the young man's eyes immediately narrowed after recognizing the demure-looking woman in front of her.
Recalling that she was one of the few remaining duchesses of the Meltierre Empire after the War of the Three Sovereignties was over, Valyr knew that he shouldn't treat the upcoming fight just like the ones that came before.
With that, he brought out the magic staff he'd recently forged out of his spatial bracelet and began to channel his Prime Azure Energy into it.
Whoosh!
With Scho'doxa signaling the start of the fight the moment Valyr began to prepare his attack, his opponent began preparing her own attacks, carving multiple runes every second as she created an intricate magic circle in front of her.
Though, just as she was a few runes away from unleashing her first attack...
An azure meteor began to fall from the sky.
"[Prime Azure Heavenfall]."