The Sovereign Chronicles novel Chapter 34

After Maelor had taken a dozen steps, several veteran disciples frowned, their eyes drawn to his footwork. His aura was overwhelmingly aggressive, yet his physical movements had inexplicably become ghostly, almost weightless.

Kaelen stood his ground, his aether reserves boiling as his internal pressure skyrocketed. He, too, had noticed the bizarre, hypnotic rhythm of Maelor's approach.

*Is that footwork a martial art?*

Celine struck the starting gong. "Begin!"

A cruel smile slashed across Maelor's face. Mid-stride, he pitched forward awkwardly, as if he had stumbled over his own feet and was about to faceplant. But in a split second, the feint erupted into a terrifying burst of kinetic force. Like an iron arrow loosed from a grand bow, he launched himself at Kaelen, his speed so extreme it tore afterimages into the air, projecting three identical silhouettes.

The crowd roared. Kaelen's vision swam for a fraction of a second, and even the thousands of spectators felt a sickening sense of vertigo at the visual distortion.

Maelor materialized directly inside Kaelen's guard, his trajectory defying physics. Both of his palms thrust forward. "Thunderflash Barrage!"

Violent arcs of lightning concentrated in his palms. Before he even made physical contact, the aether detonated. Forked lightning exploded outward in a blinding, localized flashbang, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap.

It was a calculated opener meant to instantly shatter Kaelen's vision and hearing.

But Kaelen didn't panic. Relying entirely on instinct, he threw his upper body backward in a brutal, gravity-defying arch, backflipping wildly to create ten meters of distance.

Maelor didn't miss a beat. Locking onto Kaelen's retreat, he moved like a localized hurricane, closing the gap in a blink. His hands blurred into a flurry of strikes, the Thunderflash Barrage detonating continuously from his palms. A cacophony of thunder and blinding strobes turned the stage into a tempest of light and noise. In the stands, countless Initiates cried out, covering their ears and squeezing their eyes shut against the agonizing glare.

The match had gone from zero to a roaring inferno in three seconds flat.

"Thunder Needles: Thousand Shards!" Maelor roared. He launched himself off the stone tiles, shooting diagonally into the air. The violent electricity coating his body suddenly detached, transmuting into hundreds of hyper-condensed, needle-thin shards of lightning. Blindingly bright and sharp enough to pierce steel, the barrage rained down directly onto Kaelen's position.

Kaelen planted his feet. His calves, thighs, waist, and shoulders coiled in perfect unison. Like an industrial spring pushed to its absolute limit, he unleashed his stored kinetic energy. To the shock of the crowd, he catapulted five meters straight into the air, executing a wild, twisting somersault backward. He cleared the impact zone by a hairsbreadth.

Hundreds of lightning needles slammed into the arena floor where he had just stood, shredding the enchanted stone, kicking up a massive cloud of dust and pulverized rock.

Kaelen landed heavy but stable. Yet, before he could even straighten his spine, Maelor burst through the dust cloud, right in his face. His speed and footwork were utterly incomprehensible, slithering through the debris like a striking viper. The sheer lethality of the maneuver made the audience's blood run cold.

"Let's see you dodge this! Thunder Gauntlet!"

As Maelor closed the final inch, he drew back his right fist. A terrifying surge of mana rushed down his arm, condensing a thick, crackling armor of pure lightning around his hand. The aetheric gauntlet flared with such intense, erratic light that it completely washed out Kaelen's vision, making it impossible to read the incoming trajectory.

Kaelen grit his teeth. Rather than blindly raising his arms to block an attack he couldn't see, he squeezed his eyes shut and violently flexed every muscle in his body, turning his flesh into hardened steel. He braced for impact.

At the absolute last microsecond, Maelor's trajectory shifted. The punch, which looked guaranteed to shatter Kaelen's skull, dropped and hooked brutally into his solar plexus.

It was a masterful bait-and-switch. By overloading the opponent's retinas and feinting high, the enemy's natural instinct was to throw their arms up to protect their head, leaving their vital organs completely exposed. This was the terrifying combat IQ Maelor had forged over countless battles.

He wanted absolute devastation.

*CRACK! BZZZT!*

The Thunder Gauntlet buried itself deep into Kaelen's abdomen. The merciless electrical discharge shredded his tunic and tore through his flesh. Kaelen's feet left the ground. He was launched backward like a ragdoll, tumbling violently across the stone tiles. Blood rushed up his throat, and he coughed up a crimson spray before he even stopped rolling.

However, because he had braced his core rather than guarding his face, the structural damage to his organs was minimized.

More importantly, his physical constitution was an absolute anomaly. The Genesis Mantra had tempered his flesh and bones into something far beyond human limits.

"Not bad. You can take a hit," Maelor chuckled, though a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. He had expected that punch to cave in Kaelen's ribcage. He snorted and lunged forward again, refusing to give his prey a single second to breathe. He wanted to win with overwhelming, flawless suppression, ensuring Kaelen never landed a single counterattack.

"Ruthless! Is he actually trying to kill Kaelen?"

"He's going for lethal strikes right out the gate. He's not even hiding it!"

"Kaelen's built like a brick wall, though! The bastard's tough, haha!"

"This is actually an incredible fight. The servant is putting on a show!"

The arena was a chaotic mix of terrified gasps and adrenaline-fueled cheering.

"Lady Celine, I can't look!" one of Celine's friends squeaked, clutching her arm.

Lyra, however, remained perfectly composed. The fight had only just begun. Kaelen wasn't going to break this easily.

"That footwork... that's Starshatter Step!" a veteran disciple shouted from the front row, finally recognizing the technique.

"Starshatter Step? That explains it." Gideon and the other Prime Initiates frowned heavily. Was this the Grand Elder's secret training? He actually taught him a Superior Spirit-Grade martial art? This technique wasn't even available in The Vanguard Vault; it was locked away in the Grand Elder's private study. He normally only taught it to his absolute most trusted disciples, because the footwork was so dangerously complex that a single mistake during unguided practice could permanently cripple the user's legs. It required a master's hands-on guidance to learn.

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