The Sovereign Chronicles novel Chapter 36

Kaelen Stormridge caught his breath. Under the crowd’s disbelieving stares, he staggered upright, rolled his shoulders, and stretched his battered limbs. Slipping seamlessly into the opening stance of The Titan's Vigor, he flexed his fingers and beckoned Maelor to step up.

A wordless challenge, demanding the fight continue.

His physique had been drastically rewired by The Genesis Mantra. Especially after unlocking the second phase of the mantra, his muscle density and bone resilience were at least ten times tougher than a normal human's.

Maelor couldn't believe his own eyes. He stood up again? How the hell was he still standing?!

Whispers rippled through the spectators. Was he just running on adrenaline? Or did he actually have fight left in him? They stared at Kaelen with twisted expressions. The boy's silent, unyielding aggression exuded a suffocating pressure. He was battered, drenched in his own blood, cutting such a brutal figure that many female initiates had to look away.

"Good! Fantastic! You've really opened my eyes today!" Maelor spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, drawing in a deep breath of aether to suppress the churning in his chest.

The crowd looked from Kaelen to Maelor. Was the tide actually turning?

"Half the hourglass remains! Finish him, Maelor! What are you dawdling for?" a spectator yelled from the crowd.

Maelor's bloodshot eyes snapped toward the onlookers. The heckler immediately shrank back, too terrified to speak another word.

But while that initiate was cowed, others couldn't care less.

"A Phase Seven Prime Initiate struggling against a Phase Five junior. Truly, Maelor, you do your master proud."

The disciples gasped. Who dared to be so insolent? They turned to look, instantly clamping their mouths shut. It was Titus Ironridge!

"Keep your arrogance in check! Once I crush Kaelen, you're next on my list," Maelor snarled back.

"Let's see you survive Kaelen first. Your time is running out. Faster than you thought, isn't it?"

"It's more than enough." Maelor lunged at Kaelen. This time, he didn't bother with the evasive Starshatter Step. He charged in a brutal straight line, his aether flaring to its absolute peak. Arcs of violent purple electricity swarmed over his body, growing denser and more blinding until they practically swallowed him whole.

Kaelen's brow furrowed. He could clearly feel the killing intent rolling off Maelor. It was entirely different from before.

"You want to trade blows? I'll grant you a swift death!" Maelor roared. Ten paces out, he launched himself into the air. He pulled his right arm back, accumulating a terrifying, explosive mass of lightning that converged violently into his fist.

Verdict of True Thunder, Phase Five!

Thunder's Roar!

This was his ultimate martial art, the final and most devastating strike of the Verdict of True Thunder.

Maelor had been pushed to the edge. He was done playing games; he intended to obliterate Kaelen with one definitive blow.

The arena fell deathly silent. Only Celine's panicked voice pierced the air. "Don't take it head-on! Dodge! Time is almost up, you just need to survive until the end! You can do it!"

"Be proud that you forced me to use the fifth phase. But this ends here!" Maelor brought his right arm down with meteoric force. The gathered lightning burned with the intensity of a dying sun, drowning half the arena in a blinding, searing light. Vision was entirely obscured. Anyone could guess Kaelen's desperate situation. Dodge? It was impossible.

The thousands in attendance held their breath, straining to see through the glare, but they were blind.

Yet Kaelen had no intention of dodging. His face was a mask of cold iron. Eyes sliding shut, he unleashed the ultimate form of his technique—Titan's Vigor: Unbound Force.

His skin flushed a deep crimson as his blood practically boiled in his veins. His clothes and hair whipped wildly in the sheer kinetic draft of his aura. He threw a punch straight into the descending sun, his physical strength instantly multiplying by a staggering factor of six.

Five thousand pounds of explosive kinetic force!

Maelor's strike descended at that exact millisecond. The blinding sphere of concentrated lightning... detonated.

A clash of titans. A life-and-death collision.

Thunder's Roar versus Unbound Force.

CRACK!

A deafening explosion ripped through the air, sounding as if a thunderbolt had struck the very center of the arena. Shockwaves blasted outward, leaving the front rows with ringing ears and temporary deafness.

Deep within the blinding flash, Maelor wore a savage grin, entirely expecting to feel Kaelen's bones shatter into dust.

However...

Kaelen's crushing fist punched cleanly through the detonating tide of lightning. He pierced the core of the spell and slammed his knuckles directly against Maelor's descending fist.

In that split second, amidst the roaring thunder that echoed across the grounds, there was the distinct, sickening crunch of shattering bone, followed instantly by a bloodcurdling scream. But the agonizing cry was mercilessly drowned out by the lingering boom of the explosion.

Kaelen was thrown backward by the violent shockwave of Thunder's Roar. He skidded back over a dozen paces before digging his heels into the stone to stop. His right arm was drenched in blood, slashed by the concentrated lightning he had punched through, but the structural damage was superficial.

The seemingly apocalyptic Thunder's Roar had been utterly crushed by his physical might, scattering into erratic, harmless sparks across the stone.

Kaelen had been pushed back on his feet. Maelor, however, was sent spiraling through the air like a broken ragdoll. He tumbled across the stone for over twenty meters before collapsing in a heap, shrieking in agony. His right arm was mangled, bent at unnatural, horrifying angles.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify