Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 46: Answers

“This will be a difficult fight, even with your stat refinement,” Holly said next to him.

Alex was standing in the archway of the arena, looking out to the platform placed at the center. There was only one dueling platform now, as every fight was performed one by one. Meaning everyone would be watching Alex and his opponent, and nothing else.

“I know.”

Holly huffed at his answer before pursing her lips in agitation. “Take this seriously, Alex, it's a big deal.”

He looked to her with a grin. “It is, which is why I am being serious. If I wasn’t, then I would’ve made a joke about the whole thing instead.”

Which was true, Alex was laser-focused on the task ahead. His battle-crazed ambition was a tool he could harness like any other, and right now he was funneling it all into thinking about the fight. What he would do, what he would attempt.

“Alright, fair. But, Allie said there’s still some residual damage in your body from the last fight, so just… be careful,” Holly pleaded.

He softly brushed his fingers across her cheek, her eyes closed as she leaned into it.

“I’m always careful. The System just hates me,” he said.

“I thought there would be no jokes,” she said, swatting away his hand.

Alex chuckled. “Maybe one, but that’s it.”

Just then, the announcer’s voice filled the arena, demanding the contestants enter the platform. Alex gave Holly a final smile before stepping out onto the dirt and toward the metal dueling platform.

From an opening across from him, Alex could see a second figure already making their way across the ground as well. They were of slender build, their body wrapped in silks nearly head to toe, with most of their face hidden among the many folds.

His [Aether Sight] showed him that they were at the peak stage of Adept Tier. Though at this point in the tournament, almost everyone still fighting was peak adept, Alex and the world striders being the exceptions.

And maybe just one or two others.

Technically, Alex was still only late-stage Adept. To be truly considered peak stage, the mage had to be at the very limits of their cultivation tier. For Alex, that might be having his [Aether Body] at ninety-nine point nine percent, the very cusp of its maximum.

But that was conjecture. No one was like Alex, so it was impossible to tell.

They both stepped onto the platform at the same time, each taking a few steps forward before stopping. The runes along the edge of the stage lit up, and Alex felt the shudder under his feet as the whole thing was lifted up into the air.

“Alexander Pierce, Worldstrider versus Ulanni Mokosh of the Serakhan Imperium!” The announcer yelled out for everyone.

Cheers and claps followed, the stands erupting into elated anticipation.

“The Serakhan are the ruling faction of the Tailu Continent to the southwest. Their focus seems to be on binding spells to their jewelry. Every ring, earring, piercing, bangle, amulet and belly button piercing has a spell focus. The climate of the area creates a perfect excuse for their attire to cover themselves completely, thus hiding what adornments, and thus what spells, they have.” Obby spoke quickly into his mind, giving him a basic summary.

This was all things Alex already knew, but it was good to get a refresher.

He peered at Ulanni’s face, or what was visible, and could see three studs on the bridge of their nose and two small golden rings on their left brow. That was all that was visible to the naked eye, hiding possibly countless more from Alex beneath their clothing.

Just monitor their aether flow and try to give me a warning the moment they are going to cast. He demanded.

“Understood, flesh-boy.”

Alex entered a ready posture, sliding into the first stance of his martial style, wisps of dark aether already floating off of his body as he prepared.

Across from him, Ulanni looked to prepare to fight as well, pulling a large curved blade from some spatial item Alex couldn’t see.

They only had to wait a moment longer before the protective bubble around them sprang into place, and the fight officially began.

If there was one thing Alex absolutely did not want to end up being caught in, it was a long fight. He didn’t have the aether reserves of a typical mage, and Allie was correct when she said he had lingering damage in his body from his last bout.

So, he needed to make this one short by going all out as quickly as possible.

[Vita-Surge Cloak] billowed around him immediately, and a straight blade formed in his hand from [Asura’s Armament].

He erupted forward, using every bit of his high agility as he could muster, his augmentor spell pushing him in further.

Ulanni’s eyes widened at the sudden approach, and they started to dash backward, a bandage-wrapped hand rising between them. Alex saw a small flash of light on one of their fingers just as Obby shouted a warning in his mind.

This book was originally published on NovelPhoenix. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Dodge!”

He did, ducking so low he almost had to continue on all fours.

Ulanni’s aether short outward, forming into the shape of a long, ballistae-sized missile, and rocketing over his head to smash into the bubble far behind him.

That was a powerful spell. He thought, having felt the pressure of the aether through his senses as it passed. It would have killed me for sure.

“Then make sure you keep moving, and keep dodging.”

Alex grunted in agreement before sending an [Aether Burst] to his feet to launch himself even faster.

He reached Ulanni in short order and began a series of attacks he learned from Master Sionna. Ulanni’s hand glimmered again, and a semi-transparent version of themselves peeled away from their upper half, staying connected at the waste.

This translucent body also wielded a sword, and it became blocking and parrying along with the real Ulanni.

Normally, Alex would have a huge physical advantage over his opponent and be able to bury them in fast strikes. But now it was as if he were fighting two people at the same time, but they occupied only one space.

He switched his positioning, entering the second path of the [Demon Asura Style], and he tagged Ulanni with his skills, [Burning Strike] and [Wrathsiphon]. The insidiously angry aether aura of his martial style began to wiggle its way into Ulanni, and Alex felt every block and parry begin to leech a small bit of strength from them as well.

But it would be far from enough. Alex was spending far more aether than he was getting back, and he would be spent long before [Burning Strike] could fully infect Ulanni.

He needed to push harder.

A second sword formed in his hand, this one larger, and he began attacking with both blades at once. Blow after blow was dished out in mere seconds; Alex even added in an [Aether Burst] or two, increasing the impact power of his attacks.

Still, Ulanni kept up the defense. At one point, the aether double moved into the path of an attack, taking the hit and bursting into wisps.

Without even a moment of time between, they summoned a new aether double to replace it.

Alex frowned, but kept up the pressure.

It didn’t appear that his opponent was the passive kind, though, and they finally found a chance to make their move.

“Big series of spells coming, be ready.” Obby highlighted Ulanni’s left arm, where a line of flashing aether went down the limb as if they were activating many hidden items at once.

A moment later Alex found himself surrounded by ten copies of Ulanni, all formed of bright green aether. Each still wore the same style of robes, but their hands all ended in curved blades, as if they had arms like a mantis.

Creepy visual or not, they all went for Alex together, forcing him into a retreat this time.

He conjured [Energy Spear]s in quick succession, launching them at the pursuing constructs, taking out three of them, while the others dodged or blocked the spells.

Ulanni merely chuckled, more jewelry flashing under their garb and creating more of the copies, these ones having large round shields on their arms.

[Aether Grasp] was added to the mix, the restraints springing up and holding onto the shield wielders so they couldn’t protect the others. Yet again, Ulanni summoned a new set of copies, these ones having spiked hammer arms that they used to break my spell’s chains.

Fucker has got an answer for everything.

He tried more ideas. Enchanted aether crystals came next, and Ulanni summoned copies with baskets that would suck up the crystals and seal them before exploding.

Alex then tried attacking from above, conjuring and raining down [Energy Spears] from angles the shield users couldn’t block.

Ulanni summoned copies with extra jointed legs that could leap into the air and destroy his spears before they could land.

And all the while, the numbers on his opponent’s side kept growing. There were dozens of the summoned copies now, all attacking and defending for each other. Alex was able to continue kiting them around, but he knew he couldn’t do it forever.

His opponent knew that too.

Things then got even worse, as the newest copies were summoned with long aether chains of their own, and they began controlling them with amazing fluidity. Restraints snaked their way along the ground, through the air and even moving through other copies, passing by through them with no issue.

Fuck, fuck! Alex switched into the sixth path of [Demon Asura], focusing on his movement speed as he tried dancing through the now packed platform space without getting caught up.

It was impossible.

The first chain wrapped up his left ankle, and he felt it almost instantly solidify, slowing him down and allowing a second to catch him, then a third, fourth, a dozen all holding on to him.

“You need to get out of that flesh-sack, now.”

I’m working on it!

[Aether Burst] released from his hand, blowing apart two of the chains. But the reformed just as quickly. He tried again, releasing the spell from his entire body at once, earning his freedom for only a second.

The other copies were on him, spikes, blades, hammers; everything came down at him. [Projection Shield] surrounded him, taking the pummeling for him. Yet it was just another delay tactic, cracks were already forming on his defense from the very first blows.

They broke through within moments. Wounds accumulated as the attacks didn’t stop, [Aether Burst] shot out in all directions once again, pushing the copies back. Still, he had already taken a dozen hits, and blood leaked from his wounds onto the floor.

“You're relentless, I give you that,” Alex said.

Across the arena, the real Ulanni stood merely watching.

Can I make it through all these things and get to the real one? He asked in his mind.

“They’d swarm you and kill you long before that happened,” Obby replied.

Alex sighed. Not fast enough?

“Far from it. You probably have the highest stats out of anyone in this contest. But you have the least battle experience, and the lowest aether pool. If you want to try winning, you need to get very creative, very quickly, or find a way to utterly overwhelm them with power that would take down a Magus.”

He nodded to himself, even as Ulanni’s copies began closing in on him once again.

I can do creative.

Knowing it would be agonizing, Alex looked at his wounds and grinned.

A push of his mental focus brought him back into his soulspace in front of the Wyrm-heart. He didn’t hesitate this time when forming a dagger and stabbing at the organ, forcing it awake once again.

Draconic energy erupted, funneling down his soulgate and into his body. The burning, angry essence wracked his body, even agitating his wounds, but that was fine for Alex, he didn’t care about pain.

His blood pulled from those very same wounds, and spread out around him. He emptied one of his aethergems at the same time, using the entirety of the collected energy to stimulate the production of even more blood in his body, pushing as much of it as he could into the space around him.

Then he cast one more [Aether Burst]. The blood around him practically misted, blown all the way across the platform, the floor, the protective bubble, even being blown into tiny droplets that filled the air. Every thing became tainted by Alex’s blood.

And all at once, any aether inside the bubble that wasn’t Alex’s began to to sizzle.

All of the copies, the chains, everything.

Except for the real Ulanni, who stood at the far end of the platform with an amulet now exposed around their neck.

A mist of green aether streamed from the object, coating them in it. When Alex’s blood reached that green mist, it was the substance that got eaten away this time.

His aether-poison wyvernblood was being… poisoned.

Obby began to laugh in his head. “Ha, fucker has an answer for everything, indeed.”