As soon as he realized the Abrafo in front of him was a fake, Julian knew he had fallen into a trap. As if proving his point, the arena floor he stepped on suddenly glowed as a complex rune formation appeared, turning the floor into a quicksand that grasped hold of his feet in place.
He of course immediately tried to escape, but his struggle only served to entangle him further.
At that moment, the figure of the real Abrafo emerged from the ground several meters away with a smile on his face.
“Hahaha this formation is strong enough to trap a magus, there’s no way you can escape!”
In the next second, as if proving those words, the sand that bound Julian’s feet started to give off pressure and start to crush the innate metal defense enhanced by his [12 Golden Divine Bell].
Craackkk!
The crisp sound of bones cracking resounded in the air, which was quickly followed by a scream of pain.
“Arrrghh!!”
“Just give up already!” Abrafo shouted, trying to demoralize the Roman.
However, instead of ending his opponent’s struggle, Abrafo’s words had the opposite effect. They further fueled the flame within Julian and brought him the unbreakable determination to give his all.
“No! I cannot lose! Not at this round!” shouted Julian, his body shaking violently as his struggle intensified.
Julian was able to reach Rank 35 on the privilege leaderboard rankings before the tournament started, but if he lost here it would mean he wouldn’t even be able to sit in the top 100. He refused to accept such a result!
Not wanting to be humiliated, Julian roared loudly.
“I am Julian Kaesar! I will not give up! No!”
A fiery, hot flame rose from Julian’s body and quickly engulfed him completely as he decided to release the seal the Eastern Sage had placed on him.
While the air in the arena grew hotter, Abrafo’s face changed as he could feel his opponent’s strength increasing significantly rapidly.
The release of the seal gave Julian a sense of freedom and in that second, a leftover glimpse of the strength he had unleashed during Nexus’ battle reappeared.
[You have grazed upon the Power of Domain]
[Battle power and Spirit force increased tremendously]
What had just transpired brought a wave of shock to the spectators, even to the experienced and distinguished figures sitting on the VIP corners.
At the moment, Julian discharged a powerful explosion of energy that was not just crushing Abrafo’s sand entanglement into smithereens, but also its powerful trap formation as well. Against what the Roman displayed, everything seemed trifling in comparison.
“Impossible!!”
However, in spite of the impressive power, Julian was actually filled with power he could not yet control. Half of that power spread to his opponent without his will, destroying all stone golems that tried to stand his path.
Having no time to create more golems or formations, Abrafo quickly tried to hide into the ground. But before his entire body could disappear completely, Julian pierced his hand deep into the ground and forcefully pulled the dark-skinned acolyte out and followed with a powerful punch.
Baaaamm!!
One punch was enough to force Abrafo to surrender, and what followers was a winning announcement.
“Julian Kaesar wins!”
However, that was the last thing Julian heard before he completely lost consciousness and crashed to the ground.
Much to the audience’s surprise, it was the winner who had to be carried out in a rush by the medical team to be cared for.
####
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the fight just now was nothing short of shocking to those who watched it. To see an acolyte suddenly explode with a strength comparable, if not more, than a magus brought them such an unexpected surprise that they couldn’t help but expect what came next in this tournament.
The same also happened to the group of people in the VIP seating area. Thanks to their distinguished status and strength, these people were more knowledgeable about what had happened, and thus discussions immediately broke among them.
Headmaster Delbrand along with three dozens senior magus and grand magus instructors who attended the occasion couldn’t help but talk about about the young acolyte that had just demonstrated the power of Domain – something that one needed if they wanted to step into the illustrious grand magus Cosmos.
“Seeing something like that in this kind of tournament is certainly intriguing!”
“Who is that boy? What’s his identity?”
The instructors, magus and grand magus alike, became rowdy as they discussed the existence of the said young acolyte. It didn’t take long for the pertinent information to spread among them since all those present were those with authority.
“He’s someone the Nephilim faction recently recruit”
“I see, it’s no wonder..”
“Even though the boy is talented, he is too reckless!”
“I can’t help but agree. To use such power into such a weak body.. I think this will be the last time we see him in this tournament.”
Headmaster Delbrand, who had the opportunity to directly check Julian’s condition at the Nexus incident, couldn’t help but sigh when he heard the discussion around him. It was because it was a fair conclusion.
Thinking about the young man, he suddenly thought of one of his friends, which led him to realize there was one grand magus from the ten main institutes that was currently nowhere to be seen.
“Anyone know if Zenonia is coming today?” He asked those around him.
Hearing the question, the head of the Light Institute, Grand Magus Aurora shook her head, which confirmed what the Headmaster had in mind. At this moment, a fierce-looking brown-skinned old man with a long beard – Grand Magus Api of the Fire Institute – spoke in a displeased tone.
“That woman has become even more arrogant ever since she reached her second cosmos breakthrough!”
Delbrand just inwardly heaved a sigh at those words. He secretly threw a glance at his confidant – the Magus Alliance Magister, Grand Magus Griffith, and with an affirmative nod the man quietly made his way out of the VIP area.
Before long, the third day of the Magus Tournament ended, and by this time a total of 98 acolytes had suffered defeat twice and thus were eliminated from joining the fourth day of the tournament. And as expected, among the 98, none of them were from the privileged acolytes.
There were only 102 acolytes left, and by tomorrow, only 26 people would be able to join the final round where they would battle against the ten strongest acolytes of the Magus Academy.