A looming silence hung over the battle arena. There was no doubting Amory's clear challenge, but his methods weren't as simple as it seemed either.
Firstly, there was the matter of accumulating a Faction as strong as his Dragon Corps in the first place. Second was having absolute command over such strong, bloodlust filled men. And lastly, there was his position in the rankings. Not only could he unceremoniously shatter Ryu's momentum and take it for his own, he could place untold pressure on Prince Kalmin who was forced to go directly after him.
In truth, Ryu thought even a step further than this. Who would go after Prince Kalmin? Wasn't it Third Prince Cayden who had just made his affiliation with First Prince Amory clear – to Ryu, at least?
Under this untold pressure, Prince Kalmin calmed himself and called forth his own guards. As expected, his performance was severely lacking in comparison to Prince Amory, but he displayed his own strengths well.
Taking three Awakening Realm crossbowman with him, he took the lead. He valiantly wielded his spear, relying on his crossbowman to keep the beasts in check. Although his approach was much less clean in comparison to Amory, and much less overbearing in comparison to Ryu, he still accomplished his task in more or less the same amount of time.
Even so, it was difficult to win over the crowd. It was for this purpose the Headmaster Leopold continued to observe quietly. If Kalmin grew anxious, taking actions outside his bounds for the sake of proving his naysayers wrong, he would suffer. Luckily, it seemed that Kalmin remained level-headed. Unluckily, however, being just a single step from the second tier gave his enemies an opportunity to attack.
"Haha! It seems like it's my turn to take action!" Cayden's boisterous voice filled the arena. But, despite his words he had already leapt into the air, ignoring his own staircase to directly land before Kalmin. "I think I'll be conquering this step, don't mind me."
Prince Kalmin's expression twitched, but there was nothing he could do. Conquering someone's first tier steps was useless due to how weak the beasts attached to them were. But, it became a whole new game when they continued to climb. At this point, the potential return on attacks grew. While it seemed like going first gave you an advantage, it also had its disadvantages!
Cayden grinned, seeing the Kalmin didn't dare to say anything. With a thought, he activated the small-scale teleportation array, disappearing to appear within a vast expanse of snow.
When Kalmin saw where Cayden appeared on the screens above, both he and his younger brother's expressions turned ugly.
Due to the fact their Sect had been destroyed, Kalmin and Kwan had the least Qi Refinement realm experts to pull from. Coupling this with the fact they were only allowed to use the same expert three times meant that they had to ration their subordinates far more than someone like Amory would.
Cayden had just appeared in the territory of the Ice Eyed Bear, a creature matted with coarse silver fur. These creatures cultivated Ice Pupils, capable of congealing cold aura into a beam of light that could slow the qi flow of their opponents. Even at birth, they would already be considered Lower Second Order beasts, the greatest of them would be of the Fourth Order at a minimum. Since Cayden appeared in their territory, the likelihood he was facing a great enemy was very high!
As expected, Kalmin's complexion took a turn for the worst when he saw his worst thoughts become reality.
An Ice Eyed Bear appeared, standing on its hind legs at almost two and a half meters tall. It was a Peak Second Order Beast!
Cayden's gaze turned serious. In his youth, he had been able to defeat a Second Order beast as an Awakening Realm expert. Now that he was firmly within the Pulse Opening realm, victory shouldn't be difficult, but, that didn't mean he would take this task lightly.
The Ice Eyed Bear roared, its scorching breath causing billowing fog to fill the cold air. Its blue eyes watched Cayden intently as he circled around the beast, slowly brandishing his two battle axes.
Cayden's stance was firm and his fundamentals were solid. As he moved, his feet never left the ground, giving him a sturdy base to work from. Even as his skin began to shimmer like an unrefined ore, he didn't hurry to attack. This was a far cry from the arrogant and boisterous Prince the crowd had become used to.
Suddenly, a beam of ice blue light shot from the silver furred bear, careening toward Cayden. However, the Third Prince had long since been ready.
His foot stamped into the ground, causing his body to dive to the side. He rolled along the powdered snow, hopping to his feet with an agility that didn't match his size and closing in on the oversized bear with a single step.
The crowd watched with bated breath as the Third Prince appeared beneath the Ice Eyed Bear. But, those who were experts knew that this battle was already over.
The Ice Eyed Bear didn't have many weaknesses. Its defenses were sturdy, its slowing ability made up for its lack of agility, while its attack power was devastating, especially when facing a slowed enemy. However, this didn't mean that weaknesses didn't exist. After losing many lives to these creatures, warriors learned that the best moment to attack was directly after its Ice Pupils were activated!
In that moment, the Ice Eyed Bear would undergo a brief period of temporary blindness. The truth of the matter was that congealing such dense cold aura into the most fragile part of your body was something only a creature like this with the appropriate Bloodline Legacy could pull off. However, even with that support, Ice Eyed Bears needed to pay a price for their abilities!
At this instant, the Ice Eyed Bear had no idea where Cayden was. By the time it felt a dangerous aura beneath it, it was already too late…
"[Earthen Slash]!" Cayden's battle axes became akin to the scythes of a reaper. A bland, bronze-like qi coated his blades, slicing upward and through the tufts of hair that supposedly protected the Ice Eyed Bear's neck.
By the time Cayden reappeared in the arena, Prince Kalmin had already unwillingly taken a step back… He needed to reserve his experts for the third tier of steps, how could he afford to challenge a Lower Third Order beast already?....