Even as the man shouted, he saw a beam of concentrated energy blasted off from within the purple mist and went straight for Ar-Lo. The beam's path was aimed directly at Ar-Lo's chest, where its energy core was located.
Immediately, the man's eyes glowed as he knelt on one knee and placed his right hand on the ground. All the runes circling on his body converged on his right arm and shrank into small rings before seeping into the platform. As soon as all the runes left the man's arm, the whole platform trembled as the array he had placed there since he became the first platform's master activated.
When the beam of concentrated energy was only a meter away from Ar-Lo, a semi-transparent sphere formed around him like a barrier, protecting him against the attack. The beam of energy collided with the semi-transparent barrier and its blast was deflected, sending the beam of energy in different directions.
Some of the deflected beams struck the metal platform. Others got blasted in the air and hit the invisible barrier around the platform. At the same time, one went straight at the man.
The man snorted, and with a wave of his hand, he also deflected the beam coming at him, and it swerved and hit the metal platform.
Holes with different sizes riddled the metal platform from where the deflected beams had struck.
All of this happened in only a few seconds.
A blinding light filled the crackling and sizzling Ar-Lo. The sounds disappeared when the light faded, revealing a completely intact dragon-like automaton. It seemed that any damage it received while inside the purple mist had been repaired.
"Only aiming to destroy your automaton's movements will not end this, huh."
The man's golden eyes narrowed after hearing his new challenger speak. He stood up and looked at the purple mist.
Kyran raised his right hand and willed the purple mist to converge around his arm. Soon it formed into different-sized purple rings, circling and pulsating on his right arm.
"That's not nice," the man immediately said with a frown. "So your magic is not Mist."
When Kyran heard the man, he recalled a conversation with Nolan where he thought his magic was black mist. The memory made him mentally scratch his head. He did not expect that from others; his purple mist looked like 'Mist' magic.
"No," Kyran replied with an awkward smile.
"Your magic is weird," the man remarked with a frown.
Kyran could only clear his throat.
"As you can see," he started, changing the subject at once. "My magic has the ability to destroy your automaton."
[Oi, Void Halfing. What's the point of talking to that guy? Why did you not finish off his ugly automaton in one attack?]
True Void spoke in Kyran's head.
'If I do that, then I'll win.'
[Isn't that the goal?]
'No.'
[Huh?]
The man's face under the hood turned sour. He looked at Ar-Lo hovering in midair and frowned. He initially thought that Ar-Lo got damaged earlier because of the new challenger's 'Mist' magic. Mists were formless and could seep into any small openings. Ar-Lo was an automaton. Its joints and metal framing had small spaces that mist could enter.
However, when the mist turned into rings around the new challenger's arm, the man started to have doubts. His doubts grew further when the new challenger admitted that his magic was not Mist. There was also the metallic sound he heard within the purple mist.
The man thought of something, and his expression immediately turned furious.
"You… you said you will not use your item."
Kyran raised his brows and lifted his left arm.
"I didn't," he replied, giving the man his most innocent-looking expression, which made True Void cringe.
"It's not nice to lie," the man growled in his monotonous voice.
Kyran sighed. He had an idea why the man was suddenly pissed. It likely had something to do with the 'beam' that went after Ar-Lo's energy core.
That one was not his fault. Honestly, it was also an unexpected turn of events for him.
"I hate liars!" The man roared while light yellow rune writings appeared around him
The hovering Ar-Lo instantly moved. It roared while flapping its wings, creating massive whirlwinds after Kyran.
Kyran sighed in his heart as he watched the incoming wind attack.
What True Void said was correct. He could end this battle in one move. He was not the same as before, where he had to get close to his opponent before using his magic—summoning them as rings were unnecessary.
However, winning was not his goal. To be precise, the purpose of this special place was not to win all battles. Because all the battles fought here, was also training.
Right from the start, when the overlapping voices had told them about the special place, and they had to move up, they only mentioned challenging the masters of each platform. Even the 'killing was authorized' sounded misleading. They might not exactly mean killing the masters was authorized. However, Kyran believed the tower allowed it because there were times when killing was unavoidable. Besides, every master was only essence, and they would not really die. Most importantly, their parting words did not mention winning all the battles on the platform, only to refine his battle capabilities. If the purpose were winning all of his battles, it would no longer be called training.
[Oi! Void Halfling! Don't just stand there—!]
Before True Void could finish what he was saying, the whirlwind had already bear down on Kyran.
Fierce blade-like wind, lashed on to Kyran in every direction. However, he only stood in place and let the whirlwind lash on him. He did not even bat an eye when the blade-like wind began to shred his coat to pieces because, just like Ar-Lo, his clothes had restorative enhancements.
His coat was no longer the one provided by the tower but the one he originally had. He had repaired the enhancements during the second training.
Another rune appeared on the man and circled him. This time they were light brown.
At the same time, Ar-Lo landed on the platform and roared.
Kyran, who still stood like a deeply-rooted ancient tree, stout and unyielding amidst the fierce winds, watched as spikes made of earth erupted on the platform from Ar-Lo's roar and went straight at him.
[Incoming!]
True Void warned.
"Let's end this."
Even before Kyran finished his words, he finally moved.
As the earth spikes neared him, Kyran stomped his feet.
It was only one move. One small stomp. However, what happened afterward was something the man would probably never forget, even if he tried to.
When Kyran stomped his feet, a thunderous sound reverberated on the whole platform. The shockwave immediately dispelled the incoming earth spikes and even countered the fierce winds.
If that was all, the man might not have looked too shocked. But that did not end there.
After the shockwave dispelled the earth spikes, it continued forward and reached Ar-Lo, who had flown in the air right after it summoned the earth attack. Ar-Lo roared, and a sonic-like wind blasted out from its mouth as if to counter the shockwave. However, its counter was a far cry from the shockwave's force. If the automaton's sonic-like wind was like a fierce wind, the shockwave was like a massive tornado.
Ar-Lo immediately flew back to avoid the shockwave, but its decision to do so had been a tad too late. Because the shockwave had reached it, and the pressure it received was tremendous. Huge cracks appeared on its metal frame and even started to disintegrate.
Not only that, even as Ar-Lo flew back and the array around the platform started to restore its frame, the speed at which the shockwave was destroying its frame was faster than the array's restorative ability.
"No!" The man shouted and immediately flew in the air. He spread his arms as a massive ring full of rune writings appeared behind him. Smaller rings with runes formed at the edges, and different colored energy beams shoot out from them. The energy beams hit the platform, creating a new wave of energy shockwave to counter the incoming shockwave.
BOOM!
A massive eruption occurred as the two shockwaves met.
Ar-Lo gave out a heart-wrenching roar as it got stuck at the center, which resulted in it getting crushed. Even the restorative and protective formulas on the platform's array could not save it.
"No! Ar-Lo!" The man exclaimed. He wanted to fly toward his creation, but the shockwave from the massive eruption pushed him back.
As for Kyran, he just stood there once more. He did not even blink when the shockwave from the collision of the two forces came at him.
[Tsk. Tsk. I told you not to do that. What will happen if you destroy the whole platform?]
Blacklines appeared on Kyran's head.
This attack was something he learned during the Puppet Competition. He discovered it by accident, not precisely during a match but after.
His opponent could not accept his defeat and attacked him outside the stadium back then. At that time, Kyran was in the middle of practicing one of the incantations he was interested in and had trouble channeling the right amount of force on his body. So when his opponent appeared, and Kyran stepped forward to stop his attack, Kyran was shocked when his single step actually resulted in a five hundred-meter radius crater and a massive shockwave.
Fortunately, his opponent did not die. However, he was sent to the emergency ward at once.
On the other hand, True Void warned him not to do that again.
Kyran did not respond. But he felt a little awkward after recalling that he had to fix everything he destroyed back then.
"Ar-Lo!" The man's shout filled the air.
The whole platform was still covered in smoke, but the man had already moved toward where Ar-Lo was last at.
When he finally arrived, and the cloud of smoke had lifted some more, what he saw made him fall to his knees.