The dark cyclone smashed against Erza's Time Barrier, sweeping her away along with it. In an instant, she had already been swept several kilometres away… and the shattering spatial distortion continued for several kilometres as well. A pitch-black streak of darkness stretched across the distorted space, and it only slowly dissipated after more than ten breaths had passed.
At this moment, Erza did not have the time to care about her naked body as she was suffocating as a result of the pressure. The devouring dark energy shrouded her whole body and her surroundings, and her protective barrier was almost pushed to its defending limit.
Actually, Erza was only capable of using Time Paradox once a day. It took a great toll on her body, especially to her eyes. The more she used it, the more Erza lost her eyesight. Yes, it badly affected her eyesight. That was why Erza was reluctant to use it.
After all, Time Paradox was an Empyrean Art. It was not something that a Knight should use. Being able to cast it was already an extraordinary feat.
Time Paradox allowed its user to technically exist in the future or in the past while she was also 'present' at the present time. The past or future range depended on its user mastery. The current Erza could only jump up to 30 minutes back to the past or 30 minutes in the future.
The concept of Time Paradox was similar to a situation where someone, who excelled at Space manipulation, stood beside his opponent. On a glance, the distance between them was less than one metre, however, in fact, there were countless kilometres separating the two individuals. No matter how hard his opponent attacked, the attack would never reach the Space Expert.
Similarly, in Time Paradox, the two parties actually existed in different times. A present time attack would not be able to reach someone in the past or in the future, unless it was an attack which pierced through space and time. For example, someone who specialized in Karma or Fate would be able to go through distance and time to reach his opponent. However, such person was too rare.
If this was the first time Erza used Time Paradox today, then everything would be alright. However, since this was the second time, Erza was barely able to hold on. She often went back to present time even though she should still be away in the past or in the future.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*
Erza coughed out more and more blood as her body was smashed against the dark cyclone. Soon, it was clear that she would not be able to hold on. As her vision started to blur, Erza gritted her teeth and decided to throw caution to the wind .
'Heaven Destruction Earth Break!!'
A deep roar resounded in the sky before a silhouette of a scarlet Phoenix appeared on Erza's back.
The Phoenix gave a long cry toward the sky, causing the air to tremble and the earth to crash. The flames which originated from a primordial true Phoenix were extremely hot and carried an unparalleled power of incineration as they forcefully tore through layer after layer of the Dark Domain.
Even with the dark profound energy as a medium, the darkness which had devoured all light suddenly combusted and became blindingly bright due to the extreme flames. Deep howls echoed around the dark domain like ghostly wails as the darkness which hid the day madly attacked the scarlet Phoenix flames in hopes of enveloping and devouring them.
At first, the darkness was still barely able to contend with the Phoenix flames to a standstill. However as more and more of the domain was torn and blown apart, the Phoenix flames quickly became an unstoppable force as thousands of rips and hundreds of holes appeared amidst the formerly complete world of darkness.
"Ah!!!"
In the face of the oncoming heat, the audience let out a sound of shock and swiftly protected themselves with some protective treasures or energy barriers. Several Great Elders joined hands to cast a temporary protective barrier which covered the whole arena and its surroundings.
As they looked above, they saw that the giant area of darkness had undergone enormous change as streak after streak of flames pierced out the sides of the darkness. In the blink of an eye, the world of darkness had already become ragged.
The darkness struggled as the flames devoured. It was as if two giant beasts were fighting; a scarlet beast and a black beast were ruthlessly tearing at each other's throats.
However, the darkness was clearly not an opponent for the scarlet flames which had later emerged. Before long, exposure to the burning scarlet flames caused the area of darkness to fall apart and turn into countless scattered fragments. Even without touching the incinerating flames, these fragments quickly dissipated on their own.
As the flames continued to burn, they became increasingly intense. They had long since dyed the dark sky a thorough red. The gusting winds were now no longer suppressed, and became increasingly violent and hot.
In the sky within an area of 1,800 square metres, only the blazing Phoenix flames remained as they continued to burn until the last trace of the darkness had been exterminated.
Under Erza's Heaven Destruction Earth Break, Mozart's Lightless Stormy Night had been completely defeated.
It seemingly didn't even have the power to put up any resistance.
A heavy feeling of near collapse was felt through every inch of Erza's body. Even though it could be said that the process of destroying Mozart's Dark Domain went through without a hitch, it didn't mean that she did it easily.
The aftermath of releasing a Heaven Destruction Earth Break which contained all her power left the profound energy in her body at a deficit. Heavenly Flame Sword was long back at her storage ring since the current her barely had any strength left to stand. Erza quickly descended back to the ruined stage, or to be exact, she was rapidly falling down as she did not have any strength left to maintain her flight.
The referee came forward to support her before her body touched the ground. As her vision started to blur, the referee Elder quickly took out a restoration pill and put it in her mouth. He also did not forget to take a long black robe from his storage ring and covered Erza's naked body.
At least Erza's condition was by far better than Mozart's.
He was unconscious as most of his body was covered in his blood. There were at least tens of external injuries on his body that still slowly oozed with blood. The medical staffs quickly entered the stage and gave him first aids before bringing Mozart to the infirmary.
Sitting amongst the audience was surprisingly Med, the young lady at Beel's place. Since the day Beel was gone, Erza no longer visited Beel's place. She did it to protect her fragile little heart.
Looking at the conclusion of the match, Med took out a jet black token and sent a true essence sound transmission to the other side.
"She won."
After Erza condition was stable, the referee then announced her as the winner of this Year End Tournament. It was followed by thunderous cheers and applauses from the audience.
To all of them, this year tournament was something that they would never forget for the rest of their life. And the story of Erza, a thirteen-year-old girl Knight, would be told for generations to come.
Moreover, as the winner, Erza was entitled for a pill which was very beneficial to a Knight. It would help an early or mid level Knight to break through the next stage, and it could even help a late Knight to become a peak level Knight.
She would also be granted an audience with the Empress and more importantly she would receive a special token which granted her permission to leave the academy for any personal reasons whenever she wished it for a period of maximum six months. In other words, classes would no longer be mandatory for her as she would be given the freedom to choose her own learning path.
Erza was excited to hear about the chance to meet with the Empress. She was supposed to meet with the Empress during the new year visit, however she was in coma at that time and missed it.
The tournament then came to a close and there was a banquet at the end for everyone. Erza excused herself as she was thoroughly exhausted. Everyone understood that she needed a rest, so they congratulated her briefly before letting her go.
Before she returned to her dorm, Erza was reminded to come to the principal office tomorrow morning at 10AM. Erza nodded her head and made her way back with her friends after thanking the referee Elder for his help.
Arriving at the dorm, the girls were all very tired, so there was no celebration party at that night. They simply had a quick dinner, then returned to their own rooms to rest.
The following day, Erza arrived in the principal office exactly at 10AM in the morning.
The principal congratulated Erza again and handed her the pill and the special token. The principal did not forget to remind Erza to keep practice hard and do not be arrogant despite managing to become the tournament champion at such a young age.
"So when would you like to meet the Empress?" The principal asked.
"If Principal doesn't mind, I would like to visit the Palace on next Friday morning."
"Okay, I will inform the Palace and I'll let you know once I have received a reply."
Erza nodded her head and excused herself. Later during the day, she received the confirmation from the principal that it was okay to visit the Palace next Friday. Today was Monday, so there was still four days left until the day Erza was going to meet with the Empress.
On Wednesday, after Mozart and everyone else recovered from their injuries, Erza and her friends decided go out to the city to celebrate her victory. They were planning to spend their whole day at the city before going back to the academy at night.
Arriving at the academy main gate with the girls, Erza saw that the boys was already there; Qi Long, Qi Di, and Mozart. After a short catching up with one another, the group quickly passed the gate and entered the city.