"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" Both Silas and Oliver flashed forward, putting their mastery-level footwork on display.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" They met three times, Silas being slightly pushed back thanks to Oliver's strength as an early Transcendent body cultivator.
"Is this enough for you?" Oliver asked with a laugh as he continued to push Silas around the arena.
Previously, when Silas had fought a stronger opponent, he was able to dash away with his superior movement. But with Oliver being at the same level as him, he was only able to stand there and take his stronger attacks.
But luckily, it seemed Silas's scythe comprehension was slightly stronger than Oliver's axe comprehension. So, with the help of his defensive [Black Harvest Form], he was more than able to put up an impenetrable wall that Oliver's weapon could not pass.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" Silas blocked twice just the same as before, and after lulling his opponent slightly, he used the unpredictability of [Phantom Reave] and attacked, cutting deep into Oliver's shoulder.
"Just a scratch," Oliver said with a smirk. To his Transcendent fiendgod body, the bone-deep cut truly was just a scratch. Given time, even a severed arm could be regrown.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
Silas continued his defense, every now and then deciding to attack. And the more the fight drew on, the better control over his weapon he gained.
Silas soon entered an empty mental realm where nothing existed except the next attack. He didn't have any other thoughts other than the movement of his scythe.
"Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" And suddenly, as if the dam had just broken, his scythe comprehension broke through to mastery level.
The grindstone had been strong enough; the veil had been broken.
Silas smiled as he started to quickly dominate the fight. Where he was once the one being constantly pushed back by his opponent's overwhelming strength, he was now the aggressor, pushing the opponent back—not by his strength, but by his skill.
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!"
The fight continued for another minute before the official finally decided Oliver wasn't going to make a breakthrough and was just suffering through Silas's advance.
The crowd went wild as Silas was declared the winner. After a moment of celebration, he went back to his family with a smile creasing his face.
"Good job, son," his mother said with a loving smile.
"Good job, that's my boy," his father said, patting him on the back.
"Couldn't have done it better myself," Red flew to his shoulder with a laugh.
"Thanks, guys," Silas said with a smile, appreciating spending time with his family as he prepared to watch the last battle before the finals.
***
To no one's surprise, Thea, who had now, like Silas, reached mastery in both movement and sword comprehension, easily beat her opponent, who was a Transcendent lifeform stuck at just foundation level.
So now the finals were set: it was Thea versus Silas. 20-year-old versus 16-year-old. Heir to the Redstone Clan versus the rising star of the Armstrong Clan.
Both youths had reached peak Mortal and were at mastery level in both weapon and movement, so this fight was surely going to be great. The crowd was on their feet and ready for the legendary fight to come. It wasn't often two young talents managed to make it to the finals.
Seeing that it was the final match and his beloved granddaughter Thea was in it, the Redstone patriarch himself decided to officiate the match.
After introductions were over, he announced the rules one final time, even giving Silas a death stare when he mentioned the intentional killing and maiming part.
Silas now stood 15 meters in front of the stunning Thea, who had nothing but a serious look on her face, as if nothing mattered but the fight, which in this moment was absolutely true.
'I have to win,' Silas thought. He had now claimed what he had come here for—the jump from foundation to mastery in his scythe comprehension—so now it was time to claim the secondary prizes: the king of the region, the two prizes that came with it, and the tax break his Armstrong Clan would receive upon beating the girl in front of him.
"Begin!"
Without a second thought, Silas was off.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" Both Silas and Thea flashed forward, weapons ready.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The first collision was a draw, with no clear winner.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The second one was as well.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth.
The fight continued, but they were each fighting to a standstill. Their defenses were unbreakable—not a single attack had made it past Silas's scythe or Thea's sword.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
'Dammit,' Silas thought. He couldn't believe what was happening. He was a divine beast whose talents reached the heavens—could he not beat this girl?
He, of course, knew she was four years older than him, which with his rate of growth was a lifetime. And there was always his innate ability, the [Grim Reaper's Eye], that could easily one-shot her. But that wasn't how he wanted to win, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't kill his opponent because, for one, the rules didn't allow it. Two, his morals wouldn't allow him to kill a random girl—especially a stunning beauty at that—who had never done a thing to him. And three, her grandfather was standing right there, and most likely, if he pulled out such a grand and divine ability to one-tap his granddaughter, he would likely kill him where he stood in a fit of rage.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
The fight continued the same as before, and as the fight continued, Silas could feel his scythe comprehension rising at an astonishing rate, slowly climbing toward the threshold of cosmic resonance, but of course, that was a long way away, with the gap between mastery and cosmic resonance being a deep chasm.
The only problem was Thea was experiencing the same rapid growth.
At this rate, the winner of the fight would be determined by whose comprehension ability was better, whose comprehension ability could hold out.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
After their fiftieth collision, Silas backed up and readied himself for the fifty-first, thinking that if he kept up this pace, he would surely out-comprehend her and win the fight, but that's when something changed.
As if the heavens themselves were gracing Thea with her presence, a deep aura started to emit from her.
'What's happening?' Silas thought. 'Could it be?'
He had never personally seen someone rank up from Mortal to Transcendent lifeform, but he had some idea about it from his inherited memories.
'I've got to finish the fight now or I'll never win,' Silas thought. There was no way, at the rate the fight was going, that he would be able to defeat Thea when she was at early Transcendent in body cultivation and he was at peak Mortal, and he didn't feel that close to making a breakthrough himself.
'That's my granddaughter,' the Redstone patriarch thought with a smile as he watched his most talented descendant and heir make the breakthrough to Transcendent lifeform.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
Silas's attacks grew even more frantic. Where before he was slowly trying to process his comprehensions, he was now trying to speed run them.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"
"BANG!!" Then all of a sudden, Thea swiped down and pushed Silas back several feet.
'Dammit!' Silas thought, knowing she had finally succeeded.
The fight came to a natural pause as Silas readied himself, and Thea stood there smiling, getting comfortable and used to her new strength.
***
***
[A/n: The fights do get better, at least I think they do... once he has more powers there's a lot less Bangs and Shings and more descriptions]