"Wow!"
The crowd was amazed, many letting out a collective cheer.
After all, Rael was just a 3-star Arcana Master, who seemed to have trained in close combat, considering the fact that he won with punches and kicks so far. They only assumed that his bone strength was higher than his peers. No one expected his entire body has be trained to the point that it could resist energy attacks too.
As for the flames, everyone saw it was blocked by the layer of his soul energy, which prevented them from burning his skin or his clothes. But, in the process, he also lost one-fifth of his energy reserves. He didn't gulp the recovery potion though for fastening the energy recovery. Instead, he stood there straight like an imposing figure.
Raphael, standing below the platform with Eon and Arjuna, had his calm facial expression changed for the first time. His face stiffened, and his eyes narrowed as he mumbled. "Father trained him in the physical enhancement, the Undying Physique of our Garcia House, the one he failed to train me. If that was the case, we will fight for the finals without a doubt."
Edmund, who is in a recovering state of his soul energy, proceeded to order his Arcana spirit. "Go." The Three-Eyed Bear charged at Rael for physical combat instead.
Vibrations were generated from its footsteps throughout the platform, letting Rael feel the tremors below his feet. Nevertheless, his footing was steady and his posture was straight. Well, he wasn't crossing his arms anymore though. He relaxed his arms and clenched his fists, transferring his soul energy to only his fists and then his legs instead of covering up his entire body.
As the Three-Eyed Bear reached him and swung its claws at Rael, the latter bent his body a little bit and jumped high, giving a round spin kick to its face. The Bear stumbled to the side a little bit, and Rael went on summoning his soul card for the first time in the tournament. The Death scythe flew out of the soul card, landing in his hand before he swung it horizontally.
The Bear didn't even have time to evade it, and the curvy large blade of the scythe struck its head, separating it from its body with a single swing.
"Orin…" A scream of panic escaped Edmund's mouth, watching his Arcana spirit's head roll on the floor before it disappeared and returned to its mindscape.
*Thud*
Rael planted the scythe into the floor with a resounding thud and calmly looked at his opponent. "Your beast is dead. Anything else to try? This is probably the last day you will ever enact your revenge on me. After today, it'll be impossible for you or your brother."
Edmund's face reddened in anger as he clenched his fist. But, eventually, he calmed himself down and took out a scroll from his storage ring, placing it on the floor. "Yeah, today is indeed the last day."
He placed his palms on it and continuously poured his soul energy into it. The mystical drawings on the scroll slowly lit up. Once it was fully lit, a monster slowly erupted from the scroll, and a large translucent chain extended to Edmund, connecting to his heart. The two-headed hound was 6 feet big and 11 feet long. Its eyes looked all dazed as if it was hypnotized.
"A peak-stage rank-5 beast?" Rael's gaze turned cold, his grip tightening over the scythe's handle.
Edmund l landed on the two-headed hound's back, taking his seat. "Tear him into pieces." He said, grabbing its fur. "Go, Orthos."
The platinum-grade beast charged at its prey. It covered the distance in a fraction of a second and swiped its claws at him.
Rael timely evaded it by sliding to the side and then jumping at it, swinging the scythe.
The second head of the hound turned its head at the exact same time and opened its mouth. A fireball was instantly formed at the tip of its mouth, launching at Rael, who was in mid-air.
As Rael's death scythe cut through the fireball, the beast jumped at him, swiping its claws at him again.
Rael was struck this time, and he blasted away a dozen meters, the claws tore apart his shirt and the skin beneath it, making his blood spread over his shirt.
"Rael…" Eon screamed in panic. She forgot about the competition for a second and tried to rush onto the battle platform, but before she even took a second step, Raphael appeared beside her and grabbed her arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
"Leave me, Brother…" Eon snapped at her eldest brother. Her eyes glowed, ready to freeze time. However, they disappeared the next moment as Raphael's eyes glowed and he mumbled, "Absorb."
As she briefly lost her composure, Raphael coldly stated, "Right now, he isn't just your brother. He is the youngest son of the Garcia House and ten thousand people are watching him. I won't allow you to tarnish our family's name with your interference."
"That's…" Eon went stumped for a second. She turned and looked at Rael again in worry. Meanwhile, Rael had his head hung down, and he raised the scythe above his head. Energy surged from his body and enveloped the scythe. It wasn't the usual light-blue-colored soul energy. It is dark and corrupted, the exact kind of elemental energy that one would expect from someone who carries a scythe.
"Orthos… Rip him into shreds completely this time," Edmund ordered again, and the beast charged forward at Rael at its peak speed and leaped at him, opening its mouth, trying to bite him.
The audience gasped for a moment but not even the Proctor stopped it. He was simply spectating from the sky.
Eon summoned her soul card and threatened her eldest brother to move away.
It was at this moment suddenly her soul card disappeared on its own. She was shocked. "You…"
Raphael shook his head, "It wasn't me, Eon." He replied in a firm tone before both of them turned their attention to the platform as Edmund and his beast were frozen in mid-air. Meanwhile, the hourglass materialized above Rael's head.
As the hourglass turned upside down and the white sand was slowly falling into the other bulb, Rael mumbled. "Soul skill: The Scythe of Death." He swung it down.
"The hell… Him too?" Raphael was completely flabbergasted this time and looked at his sister. "Eon, since when do both of you share each other's Arcana spirits?"
"Huh?" Arjuna heard his words and looked at them in surprise. He suddenly remembered Eon's battle a while ago when she summoned the Death scythe at the end. "Was it something exclusive to twins or something?"
Eon smiled, watching the scene on the platform. "You don't understand our bond, Brother. Unlike you, who have everyone to support, we only have each other."
Meanwhile, as the time was unfrozen on the platform, the beast was cut in half, leaving behind its corpse and a spirit core. Edmund was left on the floor, shivering in fear as Rael slowly walked toward him with his head still hung down, dragging the death scythe's blade through the surface of the floor. "Stay… stay away… I forfeit." Edmund shouted.
As Rael continued to walk, the Proctor landed before the boy. "Edmund Silverfrost forfeits the match. Azrael Garcia moves to the semifinals."
After a couple of more steps, Rael finally halted his movements, not because of the announcement but to reach the floating spirit core. Rael reached out to the spirit core and started absorbing it.
In no time, all of it was absorbed into his body and his body cells rapidly started converting into soul energy, increasing his reserves.
At once, his soul realm shot into 4-star and continued to increase until it reached the advanced stage. His injuries healed on their own in the meantime. The death scythe and the hourglass also disappeared as Rael finally raised his head to look at his sister, letting out a smile and a thumbs up.