Merchant Of Yliaster

For almost 30 seconds, none could see anything inside the arena, yet the fact that the battle still continued proved that both soon-to-be nobles still lived. Polaris just stared at the arena numbly, trying to understand how these people could be so powerful at just level 50.

His class should have had much more power than the average level 50 class, as the federation was a lot bigger an entity than a mere tier 2, yet he found himself lacking to a ridiculous level. He couldn't even follow much of the battle below them, and right now, his senses failed him utterly.

After a while, the darkness covering the arena started to shrink, once more revealing the familiar space. Something, though, was different. As darkness shrank, the revealed spaces shone with a green light. The light felt eerie, and Polaris realized that it was the same light as the light one of the contender's eyes had.

Herman felt his potential drop as he felt the darkness wrap around him. He tried to cut off his senses, but he found no space to swing his knife. As he tried to find a way out of this, the potential inside him drained continuously, trying to tie him to the world in desperation.

What even is he? He thought, but quickly discarded the thought. The time was not right, right now, he needed a solution. He focused on his scabbard. The artifact was actually a system given skill he never quite fully understood, but until now, it had never failed him.

It worked with the same principles he himself used, but it was complex to a degree that it would be impossible for him to create it by himself. The scabbard simply created the most suitable weapon to cut his designated target.

Previously, it used to have the most complex threads Herman ever saw, yet right now, the first place was taken by the man before him. He could still faintly sense the man, but his sense of distance was failing him like his every other sense.

He took a deep breath, or at least, he tried to in the void. He knew that this couldn't be a complete void; at best, it would be imitation. No matter how powerful the man before him was, there was no way that he could create something so godlike at his level.

Still, knowing that didn't help much, as he still couldn't detect any threads around him. In desperation, Herman decided to try something he had never done. For the first time after the initiation, he would try to create something. After all, he could imitate things, too.

Maxwell watched the world take shape around him with calm eyes as he replaced the void in his delusion with his imagined arena. For the last few seconds, he was deluding himself that he was standing in nothingness, and he was delighted to find that his idea worked much better than intended.

This idea of his was not exactly new, but it was definitely his first try using it on such a scale. Back when he was fighting with reverend iridescent, he managed to infuse some of his attacks with his soul, and he still remembered that things were dissolving like they never existed when he did that.

This fact gave him the idea that, if he actually desired that reality, the effect would be even stronger. He was lucky that he was right.

Darkness pulled back around him, and his world was restored, looking normal once again. After all, the world around him was only a delusion. This was proven by the fact that he still couldn't see anything outside the arena. The clashing colors remained there.

He was a bit surprised to see the butcher still standing, but he half-expected that to happen. He imagined nothingness, yes, but he still knew that he couldn't destroy the arena completely without being much, much stronger.

The butcher's figure was still standing, and he was just like outside the arena as he glowed with numerous colors. At least, in his world, the man looked humanoid, still retaining a shape. Seeing different parts of something he could actually comprehend made Maxwell realize that some parts were awfully more complicated than others.

Right now, though, all of these were just afterthoughts. Most of Maxwell's attention was focused on something else. And his eyes widened in surprise seeing it.

Herman still had his knife out, and the thing was giving off a green glow. What made Maxwell surprised was the feeling he got from it. Previously, the sword gave him a bloody feeling before the man cut his vitality. Right now, though, it gave him a much more familiar feeling.

Etherium? No, just an imitation? How? Maxwell was truly dumbfounded as he stared at the sword the man before him was holding. The feeling he got from the sword was unmistakable, yet it felt incomplete. It was like a child trying to paint a masterpiece after seeing it once.

The show, though, didn't go on for too much, as the light disappeared soon after, followed by Herman falling to his knees. He gasped for breath, and Maxwell was surprised that he could hear as he had before. Slowly, the world beyond the arena started to regain its colors, and Maxwell closed his eyes.

This is an opportunity, he knew what was happening. Slowly, his senses returned, and he shut everything out, trying to single out a single feeling. He eliminated everything, the beating of his heart, the sound of his breath, the feeling, the tone of his muscles gave him.

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He searched for a change happening in him, something beyond what he would usually feel. As his connection to the material world got stronger, he searched even harder, shutting out even his emotions. I didn't know I could do that. Soul over matter seemed to have powers beyond what he knew.

In the end, all that remained was a feeling of emptiness. Now, he couldn't even feel what the restoration of his vitality tether was doing to him, but he still tried. He maxed the input from his senses of shattered reality, and shrunk his domain so that it would be in the shape of his body, and in the end, he had succeeded.

Suddenly, in total emptiness with his full awareness focused on the moment, he sensed a slow trembling. It was weak beyond measure, but in the emptiness, it was the only thing remaining. Time passed in slow motion, and Maxwell isolated himself for almost twenty subjective minutes, trying to completely isolate the feeling.

I got it, his awareness wrapped hungrily around the only stimuli it got, and Maxwell knew he had succeeded. With his soul stat, isolating this feeling again would be child's play in the future.

He returned to the real world and found the butcher standing. The man looked miserable. His clothes were mostly destroyed, and some part of his body was missing, like they were eaten away by something incredibly corrosive, but he still wore a brilliant smile.

"You showed me something incredible," he said, twirling his knife as he stared at Maxwell. After managing to find his vitality tether, Maxwell realized something he couldn't before. Previously, he failed to detect any mana inside the butcher, and this had been a shock to him, as he was used to doing everything using mana at this point.

Right now, he could actually feel a faint energy flowing through the man's body. It was also getting stronger in real time, indicating that he was regenerating pretty fast.

"What energy do you use? Does your world use the same energy as you?" Maxwell questioned. He was beyond curious about this. While using unique abilities wasn't exclusive to this man, this was the first time that he was utterly stumped.

"Huh, I just cut, what other people do, I have no idea," Herman said, smiling. He swung as he said, and Maxwell casually dodged the half-hearted attack, still looking at the man.

"You copy qualities of things, and you somehow cut them. How though? You don't touch them, you don't interact with them in any way that I can sense. They just disappear. You don't use occult arts, technology, or magic," Maxwell spoke as he changed his body to light once more.

He was surprised to feel that the process was much smoother now, but he would check his skills later. He dodged another two slashes and singled out the interaction they had with the environment. When Butcher's knife didn't give any particular feeling, it seemed to be able to cut anything, but it still followed logic.

The attacks were possible to dodge, as they only cut the line the butcher swung. When the blade is specialized, on the other hand, things become ridiculous. When he was cutting Maxwell's vitality, the man didn't even lift his knife.

Something like resonance, maybe? Wait? He said philosophizing, right? Something about concepts? How would that even work? Maxwell brainstormed, but he stopped moving when he realized that the man was standing motionlessly now.

"Trying to understand your nature is proving to be fruitless; my abilities are lacking. Shall we end this with a final showdown of our strongest attacks? A classic, if you will. Maybe, we shall understand each other better when we reach further grades," Herman said, looking thoughtful.

"Why not," Maxwell answered. He already got more than he ever imagined out of the fight in the form of discovering a field he never knew of. He felt that he could understand nothing more by examining the same skills over and over again. He missed something essential, he felt, and it wouldn't appear out of thin air. Maybe focusing on his vitality tether would be a good way to develop that something? Those, though, were plans for later. Right now, he had a fight to finish.

Immediately, he could feel the weird energy inside the Butcher's body plummet, and his blade gave off a multicolored light. A moment, it looked like a knife; in another, it looked like a long sword. It looked like the man was holding a kaleidoscope of colors.

Here we go then, Maxwell thought, as he activated the records of curiosity. Behind him, The Last Flash started to form, an arrow of lightning, metal, and wind mana forming. A trace of nature mana too fizzled into the creation, as three natural elements worked in cohort to create something more. Throughout the arrow, runes of amplification appeared, invisible to the spectators, as they covered the inside of the construct.

Wind mana moved, and runes of reduction appeared at the tip, removing wind resistance almost completely. The construct was something Maxwell created by focusing for almost 6 hours, and pathways inside, even without runes, could increase a simple current to a fatal degree right now, though the current inside was nothing but simple.

As he prepared, the Butcher was done preparing his attack. "I hope you won't be killed immediately. I never knew why I created this attack, as it didn't seem like I would need it. I stand corrected," the man said, and took a deep breath, before speaking with mental energy infusing his voice.

Cut Of Solitude

Maxwell's danger sense immediately screamed as the attack moved, but he just smiled. The world slowed down, as his superior mind proved to be faster than his opponent once more. He focused on the arrow floating behind him, and shrank his domain so that it would take the shape of a corridor leading to the enemy.

An almost palpable green light left his body, flowing into the arrow, and the lightning turned green in an instant. A soul was created in the arrow, awaiting commands, and Maxwell's soul energy infused it, making it more dangerous than ever. The only thing that remained was releasing it. A simple command will do. He thought and spoke.

Kill

And the arrow moved.