Chapter 48: Hurricane Emperor Chronicle
Tirin entered the arena and to his surprise, everyone was already there, “I didn’t think that so many people would show up to a match that was supposed to be this early in the morning.”
All the students were present, as well as Elders, the headmaster and mortals that wanted entertainment. It was truly filled to the brim in the arena; this was to be recorded down in the history of Eastern Heart City. A cultivator who could jump more than one level to fight was unprecedented. As Tirin approached the fighting ring, in the middle was the Headmaster, it appeared he was to personally referee the fight, to his right Ayla was already dressed in her combat attire, she had a Heart Path Long sword and she was in a silver battle armor which was basically at Earth Sky strength, it ended as a skirt leaving her room for mobility while fighting, while she had similar silver boots that went up to her knees. Lastly there was a shoulder plate and gauntlets that went to her elbows. In short, all vital areas and joints were protected. It was much stronger than Tirins armor; his was a simple mortal light armor vest that he never bothered to close with a shirt underneath. He had knee high boots like Ayla, but he didn’t have any shoulder plates, his pants were the same material as his vest and he didn’t bother to wear fancy gloves, they were fingerless gloves that were really just their as an extra layer to allow Tirin to grip his weapons better. But Tirin didn’t really need to have armor as his mortal body was extremely tempered to the point that Graith had to use blood essence in his attacks to make even a gash on Tirin that actually mattered. His mortal light armor was mostly there as a set of spare clothes.
Tirin looked at Ayla, admiring her beauty, what made itself known to him about her was her beautiful silver hair that sparkled endlessly, she was like a goddess that lit up the night, where Tirin was the opposite, everything he wore was black, the only other colors came from the Primal Souls Chaos Ring and Pendant of the First Dawn. If Ayla was the Goddess that lit up the night then Tirin was the Dark God that caused the night.
Tirin knew he was in for a long fight. “Looks like Elder Byron was right, her family did obtain armor that should reduce the power of my attacks quite a bit. No doubt, the way I shall win is by constantly applying hampering effects to her over time with the Mortal Endless Night Demon Essence. But my biggest problem, I don’t know how she fights; the only time she actually really fought was when I was preoccupied with Graith. Well I guess it is time to find out.”
Tirin walked up onto the fighting ring and then stood to the left of the Headmaster, gazing at the audience, everyone was silent, even the Icy World sects representative was staring at Tirin with her emotionless face along with Cathlyn. Everyone wanted to see just how this event would unfold. The headmaster looked at Ayla, then at Tirin and began to speak with that obnoxiously thunderous voice of his that echoed through the arena. “Today is finally the finale of this competition, with regards to the rewards; Nine Suns pills are no longer good enough for the two disciples here, instead, the winner will be able to study two of the formulas in the restricted section of the library while the loser will be able to study one.”
Upon this declaration, the audience gasped, only elders were allowed to cultivate these techniques, and only with the permission of the Headmaster at that! To think one of them would be able to cultivate two of them, whichwere an extreme benefit if they could successfully master them.
The Head Master looked mischievously at the crowd; it was quite a youthful look despite his age. “Let the fight for the championship begin, now then, as it is the championship, state your proper introductions as if you were in a national competition, we don’t need battle maniacs without manners here.”
Tirin felt his body go cold, that format of fighting meant he would have dispense the name of at least one of his cultivation formulas. Quickly Tirin tried to find a formula of the Mortal Realm similar to his Divine Chronicle of the Tyrannical Suppressing Sword within his memory. “That was close; it seems there is one slightly similar, but absolutely nowhere near my cultivation formula.”
Looking at Ayla, Tirin introduced himself, “I am Tirin, Disciple of Elder Byron, and cultivator of the Aura Sword Art. Please teach me.”
All of the Elders and the Headmaster looked at Tirin and for a long time had a questioning gaze, they knew of the Aura Sword Art, it allowed a user to suppress the opponent, but it was nowhere near the level at which Tirin could suppress his opponents, they were sure that he had found the tomb of some ancient cultivator and the Headmaster personally wanted to find out what Tirin was cultivating and see if he get Tirin to have the cultivation formula put in the restricted section of the library as no doubt even if he could jump one level to fight, his cultivation formula had to be strong enough to let him jump more than one! But they didn’t pursue it at the moment.
Ayla also looked at Tirin, “He has too many secrets, there is no way he is cultivating that because I have used it before and his suppression art feels completely different.”
Deciding to ask him in private later, Ayla introduced herself in an elegant manner befitting her position as a daughter of the head of the Sthren family. “I am Ayla Sthren, Disciple of the Academy, and Cultivator of the Hurricane Emperor Chronicle. Please teach me.”
The audience was stupefied again, an Emperor Level cultivation formula. The Sthren family didn’t have any Emperors in the last thousand years but they have numerous Inner Destruction Realm cultivator. Her father at the moment was a peak Inner Destruction Realm Cultivator, but it was said the first head of the Sthren Family was known as the Hurricane Storm Emperor. He was said to have reached near the peak of the Emperor Essence Realm with this cultivation formula that he self-created, and could fight favorably with peak Emperors, sadly he went missing and hasn’t returned once in the last thousand years, and cultivators in the Emperor Essence Realm, especially those near the peak are said to have lifespans of nearly ten thousand years. So for all the Sthren family knew, he could be alive. And no one has successfully cultivated his formula…until now that is; apparently Ayla had the potential to be an Emperor Level Talent, as her blood was directly descended from the Hurricane Storm Emperor.
Tirin stood in a ready stance unfazed, “It’s really not that surprising considering her origin and talent, besides I knew already from the preliminaries that she excels in the wind and water elements.”
The Head Master looked on in excitement unbefitting of someone his age and shouted, “Begin, fight to your hearts content!”
Ayla brandished her Long sword; she didn’t dare underestimate Tirin, especially because she knew he had cards he hadn’t played yet. “I can’t take him in a head on clash, if he fights at range I need to close in immediately, the power behind that bow is no joke. For now, let’s start off with this…”
Wisdom of the Ancient Storm Kings
Ayla’s aura condensed until she wasn’t releasing any pressure, then finally it merged with her body, and the effect, it raised her perception, thought processing speed and reflexes to 4.5 times past an ordinary cultivators limits, 1.5 times for each great realm she had surpassed. Then she silently waited for Tirin to assault her for if she attacked first, against an opponent like Tirin, it would lead to her disadvantage.
Tirin looked at Ayla, he saw her pupils shrink and her aura condense into her body, he couldn’t tell how it helped her but he decided to stay on the side of caution. Green light enveloped both of his hands, and to the shock of the audience, not one, but two heavy swords that were nearly identical except one was crimson and the other was the darkest black, it seemed like an endless void. “I should withhold the phoenix essence for now and I won’t even touch my base essence, for now let’s see if I can learn how she fights. With a long sword she no doubt is able to adapt to any situation.”
Immediately Tirin stimulated the Tyrannical Suppressing Sword Art and he also used Eternal Dark Mist.
“Ayla is too smart to let the Eternal Dark Mist affect her but it should give me an escape route since we are in a barrier, it will eventually cover the fighting ring and can’t dissipate or leave it.”
Divine Lighting Void Shattering Step!
Tirin rode the lighting right into the waiting Ayla, she already knew what she planned to do the moment she saw the slightest twinge in his muscles, such was the power of Wisdom of the Ancient Storm Kings. Rather than meet Tirin head on, she shifted her weight forward and with her heightened reflexes, she pierced in the one opening between Tirins heavy swords.
Tirin despite not having such a power like Ayla, was similar, as he honed all his senses and reflexes to match his body, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to fight as his body would move too fast for him to accurately fight.
Ayla thrust her long sword in the opening, but contrary to her expectations, Tirins heavy swords clamped down on the opening and caught her long sword in between them. That one moment was enough for her to realize that his senses were practically on par with hers while she was enhanced by Wisdom of the Ancient Strom Kings. “How monstrous is he, to think his base senses are the same as mine enhanced…. Then I will have to take the initiative and force an opening he can’t block.”
Retreating, Ayla then took a stance, and began to gather the water and wind to aid her.
First Form, Hurricane of the West!
To the west, a Hurricane-like image appeared and shrunk, and then it entwined itself upon Ayla and her long sword. This time she took the initiative to charge towards Tirin.
Tirin wasn’t standing around either though, using the first form of the Endless Paths Art, he fought Ayla with his mastery over dual wielding heavy swords.
They collided again, this time Tirin was cut along his right forearm, he was quite puzzled, and “How did that happen! I didn’t let her long sword touch me!”
Then Tirin saw Ayla with a slight grin and he took another look at her long sword, “There seems to be something special about the elemental energies imbued from her art. The piercing power is quite strong.”
Ayla however, although she had a slight grin, she was quite shocked in her own right, Tirins wound was healing at a rate barely visible to her eye and on top of that, he didn’t suffer a wound that she was expecting, it was only a cut….a cut!
Ayla’s grin slowly vanished to be replaced with a stiff expression, “To think that his art gives him this much of a resistance to the elements, even an elemental beast would have a hard time causing any serious wounds. What’s more troublesome is that he hasn’t summoned those phantasmal images yet, clearly whenever those float around him his strength spikes. There are too many secrets that need unraveling.”
With but a thought, Tirin then decided on his course of action, he would take the absolute offensive, whether this was the right decision, who knows.
The two of them locked eyes and at once, they assaulted each other again, as Tirin charged, phoenix wings unconsciously started to sprout from his back, it had become second nature for him to fight with them out since they didn’t much essence at all to maintain.
Using the Tyrannical Suppressing Swords two forms, Tirin clashed with Ayla, her essence was suppressed as well as her weapon but she retaliated at such a rate that most of the audience except for those at the strength of an Elder could not see her attack. Tirin also retaliated in kind and a deadly dance ensued. Tirin fought like a berserker while Ayla attacked very calmly, two quite different styles of fighting were being demonstrated. As the fight escalated, multiple techniques started to come out and Tirin switched out his Five Elements Divine Golden Dragon Essence for Phoenix Essence. Phoenix flames slowly started to ignite upon Tirin as if they were naturally how he should be at all times. This time however they were much stronger, the cause was that since he successfully obtained Phoenix Essence which should have been impossible even if he had their bloodline, the corresponding flames would be stronger since they originated from the exact same source as a true phoenix.
Ayla in turn was shrouded in a mini hurricane around her body which tried to douse Tirins phoenix flames while he tried to evaporate her hurricane. The two of them jumped up into the air and collided, this time, Tirin used his gravity manipulation to slam both Airnelle and Flair directly into Ayla with a monstrous overhead arc. Ayla went flying down into the fighting ring and there were cracks along the floor, but otherwise she was uninjured as her mini hurricane endured most of the attack. But Tirin actually felt his whole body stagnate. He simply floated up in the air and looked at Ayla’s protective hurricane shrouding her body and weapon.
With a piercing gaze he then intensified his phoenix flames, while lighting them on Flair and Airnelle as well. Tirin then silently thanked his Endless Path Sapling, for it allowed Tirin to grasp what happened in the last exchange quicker than Tirin would have otherwise, with his heightened comprehension he was able to tell at a glance now that he fought with Ayla how all his wounds occurred. Sighing inwardly he praised the Hurricane Emperor, “You are certainly quite something to be able to make an art that focuses solely on protecting yourself while converting a great portion of all attacks against you into an attack against your opponent. It would be quite troublesome if I didn’t body temper but the only way I shall allow my attacks to recoil upon me is if I let them, not under your cultivation methods discretion.”
Tirin looked at Ayla, then raising Airnelle and Flair while up in the air he decided to finally start the fight once again, this time with no discretion for any of his essence or whether he would be wounded or not, he did not think and simply let his body do all the fighting.
Purifying Phoenix Wing Assault!
The entire fighting ring full of black mist suddenly lit up and then the crowd saw shadowy images clashing, just what was going on within the barrier and mist. They all could see that the fight escalated to a tremendous level, which would come out victorious between these two rare talents…