Spirit Taming

Chapter 350: Embedded Blades

The first year students had all been called earlier than usual. The arena had been made so that they could slowly go through the four different years of students one at a time. The first years would battle, then the second, then the third, and finally the fourth. This was just the best way to stretch out a long day of amazing battles.

This also gave the students a much larger stadium to fight in. Instead of four smaller arenas, they now had the space of an entire arena. This left them with more ability to move and use bigger skills. It also gave more room for opponents to dodge.

Everyone was taking note of this while the three first year teams of each academy came in. The six ethereal academy students were getting a decent few shouts and slander toward them. But this was fair for what they had done.

Unsurprisingly, the locals that had come to cheer for Nebula were throwing snowballs and showing them with praise. It was an interesting tradition but throwing the snowballs seemed to make them all much happier. For whatever reason, Clark felt a bit nostalgic. He didn't think he would see people throwing snowballs in this life.

It was just one of the faded memories from his previous life that seemed to reverberate with his soul.

Behind Clark's team, there were plenty of students. Every single year was in attendance to watch. Unfortunately, that meant that The oldest Mourne family member was there. However, he was clearly kept in check by Ella's older brother. This was just a small benefit though compared to other downsides. Now it was true that nothing they used here would be a secret anymore.

Clark had kept Devi invisible but he had still allowed for it to be known that another beast existed. The chilling bites, evil laughter, and the fact that purple had dodged perfectly showed off that Clark was not alone at all. There had to be another beast and everyone knew it.

Illia's gaze fell on Clark as they sat down on the benches provided. Her look told him everything he needed to know. They would be following their plans to team up and take down Ethereal academy. It was just a second's glance but enough to start things off.

"Welcome my friends back to the arena! You may notice many changes today! This grand arena is just for those battling. We hope everyone can enjoy the full scope of the elite talents today!" The referee was announcing all of this. As he spoke, Clark looked around, finding many higher ranking family members from many families with many guards. They were prepared for the worst.

"The battles will be three students at one time. The student who lands the last defeating blow will get a point. However, this does not mean the student will win. Each student can leave with a possible two points every battle. However, that doesn't mean that will happen." Everyone knew this meant that one person could hold back and allow for the battle to be one on one then swoop in and take a point.

But that wasn't the plan.

"Without further wastes of time, please welcome Nebula, Nova, and Ethereal academy first year students to the arena!" The shout brought a monstrous cheer. Clark could feel the arena vibrating. He couldn't say he didn't like this feeling. The anticipation, the excitement, and the overall power in those combined shouts made him want to shout right along with them.

"Clark, I'm going first. You need to save your energy for whatever they are planning. I won't be alone." Reese didn't even try to hold back. He saw Jerold trying to push right in and knew that he had to take the lead.

"Pfft, I was going to do that." Brad made an annoyed comment but returned his eyes to one of the Nebula students that was holding a large ice shield and short sword just like he used. It was making him curious and everyone knew what that meant to Brad.

"Go all out from the start. This isn't a battle that you hold yourself back. Got it?" Clark didn't have much to say. This was all that anyone needed to hear. Not that they didn't know that there would be someone trying to kill them. They had to fight with everything against the Ethereal academy students.

Another boy holding a quiver with throwing spears made of ice came out from Nebula. The last opponent was a cloaked boy with a large dog with him. The large dog was not all there was to it though. Everyone could tell that the darkness energies escaping through its fur meant that there was more to it.

'Zombie dog- common

This is a common type of darkness and undead type beast. It is one of the lower ranking undead that will be controlled by a necrotic skeleton, a form of necromancer or mage skeleton. These dogs are best at hunting down prey and forcing it toward the master it serves as food or materials.

They are fairly agile and can survive having their limbs cut off. The best way to defeat it is to cut its head off since its body is still controlled by a brain. However, the rotting darkness and undead energies will cause the tamer to slowly become similar to the zombie dog.

This can happen in many ways, it starts with rotting skin unless the tamer is taking special medicine to resist the beast's influence.

Many that have this beast will be burdened by it their entire lives unless it is able to grow differently. Those that accept this decay of their person will eventually become a powerful zombie warrior and lose their humanity. That will make the two a perfect pair to be controlled by another undead or even give the potential for the zombie warrior to become an undead paladin. The undead…'

There was a lot of information about the undead ranks and how they progressed if someone chose to fall to becoming an undead along with their beast. It was a wonder why someone would do this but there was clearly power in doing so. That alone could drive some people to become evil and after all life. But Clark wasn't just focused on this.

From what he could see, the zombie dog had been forced to take blades in to its body where its claws and teeth were. It would be cruel to do to a loving beast, however, the zombie dog wouldn't feel it at all. This made the zombie dog more dangerous. Yet it was even more terrifying when the master of this beast took off the black cloak.

Blades were embedded in the boys' arms acting like attached swords. It was a cruel and evil thing, But the rotting skin around them proved that the boy was well on his way to becoming a zombie warrior. He had already taken the path of falling from humanity. Ethereal academy wasn't hiding this at all. It just reinforced the fact that they were here to cause trouble and not actually from an academy.

Falling from humanity was a massive taboo.

"My spears can cause an ice bloom. I have limited amounts because I cannot call my beast. But they will deal with the dog." The nebula academy student said this just loud enough for Reese to hear.

"Once we handle this I look forward to having a proper match." Reese gave a nod with this and pulled his abyssal sword from the explorer's scabbard. The intense sword aura that escaped made Reese's hair flutter. He narrowed his eyes while the referee called out the start of the battle.

Using all of the force he had, Reese charged ahead dodging the raging bite of the zombie dog. He felt the cold aura and crack of ice behind him as the first ice throwing spear was thrown. It had caused a large ice crystal to form splitting the Ethereal student from the zombie dog.

There was a wildness in the dull eyes of the Ethereal academy student. It was clear that the effects of the zombie dog's mentality had long penetrated the depths of his brain. He was just a few steps away from losing humanity. Reese could only purify the world of such a presence. But that didn't mean he had an easy fight.

The intense rush of slashes from the embedded blades were strong. Without a limit of the physique, the human body could deal massive damage. Many people would have to deal with the fact that their bodies would hold them back from tearing their own muscles apart while moving and using their absolute full force. This wasn't the case here.

Every blade that missed hit the ground and caused massive cuts in the arena's dirt floor. It was enough for Reese to understand that his speed and agility were key here. Yet, he didn't shrug away from this at all. He grew even more energetic as he felt his partner vibrating in anticipation. They were using their full strength right from the start. Right in front of everyone.

They would all see how great the abyssal sword style is.