I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

Raph had gotten back up, brimming with energy.

While Ciara glared at him, her body still floating in the air.

"You have to try harder than that, Ciara". Raph said, his lips curled into a smirk as he walked forward.

Swinging his sword around and adjusting his arms, his gaze fixed on her.

"That can't be all, Surely ?".

He sighed deeply as he charged at her with great speed. He jumped into the air, leaving a crater on the glacial and swung his sword from his side, ready to strike her.

Ciara had other plans. Though she was aware that this would greatly reduce her mana, she had no other choice.

She wanted to win. No, she needed to win, not for her mother but for herself. If not, it would feel like she lost to his words. She wasn't being biased about her hatred for men.

It was their fault they took her best friend away. It was their fault, her mother had whipped her so many times in the past. Her mother had lost composure completely for the first time and it was because of a man.

She was sure of it. All men are the same, no matter how much they try to be different. No matter what colors they take. Nor the families they grew up in or the kind of friends they had. They were truly the same.

They were self centered, greedy and had lascivious intentions towards women.

What more did she need to hate them ?

She raised her hand in the sky, her face devoid of any emotion.

"9th tier magic : Gravity pull".

The sky turned heavy in an instant and it pushed Raph onto the surface of the glacial.

He groaned in pain, blood erupted out of his mouth and his body was forced deeper into the glacial.

This was her last resort. To use magic that was above her mana circles.

She is a 7th circle mage but that doesn't stop her from using higher tier magic.

It all depends on their mana pool. The larger or more vast the better.

It enabled them to use higher tier magic one after the other in order to defeat their enemies.

But of course, it sucked their mana greatly. It is a high tier magic after all and it was not meant for lower circles.

So her mana, though large, was greatly reduced by that one magic but that was enough.

She was planning on ending it all with her next attack anyways.

Withholding the cackle that nearly escaped her lips, she pushed him further, cracking the glacial in the process and forcing his body further into the ground.

"Try and escape this !" She cried out, her lips twisting into a wicked smile. A soft laugh escaped her lips then it grew more intense and slowly transformed into a bitter cackle.

Raph gasped deeply as he felt his body plummet to the ground.

It slammed with great force nearly sending him unconscious and yet he remained unphased.

'This bitch…she's fucking cheating you know'.

His aura swirled deeply within him and his mana circles began to rotate around each other at great speed.

Flowing mana surged out into the aura stars, forming larger, deeper amounts of aura.

His aura stars began to rattle terribly while his mana circles spun with more speed.

The 7th star represented imagery. The ability to exude their aura from their stars into physical form.

It isn't an easy task since the ability of imagery is limited to one's mental capability.

The 8th star though ? Was Mastery. The complete and total Mastery over Aura.

It was the first step for Swordsmen in becoming Masters of the Sword.

A name given to only those that had reached true enlightenment on the use of Aura.

Raph was currently controlling his mana circles, making them rotate terribly quickly in order to form mana.

The mana was quickly gobbled up by the stars and converted to aura. The aura then exuded out of his body, the potency and amount increasing with each second.

He struggled with the force of gravity with all his might, gritting his teeth as blood dribbled down his lips.

The aura had reduced the pressure but it was not nearly enough to let him stand back up. So, he made more. He quickened the speed of his mana circles, rattled his mana stars and increased the potency of his mana.

Slowly and steadily, he was getting up. Struggling with the grim force of gravity that fell on him like a mountain.

Above in the sky, Ciara had flown backwards. She was preparing her last attack but she also wanted to remain safe.

She was sure Raph would be stuck under the pressure of gravity that she had bound upon him. But too many unexpected events had occurred today and she was not ready to take more of them.

Her hands were stretched apart and a glowing black liquid had formed between them. It grew throughout the whole length of her arms and was steadily taking shape.

The glacier that had obscured her vision had suddenly shuddered and fell to the ground, turning into plain snow.

Her thoughts were stunned into silence or was it ?

'What now ? Has he escaped ? How ?' Discover stories at empire

She peered into the snow that had begun to settle and traced Raph's location from the source of gravity.

She quickly found him, his gaze seemed bitterly fixed on her and he seemed to be…..standing up ?

'This is a 9th tier magic !' She thought to herself, a scowl appearing on her face.

"No ! No more of this !". She slowly pointed her hands towards Raph.

Yes he was standing but he didn't seem like he would be able to get out of that gravity prison anytime soon.

This was her last chance to attack, in fact it was the only chance she had left. Whether or not this attack led to her victory depended greatly on her and she wanted to seize it. She wanted to seize it so badly, victory was nearly in her hands.

She just had to make him fall. That was all she needed to do and that was what she was going to do.

"10th tier magic ! Azure dragon !".

A hollow cry filled the Arena, shaking space itself. The black liquid twirled and formed into a fierce black dragon.

It rushed towards Raph within a fraction of a second, sending lightning sparks to its sides.

Raph had prepared for a situation like this. Or maybe he didn't but he had countermeasures. Now, his loss or victory depended greatly on what he would do next.

His aura had grown powerful enough for him to stand on his two feet and wield his sword with both of his hands.

He had raised his hand up, grinding his teeth to the pain of gravity breaking through his bones. He couldn't tell how many had been damaged but he did know that it was in a terrible state.

"Chapter 9…"

His 7 Stars rattled greatly within his body and unbeknownst to him, an Eight had formed. Rattling with great force.

A new sensation had taken over him. It felt like his skin was crawling with sensations. The words he couldn't hear became distinctively clearer. The things he couldn't see became visible. The things he couldn't smell became defined and the things he couldn't feel became perceptible.

His blue aura had surged out and surrounded him like a second skin. It glowed with his sword. His body became lighter and within that short time frame, he swung his blade down.

"..Arrogant Surge !".

Time seemed to have stopped. His sensations were still as clear as day but he could hardly hear anything.

Looking down on his clothes, a sense of awe shook him. He had not noticed it but they were in tatters.

He was sure Ciara was in a similar state if not different . He wasn't someone that paid attention to the little things during fights.

And speaking of fights, he thought to himself, I could have handled this battle much better.

He was aware of that. There could have been a way to push her to her brim without needing to push himself to his and yet he couldn't think of any.

Why ? Well it was simple. Ciara was strong. Stronger than he had expected her to be for a 7th tier mage but was that reason enough to stop him ? No. It wasn't.

The use of a higher Chapter of the Jun swordsmanship would consume a lot of aura if not all of it but he was different.

The more he formed aura from his mana, the more he replenished the lost mana from his surroundings.

He had done so from the very beginning and in his past battles as well. He had planned for the unexpected and it may have saved him this time. After all, none of the 12 great families were weak.

Within that fraction of a second when the Azure dragon had descended down and was about to strike Raph, an Anti-gravitational force pulled it away.

It pulled the rocks, snow and ice glaciers from the Arena as well. All of it.

They rushed towards the sunny skies, gathering around the Azure dragon that bent and turned in a frenzy and cried out bitterly.

It began to compress the dragon as it surrounded him at all sides. Slowly, the numerous large chunks of ice and snow began to shrink and the dragon with it too.

The dragon still struggled to set free but it was too late. It was stuck in an endless prison of ice rocks and snow glaciers that shrunk together with its size and might.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

It continued, startling the Audience and even the Patriarchs. This is probably the first time they had seen a Jun use the 9th Chapter and it was a sight to behold, surely.

It continued to compress, shrinking its size until the last snowy glacier attached to it.

Then suddenly and almost automatically, it began to quake.

Shaking terribly, the force spreading throughout the Arena and the Stadium as a whole. It quaked, rattled, shook, trembled and then it began to shine.

A bright ethereal light pierced out of it and a cracking noise echoed, it flew higher in the sky as more light pierced through and more cracks spread.

And in the next second. It exploded, causing a loud sonic detonation and a force that spread down on the Stadium, forcing those without protection to their knees.

And shattering the protection of some others.

The force only grew larger with time but then it slowly reduced. Pulsating in the air with a malevolent hue.

White sparks descended down after the explosion, shining with grace and elegance as it fell down on the Stadium, lighting the hearts of those that saw it with surging emotions. Emotions that they were not sure about.

Surely this time, a winner will be decided.