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Chapter 55: Victory
🕑 Added 2025-06-14 16:07:13 +0000 UTCThe giant Ice Lance and the swirling fire pillar clashed violently, emitting a deafening roar that shook the entire arena. The forces of the two sides countered each other in the center of the stage, forming a heart-stopping, spectacular stalemate of elemental power. At this moment, Iris Thorne displayed the true strength of a Rank Two psionicist. Her ice-elemental Aura grew even stronger, colder, and more potent, while Ethan, on his part, used his enhanced Heatblast form that had absorbed the Skill Aura Core to unleash even greater, more ferocious flame power. The battle between the two was extremely fierce, neither giving an inch.
However, despite Ethan going all out, his reserves of psionic energy were still not as deep as Iris Thorne's. At this moment, the Omnitrix symbol on his chest began to flash an urgent red. The power of his fire pillar gradually weakened, while the Ice Lance on the opposite side, sensing his faltering strength, seized the opportunity to press forward, inch by agonizing inch.
No, I can't let this continue! Ethan grew anxious internally. I must think of another way to turn this situation around. As the situation currently stood, if he continued to hold on in a direct contest of power, the one to lose would definitely be him. After all, his rank was far lower than Iris's. Even if Heatblast's strength had been enhanced, it was still incredibly difficult to make up for this fundamental difference in rank and raw Aura capacity.
Right now, his only advantage was that he could switch forms at any time. This was a move Ethan was extremely reluctant to use, because he didn't want his greatest secret to be discovered... I don't want to be discovered!
Just then, Ethan freed his left hand, using only his mouth and his right hand to maintain two of the three intertwined fire pillars. By doing this, his resistance was significantly reduced, and the speed of the Ice Lance's advance became faster, closing the distance rapidly. However, Ethan didn't care about these details. He quickly used his freed left hand to control the ambient flames, forming a thick, opaque screen of fire around him, enveloping his entire body tightly so that no one from the outside could see what was happening inside. Then, with the lance just moments from impact, Ethan completely retracted the fire pillar. The Ice Lance, its opposition gone, flew towards his obscured position at an astonishing speed.
At that critical, hair's-breadth moment, Ethan instantly switched his form, becoming the spectral Ghostfreak. As he turned himself intangible, the Ice Lance passed right through his ghostly body without causing any harm. He then quickly switched back to Heatblast just as the lance embedded itself in the wall behind him.
It was an astonishing, unbelievable sight. To the outsiders in the audience, it looked as if the Ice Lance had pierced straight through the fire screen and then passed right through Ethan again. Everyone mistakenly thought that this lance had run straight through his body. A sharp, collective gasp rose from the stands below. Sarah and Simon were so scared they almost fell out of their chairs, their faces ashen. All the major leaders in the VIP seats stood up involuntarily. Iris Thorne also became nervous, her own face turning pale as a cold sweat broke out on her brow. Just now, in her desire to win, she had been too anxious, and this blow had not been held back at all.
You have to know, if a death occurred in this competition, even she, with her family's status, would absolutely not get off lightly.
As the fire screen dissipated, everyone stared intently at the ring. They saw Ethan, transformed as Heatblast, lying on the ground, seemingly wounded. Seeing this, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. As everyone knows, once a psionicist using a transformation ability dies, they will immediately revert to their original human form. Since he was still able to maintain his alien form, it meant he was still alive.
Ethan, as Heatblast, slowly climbed up, theatrically wiping the non-existent cold sweat from his head. A few embers fell to the ground from his hand. "Whew. That was close. I was almost done in there."
Iris Thorne and the people in the VIP seats had faces full of black lines. You were just bluffing, you little brat, but you scared everyone half to death! Iris's heart had almost jumped out of her chest. She had really thought for a horrifying second that she had impaled him. Now, she hadn't even recovered her breath from the shock and the exertion of her last attack.
Ethan didn't give her a chance to rest. He directly clenched his fist and smashed it towards her. Iris, her own psionic energy now dangerously low, condensed a simple ice shield to block. This was not a skill, but simply condensed ice element. Now, the Aura reserves of both of them had bottomed out. Even the red light on Ethan's chest, which had been blinking once per second, had slowed to a more urgent rhythm, once every three seconds.
The two of them, as if by a mutual, unspoken agreement, once again condensed their remaining energy into an ice blade and a fire blade for one last gamble. The cold air around Iris gradually weakened, and she was now drenched in sweat from the effort. The symbol on Ethan's chest was also flashing faster and faster, already reaching a frantic eight times a second.
Now, it was purely a battle of willpower. Although Iris had also experienced many actual battles in her training, Ethan had been through the brutal, no-holds-barred rings of The Gauntlet, the life-and-death dangers of the wilderness, and had even faced down a beast tide. The number of times he had been genuinely injured was not small. And although one never truly gets used to the feeling of pain, his endurance for it was definitely stronger than Iris's. When he was grazed by her ice, although it was very painful, he could react quickly and power through it. But when Iris was hit or scorched by his flames, her face would twitch obviously, and her movements would become discernibly slower, clearly hindered by the searing pain.
Finally, this grueling competition of attrition ended with Ethan breaking through her guard and pressing his glowing fire blade against her neck.
"I… I lost." Iris Thorne was both helpless and unwilling. But she knew that she was a whole rank higher than her opponent, and even so, she had still lost. She could only blame herself for not being good enough. This time, her loss was not by a narrow margin.
Ethan's psionic energy had also completely bottomed out at that final moment, and he reverted to his original human form, stumbling slightly. The red light on the Omnitrix on his wrist was blinking so fast it looked like a solid red light, and the beeping from it was extremely shrill. He had been doing his absolute best just to maintain his transformed state for that final push. Now that the match was over, he could finally relax.
A referee on the side, his face a mask of shock, declared Ethan's victory. The audience erupted in fierce, thunderous cheers.
"Winning against a higher rank! And by a whole major rank at that! So exciting!"
"Whose kid is this? He's really so promising!"
"He's truly winning honor for us common folk today!"
As the referee announced the result of the competition, the entire venue exploded with deafening cheers and applause. The audience excitedly stood up, waving the flags and banners in their hands to express their respect for Ethan.
Iris Thorne, on the stage, took a deep breath, a bitter smile appearing on her face. Although she had lost the competition, she showed her respect for Ethan's strength. She knew that although she was a whole rank higher, she had still lost fairly. She could only attribute it to her own skills not being refined enough, her own will not being strong enough. This match not only let the audience witness a wonderfully exciting duel but also made them full of anticipation for this young, rising contestant.
Ordinary families are very easily satisfied. After this one battle, everyone in the arena believed that Ethan's future would be limitless. Hearing the praise for their son from the surrounding people, Sarah and Simon were beaming with joy. They looked at each other, the smiles on their faces growing even wider. Their hearts were filled with immense pride and gratification. Because their son had not only won, but he had also performed outstandingly, with courage and cleverness. This joy was hard to express in words, but the radiant smiles on their faces showed that they felt incomparable pride for their son.
On the stage, Iris had gradually recovered her composure. She slowly stood up, took another deep breath, and then looked at Ethan again. Although she had lost the competition, she was not angry or dejected because of it. On the contrary, a new, determined light flashed in her eyes, as if telling herself that this failure was only a temporary setback. As long as she persisted in working hard, one day she would be able to defeat her opponent.
She still used that cool and detached tone to say to Ethan, "You are very strong."
Ethan's lips curled up slightly, revealing a confident, if exhausted, smile. "I am indeed very strong."
Iris Thorne: ...
Comments
Ritesh Jadhav
No
Raphael Espinoza Angulo
Is there a photo of Iris?
