~San Fulgen Art Water Technique : Rain Swords~

  I conjured numerous water swords above me, and they surrounded me.

  After that, I immediately dashed toward Senior Darryl and attacked him with my sword. Senior Darryl used his greatsword to block my attack. Our weapons clashed.

  "How can you use that technique, Rid? Isn't that a royal family technique?" asked Senior Darryl, looking surprised.

  "Just pretend I learned it from Charles," I said.

  "There's no way Charles would teach his family technique to a stranger who isn't part of his family," said Senior Darryl.

  As our weapons clashed, the water swords surrounding me began to move one by one, attacking Senior Darryl. Senior Darryl stopped the exchange and retreated, destroying the water swords that were about to rain down on him with his greatsword. The swords were instantly destroyed by Senior Darryl's greatsword. But new water swords reappeared around me.

  I then returned to attacking Senior Darryl with close-range attacks using my sword. However, my sword attacks were always blocked by Senior Darryl. However, each time my sword attack was blocked, the water swords surrounding me automatically attacked Senior Darryl, making it difficult for him. Because the arena was now filled with knee-deep water, Senior Darryl had difficulty moving further to avoid my attacks. I continued this attack pattern until I finally managed to injure Senior Darryl with the water swords I created.

  "How can I be attacked so repeatedly by a junior? If it weren't for the water in this arena, I would have easily avoided these attacks," thought Senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl continued to endure my attacks. The wounds on his body slowly increased.

  "I can't keep going like this, I have to counterattack," thought Senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl suddenly switched his stance from defense to offense. He tried to attack me by surprise when I was about to attack him. It seemed Senior Darryl thought I would let my guard down by continuously attacking him.

  ~Ground Splitting Slash~

  Senior Darryl swung his greatsword straight at my body, but I quickly crouched down to avoid the slash.

  "I've been waiting for this moment for you to suddenly attack me, Senior," I said.

  "What?!?!," Senior Darryl said in surprise.

  I immediately stood up and launched a palm strike at Senior Darryl's stomach.

  ~Great Mana Strike~

  Senior Darryl was struck squarely. He vomited a fair amount of blood and was sent flying, crashing into the arena wall behind him.

  *BOOMMM*

  Smoke appeared where Senior Darryl had hit the wall. Shortly after, the smoke dissipated. Senior Darryl was seen sitting, leaning against the arena wall he had just struck. He was sitting with his head down, so it was unclear whether he was unconscious or not. Because Senior Darryl hadn't changed his position for quite some time, Mr. Elgin assumed he had fallen. Mr. Elgin immediately announced the results of the match.

  "The semifinal match of the mens academy tournament between Darryl Lachman and-" Mr. Elgin said.

  But before Mr. Elgin could continue, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "Wait a minute," said the voice, which turned out to be senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl slowly got back to his feet after being knocked down.

  "Who said this match was over?" asked senior Darryl.

  Even though his body was covered in wounds and blood was pouring from his mouth, senior Darryl still wanted to continue.

  "The match can end once I'm down and unconscious," said senior Darryl.

  Mr. Elgin was silent for a moment, then began speaking again.

  "Okay, please continue the match," said Mr. Elgin.

  I observed senior Darryl's condition. Besides his body being covered in wounds, he also looked a little exhausted.

  "I thought he would immediately collapse after I attacked him like that, but he managed to get back up. It seems he has excellent physical abilities," I thought.

  "Let's continue this match, Rid," said Senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl pointed his greatsword back at the arena floor. The tip of the greatsword hit the arena floor.

  ~Earth Magic : Dance of the Ground's Spikes~

  Suddenly, from beneath me, large spikes made of earth appeared again. I quickly dodged to safety. Even though the water inundated the arena up to my knees, I was still able to move quickly to safety. But the spikes continued to appear where I was standing.

  "This looks like the previous one. Then I have to attack Senior Darryl until the tip of his greatsword no longer touches the arena floor, so these spikes don't appear again. I'll shoot these water swords at Senior Darryl," I thought.

  I initially intended to do that, but I was surprised to see Senior Darryl in position to attack with his greatsword.

  "The greatsword isn't touching the arena floor anymore, but these spikes are still appearing. How is this possible?" I thought.

  I continued to dodge the spikes that appeared from where I was standing. As I was moving to avoid them, Senior Darryl immediately attacked me with his long-range slash.

  ~Ground Splitting Slash~

  The attack was quite fast, but I easily dodged it. But Senior Darryl continued to launch slashing attacks at me. This time, I had to dodge two of Senior Darryl's attacks, a slash from his greatsword and a spike attack that appeared where I was standing.

  "This is troublesome, but I can't keep doing this. I have to fight back," I thought.

  During the next spike attack, I dodged it by jumping and then landed back on the stagnant water surface.

  ~Water Walk~

  I stood on the stagnant water surface and began moving toward Senior Darryl. Senior Darryl seemed surprised to see me standing and running on the water surface.

  "How can he stand and run on water? Even so, the spikes will still appear even if you're not standing directly on the arena floor," Senior Darryl said.

  Senior Darryl was right. Even though I was running on the water surface and not directly on the arena floor, the spikes still appeared beneath me. But I still easily avoided them. Meanwhile, senior Darryl seemed to be preparing to launch another slash. I also prepared to counter it.

  ~Secret Sword Art: Elemental Flow~

  I ran while dragging my sword downward until it touched the water's surface.

  ~Ground Splitting Slash~

  Senior Darryl then launched his slash at me.

  ~Consecutive Water Great Slash~

  I dragged my sword until it touched the water's surface, then swung it upward, creating a large water slash. The water slash collided with senior Darryl's slash. The two attacks collided, exploding violently. Smoke enveloped the arena.

  Meanwhile, senior Darryl seemed to be preparing to launch another slash. But I quickly launched a water slash at him, just like I had done before. Because the arena was currently shrouded in smoke, senior Darryl didn't realize I had already launched an attack. The water slash suddenly appeared from behind the smoke, surprising senior Darryl.

  Senior Darryl immediately used his greatsword to block the water slash. My water slash was blocked, but I continued to launch water slashes at Senior Darryl in succession. Senior Darryl continued to defend with his greatsword, each successful slash sending him back several meters, and now he was only a few meters from the arena wall.

  I continued launching water slashes in succession, even though Senior Darryl managed to block them. Moments later, due to continuously blocking my water slashes with his greatsword, Senior Darryl's greatsword slowly began to crack until it finally shattered. Senior Darryl was shocked to see his greatsword shattered, but his shock was short-lived as he saw another water slash coming his way. With nothing left to block the slash, Senior Darryl was struck squarely by the water slash. Senior Darryl slammed into the arena wall with the water slash.

  But I didn't stop there. I continued launching my water slashes even though Senior Darryl had already hit the arena wall. I continued to launch the slashes at Senior Darryl, who was 'stuck' to the wall. After about 10 water slashes, I decided to stop. Senior Darryl, who was initially 'stuck' to the wall, slowly began to fall to the still-waterlogged arena floor. He lay there unconscious.

  Seeing this, Mr. Elgin immediately announced the results of the match.

  "The semifinal match of the mens academy tournament between Darryl Lachman and Rid Archie was won by Rid Archie," said Mr. Elgin.

  -To be continued