Chapter 1721: Duel [4]

Strangely enough, sparks flew.

They obviously weren't actual sparks. Neither water nor darkness in a situation like this could produce such an effect. The sparks that manifested were actually bits of mana that were produced by the collision of these two opposing concepts.

August's domain of pure blue water was only a few meters long. It was surrounded by Eris' darkness on all sides, and that darkness was constantly pushing against it as if to force it to turn into something it was not.

August gritted his teeth as he was forced to focus on maintaining what he had. If he let go of his focus for even a second, Eris would certainly take back everything he'd taken from her.

But, with the darkness in such close proximity, he was also presented with an opportunity.

All he needed to do was split his focus and divert a small part of his awareness towards the task of consuming darkness and turning it into pure water. It sounded easy, sure, but it was not anything close to simple.

Every drop of water was like a soldier. These soldiers were guarding the borders, making sure that the army of millions that sieged them could never break into their land. There were only a few thousand of them in this impossible defense mission. Even if they only sent a squad of five soldiers into enemy territory, they'd be losing a significant portion of their available forces.

They couldn't allow any weak points in their defense, no matter how minuscule. After all, the enemy was far larger than them. Such a small mistake would cost them everything.

What they needed now, logically, was external aid.

They needed troops to come from other nations and siege the back lines of the attacking army so they could gain a bit of time to make a proper move.

In a situation like this, perhaps it seemed like that was impossible, especially since August needed to pull those reinforcements in while commanding the troops in his base.

However, it was easier than expected...?

There was a lot of groundwater in this specific region of the world. The tournament administration didn't choose the area while knowing this, but it would have been the same no matter where the war took place.

Arulion was incredibly fertile. It hardly ever rained, but the climate and conditions still allowed for lush grasses to grow in almost every part of the kingdom.

For the third stage, the staff needed to find a plot of land large enough and separated enough from civilization to conduct a prolonged trial.

Any place that met those qualifications would have been closest to farmland. In other words, the subterranean world in these regions was filled with flowing and still water of every variety, both near and far away from the surface.

To create the lake as fast as possible, August summoned everything that could immediately answer his call.

But, there was still plenty of water below the surface that had been making its way closer and closer despite his call taking place many minutes ago.

When August sensed the presence of that liquid, coming from the deep underground cave systems that remained unexplored to this day, he couldn't help but grin.

'Perfect.'

BOOOOM!

It burst through the ground at the bottom of the lake and spewed into the darkness-controlled territory.

Immediately, August gained a maneuverability that was impossible in the previous stalemate. He controlled the spewing water to force Eris into corralling it, while simultaneously pushing outward with his original territory and consuming all of the nearby darkness.

For the next few minutes, the roles reversed and August was placed on the offensive. He aggressively drew the water out of her darkness, weakening her and expanding his domain until the lake was practically split into two halves for the two geniuses to control.

In the process, Eris' darkness became purer, resembling water despite being nothing like it.

The two seas crashed into each other. With each wave that splattered back into the surrounding liquid, their territories shrunk and enlarged as they constantly stole from each other.

Eris and August both had their teeth gritted and their eyes shut tight. In their minds, they had truly become those waves.

Each time they clashed, each time they hissed and exploded as they contrasted, the two young geniuses attacked each other.

In a sense, it was now a matter of mental strength. Who would be eroded first? Who would fall to the mental shocks they experienced when they collided?

August was just barely above her in physical strength, but her refined techniques made it relatively difficult for him to gain the upper hand.

His mana control might have seemed to be better at the start since he was the one to injure her before she could make an impact on him, but that assumption was disproved when their domain battle started.

Now that they'd reached this stage, it was clear that they were equal in controlling mana. No, considering that Eris forced August into this evenly matched situation from nothing, she was better.

Originally, this was his domain, after all. He was forced to destroy her power source when he was placed in the same situation, and he couldn't say that he'd be able to do something like this, taking control of her mana and turning it against her.

This duel went through many changes as it progressed. Through them, the two geniuses learned that their strengths and weaknesses were in different places, but their strength was roughly the same.

The battle of minds taking place now was the last thing.

As they were not Demigods with access to their souls yet, their minds, their bodies, and their mana were the three categories they could compete in.

The war imagery shifted. In the minds of the two, they had entered their true dragon forms. They imagined their opponent sending waves of conceptual law at them. They imagined the laws they would use to fight back, and when they lost, they reeled back as dull and sharp pain both struck their minds together.

Minutes passed and passed and passed. Eventually, their stalemate continued for over half an hour.

The waves had been getting larger with every clash. The huge pitch-black and ocean-blue waves were thousands of meters high now.

Both geniuses were sweating fiercely. Their eyes wriggled as they endured the monumental pain they experienced for the sake of victory.

August and Eris had done as much as they could in their minds. They were nearing a point when they'd be forced to take this clash to the extreme, to enter their true draconic forms.

Well, that was the thought in Eris' mind, but August was hoping to do anything he could to make sure that didn't happen. He hadn't yet figured out a way to hide his Azure Dragon appearance, after all.

If he had the power to do so, he would keep that reveal hidden until the last possible moment.

There was only one problem.

August did not have that kind of power.

VOOOOOOOOM!

It was like time slowed down.

No, time truly did slow to a crawl. A strange wave of energy, completely independent of the heir wars and even Arulion as a whole spread through the hidden world.

Rather, that wave of energy spread through the entirety of the Heavenly World.

Everything it touched was disrupted, and as if it was an effect of the wave, all mana was dispersed.

The mana being used by anyone and everything.

Including mana-based trait that beasts used to transform their bodies.

August felt something push through his every molecule. It was a visceral and indescribable feeling, and it only gave him time to understand what happened after it had already passed.

'Ah...' he thought, a wry smile on his face.

For the first time ever, he felt the desire to curse.

As his body transformed and enlarged, a change he could not control.

'...I'm fucked.'

August uttered his first curse word in this life.

From any point of view, it was more than understandable.

After all, he said it better than anyone else could.

With this sudden and mysterious change destroying any effort that was made to keep his identity hidden...

...he was, by all intents and purposes, fucked.