Chapter 1455 (1/2)

BOOOOOOM!

Wind and dust blasted outward as Kayle struck Huang Li. Releasing a deep sigh, Paolo pulled his envious gaze from the tumbling form of Huang Li and looked back at Huang Shou in front of him. “You know, you are more tenacious than I would have thought. But please give up. Your teammate is at the end of his rope and I don’t wish to win more slowly than Kayle.”

“And I don’t wish to lose to you,” The wrinkled old man said in response. But he didn’t glance upward and his hands were constantly moving. In the brief span of time that Paolo stopped to speak to him, he was rapidly creating a more sophisticated barrier to keep Paolo at bay for even a few seconds longer.

Paolo rolled his eyes; truly, this old man didn’t understand the concept of futility. And the combination of his strange mental cantrip Skills and the energy constructions he could rapidly make with a few nodes of energy made him an extremely tiresome foe to face. Yet truthfully, the difficulty only made Paolo’s enjoyment of the situation shoot upward.

Paolo clenched his fists and boldly stepped forward. The wind was so loud that he couldn’t hear the cheers of the crowd, but they still reached him through the fuzzy barrier of noise. The belief and spectacle of the performance inevitably drew their gaze. The absolute certainty that he was the center of their attention filled Paolo’s body with strength. He threw out his punch as the energy array closed in around him. At the last second, Paolo’s eyes gleamed.

Instead of clashing with him directly, the newest array the old man had summoned twisted around his arm like a living net that sought to engulf him in its strands. Yet as the energy net neared his skin, it slowed and began to wither. While in the arena, Paolo released rather constant waves of an extremely intense aura of indomitability. It was part of his image as a champion. A tiny net like this…

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

Paolo took great pleasure in shattering the net to pieces. His blow even cracked the reinforced marble beneath his feet and sent Huang Shou fleeing.

BOOOOM!

Paolo’s pleasure sky-rocketed as Kayle pursued Huang Li on the other side of the arena and created a smaller detonation than when Paolo had struck. The victory was a small one, but it made Paolo feel better. He practically floated forward, inwardly gloating about his superiority, despite the handicap of holding these useless metal sticks.

But at the same time… Paolo glanced sideways at Kayle and Li’s battle. His mood soured further. Huang Li’s image is sharpening so noticeably… and he’s starting to be able to trade blows evenly with Kayle… ugh, why am I stuck with this boring old man…

Paolo accelerated forward and Huang Shou knocked his cane against the ground. “Blind!”

After dealing with his antics for quite some time already, Paolo closed his eyes and planned to proceed forward while ignoring the few seconds where his eyesight would be taken from him. But he almost stumbled and fell as he did so; rather than stealing his sight, the man had yelled blind but in fact inflicted a tingling numbness across Paolo’s body.

Paolo opened his eyes and laughed, stomping his feet to dispel the strange tingling. His blood burned through his veins and quickly suppressed the effect. “Do you really think this will be enough?”

“Yes,” Huang Shou said simply as he knocked his cane against the ground again and began to create yet another energy net.

Still, Paolo’s patience was at an end. He pressed his foot into the ground and accelerated forward. He ripped directly through the howling wind and the half-constructed edifice of energy and arrived in front of Huang Shou. This time, when the old man rapidly slid sideways with his strange footwork, Paolo smashed the surrounding area with his image.

For a brief second, Paolo revealed the true, primal glory of his image. Conflict. Confrontation. Strife.

In that single moment that Paolo’s image was ascendant, Huang Shou was compelled to stand his ground and face Paolo. And to his credit, the old man immediately recognized the situation and adjusted his stance to strike back at Paolo.

Paolo’s grin widened. For that bravery, I’ll make this quick.

Paolo brought his right hand down in a hammering blow across his body to finish it quickly. But Huang Shou leaned to the left and accepted the long gash across his chest from the knife in order to avoid the explosive power of Paolo’s punch. In an even more delightful surprise, Huang Shou didn’t then retreat; the man twisted his cane and jabbed it forward in a counterattack.

With extremely sharp eyes, Paolo examined the on-coming cane attack. Gradually, his intensity eased and he ignored it to prepare for his next strike. So when the cane landed on his stomach and Huang Shou intoned, “Slow,” Paolo just exploded into motion and shattered the Skill before it could bind him.

Huang Shou recovered quickly and brought his cane up across his body to defend, but Paolo simply smashed that implement downward. Huang Shou took a half step back and frantically tried to firm the shaken grip of his left hand. Then he adjusted the positioning of the cane, but it wasn’t in time; again Paolo simply blew him backward with raw force.

Even through the wind, the sounds of the crowd's cheers reached Paolo and drove him onward. He raised his left arm in preparation for a wicked hook that would likely be his final punch. With this, he would-

“Cloud-Slaying Slash!”

“Sever.”