Spirit's Awakening: The Path of Lightning and Water-Chapter 347: The [Void Storm]’s First Showing

The arena pulsed with tension as Lassim and Joryk stood across from one another, the storm above churning with an almost malevolent energy. The rain hammered down in relentless torrents, turning the smooth arena floor into a glistening, treacherous surface. Lightning flashed, illuminating the combatants’ forms.

Joryk’s towering, armored figure stood resolute with his nine-layered cultivation halo glowing above his head. The liquid metal mana of his [Fortress] shimmered and rippled like quicksilver, ready to solidify into a shell at Lassim’s first move. His arms were crossed as he gazed at Lassim with irritation.

Lassim, in contrast, exuded a calm intensity. The storm seemed to emanate from him, his fused mana swirling around him in chaotic eddies of lightning, water, and spatial distortion. His halberd rested lightly in his hands, and above him, the constellation of the Leviathan loomed, the mythical beast’s crimson-tinged eyes glowing.

The silence stretched after Lassim’s declaration, broken only by the rumble of thunder and the roar of the storm’s rain.

Then, with a faint smile, Lassim stepped forward.

In a flash, Lassim activated [Storm’s Dance], disappearing from his spot with a crack of thunder and reappearing within striking distance facing the front of Joryk. His halberd came down in a sweeping arc, the blade glowing with spiraling fused mana. He didn’t release a full [Storm Slash], but just a casual swing of his halberd.

Joryk raised his arms to block, his [Fortress] hardening to matte silver that turned him to a statue as the blow connected.

The impact sent a shockwave rippling across the arena, the protective barriers shimmering as they absorbed the force. Joryk staggered back slightly, his feet grinding against the slick floor.

"That all you’ve got?" Joryk taunted, though his smirk was tighter now.

Gasps from the crowd resounded and all of the individuals in the Noble’s boxes suddenly sat straight and moved to the edges of their seats.

Some random cultivator at the Spirit Ascension stage actually forced Joryk to be physically moved from the center of the arena.

Lassim didn’t reply.

Instead, he calmly pivoted, his movements fluid as he followed up with a series of rapid [Thrusts].

Though, his ideation of embodying the concept of the [Void Storm] had already subconsciously began to affect his simple move that hadn’t been modified yet. The tip of the halberd glowed as his fused mana now spiraled—lightning, water, and space combined— and converged into a focused point.

Then, like the release of a tidal wave in beam form, the attack cut through the air and carried with it a swarm of lightning fish sprites, their glowing forms shimmering and darting toward Joryk with unerring precision.

Joryk raised his arms to block once more, keeping his façade of strength while his [Fortress] rippled as the lightning fish collided with its surface.

But this time, something was different.

The spatial element’s aspect within Lassim’s attack didn’t just collide with the metal mana armor Joryk covered himself with—it tore and cut.

Tiny rifts appeared across Joryk’s metallic armor as the halberd’s attack pierced through the layers of his defense. Each caused a tiny spatial tear that was accompanied by a sharp, ripping sound, as though the woven threads of reality itself were being severed. The gross and unnatural sound of flesh splitting open rang out above the sound of the pouring rain.

"What—?!" Joryk’s smirk faltered as he felt the first strike to have ever bypassed his defenses, leaving several shallow but unmistakable cuts across his arms. Blood began to drip excessively from them, staining the silver metallic mana with crimson red.

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Lassim didn’t give him time to recover or to adjust. He stepped to the side, his movement seamless as he activated [Storm’s Dance] and disappeared with a blip once more. The crowd unable to follow the speed of his movement, which was reasonable since there was no true movement, just the condensing of space to appear where he wanted with his next step and an impossible feat for ordinary eyes to follow.

In a blur of motion, he appeared at the side of Joryk in melee—still with the intention of giving him some time to react and see the attacks incoming—and launched another [Thrust], this time intent on aiming for Joryk’s midsection.

The halberd’s actual spiked tip struck true at close range, the spatial energy following his [Thurst] carved through the metallic armor as though it were paper. A jagged gash opened across Joryk’s torso, sparks flying as the armor tried to mend itself and cover the now gaping wound in his side.

"Oh man, looks like you’ve got holes in your fortress!" Lassim said with a false shocked tone to his voice. "Are you sure you have your [Fortress] active right now? Do you need me to give you a minute?"

Joryk roared in frustration, slamming his greaves into the ground. Metallic spikes erupted from his entire body like a series of pin missiles leaving every inch of his body in a desperate attempt to impale Lassim and get him to back away.

Lassim countered by taking a single [Storm’s Dance] step backwards and then forwards to reappear on the other side of the wall of spikes that were launched at him. He replied mysteriously, "Well, I guess you should survive half power?"

Joryk looked at Lassim with bewilderment and confusion as he couldn’t even process how Lassim had even dodged his attack, let alone the words he’d just uttered.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have to wait long to understand what he meant.

Lassim unleashed his latest developed and first technique as part of his [Void Storm] style—[Storm Slash]

The halberd reared back and then swung in a wide arc. From its rune covered blade, a spiraling storm of fused mana was unleashed.

The weight of the pure power condensed into the attack and the spatial element’s aspect contained within distorted the air, consuming the rain in the air and its pull so great that it was almost summoning the storm to descend from the skies and join the attack. The lightning fish sprites followed the spiraling storm with playful joy, their glowing forms darting toward Joryk within the swirling tempest.

Joryk could only do what he’d always done against strong attacks—brace himself. His [Fortress] flaring into nearly 3 layers across his entire form as he attempted to deflect and absorb the incoming attack.

But, once more, the spatial element’s influence in the attack once again bypassed his defenses. The spiraling storm tore into his multiple layers of armor, leaving jagged cuts and fractures across its surface.

The audience gasped as they saw Joryk stagger backward, blood trickling from the wounds and exposed meat tissue and bones that appeared for all to see after the damage that Lassim’s attacks had inflicted.

"This… This isn’t possible!" Joryk growled with desperation and anger.

"Impossible? No, you’ve just messed with contracts. This is how the Lightning Sect handles our opponents. Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon," Lassim pressed forward as he activated [Storm’s Dance] again, taking another casual series of steps. His form flickering around the arena to confuse the audience and Joryk before he teleported to Joryk’s front to demoralize him once more. "Have a taste of my [Slam]!"

The halberd rose high into the sky with Lassim’s lifting, and then, like the anger of a demi-god, descended like a hammer towards Joryk’s head.

A school of lightning fish blipped into existence above the tip and then condensed into a massive lightning fish that followed the descending halberd and surged forward. Its jagged teeth glowing with a radiant iridescence as the condensation of water that weighed down the attack and surrounded the fish was like a tornado touching down from the storm in the sky.

The creature slammed into Joryk, consuming him whole and head first. The spatial tears it left behind with his teeth caused even more chunks of his hastily reapplied [Fortress] armor to disintegrate.

Joryk was beginning to lose consciousness from the sheer pain he was experiencing all of a sudden. There was nothing more that he hated in this world except for pain. The last time he was injured was the days he was bullied as a young Spirit Incubation stage spirit warrior after he’d first attended his Sirestal Kingdom’s academy. This was long before he’d come into his own with his metal element, but those days were the inspiration for his [Fortress].

This pain he was currently experiencing was something that made his mind go blank with rage as if the memories of that torture in his youth came flashing back in his mind.

He saw only red, possibly just from the blood from the cuts on his head now dripping and filling his eyes, but regardless, he roared, "AAAAAARRRRHHGGG!!!" He then tried to counter with another wave of spikes, but Lassim was already moving.

He vanished and reappeared behind Joryk this time, his halberd already in motion with another 1/3rd powered [Storm Slash]!

The spiraling storm of fused mana struck Joryk’s back, carving through his armor and leaving a deep, bleeding gash. Joryk staggered forward, his breathing labored as he struggled to even keep and maintain the metal mana fueling his [Fortress]. It barely covered 40% of his body and was incredibly thin.

"You’ve been relying on your defense for too long," Lassim said. "I guess it’s easy to pick on people weaker than you, but it’s made you forget how to fight without it. You don’t even have a way to fight against someone that can cut through your [Fortress]. Imagine the Dragal showed up, and here you’d be equally as useless; how sad."

Desperation, sadness, and shame all bubbled up across Joryk’s face. He once more had his eyes flick towards the "senior brother" of his in the Noble’s stands before he refocused and summoned the last of his strength. His nine-layered halo flared brightly, the metallic mana surging outward in a final attempt to rebuild his [Fortress] and launch another series of spikes.

But Lassim wasn’t about to let him recover. He raised his halberd high, the storm in the skies suddenly lowered rapidly, swirling in a downward descent around him and converging at its tip. "Alright, I’m done and I hope you learn something from all this."