Spirit's Awakening: The Path of Lightning and Water-Chapter 394: The Last Two Standing

The coliseum was no longer a mere testing ground for the sect’s brightest minds and future potential leaders of the Array Division of the sect—it had become a crucible for which each disciple was being pushed to their limits to keep up under the growing pressure that was presenting itself. It was showing them their flaws in the safest manner, where normally the disciples would realize them in life or death situations against the Abyss—something that would typically cost most of them their lives under the endless legion.

The moment the constructs reset to a single +3 level attacker, the battlefield thinned immediately. The previous wave had left many competitors exhausted, their reserves dangerously low, or their arrays in battered states. And now, with a single opponent two levels stronger than before, the shift in power was devastating.

The first five-strike sequence landed, and barriers that had held firm for the past several waves collapsed in an instant. The mass eliminations began.

One competitor near the eastern side, a Spirit Transformation stage, level 8 disciple, had barely managed to recover from the previous assault. His technique relied on a series of fence-like, reinforcement nodes, held together by unique inscribed flags. This was allowing him to shift mana absorption points throughout his formation by adjusting the control flag in the center of the formation, but against a construct two full levels stronger, the force was too much for him to compensate for.

The first strike buckled his formation.

The second caused mana distortion, forcing his barriers to overload and give an odd resonance between the flags.

The third broke his defensive grid completely with the poles that held the flags splintering in newly created seams.

The fourth and fifth landed directly against his barrier in rapid succession, and with a sharp burst of energy, his defenses collapsed inward, shattering his structure and causing nearly every single flag along the hexagonal borders to explode simultaneously. .

His platform’s protective ward flared violently, luckily halting the attacks from reaching him, and his attempt at obtaining the trial token was over.

Ilyara let out an exaggerated sigh, "And just like that, we’re down another one! Oh, my dear strategist, you almost had it. But let’s be real—you were threading way too thin of a line, and once these lovely constructs started flexing their real strength, you had nowhere left to run."

As if by some sort of divine plan or just the fact that this was an incredibly common point of failure against opponents with overwhelming power, the next 15 eliminations followed and occurred seconds later at the exact same time.

The disciples who had tried to force-feed extra mana into their collapsing formations, only realized too late that their control couldn’t keep up with the power increase required. Their barriers and arrays and defenses of all kinds overloaded instead of reinforcing, destabilizing the arrays that they carefully planned for months or years leading up to the Elder Summit, destroying them from the inside out. The effect was instant—their defenses crumbled like wet paper under the next construct’s final fifth attacks, leaving them exposed and utterly defenseless.

Ilyara chuckled, adjusting the projection screen to split and zoom in on the aftermaths of every stage, splitting the views into tiny squares. "Oh, now this was a classic! Overconfidence mixed with desperation—what a fantastic cocktail for elimination! Seriously, why is it that when things go wrong, people always assume they can just shove more mana into it and hope for the best? That’s not how arrays work! That’s how you set yourself up for catastrophic failure, my friends."

The audience laughed, though some winced at the sudden mass eliminations. With only forty competitors left, the energy and excitement amongst the crowd of the coliseum began to rise.

The next wave stepped forward, the battlefield now splitting into those who could endure and those who were about to fail spectacularly.

The two-construct attack sequence launched immediately, and the moment the first synchronized strikes landed, even more barriers shattered across the battlefield.

Competitors who had adjusted to a single opponent at +3 were now completely overwhelmed by two.

It was difficult to keep track of all of the different disciples failing at the same points in quick succession of each other. Instead of having his focus jump around, Lassim focused on one particular disciple—a Spirit Ascension stage, level 6 elite.

Tessa shared with him that he was a well known favorite, considered to be one of the potential best to go all the way by the rest of the competitors for his innovative approach and theories in creating the most rigidly locked defensive inscriptions. He had lasted impressively well up to this point, but his downfall was set the moment the second construct joined the fray. His methodical approach to the way he built the arrays from the ground up to be sturdy, according to his beliefs, couldn’t keep up with the unrelenting pace of back-to-back attacks.

On the third synchro-strike, disaster struck him as well. His array pathways cracked and turned misaligned, his array fractured under the instability and his barrier collapsed entirely, forcing his platform’s protective ward to activate in a burst of energy.

Ilyara smirked as the disciple lowered his head in frustration, stepping off the platform. "A valiant effort! But sadly, our dear defensively creative genius has just learned the hard way that barriers built for stability are terrible at adapting to sudden power shifts! A lovely demonstration, really. I’m sure your master is watching with a mix of pride and disappointment. Though, keep your chin up. I’d like to see what new heights you’ll reach after this."

With only twenty competitors remaining, the tension was palpable. The three-construct sequence began, and by now, the test had become less about skill and more about survival. The sheer power density of three synchronized +3 level attackers appeared to not only be enough to push even the strongest disciples to their absolute limit, but to also put their lives in serious danger despite the protective wards.

Three disciples of the last round ended up having some gruesome bones shatter after they received the nearly full strength attacks of the constructs to their bodies. One disciple’s forearms were crossed against their chest in a defensive pose, but that just cause both forearms to now be broken, bone shards peaking out of the skin as they dangled at the disciple’s sides. A healer and their Master rushed to their side. The nature elemental healer that was hired by the sect, the same one Lassim met nearly three years ago when he first arrived at the sect, worked to quickly put the bones back inside and heal the injury while at the same time their master was pouring healing potion after healing potion down their disciple’s throat.

One-by-one, the numbers dwindled further.

Ilyara let out a low, impressed whistle. "This is where we separate the fools from the fighters! Only the real contenders for the Trial Token in our first competition are still standing, and let me tell you, folks—things are getting deliciously tense!"

Fifteen competitors remained. With the rate that the competitors were falling, the final steps of the challenge appeared to be in sight.

Four constructs now encircled the remaining hexagon platforms, and the moment the synchronized five-strike sequence launched, the coliseum erupted in shouts and cheers.

For a moment, it seemed as though no one would survive this round.

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Barrier after barrier collapsed, until—

Thirteen competitors fell in rapid succession.

Ilyara laughed, throwing up her hands. "Oh, come on! We had such a good fight going! Did I really jinx it? I expected more and said that for just a tad more drama! I expected endurance from you last few! I expected… oh, wait—never mind. We still have two left!!!"

The entire coliseum went silent.

Two competitors remained standing.

Both competitors seemed to hold up surprisingly well under the +3, four construct attackers. With all of the other competitors now removed and out of the way, it was much easier for the coliseum, and judges as a whole, to realize these two individuals were a bit spectacular in the manner than their self created arrays were holding up so well.

Then the fifth +3 constructs came, attacked and they survived. The reset happened at +4… again at +5 and by the time all five +5 constructs completed their barrage on the barriers, the two contestants were still standing firm within their hexagon platforms.

The coliseum shook violently from the crowd roaring at the success they were showing as the constructs took a step back. They rest to now being +6 levels higher than the individuals behind the hastily created array barriers. The single construct stepped forward…then the second… then the third… and now, elevated to four attackers for each, all striking at +6 levels above the competitors…. This was no longer just a test—it was a war to see who was going to set the new all time record.