I Arrived At Wizard World While Cultivating Immortality Chapter 865: Cycle

On the other side.

As Azrael began announcing the specific rules, higher up in the garden, Wizard Morin raised a wine cup.

His gaze swept across Clark, Azrael, and those young wizards, and a trace of a smile surfaced at the corner of his mouth:

“Since neither side has any objection. Then… let the first bout begin.”

The words fell.

The space at the center of the garden abruptly rippled open, and an enormous dueling arena rose slowly out of the void.

Rune after rune lit up, and a powerful spatial lockdown covered the whole of the dueling arena in an instant.

And the wizards who until then had still been conversing in low voices all fell silent in that same moment.

Every gaze turned upon the dueling arena at once.

Noren Workshop had brought only five people this time, and two of those were eighth-level wizards.

Eighth-level wizards stood upon their dignity; naturally they could not take the field in person for a contest among juniors.

That left only Clark, Jie Ming, and Viola able to fight, which happened to make up exactly the roster for three bouts.

Azrael's side had plainly prepared for this well in advance. “Jessie, you take the first bout.”

As his voice fell, two wizards stepped out of the crowd behind him.

The one in front was tall and lean, his face indifferent, wearing a long robe of a grey so dark it was nearly black, and about him hung an aura of withering visible to the naked eye.

Wherever he passed, the grass beneath his feet swiftly lost its vitality, the blades curling up into a withered swathe of grey-white.

Jessie bowed respectfully to Azrael. “Yes, Mentor.”

Seeing it, Kastilla narrowed her eyes and offered an offhand introduction to Jie Ming and Viola beside her. “This little fellow is called Jessie. Sixth-level wizard, and Azrael's chief disciple.”

Viola tilted her head, her long silver-grey hair swaying gently in the wind. “Ha! Chief disciple, is it? Then Mentor Clark's chief disciple had certainly better be the one to meet him!”

With that, without even waiting for Jessie to say anything, she sprang up and landed lightly on the dueling platform at the center of the garden.

Kastilla spoke up beside them at just the right moment, her voice low, yet pitched exactly so that both Jie Ming and Viola up on the platform could hear it clearly:

“What Azrael's line excels at is all knowledge of the death system. Jessie majors in the Law of Withering, and his single-target combat ability is extremely strong.” [Translator's Note: Yes, like the Minecraft boss 'Wither', and its potion effect]

The corners of her lips lifted faintly. “Little Viola, do not take him too lightly. It would be quite entertaining if you were to come to grief.”

Viola blinked, and waved a hand without turning her head:

“I know, I know, Teacher. Set your mind at ease. This is my very favorite sort of law.”

Jie Ming, standing to one side, could not help the twitch at the corner of his mouth on hearing what Jessie's law was.

He had already begun holding a silent moment of mourning for Jessie.

“Yo.”

Viola looked the other party over, her tone casual.

“Come on. Let us finish early, I still want to get something to eat.”

Jessie did not so much as lift an eyelid. “As you wish!”

And with that he drifted up onto the dueling platform as well.

The space between the two of them fell silent in an instant.

The duel began.

Boom!

A grey-white Law Solidification Domain burst out from Jessie all at once, shrouding the whole of the dueling platform in that same instant.

Grey-white veins surfaced one after another out of the void, like countless silken threads whose ends could not be seen, and wound swiftly toward Viola.

Viola's figure flickered as she tried to evade them.

But these threads, carrying the power of withering, seemed to possess wills of their own, and in a single instant they had surrounded her completely.

Hiss!

A grey-white mark appeared on Viola's shoulder in an instant.

Her robe lost its color at once, the fabric splitting dry, and her skin swiftly turned pale.

Viola did not so much as knit her brows. A grey-white Law Solidification Domain of her own spread open from her as well, and pushed back against the Law Solidification Domain of Jessie.

Hum!!!

The Law of Withering and the Law of Pain collided head-on upon the dueling platform.

Two powers alike in outward form yet utterly different within erupted at the same moment, and the power spilling loose set the protective runes around the platform trembling without pause.

No small number of the sixth-level wizards below the platform knit their brows at once. They could feel it clearly: the strength of both these two was strong to the point of absurdity.

They were sixth-level wizards themselves, and yet had they been the ones up there, they likely could not have survived even a single exchange.

Feeling the pressure coming from the other side, Jessie did not hesitate in the slightest. He took a step forward, and the withering domain erupted in an instant.

“Wither.”

He breathed the word out softly.

Hum!!!

The life force throughout Viola's body abruptly began to drain away.

She raised a hand, and a grey-white curtain of light congealed out of a Law Solidification Domain barred the way before her. Yet the curtain held for no more than a few breaths before the power of withering ate it away bit by bit.

Boom!

Viola was blasted away bodily, twisting over to land on the ground.

“Pfft…”

A mouthful of blood sprayed out, the scarlet of it scattering across the dueling platform.

The expressions of no few sixth-level wizards around them shifted slightly.

“So fast?”

“Her defense has been broken through already?”

“The Law of Withering truly is terrifying…”

Jie Ming, however, merely watched in silence, and even… very nearly laughed out loud.

Viola wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and then she smiled. “Do go on.”

Jessie knit his brows faintly and said nothing, but in the next second a still more terrifying power of withering erupted thunderously from behind him.

Boom!

This time a great swathe of grey-white power ran straight through Viola's body.

Her left arm, her shoulder, her waist and belly, even half her face, all began to show unmistakable marks of deterioration.

The skin cracked dry, the flesh and blood lost their luster, and her life fluctuation dropped rapidly.

Looking at the wretched sight Viola made, Jessie's gaze was ice-cold. “How much longer can you hold out?”

“Take a guess.” Viola lifted her head, smiling more happily than before. “Try again.”

At last a trace of fluctuation showed in Jessie's eyes.

The next moment, he struck again.

The power of withering grew stronger and stronger. Every hit shattered her Law Solidification Domain and left a still more conspicuous wound upon Viola's body.

Her body seemed to be rotting away at speed, the whole of it corrupted past bearing, until she looked already like a dying woman who might collapse at any moment.

And yet… she simply would not fall.

The two of them fought for a long time, long enough that some of the sixth-level wizards around them began to frown.

Viola remained the whole while in a state of being half dead, and yet, for all that, she simply would not die.

Every one of Jessie's attacks landed on her, and with each of them her aura weakened by another degree.

But whenever everyone thought she was on the point of giving out, she would stand up once more, that infuriating smile hanging upon her face.

Jessie's offensive began to grow impatient.

His breathing began to grow heavy, and fine beads of sweat seeped out upon his forehead.

All at once he realized something. His expression changed abruptly and he pointed at Viola, shouting in fury. “You are toying with me!”

Viola stood up, blood hanging at the corner of her mouth, her aura feeble, and yet her smile was more brilliant than ever.

“Go on. Do not stop.”

Jessie's breathing grew heavier, and the fingers gripping his staff tightened by degrees. “Just what in the world are you…”

Viola put out a hand and lightly wiped the blood from her face. Deep in her eyes a layer of grey-white radiance had already kindled, enough to set the heart pounding.

Raising the arm that the power of withering had eaten into pits and hollows, Viola worked her wrist a little, and the smile at the corner of her mouth deepened another few degrees.

She spoke unhurriedly, a note of amusement in her voice. “Toying with you? No, no, no, you have misunderstood. What I am doing is…”

Viola stretched her body out, and the injuries upon her healed rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the Law Solidification Domain that had been held down until then abruptly expanded.

“Warming up!”

Watching the power that routed his own Law Solidification Domain in a single instant, Jessie's pupils contracted sharply.

Down below the platform, Jie Ming very nearly laughed aloud at the sight.

From the moment he learned which law Jessie excelled at, Jie Ming had known this one was in the bag.

The core property of the Law of Withering was to deepen its damage according to the degree to which the target was already harmed.

The more grievously the other party was wounded, the stronger the effect of the power of withering became.

And Viola's Law of Pain… had already reached the level at which it could convert the pain she endured into power.

Every time Jessie struck her, far from truly weakening her, he was in effect pouring fuel into her body.

The two of them were up there on the dueling platform treading on their own right foot with their left, Viola and Jessie amplifying one another.

What it came down to in the end was whose ceiling of comprehension of their law stood higher.

“This…” One sixth-level wizard was struck dumb by what he was seeing.

“Why is she not dead yet?”

A seventh-level wizard beside him frowned. “It should not be possible. Her life fluctuation had plainly already fallen to that degree earlier.”

“That surge of power just now was far too outrageous… Is this one really not cheating?”

The sixth- and seventh-level wizards at the edge of the field were struck dumb, every last one of them.

They could not make out at all how Viola had survived injuries of that kind, still less understand how she could grow stronger the longer she fought.

On the other side, however, several eighth-level wizards remained calm of expression, and some of them were even drinking wine and conversing in low voices at the same time.

“Ah, the Law of Pain.”

“To think that someone could truly master an emotion law of that kind. How long has it been since last I saw one.”

“Small wonder.”

“That little fellow Jessie has already lost.”

The judgment passed among the eighth-level wizards was plainly more direct than anyone else's, because they had already seen through to the true core of this fight.

The outcome of this battle no longer had anything to do with either side's power or defense. It came down to who would first touch the limit of their own comprehension of their law.

And plainly, Jessie's insight into his law fell short of Viola's by more than a single measure.

Only when Viola stopped pretending did Jessie discover that he had long since missed every chance he had of ending the match.

“It is time this ended.” Viola spoke suddenly, as though she were merely stating a fact.

Jessie ground his teeth. “You think…”

“I said.” Viola cut him off. “It is time this ended.”

Boom!

The Law Solidification Domain upon her erupted all at once. The power that had been held down all this while gushed forth in that moment like a volcano, and the grey-white domain expanded once again.

Her aura, already raised as it was, surged violently once more in the perception of everyone present.

Jessie's expression changed abruptly. “How is this possible…”

“It is over.”

Viola's figure abruptly vanished.

In the next instant she had appeared before Jessie.

Jessie desperately drove his Law Solidification Domain, and grey-white power congealed madly into a barrier.

But this time Viola did not retreat again. She bore straight into the power of withering and forced her way in.

And then… one clean, decisive turn, and a long leg carved a fierce arc through the air.

Bang!!

The kick landed squarely and solidly upon Jessie's chest, and terrifying power detonated in an instant.

Jessie was sent flying backward bodily like a cannonball.

Boom!!!

He smashed straight through the protective layer at the outer edge of the dueling arena and slammed brutally into the far side of the garden, the ground blasting open into an enormous deep crater on the instant.

Jessie struggled a little at the bottom of the crater, trying to get up.

But in the end, he did not rise.

Within the dueling arena.

Viola slowly drew her leg back, glanced down at her ragged and tattered robe, then raised a hand and patted at her sleeve.

Then she lifted her head and gave Azrael a smile so sweet it was rather excessive.

“It would seem the first bout goes to me.”