System vs Rebirth

"Awaken! Ice Transformation (Lightning Possession)!"

A pair of ice wings appeared on Noel's back and an ice crown hovered above Noel's head. Anna had her eyes and hair turn white as the lightning covered her entire body. 

Evan couldn't help but smile in excitement. This was what he had been waiting for. Their strength was amplified and it was clear that there was no side effect from using it.

And as he expected, since both of them were working together, Noel also had the same ability.

"There is no holding back," Noel said while stabbing the ground with his sword.

Ice crystals began to emerge from the ground. They continued expanding as more and more appeared, moving to the duke's location. 

"Of course." Evan smiled while lowering his sword. His expression turned solemn as though he were treating Noel as his equal in this fight. 

The moment the ice crystal was about to reach him, Evan took a step forward, striking the ice crystal. The swing sliced the ice crystal like paper and that slash actually released a horizontal strike that flew toward Noel.

"Huh?" Noel was surprised because the sword energy was avoiding all the ice crystals on its path and ultimately hitting him. Noel had no choice but to deflect that energy with his sword.

However, Evan wasn't done yet. He actually moved forward and slashed more and more ice crystals. Every single slash launched the same sword energy. 

Noel had to block all these sword strikes because, when he tried to avoid them, the sword energy curved once more and chased after him.

And the more sword strikes that landed on him, the closer the duke became.

In just three seconds, the duke had actually gone halfway and Noel couldn't actually escape from his position.

Noticing that he was in trouble, Anna appeared from the side and struck him, only to find it meeting the duke's sword. He had been waiting for Anna because the energy in his sword turned violent the moment the two swords clashed.

Anna wasn't losing either. Her lightning energy clashed with the duke's violent, sharp energy.

The moment it reached the duke, it electrocuted the duke's hand to make it numb and weaken his grip. At the same time, the momentum Anna carried earlier pushed Evan three meters away.

The duke looked at his hand as lightning sparked multiple times, creating some small wounds. 

However, Anna wasn't in good shape either. The violent energy reached her hand, shredded apart her sleeve, and left some wounds. 

Now that some wounds had begun to appear, the fight had gotten serious. 

Still, Anna's attack gave Noel time to recover. He hurriedly rushed to the duke and struck him from above.

Bam!

The duke stopped it with his blade, but the force Noel used actually pinned the duke to the ground and even turned the soil underneath it into a crater. 

When the duke was about to release his energy, the temperature dropped even further.

"Frozen Domain!"

Noel activated the new ability he got from the Ice Transformation. 

"Hmm?!" Evan noticed that the temperature was so low that he thought he was in the middle of a snowstorm. He had to use a bit of his Spiritual Energy to create a mantle to keep him warm. But the most shocking thing was the fact that Noel could manipulate the entire area. "A domain ability?!"

Noel answered him with his action. Because the temperature was low, Noel just had to pour a bit more Spiritual Energy to activate the Spiritual Cold Control in order to form ice crystals next to him. 

"Bloom!"

The moment Noel said those words, the ice crystals expanded.

Evan had no choice but to grab his scabbard and swing it toward Noel.

"!!!" Noel was startled for a second, but he remembered that the duke used everything as his sword. So, it was normal for the duke to use the scabbard as an additional sword. 

Unfortunately for Noel, he still had to spin his body and strike this scabbard to avoid getting injured. 

But the scabbard didn't actually aim at him. Instead, the duke used it so that he could create a gale that spun around him like a tornado, shattering the ice crystals. 

Noel was simply engulfed by it for a second and landed several meters away with some injuries. 

"I have to do something with that sharp energy." Noel muttered but soon smiled as he prepared another trick for that last attack.

It was the duke's turn to be shocked because his hands felt ice cold. When he lowered his gaze, there was actually frostbite on his right hand. It seemed that Noel had sent his energy to him at the last moment to freeze this hand.

'Both of them are impressive. Anna Stargaze reacts and moves one step faster, but Noel Ardagan has more brute force than her. If they can grow further, no one in the kingdom will be able to shake the Ardagan Family.' Evan thought. 

On the one hand, if he killed them right away, there wouldn't be any threat anymore and it also fulfilled the royal family's wish. On the other hand, he didn't want to do it because they were the future and Noel didn't seem to be a person who would kill for petty things. 

In the end, Evan chose the latter. He muttered, 'In that case, let me give you a present for the future of this kingdom.'

Anna approached him fast. She had even sheathed her sword, concentrating her energy.

Evan also sheathed his sword as if planning to do the same thing. 

When Anna was about to reach him, Evan said, "That technique is good, but you are still too slow!" 

Anna frowned but still completed her ability. "Raging Lightning Descend."

"Sword Draw." 

Both of them pulled out their swords at the same time and struck each other.

Boom!

The clash of energy shook the entire field. The people on top of the wall could even feel the vibration.

It ended in just a second, but when the dust settled down, they could see that there was shattered ground behind the duke. But on the other side, there were multiple deep sword marks left on the soil. 

Anna suddenly coughed up blood and fell on her knee. Multiple sword wounds suddenly appeared all over her body, and the worst one was on her right thigh and the right waist. 

Anna couldn't help but recount what happened earlier. When they drew their blade, their speed was the same. But the energy flowing out of their sword was different. 

Anna was actually one step too late. As a result, the energy coming from the duke's blade was able to disperse her energy before it was unleashed completely. And the residual energy reached her body. 

The wound on her waist was a bit deep and would bleed a lot, but it didn't strike her vitals. On the other hand, the one on her thigh was actually troublesome because it actually cut her muscle. In other words, she wouldn't be able to use her right leg anymore in this battle.

"Your sword emphasizes speed and your lightning provides the penetration force. You have controlled the lightning well, but your speed can't keep up." Evan gave a piece of advice to Anna before turning to Noel, who rushed to him as soon as he saw Anna was heavily injured. 

Evan didn't do anything special this time. He just swung his sword to match Noel's movement, but he noticed that Noel's strength had grown again.

Noel had used the Cold Empowerment that boosted his ability in the cold. But it wouldn't last long since he had to maintain the Frozen Domain and Cold Empowerment at the same time. 

Noel also tried multiple emotions to see what actually worked, but as expected, he had just grasped the edge of the Everchanging Emotion Sword Style's potential.

Evan asked, "Your sword is unique and always changing. However, don't forget that if it ends up becoming foreign to you, how do you even use it?"

Evan indirectly implied that Noel might have accepted the change in those emotions and defined them. But if those emotions were generated from random things, he wouldn't be wielding his sword anymore. In fact, it was just an unknown sword with mysterious power. There was no way he could master that sword.

"The only thing that will last forever is the change itself. Humans will change, our hearts will change, and our hatred might change into love. That's why this is my change!" Noel shouted as he stepped back. 

The ice began to cover his entire sword. The moment Noel waved it, the ice cracked and split into five before flying toward Evan.

"!!!" Evan noticed something in these five and expanded the spiritual energy around his sword like that of a shield before striking them down. 

The ice was extremely sharp and flew in five directions as though. Instead of a single sword strike, Noel actually amplified the power by combining this attack with the Ice Lotus Ability he had been using this whole time. 

Those five ice parts turned into five slashes that soon expanded in all directions to create a star. And when they reached the tips, all the sword strikes blossomed into beautiful ice crystals.

Noel had used the Sword Transmutation to power up his Anger Emotion, and this time, he amplified the Distress Emotion to create a powerful slash like this. It was perfect to reflect the meaning of Desperate contained in Distress Emotion. 

Evan said, "The core of your power is your unique power as well as that brute strength. However, to completely master your power, you need to create it as solid as possible like this."

Evan sent forth another sword strike like the previous attack that left a huge trail behind. But it wasn't as big as it was before as though Evan had exhausted too much of his power and didn't have enough power to unleash a full strike.

Noel gathered all his strength into his sword before releasing the Sword Transmutation to overpower Evan's ability.

Noel's attack actually came with more intensity as he had grown more accustomed to this new ability. But that was why the gap between them could be shown when the two sword strikes clashed.

"A sharp axe can chop down a thick tree. Unless you can condense that tree into something even denser or solid, you won't be able to stop the axe."

As Evan said those words, his sword strike broke apart Noel's Sword Transmutation which carried far more energy than him. 

"!!!" Noel had no choice but to stop it with his sword, but this attack was simply too strong. He was pushed back for more than thirty meters just to stop the momentum and the residual energy was actually still solid enough to crush him.

The residual energy actually cut Noel from his right shoulder to below his left chest. 

"Gah." Noel spat a mouthful of blood. He hurriedly covered that wound with his ice to stop the bleeding, but that strike was almost fatal for him. He started losing his grip.

"I guess this is it." Evan sighed, thinking about bringing this battle to a close. 

"Wait a moment. Just one more time." Noel stopped him and straightened his posture even though he was clearly shaking from the deep wound. 

"Come on. You won't be able to wield your sword for at least two or three months with that kind of injury." Evan shook his head helplessly.

"No, Sir. Please let us do it." Anna stood up with the help of her sword. Even though she could only move one of her legs, her fighting spirit hadn't wavered. 

"You too. All those injuries are small, but I've cut your muscle, so you won't be able to move properly for a while. I don't want to leave any big injuries that would leave a scar on this guy's future wife." 

"Please, Sir. One more time." Noel and Anna said the same thing, their expression looked adamant.

Noel had gathered his energy one more time and held the sword with both hands. It felt like he was about to grasp something.

Anna also covered her body with lightning once more, but those lightning gradually moved toward her hands and swords as though she were leaving the rest vulnerable to enhance her speed. 

Looking at their determinations, Evan thought it would be rude if he rejected them. He said, "Alright. This is your request. Come at me with all you have."

"Thank you, Sir." Both Anna and Noel thanked him before activating the Enhance Forward Rune on their body. This way, they would move at the same speed and attack Evan together. 

Evan lowered his sword for a moment, letting the energy flow down to the ground. The grasses all around him were sliced multiple times. 

"Come!"

Noel couldn't make his attack as solid as Evan, but there was 'Disgust' that reflected a blunt force from a sword. He was planning to use this massive energy to create it and condense that energy as much as possible. 

Meanwhile, Anna also knew that her energy was one step too late. It couldn't be improved instantly, so she chose to increase her movement speed as much as possible. Even if her energy was too late, she still moved one step faster so that the energy could be released at the same time. 

Evan met the determination of these two youngsters with his best ability. 

"One Sword Cut A Million."