403 Lightning

"Seven Stars Cut."

"!!!" Elgin felt an overwhelming pressure from behind. He looked back and saw a blue Sword Wave covered with lightning. The lightning alone felt very dangerous, and it came together with a Sword Wave.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows when Charya used Seven Stars Cut. According to his observation, it should not be possible since her instinct should have taken over, and she could only use her Sword Rite at this state. He knew this because he had observed her Sword Rite, trying to copy it. Sadly, he found it unsuitable for him because Sword Rite was mainly relying on Instinct and he lacked a fierce instinct that could surpass his rationality.

He tried to observe her energy with his Spirit Eyes but saw nothing wrong with her energy. He then observed her normally and finally realized something was wrong. Seeing her eyes that fierceness was comparable to Monster Beasts, intelligence was still lingering on her eyes.

By seeing those eyes, he could understand that despite having taken over by instinct, she still maintained a part of consciousness in her eyes. It then gave her the ability to use that Seven Stars Cut.

Back when the Heavenly Sword Sect was attacked by invaders. She was given two things from Maxwell. One of them was this technique where she could slowly control her own instinct like this while retaining her own consciousness in the process. With this technique, she could do higher-level tactics like using Seven Stars Cut.

The moment she used Seven Stars Cut, she disappeared again. The Sword Wave continued its path toward Elgin.

"Jewel Wind." Elgin waved his sword, and a tornado came out from his sword. The tornado moved like a snake before clashing with the Sword Wave. The clash was shaking the ground nearby and making the atmosphere heavy.

Although Heaven Tier Art Seven Stars Cut seemed to have a great advantage, Elgin's Jewel Wind did not lose. Even if it could not destroy the Sword Wave, it should be able to cancel it. Unfortunately, this was the time where Charya's lightning started showing its real prowess. The lightning started sparking around and struck forth as the second attack from Charya's Sword Wave.

The lightning started moving from the Seven Stars Cut onto the wind tornado. The lightning felt harmless at first, but the moment it completely fused with the wind, the lightning suddenly exploded.

"Wha-!" Seeing the lightning exploded immediately made Elgin worry. The harmless lightning suddenly became the deadly poison to destroy his Wind. The pressure from the Sword Wave emanated the arena once again as it continued its way toward Elgin.

Elgin felt he could not avoid this, so he intended to receive it with his Sword.

"Heaven Sword Breaker." Elgin was in a dire situation, but he had not given up as he felt confident in destroying this sword wave. He felt that the Sword Wave had been weakened by his Jewel Wind, so with this Heaven Sword Breaker, he would destroy the Sword Wave pretty easily.

"Ha!" Using all the force accumulated in his body, Elgin slowly broke apart the Sword Wave. His confidence kept rising as he felt the cut in that Sword Wave. Sadly, because he was too occupied with this, he lost track of Charya's movement. By the time he destroyed the Sword Wave and gained confidence in defeating Charya, he did not see Charya anywhere in the arena.

Suddenly, he felt pain coming from her left waist. He could not realize what happened until the pain was there. He shifted his line of vision to the left and saw Charya on his left, kicking him in the waist.

"Gh!" That kick was so painful that it even made his vision blurry. He checked his body a little bit and noticed that the bones in that spot were shattered by that kick.

Facing the force and momentum Charya had in that kick, he flew and crashed on the Arena wall. Charya did not leave him any chance and appeared again in front of him while pointing her sword on his neck.

"I win... or you die..." Charya was panting. She could not hold back her instinct any longer, so she decided to stop using it just right after she kicked him. Her arms felt a bit weak, but it did not hinder her movement.

Having no choice other than admitting it, he said, "I lose…"

Charya pulled her sword back and nodded. Even though she was panting, it was not like she used all of her Spiritual Energy. In fact, she only used around half of her Spiritual Energy. She was exhausted because she used her mental energy a bit excessively.

She knew about this fatal flaw in Maxwell's technique, no, she could not say it was a fatal flaw. The technique was called Calm Berserker. It was a technique to control your instinct by using your mental energy. Sadly, she was not an Alchemist or anything, so her mental energy was not that high. If she used that technique one more minute, she might pass out. Basically, she was just too weak to use a Mid Heaven Tier Martial Arts, Calm Berserker.

After using this, she realized she would need to buy pills to increase her mental energy and might pick up Martial Art that could enhance her mental energy. This way, she might even best the first elder who was the strongest out of all elders in the sect with her 9-Star Martial Lord cultivation.

"Heavenly Sword Sect Win!"

And just like that, Charya had defeated two contenders from Thiveapia Kingdom. The only problem would be whether she would continue or not. However, considering her condition at the moment, she would most likely give up at this point.

"Will Elder Charya give up or continue?" She had

"Of course, I will continue," Charya said with a tired voice. Everyone was in a trance, seeing this woman who did not know the word 'give up.' Even though she was exhausted, she kept challenging to the best of her ability. They were wondering whether she was a fool or a brave. Sadly, they got their answer after seeing her eyes that filled with confidence.

Sect Master Xiang Bai and the other elders already sent a thought transmission to make her give up, but Charya ignored all of that. She was the one who knew her condition the best. And she was confident she could defeat another opponent in this tournament before retiring.

The people from Heavenly Sword Sect then started telling Alex to convince her. He only shrugged his shoulder as Charya already sent a glare toward him. It was not like he was afraid of her, but seeing her determination like that, he did not have the mood to convince her. He also had confidence in Charya. He knew that even though she looked like a rash person or something, she always did something after full consideration.

So, answering that glare, Alex nodded. She would give up if it were too much anyway.

The next opponent came a minute later. They sent another 9-Star Martial Grandmaster, but compared to Elgin, this one was a bit lacking. They thought Charya was already exhausted, so sending another 9-Star Martial Grandmaster should be enough.

He was an old man, albeit his appearance slightly looked like a middle-aged man. His body was muscular and violent. Charya could see that this person was a newly 9-Star Martial Grandmaster. Even in the face of her own condition, she did not cower. In fact, she smiled the moment she knew her opponent was not their 10-Star Martial Lord. This way, she had some confidence to gain another victory before giving up.

"Smith, Marshall of Thiveapia Kingdom. I need to say this before we fight. No matter if you are a woman or in what state, I will use all of my strength to defeat the opponent in front of me."

"Just come," Charya said while shrugging her shoulder. She did not care about his conviction or rule at all.

"Hmph. I wouldn't underestimate myself If I were you." Smith narrowed his eyes.

"Ho… I also need to say that to you… Nah, too lazy."

"You…"

Smith felt offended in this situation. Although he was only a newly 9-Star Martial Grandmaster, it did not change the fact that he had the same cultivation as Charya.

Charya did not say anything as she pointed her sword toward him. That was enough to see Charya was going to fight him. He grabbed two small axes with his hands while releasing the intense aura from his body. He wanted to show her that he was not a pushover.

"Match Start!"

Charya did not bother using her Sword Rite again since she did not have enough mental energy to spare. So, Charya was planning something else.

She tried to engage him in close combat to preserve her Spiritual Energy. Even though her mental energy was exhausted and only half of her total Spiritual Energy left in her body, her offense was still precise and ruthless. She kept trying to target his vital while probing his weak points.

On the other hand, Smith answered all of her offensive with the same intent. In close combat alone, they were pretty much equal. Although she also used her lightning in her offense, it was not at the level of her Sword Rite.

Seeing that she could not get any advantage, she retreated a few meters before waving her sword.

"Seven Stars Cut!"

"Hmph." Smith raised both of his axes and swung it down. "Tiger Executioner."

He used everything on his body to destroy this Sword Wave. As one would expect, because of Charya's condition, she could not exert the full power of Seven Stars Cut any more. Smith managed to destroy it pretty easily.

Charya then appeared right beside him and swung her sword.

"You are just using the same trick in the previous match," Smith said while swinging his left ax to parry this attack.

The crowds were shaking their heads as they thought her movement was read by Smith. It was at this time Charya surprised them again. She blew the ax on his hand as it was her target from the beginning. If she was targeting him, her sword might not reach him. Unfortunately, Charya's target was his ax, and she successfully blew it away.

"!!!" Smith's heart skipped a beat as he swung the second ax.

This time, Charya suddenly released the sword on her right hand and grasped his wrist.

"Hmph," Charya smirked. The taunting was really effective since she could lower his guard a little bit. It made him fight her in close combat. And with all the effort she had put in the battle, she was able to stop his movement for a second. Lightning started sparking around her left hand.

The sound of lightning suddenly reverberated in everyone's ears. However, the sound did not come from the lightning in Charya's hand. Instead, they heard it from above.

They could see black clouds hovering just right above them. They finally realized that the bright sky suddenly turned gloomy and filled with lightning.

When their vision turned back to Charya, they could see a big lightning claw had formed on her left hand. The lightning did not spark only on her hands but also to her surroundings. It even destroyed the ground around her.

Charya felt her left hand numb because of the lightning. Even in the best condition, she felt she could only use this technique once. Maybe she could do something better if she used it after reaching Martial King, but it would not happen soon.

She made a smile, covering the numbness she felt. The giant claw made its way toward Smith.

"!!!" For the first time in his life, he felt dread on a Martial Art. It might be normal if their difference was too far, but both of them had the same cultivation while Charya was also not in her peak state. Even so, the thought 'he will lose' crept inside his heart the moment he looked at the blue giant lightning claw.

He was electrocuted as soon as the claw grasped his body. He suddenly felt something wrong as he did not feel anything other than numbness. To think a Martial Art that could summon black clouds filled with lightning only made him numb, it was ridiculous.

"Lightning?" He suddenly realized what was going on and turned his head to see the black cloud.

Charya smirked. The lightning in the cloud finally struck forth toward Smith… No, Charya's left hand.

"Thunder Dragon First Move, Heavenly Lightning Claw."