Chapter 134 - Nicole Vs Kian IV

He kicked off the ground and dashed towards Nicole at a speed faster than before the mass of water could regenerate itself.

Halfway through the water came crashing down and tried to drown him but it was unable to, he had taken countermeasures by coating his body in aura to oppose the magic generated water.

He also had an underwater breathing spell casted on himself.

The inside of the water was dark, and he could not see her clearly, but he could sense her location.

'This is the end!' 

Just before his sword could reach…

[Water Magic: Deep Sea]

Even though he should not be able to hear a voice inside the water, for some reason, Nicole's voice reached his ears.

'What?! My body is heavy…'

The water she generated pressed on him as if it were coiling around him. However, it was not as if he could not move.

'What pointless struggle…

Generating this much water and this is all you can do?

What a child's play.'

He rose his sword and filled it with pure aura, intending on swinging it towards her.

[Water Magic: Water Depth 1,000 meters]

The moment he heard that phrase...

'Gah!'

The pressure on his body increased by several tens of times. His body felt as heavy as lead. As for his arms…legs…they could still somehow move.

'This b*tch, using some cheeky magic here!'

This is getting Annoying! I will blow away this damn water!'

He began concentrating his magic power to use magic, however... 

[Water Magic: Water Depth 2,000 meters]

Again, he heard Nicole's voice again.

The water pressure on his body increased even more.

The bones in his body began making cracking sounds, the layer of aura around him could barely prevent the water from filling his lungs and drowning him.

His underwater breathing spell had started failing as he could barely maintain it anymore.

He couldn't breath.

His vision was getting hazy.

His whole body was ringing alarms of danger.

'W-Wait. What's…this…? This is…bad…'

He was not so stupid to have not yet realized what was going on.

Nicole's spell placed the pressure of the depth of water at the 2000 meters below sea level on his body.

[Water Magic: Water Depth 3,000 meters]

Her voice…rang in his ears.

'3000?!'

Three thousand meters below sea level, it was not a depth that he could survive normally. His limit break artifact was the only reason his sacrificial artifact had not yet activated.

*CRACK

He heard the sound of a bone somewhere snapping.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!'

He screamed internally as he could not scream out loud.

Pain ran through his body.

He could only grind his teeth in the water.

***CCRACK!!!

His sacrificial artifact activated the second time.

'Damn…it…!

I will kill you…!

But first, I have to get away…from here…'

However, Nicole's disinterested voice that he heard once more made him lose all hope.

[Water Magic: Water Depth 4,000 meters]

***CCRACK!!!

A sacrificial artifact activated once again, this meant that he should have been dead 3 times over already.

*SQUASH

Something was crushed.

He could not tell if it was his arm or his leg.

'Aaah…aaah…st..op…'

His understanding could not keep up.

Each time she spoke, the pain increased even more. 

***CCRACK!!!

His sacrificial artifact activated the fourth time, one more and he would have been considered the looser of the duel.

However, the pain he was feeling did not let him think about that at all.

It stopped him from forming any coherent thoughts, however he could tell one thing.

'I am going to die.'

Fear rushed through his every pore.

[Water Magic: Water Depth 5,000 meters]

...

At that point, his brain refused to understand what happened.

The defensive artifacts he had equipped on him always had long broken, his mana accumulator and aura augmenter had begun breaking.

'…I…am…dead…'

That was the last thought he had before losing consciousness.

**CCRAACCCKKKK!!!!!!!!

There was a loud cracking sound and the last sacrificial artifact broke.

"Nicole!!!!"

Someone's voice rang out but Kian was unable to hear it.

The next moment, the water that was pressuring Kian's body suddenly stopped.

However, it was not Nicole that stopped it.

[This!!]

She heard Undine's surprised voice but did not pay attention to it.

Her academy issued watch had begun beeping, that meant that Kian was unable to continue fighting and she had won the duel.

She instantly cancelled the spell, causing the mass of water to fall to the ground.

'Undine!'

Undine recovered from her shock and absorbed all the water, preventing it from crashing down on the ground and causing more damage to the arena.

Nicole descended to the ground and panted lightly, she looked around at the applauding crowd and smiled lightly.

'Undine, the spell worked.'

[...]

'Undine?'

[...Huh? Oh, good job.]

Undine finally replied after a moment of silence.

'Anything wrong?'

[No, was just surprised or a bit, that is all.]

Nicole felt it was more than that but decided not to say anything, she waved towards Layla who was running towards her.

"Nicole!!!!!!"

Layla hugged her tightly before firing a barrage of questions.

"What was that cool spell?"

"When did you learn it?"

"Who thought it to you?"

"How did you learn it?"

Arthur, who trailed behind Layla, gestured to the arena medics to take care of the half-dead Kian before pulling Layla off Nicole.

"One at a time Layla."

Layla pouted but she understood that she did ask a bit too much questions and only nodded in response.

Arthur then patted Nicole's head before speaking.

"Congratulations on winning, though I was sure you were gonna win from the start.

As for the spell, I really want to see the person who taught you the spell."

The latter half of his statement was said while Nicole had her head down, as such she did not notice where Arthur's gaze was directed at.

However, for the recipient of his gaze, they felt a shiver down their spine.

(He can see me!!')

Undine had concealed herself with the power of the law of trickery, however, Arthur was somehow seeing through it.

The face of the mini sized Undine who was floating a bit above Nicole's head twisted in shock.

Arthur however, acted normally and took his hand off Nicole's head before moving over to the instructor who had arrived to report on the details of how a duel somehow ended up in the arena being destroyed once again.

As for repairs, they would most likely be done by the next morning and the arena would look good as new.

And so the curtains closed on the duel between Nicole and Kian.

◇　◇　◇

The great water spirit Undine sat up with a start. Her movements sent ripples through the water that surrounded her body.

She had sent her consciousness into her avatar fragment that she sent to Nicole, however she never expected that her concealment would be seen through.

'Even if it was only a fragment, it did not change the fact that I used the power of a law, yet he somehow saw through it.'

Such a situation was absurd, it was almost impossible for a grandmaster to see through her concealment, unless that grandmaster could somehow use a law's power.

'Which is also absurd unless he's a...'

[...unless he is a progenitor.]

Undine possessed knowledge on the existences known as progenitors and she knew of the various perks they possessed.

One of which was that they were able to use a law's power while not being in the epic or sovereign realm, however just using a law's power was not enough to see through her concealment.

One had to have stepped on the path of comprehension to even have a silver of a chance at that.

The only beings, who could comprehend laws while not being transcendents, were progenitors.

As such, it did not take her long to arrive at that conclusion.

[The prophesied child of destruction is a progenitor. 

If word was to get out, then the gods would not sit still, anyone with a brain can tell that whatever race he's the progenitor of, would not be tolerated by the gods.]

She ran her hand through her sea blue hair and sighed, deciding to keep her discovery to herself as it would affect Nicole if she were to disclose this information.

'At least for now, not while she is still close to him.'

She sighed once more as she stared at the enormous ocean in front of her before sending her consciousness back into the avatar fragment she kept with Nicole.

◇　◇　◇

After the events of Nicole's duel with Kian, the top 3 of the second year class became the top 3 on the list of 'Students to never challenge'.

Seeing the seemingly weak Nicole showcase excellent magic power control and ether techniques, it dawned on a lot of students that she definitely deserved the position of Rank 3 in the second year that had over ten thousand students that she held.

As for Arthur and Layla, not many dared to seriously challenge those two in the first place. Most of their challengers only did so to test their strength or challenged them with the intent of losing from the start.

Like so, everyone gradually forgot about the existence of the rank 10 who challenged Nicole and only remembered the power she displayed that surpassed majority of her peers.