Chapter 54 Strategy

Aion easily dodged the attack to the side since the prince didn't enhance his sword, nor did he activate Inner Force. It was hard today to say if he was being cautious of his energy or if he honestly thought that Aion wasn't strong enough to make him do that.

Regardless, Aion aimed for the stomach of the enemy with his axes, but he jumped away and dodged the strike as well. Before he could fix his stance, Aion charged, but when he swung his right ax, the sword blocked its path. Aion tried to attack with the left weapon, but the prince grabbed his wrist before he could put much power behind it.

Aion planned to attack that guy's stomach with his knee, but the prince did the same, and their attacks canceled each other… It was surprising that he had that much raw strength. The prince tried to headbutt Aion but only lowered his stance before jumping backward. The hand of the prince on his arm prevented him from going too far, but Aion got enough room to kick his chin.

The attack made Vangel let go of him. Aion landed and then prepared to attack again. However, Vangel recovered fast enough to assume a defensive stance. That wasn't like him, so Aion assumed that he still was suffering from the previous attack.

Aion charged with all his might and then used Destroyer. Vangel frowned when Aion's speed suddenly increased, but his moves still were simple. The first attack came from the right side and he reacted fast enough to block the two axes, but Vangel's guard was pushed away while he was forced to take several steps backward.

The second attack came from the left side in the same manner as the previous one. Somehow, Vangel fixed his guard in time, but he didn't recover fast enough to put strength on that. His guard was blown away again…

The third strike came from above, and Vangel was forced to use Inner force to move fast enough to fix his guard. Thanks to that, he succeeded, and his arm only moved a bit during the impact. He turned around to kick Aion, but then when he prepared the attack, Aion's feet landed on his chest, and then he used that as a platform to jump behind and spin in the air. He landed on his two feet already with his guard up.

At that moment, Vangel realized that Aion planned to make him activate Inner Force first to spend more energy. While it was possible to activate and deactivate the technique several times, it wasn't the best way to use it since the user would still feel some exhaustion and muscular pains from overusing the body.

Vangel deactivated the skill and felt his body getting a bit heavier while the muscles of his arms and legs began to hurt a bit. Those effects would only last for a few seconds, but it was more than enough for Aion to capitalize on them.

"I should make him regret for waiting for me to use Inner Force…" Aion thought while he was charging.

While moving his arms to prepare to throw one of his axes, but then Vangel lowered his stance to dodge since he knew that Aion was good at that. However, Aion changed his mind in the last moment and then used that position to swing down his right ax with more power. Vangel blocked the attack but then saw the other ax hitting the sword as well… Getting hit like that… The sword wasn't going to last long. It hurt Vangel's pride, but he couldn't let his sword break… with that in mind, he enhanced his sword with that suspicious red Aura.

It looked like the Aura made the weapon more powerful and lighter since Vangel managed to push Aion backward, and then when he approached to attack, the speed of the swing almost cut Aion's throat… It couldn't be compared to the first attack.

"It is amazing that no one says anything when the prince uses mana like that, but if I enhance my weapons with ice magic, I will be disqualified instantly…" Aion thought.

Vangel charged at Aion, and he got faster than before. While he focused on dodging, Aion still suffered two small cuts on his elbows, and he could feel blood falling from them…

Without any other choice, Aion used Rage to boost his physical abilities a bit. Vangel resumed his attacks and then noticed that Aion was moving a bit better than before when his sword was supposed to hit his chin with an upward strike or when he targeted one of his hands, but Aion moved it to the side… He had gotten faster, but he couldn't see or sense Inner Force in action, and that puzzled him.

It felt like their speed and power were equal, but Aion was just waiting and dodging the attacks to save energy. That pissed Vangel… that whole tournament was supposed to be a competition to see who was the strongest… He wanted to prove that he wasn't just someone destined to become the ruler of that kingdom and that he had skills of his own that they were obtained beyond his position. Losing now against someone who was using boring strategies wouldn't let him prove anything. If he had to lose to someone, he had to lose to the winner of the tournament after a difficult fight for both sides…

Aion could feel the Aura around Vangel changing. The prince was finally about to show his real self… Vangel activated Inner Force, but instead of charging, and swung his sword in front of him and fired a powerful beam of energy… the red light flew so fast that Aion didn't have time to react. A powerful explosion happened in the center of the arena and made the place tremble.

Aion expected to fight against those two techniques at the same time, but not that they could be combined like that…

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