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It wasn’t Ryan’s fault that he wasn’t prepared for this one.
First of all their fight had ended with Gamielle screaming in pain. Then he found out about what had happened between the Passive Tyrant and the Witch Tyrant, then he released his unified Trial Theory to the realmnet. Then Pinkie happened and he got kidnapped by a dragonslayer.
And finally the passive tyrant showed up and shook the world.
Ryan really had zero time to worry about how he was going to deal with Luneia in a proper fight.
So, if you were a certain [Mage] that had bet on Ryan being completely ready to deal with Luneia, well, she might have backed the wrong horse on this one.
Luneia on the other hand, had all the time in the world to prepare for this fight. Every single building in the outpost had been flattened so that there were no obstructions that Ryan could retreat to. Undoubtedly she had gone over their fight in her head multiple times and planned things out.
But the biggest problem… was her gear.
She was wearing a completely different armorset with a new wicked looking lance and no shield. It was the opposite of what would be good with her [Reckless Charge] skill but one clash with her revealed it all.
Every single time Luneia stepped forward with her boots, she gained a burst of speed that was at the levels of an Uncommon skill. Every single time Ryan clashed with her, the spinning spikes on her lance knocked away his sword, meaning the swinging lance could come at him unimpeded.
Her breastplate seemed to breathe for her. Likely enchantments to boost her energy circulation.
Ryan took a step back and frowned.
“Hold up, isn’t this a little stupid?”
Luneia thrust forward with the lance, trying to take him apart. The spinning spikes started to spin despite him being far enough out of the way. His [Dangersense] screamed at him and he used [Instant Dodge] to jump back before the spikes extended with magic.
If he’d stayed in that position, there was a good chance he’d be sporting a massive wound across his chest.
Luneia tried to point the tip of the lance at his chest and Ryan wisely stayed out of the way, despite how far away he was. His [Spellweave Perception] was telling him there was more to that damned lance than just the spinning extending spikes on the side.
It was the most dragonshit fight he’d ever experienced.
She was practically slapping him with her wallet.
While Luneia wasn’t as fast as she was at her peak speed with [Reckless Charge], her base speed was significantly higher with her boots. Ryan’s aura infused knives didn’t even scratch her new armor and she was stronger too. Likely from that chestplate.
Ryan ducked so that the pointy end of the lance wasn’t lining up to him.
“What is that spell on the end of your lance?”
“Why don’t you stand still and find out?”
The helmet actually scattered her voice everywhere, like she was in a sealed environment and her voice was coming through magical speakers.
“Why don’t you stop cheating by being overgeared and fight me properly? I was really enjoying our previous duel.”
“Vile fiends like you don’t deserve an honorable duel. You just need eradication.”
“You know the Witch Tyrant’s out there torturing souls and throwing out apocalypse scenarios onto Earth right?”
The custom-fitted helmet gave nothing away. All he could think about was how expensive her gear must have been to work so well in a leveled zone and without the enchantments interfering with one another. Possibly Realmer made which increased the prices exponentially.
Ryan dodged the pointy end of the lance again and clicked his tongue. He leapt backwards until he felt more comfortable with the distance.
Luneia’s voice echoed throughout the land.
“I am disappointed. Lady Gamielle told me you would be able to overcome this.”
“This is just dragonshit, you’re just using money to bully your way forward. Why should I keep fighting you and just not skip to the next trial?”
“Run if you want, but then I will spread your cowardice to the rest of the world. You will also never get the [Strongest of the Fifth Realm] title from me.”
So that was what she’s doing.
It wasn’t uncommon to find rich adventurers overgeared for their trials. It was looked down upon and someone talented and powerful like Zedart or Valee would never be caught dead fighting in gear like that in a duel.
She was trying to taunt him to keep him in the fight and look for an opening where she could kill him. All the while, she guaranteed she couldn’t lose her title.
“So, you’re admitting that you can’t beat me in a fair fight?”
“Hmph. Money and wealth is a form of accumulated power as well.”
Ryan waited, hoping his argument would let him get the title. Arguably he should have gotten the title already. If she hadn’t been a Fallen with immortality backing her up Ryan would have won their last fight.
But it wasn’t enough. The more people that got them, the more difficult titles were to obtain. Apparently Ryan had to defeat Luneia’s accumulated skills, power, money and her immortality status as a Fallen.
Ryan had been ready to defeat Luneia in her previous power level. He had been hoping for another round of clashing with her class, her mastery and her skills. He’d been ready to test if he could disrupt her unity while maintaining his own and testing her limits as an immortal Fallen.
In his mind, he had already defeated her, he just hadn’t expected such a cheap trick.
Or in this case, such an expensive trick.
I don’t think her armor is standard either…
Ryan cycled his aura expanding his shattersword into a larger whole. He swept horizontally against the knight, the enormous blade clashing against the wicked looking lance.
He cancelled his aura control, causing the pieces of the shattersword to fall like collapsing comets onto her armour.
Each of them were imbued with [Arcane Volatility].
Ryan then used [Spellweave Perception] to watch exactly how his volatile mana interacted against her gear.
And it was not good.
His [Arcane Volatility] did damage the enchantments—but only slightly. Not only that, but it was only at the surface level. Not a single arc of volatile mana made it past even a fifth of the metal.
Whatever her new gear was made of, it had an inner layer that was made of material that had nothing magical in nature.
In other words, Luneia had prepared gear with antimagic skills in mind.
Oh, she’s treating me like a monster.
Weaponry to prevent clashes, core metal that blocked [Arcane Volatility] and no gaps in her helmet or the rest of her armor for any throwing knives. Luneia did what all good adventurers did against a tough fight.
They prepared.
It was funny, but it changed the way he was looking at her efforts.
“Now do you see that first clash was your best chance to defeat me now that you’ve run away and given me time to prepare you will never defeat me again my honor as the knight compels it so!”
She was still trying to taunt him to keep him in the fight, it was kind of funny. Ryan couldn’t help but smile. His shattersword regathered as he placed it atop his shoulder. Like an arrogant conqueror.
“You know what? I’ve decided I like you. You’re a good adventurer, Luneia.”
[The Knight] took a step back, she glanced around.
“You fiend! I knew I was right about you.”
Ryan, who didn’t quite understand what Luneia was talking about, laughed. He then spun on his heels and ran the other way.
“What? Where are you going, coward?!”
“I’ll be back! You got your time to prepare, I’m just taking mine. You hold on right there, because if you’re not there by the time I get back, I’m skipping to the sixth realm. I don’t really need the [Strongest in the Fifth Realm] title anyway!”
Luneia was so confused as Ryan sprinted away from the outpost, breaking the sound barrier and speeding away.
“COWARD! COME BACK HERE!”
But Ryan was already gone, faster than the speed of sound… and Luneia… couldn’t catch up without [Reckless Charge].
All she could do was wait.
Ryan had learned a lot from Luneia. About pushing the boundary of skills by using the unity of class, aura and purpose. About how he could use concepts to debuff his opponents and buff himself. In a real sense, Ryan had learned a lot about not just his classes but his Trial class, [Conceptual Metamorph].
But arguably, he hadn’t been as strong as he could have been when fighting Luneia. He had never pushed himself to the point of the city of Defiance. Never to the level when he needed to fight for the Unwanted in the depths of the Cataclysm abyss.
When he was fighting Luneia, it was mostly with his base ability. Because that had been the most beneficial for both his learning and achievements. It was similar to how people tried to handicap themselves in their first Trial. Though he hadn’t really thought of it like that at the time, if she was going to slap him with her wallet, then he would have no stipulations about slapping her back with overwhelming force.
Ryan sprinted in an expanding spiral around the vicinity of the outpost, stirring up the vibrant monsters in the area. The thin spiral mountains shook as the sonic boom washed over them. Though even before that hit, the monsters had started to run.
His presence had hit them first.
[Aura of Unrelenting Intimidation]
It covered everywhere he passed, scaring everything in an ever-expanding radius.
Sector Five might have looked like a red alien wasteland compared to Earth, but the spiral mountains were full of life. Plenty of them were old apex creatures that dominated the area.
They shook in terror, hoping whatever it was, wasn’t coming after them.
Ryan tried to put some of his recent learning to the test—trying to use the [Aura Tyrant] part of his arm to make his [Aura Condensation] take a step beyond.
It didn’t work, the class was still unavailable to him.
Though it wasn’t like he had needed it back in the fourth realm.
His arm started to cycle his aura, completing the loop with the celestial matrix within the shattersword, increasing the size of the blade. His presence continued to expand, a continuous feedback loop of primal fear.
Monsters that had started to run away from him were passed by as they skidded to a halt and ran the other way.
The world started to turn a different shade of red as his aura continued to grow. Ryan hadn’t realized this, but after his evolution, the amount of aura that he could command had increased by leaps and bounds as well. His shattersword trailing high behind him as he kept adding to it.
Though he quickly surpassed his current capability as well.
[Ambient Resource Utilization: Aura]
The ambient aura around him swelled into the cycling of his arm… pushing it beyond the limits of the fifth realm
WARNING!
Qualitative aura change detected!
Forced Realm evolution started!
Ryan ignored it. Another path to power he didn’t need.
[Resource Overdrive: Aura]
Suddenly, both his capacity and skill with aura expanded in full, he guided his new capacity to forming the condensed sword that shone in the sky, a third as tall as the spiral mountains.
[Resource Overdrive] was such a ridiculous skill. It made control over so much aura effortless, to the point where he was certain he could jump up in realms with no effort.
He condensed his aura instead, making the sword more dense… to the point where crystals started to form within his aura.
Ryan felt the buffs stack on top of him as his aura empowered the rest of his body. Epics could always do more than their description alone. It was part of having access to something with so much conceptual weight stuffed inside.
He truly had scratched the surface of his skills.
Valee had shown him the path to power mastering Epics through making up for its weaknesses. But Ryan had so many Epics available to him he chose a different path instead.
Screw the weaknesses, stack Epics on top of each other for absolute overwhelming force.
Ryan could feel it, just a step further… what could he do with all of this aura if he used unity with the [Aura Tyrant] right now? He had a feeling that he could force the class to repair itself right now with everything he had.
Not now.
Ryan didn’t need it to deal with Luneia. Ryan stomped on the ground and shattered entirely as he went for a straight line towards the Trial Entrance.
A giant sword of crimson blazing behind him.
Luneia stood in place as she saw all of it build up. It was clear with how much power [Reckless Charge] was building up that standing against that sword would be reckless.
She did not move, for that would be the equivalent of simply giving him the title. Her hands gripped tightly on her lance.
It was one thing to see such a powerful strike happen in the optimal conditions atop the city of Defiance.
It was another to realize that Ryan could use the vibrant environment of The Realm to empower a strike like this again and again.
Luneia stomped on the ground, her boots boosting her speed, her armor boosting her defenses and qi circulation, her lance spinning with overwhelming force, her greaves powering her legs, her helmet embedded with qi crystals that increased the density of energy in her body.
Ryan was upon her in a flash, he lowered the blade and swung horizontally.
Luneia slammed down with her best skill combination—and found her unity.
The Knight stood against the tide. She would stand even if nobody else would, to her last breath and until the bitter end. For justice, loyalty and valor.
She activated the spell on the tip of her lance.
[Piercing Magelance]
The magical lance cast by a powerful Realmer cut into the blade of red, it burned away quickly by the red tide but it left a gap. Luneia stabbed forward, right into the crack with all of her aura, her qi and her skills.
[Reckless Charge]
It was a tiny white candle against an ocean of red. One that stood firmly against a tsunami. For a split second Luneia was cutting through it all. Her unity provided her with something beyond the limits of what she had ever done.
Unfortunately, the tsunami didn’t end.
Her aura burned away, her skills fought against the overwhelming tide, holding for a true valorous moment.
And she had gotten past… perhaps a half of the red wave.
The outer layer of her lance cracked, revealing the core—a bone of an eleventh realm monster, but she did not have the power to show its capability. The tide smashed her lance backwards and hit her chestplate.
And cracked it.
Luneia was flung back miles and miles into the background. She slammed into a spiral mountain in the distance and went right through.
Ryan squinted as he saw her body continued sailing through the air. Despite all of it, there was only a crack in the breastplate.
“Damn that armor is tough.”
Gamielle appeared and stopped him before he could give chase. She shook her head.
“She’s completely turned to paste inside that armor. Don’t worry, you’ve won.”
And with that, the Trial System finally granted him his reward.
Title: Strongest in the Fifth Realm (Epic), Obtained!
“Wait, only the strongest? Not the undisputed one?”