The barrier turned a wide explosion into a focused lance of blue fla that punched through the beast's hide and burrowed deep into the muscle beneath.
The Elephantos scread, a massive gash now carved across its torso, smoke pouring from the wound.
The beast was faltering now. Burns covered its body, one ear was gone, one eye was seared shut, and a deep wound smoldered across its chest. But it wasn't dead. Body-refiner beasts were endurance monsters, and the Elephantos still had fight left in it.
It lowered its head and charged once again, in an act of bravery that touched everyone watching, including Moon and Selene.
"Putting everything in reckless rush...huh?"
Moon and Selene exchanged a single glance.
Selene cast a wall of water directly in the beast's path.
The Elephantos plowed through it without slowing, but the water clung to its body, soaking its hide, dripping from every inch of its fra.
And as it erged from the water wall, drenched and charging, Moon raised his hand.
For the first ti in the fight, purple lightning crackled across his fingers.
"Wait. Is that... lightning?"
The spectators leaned forward in anticipation, unable to stop themselves.
Klein's brows rose in surprise.
"This kid. I was wrong about him." He muttered under his breath, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "He isn't even trying to hide his power. That's how confident he is."
For the first ti in a very long ti, Klein found his initial judgnt of a person had been wrong. He had pegged Moon as reserved, the type to hoard every advantage and reveal nothing until forced. Instead, the boy was displaying his strongest elent on the largest stage in the kingdom, in the very first round, without a hint of hesitation.
But what surprised Klein even more was the lightning itself.
The detailed reports on Moon, compiled after his S-Rank gate clear, had described blue lightning. The lightning crackling across Moon's fingers now was purple.
'His skill evolved to Second Order.' Klein thought, his eyes narrowing with interest. 'And this purple variant clearly carries so additional property. Blue lightning doesn't look like that. There's sothing different about it.'
Moon's eyes drifted casually toward the caras hovering nearby, the ones broadcasting his face to millions.
"Ti to end this show."
The lightning leapt from his hand.
A streak of purple tore across the open ground toward the charging Elephantos, faster than the eye could comfortably track.
~ZAP~
It struck the beast's drenched body.
BAM!
The purple lightning struck the Elephantos, spreading across every inch of its body, through the water coating that Selene had provided monts earlier.
The imnse current raced across its entire body in a heartbeat, wrapping it in a web of crackling violet energy that left no part of it untouched.
The Elephantos's eyes rolled back in an instant. Its colossal body seized, every muscle locking rigid mid-charge. Its montum carried it forward even as the lightning ravaged it from skin to soul, cries of agony tearing from its throat.
Then it collapsed re inches away from Moon, who remained standing in his position without moving.
Ten thousand pounds of beast crashing into the earth, sending a tremor through the entire starting site.
This ti, the colossal beast didn't get back up. Its willpower, and body could no longer drive it forward.
The Surpasser who had brought the beast watched with wide eyes, struggling to process what he had just witnessed.
'Two Three Star Evolvers... killed a Fourth Star Elephantos.'
Whilst it wasn't impossible to perceive, it certainly wasn't ant to be this easy of a task to complete. The two young mages made it seem effortless.
Even among Fourth Star beasts, the Elephantos was no pushover. Its body-refiner physique, its raw strength, its deceptive speed, all of it made it a nightmare for anyone below its rank.
And yet the two young mages had dismantled it with a fluency that made it look normal.
It was terrifying to think of, especially when the fact that the Elephantos could have likely taken any of their lives if it managed to land a single hit.
In the spectator stands, the silence shattered into an eruption of noise from the crowd.
The thrill on the audience's faces couldn't be hidden.
The purple lightning had exceeded every expectation they had, and the crowd that had been booing minutes ago was now roaring with excitent.
"Who is this guy?! The news channels didn't even list him as a promising candidate!"
"We watched every single fight on the first day and I never saw him once!"
A young man with ssy hair, square glasses, hunched over his phone, suddenly looked up.
"I just looked him up. He's one of the representative fighters of the Glassy Group."
The people around him turned.
"The Glassy Group? Isn't that the famous one led by Tom Glassy himself?"
The bespectacled young man nodded rapidly. "Indeed. And it gets better. From what I can tell, Tom gave Moon the Direct Entry Pass that his group received this year. Here's the shocking part."
He pushed his glasses up his nose. "He didn't even give it to his own son. Kael Glassy is also competing in this tournant, and he had to qualify the normal way. Tom handed the guaranteed spot to Moon instead."
"He chose an outsider over his own son?"
"That ans Tom believes in this Moon kid more than his own blood."
"Damn. An Ascender's personal endorsent."
"That's it. Moon Outlaw is my dark horse from now on."
"Don't get too excited now. Although this kid is stronger than he appeared to be, he is still nothing in comparison to the other competitors.
He is only a Third-Star Evolver, whilst those reaching peak of fourth star are also participating in the tournant." The Evolver that had previously hated on Moon, calling him useless, scoffed.
Those around glanced at him for a mont before shaking their heads, as if listening to an idiot speak.
The man's mouth twitched before scoffing once more.
The na spread through the stands like wildfire, passed from mouth to mouth, climbing the rows of the arena.
Moon Outlaw.
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