Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls Chapter 91: Amélia vs Kael (II)

The winds around the platform roared like an uncontrollable storm, whipping clothes and hair, while Kael's shadow spread across the ground like a black, hungry tide, devouring every inch of the space beneath his feet. His greenish aura shimred, pulsing like a colossal heart, with each beat echoing through the air, carrying absolute power.

Hella, who had until then remained a re spectator, felt a chill run down her spine. Her smile vanished instantly.

"This... isn't ordinary magic," she murmured to herself, her gaze sharp and focused.

The professors, who had once been rely impressed, now exchanged glances, a shiver of pure nervousness growing between them. That power... that presence... It was not sothing any student should be able to manifest.

On the lower floors, the defeated competitors, who had previously groaned in pain or muttered about their losses, were now in absolute silence. It wasn't a silence of acceptance, but one of pure survival instinct. Their bodies already understood, even if their minds didn't want to admit it: what they were witnessing was not sothing they could fight against.

And then there was Alia.

Unlike the others, she didn't feel fear, but her heart raced uncontrollably. The air around her crackled, reacting to her own mana, which began to expand like a furious sun. The pressure Kael exuded made her bones vibrate, her skin tingle.

"Tch… and I thought there wouldn't be a real opponent." She licked her lips, excited, her pupils slightly dilated.

Kael smiled, his cold and determined gaze shining amidst that magical storm.

"Now we're talking," he said, raising his hand and closing it into a fist. "Let's fight for real."

And then... the chaos began.

The platform beneath them shook violently before being torn apart by a wave of pure energy. Alia was the first to act, firing blue beams like ice lances at Kael. He barely moved; his shadow rose like a living wall, swallowing the projectiles as if they were nothing.

"Tsc!" Alia clicked her tongue, jumping back.

With a fluid motion, Kael raised his hand, and countless spheres of black and green energy materialized around him, spinning in chaotic patterns. With the slightest movent of his fingers, the spheres were shot like teors toward Alia.

She reacted in the last mont. A blue magic circle appeared beneath her feet, and in the blink of an eye, she moved with absurd speed, dodging the explosions that shattered the platform behind her. Each impact made the ground crumble, creating craters and shockwaves.

"Are you trying to kill ?!" Alia shouted, but the smile on her lips showed she was enjoying it.

"Just testing your resilience," Kael replied, making a quick gesture.

The shadow beneath him expanded once again, and from within it, countless black spears shot toward Alia, attacking her from all sides. She spun in the air, conjuring a brilliant magic shield around herself, deflecting and blocking the attacks simultaneously.

But Kael was already in motion.

Before Alia could catch her breath, he appeared beside her, his hand surrounded by pure energy. He struck toward her, and Alia barely had ti to raise her arms to block. The impact was like thunder.

BOOM!

She was launched like a missile, hurtling through the air and violently colliding with one of the floating platforms. The impact shattered the entire structure, and dust and debris flew in all directions.

The spectators watched in absolute shock.

"Are these two... really children?" one of the professors murmured, unable to believe what they were witnessing.

"This is..." Another tried to say sothing, but the words failed.

Hella, on the other hand, simply crossed her arms. Her gaze was fixed on Kael, trying to decipher how serious he truly was in his fight.

Alia erged from the debris, coughing, a thin line of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. But instead of getting angry... she smiled.

"That was incredible!" She wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, her eyes glowing with excitent. "But now it's my turn."

Kael raised an eyebrow, sensing a sudden change in the mana around her.

"Ice Palace." The air grew dense and biting. In an instant, crystalline pillars began to erge from nowhere, growing rapidly like pure ice lances. The platforms around them were swallowed by the colossal monunt that rose, trapping them inside a magnificent crystal hall. The floor was a mirror of ice, the walls sparkling like diamonds under an otherworldly bluish light.

Kael frowned. "What the hell..."

Before he could process everything, Umbra appeared beside him, floating with an unusually serious expression. "Kid... watch out for her magic."

Kael narrowed his eyes. "What do you an?" he asked.

"This isn't ordinary ice." Umbra's voice carried an unusual weight. "Eternal Glacial Magic. If she hits you directly, it won't just be cold... you'll turn into a beautiful piece of eternal ice."

Kael felt a shiver down his spine... and it wasn't just from the cold.

He looked at Alia, who was watching him with an enigmatic smile, her breath now forming white mist around her lips.

Alia raised her hand, and the ice responded to her command, moving as if alive. The ground beneath Kael cracked open, ice spikes suddenly erging from all directions, aiming to impale him.

He reacted just in ti, bending his legs and propelling himself backward with a sorsault in mid-air. The wind howled around him as he spun, narrowly escaping the ice blades that almost tore his body apart.

"Umbra..." He called ntally, landing smoothly on one of the ice platforms. His sharp eyes scanned the environnt in a second, and with a fluid movent of his hand, he released a cutting gust of wind, reducing the incoming ice to nothing but sparkling fragnts. "Is soone watching us in here?"

"Just that woman with green hair. The others don't have the skill for this." Umbra's voice ca laced with amusent, but also a hint of seriousness.

Kael smirked. "I see... Then let's end this."

In the next instant, his body vanished in a gust of wind.

Alia blinked, confused. The ice hall was silent. No sign of him. Only her own reflection stretched across the crystalline surfaces.

But sothing was wrong. The air felt different. Cold... yet unstable.

Then ca the whisper. A chill ran down her spine.

By the ti she realized it, it was already too late.

A freezing wind passed by her side, subtle as a ghost. Before she could react, a presence appeared behind her.

Kael erged from the very wind, his body materializing in an instant. His hand was already in motion when Alia tried to spin around to counterattack.

The impact ca like thunder.

BOOOOM!

The blow hit Alia squarely, throwing her with absurd force. Her body tore through the air like a projectile, shattering several layers of ice before colliding with one of the palace walls. The impact caused the entire structure to tremble, cracks spreading across the crystal as an energy wave exploded outward.

Ice fragnts fell like teors around her.

Frozen dust rose into the air, obscuring the view.

And then, a sound.

Laughter.

Inside the ice mist, Alia wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth, a sharp smile forming on her face. Her eyes shone with excitent.

"So, this is how it's going to be?" she murmured, flexing her fingers.

The ice around her vibrated, responding to her call.

"Great."

The cold grew more intense. The ice palace trembled.

Kael rely raised an eyebrow, watching as the entire environnt began to shift.

"This is getting interesting." Alia's eyes sparkled with a frenzied light. Her body trembled, but not from pain or exhaustion... but from pure euphoria.

She raised her arms, and the ice responded violently to her call. Ice spikes shot up from the ground in every direction, sharp stalactites fell from the ceiling like divine lances, and a blizzard of cutting snow overtook the hall.

"More... More... MORE!!!" Alia scread, her smile widening into sothing almost insane. Her entire body was enveloped in a mantle of icy energy, her hair floated in the air like flas of a white fire. "Show more of your power, Kael! Don't you dare disappoint now!"

But he was no longer there.

The sound of sothing breaking echoed. An instant later, a torrent of cutting wind swept across the hall, shattering the ice spikes before they even got close to him.

Kael appeared right before her, his expression completely unshaken.

With a single motion, he raised his hand and the very air bent to his will. An explosion of pure pressure ford around Alia, crushing her snow and dissipating her cold like it was nothing.

"Is that all?" he asked, his voice serene, almost indifferent.

Alia gasped, her eyes widening.

"You...!"

She roared, retreating and clapping her hands together. The ground instantly froze. A massive hand of ice rose beneath Kael, trying to grab him and crush him between its colossal fingers.

But he didn't even move.

The wind howled.

In the blink of an eye, the ice hand shattered into a storm of particles, as if it had never existed.

Alia laughed. A laugh full of delight and madness.

"Yes! This, this, THIS! Fight for real, Kael! Show that you're a monster too!"

She shot forward, encased in an armor of ice as she created countless crystal swords around her, launching them like missiles toward him.

Kael sighed.

With a single snap of his fingers, a wave of cutting wind enveloped his body, destroying all the blades before they could even get close.

He took a step forward.

And then... he vanished.

Alia blinked, and in the next instant, he was right above her.

A quick punch struck her abdon. The air was ripped from her lungs as she was thrown backward, spinning through the air.

But even then, she laughed.

She straightened herself mid-air, forcing herself to land on her feet, sliding backward on the ice.

"This is what I wanted... THIS!!!"

Her whole body trembled, her mana roaring in every direction.

But then... sothing happened.

The light around her flickered.

The cold dissipated.

Her body weakened.

Her knees gave way.

And her mana... disappeared.

The entire hall fell into silence.

Alia blinked, surprised, looking at her own hands.

She tried to summon more magic. Tried to create any fragnt of ice.

Nothing happened.

Her mana had completely drained.

Kael stood still, watching her calmly.

Alia, on the other hand, gasped, panting, her body covered in cold sweat.

Then, she threw her head back... and laughed.

A loud, hoarse, and exhausted laugh.

"I... lost..." she murmured, her smile still present. "Hahaha... Damn..."

She fell to her knees, her shoulders trembling with exhaustion.

Kael walked up to her, stopping right in front of her.

He crouched slightly, looking her in the eyes.

"Are we done?" he asked, his tone calm, but tinged with a hint of amusent.

Alia raised her eyes to him, still panting, and then... she realized... her face imdiately flushed...

'I-I've never shown this side of ...' she stamred ntally... And Kael, seeing how she seed to hide...

"It's alright, I won't tell anyone," Kael smiled at her.

"How cute, another cal-" Umbra began, but... "Quiet." Kael ordered Umbra to stay silent.