Absolute Soul
38. Haikal vs Edward II

The punch after punch that Haikal cast on Edward was so echoed in the eyes and minds of the audience. How not? Edward's ice strength was equivalent to an Expert level official Blazer, didn't that mean Haikal possessed physical exertion that surpassed an Expert Blazer?

For most Blazers who often relied on their respective Soul Arc, manipulating and controlling soul energy so well was difficult to do so once witnessing the unexpected power of Haikal shocked them.

Rumors that Haikal is a Blazer candidate with a sword-shaped Soul Arc are not a secret, but looking for power comparable to Haikal in his generation and level seems almost impossible if not geniuses.

"Is he a hidden genius? Not even Salvia managed to land a crushing attack on Edward!"

"There's no way he's not a genius if he's able to crush and knock down an Expert-level Blazer candidate at this age."

"But, hasn't he awakened his Soul Arc yet? It's hard to call him a genius if he can't summon his own Soul Arc."

Haikal's extraordinary strength at his age and level invited the discussion of the spectators and Guild representatives, but other than the Guild representatives no one dared to discuss loudly considering his opponent was Edward Ghaetas, either, descendants of the noble family of Ghaetas in the kingdom of Wileshia there.

While the audience had small discussions, in the fighting area Haikal was a little surprised by his own strength but was not shown. However, Haikal only trained physically using soul energy which he thought would not make such a meaningful change, but reality said otherwise.

When training for a month before the tournament began, Haikal did hold back a lot of his strength so that Salvia and Heru did not ask that, but to test his true strength was a different matter.

"It seems that in addition to adding stamina and soul energy, my body became stronger in accommodating more soul energy so that its strength exceeded my expectations," Haikal murmured trying to understand his own body.

Since the beginning of the soul energy has energy and qualities that are much different than physical energy and stamina, so when the soul energy fills the lack of energy in physical energy the strength is very strong, at least two to five times stronger than pure physical strength.

Basically, the human body has certain limits that have been set by the brain to maintain its internal organs, namely, but by coating the internal organs with soul energy to strengthen it, the brain can remove the barrier and provide power that exceeds reason.

But in actual combat it is difficult to maintain a protective concentration on the organs in the body with soul energy, so most Blazers decide to train the body to a certain stage to suppress the expenditure of soul energy.

Besides being able to minimize the expenditure of soul energy training the body can also increase the capacity of soul energy that is flowed into it, so that the more soul energy the stronger the power that can be obtained. That is why almost all Warrior and Rogue type Blazers have large and athletic bodies.

Haikal's body condition itself is slightly different from the usual Warrior and Rogue type Blazer, but if it must be explained then 'evolution' is the most appropriate word to describe it.

While Haikal was amazed at his newfound strength, Edward recovered from his shock and attacked Haikal once again using hundreds of pieces of ice. But again Haikal can overcome it by manipulating the surrounding wind using sheer force, making Edward so angry.

"You've gone too far, common maggots." Although Edward was visibly angry at first glance, it turned out that Edward was still able to maintain his wits and would attack Haikal without a care, "Cubery you're the gift as the first commoner who managed to hit me!"

After saying that Edward's body released a kind of blackish dark blue aura that is visible with the temperature around it decreased dramatically, then the aura slowly froze and formed a two and a half meter tall giant ice man with no lower body.

At that moment, Edward's hair turned dark blue while his iris, which was originally bright blue, turned red. Edward has entered into his Awakening changes.

"Hmm, faster than I thought." Haikal was a little surprised to see the changes Awakening Edward turned out to be much faster than he expected, whereas Haikal thought he would be overwhelmed and out of breath first before Edward activated his Awakening.

To overcome this Haikal flowed more soul energy throughout his body in order to increase his strength and speed to a safe limit that his body could accept, then put up empty-handed fighting horses.

"Then my physical strength is superior." Haikal then darted in the wind towards Edward was about to hit him as before, but unexpectedly the big ice man behind Edward moved to resist Haikal's attack.

Although Haikal has increased his strength more than ever, in fact, the power is not enough to destroy the black ice of Awakening Edward.

Haikal immediately jumped back realizing his attack was not working, but Edward disagreed. Edward quickly ordered his ice man to catch Haikal whose leg was caught, then without wasting time Edward threw Haikal as hard as he could against the arena wall, shaking the entire stadium.

"Huh, Ice Guardian is enough to defeat a commoner maggot like you." Edward smiled triumphantly and let go of his Awakening changes as well as destroying his ice man after throwing Haikal, assuming the young man had lost at that very moment.

When Edward felt victorious and began to step away from the battle area, Haikal's voice rang out all over the arena, "Is this just the power of the great Edward Ghaetas?"

Thanks to the call, Edward stopped and immediately Edward re-entered his Awakening changes, then ran furiously towards the source of the sound, "Fuckin' bellies!"

"Aren't you too careless?" Enshrouded by his enslaving anger, Edward does not realize that Haikal is already right under his shadow. Without wasting any time Haikal pushed his right fist successfully against Edward's chin.

Thanks to the punch Edward's body was lifted a few inches into the air, but Haikal did not give him a pause. The black-haired youth immediately twisted his body and netted a swirling heel kick at Edward's abdomen, sending his opponent slamming and dragged over the floor a few meters back.

"Ugh.... Fucking maggots...." Edward grimaced on the floor while holding his stomach in pain about to stand up, but Haikal again advanced and gave a slumping kick to his chin, sending Edward's body crashing backward a few steps.

Haikal did not use soul energy in the kick just now, only physical exertion. He did not want Edward to lose consciousness too quickly just because his body was too weak to physical strength.

Wizard-type blazers like Edward often do not train their bodies because they rely on magic attacks from his Soul Arc so that their bodies are weak against physical attacks. For Edward, his worst enemy was a melee type fighter who could quickly close the gap, just like Haikal had done just now.

Edward's groans sounded so painful even though they were only kicked with physical strength alone— with the physical strength of Haikal who was very well trained of course.

"Snakeshift.... How dare you beat me like this!" Edward shouted loudly full of anger, then touched the freezing floor quickly, "Frozen Ice Field!"

The blackish-blue ice spread was so fast that Haikal could not react, trapping Haikal's feet with ice in an instant. If Haikal's feet were frozen then it was difficult for him to dodge or counterattack, considering that the legs were one of the most important parts in martial arts.

Edward giggled softly as he rose from his slumped position on the floor realizing this time Haikal would accept all his attacks without being able to dodge. He then created his ice-clad spear, "After making me like this, I'll have to kill you with my own hands, you fucking rabble maggots!"

With great murderous lust Edward pushed his spear into Haikal's body, but Haikal also did not stupidly give up just because his feet were trapped by ice. He quickly caught Edward's spear eye using his left hand that had been coated in soul energy.

"You...." Edward's forehead shriveled violently knowing Haikal caught the sharp spear blade with only his bare hands, not least the spectators who witnessed it. Edward never expected Haikal to catch the sharp ice blade.

Without thinking for a second Haikal pulled his right hand and struck the air with all his might and a certain amount of soul energy towards Edward, throwing the young man on the floor several meters back.

"Air Smash... You didn't forget about my technique, did you?" Haikal raised his eyebrows in astonishment, why would the famous genius Edward be able to forget such a trivial thing?