Absolute Soul
41. Haikal vs Edward V

The full-power attack of Haikal's Giant Arm successfully destroyed the stone floor of the battle arena leaving almost the entire audience wide, especially Veindal and the Blazers.

"This kid can't be said to be a genius anymore...." Veindal gave a dry smile unexpectedly Haikal harbored such great strength, even though he thought Haikal only hid the physical strength of his extraordinary body, "It seems I still underestimated Raditya's son."

Although Veindal had often heard some news about Haikal's incompetence in various fields related to the Blazer and Soul Arc from some of his teachers and students, he had never been incited by these words.

After the fact that he was one of the few Cardinal-level Blazers in Wulodhasia to be counted on the fingers, Veindal never once underestimated or demeaned the Blazer as weak as anything.

In the past he had lost to someone who was not a genius and thanks to that defeat, Veindal thought human strength could not be judged by his talent or genius alone. Therefore in his eyes Haikal is not a student left behind or failed, but an undeveloped student.

When he saw the power that Haikal had been hiding all along, Veindal recalled Raditya Aldra, Haikal's father, "Radit, your son really looks like you." A small smile filled with sadness was created on Veindal's lips for a moment.

While Veindal and the other Blazers realized what was really going on, the audience again discussed the appearance of a giant, blackish-red hand that looked out and connected to Haikal's hand.

"Does his Soul Arc have the ability to change shape?"

"Shape-change? But, he was rumored to have a sword-shaped Soul Arc, a Warrior-type Blazer. Doesn't that shape-shifting belong to the Wizard type?"

"Is it possible that Haikal has more than one Soul Arc?"

The laymen who did not understand what Haikal was really doing only thought the sword in the young man's left hand was his Soul Arc, but once his sword turned into the gigantic hand the conjecture was broken, it broke, it makes them all confused.

In the fighting area Haikal looked exhausted and lost his breath, but he did not eliminate his Giant Arm that kept pressing on the floor as well as Edward. He realized Edward had not lost or given up, Haikal could feel the pressure of soul energy as well as the strength of Edward's determination so great to win.

"He is indeed a crazy noble, but his strength is undeniable including a high-class Blazer," Haikal murmured in his heart praising Edward's unyielding determination. At the same time Haikal also felt his soul energy draining rapidly, his breathing began to go numb and fatigue invaded him.

Haikal unwittingly loosened his energy on his Giant Arm, causing Edward who realized it not to miss the opportunity.

"A chance!" Edward expended more soul energy and created ice, but not ordinary ice. This time he instantly created the ice on his back, then formed a medium-sized humanoid ice figure that immediately freed Edward from the pressure of the Giant Arm, making Haikal a little surprised.

Haikal's forehead was slightly scowled to see Edward who was so deft in observing the situation, unfortunately this situation was not a situation that benefited him. However it could be seen that his armour and ice-flagged spear had been destroyed thanks to the Giant Arm's attack.

It could be seen that both Haikal and Edward had lost quite a lot of soul energy. Their breaths were both irregular and sweat filled their entire bodies, some parts of their bodies also seemed to tremble a little, especially the waist down.

Haikal had already eliminated his Giant Arm given that the technique required a lot of soul energy, meanwhile, Edward who also could not hold the humanoid ice attached to his back so that it would release control and shape the ice.

"Heh, you... have run out of soul energy? That means we're both finished, huh?" Haikal curled a smile realizing that no one was superior in the situation and intended to heat up Edward, unfortunately Edward was too busy managing his breath to reply to Haikal.

Wiping off the sweat on his forehead and cheeks, Edward never once took off his hostile glare from Haikal, "He was no ordinary commoner.... How'd he balance me out here?"

It took some time for the two to recover a bit of their breath and stamina, but not so long until the audience protested.

"You're gonna finish off here.. maggots!" After he felt a little better, Edward could not hold back his emotions and expended so much soul energy that it created ice rocks around him.

The pressure of Edward's soul energy far exceeded the average level of other High School students, it could be seen from how wide the reach and weight of soul energy he expended. In addition, there was a thin, whitish blue aura glowing around Edward's body that could only be seen by a few people, including Haikal.

As the audience shuddered at the pressure of Edward's soul energy and the cold temperatures, Haikal's smile widened and his spirit burned, "That's how it should be, Edward Ghaetas! I will crush all your strength and pride with this hand!"

Not wanting to lose to Edward, Haikal mustered all the soul energy left in him and fought back the pressure that Edward exerted. The pressure of Haikal's soul energy was not much different from Edward's so as to compensate for the pressure.

Thanks to the second clash of soul energy pressure that was so strong, some of the spectators lost consciousness because they were not strong in the face of such a strong soul energy pressure, while some who could still survive continued to listen to this match.

Since the beginning of watching the fight between Blazers up close is actually not allowed for ordinary people because the soul energy of fighters can have an impact like this, but because this tournament is a match between students at SMA— level, moreover the first class—, no one would have expected the pressure of soul energy as great as this could be produced by the two students.

The clash of Haikal and Edward's soul energy pressure was so intense that it caused the arena floor to crack in some places, but both of them looked unconcerned. They just looked at each other and increased each other's strength as much as possible.

Edward's thin whitish blue aura grew more visible as the amount of soul energy he released, while the blackish-red aura in Haikal's body also grew more and more concentrated and viscous at the same time.

"Winter Lion Minus Form: First Code – Glacial Atlas!" Edward exerted more soul energy forming a humanoid ice giant like before, it's just that this ice giant has a height of 10 meters above the floor and has more detailed human organs such as eyes, ears, hair, and some others.

Watching the height of the ice giant, everyone present in the arena widened their eyes as wide as possible. Creating an ice giant as high and as big as this is not the SMA level anymore, but rather the high-level Blazer level.

"It.. outrageous...."

"Edward's level is impossible to be called a high school student anymore."

Few onlookers dared to comment feeling awe and fear for Edward, while the rest were too frightened to speak.

"This is no longer tournament-level!" One of the teachers immediately stood looking at the ice giant created by Edward, then looked at Veindal with a face full of worry, "School head, shouldn't this be stopped?!"

The teacher's words seemed ignored by Veindal who was too focused on the match, but Veindal could still hear and answer him, "Don't stop. Whatever happens don't stop this fight."

The teachers in the same room as Veindal were shocked to death by the white-haired middle-aged man's statement, then were furious to hear Veindal sounding unfair, "Chief, school, are you just going to save your daughter's life?! Not with your students?!"

Veindal closed his eyes for a few seconds hearing a reply from a teacher, then pointed at Haikal without distracting him, "The boy is still not willing to give up, there is no sense of despair in his eyes. You want me to stop this now? Don't joke."

The teachers who initially panicked this time seemed even more surprised when they saw the expression Haikal showed in the battle area there. He seemed happy and satisfied, very different from normal High School students in general.

Haikal instead of feeling happy and satisfied because of this fight, he was not a battle maniac like Carlos Ogwine. He was only happy that Edward was unleashing his full power, "With this I can destroy you completely, Edward Ghaetas!"

"Try it, Haikal Alendra! I'll finish you off like the Snow Princess!" Unaccepting with Haikal's passionate exclamation and determination, Edward, who was in the chest of the Glacial Atlas, pushed his ice giant fist towards the Haikal below, "Glacial Atlas: Atlas Fist!"

Blaar!!

In one blow the Glacial Atlas managed to destroy three-quarters of the arena floor, shaking the entire ground within a considerable radius, making many panic mistook the tremors for an earthquake or Verg attack from outside the city.

"What the hell is with that power?!"

"He wants to kill us all?!"

"If it wasn't for the security blazers deploying the energy field, then it could have exhausted our history of ordinary humans."

Not a few spectators protested because Edward's attack power was too great to almost injure or kill the audience accidentally. If only the late security Blazer activated the energy-protective field that was around the battle area, perhaps this entire arena could collapse.

The dust of the three-quarters of the floor of the battle area destroyed the scene, but there was one conclusion that could be drawn by everyone who witnessed it. No matter how strong Haikal is, if hit by this attack then Haikal will not be able to survive.

"Who-who is...?" The lawyer could see the great shadow of Edward's Glacial Altas, but as dust covered his vision he could not check Haikal's defeat. Everyone believed that Haikal was clearly defeated, including the lawyer.

But as a lawyer and commentator, he should not give the announcement of the wrong winner as before. This time he had to make sure of Haikal's defeat before announcing Edward as the winner.

"Heh... no matter what, you can't survive the Atlas Fist...." Edward staggered weakly inside the chest of the Glacial Atlas, but could still maintain the shape of this 10-meter-high ice giant while berating Haikal who felt he could only talk big.

As Edward grew calm and victorious, suddenly a shadow darted from below swiftly among the dust of the sky through the highest dust and the head of the Glacial Atlas, revealing his figure.

"That's Haikal! Haikal Aldra still survives and he's up in the sky!" The lawyer exclaimed loudly bringing great disbelief to everyone who witnessed it, not least Edward who was most shocked among all.

"Thou-impossible! He should've gone tomato porridge with Atlas Fist!" Edward did not believe Haikal could escape the attack, but he had no choice but to trust his own eyes.

There is a Haikal figure that appears to stand in the air as far as 20 meters above the floor surface area. His body was covered in blood and wounds and his upper clothes were almost completely torn, but Haikal did not care about it.

Not much said, once gravity pulled Haikal to take a position ready to attack the Glacial Atlas and Edward in his chest, making Edward surprised and afraid.

"Fuck you, you common maggots!!" Edward who lost his composure for fear of immediately deploying two hands Glacial Atlas intended to capture and squeeze Haikal to shreds, but the intention was just mere intention.

Haikal channeled a large amount of his soul energy into the Soul Saber in his left hand, then split the two ice hands together as well as the neck of the Glacial Altas with the Soul Saber blade that extended for five meters thanks to his soul energy, surprised everyone who witnessed it, Edward was no exception.

Without his two giant ice hands Edward has no way to strike again except to take off the Glacial Atlas and manipulate its remaining ice freely, but it could not do so because his soul energy was insufficient to do so.

After all, it was too late for Edward to give up his form of Glacial Atlas, at this time Haikal had reached right in the chest of the Glacial Atlas where Edward was, at that time, then concentrate all of his remaining soul energy into his right hand and unleash one mighty blow.

Braaakk!!

In an instant both the chest, stomach, shoulders, and hands of the Glacial Atlas turned into invisible ice dust, leaving only the weak body of Edward Ghateas that seemed to float in the air.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Haikal then took off Salvia's borrowed Soul Saber and put all his remaining energy, both soul energy and muscle alone.

"This is the last one!" Whilst exclaiming loudly Haikal pushed his left fist with all his might against a full-power punch on Edward's face, the young man crashed into the stadium's barrier wall while creating the largest crack ever seen so far as the Welcome Tournament began.