Chapter 331

Liam POV

He knew he was talented. Ever since childhood, his parents had reminded him of his talents and wouldn't let him squander them. The moment they knew about his perfect ice affinity, they hired some of the best instructors they could find to train Liam.

They spared no expense in cultivating his talent. He spent several hours every single day practicing the exercises his teachers had created for him. He rarely had time to play with the other children. No matter how much he did, it never seemed to be enough for his parents. They always wanted more.

However, it wasn’t like he didn’t enjoy it either. Some days were more boring than others, but overall, he had fun training—not that he would let his parents know that.

Regardless, it was his parents' expectations that burdened him. They wanted him to achieve something they never could: becoming an elite fighter who stood at the top of his generation. They tried it with his siblings, but they couldn’t handle the pressure.

Of his many siblings, only his sister had become an elite fighter. However, the irony was that their overbearingness had ended up pushing her away. She didn’t talk to anyone in the family anymore, but rather spent her time with her friends and her husband’s family. He didn’t blame her either.

If not for his uncle, he might have felt the same way. Uncle Travis helped ease the pressure his parents placed on him, constantly reminding Liam that it was his path to create, not theirs.

His parents were ‘strong’ in their own right. Each of them was Tier 4, but they weren’t anything special compared to others at the same tier. They reached Tier 4 at a relatively young age thanks to consuming natural treasures and special potions.

He doubted they would ever reach Tier 5, and if they did, they would forever be at the bottom of the tier, unable to get any stronger. At least that was what Uncle Travis explained to him. At that moment, he decided that he never wanted to become like that.

When he arrived at Goldencrest, he searched for similar people to make friends with and who could keep up with him. And he believed that he had found them.

However, they didn’t want anything to do with him. Even Aubrey, a girl he still couldn’t help but have a crush on after all these years, wouldn’t give him the time of day. She would always spite him, no matter how much he tried to befriend her.

It wasn’t entirely her fault, either. Liam wasn’t the most warm and fuzzy person. His ice affinity gave people the impression that he was numb and cold. This was especially true these past couple of years. To make things worse, he had noticed that his desire to befriend them had slowly turned into bitter resentment.

Then, when he saw Julius so easily achieve what young Liam had desperately wanted without any trouble, he couldn’t help but feel that same resentment start to build toward them, including Julius. He had tried so hard to be friends with them, and all his attempts had failed.

Yet, when the young boy burrowed his way into their friend group with such ease, it was a bitter pill to swallow, and he realized too late that he had started to despise the boy. It was the reason why he had harassed the poor boy. Liam wasn’t proud of his behavior and wished he could have gone back in time and prevented his old self from making such a dumb mistake.

Then, to make things worse, he ended up getting matched against Julius. He still couldn’t believe that the young first-year had managed to reach Tier 3 in such a short time. Not only that, but he ended up being good enough to make it to the top sixteen.

Liam saw his fight with Darren the other day. It was impressive, and he had truly proven to Liam that he was someone to be taken seriously.

The real comedy of the situation was that Liam believed that Julius's fighting was inspiring. His skill, power, and unnatural calmness allowed him to be in complete control of himself. However, his emotions weren't completely stifled like Liam did with his own skill. Julius was clearly having fun and wanted to prove something to Liam.

Liam could tell that the boy was purposefully taking his attacks without dodging. He wanted to prove to Liam that even his best wouldn’t break through his defenses.

It was both irritating and exciting. Then, before he fully realized it, he was having fun alongside Julius.

It was funny because it had been what he’d been looking for all these years. He wanted someone to train with and compete against to push himself further.

However, Liam’s eyes widened in alarm as he saw these constructs appear over Julius’s shoulders. Liam had only seen Julius’s constructs during the fight with Bethany. However, during that match, Julius had only created a single spike at a time. So Liam was very surprised that the young boy was able to control half a dozen that appeared even stronger than the last time.

Liam sent a strong surge of his willpower and his skill to disrupt these constructs. He could feel stunned as it felt like his willpower and skill hit a steel mountain. In that brief battle of wills, he swiftly understood that Julius’s willpower was stronger than his own.

Much stronger.

His icy exterior and his focus skill broke for a brief moment, as he let out a surprised laugh. The challenging look in Julius’s eyes only envirogated him and he chose to meet this challenge head on. If Julius wanted a fight then he would get it.

He took control of all the surrounding ice mana he had been placing around the field and gathered it into six swords of ice. He infused his Emblem into them before sending them blistering toward his opponent.

His eyebrows raised when he saw the other boy’s spikes tear through his swords. His swords had only been enough to destroy five of the six spikes. The last one was still piercing through the air, heading right for his head. Fire mana was truly the bane of his constructs.

With an instinctual reaction, he used the icy mist to slow down the projectile and used his disruption technique to try and break down the spike. But it wasn’t enough and he had to create a thick barrier of ice in front of his body to protect himself.

Even with all this, the spike slammed into it and almost broke through. Cracks spread throughout the ice wall as it barely held on. Liam couldn’t focus on this, though. He had to deal with the next volley of spikes heading right for him.

These ones weren’t quite as strong as the last ones, but the speed at which they were created was the real danger. He wasn’t completely prepared to take another attack.

With a grunt of effort, he pulled apart his cracked wall of ice and created several smaller orbs of ice to intercept these spikes. Of course, this wasn’t enough to destroy them, but it altered their trajectories just enough that he was able to sidestep them with his movement skill.

Then, before the other boy could understand what he was doing, he dashed forward. Although he was a mage, he had certain tricks up his sleeve.

He was honestly relieved when he saw the confusion on his opponent’s face. He didn’t think the other boy would ever show the slightest bit of surprise during the fight. Thus, it made him feel better that it was possible to catch him off guard.

He took in scattered bits of ice from his recently destroyed ice orbs and used that to create another cloud of icy mist. This time, though, he made it much denser and kept it close to his body. If he couldn’t find an advantage fighting at range, then he would just have to change things up.

He started creating this technique after his uncle first showed him what a Domain was. It was a cheap mockery of a true Domain, but it was still a powerful technique, one that he planned to use as the basis for his own Domain eventually.

He infused his willpower and Concepts into the mist, then used this increased pressure to attack the boy.

The sheer amount of ice mana and Concepts would make his opponent's mana manipulation harder to control when within its sphere of influence.

He created a sword made of ice in his right hand and sent a quick slash at his opponent, forcing him to step back and avoid the sharp edge. Liam wasn’t the best swordsman, but he had enough experience that he wouldn’t embarrass himself. And with the slowing effect of his pseudo domain, he had an advantage.

At least that was what he had been expecting. However, the young boy grinned at Liam before a ridiculous surge of aura and mana rushed out of the boy, increasing his speed to scary levels. Liam had to create a sloppy slab of ice to protect his chest as a fist almost tore a hole through his body.

Liam had been aware of it since the fight began, but the boy’s aura was weird. The entire time, he couldn’t help but feel like it had been smothered with a thick wool blanket as if the boy was purposefully holding it back. However, with that recent surge, he felt the wool blanket get tossed to the side, and he almost bit his own tongue in shock.

The aura had him choking on his own spit as his focus skill did its best to protect him. The aura was pure destruction. It ate away at everything it touched. He doubted the people watching would be able to tell, since they were way too far away. But since he was up close, he was able to feel the oppressive nature.

What did the boy have to experience and go through to have such a destructive aura? People’s aura didn’t become like that unless something drastic happened.

Thankfully, his own aura was powerful enough that it wasn’t completely overwhelmed, enabling him to fight back, barely. When the boy came in with a fist empowered with kinetic energy, he spat out a needle of ice from his mouth, a silly trick that took a surprising number of people off guard.

However, his opponent somehow expected and calmly tilted his head to the side, letting the needle graze his temple. Liam swung his sword upward and took a step backward. But Julius created a set of gauntlets over his forearms and used them to deflect the sword from carving into his face.

On the back foot, Liam was left undefended as the gauntlet came smashing toward his throat, forcing him to use his movement skill once again and simultaneously activate [Frostmist Form]. He hated using the form since it used so much mana, but he had no choice.

The fist passed through him and he quickly deactivated the skill before it could suck all of his mana away. Then he took control of the mana inside his pseudo domain, creating an exploding effect that pushed Julius away, and allowed him space to breathe.

Julius loosened his shoulders as he rebalanced himself and started walking toward Liam with that same calm grin. Most people would have been nervous to enter Liam’s pseudo domain again, but not him.

Julius charged right in without hesitation, and Liam found himself on the back foot again. The young boy's sheer speed was ridiculous. He didn’t understand how his body was handling such extreme amounts of power.

It had to be some kind of berserk or overlimit skill.

He was forced to use [Frostmist Form] several more times. There was no other option. He was keenly aware of his dwindling mana reserves. However, there was nothing he could do if he wanted to survive.

He was more frustrated at the complete lack of exertion on Julius’s end. It seemed like the boy had an entire ocean of mana and stamina remaining. To make matters more insane, he was still pumping out more mana than Liam could comprehend. There was no way the boy could still have so much mana left.

In the end, it wasn’t even his mana reserves that let him down first. The next time he used [Frostmist Form], he felt something crush into his stomach, and he went flying into the distance.

He struggled to get up to his feet. He was shocked. The boy somehow managed to hit him through the skill, something he didn’t imagine was possible. He sent a volley of ice swords at the incoming boy, but they weren't able to stop him. Julius smashed them apart with his fists, and although he activated the skill once more, his chest was still crushed.

He released the rest of his ice mana in a wave of sheer cold, desperately fighting back, but his opponent tanked it like it was nothing, and Liam found himself closing his eyes as Julius’s fist approached his face for the final time.