Chapter 686: All Formations
In order to regain his Qi and mana as quickly as possible, Raze needed extreme concentration while performing his cultivation meditation techniques. It was the quickest way to draw energy from the places around him.
He wasn't a genius like Safa, who could cultivate just by simply standing and breathing. The return of his energy was depleted after using a cursed Qi pill to restore his mana and producing a second spell to bring the Crimson Crane here. If he wanted to fight, he needed to regain his energy.
Still, it was impossible for Raze not to be distracted by what was going on outside. In the middle of his focus, he would listen in and take a peek at how the others were doing in the fight.
'The Dark Faction has brought stronger members than I thought. I didn't even know there were strong members outside of the main five clan heads. It seems that there was more power in the Dark Faction than expected.'
Raze was done with filling his magic core, and in response, he closed his eyes and started the life and death cycle to restore his Qi. He slightly changed his sitting position, from his hands' gestures together raising up, to lowering down.
Through magic, Raze had learned the effectiveness of trigger words. By linking certain words and phrases to spells, one's mind could create the magic circle needed to produce the spell.
So, similar to his trigger words, he was cementing certain actions to switch between cultivating methods so it wouldn't take him long to get into the routine again. He knew by switching his hand gestures that his body naturally went into taking demonic energy rather than dark energy for his magic core.
As he was cultivating, there was a slight worry in Raze.
'Is the blooded woman going to come again? By using this technique, I'm not in the Demonic Faction or Dark Faction, and right now I don't really have a choice. If anything, it might be handy for her to come down.'
Ignoring the risks, Raze went ahead and was gathering his demonic energy back. After a while, Raze couldn't help but once again take a peek at the situation, and he noticed someone who wasn't doing well.
'Cronker and the students, who even is that they're going up against!' Raze thought.
'I've gathered a lot of Qi and mana back. I can fight and help out, but I was cultivating so I could go against Murkel.'
Looking at the situation, Raze could see that Alba, Dame, and Amir seemed to at least be holding Murkel back. Murkel was finding it tricky dealing with Amir's transformed state, almost being careful with it.
On top of that, there looked to be a lot that Amir knew about Murkel, making it easier for him to fight against, and the news and techniques had been passed to Dame as well, who was holding his own.
'If I don't do something, then all of them will die, and I was the one that involved them!' Stopping his cultivation, Raze stood firm. He knew he wouldn't be able to reach in time, so he activated one of the formations of the Dark Edge Sword Arts.
'The third formation, Nightmare Veil formation, magic.' Raze's Dark magic was being added to his Dark Edge formations for the first time. It was something he had kept hidden during the tournament, only using the Dark Edge formations themselves.
His sword was lingering with a dark mist that spread out. Then he swung his sword, and an image of a beast appeared—a wolf created by his Dark magic, moving and attempting to bite onto Arkon's arm.
When Arkon turned to look in the direction of where the wolf had come from, that's where he could see Raze.
"You speak too much, your first mistake!" Arkon said as he attempted to charge forward against the student.
From Arkon's assessment, he had gathered that the most dangerous person out on this arena floor right now was this man. He assumed he was resting but had been called out from his rest due to the worry of his colleagues.
This was why Arkon found it so easy to deal with the other factions. They just didn't have it in them to do whatever it took to win.
When Arkon came close, Raze swung his sword multiple times. A large scene appeared from his sword—a large bear- like creature among other things were all heading toward Arkon.
Arkon had no clue what this technique was, but he was unfazed as he went to cut them all down. The beasts almost felt like they had a type of physical body as he swung his needles to go through them. Each time he broke them apart, the lingering Dark magic would hit him, and he learned it was something to avoid.
Then appearing right in front of him was a large bear made from the magic. Arkon had no choice as he felt like just slicing through this magic beast would just harm him more. He lifted up his two needle weapons, and they started to expand out, spikes in all directions ripping through parts of the shadow.
It had hit the magical beast so much that it had practically become nothing, and there was next to no damage done to Arkon as well. That was until he saw, now having defeated the bear made of Dark magic, he could see Raze on the other side, with both hands holding onto the hilt of his sword.
"I've seen this before. Although this was effective on the students you faced, do you really think it's going to be effective on me!" Arkon claimed, as both of his needles were covered in a dark red energy.
"This is not the same as what you saw. The second formation, Dark Magic Sword Eclipse Strike!" Raze called out. The magic was swirling around the sword itself, even though it was already covered and condensed into an obsidian black.
Arkon's two needle-like weapons, which were held up, stopped the sword, but his Qi didn't even last a moment as it was engulfed by the attack. The whole of Arkon's body looked to be covered by the Eclipse Strike.
The attack had covered part of the entire arena, engulfing the entire area. Then finally, the attack had stopped. Arkon had been pushed back partly by the attack.
His upper clothes had been obliterated, leaving only his skin to be on show, and even that was covered in strange markings that almost looked like burns.
Yet he was still smiling.
"You are strong… that was a lot stronger than I thought… you are seriously dangerous," Arkon said, still with his weapon in his hands.
Raze wasn't done though. Taking the sword down, he charged forward.
"I don't have time to talk, old man, I just need to get rid of you all."
"Dark Edge Sword Arts Fourth Formation, Magic Void Pulse!" Raze rushed across the area, along with his sword. A large pulse of magic mixed with Qi propelled him forward, and a wave was sent out behind him.
The sword went right through Arkon's head, aimed perfectly. He could do nothing to stop the attack.
"That's one of you down," Raze said as he pulled the sword out and Arkon fell to the floor.