Chapter 453: A Frontal Clash

Third Person’s POV

The earth demon, however, was convinced of his advantage.

Seeing that Ethan hadn’t taken flight, he assumed the gravity spell had already rendered those dark wings useless.

A cruel grin spread beneath his earthen helm as the pleasure of crushing a young, arrogant genius flooded his thoughts.

He sensed the anxious gazes of the girls in the square and wanted nothing more than to smash that pretty face into something unrecognizable.

Hidden by his helmet, no one saw the twisted delight in his expression as he leapt forward one final time and brought the massive mace down toward Ethan’s head with overwhelming force.

The air itself seemed to thicken and compress and became unbearably heavy as the attack descended.

Seeing such a raw display of brute force and power, everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

Yet contrary to what everyone expected, Ethan was not terrified.

Instead, he was exhilarated.

The added burden pressed down on his body like a mountain, but instead of resisting it, he embraced it.

This pressure and this near-crushing force might be exactly what he needed to push his body beyond its current limits.

His teeth clenched, and just as the mace came within a foot of his head, Ethan’s lips curled upward into a nefarious grin.

The sudden expression shocked the earth demon and stunned everyone watching, as they had assumed he was frozen in fear.

In the next instant, a black, curved, wide saber materialized in Ethan’s right hand.

Its body was as dark as ink as it absorbed light rather than reflecting it, while its tip gleamed with a cold, malevolent sharpness.

Gripping it with both hands, Ethan stepped back a single pace and slashed upward in a sharp diagonal arc.

Because he had little time to prepare his body for such a violent clash, the blade did not meet the mace head-on.

Instead, it slid expertly along the spiked surface as he redirected its momentum.

With a sudden burst of strength, Ethan twisted his wrists and forced the weapon away.

The mace narrowly missed his shoulder by a hair’s breadth before crashing into the ground with cataclysmic force.

BANG!

Stone tiles shattered instantly, and cracks spread outward like a spiderweb as it carved destruction into the courtyard floor.

And Ethan stood there in a steady and unbroken state as his eyes burned with intent.

His sudden counterattack clearly caught the earth demon off guard, if only for a brief moment.

Seizing that fleeting opening without hesitation, Ethan planted his left foot firmly on the shattered head of the spiked mace and used it as a pivot.

With a sharp twist of his body, he drove his foot upward and kicked straight into the chin of the deacon’s heavy helmet.

The force behind the kick was not overwhelming, nor was it meant to be lethal, but it was delivered with impeccable timing and precision.

Even so, it sent the bulky deacon staggering backward, and his massive frame swayed as he nearly lost his balance and fell.

However, Ethan grimaced faintly as the impact reverberated up his leg.

A dull ache spread through his bones, and he couldn’t help but inwardly marvel at just how absurdly hard and dense the man’s earthen armor truly was.

Still, the result spoke for itself as once again, the crowd was left stunned.

They had watched, almost in disbelief, as Ethan deflected a devastating blow that would have crippled or killed most combatants outright, and he did this with calm composure and with such flawless execution.

Even a slight miscalculation in timing or force would have ended him, yet he stood unharmed with an expression that seemed to say that it was a pity that his kick didn’t harm the earth demom.

Soft gasps rippled through the spectators.

“How handsome…”

“How heroic…”

Several girls murmured unconsciously, and their eyes started sparkling with excitement and admiration.

The sight only served to inflame the surrounding young men, whose faces twisted with jealousy and simmering resentment as they glared at Ethan.

Taking full advantage of the deacon’s momentary disorientation, Ethan did not relent.

A cold, biting aura suddenly surged outward from his body as his arms and legs began to glow with a pale, icy radiance.

He activated every trace of frozen elemental mana hidden deep within his flesh, drawing it outward and flooding his body with it.

His skin gradually took on a faint, light-blue sheen and became almost translucent, and it looked as if it were sculpted from crystal-clear ice.

Beneath the surface, the outlines of his veins and muscles became visible, sharply defined and pulsing with power.

His eyes shifted to a frosty bluish hue, and his lips paled as his expression hardened into something cold and resolute.

Clear wisps of icy light coiled around his body and wrapped themselves around the dark saber in his hand, merging seamlessly with its black blade.

The sight left the onlookers stunned once more.

They had already assumed Ethan was a specialist in darkness, especially after witnessing his shadowy wings and movement techniques.

Yet now, he was openly wielding a second element, and not just wielding it, but commanding it with frightening proficiency.

Shock spread through the crowd as whispers erupted as they started wondering how a single person could control two elements at once.

On this continent, it was already common knowledge that awakening even one element and mastering it was considered extraordinary.

Most cultivators awakened elements that were strictly with the element their bloodline carried as they built their spells, techniques, and foundations around it in harmony.

But what they were witnessing now shattered that long-held understanding entirely.

Even the thin, gray-haired senior deacon could not hide his reaction.

His pupils contracted sharply as he observed Ethan’s transformation, a subtle tension creeping into his rigid posture.

At that moment, he felt a grim sense of confirmation as he realized that his instincts had not been wrong.

From the instant Ethan had clashed with Jack, he had sensed something deeply abnormal about this youth, and now, he was seeing it clearly.

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