BOOM!

Ulgar’s foot stomped forward, launching himself at Aestrea like a fired cannon. The air rippled around him from the sheer speed of his charge.

Aestrea didn’t move.

Not until the last second—

FWOOSH!

He sidestepped.

CRACK!

Ulgar’s punch struck the barrier wall directly, sending deep spiderweb cracks across it.

“Slow.”

WHAM!

Aestrea’s palm slammed into Ulgar’s face, twisting his neck to the side as his entire body spun from the force.

BAM!

Aestrea appeared behind him and delivered a sharp knee into Ulgar’s lower back.

“GURRGHH!”

Ulgar coughed out blood, stumbling forward.

STOMP!

Before he could recover, Aestrea landed directly on his back, standing on him like a surfboard.

“C’mon, where’s the scary Titan rage?”

“SHUT UUUUP!!”

Ulgar jerked upward, body pulsing with mana, trying to grab him again.

But—

ZWOOM!

Aestrea vanished from his shoulders, reappearing mid-air, upside down.

WHAP!

His heel cracked across Ulgar’s temple, snapping his head sideways.

BOOM!

Ulgar’s body rolled across the floor, blood trailing from his mouth.

He gasped, pushing himself up again.

“WHY… WHY WON’T YOU GO DOWN!?”

“Why should I?”

Aestrea stepped forward and raised his right hand—index and middle fingers straight, the others curled back.

“Besides, someone like you, who hasn’t even reached the S-rank…”

Swoop!

“Will never be able to defeat me.”

His fingers descended in a diagonal line.

And soon, the air compressed.

ZOOOOM!

SPLURT!

A compressed blade of air slashed across Ulgar’s chest, tearing through flesh and muscle.

“GARRHHK—!”

Blood erupted from his torso.

He staggered, choking as a mouthful of blood splashed from his mouth, soaking the arena beneath him.

The crowd was completely shocked.

They hadn’t seen Aestrea in a while, and now he was much stronger than before, to the point that he couldn’t be compared with himself from before.

Even the announcer couldn’t comment on this battle.

“…That should be enough,” Aestrea rolled his neck slightly before walking away from Ulgar, heading towards the exit.

He had already proved his point.

However, it seems that Ulgar’s pride was still a bit too high.

“RARRAGGHH!”

His voice ripped through the air like a beast’s roar.

He staggered to his feet, trembling violently. Veins bulged across his body, eyes wide and bloodshot, locked on Aestrea with nothing but hatred.

“I’ll kill you…

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU EVEN IF THE LAST FUCKING THING I DO!!!”

Ulgary yelled as a red mist began pouring from his body, enveloping him in a completely savage aura that made the air tremble.

『 Titan Bloodline: Juggernaut Mode! (✦ Unique Racial Skill ✦) 』

BOOM!

His body grew again, thicker veins glowing under his skin. His muscles twitched, and the red mist energy flared outward violently.

Aestrea raised an eyebrow at him.

『 Judgement Eye (✦ S+ Level Skill ✦) 』

He activated his eye skill and measured his power.

—A-rank? No. S-rank. Almost peak S-rank.

A single transformation jumped him an entire rank.

It was a fucking law-breaking ability.

“Ah… damn bloodlines. To think that he can use this ability multiple times… the world is truly unfair, huh…” Aestrea sighed deeply.

But then, he shifted his stance seriously.

He truly didn’t expect Ulgar to raise his power by an entire rank, and now, at least in attributes, Ulgar was significantly stronger than he was.

No wonder James and Derek lost.

“…Guess it’s time I use magic too.”

『 Ice Generation! (✦ 1st-level Spell ✦) 』

He activated his spell… but strangely…

Nothing happened.

“The fuck?!”

His eyes widened in complete surprise, making him let out a curse.

Fwip!

Unfortunately, before he could worry about not being able to use any magic, Ulgar vanished into thin air.

But Aestrea’s eyes locked onto him—

Each of Ulgar’s steps blurred, as if he were teleporting through space, charging straight toward him.

Then, Ulgar’s face contorted as he raised his fist.

“Ah… I finally got you… YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”

Ulgar appeared right before him, bringing his hands together before smashing them towards Aestrea.

BAAAM!

CRASH!

The ground erupted.

Debris scattered as the stone platform shattered under the impact.

But Aestrea had already escaped.

『 Ice Series: Frost Chains! (✦ 5th-level Spell ✦) 』

Aestrea instantly activated another spell…

But he couldn’t use it.

“What is happening…?” He bit his lower lip tightly in worry, and then he noticed Ulgar rushing towards him at full speed.

Fwip!

His arm whipped towards the nape of Aestrea’s neck, and Aestrea quickly dodged under, only to be met with Ulgar’s incoming kick.

Thud!

Fortunately, Aestrea reacted in time and took the blow on his forearms, sliding back from the blow.

“…Just yesterday, my magic was working fine… why is it not working right now?” Aestrea muttered to himself.

He wanted to check his mana pathways, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do it right now.

Not in the middle of the battle.

“…Or can I?”

Seeing that Ulgar was an adequate distance, Aestrea closed his eyes as he started to trace down his mana pathways.

They looked fine, to say the least.

BAM!

Ulgar suddenly reached out to Aestrea, throwing a blow at Aestrea’s face. But as he did so, Aestrea, with his closed eyes, snapped his hand to Ulgar’s forearm, before twisting it hard.

“GAAH!”

Ulgar groaned and quickly took a few steps back, holding his aching forearm.

Meanwhile, Aestrea slowly reached his mana core and soon noticed something very strange.

His ice energy had almost disappeared, and instead, a white one was absorbing it greedily.

“This…”

Aestrea opened his eyes.

And then, he mumbled to himself.

“Check affinities.”

[Affinities: ✦Winter✦, ✯Time✯]

“Winter…? My ice element… actually evolved?” Aestrea’s eyes widened in complete surprise, and soon, he let out a dry chuckle.

And immediately, he changed his chant; instead of using the ice elemental energy on his mana core, he utilized the winter energy.

『 Ice Generation! (✦ 1st-level Spell ✦) 』

A completely white icicle of ice appeared, hovering on top of his hand.

Clang!

He flicked his finger at it, and surprisingly, it didn’t break, and instead, it even made his finger ache a little, turning slightly red.

This made him smile.

Fwip!

Unfortunately, his smile vanished the moment Ulgar’s monstrous form came barreling toward him again—blood mist swirling like a cloak, veins glowing red-hot.

Aestrea exhaled.

“Alright…”

A silver energy, along with flying icicles of ice, surrounded his body.

“Let’s end this.”

BAAM!

Ulgar charged towards Aestrea; every step he took caused the arena’s floor to tremble due to his suffocating aura.

But Aestrea didn’t even blink.

『 Mixed Ice Series: Frozen Mirage! (✦ 4th-level Spell ✦)』

SWOOSH—

A blur of afterimages erupted around Aestrea—ten, twenty, forty. All of them moving in sync, flickering like ghosts under the pale mist.

Ulgar’s eyes widened.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

He threw a punch—through one image.

FWOOSH!

Gone.

Another punch—another miss.

SMASH!!

He crushed one with both fists—only for it to shatter into snowflakes.

“STOP RUNNING—!!!”

Ulgar’s veins were glowing bright red now, his bloodline was boiling, and from the looks of it, he only seemed to be getting weaker.

But then—

Aestrea appeared right in front of him.

Too close.

“Boo.”

BAM!!!

His palm slammed into Ulgar’s chin, lifting him a few inches off the ground.

ZWOOSH!

Aestrea appeared behind him in a blink.

CRACK!

A spinning kick caved into Ulgar’s spine.

WHAM!!

The brute hit the ground—but bounced right back up, foaming with rage.

“YOU FUCKING—!!”

『 Mixed Ice Series: Ice Lotus Explosion! (✦ 5th-level Spell ✦)』

The ground froze.

A massive sigil of a blooming lotus spread under Ulgar’s feet.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!

Dozens of ice spears erupted from the sigil, slamming into Ulgar from every direction.

Each one pierced his flesh slightly—never deep, just enough to cut, stab, humiliate.

“GRAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

He roared louder than ever before, blood splashing, muscles tearing.

He charged again—

『 Shield Series: Winter’s Barrier! (✦ 6th-level Spell ✦) 』

CLANG!

He smashed into a wall of silver-blue light—and was instantly repelled, staggering back.

Aestrea slowly walked toward him.

No rush.

His red eyes gleamed beneath the frost-colored aura.

“Getting tired yet?”

“FUCK YOUUUU!!!”

Ulgar burst forward.

But what he didn’t notice was the ice sword that Aestrea had created.

“Moonlit Ice Lotus Sword Art…”

『 Third Move! (✦ Moonlight’s One Flash ✦) 』

In that exact moment, Aestrea disappeared.

Ulgar blinked.

He felt something behind him.

Too late.

SHIIING!

A diagonal slash of winter light carved through the air.

SPLURT!!

A deep wound opened across Ulgar’s chest—white frost covering the bleeding edges instantly.

“Gu… ha… ha…!!”

He fell to one knee.

Breathing ragged.

Aestrea stood over him, frost drifting off his skin like steam as the ice sword splintered into countless pieces.

“…It’s over.”

Ulgar looked up at him, eyes trembling, lips shaking.

“…Y-you… fucking monster…”

Aestrea raised his hand.

“Language.”

And aimed two fingers at Ulgar’s throat.

『 Ice Series: Frost Crash! (✦ 6th-level Spell ✦) 』

KRA-KOOM!!!

A blizzard exploded around Ulgar’s body, a dome of white engulfing him entirely.

The sound was deafening.

The frost was absolute.

And when the ice finally faded—

Ulgar was frozen to the floor, encased in crystal-clear Winter Ice, kneeling.

Mouth open.

Eyes wide.

Unmoving.

The crowd was dead silent.

Then—

“THE W-WINNER OF THIS MATCH IS… AESTREA!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep