Ryn
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Chapter 302
🕑 Added 2025-03-10 19:00:05 +0000 UTCJulius was still headed toward the arena just in case he could still make his match or if there was some reason why his opponent was also late.
Unfortunately, it seemed that he could do nothing and was met by Lily, Aubrey, and Edgar.
“We were waiting for you for a long time!” Aubrey exclaimed. “But imagine our surprise when you didn’t even show up!”
He held his hands up and tried to placate her. “I got tied up with something important. A rift had another issue and time just got away,” he explained.
That seemed to calm her down quite swiftly. “Another rift incident?” Aubrey asked worriedly.
“What do you mean? Did something bad happen again?” Lily asked anxiously.
He sighed and spent the next minute explaining to them what had happened. Thankfully, this seemed to distract them from the fact that he had forgotten his match.
“Doesn’t this seem kinda suspicious?” Aubrey said with a tilt of her head.
“I agree, what are the odds of something happening like this when the tournament is going on? Everyone knows that this is the busiest time of the year and when the staff are already overworked,” Edgar added.
“Who do you think would do something like this though? And what could possibly be their reasons for doing so?” Lily asked
“The Conclave,” Julius couldn’t help but mutter to himself.
“What was that, Julius?” Edgar asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing, just talking to myself,” he replied.
Edgar gave him a funny look but didn’t press him any further.
“Well anyhow, we should still have time to go see Kyle’s match. If we head over now, we might get there before it begins,” Lily said with a smile.
The four of them headed off to the other arena to go and support Kyle, and for the moment, the fact that he missed his own match was forgotten.
***
Today was the last match of the prelims until everyone got paired. At the moment he sat at three wins and one loss. The loss, which was completely his fault, as Aubrey loved to point out.
However, he had a feeling that today’s fight was going to be a bit different than his other matches. His opponent this time around wasn’t like the other people he had fought.
It was a fourth-year girl and right away he was able to tell that she was stronger than the other people he had fought as of yet just by looking at her aura. Her name was Bethany and according to Lily, she was definitely toward the top of the fourth years.
This meant that for the first time, Julius found himself in Arena 1. This also meant that he would be fighting in front of a lot of people. Previously, he had been fighting in front of a couple of dozen people at max.
However, Arena 1 was where most of the more interesting fights occurred and were designated to people that the school believed were more ‘attractive’ to watch. This obviously caused Arena 1 to be more packed than any other arena.
When he walked onto the field, he was kind of surprised by the small anxious jitters he was feeling. There were so many eyes looking at the field. Almost every seat in the arena was taken and he could hear the loud roars from the crowd as they cheered on the other fights that were going on around him. The booming cries and collective groans when someone got hit particularly hard echoed throughout the entire arena.
For the first time since the prelims began, it finally started to feel like a serious tournament.
The moment the two of them walked onto the field, he was able to sense many of the crowd's focus turn to watch their match. While he knew that most of their eyes were on the pretty girl in front of him, he still felt a little nervous, but he had to admit that he felt a spark of excitement as well.
He saw the Bethany girl staring at him with an intense gaze from across the field. For some reason, unlike the other students he had faced, she didn’t seem to be looking down on him just because he was a first year.
He didn’t know if that was because she had heard about his other fights or if that was just the type of person she was, but it was nice to see that she was considering him an actual opponent.
The official walked out onto the field between the two of them.
“This is an official match between fourth year Bethany Jacobs and first year Julius Snow,” he announced, though Julius doubted that many people were able to hear the man over the noise of the crowd.
However, he was soon proven wrong when suddenly a large portion of the arena went silent for a brief moment. After the stark silence, he watched as many of the spectators turned to each other and started muttering amongst each other.
He was able to hear things like ‘first-year’ and ‘it’s a shame’ from the crowd. He didn’t blame them for their reaction. His participation in the tournament still wasn’t common knowledge and it seemed that many of the people were shocked to hear the revelation.
Although he had more pressing issues in front of him at the moment, and so he put these thoughts into the back of his mind and focused on the match. The official then looked at the two of them with a meaningful glare, ignoring the crowds' mutters.
“You both know the rules, which is why I expect a clean and fair fight. If one of you breaks one of these rules, you will forfeit the match and be punished accordingly. Understood?”
Julius nodded at the man and Bethany did the same from her side of the field, but he noticed that her eyes never strayed from him for a single second.
***
Bethany POV
When the official signaled the start of the match, Bethany didn’t waste any time and sent a salvo of mana spears straight toward the young boy in front of her.
She knew better than to underestimate the first year.
While most people would think that someone was stupid for advancing to Tier 3 so young, she didn’t share the same opinion. She had seen one of the earlier matches by accident and was immediately able to tell that he wasn’t just some impatient boy who wanted to tout his Tier 3 status to his peers.
He was a genuine fighter who displayed a level of skill and poise that she didn’t see even among her fellow fourth years. Too bad that his past opponents hadn’t realized the same thing and they were punished for their arrogance.
There was also the fact that Julius was supposedly really good friends with Derek and Edgar. At least that was what her friends told her. But this made her wonder what kind of help they gave the boy in order to prepare him for the tournament.
She shook her head and focused on the fight in front of her. It didn’t matter what they taught him, she only knew one thing for certain, she wasn’t going to be getting her first loss from a boy three years her junior.
So with a roar of mana, she drowned his position with mana spears, not letting the boy get the chance to breathe. All the while, she started to weave a powerful barrier of mana around her just in case. She knew that the boy was a close combat fighter, but who knew what kind of tricks he was hiding.
She heard the crowd gasp in surprise at her vicious opening, but she ignored them. They probably thought she was going overboard against a first-year. But they hadn’t seen the boy’s previous fights where he dismantled other Tier 3s without much effort.
She observed as Julius danced between the explosions of mana and use some sort of movement skill to avoid the more dangerous attacks with grace. However, she grinned to herself because the boy was already showing much more speed than he had during his previous match she had watched.
I knew he was holding back during that fight, she confirmed to herself.
And so while the crowd was surprised to see the boy avoid the swarm of spears that would have taken out some of the other Tier 3s in the tournament, she was already sending out another cluster of spears.
However, these ones were different from the last ones. They weren’t meant to just explode but they had something secret packed inside of them. These spears were loaded with her [Resonating Mana] skill to destabilize the boy’s mana in his body.
So when he tried to avoid the spears like he had the last time, she smiled when he was surprised by her little trick and his movement skill was interrupted when the spear got closer.
Still, she was impressed with how quickly he recovered. He wiped out her technique and regained control of his mana almost immediately. Too bad, it was already too late.
He was bombarded with several spears and was blasted backwards in a cloud of smoke.
She heard the crowd roar as they thought the fight was over. However, she knew better than to believe that. At the last moment, she had felt some kind of resistance and on top of that, Julius’s protection enchantments hadn’t activated yet. Which meant he had withstood the attack.
So without any hesitation, she sent several more spears ripping through the air at the cloud of smoke.
The crowd muttered confusingly at her actions but stopped when they spotted Julius standing there in the middle of the field relatively unharmed. He looked a bit battered and dusty, but he was definitely okay to continue fighting.
She sent out more spears trying to disrupt his mana once again, but this time she frowned when her mana wasn’t able to destabilize his. Somehow her attempts at interrupting his mana were completely shrugged off to the side. It was almost as if her skill wasn’t able to find a single opening to affect his mana.
His willpower must be extraordinary, she realized with a surprised expression.
He used her surprise to close the distance and before she knew it, he was already in front of her swinging his fist at her head.
If she didn’t know better, she would say that he had gotten even faster than a minute ago. His strike slammed against her barrier and she widened her eyes as her barrier barely withstood the punch.
Before he could strike again, she blasted mana outward and used the force to launch her up toward the sky. She wasn’t able to fly, but she was able to use mana to let her float for short periods.
This was perfect when she was fighting against close combat fighters like she was at the moment.
For several brief moments, the two of them just stared at each other. The boy had this silly grin on his face as he stared up at her. He shook his head as if in disbelief that she was basically hiding up in the air.
She didn’t exactly like this strategy as it felt a little cheap, but it was a genuine strategy against people like Julius and one she was planning to use against some of the stronger close combat fighters like Edgar.
Despite her guilt, it didn’t stop her from creating several spears of mana then raining them down toward the boy.
He frantically dodged them and ran around in circles. The other benefit of being higher up in the air was the fact that he was an easier target for her. Forcing him to dodge from unusual angles.
After he avoided her attacks, she gave him an apologetic shrug and spoke out to him.
“There is no shame in admitting defeat. Trust me, I can do this all day.”
She watched as the boy threw his head back and giggled with mirth.
And before she could ask what he found so funny, she was blasted backward as her barrier blocked a powerful construct of mana.
She looked down at the boy with astonished eyes. He had created a single fire construct and launched it at her with incredible speed.
She had no idea that he could do something like that. While a lot of specialized warriors had ways to fight at distance, she didn’t think the boy had such skills since he was quite young to focus on multiple aspects of combat.
Clearly she was wrong because she quickly found her barrier getting slammed by a spike of mana one at a time. The power of these constructs wasn’t weak either, they were more powerful than a newly advanced Tier 3 should be capable of and she could even sense a Concept infused into them.
Realizing that she was sitting duck floating up in the air, she made a decision to drop back down to the ground.
And before she could regain her balance she found herself being charged at. Julius had closed the distance once more and this time he smashed an overcharged fist into her barrier, actually cracking it this time around.
She desperately blasted out another burst of mana to get some distance, but she was surprised once again when he didn’t get knocked back like last time. Instead, he barely budged and released another brutal strike, that further cracked her barrier and quickly followed it up with one last kick that shattered it completely.
Despite her frantic efforts to destabilize his mana and his body enhancement skill, she found that her efforts were in vain. She realized much too late that his body skill didn’t revolve just around mana, but it was a skill based around aura. Meaning her skill was practically useless against it even if she was able to overcome his willpower.
So although she struggled with all her might, she couldn’t help but curse as the boy finally broke through her defenses and slammed a crushing blow against her chest, activating her enchantments and signalling the end of the match.
Comments
Conrad Manaugh
Wrekt
Lance Wheeler
Glad there was not comments about hiding strength. I would suspect brain damage or missing parts of the brain.
tiefug
This one is not in the collection either :(
A B
Edit suggestions: I keep seeing paragraphs where something like this happens: "she started to weave a powerful barrier of mana around her just in case." "her" should be "herself" It seems to happen now and then, so I wanted to raise your awareness of it. Tyfc, etc. of course
Zak Webb
Since we don't have access to Julius's mind, and since he was smiling so much, I'm wondering if he finally grabbed his Space Concept. It would totally play into him having to grab it in order to escape some predicament when he's heavily restricting himself.
Aureus
I understand but I think the healing faster than a troll would be more demoralizing to any other students than anything else he can do, I want to see those reactions the most.
gray matter
lol Yes. It took me awhile to remember about that
gray matter
They do that yes, but he can’t wear them and use his healing skill at the same time. It doesn’t recognize the skill like it doesn’t recognize some of Lilly’s mental abilities. He would have to take them completely off and actually receive the damage in order to heal. Which definitely isn’t allowed. Also you’re not nearly paranoid enough if I was Julius I wouldn’t even be in this tournament, much less show my greatest trump card to anyone, especially since I can’t without the bracelets. I do get the fantasy of him wiping the floor with everyone, but he doesn’t even need to use his healing to do that, he could just win the whole thing with his aura. Walk in, freeze his opponent, beat their enchantments with punch and walk out. Luckily he’s smart enough to keep this trump card under wraps as well. ( At least he is for now, we will see if he’s willing to pull it out in the big tournament to win
Aureus
Yes but the activation is supposed to simulate fatal and non fatal injury. Full activation is fatal, but Julius can withstand way more than the average which is a major part of his power base. Also the school may even get a higher backing with the fact they are "capable of nurturing" such a powerhouse. This would also mean it would be in the school's best interest to increase security with the increase in prestige.
Radek Homola
I think he blocked the strikes with his Barrier of Severence by cutting them apart and blocked the skill with his aura by practically burning it.
Hamfist
It seemed like he was just using his perception and body enhancement skills to simply dodge them as the came in. And it said in the story he blocked the interference because he was using a skill that is aura powered
Hamfist
The win/lose condition is based on the activation of the bracelet. Removing it would either be an automatic forfeit or it would literally be cheating since it would not be able to activate. And no matter how much the professor supports it, he would not be able to do anything about it. When Julius first arrived at the school we were told that most of the funding for the school is tied to this tournament so messing with the tournament would directly impact the school's cash flow. And besides all that, we already had a tier 5 try to drag Julius off to a laboratory after getting a look at his healing skill. Just imagine what happens if a bunch of selfish and entitled nobles get a look at it. He'd have far more kidnapping and assassination attempts than the princess has ever seen.
Antonio
I wonder which technique he used to endure the strikes during the time he was covered in dust. And how he stopped the mana interference so fast. Still this was a great fight, he finally revealed his fire constructs with at least one concept
Morde24
Very happy for a pace change to build some hype into the real start if the tournament arc!!
Thomas Grimshaw
Depends what part of the world you are in!
Dylan Sutton
This one had the tournament arc hype.
Oskar
Thanks for the chapter 😁
Orthneil Kelley Jr.
Great POV and time for some heckling from the other 4th years and families who believe he cheated to get that strong haha Also time for the doubters who believe that is the extent of his power. I feel like for how simple it was for Julius, this is a defining fight that sets the tone for the rest of the tournament and how he is viewed and treated.
Aureus
No, Prof Weller I think his name was(the combat nut), would fully support it, as long as he didn't go overboard on the damage to his opponent. Imagine though he just starts regen while mid battle. Good training for it and it demoralized the opponent without attacking.
PatronTurtle
Probably get disqualified
Aureus
I want him to take the protection bracelet off mid match and go ham in front of everyone.
Zack
Julius is totally gonna ask her to spar again sometime after the match
Colby Jordan
Anyone else panic when it came out an hr later due to daylight savings time?
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the explanation.
Hamfist
From an earlier chapter: The others had explained the general structure of the tournament. The prelims would be a total of five fights for each student. After these five fights, the second stage would consist of seeded battles where those who had a better record in the first stage fought against those with a lower record. These fights were further broken down into four different brackets, Brackets A through D. At this point, each person would fight a single elimination match. At the end of the second stage, the top four from each bracket would advance to the finals.
RedLeaf
Fun fight! Good on Julius for not showing all his talents -- although I fear he did that not out of any strategic/tactical sense, but just to try and make the fight last longer.
retrorocket0
it seems to be some sort of pseudo-round robin(in that it is points based but without the matches against every opponent) for the prelims followed by a single elimination bracket style for the second half if i understood their descriptions.
Hamfist
It was explained before the tournament started. There are 3 rounds and they are still in the first round where each person will have 5 fights. The decision of who moves to the next round and how they are seeded in that round will be based on their win/loss record in this prelim round.
Raymond Mouton
Was just thinking about the tournament format, and am a bit confused, as the structure doesn’t seem to be a standard double-elimination format with a losers bracket… it’s been along time since I was in a tournament, so things are a bit fuzzier than I would like.
Hassan Sarwat
Thanks for the chapter. Glad to see some interesting tournament action from Julius
John O'Connor
You know I just realised I can’t remember why he’s called Ryn when his name is Julius.
retrorocket0
It makes sense. He has obviously been holding back to not show all his cards. That being said I don't trust the students level of skill in identifying concepts. I could easily see 3 concepts being interpreted by 1. Also his skills can kill tier 4s I don't know that I would be confident in the damage shields defending against his strikes.
Voral
Finally the cat is out of the bag! If Julius thought people were bothering him before I can't imagine what he'll think in the incoming chapters...
Derek Walker
If she only felt a single concept from him, these must be his baby constructs, not the ones he normally uses
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Good POV. Bet that was a surprise to the crowd.
Hamfist
Now that's the type of fight I've been waiting to see in this tournament
Kevin McKinney
Me too! I was sad when 2 pm rolled around and no chapter!
Profile Name
Tyftc. I love the different POVs
Kevin McKinney
Solid fight!
Kai
Forgot daylight savings could have messed with posting times
Quentin Cozzi
Time change got me all fucked up. Thanks for the chapter!
KooZnack
Thanks for the chapter!
Voral
TFTC!
