Chapter 231: Water—Limitless Potential

Auren returns to the center of the ring, standing opposite of Cleifer. The referee positions himself between them.“Sorry to make you wait,” Auren says with an innocent smile. “It’s rather cheeky of me to keep you waiting before your most important and final fight.”

“It’s fine,” Cleifer replies at first, his voice calm. Then it gradually grows louder until he suddenly starts shouting. “It will be the last mistake of your life! And the Prince will soon recognize my own talent… because I am the strongest Nen user in the world!”

His supporters erupt again. The members of the Steel Brigade slam their armor together loudly, cheering and clanking as their excitement grows.

The referee quickly explains the rules, though Auren barely listens.

“Get into positions!” the referee finally shouts, stepping back already to give the fighters enough space.

Auren also steps back a little, wanting some time to prepare himself for the confrontation.

He then briefly closes his eyes, perfectly calm.

Slowly, he releases his Ren. His Aura appears calm at first, almost peaceful, but it steadily grows larger and larger until a massive Aura surrounds his body that grows more chaotic and wild by the second.

He then stretches out Eternity in front of him, the blade still resting inside its white sheath.

His left hand grips the lower part of the sheath as he pulls it back and presses it firmly against his left side. His legs plant themselves solidly on the ground as he lowers his stance slightly. His right hand closes around the hilt of Eternity, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.

“Get ready…” the referee says, beginning the countdown as he prepares to start the fight, his arms raised.

“Hahahaha, I’ve waited for this!” Cleifer roars.

At the same time, Cleifer releases his own Ren. His Aura bursts outward and quickly wraps around his body, taking on a metallic hue.

In an instant, Cleifer looks as if he has been dipped into liquid metal. His entire body takes on the appearance of a shining metal statue.

On top of that, he uses Ken. A thick, dense layer of Aura surrounds him, reinforcing his metallic body and making it glow faintly.

“Come!” Cleifer shouts. “Show me what you’ve got, you arrogant fool! I’ll shatter your hopes and dreams and show you true despair!”

Who is the arrogant fool?

This is a variation of one of Lidor’s Iai techniques.

Weird… the Lion of the Kakin Empire… I’m remembering something else... why now? Lion....

A name suddenly surfaces in Auren’s mind.

Lion’s Song… it’s... a technique, but that isn’t mine... it’s not quite right... but it feels similar.

Add the force of water…

“And… fight!” the referee yells, crossing his arms to signal the start of the battle.

“And it has begun!” the moderator shouts excitedly. “Let’s see how our two Floor Masters face each other!”

All of Auren’s available Aura, transmuted through Limitless Water, flows directly into Eternity, slowly charging up. He then uses Ko to increase his output even more.

Unlike his previous fighting style, where the Aura expanded the blade’s length, width, and overall size, Auren now focuses on the new method he recently learned.

His Aura disappears completely into Eternity.

The blade itself does not grow larger at all and is able to remain in the sheath. Instead, a barely visible layer of watery Aura forms around it, spinning with terrifying speed, creating a low whistling sound that rings out of the sheath.

The audience grows confused, not understanding the situation at all.

“What is that sound?”

“My ears... that hurts...”

“What are they doing? Fight already, I paid a fortune to see this!”

“Move! Footwork!”

Meanwhile, the force inside the sheath becomes so intense that Auren has to grip it extremely tightly with his left hand just to keep it contained.

Even Auren, with his extreme physical strength, struggles to remain calm as he feels the overwhelming amount of Aura compressed within Eternity.

One mistake… and I’m dead.

“Not coming?!” Cleifer yells. “Then let me end you myself!”

Cleifer then charges forward.

Each of his feet slams into the arena floor like a miniature earthquake, the weight of his now metallic body crashing down with every step. In only a moment, he is already closing the distance.

Water... with enough pressure, it can cut through anything. Composed, controlled, unleashing all its might into a single direction once the time is right. Add to that, Ko... my entire Aura focused on this attack... this attack can cut through anything!

Ocean-Splitting Lion’s Roar!

In the blink of an eye, as Cleifer reaches him, Auren draws the empowered Eternity, cutting forward, using his entire bodily strength just to support and guide Eternity.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing, loud, and shrill sound spreads throughout the arena.

The noise is so intense that people immediately scream in pain, clutching their ears desperately as the sound echoes through the entire stadium.

Faster than the eye can follow, the strike is already finished.

Eternity now points toward the sky. A thin layer of watery Aura shimmers around the blade, glimmering under the arena lights as Limitless Water slowly fades.

It’s done....

At the same time, Auren notices something else. Eternity is filled with a large amount of Aura, not his own, but Cleifer’s.

The white section within the wave pattern along Eternity’s blade glows faintly and expands just a tiny bit. Even so, it still only covers roughly seven or eight percent of the pattern. The rest remains completely black.

Auren smiles brightly, a deep sense of satisfaction rising inside him as he resheathes Eternity back into its sheath.

That felt… incredible...

Just like I practiced!

Meanwhile, Cleifer’s body continues moving forward.

He takes one final step past Auren, who slowly sidesteps him and then suddenly stops. For a moment, nothing else happens. Suddenly, Cleifer’s metallic body splits apart diagonally.

One half, containing his head, right shoulder, and most of his upper body, falls toward Auren’s left side.

The other half, which has his left shoulder, most of his lower body, his legs, and waist, drops toward the right.

Both halves crash violently onto the arena floor, still covered by the lingering effect of his metallic Hatsu, which quickly vanishes as his body reverts back to normal, blood flowing onto the ring, spreading out evenly.

Auren does not look behind him and continues to slowly walk forward.

Not worth looking at... but his metallic body resonated with Eternity. It made an interesting sound, indeed.

Everyone in the Arena is still groaning, holding onto their ears as they look toward the stage, where only Auren is still remaining on his feet.

“Excuse me… I couldn’t quite moderate… my ears! Damn, they are still ringing,” the moderator yells, clearly sounding pained, as she supports her head with one hand. “I… what happened?! I… it looks like Champion Cleifer is down… can he get up? No… he is now… cut in two…! My… what a cruel sight! I can’t believe it. The fight is over in a flash! With just one attack, which I didn’t even see, Auren has managed to cut through the champion, believed to be impenetrable by everyone?! What happened?! The fight is over… Auren wins!”

For a moment, the entire arena falls into confused murmuring as people speak over one another, trying to understand what they just witnessed. After a short pause, the confusion slowly fades, and the crowd finally erupts into a loud cheer.

Briefly glancing toward Prince Benjamin, who is no longer seated but now standing, Auren smiles faintly before leaving the ring and walking back toward Neffi and Vanessa. To his surprise, Ura seems to be gone.

“G… good job… I could have probably won as well… but you did it quite convincingly,” Vanessa says. She tries to remain calm, though her body still trembles with excitement.

“That was almost scary,” Neffi says quietly. “The sound… and the Nen surrounding your blade… still, you won, and that’s all that matters. Ura said she should leave. She doesn’t want to be seen by one of the guests.”

It’s probably related to the prince.

Her scar is too eye-catching. Avoiding his attention was a smart decision.

The scar… should I just get rid of it? If the betting goes through as planned, I’ll reward her and her brother.

The seventh and eighth fights of the first round begin shortly afterward, but both the audience and the fighters themselves still appear somewhat dazed by what just happened.

The matches end quickly and without any notable injuries, almost as if the participating Floor Masters have suddenly lost their will to fight.

As the eighth match ends and only eight participants remain, the moderator announces. “We’ll be taking a short break. Please stay seated if you can... Heaven’s Arena will be supplying everyone with free ear drops—no need to worry.”

The group briefly heads back through a corridor, walking into the backstage area from the crowd, where they see Ura waiting for them.

They enter a small room used by fighters to rest and prepare.

“Good job,” Ura says, looking a little pale. “I saw the fight through the monitor...”

“You saw the prince...” Auren notes. “Surely you’re not blaming a single prince for what happened to you? You must realize that a single person—especially just a prince—can’t be blamed for everything that has been happening for hundreds of years, right?”

“I... know,” she says, looking apologetic.

“Eventually... we’ll need allies. If you seriously want to change things... you need contacts who can actually help you,” Auren explains.

“I know...” she says quietly.

“Then are you prepared to confront him? He could become a useful ally. I also think he’s one of the better princes. Can I be honest? I rather like him,” Auren announces, surprising Ura.

“I would... but he’ll recognize me instantly,” she replies, obviously not understanding.

Auren smiles softly. “Then let’s just change that, okay?” He then points toward the entrance of the small room.

“Secure the premises,” he orders Vanessa and Neffi.

“Okay!” Vanessa says, not even questioning him as she steps outside, followed by a smiling Neffi, who briefly winks at Ura. “Lucky girl....”

Same treatment as her... a coincidence?

“What...?” Ura mutters. “What is happening?”

Using Azure Restoration for just a minute, relying on the lingering Aura inside Eternity that wasn’t fully absorbed into the wave pattern, he swiftly removes the scar from her face. The tiny room is briefly lit up and covered in Aura before it returns to its previous gray and depressing appearance.

Without the scar, Ura now looks like a completely healthy woman, though certainly not average, as she’s still highly attractive.

Touching her face, her eyes widen. “It’s gone... the pain... the constant twitching... the pressure.”

“Now... help me get closer to the prince... you are my agent, after all,” he tells her before stepping out of the room.

Hesitating for just a second, Ura smiles widely. “Understood!”

Heh... before that, I'd better make sure to win this little contest.

As Auren returns towards the arena, he sees countless staff members actually handing out ear drops to people greedily grabbing them and immediately applying them to their ears.

The crowd is wild, actually fighting over the ear drops while others loudly complain.

“I’ll fucking sue you! You did this to me?! This is dangerous!”

“Give me, give me!”

“Hey... what happened to manners? Ladie firs—”

“Shut up, my eardrum must be pierced. Give me the damn drops!”

Despite the chaotic situation, nobody is leaving.

“This was insane... the pain is all worth it.”

“Cleifer is actually dead?! Is this real?”

“What was the referee doing? Is this supposed to end in someone actually dying?”

Everyone is excitedly chattering with each other, waiting for the next fights.

Finally, after around thirty minutes, the moderator’s voice once again echoes through the stadium.

“We’re back, everyone... yet sadly, I have some bad news...”

What now?