Group 3 went up on the stage and finished their battles within 24 minutes.


    The winners were Ron Lexus—Silver 30 and Jemma Regan—Silver 30.


    Both of them were considered super rookies due to their primary S-rank ss and specialized S-rank ss, along with powerful performance.


    Group 4''s winners were Anya Fuego—Silver 30


    And Ka Reqins—Silver 30.


    Anya Fuego was a super rookie of rank 5th guild—Silverfang Guild, one of the favorites for the rank one spot.


    And then came Group 5''s turn.


    Lily and the other four walked out from the underground elevator.


    "Hello, Miss Lily," Noah said with a dashing yet polite smile as he stretched his hand at her for a handshake. "Let''s have a good fight."


    Lily looked at him and tly asked, instead of shaking hands, "What do you think about Almond Crowshade?"


    Noah blinked, his hand flinching, "Not bad, I guess? I can defeat him, though."


    ''Wait, I remember that he and this girl were standing together…'' Noah took his hand back as he thought.


    "You can''t defeat him," Lily scoffed before she coldly chuckled. "And yeah, let''s have a good fight."


    Lily already didn''t like Noah because he looked down on Almond, and she nned topletely defeat Noah.


    The group arrived on the stage.


    Gto did the hype and introduction of Noah and Lily before the battles began.


    But Noah and Lily''s battle turned out to be thest one this time. Both of them won against the other three participants.


    "Are you two fully recovered?" Gto asked.


    Noah and Lily nodded as they walked to the center and stood with 10 meters of distance between them.


    The countdown hologram appeared in the center as both of them stood with stances after Gto gave themmon-rank weapons.


    Lily wielded a curved dagger, and Noah wielded a greatsword as both stood with their respectivebat stances.


    Noah stood with his sword hilt raised to his eye level, pointing at Lily.


    Lily stood with her dagger diagonally in front of her, pointing downward, but its de facing the front.


    The moment the countdown hit 0, both of them used their Mana techniques.


    Strength Boost.


    Focus Field.


    Fortification with their styles.


    Noah used Metal-style fortification as a metallic aura coated his body, while Lily had a shadowy aura. Stay updated with empire


    ''Shadow-style Fortification? It means she''s at least at A-rank elemental mastery,'' Noah''s eyes glinted. ''But I am at S-rank.''


    Noah''s sword glowed with a gray sheen, his aura increasing. "You may make your move first."


    Lily''s eyes coldly glinted, her dagger that only had ck me superimposed with three more unique energies.


    Warlock Enchant: Dreadspire Elements!


    Lily waved her dagger without moving, but it entered a shadowy slit that emerged from Noah''s shadow and sliced his feet as a nging sound rang.


    "You''ll need a stronger atta-" Noah suddenly stopped speaking as he felt something, his expression turning somber.


    He immediately waved his sword, releasing a shining gray metallic sh at Lily before dashing forward.


    Lily suddenly vanished, turning into a shadow as she appeared behind Noah, her dagger making three quick shes, intensifying the debuffs of her four Dreadspire elements!


    ''Damn it! What are these crazy debuffs?!'' Noah could feel his stamina and mana draining, his speed decreasing, and his Fortification that was supposed to be super tough but also corroding!


    Without hesitation, he went all out, using his SS-rank skill—Ironstorm Gale.


    Hundreds of tiny metallic des stormed around him before shooting towards Lily one by one.


    However, Lily used her 2nd specialized ss skill—Dreadspire Herald, SSS-rank!


    It was a super powerful skill that directly consumed 50% of her vitality while giving her Dreadspire Heart status!


    Lily suddenly turned intoplete darkness, her ckbat dress covered by a badass outfit of darkness. As an indication that her Dreadspire Elements were activated, patterns of ming dark red, shining dark green, gleaming dark brown, and dark blue appeared on her superimposed darkness outfit.


    [Dreadspire Mantle]


    -Skill Rank: SSS


    -Activation type: Toggle.


    -Cost: 20% Vitality at once and then 1% vitality per second while active. Doesn''t cost 20% vitality again if it''s activated within 1 minute of deactivating.


    -Effect(s):


    —The user summons the essence of the Dreadspire Herald, a spectral avatar of darkness that embodies overwhelming power and dread, turning the user into a symbol of destruction and terror as the user activates the Dreadspire Heart and abilities that unlock with it.


    —[Dreadspire Heart]—


    -Grants the user Dreadspire Essence equal to 100 + 50% of Health stat and three abilities. Grants 1 Dreadspire Essence per 1% vitality recovered while this skill is active.


    —1. Dreadspire Dominion: radiates an aura of oppressive darkness in a 30-meter radius, reducing physical attack power, magic power, and defense of everyone or anything within by 15% while inflicting [Terror], causing their reaction time to slow down by 15%. The user''s vitality recovers by 15% of the damage dealt to enemies within this range. Cost: 1 Dreadspire Essence per second.


    —2. Herald''s Dark Well (passive): Absorbs 20% of all damage done to the user, effectively reducing all damage done to the user by 20%. Upon reaching the limit of absorption, the ability turns active for the user, allowing the user to use Dreadstrike: release all absorbed damage in a pin-point location of 1x1 meters within the user''s sensing range, but this attack is of pure darkness attribute in the shape of tendrils. Cost: 1 Dreadspire Essence per second and 20 Dreadspire Essence to use Dreadstrike. This ability resets instantly once Dreadstrike is used.


    —3. Dreadspire Herald (passive): If Dreadspire Elements are active, the user can freely conjure and shape projectiles of all four Dreadspire Elements within Dreadspire Dominion at the cost of Mana or Dreadspire Essence.


    Since Lily had her first specialized ss skill activated, she created a barrier of Gloombound Earth in front of her using 30 Dreadspire Essence to block all iing attacks while she conjured five des of Darkened me, Withered Wind, and Curseweaved Water above her at the cost of 20 Mana per de as she conjured fifteen des, costing a total of 300 Mana.


    Her vitality was already halfway, which increased her Dreadspire Elements'' potency further!


    Noah was already within her Dreadspire Dominion''s range, so his attacks lowered in potency. Moreover, he was already debuffed from the shadow-drifted attack that Lily struck at the start.


    ''Damn it!'' Noah tried to dodge and defend, but he could only block eleven des even when using his Ironstorm Gale''s des and consuming all of his Mana.


    The remaining four des struck him, destroying his tough Metal-style Fortification and striking him as a beep sound rang, indicating that he would have died if it wasn''t for the badge.


    The arena was silent as everyone was dazed at the terrific disy of power, especially from Lily!


    But then it erupted into a loud cheer for her as everyone was absolutely thrilled to witness Lily''s power!


    "And the winner is Lily Darkwood! What an absolute treat of a battle!"


    Almond grinned, "I experienced her skill, so I know that Noah won''t forget this battle ever."


    "Yeah, her skill is seriously scary and powerful," Natalia wryly smiled.


    On the tform, Lily deactivated her skill as she returned to her normal form and walked towards Noah, who stood up, still feeling rattled from the battle.


    "You…are powerful, especially those skills," Noah wryly smiled.


    "You called Almond''s swordy so-so, right?" Lily''s eyes glinted as she used Magic Whisper to tell him, ''Here''s an interesting fact. I didn''t go all out here, but even when I go all out, I can''t defeat Almond even if he suppresses his stats to the same level as me and only uses his sword-based magic attacks that you can''t even imagine, so you can forget about ever defeating him.''


    ''The only one on par with him will be me.''


    Noah was stunned upon hearing that as Lily walked past him.


    "Miss Lily, that was a terrific disy of power, so everyone is curious about your ss. Would you like to give out its name and rank? Or only name so I can make a better title?"


    "Dreadspire Warlock."


    The audience heard and erupted in discussion regarding the name.


    "Ladies and gentlemen! Let us wee the newest Super Rookie, Lily the Dreadspire Harbinger!"


    Lily used Magic Whisper, rying to Gto, ''You better give Almond Crowshade a good title after seeing his next match.''


    ''Hoho, youngdy, you seem to be rooting for him, eh? Well, the title is only given to the powerful ones. He defeated Jian, but Jian was careless, and the match was over swiftly.''


    Lily didn''t bother with him anymore and walked towards the stone elevator.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    …


    A/N: take a look at the author''s note to refresh your memories :]