Path to Transcendence

He leaned forward with his elbows laid across his knees as he watched the match in front of him unfold. It was unfortunate, but not totally unexpected.

With four of them being in the top sixteen, it was bound that they would face off against each other. In this case, it was Aubrey and Edgar who drew the short straw. However, instead of being angry about it, both of them were surprisingly excited.

They found out about their matchup the previous evening when the school posted them on the board and ever since then Aubrey had been taunting Edgar nonstop.

While most of the students firmly believed that Edgar would win, Julius wasn't as confident. He had seen the two of them spar on many occasions, and even though Edgar won most of these spars, Aubrey won her fair share.

With her newly improved skills, she could more easily compete with Edgar. Her ability to take a hit, along with her clone skill, was tough to deal with, especially by someone with Edgar's skillset. The older boy didn't have many ways to deal with Aubrey's abilities with his more basic skillset.

While he was strong, fast, and insanely durable, Edgar wasn't able to pin down Aubrey. Most of the time, he needed to wear her down and wait for her to make a mistake. That was why he was sure that this fight was going to be a long one. But he was also sure that it was going to be an entertaining one.

Lily, Kyle, and Derek were all sitting with him. Derek had his fight soon after this one, but still decided to watch his friends fight. They all had a large collection of snacks. Just like Julius, they knew that this was going to be a fun match to watch. It didn't matter that much that one of them wouldn't be making it past this point, they already prepared for this eventuality.

As he looked down at the field, he saw Aubrey talking to Edgar with a smirk on her face. He could already guess that she was trying to rile her friend up. Of course, it rarely worked, but she must have been saving some taunts in her back pocket because he noticed that Edgar narrowed his eyes at her.

When the fight began, he observed Aubrey create her signature clones all around her. At a quick glance, there was no way he could have guessed which was which. She had made many improvements, and without [Spatial Perception], he wasn't sure he would be able to differentiate them. They each had Aubrey's aura and had a distinct physical presence, making it very hard for Edgar.

However, it was for that reason that the other boy simply sat back. He knew better than to rush in and tire himself out. Aubrey, on the other hand, was never the patient sort of person and went on the offensive right away.

Each clone sent a large, thick beam of light piercing through the air toward Edgar. That was another improvement she made to her clones. She was now able to use her long-range attack via her clones, and while they weren't as strong as they could have been, the threat was still there. This forced Edgar to either dodge or block them with a barrier of mana over his arms.

The other boy was fast as always, dancing through the beams of light like a choreographed dance. Julius was still impressed with how nimble and efficient the large boy was able to move his muscular body. Edgar's movement was almost unnatural—an odd mixture of explosive and stable movements.

Aubrey was smart. She wasn't using a lot of mana in these attacks. She was using just enough that Edgar couldn't ignore them. She knew better than anyone that she couldn't allow Edgar to wear her down without consequence.

She also knew that she couldn't compete head-to-head with her friend's stamina. She has tried in the past, and every time, Edgar had outlasted her.

Her best bet was to trap Edgar and strip his options. He grinned as he watched her do just that. She forced Edgar toward the edge of the barrier and used her clones to block off his retreat.

It was only after she got the larger boy in position that she started to make her move. Using her clones, she started to swarm Edgar with sheer numbers. While each of her clones was much weaker than Edgar, it still took effort to take them down.

Edgar started to slam his fists into the clones, which were doing their best to drown him. The powerful surges of mana coming from his fists were felt throughout the crowd. Fire and earth mana were rolling off him in waves.

Aubrey wasn't just staying back and letting her clones do the work. She was right in the midst of the chaos, slugging it out with Edgar. She wasn't as fast, strong, or skilled, but her defenses could rival the best in Tier 3.

She could take a hit and was more than willing to do so. Edgar walloped the real her with several hard punches during this exchange. With that being said, she got her shots in, too. Edgar still had to take care of the clones that gave her the opportunity to slam her fists into Edgar's side.

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Her crystal-covered gauntlets created loud shockwaves every time they connected. Edgar did his best to get a hold of her, but each time he tried, she would simply switch out with one of her clones, giving herself a chance to breathe while still drowning her friend in an endless wave of Aubreys.

On top of this, Aubrey had her tricks. Sometimes she would empower a clone, which would make Edgar mistakenly believe that the clone was Aubrey and he would use a stronger attack to try and take her out.

However, Julius snorted and slapped his knee in amusement when the clone would disappear into purple light. Only for the light to coalesce back into another clone.

Of course, Julius was able to tell where the real Aubrey was at all times. He was close enough that he could still use [Spatial Perception]. It was why he was even more impressed with her display of skill. She rarely stayed in the same position for longer than a few seconds. She always made sure to keep Edgar guessing.

With that being said, he could tell that Aubrey was tiring more quickly than Edgar. She was using much more mana, and although she had more mana than the large musclehead, her advantage was slowly ebbing away.

She would need to figure out how to end things before it was too late.

It wasn't like he was the only one to realize this as well. Aubrey probably knew better than anyone that she needed a way to end the fight decisively.

So when she suddenly changed how she manipulated her mana, he paid close attention with a curious grin. It was quite interesting, she shifted her focus from controlling her clones, and her mana began condensing in a weird way. He wasn't sure that Edgar quite realized it yet. He was so focused on fending off Aubrey's assault that he wasn't aware of the slight change. However, that might have been a costly mistake.

While Edgar might not have noticed what was happening, Julius started to have suspicions about what Aubrey was planning, and if he was right, then Edgar was in real trouble.

Just as Edgar was staggered back by another powerful strike from Aubrey, her clones suddenly surged forward, smothering Edgar with their bodies. However, in a rare display of mana usage, Edgar decided to unleash a blast of mana.

It was like a volcanic eruption that had happened before their very eyes. An endless wave of superheated flame and rock was tossed out in a gigantic explosion. All of Aubrey's clones that were caught in the ability were destroyed immediately.

Luckily, Aubrey reacted in time and managed to transport herself to one of her clones, which she had placed further away. However, Edgar didn't stop there and chased after her, using the leftover mana from his blast to propel him toward Aubrey in a shocking burst of speed.

She didn't have any time to react or switch to another clone as Edgar slammed a fist into her chest with a deafening boom. The crystal plate covering her body cracked as the force of the strike was too much for it. Aubrey was then sent flying off into the distance, flipping in the air several times until she slammed against the barrier.

Edgar didn't let her recover and instantly dashed toward her again at full speed. His arm was blazing red as fire mana surged through it with fierce intensity.

Aubrey got up in a stumble, still disoriented from the attack. However, Julius was able to spot the satisfied smirk on her face as Edgar closed in. Then, as the other boy's fist was soaring toward her face, she took control of a large amount of mana, enhancing her body far beyond what she normally could.

This still didn't deter Edgar, and he continued to attack her without hesitation. He was determined to break through her defenses with sheer power and might. But what the other boy hadn't noticed was that Aubrey had finally finished whatever she had been working on in the background.

Julius chuckled as Aubrey's mana exploded in a violet wave. Where once Aubrey had been, there was now a clone. Her skill didn't just allow her to switch places with a clone, but it also allowed her to replace her position with one. It wasn't just a normal clone either. No, this clone had some very alarming modifications.

It was so packed full of mana that it was on the edge of bursting. He had no idea how she was able to keep it from unraveling. She must have used every ounce of her willpower to keep it together. She also ensured her clone carefully mimicked the empowerment she just displayed.

But it was worth it, Edgar still hadn't quite realized that Aubrey was no longer there. If he had, he would have Julius was sure he would be running in the opposite direction.

Julius didn't know if Aubrey had been sitting on this for a while or if she had just thought of this recently. He didn't even know how she was managing to do this. It wasn't exactly within her skillset.

Actually, that was incorrect. He knew how she was able to pull this off. The profound feeling of a Concept and the tiniest hint of an infused Emblem he felt radiating just underneath the surface of the clone told him enough.

He was just surprised that she was able to pull it off. It was something only someone as crazy as him would attempt to do, and that was why he was proudly standing up, eagerly watching her make her move.

He observed the exact moment Edgar realized something was wrong. Dread and frustration flashed across his face moments before the clone exploded in a terrifying explosion of Concepts, aura, and mana.

Aubrey had somehow compressed her entire existence together so tightly, packed it inside her clone, and then willingly ignited it. The technique was eerily similar to what he did with his soul in order to disrupt Domains, but her version was focused on creating absolute devastation to the environment.

Massive chunks of crystal mana, enforced with powerful Concepts, ripped through Edgar in a whirlwind of destruction. Not even Edgar's impressive defenses were enough to handle the onslaught, and he could only close his eyes as an explosion of purple light blasted into him.