Way of the Knights

Chapter 458 - Tournament 1.9

---

The enormous sized pillar made out of silver ice shattered into chunks which later on turned into silver dusts. Beneath the falling silver ice chunks, was a silhouette of Madman Floyd. 

His body was still covered in silver frost but it doesn't seem to be a hindrance to him. He was wearing a large fiendish grin on his face while a hair-raising aura was being released from his body in addition to some steam. The black cape he was wearing earlier wasn't able to endure the cold therefore it turned into silver dusts along with the rest but the uniform he was wearing was mostly unscathed. 

That enormous cleaver of his was still resting on his shoulders, the only time when others saw him swinging it was only once and it was earlier ago. This means that Floyd might've shattered the ice around him without using his weapon at all. What's even more shocking is that, he was still standing on the same spot as before. Appearing completely fine and dandy. 

His vulgar words earlier caused a few maidens to blush, some of them even tried looking at Floyd's crotch just to confirm, while others were outright disgusted. 

Meanwhile, Ryan was stunned into silence. He could only stare at this scene with profound thoughts on his mind. 

He truly wasn't expecting Floyd to be completely unharmed from all of that. It had to be known that no one else managed to push him to use five percent of the total power of his Pale Moon Umbral Ice before, even those at the same cultivation level as him was either frozen to death or close to death after receiving at least four percent of his ice essence. 

Yet this man in front of him, did just that...

And if he was being completely honest, he doesn't know how to react. 

"Hey! I hope you had fun attacking me earlier because it's my turn now!" Floyd warned while flashing a wide and devious grin on his face. 

He lifted his cleaver and everyone held their breath. Floyd did a wide horizontal sweep which happened so fast that no one was able to follow it with their eyes. Nevertheless, Floyd's attacked definitely caused majority of them feel a jolt on their bodies. 

The strength behind his attack was incredible. Even the protective array covering the arena almost gave in from the impact. It happened too fast and arrive just as fast too. 

Ryan's pupils constricted as he received the blow. The force behind Floyd's attack almost caused him to be breathless. It was heavy, overbearing, dominant, and raw. No fancy tricks nor any profundities, just plainly strong to an unreasonable degree. 

The impact caused Ryan to retreat several paces away from the edge of the arena. He gritted his teeth and exerted the influence of his Ice Laws to freeze majority of the attack and disperse it in order to weaken it sufficiently so that he won't fall from the arena. 

He managed to do it, causing him to feel some sort of relief. Just as then, he felt another chill on his back. 

Ryan quickly shifted his position to evade, allowing Floyd's follow up attack to miss by a hair's breadth. Thankfully his senses were sharp, or else he would've been sliced in half from that attack. There was no doubt about that since that attack just now managed to shatter the protective array surrounding the arena. 

This not only alarmed the management but also the entire audience. 

"Damn, what an unreasonable power." Ryan spat while gritting his teeth. He looked back only to see Floyd slowly but menacingly walking forward as he carried that enormous cleaver of his.

A shiver went down Ryan's spine. He hastily prepared to receive another attack while also devising a plan to deal with this dangerous situation. 

Although he was confident that Floyd will honor the rules and won't kill him, his actions and aura were telling him otherwise. In addition to that, this guy won't get the title Madman Floyd for nothing, therefore he had to make sure to never let his guard down around him. 

Both fighters weren't aware that their battle caused many to panic, specially due to what Floyd did. In order to keep everyone else safe, some people arrived and erected another array, which was stronger compared to the last one. They hastily placed it since they don't want to be caught by their clash. 

What made things difficult for them, was the chilling temperature around the arena thanks to Ryan and the life-threatening crisis that felt from Floyd. They managed to replace the array without getting hurt thanks to the fighters clashing directly. As soon as the barrier was replaced, they immediately retreated away from the arena while sighing in relief. 

Meanwhile, clashing directly with Floyd caused Ryan to berate himself inwardly for his stupidity. 

With how much brute force Floyd has and how intimidating his aura was as well as his cleaver, a direct clash should be the last idea he has, yet he went ahead and did just that. Of course he'd call himself stupid because of that. 

Needless to say, he was already committed. And he had to say…

Experiencing Floyd's unreasonable strength first hand was something that made a lasting impression on him. It felt as though he was clashing not with a human but a God Beast instead - not that he had clash with a God Beast before. 

Although he was being swatted like a fly by Floyd's enormous cleaver, Ryan didn't allow himself to completely lose out on every clash. Whenever their weapons clashed, Ryan would release a powerful pulse of his Pale Moon Umbral Ice to constantly drop the temperature around Floyd and hinder his mobility by encasing him in ice. 

This was effective as he managed to land some hits on Floyd's body directly. Whenever he sliced a wound on Floyd's body, he will immediately sent a pulse of Ice Laws to the wound in order to invade Floyd's body. 

Erosion from within, this was Ryan's plan to take this monster down. Due to the unique properties of his Pale Moon Umbral Ice, the chill it possess were more potent than the regular ones. Additionally, it could eat away at Floyd's stamina from within, making it more effective. 

Unfortunately, Ryan has ultimately still underestimating the might of a dual-cultivator. 

Clash after clash, Ryan's thoughts were gradually filled with anxiety. He noticed that no matter how much time passed, Floyd was never weakened by his Ice Laws. To his shock, he noticed that the wounds he inflicted to him earlier was already healed, he couldn't even see any traces of it. 

The impact of each attack of Floyd never faltered, it was as strong as the first one. On the contrary, Ryan's consumption of his own energy was little but constant. As he expected Floyd to weaken over time, he didn't expect that he would be the one weakening instead. 

Ryan's senses dulled to the point that he lost focus and allowed a random attack from Floyd to pass through his defenses. 

This caused Ryan to fly back like a swatted fly, this caused him to cough out blood, his Territory to shatter, and for his Knightly Armament to disappear. 

Pain assaulted Ryan's body. He tried getting up while gritting his teeth to no avail. He couldn't stand up. His hands were numb and trembling. He never felt anything like this before. He never held his sword so tightly and threw himself to the enemy to personally get beaten up. 

What's more painful above all, was the fact that he knew that Floyd was still holding back. Which means that not even him, operating at his most optimal state nor trying his best, was capable of bringing out the true strength of this guy. 

Ryan remembered the words he uttered earlier. Five percent of the total of power of his Ice Essence was enough to deal with this guy? What was he thinking when he said this? This Madman Floyd was an animal, he wouldn't even be sure if ten percent would be enough to stop him. 

Remembering all of the words of disdain he said earlier caused him to feel embarrassed. He was beaten fair and square. Everyone who's watching could tell that Madman Floyd handed his ass over to him without resorting to petty tricks. Just pure and absolute strength was enough to seal the deal. 

Floyd arrived in front of Ryan, his eyes were dull and almost apathetic. He placed he cleaver close to Ryan's neck. The latter feeling the gleam of the weapon, opened his eyes and stared at his opponent's eyes. A chuckle escaped his lips as he said:

"I admit defeat." 

Although his voice was weak, it was loud enough to be heard by everyone. The referee immediately announced the winner and declared the match over. Floyd shook his cleaver and it disappeared on his spatial ring. He then looked at Ryan once more, saying:

"You could've done better than that, so why didn't you?" His voice has a noticeable trace of irritation. 

Ryan was surprised at first before chuckling weakly and saying: "It's not like I don't want to, but I can't."

"Is it because of the rules?"

"No."

"Tch."

Clicking his tongue, Floyd walked out of the arena and returned to his room.. Ryan was then attended by medics and brought to a separate room to recover.