Chapter 179 179: Curse of the Albrights

Words : 1747 Updated : Sep 21st, 2025

FWOOSH! Her telekinetic grip caught hold of a broken floor rock nearby— And with a simple twist of her fingers— CRACK! It shot straight for Adrian. Noah's eyes widened from the crowd. "Shit—she's messing with his trajectory. It's not just slowing him down—she's redirecting his own speed against him." Sophie clenched her fists. "If he can't land a hit—he's done." Adrian saw the rock coming—but his body was still moving at full velocity. 'Think—' Instinct took over. BOOM! A mini-explosion from his elbow twisted his upper body just enough— The rock whizzed past his shoulder, barely missing his ribs. But before he could recover— Another twitch from Lila. A second rock followed. This one curved, as if guided by invisible hands— And struck him dead in the stomach. BAM! The impact knocked the wind out of him, forcing his body to crash-land into the ring floor. Smoke billowed as Adrian skidded across the arena, rolling twice before slamming a fist down to steady himself. His lungs burned. His ribs ached. 'Shit. She's actually good.' She wasn't just stalling— She was controlling the entire fight. Every time he moved, she'd alter his path. Every time he attacked, she'd weaken it before it landed. She wasn't fighting Adrian head-on. She was guiding him into his own downfall. Adrian coughed, pushing himself up from the cracked stone. His skin was bruised, dirt smeared across his knuckles. Lila, standing several feet away, was still untouched. Her breath was steady. Her uniform barely ruffled. But Adrian noticed something. The faintest strain in her posture. The slight tension in her fingers. She was keeping up the slow zone and altering vectors simultaneously. Adrian exhaled through his nose. 'She's not invincible.' Controlling two abilities at once—that took energy. Which meant if he kept pushing— She'd have to crack. Lila exhaled slowly, flexing her fingers as she assessed the ring. The problem with Adrian wasn't just his power—it was the way he used it. She couldn't get close. She couldn't beat him at long-range. And even when she managed to grip him telekinetically, his energy surged outward, disrupting her control. The moment she held him too tightly, he'd just detonate, shattering her grasp and throwing her off balance. That pissed her off. Not because it was frustrating—but because if she lost focus for even a second, he'd break her bones. And she hated that part. A tiny, involuntary shiver ran down her spine. She wasn't scared—no, she was annoyed. 'I need to end this.' Meanwhile, Adrian stood a few meters away, rolling his shoulders, his breathing slightly heavier than before. Heat waves shimmered off his skin, rippling in the air around him. He wasn't thinking about winning anymore. He was thinking about time. 'How much longer can I even keep this up?' The thing about his ability—the Albright bloodline's curse—was that it bled energy constantly. Most people thought of him as a walking nuke. And they weren't wrong. The problem was—nukes only explode once. After that, they're just wastelands. That's why he'd been pacing himself. Every detonation was precisely controlled, just enough to push, to damage, but never enough to drain him completely. But now? He could feel the slow deterioration. Each burst was costing more than before. Each movement sapped more of his reserves. And Lila? She was still standing. Still adapting. If he didn't finish this now— He'd lose. Adrian inhaled deeply, feeling the static crackling over his arms. This was what he named Shock Armor. It was a thin veil of ionized energy wrapped around him, pulsing faintly, distorting the air like a mirage. Lila flicked her fingers, attempting Telekinetic Compression— Adrian smirked as the force hit his body— BOOM. Instead of binding him, the compression shattered on impact. The shockwaves repelled her hold, nullifying her grip entirely. Lila's lips twisted. 'Fine.' She was done playing defense. With a sharp inhale, she clenched her fists—and the entire ring shuddered. A reflective barrier formed around her, transparent yet dense, shifting like liquid glass. Adrian's eyes flickered to it. 'Tch. She's trying to turn my own explosions against me.' The entire atmosphere changed. The fight was no longer about one-sided domination. It was now brute force vs. controlled finesse. Lila grinned. It wasn't her usual smirk. It wasn't her calculated poise. It was something off. Something wild. Something dangerous. Adrian felt the shift, but it didn't shake him. He'd fought monsters before. A Harbinger could be classed as one. He'd been a monster before, too. It was just another tuesday to him. This? This was just another fight. Adrian's fingers curled into a fist. Enough. BOOM. His body blurred—heatwaves crackling around him—before he detonated straight toward her, shockwaves spiraling outward. Lila's barrier pulsed— And then— It reflected his force back at him. BOOM! Adrian was blasted backward, his own shockwave throwing him off balance. But he didn't stop moving. BOOM! Another explosion sent him flying again, curving his trajectory back toward her. "You think that'll stop me?" Lila grinned wider, her fingers trembling slightly. "Come on, then. Let's see how much you can take," She expanded the Zone Slow—the field stretched outward, dragging time down, making Adrian's next explosion sluggish, distorting the momentum. It was like pushing through molasses. The final moment came crashing toward them— Adrian's entire body glowed. He was no longer holding back. Lila braced, her barrier flickering as she reinforced it with everything she had. The ring shook. The energy barrier around them flickered wildly. Adrian pushed forward, straining against the time-slow effect, his body screaming from the effort— Lila's reflective shield cracked. Then— BOOM. The explosion went off. The entire ring disappeared in a shockwave of light. When the smoke cleared, Both fighters lay motionless. The ring was cratered, debris scattered in all directions. A hush fell over the crowd. Noah exhaled slowly. "Sophie." She swallowed, eyes wide. "Yeah?" "That was a draw." Sophie stared at the ring, her hand in Noah's. The entire ring was a wreck—the once-smooth flooring was now a cratered wasteland, with cracks spreading outward like a shattered mirror. Smoke and dust hung in the air, slowly dissipating to reveal the two fighters motionless on the ground. She exhaled sharply, her heart still pounding. "I... I don't get it. What even happened?" Noah, standing beside her, didn't take his eyes off the ring. His expression was calm, calculating. "It was a draw," he said simply. Sophie frowned. "Yeah, I can see that, genius. But why? How did it end like that?" Noah smirked slightly but didn't rush his explanation. "Adrian forced a full-power detonation—probably the biggest he could manage without outright killing himself or her. He knew his energy drain was catching up to him, so instead of dragging things out, he put everything into a final attack." Sophie's brows furrowed. "Okay... but Lila slowed it down, right? I saw her do it," "Yeah, like I guessed before the match started, she can control time with in a zone," Noah nodded. "It worked—kind of. Slowing the explosion meant she had time to react, and she tried to contain it. But here's the problem—Adrian doesn't just explode outward. He can direct his energy." Sophie's eyes widened slightly. "You mean—?" "He pushed through the slow effect. Even though his explosion was delayed, his momentum wasn't stopped. He was still moving, still building force." Sophie nodded slowly, starting to see it. "So that means...?" "Lila tried to counter by using some sort of telekinetic reflective Barrier, which was smart," Noah continued with a smile, clearly enjoying breaking it down to Sophie who was paying absolute attention, "It absorbed a chunk of the blast and rebounded it back toward Adrian. But that's the thing—she was already at her limit. The barrier was cracking before the explosion even fully hit. And once it shattered—" Sophie sucked in a breath. "—They both got caught in the blast." "Exactly." Noah crossed his arms. "Lila underestimated just how much raw power Adrian was packing in that last hit. She thought she could weaken it enough to survive while he went down. But by the time she realized it wasn't enough—she couldn't fully shield herself." Sophie leaned against the railing, letting it sink in. "Damn... so in the end, they both took too much damage. Adrian gambled that he could overpower her defenses before running out of steam, and Lila gambled that she could stall him out long enough to break him. But neither of them won that bet." Noah gave a small, approving nod. "Now you're getting it." Sophie shook her head in disbelief, a grin forming. "Okay, that's actually insane. And you figured all that out in, what, like—ten seconds?" Noah shrugged, smirking. "Give or take." Sophie let out a low whistle. "No wonder Lucas said you might be the best fighter he'd come across," Noah just smiled. "Lucas told you that?." Sophie nodded. He glanced back down at the ring, where medics were now rushing in. "Adrian and Lila... they weren't just throwing attacks. They were playing chess at full speed. And that? That was a masterclass in mutual destruction." The arena's repair systems whirred to life, shimmering lines of energy tracing over the shattered ground. The craters and cracks sealed themselves, the flooring restoring as if the brutal fight had never happened. Overhead, the massive screen flickered, the randomizer spinning through names at lightning speed. The crowd's anticipation grew as they waited for the next match-up. Then—his name appeared. Noah's eyes narrowed slightly as he saw it flash on the screen. The murmurs in the audience swelled, a few excited whispers carrying through the air. He exhaled, rolling his shoulders, already stepping forward. Just then, from the side of the arena, Lucas strolled in, toweling off his damp hair. He looked completely unfazed, his uniform crisp again after having cleaned up. His last fight had been quick, almost dismissive. The way he had dismantled his opponent had only reinforced why he held the rank of number one. His gaze flicked toward Noah, a small, knowing smirk playing on his lips. "Looks like it's your turn."

Chapter 179 179: Curse of the Albrights

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