Michael's second fight was against one of the triplets; James Barscht.
James Barscht was still at the Mid-stage of Tier-1, but Michael had seen his War Rune up close and knew that he was on the verge of reaching the Late-stage.
Michael entered the combat ring quietly, while Jarg and Janus motivated their brother before they pushed him forward.
Michael manifested the Onyx Dragon Armor Set and the Siltang Bow before he got into position.
Meanwhile, James manifested a single Artifact- a set of gloves with various gemstones embedded in them.
The gemstones were connected to the enchantment arrays that covered the entire surface of the black leather gloves.
A single glance was enough to tell that the gloves were far from ordinary. They were exceptional Artifacts, and it looked like James could barely endure the pressure from the enhancements the Artifact provided.
'Is that an Epic Tier-1 Artifact?' Michael wondered, but he had no time to investigate anymore.
The referee initiated the start of the battle and a moment later, a golden headband appeared on James' head.
The golden headband was made out of pure gold and had a smooth and polished surface, reflecting the metal's golden color. It fit perfectly around James' head and released a large amount of origin energy which entered James' body through his head.
"An Armament manifesting Soultrait?" Michael blurted out, slightly surprised.
Soultraits capable of manifesting armaments were not only extremely rare, but the Armaments' effect was several times stronger than most Artifacts. The Armaments had a base strength according to the Soultrait's star rating, but it would grow further as the amount of Soul Power would increase.
Michael frowned but he activated both Lesser Enhancement and Eagle Eyes immediately. He released a few energy arrows with rapid fire. His accuracy suffered a little, but Michael compensated that by adjusting his stance to optimize his accuracy.
James responded to his attacks by moving to the side. Simultaneously, he conjured a small fingertip-sized fireball in his right palm. He released the small fireball to destroy the arrows he couldn't avoid.
Afterward, he condensed five small icicles in his left palm. James' left hand moved subtly and the icicles burst toward Michael.
Michael saw the icicles early enough and dived to the side to evade them. He retrieved the Siltang Bow back from the War Rune while he jumped to the side and manifested it again after he rolled on the ground to smoothly jump up.
'Three Soultraits? No, it's the gloves!' Michael analyzed while releasing more energy arrows.
James didn't move much from his spot even after multiple energy arrows were shot in his direction. He either moved slightly to the side or used his fireballs and icicles to destroy the energy arrows.
The fireballs and icicles were stronger than the energy arrows. Usually, Michael would be able to drain his opponent by continuing to release more energy arrows. After all, the [Energy Storage] enhancement of the Siltang Bow was drained to condense energy arrows, not Michael.
However, James had one big advantage; his golden headband seemed to generate a large amount of origin energy.
'Creating origin energy out of thin air shouldn't be possible. So what is the headband using to generate origin energy consistently?'
Michael knew that there had to be a limit as to how much origin energy the golden headband could generate, but he was not sure how high the limit was. In fact, the golden headband might as well be an origin energy storage device. Michael had too little information to come to a definite conclusion.
Too many important pieces of information were missing.
This irked him, but he didn't have enough time to curse loudly. He was forced to dive to the side again as a bunch of fireballs flew in his direction.
Following the fireballs, a barrage of icicles shot toward the position he landed after his dive. Michael replaced the Siltang Bow with Seron Voulge, and exerted Lesser Enhancement on the voulge before he slashed out twice.
He destroyed the three icicles that would have hit him while ignoring the remaining two. They flew past him, missing Michael by a hair's breadth.
His eyes were shrouded in a white-gold hue after Michael used Lesser Enhancement on his eyes as well. He predicted the trajectory of the incoming projectiles and destroyed the few he couldn't evade.
Michael's strategy changed, and he entered an attack stance. He lowered his upper body, moved Seron Voulge to the side while waiting for James to attack.
However, James didn't attack as expected. Instead, he moved around the outer area of the combat ring while manifesting fireballs in his right hand and icicles in his left hand.
Beads of sweat trickled down his temples as he continued to move, and he reacted only after Michael initiated an attack.
After waiting for the attack until he couldn't stay still anymore, Michael burst forward. He channeled energy through his lower body to enhance his burst speed slightly and closed in on James.
James didn't release the fireballs and icicles toward him. Instead, he smashed his palms upon the ground. The fireballs and icicles burst apart, and a wide pillar of water manifested.
Due to his high perception, Michael could tell that the water pillar required a tremendous amount of origin energy to be manifested and maintained. Yet, James didn't hesitate to condense the water pillar, fully aware of the energy consumption.
Michael grew more vigilant. He slowed down and began to retreat when he noticed that the water pillar was growing unstable. The next moment, the water pillar turned into a tidal wave that crashed down toward Michael.
He reacted quickly and rushed back, but he could barely react in time as both the tidal wave and a few icicles reached him.
Gritting his teeth, Michael threw his body to the ground.
The Icicles would have pierced his neck and vitals, rendering him incapable of continuing the fight. Meanwhile, the tidal wave was not that worrisome. He rammed Seron Voulge in the ground and held the staff with both hands in a deathly grip while the tidal wave crashed down on him.
Michael could barely see James' outlines behind the tidal wave as the water threatened to drown him. He could make out that something manifested in James' hands, and instinctively retrieved Seron Voulge back in his War Rune. Simultaneously, as he was pushed away by the tidal wave, Michael unleashed the protection enchantments of his Onyx Dragon Armor Set.
A second layer of protection covered his entire body a moment later. Just as the protection enchantments were fully unleashed and covered him, several icicles and fireballs impacted hard. The fireballs exploded, destroying the protection layer, while the icicles dug into his armor.
They missed his vitals because he was being tossed and turned due to the tidal wave that kept pushing him away.
After the impact, Michael manifested Seron Voulge again. He pierced the blade deep into the ground and got up while fighting against the impact of the wave. Keeping his Soultraits activated was an ordeal but it helped him overcome James' combination of attacks.
Michael felt his feet brush the slight elevation of the combat ring's border and knew that he had almost lost the fight by stepping out of the combat ring.
A few strands of his hair that had regrown during the last weeks were wet, just like the rest of his body, but he felt extremely hot and energetic at this moment.
A feeling of immense greed, and desire swept through his body.
He was excited to continue the fight.
He didn't want to lose either.
Michael used Lesser Enhancement on his entire body, further enhancing his physical strength and senses. He then pulled Seron Voulge out of the ground while watching James momentarily.
'He never attacked. He is not even trying to.'
Michael burst forward and inched closer to James, who was breathing heavily as he conjured more icicles and fireballs. Droplets of blood trickled down his nose but he didn't seem to notice that.
His brown eyes gleamed brightly as he continued to attack Michael with fireballs and icicles. Michael cut through two fireballs white twisting his body uncomfortably to evade the remaining fireballs. At the same time, his sharp reflexes allowed him to block most icicles. The rest impacted his shoulder, or arm where they barely caused a little discomfort.
Michael's combat prowess wasn't restricted. His eyes were wide open, taking in every single movement and action of his opponent as he continued to lessen the distance.
Then, just as Michael was about to reach his opponent, James roared out loudly. The golden headband shone brightly and a tremendous amount of energy streams shot out from the headband straight toward Michael. More blood poured out of James' nose, and his eyes began to bleed as well, but he continued to fight as if he was totally fine.
He was about to smash his hands on the ground and manifest a second water pillar when he saw something from the corner of his eyes. Seron Voulge whizzed through the air with a terrifyingly high velocity.
Michael threw the voulge in the air with all his might.
He forced James to dive to the side, otherwise, he would have been impaled. Even then, James couldn't evade the lengthy blade of the voulge. It cut into his side as he dived to the left.
The cut was not deep but the injury worsened when James jumped up from the ground. He manifested more icicles and fireballs in his hands and searched for Michael, who had already arrived in front of him.
Michael threw a straight punch at James' face, which James could barely perceive. His sight grew hazy from all the blood trickling down his eyes. He released the icicles and fireballs simultaneously, hoping that they would hit Michael.
However, Michael ducked, and moved to the side with nimble steps all while releasing three jabs in quick succession.
''I'm faster,' Michael thought, but then he realized, 'No, he is just too slow. He cannot move properly with the headband!'
At last, Michael realized why James' movements were sluggish and slow all this while. The golden headband must be several times heavier than James, restricting his movements drastically. Simultaneously, James couldn't generate energy out of nowhere. His Stamina suffered tremendously, providing the last pieces of information Michael required to conclude his analysis.
'Heavy weight but can generate origin energy in exchange for draining the body of its nutrition and power. That's the power of the golden headband!' He shouted in his mind before delivering a heavy blow to James' solar plexus.
James didn't want to give in to Michael, and make use of his higher degree of refinement, but his breath was taken by Michael's last attack.
His sight turned black for a moment and he fell to the ground. The golden headband dispersed, and James began to cough up blood.
Yet, instead of stopping in his tracks, Michael moved his upper body to generate more momentum for the next impact. His right fist was about to smash down on James' head when the referee signaled the end of the battle.
"Victory, Michael Fang!"
