"Quinn Karta belongs to a High Noble house that collapsed a decade ago. Members of Dark Heavens attacked the Karta household on Quinn's birthday. Every member of the family was present, yet only Quinn survived. Apparently, Quinn had been with his grandfather at that time, and his grandfather unleashed his power as a Peak Higher Lifeform to protect him," Lincoln told Michael when he noticed that his friend was mindlessly staring at the battlefield.
"That day we did not only lose against the Dark Heavens for the first time, but we also lost a High Noble household, and one of the few Tier-6 powerhouses of the human race. It was really a terrifying day," Zeke added quietly.
He looked away when Michael looked at him. It was almost like Zeke didn't want to talk about that day.
Lincoln patted Zeke's back before he pulled Michael closer to him.
"His sister was married to Quinn's brother. They both died in that incident," Lincoln whispered.
Michael figured that he shouldn't speak more about the incident after hearing that. So he diverted his attention back to the battlefield where Quinn and William were waiting for the start of the battle.
Quinn's upbringing was entirely different from the other descendants of High Nobles given that his entire family died a decade ago. Michael was certain that Quinn inherited lots of money, probably even the secret techniques of his family, but none of that was the same as having powerhouses paying attention to your training, studies, and actions.
Quinn didn't have the same responsibilities as his peers, and Michael could imagine that he had other goals as well.
'If I were him, I would strive to become strong enough to execute Dark Heavens,' Michael thought as he watched the young man, whose golden hair fluttered in the air.
Quinn Karta's physique didn't seem anything special. He had flawlessly fair skin and was lean. His physique was clearly honed to turn him athletic rather than bulky. His muscles were well-defined and his golden eyes were full of vigor. The sheen in his eyes was dazzling.
Funnily enough, William Black looked completely different than Quinn. He had long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail. His dark eyes seemed to absorb the light in the surroundings, and he had toned skin that highlighted his bulging muscles even more.
Michael exerted Eagle Eyes at full power as the combatants walked to the opposite sites of the arena. The battle started not long after with the ringing of a loud bell.
The ringing still resounded in the arena when both Quinn and William jumped into action.
William manifested a black armor, along with a thin longsword in his left hand, and a dagger for his right. He then stomped on the ground and blasted forward.
As he shot forward, darkness shot out from the ground beneath him. And his shadow expanded rapidly, coating William's feet and calves, resulting in a sudden burst of speed.
And while William charged forward, Quinn didn't move. He summoned two silver daggers and a leather armor, but he didn't move from the spot. Instead, he used his own Soultrait, which manifested golden marks all over his body.
The golden marks were intricate and complex. They released a heavy pressure in the surroundings naturally, and changed the atmosphere over a long distance.
Even MIchael could sense the heavy pressure despite his seat was more than 50 meters from the battlefield.
"Dragon might?" Michael blurted out when he recalled what this familiar presence was.
It was stronger than the Legendary Ring Artifact's dragon might, but weaker than the Red Dragon's presence. Nonetheless, it was clearly the presence of a dragon that resided within the golden marks that covered Quinn's entire body.
The marks were the most apparent on his face, turning Quinn's already handsome face into a masterpiece. Seeing Quinn's face covered in the beautiful golden marks, Michael had to acknowledge that Quinn was otherworldly beautiful. It was eerie.
The dragon marks began to glow as Quinn circulated energy through his entire body to enhance himself. He kicked his feet off the ground and shot forward, crossing a distance of more than ten meters in an instant.
He appeared next to William and slashed at his neck mercilessly. William reacted in time, erupting a wall of darkness that shot out of the ground to block Quinn's slash. Yet, instead of fully blocking Quinn's attack, the dagger was merely slowed down. That gave William just enough time to lift his dagger and block Quinn's attack.
But before Quinn's dagger could be blocked it disappeared. Quinn disappeared along with the dagger, confusing his opponent for a second. They reappeared behind William, whose head had already flicked to Quinn the moment the Sun of the freshman year disappeared.
It was obvious that William was aware of Quinn's powers. Everyone participating in the freshman ranking had to expose some of their powers to jump up in the ranks.
With their powers exposed, many students created strategies to counter the powerful Soultraits of their opponents.
William Black had studied Quinn Karta long enough to know how the Sun of the freshman usually fought. His Dragon Mark enhanced his agility, dexterity and perception drastically. But that was not all. They allowed Quinn to jump through space – even if it was only a short distance. William had prepared fighting Quinn for months, and he was finally ready to defeat him!
William used his Soultrait, Darkness Manifestation, to release several darkness vines from the ground. The vines coiled around Quinn's leg, pinning him down to the ground. They restricted his ability to jump through space, drastically reducing Quinn's combat prowess.
However, instead of panicking, Quinn just smiled. He revealed his empty right hand, which caused many students to gasp. William realized that Quinn's weapon had disappeared when Quinn teleported behind him.
He was just about to turn back, only to feel something shoot past his neck. The membrane of darkness covering his neck was cut at once, and the remnants of darkness dispersed in all directions while Quinn moved the dagger artifact in the air using his mind and origin energy.
The Dragon Mark enhanced the energy density and purity of the origin energy inside his body enough to easily control the dagger artifact. The artifact moved through the air according to his will. It cut through the darkness vines that had coiled around his leg, freeing Quinn.
Quinn didn't seem under any pressure. On the contrary, he exuded far more pressure than most Tier-2 Lord could endure without breaking into a sweat.
Witnessing how easily Quinn moved through the arena, and how easily he nearly killed him, William could only grit his teeth in frustration.
He manifested darkness all around him and compressed it into needles. The darkness needles burst forth with terrific acceleration. They could cross a distance of 15 meters seemingly instantaneously. Therefore the darkness needles pierced deep into Quinn's flesh the moment they'd been released – or so everyone thought would happen in the next second.
However, reality was completely different.
The darkness needles shot through Quinn, causing his body to distort. For a moment, Michael was confused. He applied several layers of Enhancement on Eagle Eyes while continuing to watch the battle with increasing focus.
'Mirror Image? A duplicate?' Michael wondered as he watched Quinn's body disperse in all directions as if the young man was made of gas.
Quinn's real body appeared next to William a second later. His Dragon Marks shone brightly, dispelling the darkness in his immediate surrounding all while altering the origin energy around them.
Applying more Enhancement layers to Eagle Eyes, Michael quickly realized that the Dragon Marks were influencing the surrounding origin energy. The Dragon Marks annexed the surrounding energy by slowly altering it. That way, Quinn didn't have to put in more efforts to empower the Dragon Marks with more energy, and channel it into the dagger artifacts. Instead, he could use his own energy storage to circulate it through his body, further amplifying his strength, speed and perception.
The energy altered by the Dragon Mark possessed quite interesting properties as well. It repelled harmful substances, ensuring that William's darkness couldn't touch Quinn wherever he appeared after his teleportation.
Michael considered this quite helpful, but there was more to the Dragon Mark and the ability to teleport than one could see with the bare eye. Being in possession of Eagle Eyes, which had been enhanced with several layers of Enhancement right now, Michael could clearly see the particles of origin energy in the surroundings.
Under ordinary circumstances, the surrounding wouldn't release origin energy. However, the Colosseum released origin energy naturally to mimic the environment of the Origin Expanse in battle. Michael could see origin energy particles and streams of energy with Eagle Eyes – once fully unleashed and enhanced with several layers of Enhancement. That may not be useful in most cases, but it was exceptionally helpful right now.
The ability to see origin energy allowed him to clearly tell the difference between the Dragon Mark, and Quinn's ability to teleport.
"Is the Dragon Mark Quinn's only Soultrait? Isn't it way too powerful?" Michael asked, exaggerating a little bit intentionally, only to receive a nod from both Lincoln and Zeke.
"His Dragon Mark is quite powerful. The more energy he channels into the Dragon Marks the stronger he will be enhanced physically. Simultaneously, his energy control and the purity of his origin energy will be enhanced the stronger the Dragon Mark glow. It is interesting that Quinn's strength increases the longer he fights. That turns him into an even more terrifying opponent than most, especially with the Dragon Mark's ability to teleport him out of danger, and initiate surprise attacks from every angle," Lincoln explained without looking away from the arena for a second.
But Michael could only frown deeply.
'You guys really think that he has only one Soultrait?'
