Speed and decisiveness—that was the Thunderclap Academy supervising teacher's instruction to Lei Tian.
Lei Tian immediately released his Martial Soul. With a peal of thunder, a pair of wings crackling with distorted lightning unfurled abruptly from his body, and his third Soul Ring blazed with violet light as he shot skyward.
The advantage of a flying Soul Master was indisputable, especially against an opponent who lacked any form of long-range attack—it could render oneself virtually untouchable. But Lei Tian's ascent into the sky at this moment was not to evade any strike Xiao Wu might launch. It was to bolster his own offensive.
Xiao Wu stood there with a delicate poise, her lovely eyes tracking her opponent's movements, while she herself remained perfectly still.
Soaring into the air, Lei Tian spread both arms wide, and his fourth Soul Ring ignited right after his third. The two purple Soul Rings orbited his body in resonance, and one could distinctly feel the lightning-attributed elements in the air coalescing wildly within a turbulent spiral.
To defeat Xiao Wu as quickly as possible, he had committed his most powerful attack from the very start.
Xiao Wu narrowed her eyes slightly, still simply waiting in silence, her right hand casually drawing her scorpion braid forward over her chest. The image of a girl-next-door was endearingly sweet.
Both halos flared simultaneously, and blue-purple serpentine lightning began crackling around Lei Tian's body at a furious pace. A dark blue silhouette materialized behind him—the true form of his Martial Soul, the Thunder Eagle.
Strands of serpentine lightning converged upon that great eagle's form. With Lei Tian's body as the epicenter, the air within a five-meter diameter had already coalesced into an enormous sphere of blue-purple energy. Under the pull of the lightning, the sky overhead had darkened as though twilight had descended. The gathering bolts crackled with such intensity that they seemed poised to detonate at any moment. Even Lei Tian's eyes had turned a deep blue.
The crushing pressure made Xiao Wu's clothes billow without any breeze, yet she still did not move. Not because she didn't want to disrupt her opponent—but because she simply couldn't.
Xiao Wu was a close-combat Soul Master. Although her leaping ability was formidable and she had Teleportation to gain additional height, Thunderclap Academy had clearly studied her capabilities long in advance. The altitude Lei Tian had taken in the air placed him just beyond the ceiling of Xiao Wu's maximum attack range. No matter what she did, she could not reach his airborne body.
There was yet another reason Xiao Wu hadn't attempted it. Once airborne, evasion options became far more limited. With the opponent's explosive destructive power unleashed at full force, how could she hope to withstand it?
The Thunder Eagle's form was growing larger. Lei Tian had paid careful attention when his instructor explained Xiao Wu's abilities, and the reason he could so confidently gather the lightning's power was precisely that Xiao Wu had no means to chase him into the air.
Before their eyes, the colossal Thunder Eagle had swelled to a body length of five meters. Lei Tian's form silently merged into that vast reservoir of energy, and the Thunder Eagle's eyes blazed alight—they were Lei Tian's eyes. His aura locked onto Xiao Wu in an instant, and the massive eagle plummeted earthward. Carrying an incomparable surge of momentum and pressure, its attack radius encompassed the full distance Xiao Wu could Teleport.
The very instant the Thunder Eagle dove, Xiao Wu finally moved. She unleashed her third Soul Skill without hesitation—Teleportation.
In a flash, Xiao Wu materialized five meters away. But her opponent had already locked onto her body, and the Thunder Eagle, guided by the linked auras, shifted its trajectory in midair and continued barreling toward her. And it was right at that moment that Xiao Wu's eyes lit up.
Second Soul Skill—Charm—activated.
A pink radiance spilled from Xiao Wu's eyes, meeting the Thunder Eagle's gaze head-on. In midair, the vast confluence of energy faltered for just an instant. And in that very instant, Xiao Wu bent her legs, and her body shot forward with a sharp whoosh.
This was mastery of battlefield timing. Xiao Wu's three Soul Skills were something her opponent had obviously studied thoroughly. From the start of the match, Lei Tian had deliberately avoided looking into Xiao Wu's eyes. But what good was that knowledge? The moment Xiao Wu deployed Teleportation, the Thunder Eagle adjusted its trajectory in response to the aura link—its eyes were Lei Tian's eyes. When the Thunder Eagle changed direction, Lei Tian instinctively looked toward Xiao Wu, and in doing so, naturally met her pink gaze.
Who could have guessed that the purpose of deploying her third Soul Skill was merely to make her second Soul Skill take effect? Her Teleportation existed only to force her opponent to look at her.
Yet that single sequence of moves had forcibly broken the opponent's body-lock with the Charm skill. Her powerful legs launched her a full dozen meters away, temporarily evading the Thunder Eagle's assault.