Phantom’s Battle

The crowd was so dumbfounded, Horo could hear gasps and chattering throughout the entire stadium. There was so many emotions floating around. 

Shock, amazement, disbelief and many more. 

Horo could easily see all of the negative ones though, and as he kept his stance while waiting for Judy to come to, he stole a glance at Elder Bai.

Even without his Eye skill that wouldn't be as effective on her due to their strength difference, he could see anger. Pure anger that extended beyond him, and he could tell she was also mad at her disciple for some reason. 

He looked at the palace master who had raised brows like she was really intrigued. 

Then he looked to Elevora and saw her smiling very hard while sending him a thumbs up. The other familiar faces he saw like Olivia and Elder May wore amazed looks. It seemed as if they couldn't believe their eyes. 

He didn't know that this moment will make Elder May, one of the supreme experts in the palace, take a liking to him. 

About eight more breaths after he scanned the crowd Judy finally was done dreaming. 

As he stared at her he could see all kinds of negative emotions lifting from her as strings, and they thickened the more and more as time passed.

Seeing as she didn't give up he could tell she was about to truly go all out. He could see a thick white substance began to ooz from her. He could tell it was something like mana but much more potent. 

He thought, "This must be aura."

As her aura grew it began to form a couple of vague milky white palms, which represented she was near the middle of the expert stage. 

Once the aura was able began to form something in particular completely that signified mid Expert stage. 

Aura also gave a ridiculous boost to the body and skills. 

Horo became alert even though he still didn't go all out, and he couldn't even if he wanted to because he didn't want to expose his negative energy, at least not yet. 

Horo could see her slowly walking towards him, when suddenly he felt a palm on his side which cracked his black light immediately and sent him flying. 

As he caught himself her palm was nearly in his face, with his instincts he ducked immediately, but one of the milky white palm images immediately smashed into his face from below, causing him to do a back flip. 

He landed in a half kneeling position on one knee with a fist on the ground very quickly but didn't dodge because he didn't sense an incoming attack. He felt blood dripping from his lip. The black light was penetrated. 

As he looked for her he was thinking of what her abilities were, he could tell that something wasn't right and his eyes were playing games with him. 

Suddenly he thought back to a word Elevora used when explaining what their clouds could do, "Mirage".

He heard Alma speak all of a sudden "It is as you suspect father, her palm technique must contain a mirage like effect, and that added with those other palms made from her aura which are also able to use the effect is making it tough for you to discern attacks. Luckily as you were fighting her I was analyzing from the jump and I deduced that at her current level she can only used that effect for one attack at a time."

Horo doesn't talk to Alma as much, but she is always looking for ways to help him like now. 

He replied, "So basically at all times there's going to be one palm that I can't truly see?"

Alma replied "Well make that two because that restriction applies to her physical body and her aura separately."

Horo suddenly felt a tinge of regret asking to fight an opponent of a higher stage, he forgot that the Expert stage offered the perk of Aura. 

"Alright I can do this, thanks Alma"

He activated skills that are passive but can now gain boost from being activated with spirit mana. 

[Silence] [Dead Heart] [Weightless] [Double Impact] [Illusory Grip] [Shadow Blend] and [Shadow Steps]

When he activated these specific skills the strong people in the audience sensed a huge change around him, it was like if they weren't looking at him directly they wouldn't know he existed if he didn't moved, they could also see his shadow thickening and stretching larger then it normally is. The craziest part is his heart wasn't beating. 

Horo himself felt like he didn't even weigh a pound. 

Lastly he activated [Dark Skeletal] which boosted his strength, defense, and endurance by two times. After that he closed his eyes and allowed his senses and instincts to take control. 

Judy wasn't just idling by as he did all of this, in fact she was giving him a breather like he did her, but she was talking a bunch of bull crap as she slowly walked towards him. 

When she saw him close his eyes she seemed to get more infuriated thinking that he was taking her lately. 

She flung all of her aura palms towards him out of anger but with precision, while she ran around in a curve to attack him from the side as she left behind and after image with her movement skills related to mirage as well. 

The after image kept walking toward Horo slowly but her real body was already upon him right along with her aura palms. 

She tried to strike him in the side of his head as he was in a half kneeling position, but he moved so fast she that she didn't even see his body move all she saw was his shadow still there. 

She looked around and didn't see him.

Suddenly she heard his voice right behind her. "Are you looking for me?"

She spun around so fast to deliver a secondary blow, while an aura palm was already smashing his face in but it was just a pitch black shadow that got its silhouette like head smash in, and she hit nothing but the fading shadow while a strike hit her in her back. 

But it was already an after image of her and in the end Horo was the one who got hit in his side. 

They both continuously performed phantom likes movements but Horo was mostly on the receiving end, and most of his hits didn't have as much effect after she used her aura which boosted her protected ability beyond his imagination, so even his double impact was having trouble really dealing effective damage. 

If he continued to take damage he would definitely lose, and he couldn't even use a new defensive skill he recently obtained from using the skill [Energy Armor] and the concept [Murderous Fever] simultaneously for a decent period of time while fighting kusho. 

It was called [Murderous Demon Armor]. This skill will reek of extreme desire for blood and killing, which will make him unsuitable to represent the pure cloud palace. 

On top of that he can't reinforce his attack with negative energy, seeing how Elevora reacted he couldn't even imagine how everyone else would react. 

He thought of something else and got excited. 

"If I could funnel all kinds of energy into the skill [Energy Armor] why not use bright lightning?"

He wanted to face palm hisself. 

As they both stopped and jumped back to catches a breather after so many exchanges, he immediately circulated his [Bright Lightning Technique] at full throttle before activating [Energy Armor] and [Bright Lightning Manipulation]. 

Something beyond his expectations occurred…..