The change did not stop with Knox alone.
The moment his transformation settled, a wave of cold spread across the arena. It did not rush forward violently, yet it reached every corner at once, causing the temperature to drop enough for even the spectators to feel it against their skin.
"What!"
"Kyahhh!"
"This aura!"
"So cold!"
Voices erupted from every direction as the chill reached the stands. What had been nearly invisible before slowly became clear, because the barrier protecting the spectators finally revealed itself.
At first, it appeared only as a faint distortion in the air.
Then it grew clearer.
The surface of the barrier rippled lightly as it resisted the pressure coming from Knox, holding the cold in place and preventing it from spreading any farther. Even so, the weight of that aura could still be felt throughout the arena.
Back on the battlefield, Knox finally moved.
He drove his blade straight into the ground.
The instant the sword pierced the arena floor, a circular wave of frost exploded outward from the point of impact, sweeping across the ground in every direction while carrying both force and freezing cold with it.
Jule felt it before it reached him.
"[What the hell is this?!]"
The wave crashed into him.
It was not just cold.
It pushed everything away.
Jule reacted immediately, slamming his sword into the ground in front of him to brace himself against the impact. The blade dug deep into the arena floor, yet even then, his body was still forced backward.
His feet slid across the ground.
The sword remained embedded.
A long scar was carved across the arena floor as the blade dragged against it while resisting the force of the shockwave.
The frost continued past him, spreading across the battlefield and leaving behind a thin frozen layer before finally fading near the edge of the arena.
The shockwave had not fully settled when the aura around Jule shifted again.
The red-black energy surrounding him thickened rapidly, gathering tightly around his blade until it looked dense and unstable at the same time.
He did not hesitate.
His sword slashed forward, releasing a violent wave of dark energy that tore through the air toward Knox.
"[—!!]"
The sound that escaped him was rough and sharp.
Knox moved at the exact same moment.
His body rose cleanly from the ground in one smooth motion, and as he lifted into the air, the blade in his hand traced its first arc.
A pale blue line followed the edge of the sword, thin at first before rapidly stretching outward into a sharp luminous slash that cut through the air.
The instant it collided with Jule's attack, it split through it.
The dark wave was cut open in a single line.
Knox did not stop there.
His body shifted slightly in midair as a second slash followed from another angle. The blue arc grew brighter this time, leaving behind a faint trail that lingered for a brief moment before fading.
Then came the third.
Then the fourth.
Each strike flowed directly into the next, his arm moving without interruption as pale blue arcs continued to carve through the air one after another.
The slashes did not scatter.
They layered over each other.
Thin blue lines crossed and stacked together, forming a dense web of cold light in front of him as every strike tore through Jule's attack from a different angle.
The red-black wave could no longer maintain its shape.
Each section was cut apart, then cut apart again, the fragments breaking down under the repeated slashes as the pale blue arcs passed through them endlessly.
Knox remained suspended in the air during that brief sequence, his body completely steady while the blade continued moving in a smooth flow.
Then came the final strike.
Still airborne, he brought the blade down in one decisive motion.
The final arc was larger than the others, its edge brighter and far more defined as it tore straight through the remaining fragments at close range.
The effect appeared instantly.
Everything that had been cut froze in place.
The shattered remnants of Jule's attack stopped midair as a thin layer of ice spread across them all at once, locking them completely in place.
Below them, a pale blue crescent spread along the arena floor from the path of Knox's final slash, faint but unmistakably clear.
For a brief moment, everything became still.
Then cracks spread across the frozen fragments.
The next instant, they shattered all at once.
The pieces exploded into countless frozen fragments before scattering into the air and disappearing completely.
The released force burst outward immediately after.
A violent wave of pressure struck Jule directly, sending his body flying backward before he could even recover his footing.
His back slammed against the ground first.
Momentum carried him into a rough roll across the frozen arena floor before he finally stopped several meters away, his sword slipping from his grasp as his body went motionless.
A heavy silence followed.
The arena, which had been filled with constant clashes only moments earlier, fell completely quiet.
The weight of what Knox had just done settled over everyone at once, leaving even the spectators unable to react immediately.
The referee lowered his gaze toward the display.
[Jule Vincere: 10%]
Seeing that, he stepped forward slightly and began raising his hand, ready to declare the end of the match after judging that Jule had already lost consciousness.
But before he could speak, the situation changed.
A violent red-black surge erupted from Jule's body without warning.
The energy spread outward like flames, twisting and rising around him in unstable waves that no longer resembled normal magic.
Jule's body jerked violently.
Then, slowly, he stood up.
Both feet remained planted firmly on the ground, yet the way his upper body leaned backward made the posture look unnatural. His arms hung loosely for a moment, as though something else was forcing his body upright from within.
The movement no longer looked human.
Across the arena, several professors reacted immediately.
Jane, Hong Feng, Bahil, and the others recognized the change at once from the aura alone.
Knox understood it as well.
The demon sword was beginning to take full control.
Jule's head lowered slightly before rising again, and a loud laugh echoed throughout the arena.
"HAHAHA… Now, I will be free!"
The voice no longer sounded like Jule's.
Knox frowned faintly while keeping his gaze fixed on him.
"Even as a sword, you still have a brain, huh."
His tone remained calm.
"You waited for this moment and took advantage of Jule after he became too exhausted to resist."
Jule's body twitched again before the voice answered in a far sharper tone.
"Heh, stop talking, you brat! Now, it's my turn!"
Behind him, the red-black aura exploded outward once more, expanding into a massive cloud of dark mist that rose behind his body like a growing storm.
Shapes slowly began to appear within that mass.
Two glowing red eyes emerged first.
Then came a massive distorted mouth, both staring down from within the cloud as though something hidden inside had finally revealed itself.
The pressure inside the arena changed once again.
In the stands, the professors immediately prepared to move, their attention fully locked onto the arena as the situation clearly went beyond an ordinary duel.
But Jane's voice stopped them.
"Stop."
Her tone was calm, yet firm enough to halt everyone instantly.
The others turned toward her, surprise visible on their faces, but before anyone could question her decision, she continued.
"Trust Knox."
The answer was simple.
Certain.
There was not even the slightest hesitation in her voice.
The professors exchanged brief looks before slowly sitting back down, though their eyes never left the battlefield.
The tension remained, but the nervousness gradually shifted into something else.
Curiosity.
They wanted to see how Knox would deal with what came next.
Without saying a word, Knox lowered his stance.
His left hand held the greatsword diagonally behind him, the blade angled downward along his back while the pale blue light covering its surface slowly intensified until it looked solid and unwavering.
A pale blue ripple spread outward beneath his feet.
The wave expanded smoothly across the arena floor while thin frost followed in its wake, covering the ground layer by layer as cold air gathered around him.
Knox bent his knees slightly before pushing forward.
His body rose into the air in one clean motion, and at the same time, his left arm drew the greatsword forward from behind him in a smooth, uninterrupted flow.
There was no wasted movement.
As he reached that suspended moment in midair, the world itself seemed to slow.
Behind him, a massive pale blue moon appeared.
Its light was soft, yet heavy enough to dominate the entire arena as it framed Knox's figure from behind.
Then a shadow slowly moved across its surface.
The moon dimmed little by little until only a crescent remained, resembling an eclipse forming silently in the sky.
Knox lowered his head slightly, his gaze fixed directly on Jule.
At that same moment, his eyes lit up with a steady crimson glow, sharp and focused as the light reflected faintly against the cold blue aura surrounding him.
The contrast gave him an overwhelming presence.
His left arm continued forward.
Then the blade swung.
[Jingliu's Original: Florephemeral Dreamflux - Knox Aznable Version]
A single decisive slash carved through the air, tracing a wide crescent-shaped path before multiple pale blue crescents formed from the same motion.
Each slash followed directly behind the previous one in tight succession, all of them aligned along the exact same trajectory.
They moved together like one continuous strike.
The crescents surged forward.
Rather than scattering wildly, every arc layered perfectly over the others as they cut through the air with terrifying precision.
And they did not stop at Jule.
The attack continued straight through him and collided directly with the massive red-black cloud looming behind him.
The impact came instantly.
The overlapping blue crescents tore through the dark mist from multiple directions, carving clean lines across the enormous mass as its structure began collapsing under the pressure.
"Arghhh, noooo!!!"
The scream burst directly from within the cloud itself.
Then everything went dark.
The arena.
The sky.
Even the space around them seemed to disappear for a brief instant.
Within that darkness, a single white light appeared.
Sharp.
Bright.
Like the true edge of the strike had only now revealed itself.
Then the light expanded.
And the world returned.
The red-black cloud was no longer whole.
It had been split apart into multiple sections, each one severed cleanly along the paths left behind by the crescents before breaking apart even further into countless fragments of dark particles that scattered through the air like dust before vanishing completely.
Below it, the arena floor revealed the aftermath.
Long curved slash marks stretched across the battlefield, following the exact paths of Knox's attack.
Each line remained perfectly clean and precise, while traces of pale frost still lingered faintly along the edges.
Jule's body fell.
All strength left him completely as he collapsed onto the ground, motionless..