Galaxy's First Ruler

As Aldrich saw the 99 daggers hovering around Conrad, he realized there was more to this second formation than just its name.

The daggers kept orienting themselves in such a way that, by a combination of reflection and refraction, most of them seemed to disappear. The illusion wasn't apparent to all but to only the target they were aimed at. Here, this target was Aldrich.

Aldrich tilted his head and saw one part of the formation getting visible to him. But then the part he could already see disappeared. No matter where he landed while still dodging the rain caused by the first formation of 33 daggers, he could never see all the 99 daggers in one go. Aldrich's mind again raced as he calculated the position of "raindrops" and the area of collision of daggers based on light sources in the Great Hall.

The things that were unimaginably complicated to others were like painting a picture to Aldrich. Every other variable was just another color he would get to work with. And the more colorful the painting, the better it would be.

But Aldrich also knew that by avoiding all daggers in the rain, he had already become a genius in the eyes of Marquesses. To avoid even the Gale of 99 Daggers would mean that he wasn't just a genius, he was extraordinary. This was not what Aldrich had planned for House Venomous Rose. According to him, a genius young Dreamer would be enough for the House to come out of its dark shadow and broken past.

Aldrich's hand reached towards the pole on his back, and he showed a frown on his face for others to see. The mask on his face, which was like another layer of skin, reflected this frown openly.

Earl Frida snapped her head at Drago and smirked.

"Humph! Thought so."

On the other side, Harold and Nicholas also had a frown on their faces. And this frown was heavier than that of the white-haired Viscount on the stage. Aldrich going for the pole to defend himself meant he had reached his limit with the first formation.

Conrad's face had become purple. Aldrich could tell controlling these many daggers was taking a heavy toll on his body. Conrad made another stabbing gesture at Aldrich and shouted.

"GO!"

Shouuuu!!!

It was like a wind in a storm, but it was also like a breeze over a still ocean. All the 99 daggers silently merged into the continuous downpour caused by the 33 daggers. Aldrich noted Conrad's MP and SP reaching almost half of their maximum value in one go. But it didn't seem to stop there. His HP also fell little by little, and the purple hue on his face was becoming bluer and bluer.

Aldrich didn't want to use All Proficient again. The Skill didn't have a set limit on the consumption of MP as it consumed 3 MP per second continuously. But the circumstances were such that he needed to use it again. The only upside of this heavy consumption was that it had a cooldown of only 1 minute.

"All Proficient…

… Bojutsu: TWIN LOTUS BLOOM!!!"

Shouuu!

The wind howled again, and all the daggers erratically attacked Aldrich from all sides. But the pole in his hand was like a rotor of a jet as it hurled and thwarted most of them. The few that got missed, Aldrich let them scrape his greatcoat, leaving behind shallow wounds in his body.

Tink-Thump-Tink

Both the wind and rain melted into themselves to give a false impression as if Aldrich was facing a heavy storm. But even more impressive was his masterful display of using the pole. The sound of many daggers hitting and resuming their trajectory echoed in the hall. And as Aldrich rotated and twisted the pole, an illusion of two images came up on the stage for all to see.

The first image was like that of petals of the lotus, blooming around Aldrich, and shielding him from the daggers. The other image was also the same, but it was upside down and hovered above Aldrich. Both the lotus seemed as if the two illusions were embracing Aldrich, trying to protect him from any harm.

This Twin Lotus Bloom was not a Skill, nor was the Heaven Ascension Earth Burial. They were just a combined effort of Aldrich's knowledge, All Proficient, and his outstanding Stats. Even if one were to bring pole-wielding warriors, it couldn't be said they could copy what Aldrich was doing just by seeing and learning the moves.

"This is bad…"

Earl Frida muttered as she resumed her position on the chair. She didn't even try to hide her words, as anyone could see that using two forms back to back had taken a huge toll on Conrad. Count Einar's fists were clenched hard as the image of blood coming out of Conrad's ears and nose got reflected in his eyes.

For a moment, Aldrich and Conrad's eyes met. Aldrich could see the disbelief and disappointment written on his face. Aldrich also noticed how Conrad slowly turned his face to look at Earl Frida, and ignoring his father, gave out a smile.

'He isn't that stupid, right…'

Aldrich thought to himself, and as if his thoughts had come alive, blue-purple veins on Conrad's head burst open. As the shower of blood rained on the stage, the level 35 Viscount shouted.

"Trigon Third Formation…"

"ENOUGH!"

Before Conrad could execute the Skill, another powerful shout overcame the Mana, riling up around Conrad. The might of this shout was so great that it broke the two lotuses around Aldrich into pieces and sent him flying off the stage. The rain and gale both vanished, and Conrad seemed to have been petrified by an unseen force.

Marquess Harold appeared in front of Conrad and he stared at Earl Frida, who had her eyes glued to Aldrich. By a motion of his hand, Conrad lost consciousness and fell to his knees. Aldrich used the pole to stand up, countering the heaviness over his shoulders, which seemed to come from Frida.

Harold lightly shook his head and said.

"Not knowing when to stop is often a sign of weakness. This young man's teachings are still lacking Frida…"

The Marquess briefly paused and took a step in Aldrich's direction as he proclaimed.

"… This match's winner is… Viscount Aldrich."