Time seemed to slow down as Noah began to analyze Perry's attack.
'I don't sense mental energy so it's a martial art but I can't figure out its element. It's a fast and strong move, I can't block it even with the Second Form.'
Noah concluded, Perry gained speed as it continued to charge toward him.
His martial arts had always focused on speed and precision, his attacks couldn't match a rank 4 martial art that focused on sheer power.
Perry became closer, Noah could feel how the temperature in the area rose due to his seemingly unstoppable charge.
Then, when Perry's horn was about to hit Noah, a shockwave resounded on the battlefield.
Noah activated the Shadow sprint, after he could store solid "Breath" in his mental sphere, the number of usages of his martial art that he was capable of increased drastically, he had more than sixty sprints available at that moment!
The sudden increase in speed made Noah disappear right in front of Perry's eyes, the latter was unable to stop himself, he crashed on the defensive layer that covered the battlefield, making the inscriptions on it flicker to no end.
Perry turned to stare at his opponent, a long cut had appeared on his robe but there was no blood coming out of it, only a white mark was present on his skin.
'His defense also increases when he performs that move, this might be annoying.'
Noah analyzed again.
He had slashed Perry's side when he evaded his attack but the outcome was disappointing, he didn't manage to inflict any damage.
"You are not using the full power of your martial art!"
Perry angrily complained.
"Why would I? I can just continue to dodge until you are exhausted, your martial art suffers against fast opponents."
Noah covered his lies with his analysis of Perry's moves.
It was true that the weakness of his martial art was its scarce maneuverability but Noah's usages of the Shadow sprint were limited.
'At this rate, I will deplete the "Breath" in my mind before I manage to pierce his defenses.'
Noah was trying to contain himself.
Not only that battle was a friendly spar and gravely injuring someone was something to avoid, but Noah was also heavily restricted.
He knew that, in order to win, he had to surprise Perry with his strongest move when he was defenseless.
Luckily for him, he was a rank 3 mage.
His mind was so strong that he could easily ponder about the battle and create tactics as he fought, he had discovered the weakness of Perry's attack after just one move after all.
"It seems that you are underestimating me!"
Perry shouted in anger as he resumed his charging form with his small sword stretched in front of him.
Noah watched the bull-like shape coming at him again and dodged at the last second thanks to his martial art, he slashed toward one of the natural weak points of the human body that time.
His white sabers cut the skin on the frontal part of Perry's elbow, he was satisfied to see that a few red lines had appeared on his weapons.
However, just when he was about to turn to watch Perry land on the defensive layer, a sense of danger hit his mind.
Perry performed another technique, his charge suddenly did a V-shaped turn and aimed toward Noah's new position.
The audience gasped when they saw that Noah was taken by surprise, in their minds, it was impossible for him to avoid that attack from such a short distance.
BOOM!
A loud sound resounded in the area.
Perry crashed on the defensive layer again, no sign of Noah could be seen in front of him or on the ground.
"I have to admit, I didn't think it was possible to make such a sharp turn with your speed and frame. Tell me the truth, that move pushes your body to the limit so you can't use it often, right?"
Noah's voice resounded in the arena but Perry couldn't find him anywhere.
Yet, when he looked toward the audience, he saw that they were staring at a point mid-air.
Only then did he raise his head and found his opponent.
Noah had a calm expression as two pairs of wings behind his back flapped rhythmically, his feet would kick the air from time to time to activate the Shadow step spell that kept him flying.
Perry didn't answer Noah's question, his eyes sharpened when he realized that his opponent could fly.
Generally speaking, only cultivators in the heroic ranks or specific spells of rank 3 cultivators could allow someone to fight in the air.
That's why most martial arts and spells in the lower ranks had flying opponents as a weakness, they simply weren't created to face such enemies.
That was one of the reasons why Noah didn't let go of Echo to create a new blood companion with his inscription method, he valued his ability to fly more than any other little increase in strength.
"You don't have a way to hit me up here, do you? Do you want to give up?"
Noah nonchalantly asked, he only wanted the merit points so that he could return to his cave to cultivate, that battle was a complete waste of time in his mind.
However, Perry snorted at his proposal and placed the sharp side of his sword on the palm of his hand.
Then, he retracted it with a fast gesture.
Noah became interested, he sensed that mental energy was being used, Perry was finally using a spell!
Drops of blood fell on the ground, his palm bleed from the cut created during the previous gesture.
'It doesn't heal like the other injuries. Also, I feel that some sort of connection has been created between his palm and the ground.'
Noah analyzed everything, nothing could escape the probing of his mind.
The ground began to shake, small boulders started to come out of the terrain which morphed as they reached the surface.
Purple humanoid figures about one meter tall appeared on the surface and began to surround Perry, in just a few seconds, more than twenty golems were formed.