Ion's skill principle is quite simple to some extent... Imagine a man jumping from a cliff 30 meters high, for example, into a lake. The water surface that was calm will turn into a solid wall that destroys the man's bones no matter what his position is. The only result is the shattering of his body bones that hit the water surface first. But there is another way for the man to jump into the lake from a height of more than 30 meters, or even 60 meters, without suffering any significant harm. The matter is simple: he only needs to prepare a rock and throw it at the lake, and waves will be sent that destroy the tension of the water surface at the place where the rock falls.
This is how Ion's delayed impact technique works. He strikes an ordinary blow enhanced with a little aura on the aura shield or mana, it doesn't matter as long as ripples occur, even light ones, in the shield. He then sends a burst of concentrated aura through his shoulder to his fist, penetrating the ripples that people overlook. Thus, Ion can cause a direct blow that can cause severe injury to a person of Cyril's level, if not kill him.
But Ion deliberately used only enough force to push him backward with the same strength as the previous time.
But for Cyril, the matter was very painful, as the shock touched his bones directly and his internal organs.
He felt the taste of blood in his throat, but he forced himself to swallow it with force so as not to embarrass himself.
Now, no matter how arrogant he was, he would know that this younger student indeed had the strength to defeat him if he did not exert his effort. But by hell, how could he admit this after being humiliated twice? And worst of all, he discovered that Ion from the very first time was deliberately playing the role of the innocent student before him and had fallen into his trap.
Cyril rose from his place, his face donning a cloak of indifference, but his eyes indeed revealed his resentment.
Then he said, "It was a good trick, but trivial tricks always have limits before absolute power." Then he launched at great speed, directing a fist at Ion, not intending to allow him to speak.
Ion clicked his tongue when he saw Cyril's position.
He wanted to request his "third chance," but Cyril attacked and did not seem to intend to listen at all. Well, it doesn't matter, I will become a little serious. Move this dormant body.
Cyril's fist was indeed enveloped with a very large amount of aura heading toward his face. Ion did not panic, then extended his hand with lightning speed with the least amount of force to strike Cyril's elbow with his palm, causing Cyril's fist to head upward above Ion's head, while Ion did not move Ion an inch of his body except his arm.
As a silent mockery to Cyril.
Cyril's face frowned slightly, then he directed a side kick toward the side of Ion's rib cage, but Ion merely extended his right leg, striking with slightly stronger force on Cyril's leg that was still on the ground, causing him to lose his balance.
Cyril quickly used his hands to perform a backflip and avoid the embarrassment of falling in a humiliating manner.
He said while shaking his head right and left:
"Senior, you leave many gaps. If I were a killer, killing you now would indeed be easier than drinking water. While your balance itself is very weak, you focused too much on the kick and indeed neglected the rest of your body. Even if you only evaded—and I didn't say anything—your back would have been exposed for a fraction of a second, and this is enough for me to deliver a finishing blow. I don't know if you are deliberately lenient or not, but please, Senior, don't stop this, as I take this duel with extreme seriousness."
Cyril and the spectators nearly vomited blood when they heard Ion's mockery. Even a blind man could see that Cyril was indeed serious.
Cyril remained silent while suppressing his frustration, then attacked again, leaving behind a small pit where his foot had been, directing a side punch toward Ion's jaw. Like the previous time, Ion did not panic, advanced half a step forward into Cyril's space, then placed his palm gently on Cyril's extended arm's elbow, then circulated his aura. The palm turned into a grip holding Cyril's elbow.
Cyril's eyes narrowed when the momentum of his punch suddenly stopped, but before he could make any reaction, Ion's other free hand grabbed Cyril's extended arm above his elbow, then Ion's knees bent slightly and he turned, making his back face Cyril.
When Cyril understood what Ion was trying to do, he was indeed in the air, upside down, and the ground was heading toward him at speed. He instinctively circulated his aura on his back to protect him from the impact. He had barely circulated his aura when Ion slammed him down with force, making it crack beneath him. Cyril's eyes widened greatly, then he coughed blood from his mouth, and pain spread through his back as if he were being crushed by a giant rock. He let out a barely suppressed groan from the intensity of the pain and forced himself to rise when he heard Ion's words in his sincere tone. It would have been worse to be crushed under a rock than to hear that speech.
"Senior, why are you so stiff? You should have indeed thought of a countermeasure when you directed your punch in case it was blocked. Then why were you shocked when I nullified your fist?" He said it in a tone like a father disappointed in his son.
Cyril coughed blood, but this time from anger. Cyril roared intensely, "Shut up!" Then he attacked again.
But every attack was nullified by Ion with the least amount of force or with a simple technique, and he returned the attack using Cyril's force against himself. The tragicomic thing was that Ion was like the concerned father toward his son after every block or counterattack, pointing out his flaws and how to improve them. The shocking thing for all spectators was that Cyril, although he made an angry statement after every piece of advice from Ion, his movements became more fluid, more flexible and free, his gaps slowly disappeared—not all of them—and his balance was better than before as he listened to Ion's advice.
What made the spectators, from the professor and Rin to the students, roll their eyes was Ion's reaction after every outburst of anger from Cyril, like a father guiding his troublesome son to solve his problems, where he would smile a wide smile and his eyes would overflow with joy as he saw Cyril's progress.
Professor Ellara could only look at Ion with admiration as he "trained" Cyril.
Balance and control of your force, momentum, aura, and timing of your movements and your body posture—perhaps the students had heard these hundreds of times in close combat lectures, and for Cyril, perhaps he had indeed heard them thousands of times. For nobles, sons begin their physical training from the age of eight or nine, and these important basics are instilled in them. But for those who use mana, especially the talented, and specifically in this era of peace, they do not care about them and they are forgotten over time. Even professors sometimes neglect them... because as long as you can use your mana to send a giant fireball or a water wave, or even enhance your fist to pulverize a rock the size of a house into dust with one blow.
Why focus on the basics? Just one spell or a mana-enhanced blow hits the target, and the matter is over.
But Ion? She saw him destroy the pride of mages and body enhancers during the entrance exams with his sword or his fist, making them like children before him. When Professor Ellara remembers the scenes of Ion fighting some geniuses of ferocity and Arthur, she feels a shiver in her back, especially when she remembers that Arthur and Princess of the Rovellion family had cooperated against him, but he came out of the battle indeed unharmed without any significant damage, while the Princess of the Rovellion family was severely injured, and he left the battle indeed victorious.
She could only sigh with admiration. Perhaps in recorded history, the geniuses of aura usage who reached Ion's level of ferocity could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and even Ion remains an anomalous case among them.