"Lannister Corps… Become an arcane master of clan Lannister…"
Such a voice reverberated inside Bessa’s mind.
It was an honor to be an arcane master of clan Lannister, one that brought very great fame. It was also the goal she and the other members of Team Divine Shield strove for, sparing no effort.
However, Ayrin’s very natural words made her realize something all of a sudden. She didn’t know when it began, but she’d unconsciously forgotten the real meaning of battles.
The reason arcane master battled, wasn’t it precisely for the sake of protecting their kingdom, protecting those they needed to protect?
Her heart and mind were filled with countless complex and negative feelings before entering the field, because she was afraid she would lose the opportunity to become an arcane master of clan Lannister. But at this moment, she suddenly felt that it wouldn’t be a big deal even if she weren’t able to join clan Lannister’s corps and arcane teams. Her mood completely quieted down.
"Be careful, I’ll also fight with everything I have," she said to Ayrin in a serious tone, nodding her head at him.
"Bring it on then! Brave warrior!" Ayrin straightened up and shouted in a loud voice.
"Arcane masters… have to fight exactly like them!"
In this instant, this scene infected who knew how many persons.
Many students not from Holy Dawn Academy also had a change of mind because of this scene, because of this moment. They wanted to become a genuine battlemaster.
The duel officially began!
Dazzling arcane particles flowed down like water from Bessa’s ten fingers, falling on the hard soil around her feet.
The instant the dazzling particles dripped to the ground one by one, a bizarre green light appeared and combined with arcane particles, transforming into many dark green snakes twisting about.
These green snakes about half a meter long were just like living creatures, the color and luster of their bodies even more gorgeous than emerald. Weeds around them withered instantly, black smoke even pouring out of them.
"They’re very poisonous!"
"This arcane skill doesn’t only imitate living creatures like Sand Scorpions, it’s also extremely toxic?"
"Indeed, Bessa is from clan Boromen in the Gorland area. This is her family’s unique arcane skill. These poisonous snakes should be even more poisonous than the most poisonous snakes in the Gorland area!"
"You’d be done from a single bite from these poisonous snakes. This arcane skill is too creepy, ordinary people have simply no way to fend against it right?"
Alarmed cries rose from the stands as soon as these dark green snakes took form.
"What is he doing!"
However, what made everyone in the stands, and even Chris and Carter a little stunned was, Ayrin actually charged straight in Bessa’s direction at a time like this!
"What!" Many people didn’t even have time to come back to their senses that Ayrin’s foot already viciously stomped on one of the green snakes.
A stunned expression also rapidly spread within Bessa’s eyes.
"Hiss!"
This gem-like green snake bit Ayrin’s leg the moment he stepped on it.
And just at this same moment, Ayrin actually roared madly once again and stretched his hand toward Bessa.
Dazzling arcane particles gushed out of his hand and shaped a burning eye. A soul-stirring scene!
Learning from Ivan’s previous mistake, Bessa closed her eyes and dodged to the side the moment rays of light shone on Ayrin’s hands.
The blazing Evil Flaming Eye brushed past her body. The astounding heat caused a sharp pain on her skin.
Right at the same moment, Ayrin punched at her ruthlessly with his other hand.
"Boom!"
A huge shock rippled in the air.
A white, huge block of ice appeared between Ayrin and her.
"Oh no!"
Bessa’s face turned snow white all of a sudden. In a flash, she crossed her arms in front of her, while arcane particles gushed out madly. An earth wall appeared in the air.
Countless white icicles stabbed through the wall of earth, thoroughly shattering the not yet fully formed earth wall.
An irresistible force and cold pounded on her body.
Even if she already defended herself in the most direct manner, and protected herself from the countless ice thorns stabbing her way head on, the cold still sealed her and froze half her body inside the ice.
"Pa!"
Ayrin’s punch ruthlessly pounded on the Crown of Ice and Snow.
The huge Crown of Ice and Snow shattered thoroughly. Her body flew backward along the shattered ice and snow, then fell heavily on the ground, half sunken into the broken ice. She couldn’t stand up any longer.
"I.. lost."
Battered and frozen by the huge force, unable to lift even a finger, Bessa watched Ayrin in incomprehension. After she subconsciously conceded defeat, she struggled to say, "Why did you do that? Don’t you know that my arcane skill is extremely poisonous, how could you directly step on it… You’re going to be in a sorry state even if you beat me this way…"
Under her gaze and the gaze of everyone else, Ayrin tottered on the verge of collapse. His body turned entirely green, and his lips became black. It looked a little funny, a little ghastly, and it even seemed as if he could die from poisoning at any moment.
"I know. You’re the last opponent anyway, it’s fine as long as I beat you." Ayrin actually looked at her however, and said, "Aren’t there powerful medical teams here anyway… As long as I beat you and obtain victory, they’ll naturally come and cure me."
Bessa was thoroughly frozen dumb.
Everyone in the stands was also struck dumb.
What Ayrin said was indeed the truth. He would have died if he acted like this in a genuine battle, but now was actually the last fight in the match between Divine Shield Academy and Holy Dawn Academy. As long as he won this fight, then it’d be a matter for the medical teams in the field.
"Ayrin wins!"
"Holy Dawn Academy wins!"
Along with the referee’s voice full of conflicted feelings, two arcane medical teams rushed separately toward Ayrin and Bessa.
"It’s fine as long as the opponent is defeated, the poisoning will end up being resolved anyway." Many people in the stands couldn’t help but look at each other. They realized there was absolutely nothing wrong about what Ayrin said.
"Seen this way… This is really the simplest way to knock out the opponent." Carter smiled wryly after blanking out a moment. "Really the most unpredictable guy, the one less prone to abide by the rules and most prone to reckless actions."
"We won. We actually won just like that?"
Gerryn, Ender, and the others looked dumbly at an Ayrin receiving medical treatment in the center of the field. Then they seemed to realize something all of a sudden. They all jumped up, shouted Ah, and huddled together.
"…What a fearsome team, are they all men-lovers or what." A shiver suddenly ran through Stingham in the stands when he saw Gerryn and the others hugging each other,. "He really won. No no no, I absolutely have to find a pretext. If I really have to join a man-loving team like this one, I might as well just die instead."
"Ah…"
When the match finally ended, when they obtained the final victory, every Holy Dawn student started shouting, including some female students who shouted without the slightest air of a demure lady. Many people couldn’t resist throwing out whatever things on hand they could throw out.
"I didn’t expect such a great dark horse to suddenly spring up as soon as the tournament begins." Ferguillo stood up and said faintly to Wilde and the others, "Let’s go, we also have to do our best."
…
"Teacher Ciaran!"
Ayrin sat on a stretcher and received treatment when a bright patch of red suddenly flashed at the edge of his vision. He turned his head around and indeed saw Ciaran and several medical masters come his way.
"How does it feel like?" Ciaran asked him, looking at him.
"Very good." Ayrin watched the chaotic stands and said in perfect contentment, "Seeing so many people happy, so many people go wild, this feeling is really hard to describe."
Ciaran gave him a stare, a little speechless. "I’m talking about how it feels to be bitten like this by a poisonous snake. I urge you not to do that again in the future. If this arcane skill were a little more powerful, the toxicity a little more violent, then you’d die all the same if you can’t receive timely assistance."
"I’m feeling cold one second and hot the next, and my head hurts too. The feeling is very uncomfortable." Ayrin scratched his head in embarrassment. "Teacher Carter already told us before that Bessa wasn’t as strong as Charlotte though, she should be an arcane master with two open arcane gates at most, so the power of her arcane skill shouldn’t be that strong right?"
"Did you really consider things in this much details when choosing this method?" Ciaran looked at Ayrin, unable to talk for a long time.
Just at this moment, Ayrin suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed at the stands, shouting, "Look there! Teacher Ciaran!"
"What?" Ciaran looked in the direction Ayrin pointed at, asking curiously.
"It’s Rinloran! I saw him leave." Ayrin shouted excitedly. "He really came to watch the match! I knew it, he doesn’t really hate this tournament."
"That freshman with the high level elven bloodline?" Carter and Chris, with the other members of team Holy Dawn, had already rushed to their side in Ciaran’s slight stunned moment.
"Ayrin, how are you?"
"I didn’t imagine you’d progress so fast, you already became this strong!"
"Why are they coming too, they’re not convinced by their loss and want have a group fight?" While their side chattered on about little nothings, foolishly happy, Ayrin suddenly noticed people from team Divine Shield walking their way.
"It’s all right, they came to exchange team uniforms," Chris explained with a glance at team Divine Shield.
"Exchange uniforms?" Ayrin had a little trouble understanding.
Chris nodded. "It’s tradition. Teams participating in the formal matches of the Cup of Starry Braves will exchange team uniforms between them no matter if they win or lose. It’s supposed to express their respect for each other, their admiration for their opponent’s courage, and their well-wishing to the opponent in their future matches in the tournament, as well as a memento of eternal friendship."
"Is that so?"
Ayrin became excited as soon as he heard, and immediately shouted at team Divine Shield, "Did you come to exchange uniforms?"
This was a very meaningful tradition with a lot of history, but the defeated team would always be a little downcast, especially if they thought they would definitely win the match but ended up beaten in an extremely depressing manner. Their team captain even had to convalesce for a long time because of his serious injuries. So facing Ayrin’s question, no member of team Divine Shield spoke. They merely nodded gloomily.
What made many people almost fall down head first on the ground was, as soon as he saw these members of team Divine Shield nod, Ayrin immediately rushed to Charlotte walking at the rear and started shouting in excitement, "Is that so. Then Charlotte, let’s exchange uniforms!"
"…"
In fact, generally speaking, girls didn’t often exchange their team uniforms, especially when Divine Shield Academy’s coat and inner layer both hugged the body very tightly. The alluring sight of her curves beneath would be exposed if she took off her coat. But what made many people speechless was, Ayrin ran straight to a girl like Charlotte and asked her to exchange team uniforms, but Charlotte looked at him and nodded, then really took off her coat and exchanged it with Ayrin.
"Goddess Charlotte!" Very soon, countless miserable screams came from the Divine Shield stands.
