"Shadow Dust, that’s the secret skill of lord Black Shadow from Southern Monsoon Academy. A sinister assassination skill that can be used in advance, whose arcane power can be hidden inside the shadows for a very long time."
"I actually looked down on that Southern Monsoon guy. He grasped not only Formless Spinning Blade, but also Shadow Dust. Now it looks like you guys aren’t necessarily his match, captain Hansen. My handsome and wargod-like self is still stronger though. I’d see through even Shadow Dust, he can’t beat me."
"What should I do now, I was hoping to fight against Amazing Girl Chris. I like beautiful girls, I don’t like this green-haired beast kid or that blockhead with the yellow tank top and exposed muscles…"
In an unremarkable corner of the stands, the golden-haired Stingham chattered on, very surprised. He totally didn’t notice the four pairs of eyes beside him, filled with biting cold murderous aura.
Somewhere else in the stands, Ayrin had caught Belo’s hand and was asking nonstop, "How’s the power of this skill, is Chris heavily wounded?"
"The power’s much lower than Chris’ Wild Blazing Python, but every granule stabbing the body is still comparable to a steel needle piercing inside. Chris’ injury’s probably about the same as taking five or six punches from Zola," Belo said very casually, as if he didn’t care.
"What!"
Ayrin sighed in relief when he heard the first part of Belo’s answer, but hearing the latter part, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ferdinand shouted at this time, "Chris, just give up, even if you can beat him, there’s still the rest of us. You can’t possibly win."
"Bastard! Are they allowed to kick up a fuss and harass her, why isn’t the referee doing anything!" Ayrin shouted loudly, depressed.
"You’re the one kicking up a fuss right now." Belo threw him a scornful glance. "Arcane masters ought not to care about the commotions of the outside world to begin with. If they have to interfere even in something like this, wouldn’t the spectators in the stands also have to stay silent?"
"…"
…
"True bravery is to keep plowing on, to keep fighting, even if your whole body trembles in pain."
Chris’ voice suddenly came inside this chaos, her blue school uniform tainted by quite a few bloodstains. Her body trembled slightly, but she still lifted her head, grave and solemn.
The entire Holy Dawn Arena quieted, all of a sudden.
Over her in the sky, Zola was dropping downward.
"Sky Hammer!"
With Zola’s muffled yet feverish chant, arcane particles and white streams of air gathered increasingly faster around his feet. His entire body seemed to become a giant hammer slamming its way down toward the top of Chris’ head.
Yet, at the same moment, many people saw Chris suddenly vanish.
"Hiss…" A collective intake of cold air.
Everyone saw, along with the rise of a sudden tornado, Chris appear in the air on top of Zola.
Zola’s blood-red eyes shrank all of a sudden.
"Pa!"
Chris’ foot chopped madly down like a battle axe, crushing past his blocking arms and ferociously hacking his chest.
Zola heard the sound of his arm bones cracking.
An intense, heart-wrenching pain rushed into his mind.
"Ah!"
Even as he howled out loud however, he actually fire his intact fist at Chris’ body.
This punch of his struck the air.
Chris’ body twisted and turned in midair, dodging his punch. A kick once again ruthlessly stamped down on his body.
"Ah!"
Zola’s body snapped back. His feet whirled up, kicking and kicking toward Chris.
But everyone saw Chris’ body sway again and again in the air, turning and twisting. Zola’s attacks all struck empty air one by one.
"Pa!" "Pa!" Pa!"
Explosive sounds rang in succession, all of them the sound of Chris’ fist and feet landing on Zola!
Zola’s body fell heavily on the ground.
Christ landed amidst the howling wind waves, her two hands resting on the ground, fiercely grasping for air.
The place she’d landed was only a short half-meter away from Zola, but Zola was already passed out when he crashed on the ground. He could no longer lift a single finger.
Ayrin’s heart sank along with Chris’ landing. But looking at the fighting spirit still brimming on Chris’ face, an unspeakable flame ignited inside his chest.
…
The medical team that was already waiting to the side hurriedly came into the field. They lifted an unconscious Zola on the stretcher and carried him out.
Chris stood up, still panting. She faced the remaining four people from the Southern Monsoon team. "Who’s next?"
The fatball Apia took a deep breath. He faced Ferdinand and Riley, the one Belo called the kid from clan Ryswell, and said, "We’ll follow the original plan." Then he slowly made his way toward Chris.
"Chris versus Apia, begin!"
Apia was walking towards the center of the field, but as soon as the voice of the referee fell, he immediately retreated, fleeing towards the edges of the field.
"Really shameless and despicable!"
Ayrin’s shouted gloomily. He didn’t need to ask Belo this time, he could already tell Apia only wanted to run and make Chris spend her stamina and arcane particles.
But what exceeded everyone’s expectation was, Chris didn’t pursue him.
She merely rested her hands on her knees, gasped a few rough mouthfuls of air.
Then she stretched her right hand out.
Dazzling magenta arcane particle emerged from her five fingers. Shining bright blue rays of light spread out from the front of her hand.
"Holy Dawn Healing!"
"She even learned secret medical skills?"
Ferdinand’s and Riley’s expressions made a sudden turn as soon as they saw the tip of her fingers suffused with light blue rays of light. They both yelled at the same time, "Apia, hurry up and stop her! You can’t let her heal herself!"
Apia also understood very clearly that if he were to let Chris recover from her injuries, she would cause him an huge amount of trouble with her physical strength alone. Just earlier, Chris’ movements in the air when she was hitting Zola seemed as easy and casual as if she were standing on flat ground. This made them clearly realize that Chris had gone through who knew how much abnormal training since the last time, and now the control she exerted over the strength of each and every muscle had simply reached the pinnacle.
"Sandstorm Burst!"
He was so fat he didn’t look all that different from a ball, but Apia burst out with an agility entirely belying his figure. He reached Chris in only a few bounces. Countless arcane particles gushed out of his hands the moment his last bounce landed, instantly transforming into frightening, raging winds that rolled up gravel and sand from the ground, rushing in Chris’ direction.
"Blue-Eyed Backlash!"
The sand and gravel had acquired an extremely astonishing penetrating strength inside the raging winds. They seemed about to hit Chris, but what exceeded everyone’s expectations was, a gigantic blue eye suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Puff Puff Puff Puff!…"
All the sand ricocheted back and struck Apia’s body instead.
"Ah!"
Apia yelled miserably, countless bloodstains blooming on his clothes. The sandstorm rolled his fat body up and flung him flying.
"What, it’s not Holy Dawn Healing!"
"We’ve been duped!"
Almost all the students from Southern Monsoon Academy shouted out in alarm.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Ayrin originally didn’t have the heart to watch anymore, but now he was overjoyed at the turn of the events. He pulled Belo’s arm and kept exclaiming in excitement, "Belo, what’s this secret skill?"
"Our Holy Dawn Academy’s Blue-Eyed Backlash. It can only bounce back powers from arcane masters weaker than yourself, it’s not too useful usually," Belo said, as if he disdained to do so, but he actually humphed coldly in his mind in defiance. "She’s indeed Holy Dawn Academy’s ace, her fighting experience isn’t something an average Joe can measure up to."
Chris’ actions didn’t stop after mangling Apia with one move and sending him flying out. She followed almost right behind the sandstorm, chasing after Apia’s figure.
Seeing her fist about to land on himself, realizing his resistance couldn’t play any role any longer, Apia shouted miserably, "I surrender!"
"This is truly a spectacular win."
"In the current era, arcane masters possessing the inheritance of various bloodlines seem to be especially blessed by the starry skies and stand more easily above the crowd, but oftentimes only those who train painstakingly hard and continuously surpass their limits can become genuinely powerful arcane masters. Liszt, seeing such a student in our Holy Dawn Academy, don’t you feel extremely gratified?"
No one had realized that, on the highest dome of this arena, stood a row of Holy Dawn Academy teachers.
This row was entirely composed of Holy Dawn elites!
Ciaran’s voice closely followed Apia’s miserable shout conceding defeat. Liszt was for once devoid of his lazy appearance. He didn’t answer Ciaran’s words, he only said, calm and cool-headed, "I’ve now more or less understood the plan of these little guys from Southern Monsoon Academy. Too bad, these little Southern Monsoon guys are indeed pretty good, there’s still not much hope for her to achieve the final victory."
…
"I know now Southern Monsoon Academy’s plan."
Seeing Apia being carried away, and Riley from clan Ryswell being the next to step up instead of Ferdinand or Crewe, Belo immediately said these cold words with a frown.
Ayrin asked at once, "What plan?"
"This white-hair kid from clan Ryswell is said to be about equal with Ferdinand, but he’s got more unique arcane skills. When it comes to a real fight he might be even a bit stronger than Ferdinand. Now, since he’s the one to go up instead of Crewe who’s much weaker than him, they must be trying to more or less deplete Chris’ entire strength in this fight." Belo threw Ayrin a glance and said, "Even if Chris manages to go through this fight, she’ll be in a very poor condition, and then even Crew will become a threat for her despite his strength being a bit worse. That way, even if she flukes her way to the last fight, it’ll be a piece of cake for Ferdinand."
"No way, we have to think of a way to help her!" Ayrin became even more anxious as soon as he heard.
"I thought of a good way. Later, if that white-hair kid from clan Ryswell comes around here, you can pretend a careless fall from the stands. Then you can let him have it." Belo became immediately excited and tried to instigate him, full of malicious intent.
"You think I don’t know that’s against the rules and that it won’t work?"
"So what, anyway we’ll end up losing, might as well take the chance to give this Southern Monsoon kid a beating. Right, when the time comes I’ll jump down together with you."
"…"
…
"You’re very strong indeed."
Riley had already reached the center of the field and was facing Chris at this time.
His face looked young and tender because of the peculiar white hair, but he nevertheless radiated an especially cool and mature atmosphere.
In addition, he also had the naturally proud and noble aura of one born in a great clan.
"You’re so strong none of us can defeat you in a one versus one battle, but this match isn’t a one versus one."
He watched Chris rest her hands on her knees, grasping for breath because of her injuries and fatigue. He earnestly told her, "You’re very strong, but your teammates are too weak, they can’t give you enough support. We from Southern Monsoon Academy are different, we have powerful enough teammates. You may completely disregard the words of a stupid bull like Ferdinand, but we’re truly very hopeful you can transfer and join our Southern Monsoon Academy. This way, you and us, we’ll certainly be able to make every team sit up and take notice. Otherwise, staying by yourself in Holy Dawn Academy, you can only be called The Amazingly Crazy Girl, but if you come to Southern Monsoon Academy and have our support, you’ll truly become the Amazing Girl."
"Poaching in public?"
Ayrin was dumbfounded. "Belo, is a transfer possible? Can you join another academy’s team and fight in the tournament?"
"As long as the student is willing and the academy welcomes them, no one can stop the transfer. As for the competition, a person can only represent a single team a season in the competition. As long as you represent a team and take part in a fight in the competition, then you can no longer transfer to another team and keep fighting." An undetectable cold light flashed in the depths of Belo’s eyes. "What this white-hair kid is talking about is next year. They think that if Chris joins them and trains painstakingly for a year, then their team can dominate St. Lauren next year."
"Chris won’t agree right?" Ayrin said, suddenly worried.
"Stop your nonsense."
Just at this moment, the panting Chris straightened up once again. "You have to win this match first before saying something like that!"
"All the more reason for me to show a good performance, make you see our strength."
Riley didn’t get angry, he didn’t did do anything superfluous either, merely stretched his arms towards Chris, calm and unperturbed.
Dazzling arcane particles pervaded around his hands in an instant.
"Why’s the color of his arcane particles different?" Ayrin couldn’t help but shout out in surprise once again.
Riley’s arcane particles weren’t magenta, but white, just like his hair!
Belo rubbed his ears gone a little numb and itchy from Ayrin’s fuss. "Idiot. The arcane particles condensed by some unique bloodlines have different colors compared to ordinary arcane particles. Or you could also say that arcane particles of different colors are the manifestation of strong unique bloodlines!"
"Water Snake Bullets!"
A water snake appeared in front of Riley just as Belo spoke, its size about the same as Riley’s body. Its mouth continuously spat out water balls as big as fists, whistling through the air as they pounded nonstop in Chris’ direction.
Chris’ figure vanished time and again from the ground, her movements just like teleportation in the eyes of most people.
But no matter where she skimmed to, the water bullets would immediately pursue her there.
Every time a water bullet smashed on the ground, it not only exploded in great waves of water, it would also puncture a deep water hole in the hard ground there.
"…"
Ayrin was rendered speechless by the sight. He was certain that if he were to be hit by such a water ball, he would probably become flat cake pasted to the wall.
And what made him even more speechless was, it seemed that this water snake spitting out water bullets nonstop wouldn’t disappear as long as Riley supported it with enough arcane particles.
"Great Waterfall!"
It seemed Chris had no way to break through the continuous bombardment when a gigantic column of water welled up out of nowhere and charged towards Riley. Chris followed closely behind this water column. The water balls crashed on it one after another in geysers of water, but they couldn’t pierce through it.
"So powerful!"
Although the three elite teachers back in the Beast Training Field were certainly stronger than Chris and all the Southern Monsoon Team members, a match like this where arcane skills came out in close succession was more spectacular instead for Ayrin, broadening his horizons even further. He had no idea previously there were so much variety and so many fancy tricks to arcane skills!
"A water technique?"
Seeing Chris approaching at flying speed, Riley actually stood right where he was, not moving an iota. "Our clan Ryswell is called the water stream clan. Since you used such an arcane skill, I’ll let you witness clan Ryswell’s true secret skill!"
"Absolute Water Aegis!"
Countless white arcane particles surged from his hand. The giant water snake in front of him collapsed with a loud rumble; instead, countless water bubbles as big as fists appeared in the air, assembling in no time into a sparkling and translucent globe of water around his body.
Boom!
The huge column of water collided with the crystalline water globe. The sparkling water globe actually possessed unbelievable elasticity and bounced backward.
"Swish!"
A figure overtook the water globe in an instant, like a flash of lightning, and struck it with a ferocious punch.
A waterhole appeared on the surface of the globe, and water splattered everywhere, but that crystalline water globe once again bounced backward from the impact, and that waterhole resumed its former appearance the moment it broke away from the fist.
"Boom!"
A gigantic fire python caught up to the water globe, but amidst the splashes of water, the globe bounced backward even faster, restoring itself at lightning speed at the same time. Riley still stood unperturbed in the middle of this crystalline globe. Chris had consumed a large amount of arcane particles with this move, but it simply couldn’t crack open this crystalline globe of water.
"It actually looks just like a rubber ball! Strength doesn’t affect it at all!"
"Worthy of someone from clan Ryswell, such a defensive skill, other than arcane particles being entirely exhausted, there’s no way to break it otherwise!"
"There’s actually such a terrifying defensive skill!"
"Even an opponent twice stronger might not be able to break through this defense!"
"No wonder he had the guts to boast so tremendously right in Chris’ face!"
In the space of an instant, students from Holy Dawn Academy and Southern Monsoon Academy all became deeply shocked.
Ayrin swallowed a mouthful of saliva amidst the brouhaha. "He’s staying wrapped in a water bubble like this, don’t tell me he doesn’t need to breathe, won’t he drown to death?"
"Idiot!"
Belo was in an extremely bad mood and seemed unwilling to respond to Ayrin. If a secret skill could drown you to death, could it still be called a secret skill?
What could Chris do?
Everyone’s vision gathered on Chris.
Her face was clearly even paler now after mobilizing large amounts of arcane particles in quick succession.
"Just give up, don’t worsen your injuries and waste your training time."
Riley watched her with sympathy, his voice coming out clearly from the water globe. "There’s absolutely no way you can break the Absolute Water…"
Chris had previously stopped to catch her breath, but now she went again on the move before he could finish his sentence!
"Dancing Leaves!"
Chris suddenly circled around the water globe, leaving countless afterimages behind her in a split second.
Countless palms carrying spinning winds smacked again and again on the crystalline bubble.
"What!"
Riley’s face stiffened all of a sudden.
He could feel the ball instantly shrinking under the attacks coming from all directions, pressing down on him until he had almost no way to move.
"Hurricane Crash!"
Just at this moment, Chris’ palms pushed forward, her two feet frantically tramping nonstop on the ground.
Huge craters appeared on the surface of ground one after another. Hurricanes blew from her hands as she pushed the compressed bubble of water, crashing it straight into the nearest stand at alarming speed.
"Ah!" Students on that stand shrieked and dodged away, one and all.
One could clearly see the silhouettes of over a dozen teachers transforming into rivers of light and flying there, carrying away a few students who stood blankly, paralyzed by fright.
"Ah!"
Riley completely understood what Chris was trying to do now, but Chris pushed him so fast he had no time to do anything at all.
"Boom!"
Under Chris’ push, the globe of water crashed viciously into the wall under the stands. This small area of the stands collapsed immediately, but Chris never stopped her stamping and battering. Her hands still pressed against the sparkling bubble of water, squeezing it against the cracked wall.
"Puff!"
The translucent globe of water embedded itself into a hole in the wall. Under the double opposite pressures, there was suddenly no way for its power to drain to, hence it exploded completely, dispersing away.
Chris’ palms ruthlessly struck Riley’s chest. Around her, countless streams of water shot backwards like arrows.
"Crack!"
Riley’s body shook violently. He fainted straight away.
The stands were in a mess. Almost everyone watched the waves of water gush out in shock, unable to clearly see what happened there.
"Victory!"
Ayrin’s stare was locked onto Chris’ figure from beginning to end.
The waves of water exploded out with a bang and fell on the ground, becoming strip after strip of froths floating on streams of water. He saw Chris’ propping her hands on her knees, panting violently.
In front of her, the unconscious Riley was thoroughly embedded inside a crack in the wall.
"Victory!"
He froze a moment, then couldn’t hold back an earthshaking yell!
"Idiot!"
Belo broke the mood and kicked him. "What victory, they still have two people left, let’s see first if she can stand up again."
…
"They actually even messed the stands into such a state."
Liszt shook his head atop the dome at the summit of the arena. "It’s actually the first time a battle between students damage the stands to such a degree."
"Can she still stand up?"
The fully bearded Minlur watched Chris’ bent figure, her hands propped on her knees. His face was full of worry.
The next moment, this elite teacher brandish his fists determinedly just like a hot-blooded young man, and shouted out loud:
"She has to stand up!"
Huff… Huff…
The Holy Dawn students close to the collapsed stands could even hear the sound of Chris’s heavy breathing.
Trails of sweat mixed with blood gathered under Chris’ chin and fingertips, then dripped down, falling on the ground.
This year’s Southern Monsoon’s team’s level was indeed far above the average team in the preliminaries. No matter Zola or Riley, they would both be a striking figure even put in the national tournament.
Even if Chris hadn’t been previously sneak-attacked and wounded by Shadow Dust, she would still have had to exert all her efforts to fight such an opponent, and the consumption of her stamina would certainly also have been very alarming.
The moods of many Holy Dawn students were extremely conflicted and contradictory as they watched Chris resting, hands on her knees. Of course they hoped Chris could straighten once again and handle the remaining two members of team Southern Monsoon, could bring a heart-stirring victory to Holy Dawn Academy. At the same time, they didn’t have the heart to watch Chris keep fighting in such a condition.
"Still two left…"
Chris’ voice suddenly rang.
The voices in the stands stilled once again.
They saw her hands dripping with sweat clench gradually, her body slowly straighten up.
"Come on! Beat up those two!"
The silence in the stands was even more deafening when she straightened up, but here was a yelling voice, full of excitement, seemingly a little out of place.
"Hey!"
Belo rubbed his ears jarred numb. He turned his head around and watched Ayrin brandishing his fists and making a racket. "Look around, no one’s shouting in the whole stands, you’re the only one shouting here, don’t you have a little empathy?"
"Empathy?" Ayrin looked weirdly at Belo, not sure why Belo was talking about this.
Belo pushed his glasses and asked Ayrin, "She’s already in such a state, aren’t you afraid she’ll die if she goes on?"
Ayrin blinked blankly. "How would she die so easily."
Belo stared at Ayrin, feeling there was really no way he could understand this guy. So he didn’t say much and merely grunted, turning his sight back to the field below.
Chris walked slowly to the center of the field. The Southern Monsoon team clearly didn’t want to give her too much time to regain her breath. Crewe was already standing in the center of the field with his faintly blond hair and very ordinary stature and face. He waited calmly for her to come.
"You’ve always wanted to dominate the whole kingdom. It’s probably that dream that’s keeping your back straight and allowing you to stand and fight, even now."
Looking at the approaching Chris, the seemingly very ordinary Crewe said very calmly, "Every member of our Southern Monsoon team is the same as you, filled with the same dream. That’s why a school like ours that seems entirely unfashionable is able to fight our way to the preliminary play-off, to stand in this place. You and us are the same sort of people, that’s why we hope you can join our Southern Monsoon Academy."
"That’s right! Chris, just give up! Nothing good will come out of staying in Holy Dawn Academy!" Ferdinand immediately patted his chest as soon as he heard, and said, "Join our Southern Monsoon Academy. Not only can we fight our way to the national tournament, we can also reap a perfect romance!"
"This guy has four well-developed limbs and one atrophied brain, he’s too annoying," Ayrin cursed gloomily. Curses also fell down from all over the stands.
"Idiot."
Chris lifted her head and wiped the sweat from her face. She didn’t even spare a glance for Ferdinand, instead facing a Crewe looking back at her in all seriousness. She merely spit out two words, "Come then!"
Crewe nodded and didn’t say anything further.
Dazzling arcane particles gushed out from his hands, circled around his body, started to spin.
Chris’ figure vanished at this moment and reappeared behind his back, along with a swirling gale.
The swirling gale suddenly compressed in Chris’ hand, becoming a sword over two meters long!
"Swish!"
At this moment, when Crewe hadn’t had time to display any skill yet, this long sword was already pierced inside his back. Blood sprayed out!
"Sudden Whirlwind Strike plus Gale Blade!"
"She can unexpectedly use those two arcane skills in such a short time, combining these two skills into one!"
Belo’s hand once again stiffened on his glasses as he let out two quiet exclamations in a ice-cold yet fanatical voice.
"Victory?"
Ayrin was instantly caught in a surprised delight. At the same time, his body shook when he saw fresh blood pour out from Crewe’s back. He could imagine he would certainly be in extreme pain if he were to be struck by such an attack.
"Hm?"
What made everyone’s eyes widen, what sent a chill to their hearts was, after being struck by such an attack from Chris, Crewe turned around as if he didn’t feel anything.
His eyes were ashen gray, his face surprisingly calm, as if he were simply unable to feel any fear or pain.
The arcane particles flying around him hadn’t been interrupted by Chris’ strike either. "Boom!" Many yellow pillars of wind blended with dust and dirt suddenly appeared between Chris and him. They struck Chris ruthlessly.
Amidst the collective intake of breath, his body and Chris’ body both flew out backwards like two meteors!
"Pa!"
Crew stood up steadily after flying out for a full dozen meters. Blood gushed madly from his back.
His face was still strangely calm. No fear nor pain could be seen on it.
Only a few seconds later did he slowly topple backward.
On the other side, Chris couldn’t stand up anymore. Her two hand pushed on the ground, fresh blood starting to leak from the corner of her mouth, trailing down drip by drip.
"What the hell happened?"
"After being struck by such a blow and suffering such a heavy injury, how was he still able to counter like this?"
"Impossible! When your body’s pierced by such power, it’s impossible to keep perfect control of your arcane particles even if you’re a powerful battlemaster!"
The medical team ran at top speed to Crewe when he toppled on the ground. Incredulous shouts rang one after another from the stands.
"I…"
Ayrin didn’t even know anymore what the hell he was shouting at this moment. He subconsciously turned his head toward Belo, but he actually saw Belo shake his head at him with a frown. "No need to look at me, I have no idea either what secret skill this guy used."
"It’s the Sensation Seal from Southern Monsoon Academy."
At the same moment, on top of the arena, Liszt stood at the edge of the high dome and lightly said to the other elite teachers, "A skill that can temporarily seal your pain, and even your fear. I didn’t expect this little ordinary-looking Southern Monsoon guy to also possess the bravery to give up his life… He was going for a double ko from the beginning. It turns out he was the most critical link in team Southern Monsoon’s overall plan."
The red-scarfed Ciaran rearranged her hair the wind had blown in a mess. She nodded, then looked below and quietly asked, "Do we stop the match?"
"She has the courage to put her life on the line, why should we stop her?" Liszt shook his head and smiled, "Ciaran, is old age creeping on you? You’re actually worrying about something like this."
"Liszt, you wanna die!"
…
The stands were deathly quiet.
Hands propped on the ground, Chris once again slowly stood up.
Her entire body trembled. Anyone could see she was close to her very limit. Almost any freshmen could casually push her over, but she actually still stood up and faced captain Ferdinand of team Southern Monsoon and his body entirely disproportional with hers.
"You better give up."
Ferdinand couldn’t help but shake his head. "Maybe you could beat me in ordinary times, but now there’s no way you’re my match. Better for you to prepare and transfer to our Southern Monsoon Academy. You’ve already seen that there’s no useless teammate in our group…"
"It’s finally coming to end."
Chris’ voice suddenly interrupted his words, however.
"What do you mean?" Ferdinand stared blankly at her. The entire plan had processed with incomparably smoothness from the moment Zola defeated Gerrin. But for some reason, looking at Chris and her body about to topple at any moment, there was a feeling of extreme danger subconsciously welling inside him.
"Pa!"
The instant Ferdinand closed his mouth in amazement, a bad premonition rising in his heart, the swaying Chris suddenly fell heavily on the ground.
The heart of every person in the stands banged fiercely.
A referee ran to Chris at lightning speed. Everyone saw Chris shake her head at the referee, then prop herself on her hands and try to get up, but having some momentary trouble doing so.
"Huff…"
Ferdinand and the teachers from Southern Monsoon Academy all let out a sigh of relief. They thought, she was a normal human after all, she couldn’t just keep fighting on and on like an amazing miracle.
"Chris, don’t fight anymore! You’ll die if you go on!" The cry of a Holy Dawn girl suddenly came from the stands.
The vast majority of Holy Dawn students felt their chests stuffed by a great boulder, an unspeakable sadness.
From Zola at the beginning to Crewe just then, every battle had been extremely arduous for Chris. Her display was already perfect, but she was only a small little girl when all was said and done. In such a big Holy Dawn Academy, there was actually no one who could give her strong support, forcing a girl like her to fight her way to such a state. In this match, the honor and hope of the entire academy actually pressed down entirely upon her shoulders alone.
Don’t fight anymore!
Along with that Holy Dawn girl’s tearful shout, the vast majority of Holy Dawn students seemed to shout such a shout inside themselves, wanting Chris to give up.
However, what cut off everyone’s breath was, they could see Chris slowly, slowly, in the center of the field, stand up tenaciously.
Belo was unusually quiet. His glasses seemed to flash with a layer of light.
The moment Chris swayed left and right, standing up once again, Ayrin remembered many scenes.
"You are free to pursue your own dreams…"
"What’s your dream?"
"Courage is the gateway to every dream."
"Belo, I know what my dream is now." Ayrin suddenly whispered to Belo besides him. "My dream, it’s to help her defeat every opponent, become the national champions."
"Is that even a dream?" Belo threw a glance Ayrin’s way, a little speechless.
Ayrin’s expression was very serious. "Why wouldn’t it be?"
"She’s the one who keeps saying she wants to dominate the entire kingdom. Your dream is to help her, how can your own dream be built on someone else’s foundations?"
"Well anyway, this dream thing, isn’t it something that you most want to do right now, that you can see in front of you but is very difficult to achieve? What I want to do now is precisely to help her beat teams from other schools, why not?"
"Then you might as well say you want to beat all the other teams and become this great tournament’s champion yourself."
"Same result, it’s more or less the same thing."
"Idiot, this dream thing, how can you be so casual about it, it’s fine as long as it’s more or less the same?"
"…"
Ayrin was about to say firmly that he wasn’t being casual about it, that he’d decided his dream in all seriousness. But just at this moment, Chris started to advance toward Ferdinand with great difficulty.
Ferdinand helplessly watched Chris, considering in his mind which arcane skill to use to take her out of the fight without causing her any lethal injury.
"Sand Armor!"
He made up his mind when Chris was still over twenty meters away from him. First he shouted loudly, then clasped his hands together and fiercely struck them on the ground in front of him.
Dazzling magenta arcane particles closed packed together gushed out from his joined palms and rushed to the surface of the ground. A deep pit suddenly appeared on the ground, while his body sucked twoard it streams of air mixed with large amounts of yellow sand and stone, becoming a thick armor of sand and stone.
His body seemed even bulkier now!
"You want to help her dominate the kingdom with your level? Just the current Ferdinand can crush you to death." Belo couldn’t help but taunt Ayrin when he saw Ferdinand suddenly transform into a stone giant.
Ayrin didn’t hear Belo’s mockery at all, however. His entire attention was gathered on Chris and Ferdinand.
Chris came increasingly closer to Ferdinand. Her body wouldn’t stop swaying, yet she suddenly told Ferdinand in a firm tone, "Your Southern Monsoon team is indeed really strong this year, but I’m still going to beat you. The ones to enter the main qualifiers will be our Holy Dawn Academy."
"Mm?"
The blond Stingham wasn’t seriously watching the match anymore in his corner of the stands, instead sticking his head left and right, seeing if there were pretty girls around him, when a shout suddenly escaped from him. His gaze locked tight on Chris.
"What?"
The four teammates beside him tensed up immediately.
"It looks like there’s a crack on Chris’ clothes." Stingham shook his head in disappointment. "Too bad the crack’s not in a good place, you can’t see anything."
"…" The four teammates around him almost puked out blood right on the spot.
…
"Unexpectedly…" At the same moment, on top of the arena, Liszt’s eyes flashed with the genuine shock of matters exceeding his expectations.
Just at this time, the clothes on Chris’ left hand cracked open entirely.
The sleeves of her outer uniform around her left hand, the sleeve of her inner uniform, they all suddenly tore open under a frightening aura.
And what halted the breath of everyone in the stands was, the exposed hand and arm were entirely covered in thick bandages.
"How could there be such a frightening aura?"
Ferdinand’s expression changed immediately.
Even if Chris weren’t injured, her reserve of arcane particles couldn’t be that much greater than his, but at this very moment, the aura gushing from Chris’ left hand made his heart flutter in panic, gave him a sense of hopelessness.
"Sand Giant!"
With a great shout shaking with inexplicable shock, countless dazzling arcane particles squirted out at top speed from his arms and legs without the slightest reserve.
Dense yellow grains of sand emerged from the ground, continuously gathering around his arms and legs.
His body grew upward nonstop, his arms and legs grew incomparably huge, especially his hands that looked like two giant hammers.
Anyone could tell this was an arcane skill combining arcane power and physical strength, could imagine how frightening the power would be when such a fist hammered down.
Within this short moment however, the aura gushing from Chris’ left hand seemed to have ignited the air several meters around her on her left side; even the thick bandages wrapped tightly around her left arm were charred pitch-black by the fiery aura seeping from her hand.
"What arcane skill is that?"
Ferdinand shouted out loud, incredulous.
Countless rays of black light radiated from Chris’ left hand, bringing with them a fiery aura devoid of warmth. He could hear scalp-numbing fracturing noises come Chris’ arm and the bandage around it.
"Ah!"
Almost everyone in the stands, no matter students from Holy Dawn Academy or Southern Monsoon Academy, everyone stood up and cried in alarm.
It seemed as if a monster with a body several dozen times bigger than Chris’ own drilled its way out of her left arm. In the space of a short instant, in the air on Chris’ left side, fire and blackness transformed into an unimaginable, malevolent, fiendish, terrible black flame dragon!
"Ah!"
Seeing the dragon whose mouth was about the same size as himself after he’d transformed into a giant, Ferdinand became so frightened he could no longer form words. He brandished his fists and smacked them toward the black dragon that flew through the air in his direction.
"Boom!"
Black streams of fire surrounded him in an instant.
His strength was very astonishing at this moment, but the arcane particles coming out of his body immediately vanished from sight as soon as they came into contact with the black flames, swallowed, as if their powers merged into the fiery black trails.
Without the support of his arcane particles, the thick armor of sand around him collapsed, the grains of sand flowing away like water, then blown backward and dispersed by a formidable force.
His body flew back together with the scattered streams of sand.
A sandstorm rose, enveloping the greater half of the stands. Many students suffered incomparable pain from the beating of sand and gravel. Added to the shock inside their hearts, they trembled from head to toe for a long while.
Ayrin and Belo had the same exact expression on their faces, a rare scene. Both had their mouth open wide, unable to close them at this moment.
"Dark Destruction Dragon!"
At the top of the arena, standing at the edge of the dome just like Liszt, Minlur almost lost his footing and fell from the sky at this moment. His expression was just the same as if someone had stepped on his face. "Plum… Senior Plum actually taught her this secret… secret skill on the sly?!"
Ciaran also lost the air of a prim lady, her hair in disarray. "She actually learned it!"
"Even you couldn’t learn it, but she actually learned it, don’t you feel mad?"
Liszt’s lazy expression returned to his face with a smile. "I was wondering what she was doing with her arm always wrapped in so many bandages, it turns out it’s to protect her arm as much as possible when she trains and uses this move. However, with her previous level, she would have had to force herself too much to use this secret skill, so even this way she’d still have suffered severe injuries."
"What’s that?"
In a corner of the stands, the boys who were ready to tie Stingham up and give him a thrashing froze up, fear written all over their faces.
Stingham pushed a fist away and stuck his head out. "Why does it feel like the aura of a dragon!"
"Dragon aura? Arcane particle swallowing!"
The one called captain Hansen suddenly turned pale. "Dark Destruction Dragon! The strongest secret skill of Holy Dawn Academy, a skill that can swallow the opponent’s arcane particles, Dark Destruction Dragon!"
"Impossible! Isn’t Dark Destruction Dragon the skill that stands side by side with Holy Gates of Life? It was lost long ago! Didn’t they say it’s been a long long while since anyone in the entire Holy Dawn Academy learned this skill!"
…
On the edge of the arena, several Holy Monsoon teachers in charge the team likewise shouted in a daze, "How could this be! How could they even have Dark Destruction Dragon!"
The entire Holy Dawn Arena was in chaos.
The sandy wind vanished bit by bit.
The crowd’s sight slowly cleared up. They saw the half of the field where Ferdinand previously stood entirely covered in yellow sand.
Two figures, one big and one small, stood above the sand.
Chris and Ferdinand. They were both still standing!
Chris stood not far away in front of Ferdinand. Tiny grains of sand covered her body and hair. Blood oozed from the bandages on her left hand. Ferdinand’s body was also severely wounded, especially his face; it looked as if someone had stepped over and over on it; probably even people from Southern Monsoon wouldn’t recognize him anymore.
"I didn’t expect… didn’t expected you actually managed to train such a terrifying arcane skill."
Ferdinand’s voice rang out all of a sudden, a little blurred, as if his tongue had been beaten swollen.
"Worthy of the girl I admire. It’s unfortunate, you’re all by yourself in the end. You don’t have powerful teammates like me, all of them ready to bravely fight at the cost of their lives!"
His voice became feverish and confident all of a sudden. "It’s unfortunate this arcane skill is too powerful, you can’t endure this kind of power either. Right now you’re certainly unable to lift even a finger, you’re about to pass out, right? That’s why the final victors are still us from Southern Monsoon Academy. Chris, just obediently transfer to our school, come make history with us, come create a miracle!"
"What!"
Ayrin had just closed his mouth shut, but he almost jumped up when he heard Ferdinand make that kind of noise.
Could it be Chris still couldn’t beat this guy after fighting her way this far, after using such power? Were they still going to lose this match?
"There’s no need to force yourself."
Chris’ voice rang out at this moment, weak but brimming with resolution, making Ayrin’s blood almost boil.
"You still want to sound tough, you still want to scare me. Just quietly fall down."
Chris struggled to lift her head. She stretched out her right hand, stretched out a finger.
She looked like she wanted to use this finger to push Ferdinand’s forehead, but she was much shorter than him and couldn’t reach it.
This finger then fell on Ferdinand’s chest.
"You even saw through that…" Ferdinand said, helpless, before her finger even landed on him. Then with a "boom," his huge body fell back straight, like a rock. And then he didn’t move any longer.
"Chris wins, Holy Dawn Academy wins."
A referee ascertained Ferdinand’s unconsciousness with a single glance. He signaled the medical team to enter the field at the same time he announced the end of the match.
"Ah!" Ayrin exclaimed with incomparable excitement when he heard that. The screams of almost every Holy Dawn student followed his shortly after.
"We finally won!"
Chris let out the trace of a smile at this moment, then her body also fell softly on the ground.
Sound disappeared all of a sudden.
The medical team lifted her, as anxious as if they were facing an army, and carried her away. Everyone in the field understood what truly happened.
A burst of drums and applause rose from the stands occupied by the Southern Monsoon students.
Everyone understood that at the very end of the fight, she’d stood on the edge of unconsciousness just like Ferdinand, but she only fell down after hearing the announcement of her victory.
What kind of determination was that? What kind of victory was this?
The great battle between Holy Dawn Academy and Southern Monsoon Academy ended with Chris’ desperate, lonely fight against the tide.
The match had already ended, but Ayrin stood outside the Holy Dawn Arena, unwilling to go away for a long while.
"What, are you planning to ambush the most arrogant Southern Monsoon guy in the stands just now?" Belo looked at Ayrin’s appearance and immediately became excited. He cracked his knuckles. "Did you clearly see which one it was?"
"They all clapped for Chris at the end. Stop always thinking about this kind of stuff, alright?" Ayrin became dizzy on the spot. He said, "I just feel very happy when I think of the overbearing way they came and the way they’re leaving all crestfallen now."
Belo rolled his eyes at Ayrin. "Stop being so boring."
"We won this match in such a spectacular way, such a moving way, so why does it seem like the other people in our school don’t seem as happy as me?" Ayrin looked at the crowd of people around him, then his gaze fell on Belo once again. "Could it be that most of the students in our academy are freaks like you?"
"Everything would be better if they were like me. We’d have beaten other academies into submission a long time ago, then their students would have to pay protection fees when they come to our school." Belo snorted coldly, looking at Ayrin as if he were looking at an idiot. "They’re not as excited as you because they’re not as foolish as you. They all know victory in a preliminary match doesn’t mean anything. They’re all normal people, they’re all going to think that, in a mere preliminary match, a trivial unknown third-rate school that’s never even appeared in the main qualifiers before already has such a strong team, they already made Chris injured so heavily. Then in the future when we fight against these teams that enter the national tournament year in and year out, how would it turn out?"
"How can you know what the result will be if you haven’t fought yet." Ayrin looked at Belo and asked, "Belo, her injuries won’t be too severe right?"
"You’ve asked this question five times already since we came out."
Belo turned away in irritation, but he suddenly thought of something and his eyes immediately brightened with craftiness and excitement. "Since you’re so worried, why don’t you simply go visit her at the infirmary?"
"Can I?"
Ayrin became immediately spirited. "Can I go see her?"
"Have you ever heard about patients being denied visits?" Belo said with a cold snort.
"Then let’s go right now!" Impatience was written all over Ayrin’s face.
"If you go right now, aren’t you afraid you’ll hinder her treatments?"
"Then when are we going?"
"We can go tonight before bedtime."
"Before bedtime?" Ayrin thought something was a little out of place. He couldn’t help staring at Belo. "Will the infirmary let us in if we go there so late? Aren’t you worried about disturbing the wounded team members during their rest?"
"Don’t you need to complete the foundation training teacher Huston arranged? Didn’t you claim you were going to help Chris dominate the country. If you don’t train hard, you won’t even be a match for the guys in the current Holy Dawn team. They’d send you flying with a casual slap." Belo turned his head away and didn’t even look at Ayrin. "I stayed a long time inside the academy’s infirmary, I’m very familiar with that place. Plus I have very good relationships with the medical masters inside. The less people there are, the easier it’ll be to go in."
"That’s right, I have to train hard. Then we’ll go tonight after we complete our training." Ayrin didn’t doubt Belo’s words. He said excitedly, "Then let’s first go to the commercial street right now."
Belo frowned. "Go to the commercial district, why?"
"To buy a few gifts of course." Ayrin said as a matter of course, "Don’t tell me you can visit a patient empty-handed?"
Belo felt that Ayrin was truly an idiot, truly troublesome, but then thinking that he managed to cheat him into visiting the infirmary at night, he merely humphed quietly and no longer complained. He followed Ayrin to the commercial street.
"Ayrin!"
Ayrin heard someone call him as soon as they reached the commercial street. He turned his head, curious, and saw it was a fatty in white chef clothes, his face flushed red.
"It’s you?"
Ayrin stared blankly, and only remembered when he saw the shop behind this fat boss. He scratched his head. "So it’s you, boss, how come your Super Giant Fried Pork Ribs store hasn’t closed shop yet?"
"How can you say that." The fat boss scolded him with a smile and cheerfully said, "My business is booming, why would I close shop."
Ayrin glanced around. It seemed business was indeed flourishing, so he became a little curious. "Didn’t everyone curse you back then and call you an unscrupulous profiteer, many people said they’ll never buy your pork chops again, how did your business become so good now?"
"It’s all thanks to you, haha. Everyone heard you ate a super big piece of fried pork chops, so they all came have a look. There were even people who requested fried pork chops as big as the one you ate that day." The fat boss said proudly, "Oh yeah, you’re called Ayrin right? You must be the student rumored to have Giant Food Monster blood, the one who’s especially good at eating. I thought of a good idea, please be our shop’s spokesperson. Come here for a little while every few days and perform some eating, then everything you eat here will be free. I can also give you some reward, what do you say?"
"Alright then." Ayrin nodded happily as soon as he heard he could eat for free again. At the same time he turned his head around and asked Belo, "How about we simply buy a few pork chops as gift?"
Several black lines appeared on Belo’s forehead. "Have you ever seen someone bring fried pork chops to a a sick patient?"
"Then what should we bring?" Ayrin asked, full of zest.
"When visiting a girl, a few candies will do," Belo said, looking at Ayrin. He even began to admire himself for being so patient and good-natured. He thought it was surely because of teacher Liszt. This guy Ayrin never admitted his relationship with teacher Liszt, but he felt there must be an unspeakable secret between those two. The way he saw it, Liszt was the big boss standing on top of Holy Dawn Academy, and a big boss he believed he’d have no way of beating within a few years, so he could definitely not offend him.
"Candies?" Ayrin was entirely unaware of the many twists and turns in Belo’s mind. He immediately asked the fat red-faced boss, "Boss, what kind of candies do girls like the most usually?"
"Girls? I know there’s a shop down the road, their green-wrapped chocolate-stuffed candy and little bear gummis are particularly tasty, girls will definitely like them. There aren’t many people who know how good these two candies are, I usually don’t tell anyone."
"Thank you boss."
Ayrin hurried like a gust of wind that candy shop’s direction in the distance.
Entering this candy shop with a roof made from green iron sheets, he asked the fifty-years old boss inside, "Do you have that candy with green wrapping and chocolate stuffing, give me a pack of it."
"I have it. Surprising, you look like a freshman, but you have very good taste. It’s on top of the shelf though, I have to go look for a ladder." The boss found a ladder after praising Ayrin, then climbed up. He took a pack of green-wrapped candies with chocolate stuffing, then he put the ladder away and asked, panting a little, "What else do you need?"
Ayrin thought a bit and said, "I want another pack."
The boss said, depressed, "You could have said that earlier." He helplessly took the ladder once again to grab a pack, then he cautiously asked, "You’re sure you only want two pack of this chocolate-stuffed candy?"
Ayrin nodded, saying yes.
The boss finally became reassured. He took the ladder away. As a result Ayrin said, "Boss, I also want the little bear gummis, the ones just beside the chocolate-stuffed candies, it looks like they’re also on top of the shelves."
The boss: "…"
…
After laboring from the morning match all the way to the sun falling in the west, the most elite medical team in Holy Dawn Academy finally finished their treatment of Chris and the several people from Southern Monsoon Academy.
Teacher Namin was the strongest medical master in the team and also the one with the most authority, the one in charge of the medical district. He did another round of checking then walked outside the ward Chris was currently in. After listening to the calm and smooth breathing of her sleep, this grave man looking over thirty with a scar on his forehead once again told the several medical masters on duty, "None of these injuries are light, you have to make sure to keep an attentive watch. Just as usual, don’t let anyone come inside in order to avoid accidents. Especially since the match is at our academy this time. The medical treatment is at our place here, and these few from team Southern Monsoon are the apples in Southern Monsoon Academy’s eyes. We can absolute not let any mishap happen!"
"Yes!"
Several medical masters immediately answered with due solemnity. Then their figures flashed, and vanished from the outside of the ward.
The depths of the night, in a woody patch behind the infirmary. A wisp of black cloud floated past the top of the infirmary. Ayrin rubbed his arms and legs nonstop. He couldn’t resist asking Belo, "Belo, you’re really very familiar with the medical masters inside? Are you really taking me to see Chris?"
The walls of the infirmary towered not far in front of them.
Right now, besides Belo, there was a simple and crude tunnel, visible after Belo cleared away the place.
"Don’t be so annoying, you just finished the foundation exercises, aren’t you dead tired yet?" Belo exposed his shining white teeth and said in a light voice, "The infirmary’s front gates are locked already, where else should we enter from if not from here? Also, after we go inside you have to follow tightly behind me, don’t make any noise, I can’t guarantee everyone inside will give me face. If you don’t listen to me, you can’t blame me if you don’t end up seeing Chris."
"Alright then."
Filled with a bad premonition, Ayrin bit the bullet and nodded. Belo pushed aside the covering roots and wines. They went inside the pitch-black tunnel.
A dozen minutes later, inside a passage outside Chris’s ward, there was a small sudden noise.
At the foot of the stairs, the lid covering a trash hole lifted up. Two messy, dirty silhouettes drilled out from it.
One of the silhouettes made a hand gesture, pointed to Chris’ ward and several other wards nearby.
