“Shukla’s talent with poisons and spiritual strength were entirely stifled… Compared to last year, he even learned a new domain-type taboo skill, but Rinloran still beat him even like that! No wonder the top elven powerhouses during the War of the Dragons could stand toe to toe with the dragons.”
“How’s that a weeds-level team!”
“…”
“Shukla’s really strong.” In team Holy Dawn, while the spectators in the whole arena were marveling at Rinloran’s strength, Ayrin was instead looking at Shukla in the field and talking about him.
“You’re not talking about how strong Rinloran is, but actually talking about how strong Shukla is. Ayrin, are you crazy?” Moss said, a little speechless.
“That’s not it.” Ayrin shook his head. “Rinloran’s already this strong, but he still had to pay such a price to block Shukla’s counter attack. This Shukla’s strength is simply on another level compared to you, Moss.”
“…” Moss: “Ayrin, you’re making fun of me again!”
“Listen. Many people in the stands are saying that Shukla’s strength should be around the same level as Rinsyi, that Rinsyi will be in danger if he runs into Rinloran.” Ayrin pricked his ears and listened as hard as he could to the comments coming from the stands.
Moss really heard this sort of talk coming from many places in the stands. He looked at Rinloran standing in the field and started worrying again. “Can Rinloran continue fighting? Teacher Carter, should we let him step down?”
Carter shook his head. He was also looking at Rinloran as he quietly said, “This guy, he looks as unreasonable as an ice mountain, but he’s also someone who can forsake everything for friends and victory. He’ll refuse even if I told him to come down now.”
“Rinloran beat one of the big three just like that.”
In the stands, Ivan looked at team Silver Trout and whispered with a little empathy, “I didn’t think that apart from Ayrin, Rinloran would also become another unexpected factor. Silver Trout looks in a bad spot this time.”
“There’s something wrong.”
Just then, Wilde was actually looking at Shukla. “This guy got stabbed through by a sword, but he can still stand up on his own. He doesn’t look too wounded.”
“There’s nothing strange about that.” Several Iron Forest musclemen around him told him, “Don’t forget he has genuine dragon blood. His vitality and regenerative ability are a lot stronger than ordinary people to begin with.”
“It’s not what I meant.” Wilde waved them off. “I’m saying, he has the double-headed poison dragon’s bloodline, his life force and regeneration are a lot stronger than ordinary people. Right now he looks mostly fine even after getting stabbed. So why did it look like he couldn’t pour out his arcane particles during the fight?”
Ivan and Charlotte also seemed to come to a realization. They spoke three words at the same time: “Blood Binding Sword!”
“What do you mean?” Wilde and others from Iron Forest Academy immediately looked at Ivan and Charlotte.
“Back when we trained in Lannister’s Corps, we heard some arcane masters say that a minority of people with elven blood can master this skill,” Ivan explained, taking a deep breath. “With this skill, when they stab into their opponents with their materialized sword, they can use their power to affect their opponents’ blood vessels. If their opponents output arcane particles, some of their blood vessel nodes will instantly crack open. It will create several dozen bleeding points all over the body!”
“Forest Herdsman, Bow of the Hunting Goddess, Moonlight Erosion, Blood Binding Sword! This guy’s really an elven arcane master who’s learned the talents of both forest guardians and moonlight swordsmen.”
In team Silver Trout, about to head into the field, Nason took a deep breath and looked at his captain Nolan beside him, a flash of resolve glinting in his eyes. “Captain, I’ll deal with him. I’ll leave the rest of the match to you guys.”
Nolan looked at Nason and didn’t say anything. He merely gave him a bear hug.
Heading to the field, Nason merely said in a quiet voice without looking back,“Captain, no matter what the others thing, the few of us see you as more than a captain. You’re a real big brother for us, so throw away any suspicions.”
“Bastard, you’re saying something like that even at a time like this.” Nolan silently swore, but he couldn’t help but feel a lump in this throat. “You guys… Am I doubting the trust and companionship between friends? I just don’t want you guys’ reputation to suffer, I just want you guys to have the honor that belongs to you.” He looked at Nason’s back and quietly told himself, “Since I’m your captain, I should of course pay a greater price and take back the things that belong to you.”
“It’s Mad Believer Nason!”
Though he wasn’t one of the three most powerful people in Silver Trout, every member of Silver Trout’s main roster was a celebrity-level fighter. As soon as the bald, sun-tanned Nason walked into the field, many spectators instantly spotted him.
When it came to continuous composite skills, Mad Believer Nason was one of the most powerful people among every team participating in the national tournament.
In a fight, he was like an arcane master possessed of feverish belief and often overcame his opponents by raining attacks on them.
“Riiip!”
While Nason walked into the field, Rinloran tore a long strip of cloth from his school uniform.
“What’s he’s trying to do?”
“He’s going to tie his arm so it doesn’t disturb his balance when he runs!”
Very quickly, all the spectators realized that Rinloran was binding his right arm to his trunk, instead of letting it hanging low at his side. This action was obviously so that the right arm he’d already lost control of wouldn’t perturb his balance when moving at high speed by swaying around.
But at the same time, this action made everyone understand that the bones in his right shoulder had indeed been fractured by Shukla’s counter attack in the previous fight.
“He actually looks like he doesn’t feel the pain at all… But he’s definitely suffering!”
“Rinloran! Do your best!”
There were many Holy Dawn students in the field who had strong negative opinions of Rinloran before. They knew Rinloran was strong, but he refused to join the school team. But now, looking at Rinloran fighting like this, their opinions about Rinloran had made a complete turnabout. They all shouted and encouraged him at the top of the lungs, as though a fire had ignited in their chests.
“Let’s begin then!”
Using his left hand and his teeth, Rinloran struggled a little and finally bound his right arm, then indicated at Kleis he was ready, his expression as much a block of ice as usual.
“What a strange team… But they’re really opponents worthy of respect.”
Nason stretched out his left hand, then put it horizontally across his chest. This was a ceremonial gesture to express respect in a fight between arcane masters on Doraster.
Only after that did Nason indicate to Kleis they could begin.
“Fight then! Brave warriors!”
His gesture caused Ayrin to brandish his fist and shout in a strong and loud voice.
“This guy’s really a very strange one… Looking at him now, he seems like he’s purely enjoying the competition for its own sake. If I can go on a mission together with him in the future, it should be a very interesting thing.” Audrey looked at Ayrin’s face surging with enthusiasm, and whispered something like this to herself in her mind. The trace of a smile floated on her lips in spite of herself.
“Begin!”
The field became instantly silent with Kleis’ shout.
The second fight between Holy Dawn Academy and Silver Trout Academy erupted in an instant!
“Swish!”
A cloud of bright blue crystal particles sprayed from Rinloran’s left harm, once again shaping into a slender flower longsword.
Now that his right arm was entirely useless, Rinloran was obviously thinking of using his speed and sword skills in a close-range combat. His figure flashed, dragging countless afterimages behind him all over the field, as though countless Rinlorans were charging at Nason.
At the same time, underneath Nason, a circle of red light and a circle of black light lifted his body in the air.
As though a black grail filled with fresh blood had suddenly appeared under his feet!
“Boom!”
For some unknown reason, in spite of themselves, every spectator’s gaze was attracted to the sky on top of his head. The next instant, the primordial energy in the entire arena suddenly went out of control. The compressed air shook like transparent stripes of cloth.
Something huge suddenly condensed in the middle of the air, its diameter over five meters.
“What!”
“Is it actually some kind of monster?!”
Gasps and exclamations suddenly rose from the stands like a tsunami.
It was impressively a blood-red eyeball over five meters wide, with a hundred black, vine-like tendrils growing over it.
These tentacles oscillated in the air, causing this huge eyeball to float in the sky.
“Puff!”
The sound of something sharp stabbing into flesh suddenly came from Nason’s body.
In the stands, many spectators stopped breathing.
Rinloran’s figure had appeared behind Nason’s back at some time. The blue crystal-like longsword in his left hand had stabbed into Nason’s back. The sword tip shining with light directly came out of Nason’s chest.
Because Nason’s body was about three meters in the air from being propped up by the black and red circles of lights, the scene at that instant gave many people the illusion that Rinloran’s sword thrust through the back had lifted him in the air.
The flow of his arcane particles had clearly been restricted as well. Rinloran’s sword strike seemed to have inflicted damage heavy enough he couldn’t move anymore.
Just then, a trace of blood flowing down from the corner of his lips, Nason actually told Rinloran, “It’s useless… The Tyrant Eye will continue to exist as long as it takes form, even if I die. You can’t win this fight.”
An explosive “Swish” rose at that instant.
Like thirteen tiny silver eyes, thirteen silver dots of light suddenly appeared on the blood-red eyeball.
One among them shot a silver ray of light in Rinloran’s direction.