"You bastard! Shin! Have you been holding back all those tis?! Weren't we supposed to be exchanging notes to help sharpen each other's skills?!" Orca exclaid furiously, causing a sly grin to erge on the corners of Shin's mouth.
They had faced each other several tis, with Orca holding the upper hand in their combat record, boasting five wins and two losses.
"Hahahaha! Indeed, thank you for helping sharpen my skills, Hattori Orca of Fanfir. I'm not foolish enough to reveal all my cards in a simple sparring match just to secure a win.
I believe a spar is ant to enhance one's skills, unlike you, who seems more focused on winning than on improving as I am." Shin laughed victoriously as he looked condescendingly at Orca, who was currently on his knees, his body battered, bruised, and bloodied.
"You sneaky rat! I refuse to lose to the likes of you! Shadow Slaughter!" Orca exclaid, eliciting an astonished expression from Ian.
This skill had been Ian's trump card during the Adventurer Academy Competition. Seeing soone else use it stirred an unusual feeling in his heart.
However, that was all there was to it; he now had more powerful trump cards that surpassed this skill, even though it remained one of the stronger abilities in his arsenal.
It was a pity he hadn't had the chance to use it to show off, though, as his opponent had been too weak and incompetent.
As eight shadow clones assud their positions in the sparring area, Orca's presence vanished.
It was as though he was nothing but a shadow.
Unfortunately, tricky to deal with as the skill might be, he had used it two tis in the past against Shin.
The Yon Augennian scout already knew how to deal with it.
As the shadows moved into position, Shin was also performing hand seals, slamming both palms onto the ground just as Orca's presence rged with the shadows.
In the next mont, purple chains erged from various magic circles on the ground, restraining all the shadow clones, including Orca's true body.
"Sh*t!" Orca cursed loudly.
He was caught.
Naturally, his gritted teeth and desperate expressions made the Fanfirians anxious.
Their leader was losing!
At this rate, they would end up with eight wins and two losses, just like the Yon Augennians.
If that happened, a tie-breaker scenario would ensue!
None of the Fanfirians could defeat Aziel in a match, so he couldn't allow himself to falter now, not when victory was so close!
Explore stories on My Virtual Library Empire
"You rat! I refuse to lose to you!" the shadows shouted in unison, bursting into shadow strings that surged toward Shin.
This was the subskill of Shadow Slaughter, [Shadow Restriction], which detonated all clones in exchange for immobilizing the opponent for three seconds, as long as at least one of the shadow strings successfully attached to the target's shadow.
The Yon Augennian scout hadn't encountered the subskill in their previous spars since his Fanfirian opponent had never used it.
However, having studied Orca's skills ticulously, he at least knew of its existence, enabling him to respond appropriately despite witnessing the subskill for the first ti.
"Heh! I saw this coming from a mile away! Just watch, Lightborne Phantom!"
This ti, it was Shin who summoned a phantom—though it was only a single one.
It appeared powerless against the hundreds of shadow strings.
In reality, however, it was far from being the case.
With one command from Shin, the Lightborne Phantom detonated into a blinding light that not only took away Orca's vision for two seconds but also extinguished all the approaching shadow strings.
In the face of true light, shadows crumble.
Witnessing this, Shin smiled and made his move, reappearing behind the blinded Fanfirian youth representative leader.
"In the end, you failed when it mattered most! Farewell, Hattori Orca; may you always live in my shadows!"
These were the words Orca heard last before oblivion consud him.
Shin knocked him out cold with a single blunted dagger strike to the neck.
As everyone processed what had just happened, silence fell over the crowd, though most were pleased, especially the Chellionians.
Earlier that day, the Fanfirians had been arrogantly irritating, and the defeat of two Deltrans at their hands only heightened their frustrations.
Fortunately, the heavens were watching.
The Fanfirians endured two back-to-back devastating losses just as victory was within their grasp.
It had to be incredibly painful to contemplate, filling the Chellionians with imnse joy at the misfortune of their arrogant rivals.
Naturally, Aziel was quite pleased as well, as for the first ti in this event, everything went according to plan.
Nothing had gone their way in the early stages of the Inter-regional sparring matches, which left him feeling genuinely frustrated.
Fortunately, Shin ca through.
Now, there was only one task left for him: to secure the tie-breaker scenario with his own hands.
The elitist youngsters from other regions were in awe of the Yon Augennians' coback.
Initially, it seed as though they were out of contention for the crown.
But then, just when everyone least expected it, they defeated the leader of the Fanfirians without Aziel needing to intervene himself.
As a result, it was now the Valenzians who appeared to have no chance of obtaining the first-place rewards.
After all, if they opted to fight, the silent, orange-haired girl would have to face Aziel, the Yon Augennian youth roster leader and the widely recognized strongest young competitor in the event.
The onlookers viewed such a match as a guaranteed win for the Yon Augennians.
Conversely, if the Valenzians chose to forgo their final opportunity to challenge, they would be excluded from the tie-breaker scenario.
Only Fanfir and Yon Augenn would vie for the crown, leaving the Valenzians in third place.
Not a single young competitor from the regions not involved in the battle for the top spot believed that Yon Augenn would lose in the tie-breaker scenario.
As a result, most concluded that after Shin's victory, the Yon Augennians had already seized the crown from the Fanfirians' shaless and scheming grasp.
Unbeknownst to them, there was a third possibility.
Reviews
All reviews (0)