"Jas, gear check complete!" Before entering the combat room, an instructor who favored Jas stepped forward, advising, "Jas, you have a Battle Chief watching this next fight. This is your chance to shine!"
Jas's eyes lit up. A Battle Chief was watching? For him? While he didn't know which Battle Chief it was, making a strong impression could smooth his path forward. Wasn't his previous overture to Jessica because her grandfather was a Battle Chief? Now, another opportunity was before him, and he was determined not to waste it.
"Jas, prepare to enter the combat room!" The door opened and then shut automatically behind him. The walls blocked the view of everyone outside, leaving them clueless about what would transpire within. However, in the hearts of most, the outco was already decided—Jas would win. Jas, with his A-level talent, level 10, and A-class Mage, seed unbeatable. Mike, with his D-level talent, likely hadn't even reached level 10.
Inside the combat room, Mike stretched lazily, yawning widely. "What's taking so long?" After a few more minutes, his opponent finally entered the combat room. "Jas?" Mike frowned slightly. If he won against Jas here, could it cause issues? After all, he still had three chances left; the outco of one fight wasn't critical. Mike pondered how best to lose this match appropriately when Jas suddenly spoke, "Mike, do you know Cain's secret?"
"What? Cain has secrets?" Mike looked puzzled. Even if Cain did have secrets, they couldn't escape Mike's Eye of Truth. Besides, why would Jas bring this up?
"Heh, seems like you don't know," Jas said disdainfully. "I once saw Cain's na deep in Thunder Valley, etched into the ground."
A morial? That sounded like sothing Cain might do, likely writing sothing like [Cain was here]. Mike considered this and then suggested, "Maybe it's a coincidence. There are many people nad Cain in the world."
"I checked afterwards; Cain was indeed in Thunder Valley that day!" Jas continued, "And just now, soone ntioned that Cain seems to have learned Windstride Slash. And you call yourselves close friends, yet you don't know this?"
Mike thought: This is hard to explain. Let Cain take the fall.
"Even if Cain has secrets, what does that have to do with our fight?" Mike tried to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Indeed, it has nothing to do with it." Jas raised his staff, aiming at Mike. "After I beat you, I'll challenge Cain. I want to see for myself what secrets that kid is hiding."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jas stiffened for a mont, and the temperature in the combat room seed to drop, filled with a deadly aura. Mike's deanor also changed drastically, no longer lazy or languid but dangerously sharp, like a hunter eyeing his prey.
"I'm telling you, don't cause trouble for others," Mike said. Then, unexpectedly, he charged at Jas! Although he had originally planned to deliberately lose, hearing Jas's words made him reconsider; it seed he could no longer go through with it.
So fast! Jas was startled by Mike's speed but still had ti to react, raising his staff defensively. "Fire Shield!" As he sprinted, Mike also cast a spell, his casting speed not slow. "Wind Blade!" Three Wind Blades whistled through the air, but their aim was poor; two were deflected, and the last one hit Jas's fire shield, just breaking through.
This was Mike deliberately restraining his power. Otherwise, a single Wind Blade would have been enough to break through all of Jas's defenses, even his gear, resulting in an instant kill.
"Wind Bind!" Invisible ropes bound Jas, slowing his movents as if he were stuck in mud. Jas imdiately stopped his chanting and switched to a teleportation skill to maximize the distance between them. He had a bad feeling that if Mike got close, it would be extrely dangerous.
Just... this feeling seed irrational. They were both mages, not skilled in close combat; why would Mike be better?
Driven by instinct, Jas tried to flee. From the start of the battle, he had been on the defensive, unable to mount any effective offense. "Fla Jump!" His figure vanished from the spot, reappearing three ters away as a burst of fla. "As long as I keep my distance, I'll be safe..."
Jas was about to regroup and show Mike the power of an A-level talent when suddenly everything went dark, and a fist thundered down! Mike had anticipated his move, accelerating to position himself perfectly to catch Jas off guard.
Using all his strength and speed to cast, Jas roared, "Fla Burst!" Releasing the skill at such close range was a double-edged sword, potentially fatal to both if it was a real fight. The dangerous fireball at the tip of his staff exploded uncontrollably.
Bang— A loud explosion echoed in Jas's ears. Smoke filled his nostrils, he was thrown backward, his vision going dark as he lost consciousness.
What happened next, Jas couldn't rember. When he ca to, his gear was flashing red, shocking him. I... lost? To a D-level talent?
Jas looked around dazedly, noticing Mike standing not far away, his clothes emitting wisps of smoke, with ash on his shoulder. Mike's gear showed 25% integrity remaining. "Fuck, so close!" Jas gritted his teeth, unable to comprehend his loss.
What he didn't know was that the slight difference he perceived was actually an insurmountable gap. If not for the presence of an audience, which could cause unnecessary trouble, Mike would have ended the fight with one move. Did he really need to drag it out like this?
Mike glanced at the surveillance cara, thinking, "Old fox, you must be watching, right?" "Performing like this probably won't fool the old fox..."
Regardless, Mike had done what he could, and his objective was achieved. In the control room, Blaze Morrow's eyes sparkled with excitent. "This little fox is definitely hiding sothing!" "I guarantee, if it ca to a real fight, Jas couldn't withstand even three moves from him, no, not even five!" "Since the little fox wants to hide his strength, I might as well help him out, for Jessica's sake."
With that thought, Blaze Morrow clicked a few tis on the mouse. "Delete this battle's recording?" "Yes." "Deletion complete." From a storage perspective, it was clean. But Blaze Morrow, known for his ticulousness, extended his hand, and a fla consud the hardware storing the recording, turning all the disks to ash. Now, truly deleted—in the physical sense.
Under Blaze Morrow's manipulation, a door in the combat room automatically opened. Many students had already lost three matches and were eliminated, standing aside to watch the final outcos, increasingly focusing on Mike's combat room.
As the door opened, soone noticed.
"The door's open! Jas won!" "Wait, isn't that the door Jas entered?" "What's going on, he didn't concede again, did he?"
Under the gaze of the crowd, Jas walked out of the combat room looking dejected, quickly surrounded by instructors. "Jas, what happened?" "Why are you out here, where's Mike?" "Why do you sll burnt, and your gear... this..."
Soon, soone noticed that Jas's gear was breached. He had actually lost? Surrounded by instructors, Jas managed a bitter smile and said hoarsely, "I... lost..."
Silence rippled through the area like waves on water. The entire venue fell into a deathly quiet. Everyone was shocked by the news, struggling to co to terms with it. Jas... had lost to Mike, a re D-level talent?
anwhile, an aged voice from inside the combat room reached everyone's ears, clear and distinct. "In this combat test, the winner is... Mike!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)