Amelia acted quickly and shot an arrow enveloped in a thick layer of mana.
Her arrow left a trail of azure blue light and hurtled towards Kai, who was still in mid-air.
Swish—!!
When Kai noticed an azure blue light speeding toward him, he quickly raised his greatsword to block the attack.
THANN—!!
While he was successful in blocking the attack, the force of the impact of the collision between the arrow and his sword flung him back in the air.
His body skidded across the ground a few times before he managed to perform a flip and land squarely on his feet.
"You're dead, girl," Kai sneered, his tone dripping in venom as he looked at Amelia.
But before he could say anything else, Elijah jumped up on his and brought his giant battle hammer down, intending to crush Kai with it.
"Fool," Kai scoffed as he flicked his wrists and rotated his greatsword over his head to deflect the trajectory of Elijah's battle hammer.
Thrack—!!
His battle hammer struck the ground, causing some crevices to appear on the spot it hit, as Elijah himself landed with a thud.
Kai spun on his foot to gather some momentum before he brought his sword down again and struck the handle of Elijah's battle hammer.
THAK—!!
In one clean swing, the handle of his battle hammer broke and Elijah could only widen his eyes in surprise.
After all, it was a battle hammer crafted by his grandfather– one of the best blacksmiths of the Dwarven race.
And Kai broke it… just like that?
Before he could understand what even happened, Kai was already only a few inches away from him.
Elijah could only take a deep breath as Kai lunged on him and thrust his knee into his solar plexus, sending the half-dwarf to his knees and coughing violently as the air was knocked out of his lungs.
"Stay down," Kai said before Amelia shot another arrow at him.
Thann–!!
Unlike before, Kai had proper footing so he deflected the arrow without much of a problem.
Nero tried to rush at him but Kai uttered a magic spell under his breath and suddenly, thin, dark black spikes of shadow erupted out from the ground.
"Arghh! You bastard!" Nero exclaimed as some of the spikes impaled his foot.
Normally, he would've dodged such an attack but right now he was worried for Elijah.
Talking about him, Elijah was trying his best to get back up on his feet, still coughing up and trying to get air back into his lungs.
"I told you to stay the fuck down!" Kai leashed out as he kicked the side of Elijah's jaw with his shin as if he was kicking a football.
"Gaaah!" Elijah gasped as he felt like his jaw was dislocated from the force of that kick.
He rolled and lay back down on the ground, his chest heaving up and down violently as he breathed in pain.
"Arghaaaa!" But Kai didn't stop there. He stomped his foot down on Elijah's sternum with force, causing the latter to scream out in pain.
Nero swung his blade and shattered the shadow spikes that were impaling his foot and holding him down in place as he quickly rushed towards Kai to aid his friend.
Kai noticed this and got ready, but Nero didn't back down either.
He pulled his sword back into its sheath, which was hanging on his waist. He then began to manipulate particles of light to cluster around his blade inside the sheath.
He didn't want to use this, but from the looks of it, he had no choice.
Kai instantly recognised the weapon art Nero was going to use on him, but he couldn't back down either.
So instead, he raised the flat side of his colossal sword and prepared to block the attack.
Without any hesitation, Nero stepped into the striking range and unleashed his sword out of its sheath before performing a destructive upward slash.
[12-Movement Sword Saint Style: Longsword Of Light]
[First Form: Quick Draw]
As soon as Nero's sword left its sheath, a brilliant bright light blinded everyone that looked at his blade.
In an instant, his blade struck the flat side of Kai's giant greatsword at the speed of light.
Thann—!!
The sheer force of the collision propelled Kai's blade upwards in sync with the trajectory of Nero's sword, leaving his chest wide open.
Without skipping a beat, Nero swiftly flicked his wrists, bringing his sword to his side.
After acquiring that stance, he quickly unleashed a horizontal slash at the speed of light, targeting Kai's vulnerable chest.
[12-Movement Sword Saint Style: Longsword Of Light]
[Second Form: Tracing Horizon]
Swish—!
Nero's luminescent blade traced an elegant arc in the air, yet Kai had already taken a step back by now to avoid the incoming attack. However, he was a single second too late.
Kach—!!
Nero's blade brushed Kai's chest, leaving behind a shallow gash.
Normally, Nero wouldn't have missed such an opening, but right now his foot was injured because of the shadowy spikes from earlier which hindered his movement a little.
Nevertheless, the impact of Nero's sword slicing across his chest caused Kai to grit his teeth in anguish as blood spurted out from his wound.
"Arghh!" Letting out a muffled scream, Kai tumbled back a few steps before eventually regaining his balance.
"Now! Do it!" Amelia quickly shouted right at that moment, giving Aster a signal.
In the blink of an eye, as if waiting for that cue, water streamed up from the spot on the ground beneath Kai's feet and encased him in an orb, trapping him from all directions.
"Tsk!" Kai clicked his tongue as he finally realized what their plan was.
The prison orb was small– so much so that Kai had almost no room to make any movements at all.
Nero used this chance to circle behind him while in front of him, from on top of one of the light poles, Anastasia locked her aim at him.
Particles of azure light were swirling around Anastasia and coalescing at the tip of her arrow. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that her arrow was going to pack enough punch to shatter boulders to fine dust.
Meanwhile, on his back, Nero had his sword back in his sheath so he could unleash his Longsword Of Light's first form, Quick Draw, again.
Two light moves of this intensity– if they hit Kai with them, it would be over for him.
Not to mention, he was sure that Aster would release her water prison barrier spell at the last possible moment to give Kai almost no time to dodge the attacks.
That means he would have to try and block them. But if Anastasia and Nero sync their attacks– which they were obviously going to do– he would only be able to block either one of those attacks.
What should he do? Should he block Nero's attack from the back or Anastasia's arrow from the front?
"Heh," a smirk formed on Kai's face.
No, he won't choose either of those options.
Confusion etched onto everyone's face as they saw Kai smiling even in such a situation.
Has he lost his mind? – was what went through everyone's head.
In the next moment, Kai spoke up, "Well, it was fun fighting you guys. But I gotta run. See y'all!"
Just as he said that, Kai raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.
Snap—!!
In the blink of an eye, a vivid crimson light radiated from within the watery barrier orb.
By the time the intense glow gradually faded, Kai had disappeared from sight into thin air.
"What the fuck!"
"What just happened?!"
"Did he… disappear?!"
Needless to say, everyone was just as confused as the person standing next to them.
How could he just disappear into thin air?
Did he… possess a Gift?!
†
Meanwhile, back at the stadium, just a few steps away from the flagpole, the same brilliant red light illuminated, and in an instant, Kai materialized in that very spot.
"[There he is! The young lord of the Wiseman family has arrived at the stadium!]"
–"Woohoo!"
–"Best match ever!"
–"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
The crowd erupted into a frenzy of cheers and chants.
After all, this was a match between first-year cadets and no one in the crowd or those watching at home expected so many twists in this match.
In fact, no one even expected the level of fight these first-year cadets were putting up.
The smirk on Kai's face turned into a smile as he waved his hand at the exhilarated crowd.
He thought that he had already secured victory, and who could blame him? The victory was just a few steps away.
He merely had to reach the flagpole and plant the flag on it. Nero and his group would never make it in time to stop him.
"Hello there."
Yet, before Kai could even take a single step, he felt a presence behind him as an all too familiar voice reached his ears.
