Chapter 104: Drawing the Match?
Lucian faced the sword user again.
Their swords clashed. Clang. Clang. Clang.
Lucian was still faster. Still more skilled. But the strength gap had narrowed. The sword user’s A-Rank Crescent Blade — already dangerous — was now hitting with Mid Core Realm force behind it.
Annoying.
Lucian feinted high, then kicked low. The sword user blocked high, took the kick to his shin, and barely flinched. The enhancement was absorbing the pain too.
Lucian activated Light Pulse. A blinding flash erupted from his body at point-blank range.
The sword user cried out, stumbling backward, hands over his eyes.
Lucian stepped forward and kicked him in the chest.
Boom.
The sword user flew backward, coughing blood, his feet carving furrows in the sand. He hit a dune and slid down, clutching his ribs.
Across the arena, Carlos had enough of the silk user.
He raised both hands above his head as he prepared a spell. Fire gathered in a compressed sphere that grew smaller and denser and hotter with every second. The air around it warped. The sand beneath Carlos’s feet turned to glass.
"Burning Sun," Carlos said quietly.
He threw it.
The sphere of condensed fire hit the silk barrier and didn’t stop. It burned through the first layer. The second. The third. The silk user’s eyes went wide as the barrier disintegrated. He tried to dodge, but the sphere was too fast.
It hit him.
BOOM.
A pillar of fire erupted into the sky. The silk user was thrown backward, his uniform charred, his skin blistered. His bracelet flashed blue — the safety shield absorbing the lethal remainder of the blast.
"BCA — one eliminated," the referee announced.
Carlos lowered his hands, already turning toward the enhancement caster.
Ten minutes had passed into the match at this point.
Lucian was about to press his advantage against the sword user when he paused. Something had changed.
The three remaining BCA fighters weren’t pressing anymore. For the first ten minutes, they’d been aggressive — coordinated attacks, genuine attempts to break EASA’s formation. But the moment their silk user went down, the remaining three shifted. The tectonic shock woman repositioned to the center of the arena. The enhancement caster moved closer to her. The stampede charge student stopped chasing Julian and started circling toward Ryan.
Lucian’s eyes narrowed.
They’re not trying to win anymore.
He glanced at the timer. Five minutes remaining. BCA had four fighters. EASA had five. If time expired now, EASA won outright.
But if BCA could eliminate just one EASA fighter, it would be four to four.
Lucian watched the stampede charge student’s eyes lock onto Ryan.
They’re going for Ryan. If they eliminate him and stall for the remaining five minutes, it’s a draw. One point instead of zero.
"They’re stalling," Lucian said through the team link. "Ryan, they’re targeting you to force a draw. Don’t let them isolate you."
Already noticed, Ryan replied, his voice tight.
The two BCA fighters moved in unison. The stampede charge student exploded forward — not directly at Ryan, but in a wide arc, forcing Ryan to reposition. The second fighter, a guy with a rock-hard fist ability, came from the opposite side.
Julian fired a lightning bolt at the rock fist guy. Zzt. It hit his shoulder, making him stumble, but the man kept coming.
Julian, keep the second one off me, Ryan thought. Ten seconds.
Ryan deployed his ice armor fully. White panels snapped into place, sealing him inside the sleek suit. He planted his feet and thrust both hands into the sand.
Ice erupted outward. A carpet of frost raced across the desert terrain, turning golden dunes into a frozen plain. He’d watched Clara do it dozens of times. Analyzed the mana flow with Critical Mind. Replicated it.
The frost spread thirty meters in every direction. The tectonic shock woman hissed as ice crept up her bare feet, breaking her connection to the ground. The stampede charge student’s footing turned slippery.
But the stampede guy was the problem.
He adjusted instantly, digging his feet deeper into the frozen sand, and launched forward. Stampede Charge activated. His body leaned into a linear trajectory, muscles coiling, speed building.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
He hit Ryan’s armor like a freight train. Fist after fist hammered into the chest plate. Each impact sent spiderweb fractures racing across the ice.
"You’re not going anywhere," the stampede guy snarled, slamming another fist into Ryan’s side. Crack.
Green light washed over Ryan from across the field — Elara’s healing, closing the internal damage as fast as it formed. But the armor was taking a beating.
Annoying, Ryan thought. His speed keeps increasing with distance. If I let him build momentum, he’ll crack the suit.
Ryan shoved him back with a burst of ice from his palm and created distance. The stampede guy skidded, turned, and started building momentum again.
Ryan activated a Critical Mind spell.
The world changed.
Everything slowed to a crawl. The stampede charge student’s blazing sprint became a sluggish jog. Ryan could see every muscle fiber contracting in the man’s legs, every grain of sand displaced by his feet, every vibration traveling through the frozen ground. The air itself felt thick, like moving through water.
20x normal perception speed.
Stampede Charge, Ryan’s mind analyzed coldly. Channels momentum into a single linear charge. Speed and force increase with distance traveled. Maximum effective range — one hundred meters. After that, diminishing returns.
Weakness — linear trajectory. Cannot adjust direction once committed.
Thirty meters. Forty meters. The student was a blur to normal perception. To Ryan, he was barely jogging.
Sixty meters. The ground cracked beneath the student’s feet despite the ice.
Seventy meters. Maximum power approaching.
Ryan stepped aside.
The stampede student rocketed past him — unable to change direction, unable to stop. He flew through the empty space where Ryan had been standing and kept going, carried by his own massive momentum.
Eighty meters. Ninety.
Ryan was already behind him. An ice spike erupted from the frozen ground directly in the student’s path. The student crashed into it — bam — the spike shattering against his enhanced body but killing his momentum completely.
Ryan grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him.
The student crossed the boundary line.
A tone sounded. "BCA — two eliminated."
Ryan exhaled. The 20x perception faded, the world snapping back to normal speed. His head throbbed slightly from the mental strain.
Green light washed over him again. Elara’s healing, closing the cracks in his armor from a distance.
"Thanks, Elara," Ryan muttered.
"Just stay alive," she replied.
Julian engaged the rock fist fighter, lightning crackling around his fists as he darted in and out of range. With the stampede guy gone, it was a straightforward fight. Julian was annoying, but he was competent.
Lucian watched the sword user back away.
After Carlos eliminated the silk user, the sword guy had tried to reposition near the enhancement caster for protection. Lucian had cut him off. Now the man was bleeding from a cut above his eye, his breathing heavy, his curved blade held in a shaking guard.
Their swords clashed. Clang. Lucian pushed forward. The sword user stumbled. Clang. Again. The man’s arms were trembling.
"You’re fast," the sword user gasped.
Lucian activated Light Steps, flickered to the man’s left, and slashed. The sword user barely parried. Lucian was already gone — Phantom Walk — reappearing on the right. Another slash. Clang. The man’s parry came too slow. A thin line of blood opened on his forearm.
The sword user panicked. He activated his A-Rank Crescent Blade — three compressed slashes screaming toward Lucian from different angles.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
Lucian swung the Moon Shattering Blade three times. Crescent Moon Slash met Crescent Blade. Clang. Clang. Clang. The opposing slashes dissipated like smoke.
Lucian pressed forward. Light Steps. Phantom Walk. He was everywhere and nowhere — appearing, striking, vanishing before the sword user could track him.
Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.
The sword user bled from his shoulder. His thigh. His side. Blood soaked his uniform. His swings grew wild, desperate.
He’s completely outclassed, Lucian thought. This is boring.
Blood Chains erupted from the frozen sand beneath the sword user’s feet. Thick, dense chains wrapped around his ankles, his knees, his wrists, his torso — pinning his arms to his sides.
Lucian walked toward him slowly. The sword user’s eyes widened.
"Wait—"
Lucian raised the Moon Shattering Blade and made a single clean cut across his chest.
The bracelet flashed blue.
"BCA — three eliminated," the referee announced.
Four minutes later, the timer hit zero.
The referee raised his hand. "Match over. European All-Star Academy wins — five fighters remaining. Bosphorus Crescent Academy — two fighters remaining."
The next match was between Rift Valley Academy and Southern Kiwi Academy occured.
The stadium screen updated.
Group H standings:
European All-Star Academy — 6 points, 2 wins, 0 draws, 0 losses.
Bosphorus Crescent Academy — 3 points, 1 win, 0 draws, 1 loss.
Rift Valley Academy — 3 points, 1 win, 0 draws, 1 loss.
Southern Kiwi Academy — 0 points, 0 wins, 0 draws, 2 losses.
The rest of the day passed with other academy matches filling the schedule. By evening, the team gathered in the hotel conference room.
Arthur stood at the front with the updated group table displayed behind him.
"Six points. Top of the group. One match left — against Rift Valley Academy, the day after tomorrow, evening slot."
He looked at the group.
"I’ll announce the lineup for that match tomorrow evening. For now, rest up. Explore the city if you want. Rome is beautiful this time of year. Just stay in groups of at least three, and don’t do anything stupid."
Bruno raised his hand. "Define stupid."
"If you have to ask, it’s stupid."
Bruno lowered his hand.
"Dismissed."