When dazzling pillars of light piercing the sky suddenly appeared around Sophia, Chris looked at Carter and studiously asked him, "Teacher Carter, is that Angel Summoning, one of the strongest skill in Agate Lake Academy?"
"Indeed." Carter was obviously taken aback as well. "This is Angel Summoning, the skill that can burn away part of the power from the opponent’s skill, and also disturb their nerves and make them feel as though their nerves are on fire!"
"Sophia was still specialized in remote attacks last year. I didn’t think she’d make such a breakthrough this year." Chris looked at Sophia and firmly brandished her small fist. Every strong opponent was progressing at a dazzling speed. The conviction that she couldn’t let herself relax even for a second became even stronger.
In the field, Rinsyi’s eyes faintly shrank.
His slightly lifted his hands. More than a dozen flows of arcane particles gushed from them. Strips of faint blue light started appearing around him at the same time, like thorns growing all around him.
"This is Stormy Brambles, a secret skill of House Baratheon’s bloodline. Not only it can partly defend against the opponents spiritual attacks, it can also reflect back part of the opponent’s spiritual attacks," Carter quietly explained, looking at the faint blue light flashing around Rinsyi. "In other words, both Sophia and he are suffering from a part of the burning pain right now."
Chris nodded. She looked at Sophia, some additional respect flashing in her eyes.
In the middle of her charge, there was no trace of pain to be seen on Sophia’s face. It was filled with an icy will for war instead.
Chris’ respect wasn’t merely for Sophia fighting without fear and setting an example as the captain of her team. Her respect also came from this fight proper, from her approval of her Sophia’s tactics.
Rinsyi had the storm dragon bloodline of House Baratheon.
When it came to storm-elemental skills, he could count on the formidable support of his bloodline. The power of his storm-elemental skills was much higher than ordinary arcane masters.
And right now, Sophia was clearly trying to fight Rinsyi in close-combat, so that he couldn’t put to use his advantage in that area.
The instant the pale-blue thorns had started flashing around Rinsyi, Sophia had already rushed in front of him like an angel descending from the heavens.
"Storm Blur—Wild Combat!"
Rinsyi’s body suddenly started floating in the air, together with the Moonlight Blade.
Within a second, his afterimages filled the space around Sophia.
Like a dozen Rinsyis slashing at Sophia with the Moonlight Blade.
"Clang!" "Clang!" "Clang!"
A series of explosive metallic sounds instantly burst from the field.
"She blocked it!"
"Sophia even seems to have the upper hand!"
"This Angel Summoning of hers is truly one of the most powerful secret skills in Agate Lake Academy!"
In the stands, likewise experts when it came materialization skills, Wilde and the others couldn’t help but stand from their seats.
They could clearly tell that Sophia had obviously spent a lot of time training in close-range combat during the past year. The shining sword she held actually perfectly parried each of Rinsyi’s slashes. And because of Angel Summoning’s intrinsic characteristic, Rinsyi’s Moonlight Blade was becoming visibly dimmer, its power clearly weakened.
"What!"
But in a few short seconds, Wilde and the others stared even wider.
Because Rinsyi’s strength visibly erupted manyfold just then, and his speed was also much faster than before. Between each and every movements, his body even seemed to whistle through the raging winds.
Sophia shook over and over. She was already having trouble parrying him.
"This is the dragon bloodlines’ Potential Amplification. It’s a secret skill only the arcane masters with dragon bloodlines can learn in House Baratheon."
Carter frowned. He’d simply said a few words to Chris and the others that tremendous cries of surprise suddenly rose in the stands like a tsunami.
Rinsyi’s Moonlight Blade stiffly shook away Sophia’s swords at that moment. His hand wrapped in crimson fire, Rinsyi ruthlessly pushed it at Sophia’s abdomen.
Sophia swung her left arm, her entire left arm shining with a dazzling brilliance at the same time.
A boom exploded in the field.
Countless pretty crimson and white lights mingled together as they splashed in the air.
Rinsyi merely swayed a little while steadying himself where he was, while Sophia fell back several dozen meters before she managed to barely come to a still. A trace of blood trailed from the corner of her mouth.
Standing in his original spot, Rinsyi looked at Sophia and coldly said, "You’re a little more powerful than I imagined, but now… it’s still time end this."
"Radiant Sacred Sword—Angelic Smite!"
A resolute expression once again flashed in Sophia’s eyes. She didn’t answer. Instead, with a swift chant, the shining sword suddenly vanished from her hand. Hundreds of swords appeared in the sky instead, falling toward Rinsyi like shooting stars.
"You must have used all your arcane particles this time, haven’t you? Since that’s the case, then we’ll decide the victor right here. I only need to save half my arcane particles. It’ll be enough to handle the last one from your team." Rinsyi slightly lifted his head and quietly whispered a few words to himself.
His cross-shaped pale-yellow eyes widened abruptly all of a sudden.
"Dragon’s Curse—Storm Grudge!"
The pale-yellow crosses of his eyes seemed to suddenly project into the endless sky.
"What!"
Just then, the spectators in the entire venue suddenly froze.
The originally clear sky suddenly became deep black, like the sky before an approaching storm. Even the light of so many radiant holy swords couldn’t illuminate it.
Like haunted spirits, countless raven-black streams of air traveled back and forth in the sky, producing peculiar whispers.
"Putt!" "Putt!" "Putt!" "Putt!"
Sounds of something weighty suddenly seemed to push down on the ground, like something incomparably heavy walking on the field.
The swiftly falling radiant swords suddenly started to melt like snow, then dissolve.
While still a dozen meters above the ground, all the radiant swords had entirely vanished and become wisps of lights resembling candle flames.
"Oh no, what taboo skill is that?! I can’t move at all!"
Sophia suddenly felt as though her whole body had become incomparably heavy. The Sacred Angel Armor also started to make sounds of disintegration.
"…" The spectators in the entire field fell into a tremendous shocked silence.
They saw the countless ghost-like black streams of air in the sky becoming phantom-like shadows swiftly leaping on Sophia.
In no time at all, the phantom-like shadows overlapping with each other and heavily crushing the space around Sophia had already become a pile five to six meters high.
At the same time, all the air in the surroundings was gathering in front of Rinsyi.
A pale-yellow light slowly emerged in the empty air in front of Rinsyi.
It was simply like a huge dragon eye slowly opening!
But this pale-yellow dragon eye was also visibly bloodshot. A deathly pale color shone from its pupil, radiating a terrifying aura of resentment.
"What’s that now!" countless people exclaimed all of a sudden, overwhelmed with shock.
Slowly, just behind Sophia, a faint silhouette more than a dozen meters tall was becoming increasingly clearer.
It was a black god of death holding a huge scythe!
"This is a domain-type taboo skill! He’s already temporarily altered all the primordial energy inside this field."
"It’s impossible for Sophia to block this attack of his if she doesn’t have a skill to counter it!"
Carter took a deep breath. He was also filled with a shuddering sensation he couldn’t repress. Rinsyi’s power had already gone beyond his imagination.
In the center of the field, Rinsyi’s eyes had become entirely pale-yellow.
"Sophia!"
Sophia was tightly pressed in place. She couldn’t move at all.
The black god of death swung its huge scythe behind her.
"Puff!"
All the countless black ghost figures piled around her instantly crumbled.
And the Sacred Angel Armor she wore also crumbled entirely in that instant.
Her body crashed fiercely on the ground, then bounced away, leaving fresh blood behind.
"Captain!"
Everyone in Agate Lake Academy couldn’t repress another loud yell.
"Sophia! How dare you actually injure Sophia!"
Just then, Stingham leaped from his seat and started swearing at the top of his lungs.
"Why aren’t the referees and the medical teams intervening yet?"
Ivan and Charlotte and the others all could feel their hands sweating. Almost everyone could see that Sophia had suffered critical injuries after this attack.
"Hm?"
A cold smile on his lips, Rinsyi was already shaking his head and waiting for the referees to stop the match. However, his eyebrows suddenly shot up just then. He looked back.
After flying all the way to the edges of the field after suffering the slash, a layer of white radiance was once against shining on Sophia.
"Angel Blessing?"
His eyes flashed. He coldly shook his head again.
"A secret skill that can prevent injuries from worsening for a certain time, and also absorb some special arcane energy inside the body so that it can display a certain fighting capacity? It’s unfortunate that inside my domain, I don’t even need to use any arcane particles at all to handle an opponent with almost no arcane particle left!"
Coldly smiling, his hand fell on the Moonlight Blade floating beside him.
His feet tapped the ground, his whole person catapulting itself like the wind at Sophia who’d once again stood up on her feet.
The piercing noise as the pointy end of the Moonlight Blade rubbed against the ground was enough to give off palpitations; it also created a dazzling light at the same time.
"I must fight to the bitter end!"
"Even if the only thing I can do is to consume a little of your endurance!"
Sophia’s vision was a little blurry. Yet, a bright light shone again from her hands, and two slender shining longswords appeared in them.
A "Clank" exploded in the field.
Both her swords clashed with the Moonlight Blade. Swaying on her feet, her body shot more than a dozen meters to the side.
"Clang!"
But before she could even steady herself, Rinsyi had already appeared in front of her again. The Moonlight Blade slashed at her again and directly sent flying one of her two shining longswords!
"Sophia!"
Just then, in the stands, Stingham shouted at the top of his lungs, "Rinsyi, you despicable man, watch me!"
With a boom, he suddenly fired a giant fireball at the sky behind Rinsyi.
"Hm?"
Feeling a strange heat and undulation of arcane power behind him, Rinsyi froze an instant. The counterattack from Sophia’s remaining sword brushed past his cheek and cut off a strand of his hair.
"He actually launched an arcane skill!"
"Is he nuts?"
The stands erupted just then.
"Swish!" "Swish!"
Two sounds whistled through the air. Two arcane masters immediately appeared beside Stingham.
"Please leave the arena at once!"
"Otherwise, you’ll be disqualified from the tournament."
"What, I only shot an arcane skill at the sky, can’t I even do that?! I didn’t even hit anyone!" Stingham shouted after a blink of surprise.
"This idiot… Doesn’t he even know the rule that the spectators aren’t allowed to use any arcane skills inside the arena? Let alone, he’s even a participant!" In the stands, the spectators were all left thoroughly speechless.
"Hurry up and leave! Otherwise, you’ll directly be disqualified!" an arcane master repeated, looking sternly at Stingham.
"…" Stingham had only wanted to randomly launch a skill and distract Rinsyi’s attention so that Sophia could take the opportunity to strike back. Now he suddenly wanted to cry, but he didn’t even have tears left.