Chapter 132: Danger onstage

Translated by: Reiji

“It's Cuswoth!”

Sophia let out a soft breath as soon as she saw the second contestant to take to the field for Dragon Breath Academy.

“Eh?”

Ayrin careless thought it was Rinloran walking in there.

Because the second team member fighting for Dragon Breath Academy had long silver-white hair, ears that seemed very pointy as well. He looked very much like Rinloran.

“Sophia, it's another high-level elven bloodline?” Ayrin couldn't help but ask.

“That's right.” Sophia said, “I told you before, four of the main members of team Dragon Breath have dragon blood. The one left is this one, the high-level elven bloodline, “Heavenly Singer” Cuswoth.”

Just then, Stingham stuck his nose in and asked, since he wanted to deliberately ask questions, “Heavenly Singer? Is he a dancer?”

“Puffff...”

Two girls from team Agate Lake were in the middle of drinking water. When they heard Stingham's question, the two girls directly spat out water from their mouths.

“...” Moss and the others were also thoroughly speechless.

Even taking it literally, singing and dancing were two different things.

“...” Sophia looked at Stingham's expectant face, also very speechless. She turned around to Ayrin only several seconds later and said, “Like Joyce, Cuswoth is most expert in mental attack skills, and also has several arcane skills like Siren Song. From a certain point of view, he and Joyce are the same type of arcane masters. It's only that the talent of his bloodline is stronger than Joyce's. The most important is, he was called the most cool-headed contestant in the nationals last year. He definitely won't make any impulsive mistake. Instead, from the very start, he'll prepare a plan aimed specifically at his opponent and carry it out in an extremely calm and patient way. So, maybe Joyce could have had the possibility of beating other fighters from Dragon Breath Academy, but he probably won't have that opportunity against Cuswoth.”

The white fragments of ice covering the field hadn't melted yet. In the center, Joyce looked at Cuswoth, and said with a bitter smile, “I didn't think you'd be second.”

“Nothing I can do about it.” Cuswoth seemed very familiar with Joyce. He said softly, “In the name of fairness, we agreed we'd draw lots for the order of appearance for every fight during the group stage.”

“What? You decide the sequence of appearance by drawing lots?”

Joyce almost fell down face first. One second later, he could only be speechless. After all, Dragon Breath Academy had absolute confidence they could get out of the group. On top of that, every member was so strong that when they came into the field, they might well directly settle the opponents on their own without giving any opportunity to appear for the other members. Only a team like that would determine the sequence they appeared in with a method like that.

“Originally, just in case you defeated Audrey and I were to face you, I was planning on dealing with you with absolute defense and waste your arcane particles,” Cuswoth looked at Joyce and said in a voice only the two of them could hear. “But since you're in this state... And also, it's the last time you're participating in the tournament. So I think I have to use a better way to send you off.”

“What?” Joyce was a little moved, and at the same time, he was a little confused as to what Cuswoth was saying.

“Let's give them a good show, make it a bit more intense,” Cuswoth said softly. “Let us both attack with spectacular and powerful arcane skills, and fill this field with gorgeous light... until your arcane particles run dry.”

Joyce stared a second, then said seriously, his tone soft, “Thank you.”

“No need to be polite. Who knows, maybe we'll go out on a mission together in the future, and then you might work harder as my meat shield...” Cuswoth said with a faint smile.

This was clearly a joke.

But after a smile, Joyce actually nodded and said, “I definitely will!”

“Let's begin!” Cuswoth raised his head and looked at the boiling stands.

“Alright, start!” Joyce breathed in deeply. He gestured at referee Kleis that he was ready.

“Begin the fight!” Kleis repeated loudly after them.

“Harp of the Fallen Goddess!”

The moment Kleis' voice rose, Cuswoth's body suddenly split into five or six illusions. Almost at the same time, many beams of arcane particles flowed out in front of him, and transformed into a black harp floating in the air.

Joyce stood where he was without moving an inch, but arcane particles revolved around him, disappearing in the surrounding air.

The Siren Song rose once again.

Along with the particularly enchanting sound, bright and colorful mirages once again filled the entire arena.

Cuswoth's movements clearly slowed down.

But at the same time, sounds suddenly came from his black harp.

Mournful screams rose one after another.

The sounds coming from his black harp were akin to people shouting at the top of their lungs from the depths of an abyss.

Black material streams of air also gushed out from the black harp, crisscrossing in the air like black dancing angels.

Joyce's movements, and even the flow of his arcane particles, became clearly slower.

“It's really the same type of arcane skills. It's like the two of them both got struck by their opponent's skill and are restricting each other. I wonder if teacher Ciaran has an arcane skill like that.” Such a thought suddenly flashed in Ayrin's mind.

“Tide of Ravens!”

Cuswoth waved a single hand. Countless black raven-shaped lights rushed out from the void, their croaks even more mournful. They charged in Joyce's direction in an unending stream.

“Furious Wave – Whale Strike!”

A huge blue wave of water more than a dozen meters tall suddenly gushed out in front of Joyce along with his bellow, transforming into a huge blue whale that collided head-on against the unending stream of black ravens. Tremendous explosions boomed nonstop.

“Sting of Burning Spirits!”

“Wrath of the Sea King!”

A beam of golden light falling down from the sky pounded against the huge blue trident Joyce had thrown. Countless golden flames of light exploded in the air, and countless drops of water the size of a fist dripped down.

“Terrifying Feast of Angels!”

“Army of the Sea!”

Black angels drilled out from the void one after another, crashing against blue watermen rushing out from the water, killing each other.

...

“These two guys unexpectedly mastered such powerful skills!”

“Worthy of genuine celebrity fighters.”

“This is probably not any different from a clash between two genuine elite masters.”

Almost every spectator in the stands was shocked when they witnessed the scene. There weren't only lights colliding nonstop together, lifting gales and waves. There were even two armies in the field that seemed to melee each other without cease, with incomparable desperation.

Cuswoth's figure and Joyce's figure had been entirely engulfed by all sorts of waves and lights.

“Is it over? Who won?”

In fact, it had merely been a short time, but many spectators felt as if it had gone by very slowly. When the tremendous booms slowly vanished, when the field slowly quieted down, many people couldn't help but exhale.

Blue streams of water flowed down along the field's downslope. Then, they became primordial energy again and disappeared.

When all the water and light vanished, everyone saw that Cuswoth still appeared more or less the same as when came into the field. He still stood there without a speck of dust on him, a black harp still floating in front of him.

Facing him, Joyce was already propping his hands on his knees, looking as if he were about to collapse from exhaustion.

“I lost.” He still did his best to stand upright. He waved at the stands, then gestured referee Kleis he admitted defeat.

“This was Joyce's last fight in the national tournament.”

“He's going to graduate just after this match. He won't be able to represent Sea God Academy in the tournament after that.”

“Let us thank him for all the spectacular fights he brought to us during these years!”

Some people loudly shouted like that in the stands.

After that, in every corner of the stands, everyone stood up spontaneously and erupted in long, long applause.

“It's true... You can only obtain genuine respect by fighting bravely, by staying true to the name of a brave warrior!” Tears filled Joyce's eyes. With great difficulty, he started running, running towards his teammates. Then he hugged them. At this moment, he couldn't stop himself from turning his head around and look at the stands where Ayrin was.

In his blurred line of sight, he could vaguely see Ayrin cheer excitedly for their performance.

“Charlotte, is Ayrin very familiar with Joyce?” In the stands, Ivan couldn't help but ask Charlotte sitting beside him.

Ferguillo and several musclemen from Iron Forest Academy also looked at Charlotte with inquisitive eyes.

“I have no idea.” Charlotte was suddenly a little bewildered, her face red. “Why are you asking me? How would I know if he's familiar with Joyce?”

“That's right, hehe.” The guys from Iron Forest immediately had a foxy expression.

...

“It's that guy!”

All of a sudden, Ayrin stopped his applause for Sea God Academy.

“It's team Hellfire's turn.”

Chris, Sophia, and the others looked that way. They saw team Hellfire already in the preparation area in the field, wearing deep-red uniforms.

That boy with short messy brown hair who once gave Ayrin a strange feeling shockingly stood among them.

“Weird. Looking at him now, I don't feel anything strange from that guy?” At the same time, team Mountain Kings' attention was also gathered on that boy.

“Anyway, we'll know what's what when the next match begins,” captain Werther said, exhaling softly.

“So that's one of the three weeds-level teams? How miserable, they met a formidable team like Hornwood right from the start.”

“What's miserable about that? The reason they're called weeds is that they're weeds anyone can pull out. Isn't it the same no matter what team they meet?”

Quite a few teams were laughing in hushed voices.

In team Hellfire, a slender boy with a pigtail, looking to be the oldest one, faintly lifted his head and looked at the stands where the loudest mocking laughter came from.

“You really have no idea how fearsome Lotton is...” this member of team Hellfire said silently in his mind. His hands were faintly shaking.

...

“The match's about to begin!”

“Team Hornwood against team Hellfire, first fight, Dylan Norton against Lotton!”

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Kleis announced the two members participating in the first match between the two teams.

“It's the younger brother of the Norton brothers. They already sent out a celebrity fighter for the first fight! Are they going straight for a five zero?”

Many spectators in the stands shouted in surprise. Their attention entirely fell on the first member representing team Hornwood, a tall, eerie-cold boy with pale blond hair and slightly squinting eyes.

“He's the one fighting first? He's called Lotton?”

What made Ayrin and the others stop breathing was, the first one to walk out for team Hellfire was shockingly that boy with short messy brown hair.