Chapter 23: Dream and Determination!

Translated by: Reiji

Huff... Huff...

The Holy Dawn students close to the collapsed stands could even hear the sound of Chris's heavy breathing.

Trails of sweat mixed with blood gathered under Chris' chin and fingertips, then dripped down, falling on the ground.

This year's Southern Monsoon's team's level was indeed far above the average team in the preliminaries. No matter Zola or Riley, they would both be a striking figure even put in the national tournament.

Even if Chris hadn't been previously sneak-attacked and wounded by Shadow Dust, she would still have had to exert all her efforts to fight such an opponent, and the consumption of her stamina would certainly also have been very alarming.

The moods of many Holy Dawn students were extremely conflicted and contradictory as they watched Chris resting, hands on her knees. Of course, they hoped Chris could straighten once again and handle the remaining two members of team Southern Monsoon, could bring a heart-stirring victory to Holy Dawn Academy. At the same time, they didn't have the heart to watch Chris keep fighting in such a condition.

“Still two left...” Chris suddenly said.

The voices in the stands stilled once again.

They saw her hands dripping with sweat clench gradually, her body slowly straighten up.

“Come on! Beat up those two!”

The silence in the stands was even more deafening when she straightened up, but here was a yelling voice, full of excitement, seemingly a little out of place.

“Hey!”

Belo rubbed his ears jarred numb. He turned his head around and watched Ayrin brandishing his fists and making a racket. “Look around, no one's shouting in the whole stands, you're the only one shouting here, don't you have a little empathy?”

“Empathy?” Ayrin looked weirdly at Belo, not sure why Belo was talking about this.

Belo pushed his glasses and asked Ayrin, “She's already in such a state, aren't you afraid she'll die if she goes on?”

Ayrin blinked blankly. “How would she die so easily.”

Belo stared at Ayrin, feeling there was really no way he could understand this guy. So he didn't say much and merely grunted, turning his sight back to the field below.

Chris walked slowly to the center of the field. The Southern Monsoon team clearly didn't want to give her too much time to regain her breath. Crewe was already standing in the center of the field with his faintly blond hair and very ordinary stature and face. He waited calmly for her to come.

“You've always wanted to dominate the whole kingdom. It's probably that dream that's keeping your back straight and allowing you to stand and fight, even now.”

Looking at the approaching Chris, the seemingly very ordinary Crewe said very calmly, “Every member of our Southern Monsoon team is the same as you, filled with the same dream. That's why a school like ours that seems entirely unfashionable is able to fight our way to the preliminary play-off, to stand in this place. You and us are the same sort of people, that's why we hope you can join our Southern Monsoon Academy.”

“That's right! Chris, just give up! Nothing good will come out of staying in Holy Dawn Academy!” Ferdinand immediately patted his chest as soon as he heard, and said, “Join our Southern Monsoon Academy. Not only can we fight our way to the national tournament, we can also reap a perfect romance!”

“This guy has four well-developed limbs and one atrophied brain, he's too annoying,” Ayrin cursed gloomily. Curses also fell down from all over the stands.

“Idiot.”

Chris lifted her head and wiped the sweat from her face. She didn't even spare a glance for Ferdinand, instead facing a Crewe looking back at her in all seriousness. She merely spit out two words, “Come then!”

Crewe nodded and didn't say anything further.

Dazzling arcane particles gushed out from his hands, circled around his body, started to spin.

Chris' figure vanished at this moment and reappeared behind his back, along with a swirling gale.

The swirling gale suddenly compressed in Chris' hand, becoming a sword over two meters long!

“Swish!”

At this moment, when Crewe hadn't had time to display any skill yet, this long sword was already pierced inside his back. Blood sprayed out!

“Sudden Whirlwind Strike plus Gale Blade!”

“She can unexpectedly use those two arcane skills in such a short time, combining these two skills into one!”

Belo's hand once again stiffened on his glasses as he let out two quiet exclamations in an ice-cold yet fanatical voice.

“Victory?”

Ayrin was instantly caught in a surprised delight. At the same time, his body shook when he saw fresh blood pour out from Crewe's back. He could imagine he would certainly be in extreme pain if he were to be struck by such an attack.

“Hm?”

What made everyone's eyes widen, what sent a chill to their hearts was, after being struck by such an attack from Chris, Crewe turned around as if he didn't feel anything.

His eyes were ashen gray, his face surprisingly calm, as if he were simply unable to feel any fear or pain.

The arcane particles flying around him hadn't been interrupted by Chris' strike either. “Boom!” Many yellow pillars of wind blended with dust and dirt suddenly appeared between Chris and him. They struck Chris ruthlessly.

Amidst the collective intake of breath, his body and Chris' body both flew out backward like two meteors!

“Pa!”

Crew stood up steadily after flying out for a full dozen meters. Blood gushed madly from his back.

His face was still strangely calm. No fear nor pain could be seen on it.

Only a few seconds later did he slowly topple backward.

On the other side, Chris couldn't stand up anymore. Her two hand pushed on the ground, fresh blood starting to leak from the corner of her mouth, trailing down drip by drip.

“What the hell happened?”

𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“After being struck by such a blow and suffering such a heavy injury, how was he still able to counter like this?”

“Impossible! When your body's pierced by such power, it's impossible to keep perfect control of your arcane particles even if you're a powerful battlemaster!”

The medical team ran at top speed to Crewe when he toppled on the ground. Incredulous shouts rose one after another from the stands.

“I...”

Ayrin didn't even know anymore what the hell he was shouting at this moment. He subconsciously turned his head toward Belo, but he actually saw Belo shake his head at him with a frown. “No need to look at me, I have no idea either what secret skill this guy used.”

“It's the Sensation Seal from Southern Monsoon Academy.”

At the same moment, on top of the arena, Liszt stood at the edge of the high dome and lightly said to the other elite teachers, “A skill that can temporarily seal your pain, and even your fear. I didn't expect this little ordinary-looking Southern Monsoon guy to also possess the bravery to give up his life... He was going for a double ko from the beginning. It turns out he was the most critical link in team Southern Monsoon's overall plan.”

The red-scarfed Ciaran rearranged her hair the wind had blown in a mess. She nodded, then looked below and quietly asked, “Do we stop the match?”

“She has the courage to put her life on the line, why should we stop her?” Liszt shook his head and smiled, “Ciaran, is old age creeping on you? You're actually worrying about something like this.”

“Liszt, you wanna die!”

...

The stands were deathly quiet.

Hands propped on the ground, Chris once again slowly stood up.

Her entire body trembled. Anyone could see she was close to her very limit. Almost any freshmen could casually push her over, but she actually still stood up and faced captain Ferdinand of team Southern Monsoon and his body entirely disproportional with hers.

“You better give up.”

Ferdinand couldn't help but shake his head. “Maybe you could beat me in ordinary times, but now there's no way you're my match. Better for you to prepare and transfer to our Southern Monsoon Academy. You've already seen that there's no useless teammate in our group...”

“It's finally coming to end.”

Chris' voice suddenly interrupted his words, however.

“What do you mean?” Ferdinand stared blankly at her. The entire plan had processed with incomparable smoothness from the moment Zola defeated Gerrin. But for some reason, looking at Chris and her body about to topple at any moment, there was a feeling of extreme danger subconsciously welling inside him.

“Pa!”

The instant Ferdinand closed his mouth in amazement, a bad premonition rising in his heart, the swaying Chris suddenly fell heavily on the ground.

The heart of every person in the stands banged fiercely.

A referee ran to Chris at lightning speed. Everyone saw Chris shake her head at the referee, then prop herself on her hands and try to get up, but having some momentary trouble doing so.

“Huff...”

Ferdinand and the teachers from Southern Monsoon Academy all let out a sigh of relief. They thought, she was a normal human after all, she couldn't just keep fighting on and on like an amazing miracle.

“Chris, don't fight anymore! You'll die if you go on!” The cry of a Holy Dawn girl suddenly came from the stands.

The vast majority of Holy Dawn students felt their chests stuffed by a great boulder, an unspeakable sadness.

From Zola at the beginning to Crewe just then, every battle had been extremely arduous for Chris. Her display was already perfect, but she was only a small little girl when all was said and done. In such a big Holy Dawn Academy, there was actually no one who could give her strong support, forcing a girl like her to fight her way to such a state. In this match, the honor and hope of the entire academy actually pressed down entirely upon her shoulders alone.

Don't fight anymore!

Along with that Holy Dawn girl's tearful shout, the vast majority of Holy Dawn students seemed to shout such a shout inside themselves, wanting Chris to give up.

However, what cut off everyone's breath was, they could see Chris slowly, slowly, in the center of the field, stand up tenaciously.

Belo was unusually quiet. His glasses seemed to flash with a layer of light.

The moment Chris swayed left and right, standing up once again, Ayrin remembered many scenes.

“You are free to pursue your own dreams...”

“What's your dream?”

“Courage is the gateway to every dream.”

“Belo, I know what my dream is now.” Ayrin suddenly whispered to Belo besides him. “My dream, it's to help her defeat every opponent, become the national champions.”