Chapter 534: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: New Interest III

As both Willow Derlis and Ezra Ashenlocke’s eyes locked onto each other, neither of them made the first move.

For a brief moment, the Arena seemed to hold its breath.

The cheers from the spectators were still there, but the two fighters standing on the damaged platform appeared completely disconnected from the noise around them. Their attention was focused entirely on each other, with neither willing to give the other an opening.

KZZRAK!

A lightning-like sound echoed from Willow’s left hand.

Ezra didn’t need to look to know what it was.

An Alchemy Circle was being formed.

More importantly, Willow wasn’t using a clap to begin the execution.

His eyes remained fixed on her.

No-clap ignition.

The thought crossed his mind almost instantly.

Willow had already shown that her Blood Alchemy could be ignited quickly, but the speed at which she could form an Alchemy Circle without the usual movement of bringing her hands together was another problem entirely.

The sound of the Alchemy Symbols connecting around Willow’s left hand was almost like a small burst of lightning.

Ezra reacted immediately.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Five gunshots rang out in rapid succession.

Ezra fired at Willow without hesitation.

His aim wasn’t toward her head or chest.

Instead, his shots moved toward her shoulders, knees, and other areas that wouldn’t be immediately vital if they struck.

Since this wasn’t a fight to kill...

He clearly wasn’t trying to kill her.

Even during a fight this intense, Ezra’s shooting remained controlled.

His wrist adjusted after every shot, and his black plain eyes followed Willow’s position as she moved.

The speed and precision of his shooting were terrifyingly accurate.

Willow’s crimson eyes followed the incoming bullets.

The Novice-rank Blood Alchemy Circle had already completed inches away from her left hand.

The thick red needles that had fallen from her previous attack were pulled across the ground by her Cognis, sliding over the stone before lifting into the air.

They flowed toward the Blood Alchemy Circle like liquid being pulled toward a drain.

Willow moved her left hand slightly to the back, while the blood gathered.

Compressed.

Then expanded outward.

A shield made entirely of compressed blood formed in front of her.

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

The five bullets struck the Blood Shield.

Each impact caused the crimson surface to ripple.

The shield bent slightly under the force of the bullets, but it didn’t break.

Instead, the projectiles were stopped.

Before the last vibration of the Blood Shield could even disappear, Willow performed another Alchemy without using a clap.

She slammed her left hand against the shield.

At that same moment...

Ezra had already dashed forward.

His boots struck the platform lightly as he accelerated.

He wasn’t going to give Willow the time to simply stand behind her Blood Shield and continue building up her Alchemy.

The AWM .338 Lapua was still secured behind his back, and it had one last round in it.

Ezra reached back and moved the sniper rifle from his shoulder while simultaneously throwing the Glock 40 away.

The black thread connected to the Glock’s magazine through the polarity lock of the Black Magnetic Glove, keeping the handgun attached even after Ezra released it.

The handgun dropped beside him.

Then, Ezra raised the AWM .338 Lapua.

His movement remained smooth despite doing several things at once.

He continued advancing toward Willow while bringing the sniper rifle into a comfortable firing position.

The Schmidt & Bender PM II 5–25×56 scope immediately brought Willow closer into view.

The distance between them seemed to disappear through the scope.

Ezra didn’t aim at Willow’s center.

His eye moved slightly.

He found a narrow opening between the Blood Shield and the platform itself.

There was only a small space, which most people wouldn’t even consider it worth attempting.

But Ezra did.

His crosshair settled calmly.

Bang!

The AWM .338 Lapua fired.

The powerful bullet tore through the air.

Its path was low.

Instead of aiming directly at Willow’s body, Ezra sent the bullet toward her left boot.

Willow heard the shot.

Her crimson eyes shifted, then she immediately moved her body backward with a short jump.

At the same time, the Blood Shield moved with her, flowing into the newly formed Novice Blood Alchemy Circle.

The blood compressed again.

The shield lost its previous shape as Willow converted it into something else.

The blood twisted together inside the Circle before rapidly stretching outward.

A long blood rope formed.

Willow’s left hand moved backward.

The blood rope followed her motion.

Ezra, still running towards her, threw the AWM .338 Lapua backward.

The strap caught the rifle and pulled it toward his back, allowing him to free his hand without losing the weapon.

His other hand immediately moved into his Space Bag.

The next weapon he pulled out was the Desert Eagle.

But before Ezra could completely bring the handgun into a firing position...

Willow’s left hand moved forward.

The blood rope shot through the air.

It moved far faster than something made of liquid should have been able to move.

The rope wrapped around the Desert Eagle.

Whoosh!

Ezra’s arm was suddenly pulled.

Willow’s right leg moved backward.

Cognis flowed through the muscles of her leg, strengthening her stance and allowing her body to resist the force created by her own attack.

At the same time, more Cognis surged through her veins and into her left arm.

The blood rope tightened.

Willow pulled.

Ezra’s boots scraped across the platform.

For an instant, his body resisted.

Then...

His feet left the ground.

Ezra was suddenly carried upward.

She’s actually that strong?

He looked down as the platform moved farther beneath him.

His expression remained plain.

There was no visible panic on his face.

The moment he realized the Desert Eagle was being used as the anchor point, he released it.

The weapon fell away down with the blood rope still attached on it.

Ezra had grounded his footing almost immediately after the blood rope wrapped around the handgun, but Willow’s physical strength, combined with her Cognis enhancement, had still been enough to pull him from the platform and throw him into the air.

It surprised him.

But the surprise didn’t last.

His mind simply added the information to everything he had already learned about Willow Derlis.

Her pulling strength is higher than I expected.

Although, it’s not up to her brother’s strength or the Young Lord’s strength stats.

His thoughts immediately began reorganizing his understanding of her.

Willow sharply turned.

Her Space Bag opened.

Then one blood bag appeared.

Another.

Another.

More followed.

Then more.

The number continued increasing.

Soon, hundreds of blood bags were floating around the battlefield.

From Ezra’s position in the air, they looked almost like crimson stars scattered across the Arena.

The sight was enough to make many spectators realize what Willow was preparing.

Mass Alchemy.

The cheers immediately became louder.

Ezra was still in the air.

Willow was preparing hundreds of blood bags.

Yet he didn’t panic.

He didn’t even look worried.

His mind was already moving toward the next solution.

Ezra dragged back his Glock 40 that was in the air following him, because of the black thin thread attached to the magazine.

Once he caught the Glock 40...

He threw the Glock 40 down with force.

In that same action, Cognis flowed through his veins.

It passed through his arm and into the Circuit system integrated into the Black Magnetic Glove.

The magnetic function activated.

This time, Ezra switched it to Repel.

The magnetic force pushed against the Glock 40.

The weapon was launched downward with greater force.

At the same time, Ezra’s body moved under the force of the motion, allowing him to control his position in the air rather than simply falling.

Clap!

Willow’s hands came together.

Cognis moved through her veins.

It flowed into her upper arms, through her forearms, and finally into her hands.

The Cognis poured from her palms.

An Adept-rank Blood Alchemy Circle began forming.

The Alchemy Symbols appeared one after another around the Circle.

Each symbol connected to the next.

Crimson light spread across the formation.

The hundreds of blood bags began responding to Willow’s Cognis.

The entire Mass Alchemy Circle became complete.

The pressure in the Arena changed.

Even spectators who couldn’t understand exactly what was happening could feel that something much larger was about to occur.

At that moment, Ezra’s free hand moved into his Space Bag.

His hand came out holding daggers and cards between his fingers.

He didn’t throw them one by one.

His arm moved sharply.

The daggers and cards were launched through the air with considerable force.

They shot toward Willow like missiles.

White Cognis flowed into the Circuit systems integrated into the bodies of the daggers and cards.

The weapons immediately became active.

Willow’s crimson eyes moved upward.

She saw the incoming daggers.

She understood what they meant.

But then her gaze moved toward the cards.

Her eyebrows lowered slightly.

"Tsk."

Willow moved her body.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The first daggers struck the platform.

Explosions erupted one after another.

The blasts kicked up pieces of stone and snow, forcing Willow to shift her footing as the shockwaves rolled toward her.

Her legs moved fluidly.

She didn’t simply jump away.

She stepped between the explosions, turning her body at the right moments and using the spaces between the blasts to avoid being caught by the expanding force.

Another dagger struck.

Boom!

Willow moved to the side.

A second explosion followed immediately.

Boom!

She turned her shoulder away from the blast and continued moving.

But the cards were different.

And that difference wasn’t obvious unless someone paid close attention.

To most spectators, they simply looked like thin pieces of material being thrown together with the daggers performing the same small explosions.

But when one of the cards struck the ground...

Clank!

The sharp edge pierced directly into the platform, but the cards didn’t explode.

It remained embedded in the stone.

For only a few milliseconds, nothing happened.

The...

BOOM!

The cards ignited.

The explosion was slightly larger than the explosion produced by the daggers.

Another card struck the ground.

Clank!

It pierced the platform.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then...

BOOM!

The delayed explosion erupted.

Willow’s crimson eyes shifted.

She immediately understood.

The cards weren’t simply weaker versions of the daggers.

Their delayed ignition changed the timing of the explosions.

If she avoided the first wave and moved toward a safe position, the cards could turn that safe position into another trap.

At the spectator stands, the crowd had already become wild.

"Wooooaahhhh!!!"

"You can do it, Lady Willow Derlis!!!!"

"The Crimson Flower of Derlis!!"

"Go!! Mr. Ezra Ashenlocke!!"

"Sir Ezra Ashenlocke!!!"

The cheers continued rising as the two Young Alchemists demonstrated a level of speed that made it difficult for ordinary spectators to follow the fight.

Many people had already stood from their seats.

Some leaned forward so far that their hands gripped the barriers in front of them.

Others stared at the Holographic Screens, hoping the slowed replay would eventually explain what they were seeing.

But even the live view was difficult to follow.

One moment Willow was standing in one position.

The next, an explosion forced her to move.

Then another explosion appeared where she had just been.

At the same time, Ezra was still moving through the air while preparing another attack.

The entire platform seemed to have become a battlefield filled with traps.

Back on the platform...

Willow’s Blood Alchemy Circle remained formed.

The hundreds of blood bags followed her movement.

They floated behind and around her, waiting for the moment she would finally slam her hands onto the ground and complete the ignition of her Mass Alchemy.

Willow’s eyes remained sharp.

She hadn’t forgotten Ezra.

The Mass Alchemy was ready.

The blood was ready.

All she needed was the final ignition.

She raised her hands slightly.

Then...

The moment Ezra landed on the ground, his body rolled across the platform.

His boots had no time to absorb the full force of the landing, so he used the movement of his body to dampen the impact.

His shoulder touched the ground first.

He rolled.

The AWM .338 Lapua remained secured behind his back by its strap.

His hands moved into his Space Bag while he continued rolling.

The moment his hands came out, he was already holding another set of daggers and cards.

Ezra threw the first set.

Then, before the weapons had even reached their target, he threw another set with his other hand.

Willow immediately sensed them.

Her body moved.

She shifted her weight and weaved around one dagger.

Another passed beside her shoulder.

She turned her waist.

A card flew past her.

But Ezra hadn’t simply thrown the weapons toward her.

The projectiles had been given another purpose.

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Clank!

Several daggers and cards that hadn’t yet reached Willow collided with one another in midair.

Tiny sparks appeared where the metal bodies struck each other.

The collisions changed their trajectories.

One dagger spun away.

A card rotated through the air.

Another dagger was pushed sideways.

Then the weapons turned back toward Willow’s position.

Her crimson eyes widened.

The projectiles were redirecting themselves.

They weren’t simply following the original paths Ezra had given them.

They were using the collisions to create new angles.

Willow moved again.

She had already avoided several daggers that had exploded around her.

She shifted toward the position she believed was safe.

Then...

The redirected daggers and cards came toward that exact location.

Her crimson eyes flinched in shock.

She only just understood the trap a fraction too late.

Boom!

Boom!

The explosions erupted where Willow had just moved.

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

A much larger explosion swallowed the area where she stood.

The blast surged across the platform, throwing smoke, dust, snow, and pieces of stone into the air.

The hundreds of blood bags remained suspended around the battlefield.

The Blood Alchemy Circle still glowed.

But Willow had been caught in the explosion.

And Ezra stood on the opposite side of the platform, watching through the smoke.