Chapter 76: Conceding defeat
Translated by: Reiji
“What arcane skill is that?”
In more than a month of secret training, Carter had suppressed his strength and imitated all types of arcane masters when fighting against Ayrin. That was why, as soon as Ayrin saw Charlotte's movements, a strong sense of crisis spontaneously arose inside him.
“Boom!”
He felt his hand lighten all of a sudden.
The metallic doll suddenly turned into a silver-gray metallic haze.
“Reassemble!”
Charlotte's hands were still joined, but following her chant, the thick silver-gray fog suddenly contracted, and unexpectedly formed another metallic doll standing upright on one side of Ayrin.
“Puff!”
The metallic doll's punch mercilessly struck Ayrin's belly.
“...”
The vast majority of people in the stands felt as if their own bellies had taken a heavy, vicious blow. Their mouths filled with acid.
“Is that Charlotte's genuine finishing blow? Her soul-linked avatar can actually disperse and reassemble itself in the blink of an eye?”
Gerryn and the others trembled despite themselves.
“Ah!”
An earthshaking cry of pain came yet again from Ayrin. But the moment his body flipped sideways, he actually sent a ruthless kick at the doll.
He could counterattack even after taking such a heavy blow that brought a good deal of nasty effects; one could imagine how much bitter training Ayrin underwent in ordinary times. However, what made Gerryn and the others entirely stop breathing was, they saw Ayrin's kick pass through the metallic doll's body.
The metallic doll transfomed back into a silver-gray metallic fog.
Ayrin's leg merely passed through a thick fog.
The next moment, the metallic doll reappeared again on one side of Ayrin and viciously swept its leg on him.
The kick flung Ayrin away like a bundle of rice paddy flipped up by a farmer.
“Is this Charlotte's true secret?”
“This is her strongest secret skill, the real power of the Soul-Linked War Avatar!”
“You can't even affect her doll with attacks. When you attack, her metallic doll can directly turn into a thick fog, then immediately reassemble... How can you beat her! How can you defeat her!”
A chilly wind blew into the hearts of the Holy Dawn students in the stands, the chill spreading from their hearts all the way to the their bones.
“A very powerful secret skill.”
At this moment, Carter turned his head and looked mildly at Chris, saying in a soft voice, “But did you notice, there's also a weakness to her secret skill.”
Chris nodded. “This war avatar of hers... it should require a one-time consumption of a large part of her arcane particles. It would be the same as consuming more than half of her arcane particles if it were beaten. That's why she had no choice but to use her ultimate secret skill when Ayrin had her war avatar under control. The weakness of this secret skill is precisely piling a great amount of arcane particles on the war avatar in one go. Apart from Heavy Ions, she shouldn't be able to use any powerful arcane skill that requires a great amount of arcane particles.”
“Indeed. Worthy of a student with the highest innate talent for battle,” Carter exclaimed with heartfelt admiration. “The weakness of this secret skill is to confine a great part of her own strength in this war avatar. Of course... As long as she uses this secret skill well enough, she's already strong enough.”
Christ took in a deep breath. “There's another weakness to her way of fighting.”
“Another weakness?” Carter blinked.
“Yes.” Chris' gaze was fixated on the field from beginning to end. “And Ayrin should have felt it already as well.”
Carter only needed a single glance, then his eyes immediately flashed fiercely. “Indeed, she has another weakness, it's her own body. She's weaker than her war doll right now. She's the one controlling the war doll, so as long as you knock her out, the war doll will naturally become useless as well.”
...
In the field, still shouting madly in pain, Ayrin charged toward Charlotte as if his life depended on it!
“Too slow, it's impossible to break through the war doll's blockade.”
Charlotte watched Ayrin's crazed charge in her direction without moving a step away. Only her two hands joined together moved again.
“Bang!”
The metallic doll fell down from the sky behind Ayrin, and landed a ruthless kick on his back.
“That won't do... I can only use my hidden arcane particles.
“If I use 'Crown of Ice and Snow,' this metallic doll should be entirely frozen if it scatters into a fog!”
The moment the fierce pain rushed to his brain, Ayrin brimmed with the urge to use his arcane skill.
Golden stars were already swimming in his vision!
But at the same time, even more dazzling starlight seemed sparkle inside his arcane gate.
“This is...”
He immediately understood the reason why. Ecstasy welled up from the bottom of his heart.
“Ah!”
He shouted madly, once again rose determinedly on his feet, and continued his charge toward Charlotte.
“Puff!”
There was no issue of endurance when it came to the metallic doll, hence its momentum was in theory limitless. So Ayrin only shakily dashed a few meters before the metallic doll sent another fierce kick on the middle of his back with matchless steadiness.
The muffled sound squeezed the hearts of everyone in the stands, to the point many people worried whether they would see a miserable scene of flesh and blood spraying out.
“He's actually not using arcane skills even now...” An odd expression also filled Carter's eyes.
“What?”
However, Charlotte's heart quivered violently at this moment.
She couldn't understand the reason why!
Because she could clearly feel the power of the war avatar declining many times faster than usual!
The war doll was formed by a one-time combination of arcane power and arcane particles. After it took shape, its strength would slowly deteriorate, until that part of her arcane particles was entirely used up and couldn't be replenished anymore. And now, there weren't many arcane particles left inside her. No further replenishment was possible!
“There's something wrong!”
At the edge of the field where team Divine Shield was, the captain Ivan suddenly said in a cold voice, “There's something wrong with Charlotte's situation!”
historical
All the other members of team Divine Shield were taken aback, but they couldn't see anything wrong. In their opinion, Charlotte still steadily held the upper hand.
“What!”
They saw Ayrin actually halt his charge in Charlotte's direction the next instant. He turned around abruptly and faced the war doll head on.
“Hm?” Even Chris had a little trouble understanding what Ayrin was trying to do.
“Puff!”
The war doll once again struck a punch on Ayrin's chest.
Ayrin slid several meters backwards. However, what made many people feel as if their chests were being crushed by a great boulder was, Ayrin actually still stood upright, and his fighting will still burned raging from head to toe. The invisible will to fight seemed visible to the naked eye.
“Pa!”
In the next attack, his hands actually blocked the war doll's punch!
“What!”
Incredulous cries and gasps immediately came from the stands occupied by Divine Shield Academy.
The scene of the doll exploding Ayrin with its blows didn't happen.
The seemingly ever-triumphant metallic doll actually swayed on its feet and fell a step back!
Unexpectedly, its strength clearly seemed a little weaker than Ayrin's.
“Pa!”
Ayrin's launched a punch. The war doll scattered once again, but when it reassembled and counterattacked, Ayrin once again blocked its blow!
Its explosiveness and speed also seemed notably weaker than Ayrin's!
Charlotte's hands started to shake violently.
She was the one most aware that it wasn't Ayrin's strength that increased, but the power of her war doll declining too fast. It was surprisingly unable to stifle Ayrin already!
Because of this simple psychological ripple, the war avatar didn't scatter.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” ...
Ayrin's attacks landed like a storm on the metallic doll.
All the Holy Dawn student subconsciously stood up at this moment.
Ayrin was actually exploding the seemingly ever so powerful war avatar, and the latter seemed simply unable to mount the slightest resistance!
“Oh no!”
Charlotte suddenly sensed something. Her face turned deathly pale in an instant, her usual calm entirely gone.
“Bang!”
The metallic doll collapsed thoroughly, unable to reassemble any longer.
The exhaustion of arcane particles and arcane power exceeded the critical stage, and couldn't sustain her secret skill any longer!
“Phew... Phew...”
The arena suddenly turned quiet. Only Ayrin's heavy panting was left.
In this stagnant atmosphere, Ayrin turned around and faced Charlotte, proudly asking, “Charlotte, do you want to concede?”
Charlotte recovered from her stunned state.
“Stop dreaming!”
Heavy metal notes once again rose from her body. A desperate aura lingered around her. Even with the last of her power left inside her, she still had to fight Ayrin to the bitter end.
“No need to struggle recklessly, just concede.”
At this moment, two cold and stern voices spoke at the same time.
The teacher leading team Divine Shield, Payton, and the captain Ivan issued their command both at the same time.
Charlotte's body halted all of a sudden. Started to shake from the humiliation.
“This match isn't the whole of the tournament.” Ivan calmly strode a step forward, saying to her, “We still need your strength in the fights to come against the other schools. I don't want to see you suffer a heavy injury here. So it's only a matter of strategy, and not an issue with your strength. This is a battlefield order. Please leave the rest to me, and be at ease.”
Hearing such a calm and cool voice, Charlotte rapidly recovered her own calm.
She nodded like a genuine army officer, then said, “I give up.”
After that, she turned to Ayrin and seriously told him, “Ayrin, you're really something, you entirely surpassed my expectation. But you have to thank your previous teammate. I wouldn't have lost to you if not for him causing me a certain amount of damage.”
“You're wrong!” Ayrin brandished his fist very proudly, however. “I think I can beat you even without Moss' help!”
“Really someone hard to discern.” Charlotte couldn't help but smile. Then she walked past Ayrin. The moment she brushed by him, she seriously said, “Until our next fight!”
“Ayrin won?”
“Ayrin won against Charlotte?”
“Ayrin defeated Charlotte!”
“Rumble!” Only at this moment did everyone in the stands come back to their senses. Especially in the Holy Dawn Academy stands, the Holy Dawn students started shouting one after another like madmen. They hugged those next to them without even caring who they were.