Chapter 452: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Ezra Ashenlocke Vs Fatima Drakes II

Fatima’s brown eyes locked onto the muzzle of the Glock 20.

The distance between them was already too close.

At that range, Ezra didn’t even need to make any large movement to fire.

His finger only needed to tighten.

Fatima’s eyes narrowed.

Bang!

Bang!

The gunshots came from Ezra’s other hand.

The Kel-Tec PMR-30 fired almost at the same time as his finger began to move against the Glock 20’s trigger, the sharp reports coming from two different directions as Ezra attempted to use both handguns to trap Fatima within the small space she had left herself.

In that same moment...

Thud!

Fatima’s left leg stomped against the fighting platform.

An Earth Alchemy Circle immediately formed beneath her left foot.

She didn’t attempt to directly move away from the bullets.

There was simply no time.

Instead...

The ground beneath her foot suddenly shook.

Then a small section of the platform rose upward with force.

It wasn’t a wall.

Nor was it a large amount of earth.

The section of the fighting platform was only large enough to carry Fatima’s body upward, lifting her from the ground in a sudden motion before Ezra’s bullets could properly reach her.

Bang!

Bang!

Ezra’s bullets struck the extended earth.

Another bullet tore through the area where Fatima had been standing only a moment earlier.

Fatima’s body was carried upward.

She barely escaped the path of the bullets.

However...

One of the bullets still grazed the side of her left leg.

A small line of blood immediately appeared.

Fatima’s expression tightened.

Even while being carried upward by the sudden movement of the earth, she continued holding her heavy sword firmly in her right hand.

The weapon’s weight followed the movement of her body.

Fatima used that momentum.

She flipped backward in midair.

Her body turned smoothly as she changed her position in the air, and when she completed the movement, she was once again facing Ezra.

Who was already moving.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Ezra fired both the Kel-Tec PMR-30 and the Glock 20 at the airborne Fatima.

His arms moved independently as the two handguns fired.

The bullets didn’t travel toward random areas of her body.

Each shot moved with purpose.

Her arm sides.

Her leg sides.

And her shoulder sides.

Her vital areas were avoided so as not to kill her since it wasn’t a fight to the death.

Although the Kel bullets did move towards vital spots of the leg, arm and shoulder since it wouldn’t hurt her like how the Desert Eagle bullet would.

Fatima quickly moved the heavy sword in front of herself.

Instead of attempting to swing the weapon toward every incoming bullet...

She used the broad side of the heavy sword as a shield.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Several bullets struck the weapon’s wide surface.

The impact produced bursts of sparks in front of her body.

Fatima’s arm shook slightly under the repeated force of the bullets, but her grip didn’t loosen.

She continued using the heavy sword to protect herself as her body descended.

Then...

Her feet finally landed on the fighting platform.

The moment her sole touched the ground...

Cognis flowed more intensely through her veins.

The energy gathered inside her legs.

Her muscles immediately tightened.

Boom!

The ground beneath her feet broke apart.

Fatima burst forward.

She didn’t give Ezra the chance to create more distance.

Her body moved toward him as she lowered her posture and swung her heavy sword toward his side.

It was a Side Slash.

The speed of the incoming blade was enough to make several of the Noble and Non-Nobles in the Arena rise from their seats, their eyes following the blur produced by the sword as they tried to properly see the path of the attack.

The heavy blade closed in toward Ezra’s shoulder.

But Ezra’s eyes remained fixed on Fatima.

His feet moved, fluidly turning his body.

A sharp step carried him toward the right as the heavy slash closed in from the side.

At the same time...

Ezra switched the way he held his handguns.

The muzzles of both the Kel-Tec PMR-30 and the Glock 20 turned toward the ground.

The back of the handguns now faced outward.

His arms moved upward.

The motion was fast.

But it wasn’t simply an attempt to block Fatima’s attack.

Ezra completed the movement at the exact moment the heavy sword reached him.

Clang!

The backs of the Kel-Tec PMR-30 and the Glock 20 struck against the blunt upper section of Fatima’s Heavy Sword.

It was the same section Fatima had used to direct the attack toward Ezra.

The force of Ezra’s upward movement changed the direction of the weapon.

The Heavy Sword was immediately directed upward.

"Tsk."

Fatima gritted her teeth.

The arm holding the Heavy Sword was forced backward by the redirected momentum.

Her upper body swayed with it.

For a brief moment, her balance was almost thrown away.

Ezra’s plain black eyes immediately returned back to Fatima.

His body was still turning from his earlier movement.

However, his hands moved without stopping.

He smoothly rolled both handguns back into their normal holding positions.

The muzzles returned toward Fatima.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Ezra fired without hesitation.

The gunshots roared through the fighting platform.

The bullets moved rapidly toward Fatima before she had completely regained her balance.

"Ahhhhh!"

Fatima quickly stomped her right foot against the ground.

The sudden force helped her stabilize her body.

Then...

Sparkkkkkkk!!!

Cognis rapidly flowed toward her left hand.

Brown Cognis, resembling faint streaks of lightning, spread across her skin as she moved her left hand toward the incoming bullets.

The movement happened quickly.

Her fingers opened.

The brown Cognis surrounding her hand reacted to the bullets the moment they reached her.

And once her hand met them...

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

The bullets were destroyed almost instantly.

Fatima had just used the Law of Inversion.

The force holding the bullets together was disrupted.

Their structure broke apart before they could reach her body.

Tiny fragments scattered through the air.

Fatima didn’t stop after destroying the bullets.

Her left hand continued moving.

Using the momentum of the movement she had already made, Fatima smoothly spun her body.

Her right hand followed, with the Heavy Sword she held moving with her.

She swung another Side Slash.

But this time...

The attack continued through a full spinning motion.

A three-hundred-and-sixty-degree movement that carried the Heavy Sword around her body before the blade cut toward Ezra again.

Ezra immediately bent down.

The Heavy Sword passed over his head.

The speed and force of the weapon caused the air above him to move violently, brushing through his black hair and making several strands shift beneath the pressure created by the passing blade.

Ezra also didn’t waste the opening.

While keeping his body low...

His hands moved sharply.

The Kel-Tec PMR-30, then the Glock 20.

He changed their magazines in a fast sequence.

The movements followed one another without pause as his fingers worked around both handguns with practiced speed.

The moment the magazines were secured...

Fatima completed her spinning movement.

Immediately...

She brought the Heavy Sword downward.

Another Vertical Slash descending toward Ezra.

Ezra’s eyes moved, while his feet reacted.

He stepped aside as the Heavy Sword passed his body only inches away from touching him.

Boom!

The sword smashed against the ground.

The impact sent rocks and dust flying across the fighting platform.

Ezra raised the Kel-Tec PMR-30.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Fatima immediately moved the Heavy Sword.

Her arm swung.

The large weapon shifted between her body and the incoming bullets.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

She blocked the shots without allowing the earlier attack to completely slow her down.

Like that...

The two continued their close-range combat.

Numerous gunshots echoed across the fighting platform.

Ezra moved.

Fatima followed.

Fatima slashed.

Ezra shifted away while firing.

Each time the bullets met the Heavy Sword...

Sparks erupted.

Bang!

Clang!

Bang!

Clang!

Boom!

The clash continued.

The Heavy Sword repeatedly cut through the air as Fatima attacked from different directions, while Ezra used the small spaces between her movements to fire his handguns and force her to defend.

Neither side created enough distance to properly escape the other.

They remained within close range.

Close enough that Ezra could fire directly toward Fatima’s body.

And close enough that Fatima’s Heavy Sword could cut toward him at any moment.

The two moved with a speed that made all of the Non-Alchemists watching, not able to follow what was happening in the slightest.

To many of them...

They could only see bursts of sparks.

Heavy impacts.

Chunks of rock and dust rising from the damaged fighting platform.

Then the two figures would appear again somewhere else before another clash occurred.

As for the Novice and Binder Alchemists, they could see more than the ordinary spectators.

But even they could only view the exchange as a blurry sequence of movements.

Two shadows moved across the fighting platform.

Clashing.

Blocking.

Shooting.

And Slashing.

Several actions were happening within seconds, and the crowd watched every exchange with excitement.

"The boy of Ashenlocke is quite something, Duchess Regina."

The Duchess of Drakes said while watching the fight.

She didn’t even turn her face toward the person she was speaking to.

"Well, this generation of my family’s children are all talents that will help raise the Ashenlocke’s back into its glory days."

Regina replied calmly.

She also didn’t look at the Duchess of Drakes.

A few of the other Duchesses seated in the upper section of the Arena glanced toward the two women.

They could tell something strange was going on within the calmness between the two Duchess.

Duchess Hailey Ashenlocke, however, was completely occupied with something else.

She was holding Bale’s hands while he watched the fight as though he were watching a horror movie.

Every time Ezra came close to blowing apart a section of Fatima’s body...

Or every time Fatima came close to slicing a part of Ezra’s body...

Bale would unconsciously squeeze himself closer to Hailey.

Hailey, as always when it came to Bale, smiled with clear satisfaction.

She continued holding his hand while most of her attention remained focused on him rather than the fight.

She didn’t even notice the quiet storm beginning to build between Regina and the Duchess of Drakes.

"It seems your daughter is struggling against a Lowline of my House."

Regina finally spoke.

Her voice remained calm.

"It’s not even a direct Mainline, and she’s already struggling this much."

The Duchess of Drakes’ eyes remained on the fighting platform, while listening to Regina’s mocking words.

"Calling the creator of the new revolutionary ideology for vehicles in this kingdom a Lowline makes me understand why your own grown children can’t match the level of usefulness this Lowline has already shown to Britannia, but then... oh."

The Duchess raised a hand and elegantly covered part of her mouth.

"I think I have spoken too much."

She said it in a calm tone.

However, the venom hidden within her words was impossible to miss.

"Haha... haha... haha... you are quite funny."

Regina laughed while covering part of her own mouth.

"I could say the same for you... haha... haha."

The Duchess of Drakes also laughed lightly.

The veins at the sides of both Duchesses’ heads bulged.

Neither woman looked at the other.

Both continued watching the fight.

You better win...

The exact same thought appeared in both of their minds.

Fatima.

The Duchess of Drakes thought quietly.

Ezra.

Regina Ashenlocke thought quietly at the same time.

Both Byron and Drax stared at their mothers with expressionless faces for a brief second.

Then, without saying anything...

Their attention returned to the fight.