Chapter 455: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: End of the First Round

Fatima immediately focused more of her Cognis to a certain range.

The sensing range created by her Cognis began to shrink.

Instead of spreading her senses across the entire fighting platform and the enormous area of earth she had created with her Mass Alchemy, she concentrated it around a certain range close to herself.

The change allowed her senses to become sharper.

More focused.

If Ezra entered that area...

She would notice him immediately.

Or at least, that was what Fatima believed.

Her hands came together.

The brown Cognis around her fingers began to move.

She was ready to perform her Earth Alchemy at the first sign of Ezra’s presence.

Above her, the thick smoke created by the earlier RPG explosion was slowly beginning to clear.

The massive pillars remained standing around the fighting platform.

Broken sections of earth and rock were scattered across the ground.

The once smooth platform had already been turned into a battlefield.

And somewhere within the fading smoke in the sky...

Ezra was already closing in.

He held the Glock 40 tightly in his hand.

Cognis passed through his arm.

His muscles tightened as he prepared to use his enhanced strength for one final throw.

Ezra’s black eyes remained focused.

He watched the smoke.

Measured the distance.

Then, the moment he was close enough...

His arm moved.

The Glock 40 left his hand.

The handgun flew through the air.

It passed through the thick smoke.

Then...

It entered Fatima’s newly concentrated sensory range.

Fatima sensed it immediately.

Her eyes moved.

She saw the Glock 40.

The handgun fell.

Thud!

It landed heavily on the damaged ground close to her.

But she didn’t react to it.

Her eyes remained focused on the handgun only for a second, before her main focus returned up.

He must have used this to throw my attention off.

Fatima thought.

The moment I attack the gun, he’ll probably use that opening to attack me.

She remained prepared.

Her hands were still together.

The Earth Alchemy was ready to be ignited.

But...

Fatima couldn’t have been more wrong.

Attached to the Glock 40...

Going high above her...

The thin black thread moved through the air, extending upward.

All the way toward Ezra.

He was already only inches away from the outer edge of the smoke cloud.

The black thread attached to the glove had completely loosened.

Making Ezra’s hand naked.

Although, the heat regulating bandage was on the hand so it couldn’t be called actaully naked.

However, the first thread hadn’t been long enough for the Glock 40 which went down back to the ground.

So, Ezra had made another adjustment.

He had attached the second Black Thread Glove to the end of the first glove’s thread.

The two threads had connected.

Increasing the distance.

Extending farther through the air until the Glock 40 reached the ground easily with the attached thin black thread.

And now...

It was time.

Ezra passed Cognis through the thin black thread.

White Cognis flowed through the circuits within it.

The energy travelled.

Straight toward the Glock 40 lying on the ground.

Fatima immediately sensed it.

Her expression changed.

Cognis was flowing into Ezra’s handgun.

That means Ezra was close by, to her thoughts.

Fatima’s hands moved.

She was about to perform her Earth Alchemy.

Then...

The Attraction Force ignited.

Boom!

Fatima’s eyes widened.

Ezra suddenly appeared at her side.

His movement was unnaturally fast.

Even with the sensory abilities of an Adept Alchemist, Fatima had been unable to properly perceive his approach.

Everything had happened too quickly.

The force from Ezra’s earlier jump was still affecting his fall.

Then, after he had thrown the Glock 40 downward, he had used the Repel Force to push himself even farther through the air.

However, Ezra hadn’t allowed the force to continue endlessly.

The moment the Glock 40 passed through the smoke cloud...

He deactivated the Repel Force.

The smoke had become a marking point.

Ezra had already predicted what Fatima would do.

The moment she realized she could no longer sense his Cognis...

She would become more cautious.

Then she would concentrate her Cognis to increase her sensory ability.

Ezra had expected exactly that.

So, the moment he moved close enough to the edge of the smoke...

He activated the Attraction Force.

The force pulled him downward.

At the same time, the Glock 40 moved toward him.

The combined force sharply increased the speed of his descent.

The result was simple.

Ezra entered Fatima’s sensory range.

But before she could properly react...

He was already beside her.

The slight change in Fatima’s attention also played a part.

For the briefest moment, she had focused on the Cognis entering the Glock 40.

That small shift had been enough.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Ezra fired the Glock 40.

The bullets struck the ground around Fatima’s legs.

Bang!

Bang!

The damaged earth exploded.

Fragments of rock rose around her.

Fatima’s eyes closed.

She expected the pain to come next.

A bullet entering her body.

The force tearing through her.

But...

Nothing came.

No pain.

Fatima slowly opened her eyes.

The muzzle of the Glock 40 was aimed directly at her head.

Smoke flowing out from the mouth of the gun.

She froze.

For several seconds, she simply stared at the gun.

The meaning of the situation became clear.

If Ezra had truly wanted to kill her...

She would already be dead.

Fatima released a heavy breath.

The tension in her body slowly disappeared.

Her Cognis began to calm.

The Mass Alchemy surrounding them started to lose its active flow.

"It’s my loss."

Fatima spoke.

Her voice carried no anger.

Only acceptance.

Her hands moved again.

This was her final Alchemy.

The Earth Alchemy she had created across the fighting platform began to reverse.

The massive pillars slowly started sinking.

Broken sections of earth moved back toward their original places.

One by one...

The battlefield began returning to normal.

Ezra glanced around him as the enormous earth structures gradually moved back into place.

However, Fatima couldn’t completely reverse everything.

The fight had caused too much damage.

The amount of Cognis she had used had also pushed her body close to its limit.

Fatima finally sat down on the platform.

Her legs folded beneath her.

A small amount of blood dripped from her nose.

It was a clear sign of Cognis exhaustion.

Fatima raised one hand.

"I surrender."

Her voice echoed across the Arena.

For a moment...

The entire crowd remained silent.

Ever since the earlier explosion...

The spectators had been watching the battlefield with their attention completely focused on the smoke.

They hadn’t been able to clearly see everything that had happened.

Then Fatima surrendered.

"W-WINNER!!!"

Patrick West, who had also been too bewildered to immediately speak, suddenly shouted into the microphone.

"EZRA ASHENLOCKE!!!"

His voice travelled through the entire Arena.

And then...

"WOOOOOAAAAHHHHH!!!"

The crowd exploded.

The sudden roar shook the Arena.

People stood from their seats.

Others shouted while pointing toward the fighting platform.

"That was incredible!"

"That already felt like a final match!"

"No! Lady Fatima lost!"

"Was Ezra Ashenlocke always this strong?"

Overlapping voices filled the entire Arena.

The fight between Ezra and Fatima had ended.

But the excitement had only grown.

Many people were still trying to understand exactly what they had just watched.

At the section where the powerful figures of Britannia were seated...

Regina leaned slightly against her seat.

A pleasant smirk appeared on her face.

"Unfortunately, your daughter will now have to start playing catch-up with the true talents of Britannia."

The Duchess of Drakes’ hand tightened slightly.

However...

She couldn’t find anything to say.

Her daughter had lost.

And she had lost in a fight that almost everyone present had witnessed.

A short distance away...

Drax Drakes looked toward Ezra.

His younger sister had just been defeated.

However, there was no anger on his face.

Instead...

He studied Ezra.

"So, the little Craftsman can actually fight, huh."

He muttered quietly.

Below the section occupied by Britannia’s powerful figures...

The Elders and high-ranking board members of the Duke Houses had their own reactions.

"Let’s go."

Elder Paul spoke with a pleased expression.

"How? How? How?"

Elder Fredrick stared toward the fighting platform.

For once...

The usually hateful Elder seemed completely lost for words to say about Ezra to diminish him.

He turned toward the other Elders, still looking like he just saw a ghost.

"Hahahaha..."

Elder Portia laughed lightly.

"He was that strong, yet he only ranked sixth in the Trial of Steel."

Her eyes remained on Ezra.

"He could already be at the same level as the Young Lord."

"Don’t be reckless with your words, Portia."

Elder Braithwaite looked toward her stiffly.

His expression clearly showed that he didn’t agree with casually making such a comparison.

But even he couldn’t completely hide the shock in his eyes.

"Did you guys see what I just saw?"

Elder Ivanhoe pointed excitedly toward the Arena.

"Yes."

Elder Tabitha nodded with a pleased smile.

"He created exploding daggers."

Elder Ivanhoe laughed again.

"Real Exploding daggers when he is not even a Steel Alchemist!"

His excitement became clearer.

"Ezra Ashenlocke is a true Craftsman. I’m completely mind-blown!"

"HAHAHAHAH!!!"

An Elder from House Burnwick suddenly burst into loud laughter, all from the place he sat with the other Burnwick Elders and High-board members.

"I also saw the gloves with the Magnetic Functions."

He looked completely amazed.

"The way he used those Magnetic Functions with his guns..."

Another Elder of Burnwick nodded.

Her eyes remained fixed on Ezra.

"Honestly, I didn’t expect a creation like this to exist."

The entire Arena was filled with overlapping voices.

People were talking about the fight.

About the exploding daggers.

About the Black Magnetic Gloves.

And especially...

About the way Ezra had used his inventions during battle.

Back in the high-power seating area...

"Sir Alister, what do you think?"

The female Royal Alchemist sitting beside Alister Morgan leaned closer.

Her eyes remained on Ezra.

Alister Morgan stared at the boy everyone was talking about.

Ezra had already begun walking away from the fighting platform.

His expression remained as plain as ever.

As if he had not just finished one of the most intense fights of the First Round.

Injuries were already slowly healing with the Healing Elixir the Medic teams gave him, while applying healing bandages on the arm that got grazed badly by Fatima’s earth thorns.

There had been many people who displayed impressive fighting abilities during the tournament.

Many talents had already caught the attention of Britannia’s powerful figures.

But...

No one had truly displayed something like this.

At least...

Not yet.

Alister’s eyes followed Ezra.

"He’s unreadable."

He answered plainly.

"Huh?"

The female Royal Alchemist frowned.

That wasn’t the kind of answer she had wanted to hear.

"That can’t be it, Boss."

She said.

However, Alister simply ignored her.

The crowd slowly began to settle.

Only slightly.

The excitement created by Ezra and Fatima’s battle continued circulating through the Arena long after the two had left the fighting platform.

The other matches of the day resumed.

Then the next day arrived.

And ended.

Like that...

The First Round of the Grand First-Year Combat Festival came to an end.