Chapter 464: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The Genius of Burnwick

The Medical Staff of the Royal Academy quickly carried Logan Drakes away from the fighting platform while he remained unconscious on the stretcher.

His body was completely limp, and his head rested against the cushion beneath him as two Medic Alchemists supported the stretcher from both sides. Another member of the medical team stayed close behind them, carefully watching his condition while they hurried toward the medical section.

Lyra was in a different situation.

Although she had lost an arm, she was still conscious.

She stood beside the edge of the platform while a male Medic Staff immediately attended to her, using Healing Alchemy and a series of quick first-aid techniques to control the bleeding.

Lyra was also helping.

She had already begun using her Cognis to restrict the blood vessels around the wound, slowing the blood loss while the Medic Staff worked.

The severed hand was carried by another Medic Staff.

The sight made several people in the crowd fall silent for a moment.

Lyra, however, didn’t seem particularly bothered.

She simply looked at the Medic Staff treating her and allowed him to work.

After applying the necessary first aid, the medical team carefully led her away from the fighting platform.

The injury itself could be repaired.

With the Royal Academy’s Healing Alchemy, restoring Lyra’s arm wasn’t impossible.

However, the treatment would still be extremely painful.

The Medic Staff would have to put Lyra into an unconscious state before beginning the surgery, then reconnect the damaged tissues and restore the arm through Healing Alchemy.

The process would take time.

More importantly, even after the arm was restored, Lyra’s body would still need time to recover its strength.

That was the real problem.

The competition wasn’t over.

Lyra had won her match, but there were still more battles ahead, and her body wouldn’t be able to return to its previous condition immediately.

The Royal Academy had already prepared enough medical support for situations like this, but Healing Alchemy didn’t mean that injuries could simply disappear without consequences.

The damage still mattered.

And Lyra would have to carry that damage into the next stage of the competition.

While the medical team took Lyra away, the fighting platform was being cleaned.

Another group of Craft-Based Alchemist Staffs entered the area with specialized materials and tools.

The broken pieces of earth were removed.

The cracks left behind by Logan’s Earth Alchemy were repaired.

The blood scattered across the platform was cleaned away, and the remaining marks from the previous battle were restored so that the next fighters would have a proper battlefield.

While the cleaning was taking place, the Holographic Screens around the Arena replayed the fight between Lyra and Logan.

This time, however, the recording was slowed down.

The earlier battle had happened too quickly for ordinary spectators and lower-ranking Alchemists to properly understand everything that had occurred.

At normal speed, Lyra had appeared to cut off her own arm almost instantly.

Many people had only realized what happened after Logan had already been knocked unconscious.

Now, the replay allowed them to see the movements clearly.

The moment Lyra used the earth pillar to push herself upward.

The way she avoided Logan’s attacks.

The instant she threw her scythe.

The moment Logan trapped her arm.

And finally...

The moment Lyra made the decision to cut through her own arm before Logan could crush it.

The crowd reacted with renewed shock each time the recording reached that part.

Some people covered their mouths.

Others shook their heads in disbelief.

Even those who had watched the fight live were now able to notice details they had missed.

"The first fight was amazing, and I’m already excited for the second fight."

Patrick West’s excited voice echoed through the Arena.

He was seated inside the commentator’s room, with one hand resting lightly against the table microphone while he watched the replay on the Holographic Screen before him.

The excitement in his voice hadn’t faded in the slightest.

If anything, Lyra and Logan’s fight had made him even more interested in what would come next.

Professor Liliana Galehart sat beside him.

Her emerald eyes remained fixed on the list of the next matchups.

"The second fight won’t be as good as this one, though."

She said calmly.

Patrick turned his head toward her.

"You think so?"

"It’s because of who will be fighting."

Liliana replied.

Her voice remained casual.

"At least, we might get to see him use a bit of his Alchemy strength."

Patrick looked at the matchup list again, then he immediately understood who she was referring to.

A few minutes passed.

The cleaning of the fighting platform was finally completed.

The cracks and broken earth had disappeared, leaving the surface ready for another battle.

The staff members stepped away from the platform, and the crowd slowly became louder again as everyone prepared for the next match.

Patrick didn’t waste any more time.

"Now, welcoming the next fighters!"

His voice spread across the Arena.

"Prince Charles Aethelmont!!!"

Liliana announced the first fighter.

"Vs. Ravenor Burnwick!!!"

Her voice echoed loudly throughout the Arena.

"WOOOOAAAHHHHH!!"

The crowd erupted.

"Sir Ravenor Burnwick!!"

"I love you, Sir Ravenor Burnwick!!"

"My Prince, you can do it!!"

The cheers came from different sections of the audience, but one thing became obvious almost immediately.

The crowd was much more excited to see Ravenor Burnwick.

Prince Charles Aethelmont entered from one side of the Arena.

He walked toward the fighting platform with a composed expression, but the closer he got, the clearer he could hear the spectators shouting Ravenor’s name.

He glanced toward the stands.

The difference in support was almost impossible to ignore.

Then his eyes moved toward Ravenor Burnwick, who was already standing on the other side of the platform.

Ravenor looked calm.

There was no hint of excitement in his expression.

No nervousness either.

He simply stood there with his scarlet-red eyes resting on Charles.

Charles gave a small, awkward smile.

"They really like you, Ravenor."

He said calmly, but he couldn’t completely hide the nervousness beneath it.

Of all the people Charles could have faced in the Sixth Round...

It had to be Ravenor Burnwick.

The number one contender to win the entire competition.

Charles lowered his gaze toward the platform beneath his feet.

"At least I made it to the Sixth Round."

He sighed.

There was a little helplessness in his voice.

"Your Highness."

Ravenor spoke calmly.

Charles raised his head.

"Already assuming yourself as a loser will make you a loser."

Ravenor’s expression didn’t change as he said it.

His words were blunt, but there was no need for him to make them harsher.

Charles flinched slightly.

He hadn’t expected Ravenor to answer him like that.

Ravenor continued looking at him with the same unbothered expression.

"A winner’s mentality is what an Alchemist needs to be able to stand on top."

He paused for a moment.

"Even if you aren’t destined to stand there, you should at least try your best so you can have no regrets when the fight ends."

His head tilted slightly to the right while he folded his arms.

"THREE!"

The crowd began the countdown.

The sound of voices rolled through the Arena.

Ravenor still didn’t move.

"Except if Your Highness is the type who doesn’t have a reason to be strong, then it’s best you surrender now."

His scarlet-red eyes remained on Charles.

There was no mockery in his voice.

He was simply stating what he believed.

Whether Charles showed confidence or didn’t, Ravenor didn’t particularly care.

As far as he was concerned, the outcome of this match was already certain.

He was going to win.

It wasn’t simply overconfidence.

Ravenor already knew Charles’s Alchemist Rank.

Charles was only an Adept Alchemist.

Ravenor was also an Adept Alchemist on the surface, but his Cognis had already reached a gaseous state, putting him on the verge of breaking through into the Meister Alchemist Rank.

His Cognis Pool had already reached a level far beyond what an ordinary Adept Alchemist possessed.

The only reason Ravenor had chosen not to break through into the Meister Alchemist Rank was because of the tournament.

The First-Year Combat Festival was already close, and the one-month preparation period hadn’t given him enough time to guarantee that he could complete the breakthrough safely before the competition began.

A breakthrough could take longer than expected.

If he started too early, he might have been unable to participate at his best.

So, remaining where he was had been the better choice.

At least with his current strength, he could still take on someone like Maxwell, whom Ravenor already knew was a Meister Alchemist.

"TWO!"

The crowd continued counting.

Charles suddenly laughed.

"Hahahaha."

He scratched the back of his head and gave a helpless smile.

"I guess I wrote myself off too early."

His voice was lighter now.

The words seemed to have lifted something from his chest.

He looked down at the platform floor for a moment.

Then...

"ONE!!"

The final number rang through the Arena.

Charles’s expression changed.

His hand slowly tightened into a fist.

When he raised his head again, the nervousness was still there, but it was no longer controlling him.

His eyes were more determined.

"I do have a reason to be here, and a reason to win."

He said firmly.

Ravenor looked at him.

"I see."

That was all he replied.

He hadn’t moved much from his original position.

His scarlet-red eyes remained just as indifferent as before.

"BEGIN!!"

The crowd shouted.

Charles immediately moved backward.

His boots struck the platform one after another as he created distance between himself and Ravenor.

If I’m going to face someone like Ravenor...

I have to be very smart abou—

Snap!

Charles’s thought stopped instantly.

His boot had just touched the ground while he was still moving backward.

His eyes also remained focused on Ravenor.

When he felt something strange beneath his foot.

The platform was getting hot.

At first, it was only a slight warmth.

Then it became hotter.

Charles’s expression changed.

"Tsk!"

BOOM!

An explosion erupted from the exact place where Charles’s boot had touched the platform.

Flames swallowed the area.

Smoke burst upward, covering the battlefield almost instantly while the force of the explosion pushed outward across the platform.

Charles’s figure disappeared inside the smoke instantly.

"Wooooah!"

The crowd erupted.

They had seen this before.

The same attack that Ravenor had used throughout the beginning of the competition.

Patrick’s voice immediately came through the Arena’s sound system.

"The Young Lord of Burnwick does it again!"

His excitement was impossible to hide.

"The Instant Explosion!"

The Holographic Screens immediately displayed previous matches involving Ravenor.

In every one of those fights, Ravenor had relied on the same Flame Alchemy.

From the beginning of the competition until this point...

Ravenor Burnwick had only used one Flame Alchemy.

And every time he used it...

It had resulted in an instant victory.

No one had managed to evade it.

No one had been able to determine when or where the attack would appear.

All they knew was that once they heard that single sound...

Snap.

An explosion would follow.

The most frightening part was that they couldn’t even see Ravenor snapping his fingers when he activated the Flame Alchemy.

The attack seemed to come from nowhere.

One moment, an opponent would be standing safely on the platform.

The next...

Flames would explode beneath them.

Smoke would fill the battlefield.

And the fight would be over.

Even now, the spectators couldn’t see what was happening inside the thick smoke covering the battlefield.

Many of the First-Years still participating in the competition watched from the stands.

Ezra.

Vera.

Veda.

Maxwell.

Diane.

Willow.

Stella.

Selena.

Cyrus.

Sasha.

And many others remained seated, their eyes fixed on the large Holographic Screens.

Unlike the ordinary spectators, however, several of the stronger Alchemists weren’t simply watching the smoke.

They were watching the details surrounding it.

The instant explosion had always been difficult to understand.

But now that they had reached the Sixth Round, the remaining competitors were no longer ordinary First-Years.

Everyone still standing had already proven that they could survive against powerful opponents.

And Ravenor’s first attack had just been launched.

The smoke continued spreading across the platform.

The flames flickered within it.

The crowd waited.

Charles was somewhere inside.

And for the first time since the fight began, nobody could tell whether Ravenor’s famous Instant Explosion had actually ended the battle.