Chapter 477: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Two Scary Flowers III

The crowd cheering for Vera grew even louder after seeing how fluidly she had countered Gareth’s previous attack with a kick to his cheek.

"Lady Vera!"

"Vera!"

"Don’t let him hurt you!"

The voices came from every side of the arena, mixing together beneath the high ceiling and rolling across the stands like a wave.

Gareth placed one hand against his cheek while still holding the Colt 1911 with the extended magazine in that same hand. He rubbed the spot where Vera’s kick had landed, slowly testing the pain before lowering his hand.

His gentle expression remained despite the sudden kick on his face.

Then his eyes turned sharply toward his front.

Both Colts were still in his hands.

Vera was close.

She stood directly in front of him again, her dull black eyes calmly watching him.

Gareth didn’t hesitate.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

The two Colts fired almost simultaneously.

Vera paused her dash.

Her feet shifted across the platform as she changed direction, her body moving left and right with accurate control. She didn’t make any large movements. Each step was just enough to carry her body away from the path of the incoming bullets.

The bullets passed her by inches.

Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang!

The shots struck the platform behind her, sending small sparks across the floor as Vera’s boots scraped against the ground while she adjusted her footing.

The sound of gunfire continued to echo through the arena.

Immediately, Gareth pushed forward again.

He didn’t hesitate after his first shots failed.

His body moved toward Vera while both Colts remained raised, and he continued firing with intent. Every time his arms shifted, another shot followed, forcing Vera to keep moving instead of giving her the chance to settle into a comfortable position.

Vera reached into her Space Bag.

Her fingers closed around the handle of a dagger inside the space bag.

She pulled it out in one smooth movement.

Clang!

Her dagger struck a bullet away from her body.

Clang!

Another bullet was deflected.

Clang!

A third followed.

Vera’s wrist moved with precision each time, the blade meeting the bullets at carefully chosen angles and sending them away instead of trying to stop their force directly.

"AHHHH!"

Gareth’s voice suddenly came from above Vera.

The next gunshots followed immediately.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Vera’s dull black eyes darted upward.

Gareth was above her.

Both Colts were still in his hands, and several bullets were already descending toward her.

Vera didn’t freeze at that moment.

Instead...

Her hand moved.

With another swift set of swings, the dagger intercepted the incoming bullets.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The shots were deflected away from her body.

Vera immediately shifted to the side, taking only a few quick steps.

Boom!

Gareth’s leg stomped onto the platform.

The force of his natural physical strength struck the floor hard enough to crack it beneath his foot.

Small pieces of stone broke loose and jumped from the damaged surface.

Gareth remained in place.

His body lowered.

His posture changed.

In that stomp, Gareth positioned himself in the attack form of the Steel Dragon Art.

The two Colts also changed positions in his hands.

He rolled both weapons halfway, turning them upside down so that he held the guns like hand batons rather than using them as firearms.

"Ahhhhh..."

Gareth exhaled.

A visible breath of cold air escaped from his mouth.

Around this same time of the day, snow had begun falling gently from the sky.

Small flakes drifted through the arena air and landed across the cracked platform. Some melted when they touched the warmer stone, while others remained scattered across the surface.

Vera noticed something else.

The veins in Gareth’s arms had begun to bulge.

The same could be seen around his legs.

His Cognis was flowing rapidly through his body.

It wasn’t moving at the usual percentage expected from a full-body Cognis flow.

There was more.

Vera’s eyes shifted toward Gareth’s leg as it began turning in her direction.

I haven’t even placed much force for him to absorb for a full counter strike, but he’s already looking like he has absorbed enough energy for a force strike.

Vera continued observing Gareth.

Her expression didn’t change.

"Ah..."

Her eyes remained on him.

Cheeky boy.

The thought came and went almost instantly.

All of that observation happened within less than a millisecond.

Not even a second had passed.

Not even half a second.

Yet Vera had already understood the change in Gareth’s posture, the flow of his Cognis, and the direction of his next movement.

Gareth moved.

His right arm swung toward her.

Vera leaned her body back.

She didn’t lower herself completely to the ground. Instead, she bent backward with enough flexibility for her upper body to become almost horizontal to the platform.

Whoosh!

Gareth’s right hand passed over her.

The attack missed by only a small distance.

But Gareth didn’t stop with that move.

The same motion carried his body forward, and he used it to change his posture.

His body shifted.

Now he was facing Vera again.

His left leg rose.

Then it descended.

An Axe Kick.

Vera’s eyes followed the movement while still remaining in her same position.

In that same moment, she placed both hands against the ground while her body was still leaned backward.

Her palms touched the platform.

She used her arms to carry her body upward in one swift movement, her body rising with a smoothness that made the movement look almost effortless.

Her legs returned toward the ground.

The moment her feet touched the platform...

Boom!

Gareth’s leg slammed down.

A much larger crack spread across the platform.

Pieces of stone, some covered with thin layers of snow, were thrown upward from the impact before falling back onto the ground.

Gareth immediately recovered.

He raised both Colts.

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang!

The two Colts fired again.

The bullets flew from their muzzles at high speed, moving straight toward Vera.

For an instant, the bullets appeared to pass through Vera’s body.

Gareth’s eyes flinched.

A faint trace of shock crossed his expression.

His gaze immediately dropped.

Vera was already below him.

Her body had slipped beneath his attack, and her fist was only inches away from his chin.

Gareth reacted within that small window.

He moved his head backward.

Bam!

The sound that should have followed would have been the sound of Vera’s fist striking his chin.

But it wasn’t.

Gareth had only been baiting her.

Even though he didn’t believe Vera’s fist could still reach him after he moved his head backward, his instincts told him that simply dodging wasn’t enough.

His body reacted before he could think about it further.

He moved his head forward again with more force.

He was going to collide with Vera’s fist.

If their movements connected as intended, Vera’s fist should have been the one to suffer from the clash.

Because compared to Vera, Gareth was physically stronger.

That was one of the reasons why Vera’s loyal supporters had been hostile toward him from the beginning.

They weren’t simply booing a fighter they disliked.

Gareth was truly an opponent capable of giving their Lady a difficult fight.

But...

The moment when Gareth expected his chin and Vera’s fist to collide arrived.

Vera’s fist stopped.

It stopped instantly.

Gareth’s eyes widened slightly.

The punch that landed on his face wasn’t Vera’s fist striking his chin.

Bam!

Her left fist slammed hard into his nose.

Gareth’s head snapped backward.

His body moved several steps from the force of the punch.

Blood immediately began flowing from his nose.

Before he could fully recover, Vera followed.

Bam!

Another strike came through in a fluid motion and struck his face again.

Gareth’s body shifted from the impact.

Vera didn’t even give him a single moment of time to regain his balance.

Her right leg moved upward quickly.

Then...

She kicked straight into his nose again.

Bam!

Gareth was sent flying backward.

A small amount of blood dripped from his nose again as his body moved through the air.

But even while flying backward, Gareth didn’t let the attack on his face stop him.

His hands moved.

He threw both Colt 1911s upward.

Almost at the same time, he threw four black steel bars from his Space Bag.

The weapons and materials rose through the air around him.

Clap!

Gareth brought his hands together while his body was still moving backward.

He was falling.

Yet his movements remained controlled.

His feet touched the platform.

At that exact moment, a Gun Alchemy Circle formed beneath him.

Slam!

His hand struck the ground.

The Gun Alchemy activated.

The two Colt 1911s and four black steel bars fell toward the platform near the Alchemy Circle.

A white Cognis shaped like lightning immediately flowed outward.

It touched the materials.

The weapons and steel bars were pulled toward the center of the Alchemy Circle.

The materials began to melt.

Metal softened and flowed together as the white Cognis controlled the process, compressing the material and forcing it into a new shape.

The two Colts were broken down.

The four steel bars were absorbed into the same process.

The metal compressed.

It changed.

The shape became clearer.

Until finally...

An AK-47 emerged from the Gun Alchemy Circle.

Gareth caught the weapon immediately.

He turned it toward Vera’s position.

The speed at which he had executed the entire process was something no non-Alchemist, or even a low-ranking Alchemist below his rank, could properly see or perceive.

The blood was still flowing from his nose.

Gareth didn’t stop to wipe it away.

He didn’t check the wound.

He simply raised the newly formed gun.

Vera was now standing straight.

She had stopped moving.

Her dull black eyes looked directly at him.

Gareth’s finger rested against the trigger.

The AK-47 remained pointed toward Vera.

And neither fighter looked away.