Chapter 498: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Next Matches IV

"W-What just happened?!"

A non-noble in the crowd shouted in complete confusion.

His hands were still gripping the railing in front of his seat, and his eyes remained fixed on the fight platform. A moment ago, Diane Bergwyn had been surrounded by the red mist, while Phiora’s Holly blades were flying toward her from several directions.

Then everything had changed.

"Wait... I actually thought Lady Diane Bergwyn had lost."

A female first-year student spoke while staring at the platform.

She still looked frightened by the thought of her favorite young Alchemist losing the match. Her fingers were pressed against her chest, and her shoulders had only just relaxed after the tension that had gripped her body.

"So, that means..."

Another voice came from the crowd.

The speaker was still trying to understand what it meant for Diane to be standing behind Phiora with her slim sword against her neck.

The answer came before anyone could finish asking.

"WINNER!!!"

Patrick’s voice echoed loudly through the Arena.

He had also finally understood what had happened.

Phiora could no longer fight.

The tip of Diane’s slim sword was touching the side of Phiora’s neck, and a thin layer of frost had already begun spreading from the point of contact. It crept across Phiora’s skin in a thin white layer, making the danger obvious even to those who didn’t understand Frost Alchemy.

More importantly, Phiora herself was no longer moving.

Her body had become completely still.

The shock was too much.

She had prepared herself to attack Diane the moment she appeared. She had even coated her Holly blades with poison and calculated that a tiny opening could give her a chance to win.

But Diane had appeared behind her before she could react.

Phiora’s mind was still trying to catch up with what had happened.

She couldn’t move her body.

She couldn’t think of another solution.

For the first time in the entire fight, she had no answer.

Patrick raised the table microphone excitedly.

"The winner of this match is Lady Diane Bergwyn!"

His voice carried through the Arena, and the crowd immediately erupted.

The battle between the two young Alchemists had been magnificent.

The spectators had witnessed an incredible level of Cognis control, along with Alchemy techniques that even normal Adept Alchemists would struggle to execute properly.

"Wooooaahhhh!!!"

The crowd went wild.

"Lady Bergwyn!!!"

"Lady Diane Bergwyn!!!"

"My Ice Beauty Queen!!!"

"The Ice Sleeping Beauty of Frost!!!"

"Lady Diane Bergwyn!!!"

The cheers rolled through the Arena one after another.

Some spectators stood from their seats while shouting Diane’s name. Others waved their hands toward the platform, and several young nobles were already talking excitedly about the techniques they had just witnessed.

Even people who had supported Phiora couldn’t deny what they had seen.

Diane had won.

"Ahhh..."

Phiora released a long sigh.

Her shoulders dropped.

She slowly fell onto her knees, her hands resting against the frozen ground.

She looked completely defeated.

Diane calmly placed her slim sword back into her Space Bag before looking toward the crowd that continued to cheer her name.

For a moment, she simply stood there.

Then she remembered something.

’My Lady, you always have to wave to the crowd whenever you finish your match. It’s a must.’

The words of Hermione came back to her once again.

Diane raised one hand.

She waved lazily toward the audience.

There was no great smile on her face, nor did she make any attempt to look excited about the cheers.

She simply waved.

Then she turned around and walked off the fight platform.

Phiora watched her leave.

After a few seconds, her eyes moved upward toward the Holographic Screen directly in front of her.

The screen had already begun showing a slowed replay of the moment when Diane had appeared behind her.

Phiora stared.

The replay showed the Holly blades closing in on Diane.

Then Diane moved.

She had executed another No-Clap Frost Alchemy while using Alchemy Levitation to pull several glass bottles of water into the air.

The Frost Alchemy Circle had ignited.

A clone of Diane had formed.

At the same time, the real Diane had controlled the cold steam.

Instead of allowing it to simply spread through the battlefield, she had directed it along the ground.

Her body had moved with it.

She had used the cold steam to slide across the ground toward Phiora’s back.

The movement had been so fast and smooth that it was difficult to understand even when watching the replay.

The Ice Clone remained in front.

The Holly blades struck it.

And the real Diane appeared behind Phiora.

She had already drawn her slim sword.

Cold steam flowed into the blade, coating it with frost before Diane placed it against Phiora’s neck.

Phiora stared at the replay for several seconds.

Her expression became even more defeated.

"That’s how I lost."

She muttered the words quietly.

The Medic staff soon stepped onto the platform and moved toward her.

One of them crouched beside Phiora and checked her condition while another prepared the treatment supplies.

At the same time, the Craft-Based Academy staff entered the fight area to begin cleaning and repairing the platform.

Broken Holly branches were scattered across the ground.

Frozen pieces of the plants covered parts of the stage, while red particles from the earlier mist remained frozen across the surface.

The workers quickly began clearing the battlefield so the next match could proceed.

Inside the Arena entrance, Diane walked through.

Hermione was already waiting for her.

The maid immediately bowed respectfully to her mistress.

"My Lady, that was an amazing match."

Her voice carried genuine warmth.

Diane looked at her without replying.

She simply nodded once.

Hermione smiled helplessly.

There was something about Diane’s expression that made it difficult to tell whether she had enjoyed the battle at all.

"Mistress, you can stop holding your breath now..."

Hermione laughed faintly.

"Ahhhh."

Diane finally released the breath she had been holding.

She had been holding it from the moment she clashed with Phiora’s red berries.

At the time, she had been completely focused on neutralizing the poison-filled red mist.

She had controlled her Frost Alchemy with such precision that she had frozen the particles of the mist individually.

After doing so, however, she had somehow forgotten that she was supposed to breathe again.

Diane closed her eyes, then she placed one hand on Hermione’s shoulder and allowed her maid to lead her back toward the first-year seating position.

The cheers from the Arena continued behind them.

But Diane no longer paid attention to them.

She had already finished her match.

And now...

It was her time to sleep.

A few minutes passed.

The platform was cleaned and repaired.

Then the next match began.

Nickolas Balor faced Gin Drakes.

This was another battle that many spectators had been waiting for, both inside the Arena and among those watching the live broadcast on Skynet.

The reason was simple.

The two Duke Houses had always attracted attention whenever their young members faced one another since the Combat Festival started.

This time, however, it was one of the Average Ashenlocke’s facing the last remaining Drakes participant in the tournament.

The moment the battle began, both young Alchemists immediately displayed their abilities.

Their Cognis control was close enough that neither gained an immediate advantage.

Their combat Alchemy attacks collided across the fight platform.

Nickolas primarily used the AA-12.

Whenever Gin Drakes sent an Earth Alchemy attack toward him, he raised the shotgun and fired.

BOOM!

The powerful blast smashed through the incoming Earth construction.

Fragments of earth and stone scattered across the platform.

Nickolas didn’t stay with the same weapon for long.

He alternated between the AA-12 and the E.V. 26 MK.II, using the latter when he needed greater firepower to break through Gin’s Earth Alchemy.

At long range, Nickolas appeared to have the advantage.

His firearms allowed him to attack from a distance while forcing Gin to constantly create defensive structures.

Every time an Earth wall rose in front of her, Nickolas fired through it.

Every time an Earth attack came toward him, he moved, fired, or used his own Cognis-enhanced body to endure the attack when avoiding it was no longer possible.

The first-year section watched closely.

Nickolas had already shown the resilience that everyone had come to associate with the Gun Alchemists of Ashenlocke.

He could take punishment.

He could keep moving.

And his combat instincts were sharp.

But as the fight continued, Gin began to show something different.

Her Alchemy became smoother.

Her Cognis control improved as the battle progressed.

Instead of simply creating Earth Alchemy defenses and waiting for Nickolas to attack, she began switching between defense and offense without hesitation.

An Earth wall would rise.

Nickolas would fire.

Before the wall was completely destroyed, Gin would already be moving the Earth beneath his feet.

The ground would rise.

A stone spear would emerge.

Then another defensive structure would appear.

She kept changing the rhythm of the battle.

Nickolas’s eyes remained focused.

He continued firing.

BOOM!

Another Earth construct shattered.

He shifted his stance and fired again.

But Gin was already moving.

Her foot touched the ground.

The Earth beneath Nickolas shifted.

He jumped away.

A stone spike emerged where his foot had been.

He landed and immediately raised his weapon.

Gin had already changed her position.

The fight continued.

The longer it lasted, the more difficult it became for Nickolas to maintain control.

Gin was becoming more fluid.

She no longer gave him the same openings.

Nickolas continued resisting, but he was gradually being overwhelmed.

Yet Gin still couldn’t simply defeat him through damage.

Nickolas’s resilience kept him standing.

His body had suffered several injuries, but he continued fighting.

His firearms continued firing.

His Cognis continued flowing.

He refused to stop.

In the end, Gin needed to use something other than raw power.

She needed to use her brain.

And she did.

Through her control of Earth Alchemy and her movement during the battle, Gin gradually guided Nickolas toward the edge of the fight platform.

Nickolas noticed too late.

An Earth construct rose behind him.

He shifted his weight to avoid it.

Gin immediately attacked from the opposite side.

Nickolas fired his weapon, breaking the incoming Earth attack, but the movement forced him backward.

His heel reached the edge.

Gin took that single opening.

The ground beneath Nickolas shifted.

His balance disappeared.

His body was thrown from the fight platform.

He crashed against the Force Field surrounding the Arena.

BOOM!

The impact echoed across the battlefield.

Nickolas’s body slid down the invisible barrier before falling toward the ground outside the platform.

Gin remained standing on the stage.

Yet she looked completely beaten.

Her breathing was heavy.

Her body shook slightly from exhaustion.

Blood dripped from several places.

It ran from the corner of her eyes, down her nose, and from her mouth.

A bullet hole marked one of her shoulders, while cuts along both sides of her legs continued to bleed from Nickolas’s earlier gun attacks.

If everyone had only looked at the damage both fighters had suffered, they might have believed Gin was the one who had lost.

But the rules were simple.

Nickolas had been thrown off the fight platform.

Gin had remained inside.

She was the winner.

Gin turned her head toward Nickolas.

He was still lying near the Force Field, barely moving.

He had suffered his own injuries from enduring so many of Gin Drakes’s Earth Alchemy attacks.

His clothes were damaged.

His body was covered with dirt and small cuts.

His firearms had already been placed away.

He simply remained there, breathing heavily.

In the stands, Celestina stared at him.

Her expression tightened.

She felt like crying at the sight.

"Winner!!"

Patrick shouted.

His voice broke through the silence that had settled over the Arena.

"Miss Gin Drakes!!"

He announced her name excitedly.

Applause and cheers immediately rose for Gin.

But there were also people cheering for Nickolas.

His resilience as a child of Steel had once again been shown in front of everyone.

The Medic staff quickly reached him.

They carefully lifted Nickolas and carried him toward the infirmary.

Celestina followed closely.

Linda Balor, Veda Ashenlocke, and Tracy Ashforge also followed after them.

Nickolas remained conscious.

As the medics carried him away, his thoughts weren’t focused on the pain.

They were focused on his own weakness.

My firing accuracy is still too poor.

His fingers tightened slightly.

He had fired so many times during the battle, yet he knew that too many of his shots had failed to reach their intended targets.

His Cognis control was still mediocre.

Even though he had grown stronger, he could see how much more he needed to improve.

He needed better accuracy.

Better control.

Better movement.

Better combat judgment.

There were still too many things he couldn’t do well enough.

And that bothered him.

Because he wanted to stand beside Veda Ashenlocke.

The Young Lord of Ashenlocke.

But Veda seemed to have gone much farther than him.

And there was Ezra Ashenlocke too.

The distance between them was becoming harder for him to ignore.

Nickolas lowered his eyes as the medics carried him farther away from the Arena.

"The gap is still too wide."

He muttered the words in frustration.

The next match began after the fight platform was cleaned and repaired.

Lyra Ashburn took on Styles Burns.