Chapter 566: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Golden Flames

Ravenor's scarlet eyes locked onto Maxwell's fist.

It was already inches from his face.

The heavy fist came straight toward him, carrying enough force to violently part the air in front of it. Ravenor had been in the middle of executing another Instant Flame Burst, but the moment he saw the fist closing in, his body reacted before the technique could be completed.

He immediately switched.

The lighter in his hand dropped.

Instead of allowing it to fall to the ground, Ravenor used Alchemy Levitation and suspended the lighter in midair at the level of his leg.

At the same time, he moved his right leg backward.

His body shifted away from the direct path of Maxwell's fist while both of his hands moved forward.

Then…

Thud!

Ravenor caught Maxwell's fist.

The impact pushed his arms backward slightly.

Maxwell's fist had been moving toward Ravenor's face, but Ravenor did not try to stop the attack through raw strength. He caught the momentum and immediately redirected it.

His right-hand guided Maxwell's wrist toward Ravenor's side while his left-hand maintained control of the heavy fist.

Maxwell's upper body followed the movement.

For an instant, his chest turned away from Ravenor.

Then Ravenor changed his stance.

His feet shifted across the platform.

His body rotated.

He moved his back toward Maxwell's front while keeping hold of Maxwell's hand with both hands.

The change happened so quickly that Maxwell barely had time to understand the shift in position.

One moment, he was facing Ravenor.

The next…

Ravenor was no longer standing in front of him.

His body had moved beside him and then past him, using the direction of Maxwell's own punch to take control of his balance.

Ravenor leaned downward.

And pulled.

Maxwell's feet left the ground.

The sudden change in direction sent his entire body forward and upward.

His golden eyes widened slightly as his view of the arena flipped.

The floor disappeared beneath him.

The sky suddenly occupied his vision.

Then the platform returned.

Then the sky again.

His body was rotating through the air.

Ravenor had thrown him without needing to meet his strength head-on.

Maxwell flew several body lengths away from Ravenor before he reacted.

Instead of trying to force his body upright while still in the air, he brought both hands downward.

Cognis immediately flowed through his arms.

It traveled into his forearms and palms, strengthening his grip before his hands reached the platform.

Thud!

His right palm struck the ground.

Thud!

His left palm followed.

The impact traveled through his arms and into his shoulders.

"Mmmm."

Maxwell's body continued rotating.

His hands pressed against the ground while his arms took his weight, allowing him to redirect his momentum instead of letting his body crash onto the platform.

His legs swung over his body.

His waist twisted.

His shoulders rotated with the movement.

Using his hands as temporary points of support, Maxwell maneuvered his body through the motion until both of his feet came down beneath him.

Thud!

His first foot touched the platform.

Thud!

The second followed.

Maxwell straightened himself.

But he had barely finished recovering his stance when four sharp sounds rang out a bit far from him.

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

The ground beneath Maxwell's boots suddenly began to glow scarlet.

The Alchemy Symbols appeared in rapid succession across the platform, spreading outward from the points beneath his feet.

The four Flame Alchemy Circles formed almost simultaneously.

And they were brighter than the ones that had appeared beneath Lyra earlier.

Maxwell's golden eyes dropped toward the ground.

He saw all four.

Four circles.

Four positions.

Four points of ignition surrounding his body.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

BOOOOOOM!

The four Instant Flame Bursts erupted almost at the same time.

The first explosion erupted beneath Maxwell's position.

The second followed from another point.

The third ignited before the smoke from the first two had even had time to spread.

Then the fourth Flame Alchemy Circle ignited.

Its explosion merged with the others.

The combined blast produced a much heavier sound that shook through the arena.

Scarlet flames rushed upward.

Smoke exploded outward.

The space around Maxwell vanished behind a wall of fire.

"Wooooaahhhh!!!!!!"

"That's it, Sir Ravenor Burnwick!!"

"Dominate those weaklings!!"

"Let's go, Redemption!!!!"

The crowd erupted.

The cheers for Ravenor became even more one-sided.

From the perspective of most spectators, everything had happened almost too quickly to understand.

The holographic screens immediately replayed the sequence in slow motion.

For those who could follow the battle at that level, the exchange became slightly clearer.

Ravenor had avoided Maxwell's fist, redirected the attack, used Maxwell's momentum to throw him away, and then executed four Instant Flame Bursts almost simultaneously.

And all of that had happened within an incredibly short period.

From the beginning of the match, Ravenor had already caught Lyra in an Instant Flame Burst.

Now Maxwell had been caught in another series of explosions.

The time between Lyra being swallowed by Ravenor's first Instant Flame Burst and Maxwell being caught by the four explosions was only around a second and a half.

To many spectators, that was enough.

Ravenor looked dominant.

"Sir Ravenor is destroying them!"

"Neither of them can keep up!"

"He already got both of them!"

"Is the match going to end this quickly?!"

Some spectators stood from their seats while others leaned forward, trying to see through the flames.

Several non-Alchemists could barely even understand what they had just witnessed.

The slower replays helped.

But even then, the sequence was still difficult to follow.

The crowd continued to cheer.

Many genuinely believed the fight was already being controlled by Ravenor.

That was what those who could understand what had happened on the platform thought.

But…

Fwoosh!

A blade of light suddenly cut through the flames.

Then another.

Fwoosh!

Two moving blades tore through the scarlet flames and smoke surrounding the position where Lyra had been caught.

The flames were divided.

Smoke rolled apart.

And Lyra stepped out.

She was standing.

Fine.

Her training clothes were still intact.

There were no obvious signs that the explosion had seriously damaged her equipment or body.

However, sweat had already formed across her skin.

The heat surrounding the platform was intense enough that even someone protected by Cognis could feel it.

A faint flow of white Cognis escaped from her body.

It moved around her in thin strands before blending into the heat-filled air.

Lyra's white eyes, shaded faintly with purple, remained fixed on Ravenor.

But she wasn't only looking at him.

Her attention shifted toward something else happening nearby.

Something was happening at Maxwell's position.

KZZRAK!!!!

The loud sound of an Alchemy Circle being created echoed across the platform.

The sound was completely different from the explosions that had filled the arena moments earlier.

It was sharp.

Heavy.

And unmistakable.

Many Low-ranking Alchemists immediately turned their eyes toward Maxwell's position.

Several High-ranking Alchemists did the same.

The people who had been watching Ravenor now shifted their attention toward the other side of the platform.

Ravenor's scarlet eyes also moved toward the source of the sound.

A faint trace of surprise appeared in his expression.

The area around Maxwell was still covered by scarlet flames and smoke.

But something was wrong.

The flames were moving.

Not outward.

Inward.

The scarlet fire that had spread across the platform began pulling toward a single point.

The smoke followed.

It twisted through the air and began spiraling toward the same location.

The heat that had previously spread across the platform was being gathered.

Then a golden light appeared inside the smoke.

It grew brighter.

The surrounding scarlet flames continued disappearing into it.

Maxwell's silhouette slowly became visible.

His golden eyes could be seen through the fading smoke.

Then his voice came from inside the phenomenon.

"I'm sure you have been really curious about what my Alchemy Path is and what it can do."

A smile appeared on Maxwell's face.

Whoosh!!!

Wind violently blasted away from him.

The remaining scarlet flames and smoke were pulled toward his right hand before being completely absorbed.

At the center of his palm was a golden flame.

It was not like Ravenor's scarlet flames.

Its light was deeper.

Brighter.

And the heat coming from it immediately began changing the atmosphere around Maxwell.

The golden flame expanded.

Maxwell looked directly toward Ravenor.

"Then experience it yourself, Genius of Burnwick and Wild Gun of Ash!!"

His voice carried across the platform.

Ravenor's expression became more focused.

Lyra also remained nearby, watching the golden flame.

Maxwell raised his right hand slightly.

Cognis began moving through his body.

It flowed from his upper arm into his forearm.

From his forearm, it moved into his hand.

Then it poured into the golden flames.

The flame responded immediately.

It expanded more.

The golden light grew larger around his hand.

Heat spread outward.

The temperature across the fight platform rose rapidly.

Several spectators began feeling the change even through the protection of the Force Field.

Inside the Royal Academy's technical observation room, warning sounds began to ring.

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

The heat meters had detected the sudden increase.

Professor Greg Mayer stared at the zoomed holographic screen positioned in front of him.

The screen showed Maxwell clearly.

Around it were countless other holographic screens displaying different sections of the Main Administrative Center and even other Academy districts near the Main Administrative Center.

Yet Greg's attention remained on the single screen showing the fight platform.

His arms were folded.

His eyes remained fixed on Maxwell.

He continued watching what the disciple of Andraver was capable of doing.

Around him, several Royal Academy staff members immediately moved.

Some checked the temperature readings.

Others worked on increasing the Force Field's effects around the arena.

They were making sure the rising heat did not spread into the spectators' section.

Back on the fight platform…

The golden flame had continued growing.

It was now large enough that Maxwell's own face was partially hidden behind it.

He stared through the golden glow.

"Don't lose too fast!!"

Maxwell shouted again.

Then he moved his hand downward.

The enormous Golden Flame ball followed the motion.

Its trajectory changed from upward to downward.

Maxwell brought his arm down with force.

The Golden Flame slammed into the platform.

BOOMMMM!

The moment the Golden Flame touched the ground, the material beneath it began to disintegrate.

The platform did not simply crack.

It was being destroyed at the point of contact.

The Golden Flame spread across the ground.

Then…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

Another explosion erupted.

The sound shook through the entire arena.

But this explosion was different.

It wasn't the normal explosion that people were familiar with from natural combustion.

There was no simple outward burst followed by an immediate decline.

The Golden Flame expanded.

It spread rapidly across the platform like a living wave of heat.

The golden light rushed outward from Maxwell's position.

Ravenor saw it coming.

Lyra saw it too.

The expanding Golden Flame moved across the ground toward both of them.

Ravenor's eyes narrowed.

The distance between him and the approaching flames disappeared rapidly.

"Tsk."

He immediately moved his hands.

Clap!

His palms came together.

The Alchemy Symbols appeared.

A Flame Alchemy Circle rapidly formed.

The lighter Ravenor had suspended earlier was still floating near his leg.

The moment the Flame Alchemy Circle appeared, the flames produced by the lighter began flowing toward it.

The scarlet fire was pulled into the Circle.

Ravenor didn't wait for the Golden Flames to reach him.

His Flame Alchemy ignited.

Scarlet flames burst outward from the Circle.

They curled around his body.

The flames formed a spherical layer around him, wrapping his entire body in scarlet fire.

Ravenor disappeared inside it.

The Golden Flames reached him.

The golden light consumed Ravenor's position completely.

At the same time, Lyra was still nearby.

She didn't have the same distance from Ravenor that she had before.

The expanding Golden Flames were now spreading across the space around both of them.

Lyra immediately moved Cognis through her body and into her Alchemy Coat.

The Alchemy Coat responded.

Its hardening function activated.

The material became reinforced as Cognis spread through it.

Lyra positioned herself against the approaching force.

Then the Golden Flames reached her.

The entire fight platform became bright.

Golden light covered the ground.

It swallowed the remaining smoke.

It consumed the scarlet flames.

For several moments, almost nothing could be seen except gold.

The explosion expanded beyond the platform.

It reached the Force Field surrounding the arena.

The barrier trembled.

Vmmmmmm…

The Force Field held.

It shook under the pressure of the Golden Flames, but it did not break.

The force of the attack spread against its surface before being contained.

Inside the stands, the crowd had fallen into stunned silence.

A moment ago, hundreds of thousands of spectators had been shouting.

Now…

Nothing.

Many people simply stared.

Some had their mouths slightly open.

Others remained frozen in their seats.

Even those who had been cheering Ravenor moments earlier were struggling to process what they had just seen.

The platform was hidden behind the golden glow.

The three fighters could no longer be clearly seen.

"What…"

A spectator couldn't even finish the sentence.

"What was that?"

Another person slowly stood.

"That wasn't a normal Flame Alchemy…"

"Golden Flames?!"

"Is there an Alchemy Path like that?"

Since when did Flame Alchemy have something like that!"

The realization spread through the arena.

But it was not only the ordinary spectators who had been shocked.

Across different sections of the arena, several important guests had already recognized something.

Their expressions changed.

Some immediately leaned forward.

Others stood.

Some exchanged glances without saying anything.

They had seen enough.

They understood that Maxwell's Golden Flames weren't simply another variation of ordinary Flame Alchemy.

At the Elders and High Board Members' seating section of the Duke Houses…

Rena Bremer stared at the fight platform.

The golden glow reflected in her eyes.

Her expression was completely frozen.

"Is this just a dream?"

She asked herself in complete shock.

Beside her, Bianca Ashenlocke suddenly stood.

Her eyes remained fixed on the platform.

"Wait…"

Her voice was quiet.

Then she looked toward the other High Board Members and the Elders of Ash.

"This has to be a joke, right?"

But nobody laughed.

Nobody answered.

The people around her were staring at the same golden battlefield.

Their expressions carried the same disbelief.

Bianca slowly turned her head from one person to another.

The same reaction was visible everywhere.

Shock.

Disbelief.

And realization.

It wasn't only the Ashenlocke House.

The Elders and High Board Members of the other Duke Houses had also reacted.

Some had stood.

Some remained seated but leaned forward.

Others exchanged silent looks as they tried to understand what they had just witnessed.

The golden light continued fading from the platform.

And as it did…

The arena waited.

Nobody knew what would emerge from the remaining heat and smoke.

For the first time since the match began, the entire audience had stopped thinking about who was dominating.

They were simply waiting to see what remained, but in all this shocked and waiting appearance, where gazes of realization.

"So, The Elder had a Disciple Huh."

A woman's voice muttered with an amused realization, seated amongst the important Guests in the arena.