Chapter 579: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The Rematch of the Flowers

"Tsk."

Vera clicked her tongue as she took another few steps backward.

Her black sandals scraped lightly against the ground, leaving shallow marks across the surface of the training area. Her arms were already beginning to feel heavy, and the faint numbness spreading through them had not escaped her notice.

She’s fast, strong, and...

Vera kept her eyes on Diane.

The other girl was already standing in front of her.

There had barely been enough time for Vera to retreat before Diane had closed the distance again.

Vera immediately raised her hands.

The skin around them was red from the strikes she had already taken, and parts of her arms had begun turning purple where the repeated impacts had pressed against her bones. Her fingers flexed once as she prepared herself for the next attack.

There was no time to examine the injuries.

Diane was already moving.

Bam!

Diane’s right fist struck Vera’s raised arms.

The impact forced Vera’s arms backward.

Her feet slid across the ground.

Instead of trying to absorb the entire force with her arms, Vera moved her right leg farther across the ground, lowering her center of gravity and using the movement to dampen the force traveling through her body.

The moment Diane’s punch finished its path, Vera reacted.

Her right leg snapped forward.

Her knee rose quickly toward Diane’s body.

Vera’s dull black eyes remained fixed on Diane’s face as she committed herself to the counterattack with all the strength she could gather.

For that brief instant, she saw everything clearly.

Diane’s light-blue eyes moved downward.

They caught the incoming knee.

Then, right before Vera’s attack could strike her, Diane’s eyes returned to Vera’s face.

Vera’s expression remained almost unchanged.

...And her battle instincts are terrifying.

She thought about it casually, even while her body was moving.

Diane’s right palm came down.

It caught Vera’s knee.

The impact stopped the attack.

Diane’s hand moved backward slightly from the force.

Only slightly.

Her feet remained firmly planted.

Her body absorbed the impact without giving Vera the opening she wanted.

At the same time, Diane’s left hand was already moving toward Vera’s face.

Vera’s eyes shifted.

She could already tell what was coming even before it moved.

That was the problem.

She could see it.

She could understand where the attack was going.

But every attack Diane made seemed to create too many counter variables all at once.

Basically...

Before Diane attacked, Vera could already understand where the first attack was going to land.

That allowed her to block it.

She could even prepare a counterattack at the same time.

But once the block happened, everything changed.

A new movement would appear in her mind.

Then another.

Then another possibility would open from that second movement.

Diane’s attacks were not simply attacks.

Every movement seemed to create another choice for her.

And every choice forced Vera to consider another response.

It was like trying to catch a snake while it was already moving in several directions.

Vera could easily predict the first movement.

The problem was what happened immediately after it.

The new variables created by Diane’s counterattack appeared in Vera’s mind so quickly that, for a brief moment, she was left uncertain about which response would actually be the correct one.

And there was something even worse.

Her physical body could not keep up with what her mind was seeing.

Vera had trained like every other Ashenlocke child her age and even those older than her.

She had spent countless hours learning the martial arts of her family.

She was already a promising user of both the Steel Dragon Arts and the Steel Snake Arts.

Her body had been strengthened through training, and her understanding of martial arts was far beyond what most children her age possessed.

But all of that seemed almost useless against Diane Bergwyn.

Diane was only using the Titan Arts of her family.

Yet every movement carried enough strength to force Vera to react.

Vera watched the punch coming toward her.

Her eyes followed it.

She knew where it was going.

She knew the angle.

She knew when it would reach her.

A small smile appeared on her face.

It was faint enough that most people watching would not have noticed it.

Her eyes remained locked onto the incoming fist.

Her mind had already understood the movement.

But her body...

It could not move as quickly as her mind.

BAM!

Diane’s left fist struck Vera directly on the cheek.

The impact snapped Vera’s head to the side.

Her small body was thrown backward.

For an instant, her feet left the ground completely.

Her body rolled through the air before she crashed onto the training ground.

The impact sent dust and loose particles across the surface.

Vera’s body rolled once more before coming to a stop.

She tried to move.

Her fingers twitched against the ground.

She pushed one hand down.

Nothing happened.

Her arm trembled, but it did not have enough strength to lift her body.

She tried again.

Her vision shifted.

The training ground blurred.

The figures standing around her seemed to move slightly, their voices becoming distant and unclear.

She could not stand up again.

That punch had completely disrupted her focus.

Her head felt heavy.

Her thoughts were no longer moving properly.

She was in a state of concussion.

The Senior Royal Guard stared at Vera without saying anything for a moment.

His eyes moved over her body, checking whether she was still conscious.

Diane stood several steps away.

She was breathing slightly harder than before, but her posture remained steady.

Her light-blue eyes looked toward the Senior Royal Guard.

"She won’t be able to stand up."

Diane said it plainly.

The Senior Royal Guard looked at little Diane.

His expression became serious.

She hasn’t lost consciousness yet.

He could still see Vera’s fingers moving slightly against the ground.

But the fight was too one-sided, and she has sustained too many fractures to her bones.

None of the injuries appeared to be serious.

But the Young Lady of Ash is already in a state of concussion.

Allowing the fight to continue would only be prolonging the inevitable.

The Senior Royal Guard raised his voice.

"End of the match!! Lady Diane Bergwyn."

He pointed toward Diane.

The words echoed throughout the training ground.

For a moment, Vera could still hear the sound of his voice.

Then her head slowly lifted.

Her vision remained blurry.

Through the haze, she could barely make out Diane’s figure.

Those light-blue eyes were still visible.

Diane stood quietly in front of her before turning away.

Vera’s eyes followed her.

She could also hear noise coming from somewhere around the training ground.

It sounded like an argument had begun.

The voices overlapped.

She could not make out what they were saying.

Her hearing became weaker.

The last thing she saw was Becky and the other maids rushing toward her.

Then...

Everything disappeared.

***

"BEGIN!!!!!"

The crowd’s voices echoed loudly through the Royal Academy’s combat grounds after the holographic screens changed to display the word announcing the beginning of the match.

Vera’s consciousness snapped back from her past memory of the spar between Diane and herself.

A faint smile remained on her face.

The memory had only lasted for a moment.

But the sensation of that old punch, the pressure of Diane’s strength, and the way her body had failed to keep up with her thoughts were still buried somewhere in her mind.

Now she stood in front of Diane again.

Older.

Stronger.

And no longer the little girl who had been carried away unconscious after their first encounter.

Vera looked at Diane.

"I will be returning the punch you gave me back with much love, Sleeping Beauty."

She said casually.

She had not even taken her fighting stance yet.

Her arms remained loose at her sides, and her expression held the same calm look she had carried since stepping onto the platform.

Diane looked back at her.

"You can try your best, Vera."

Her answer was simple.

Neither girl moved.

The crowd had already shouted the match commencement word at the beginning of the match, yet the two Flowers simply stood there and stared at each other.

The huge combat platform seemed strangely quiet for that brief moment.

A few spectators slowly stopped cheering.

Some looked toward the holographic screens, wondering whether they had missed something.

Others leaned forward.

They had expected the two Flowers to attack immediately.

Instead, both remained still.

Only their eyes moved.

The wind passed across the platform, carrying small pieces of fallen snow along the ground.

Neither girl paid attention to it.

Then...

BOOM!!!!!

The entire place erupted with wind pressure.

The young ladies had not visibly moved.

Yet something had already clashed between them.

The shockwave spread across the fight platform, pushing more loose snow away from their positions.

Ordinary spectators could not properly see what had happened.

To them, it was almost as if something invisible had collided between Vera and Diane.

But low-ranking Alchemists could see it clearly.

Light-blue Cognis and white Cognis were moving through the air like lightning, rapidly colliding against each other.

The two streams of Cognis met between the girls and twisted around one another before separating and colliding again.

Each collision sent another wave of pressure across the platform.

Fallen snow was swept away from the entire fight platform.

Loose snow from the surrounding fight area was also thrown outward, scattering across the field.

The audience finally realized that the fight had already begun.

They had simply failed to see its first exchange.

Before many of them could properly react to the clash of Cognis...

Vera and Diane finally moved.

Like flashes of light, the two young ladies who had once fought each other as children disappeared from their original positions.

Vera moved forward.

Diane moved at the same time.

Their paths crossed.

KLANG!

Sparks burst into the air as metal struck metal.

Vera held a Repeater Sword Rifle in her hands.

Diane was behind Vera, suspended in the air while holding her slim sword.

The distance between them was extremely small.

Their weapons had met so quickly that the sound reached the spectators almost before they could understand where the two girls had moved.

Vera immediately turned.

Her body dropped into a kneeling posture as one boot touched the ground.

The Repeater Sword Rifle moved with her.

She did not waste time trying to create distance.

Instead, she used the position to fire.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The gunshots erupted one after another.

Vera’s hand worked the weapon’s firing mechanism with practiced speed.

She fired, pulled the lever down, pulled it back up, and fired again.

Her movements were fast enough that the Repeater Sword Rifle seemed to cycle through its firing sequence almost without pause.

The rhythm was so rapid that anyone unfamiliar with the weapon could have mistaken it for an AK-47.

Each muzzle flash briefly illuminated Vera’s face.

Her dull black eyes remained fixed on Diane.

She was not simply firing in Diane’s general direction.

She was following her movement.

Every shot was placed along the path Diane was using to close the distance.

But Diane reacted immediately.

Clang!

Her slim sword cut through the first bullet.

The small projectile split apart from the force of the strike, sending fragments away from her body.

Diane stepped forward.

Her sword moved upward after completing a vertical downward swing.

Clang!

The second bullet was sliced apart.

Her wrist rotated.

The slim sword continued moving smoothly through her hand.

Clang!

Another bullet was cut.

Clang!

Another.

Clang!

Another.

Clang!

The last few shots were dealt with in the same manner.

Diane did not stop moving while defending.

That was the important part.

She was not standing in place and merely blocking the gunfire.

Every time her sword moved, one of her feet moved with it.

One step.

One slash.

Another step.

Another slash.

The gap between her and Vera continued to shrink.

Vera’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Diane was getting closer.

She sliced through every shot Vera fired while using the momentum of each movement to push herself closer.

Then...

Her figure suddenly faded from Vera’s view.

Vera’s dull eyes moved rapidly from left to right.

Nothing.

Her head shifted.

Still nothing.

KLANG!

A heavy metallic impact came from behind her.

Diane’s slim sword had landed against the body of the Repeater Sword Rifle.

Vera had reacted immediately when she sensed the shift behind her.

She raised the rifle above her head blocking the sword slash.

Diane’s blade pressed down against it.

The two weapons locked together.

Vera’s arms shook under the pressure.

Diane was behind her, using the higher position to drive the sword downward.

Crack!

The ground beneath Vera’s feet fractured.

The force of the impact traveled through her weapon, into her arms, through her body, and finally into the ground.

Thin cracks spread beneath her boot.

Vera’s eyes shifted upward toward Diane.

Diane’s light-blue eyes looked down at her.

Neither girl spoke.

Vera suddenly changed her footing.

She twisted her body.

BOOM!

Diane’s slim sword slammed into the ground.

The impact created another burst of dust.

At the same time, Vera spun through the air.

One hand touched the ground briefly.

She pushed against it.

Her body lifted just enough to escape the sword’s range before she jumped backward.

Broken pieces of rock and newly fallen snow flew into the air from the impact.

The dust spread around Diane’s legs.

Vera landed.

Both of her feet touched the ground at almost the same time.

She immediately turned the Repeater Sword Rifle toward Diane.

There was no hesitation.

Her body moved smoothly from the landing into the next attack.

Bang!

Bang!

She fired.

The bullets traveled toward Diane.

Diane reacted.

She moved her body sideways, weaving around the first bullet.

Her slim sword followed.

With one smooth diagonal movement, she swung upward.

Clang!

The bullet was sliced apart.

Diane’s foot touched the ground.

Then she pushed forward.

Whoosh!

Her body dashed toward Vera.

The distance between the two Flowers disappeared once again.

Vera’s fingers tightened around the Repeater Sword Rifle.

Her eyes remained locked onto Diane.

The rematch between the Flower of Bergwyn and the Flower of Ash had truly begun.