Chapter 583: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The Rematch of the Flowers V

The smoke cloud began to clear faster.

Because of the violent wind created by the rapid movements of Vera and Diane swept through the battlefield, tearing apart the smoke and pushing the remaining flames away from the center of the platform.

Loose snow rolled across the ground.

Small pieces of broken stone were carried by the wind before dropping again.

The damaged platform slowly became visible.

Now, the crowd could finally see the two Young Alchemists more clearly.

The Low-ranking Alchemists among the spectators were especially focused on the holographic screens, trying to understand what had happened during the moments they had failed to follow.

Back on the fight platform...

Diane kicked a large piece of broken rock.

The rock had been sitting inside one of the noticeable holes created by the earlier 13-pound shell that had crashed into the platform near Vera.

The kick sent it flying toward Vera.

Vera shifted her body slightly, as the rock passed by her side.

At the same time, her hands moved.

Click. Click.

She removed the magazines from both Acu-Vector Mk.IVs.

The empty magazines separated from the handguns under her control.

Two fresh magazines immediately flew out from her space bag.

They moved straight toward the magazine ports.

Click. Click.

Both magazines locked into place.

Vera raised the handguns.

Her dull black eyes remained on Diane.

She was about to fire.

Whoosh!

Vera suddenly bent her head and leaned her upper body slightly backward.

Diane’s right hand passed above her.

The slim sword in Diane’s hand cut through the air only a short distance above Vera’s face.

Vera’s pitch-black long hair moved from the pressure of the passing blade.

But that wasn’t all.

The ground beneath Vera’s leg began shaking.

A layer of frost spread across the platform.

The temperature around her dropped so quickly that thin pieces of ice began forming along the ground.

Vera did not panic.

She simply adjusted her footing, then in that same bent posture...

BRRATATATATAT! BRRATATATATAT!

She pulled the triggers.

Both handguns erupted.

The distance between Vera and Diane in this moment was extremely close.

The thin needles fired from Vera’s weapons moved toward Diane almost immediately after leaving the barrels.

Boom!

A thin ice wall grew from the ground.

It rose between Vera and Diane, blocking Diane’s body from the incoming needles.

Diane had not simply attacked Vera with a thrust of her slim sword.

She had also performed Alchemy with her leg acting as the medium of execution.

Her movement had allowed the Frost Alchemy to spread through the ground while she attacked Vera with her sword.

Vera’s eyes moved toward the newly formed ice wall.

Her body twisted almost immediately.

She performed a backflip as another thin ice wall suddenly grew behind her.

Her feet left the ground.

Her body rotated backward.

Another wall rose.

Then another.

The thin ice walls appeared only meters apart from each other, rapidly forming a line across the battlefield.

Vera continued through the gaps.

She turned her body in the air, allowing another wall to rise beneath her before she shifted again.

The final wall emerged only inches away from her.

Vera landed on both boots.

Her knees bent slightly to absorb the impact.

A few small strands of her black hair had been cut during the exchange and fell quietly onto the ground.

For a moment, both girls remained separated by the thin ice structures.

Then...

CLAP! CLAP!

The sound of both Young Alchemists bringing their hands together echoed across the battlefield.

Their movements had happened at the exact same time.

Neither of them needed to explain what the other was thinking.

The fight had gone on long enough.

They had already exchanged firearms, Frost Alchemy, Gun Alchemy, and close-range attacks.

Neither had managed to decisively overwhelm the other.

Vera had taken control of the battlefield with her firearms and artillery.

Diane had answered with her Frost Alchemy and battle instincts.

The longer the fight continued, the more difficult it would become for either side to gain a clean advantage.

So now there were only two choices.

Pull out the bigger Alchemy...

Or continue fighting a prolonged battle.

Few of the spectators understood what was happening, immediately they saw the rapid surge of wind and heard the sound of hands coming together.

"Wooooooaaaaahhhh!!!"

"They are going for it!!"

"Yeah... their Mass Alchemies!!"

"Come on, Lady Diane Bergwyn!!!"

"Lady Vera Ashenlocke, you got this!!!"

Hundreds of thousands of spectators erupted into cheers.

The sound rolled across the arena and seemed to shake the surrounding structures.

Some people joined the others already on their feet, to stand as well.

Others leaned over the railings.

Many pointed toward the two Flowers while the holographic screens focused on them.

The fight had already been moving at a speed that ordinary spectators could barely understand, but now they realized that both Young Alchemists were preparing something much larger.

The excitement spread quickly.

The two girls were no longer treating the fight as an ordinary exchange.

They were becoming more serious.

Back on the fight platform...

The wind began moving violently again.

Hundreds of pieces of Alchemy material flew from Vera and Diane’s space bags.

Metal bars rose into the air around Vera.

Frostsilver crystals emerged around Diane.

The materials moved upward before spreading across their respective sides of the platform.

The air between them became filled with metal and ice.

White Cognis flowed from Vera’s body.

It moved through the air like streaks of lightning, spreading from her body toward the materials surrounding her.

At the same time, light-blue Cognis flowed from Diane.

The two streams of Cognis crossed through the battlefield without touching each other.

Their Alchemy Circles began forming.

At the exact same time.

THUD!!!

Both girls slammed their hands onto the ground.

The impact of their palms against the platform echoed across the arena.

More wind exploded around the fight area.

The Force Field surrounding the battlefield trembled violently from the sudden increase in pressure.

The wind twisted around the platform.

For a moment, it almost looked as though a tornado was beginning to form.

Their Alchemy materials started moving.

The metal bars around Vera were pulled toward the large Gun Alchemy Circle forming beneath her.

The Frostsilver crystals surrounding Diane were drawn toward the Frost Alchemy Circle on her side.

The two circles expanded across the ground.

One half of the fight platform became covered by the white glow of Vera’s Gun Alchemy Circle.

The other half became covered by the light-blue glow of Diane’s Frost Alchemy Circle.

The boundary between the two circles was almost like a line dividing the battlefield in half.

Spectators leaned forward.

Nobody wanted to miss what would come next.

The metal bars entered Vera’s Mass Gun Alchemy Circle.

The material melted rapidly.

The molten metal flowed into hundreds of separate portions.

Each portion began compressing.

Then molding.

The same process occurred on Diane’s side.

Her Frostsilver crystals entered the Frost Alchemy Circle.

They melted and flowed into different sections of the circle before separating into individual portions.

The materials compressed.

They molded.

Both girls fed more Cognis into their Mass Alchemy.

The pressure around the battlefield continued increasing.

The Force Field trembled again.

The wind became stronger.

Then...

Both Mass Alchemies ignited at the exact same time.

The white and light-blue light expanded across their respective sides.

From Vera’s Mass Gun Alchemy Circle...

Two hundred and fifteen BAR M1918s erupted from the circle.

The firearms appeared in rapid succession, each one forming from the processed metal before floating into the air under Vera’s control.

And...

One hundred and twenty-eight ice clones of Diane formed from scratch.

The figures rose from the Frost Alchemy Circle.

One after another, they took shape.

Every clone looked exactly like Diane.

They had the same skin color.

The same training clothes.

Even the same cuts and tears in their clothes.

Thin ice fog flowed from their bodies as they stood behind the real Diane.

The sight alone caused another wave of noise from the crowd.

A hundred and twenty-eight copies of Diane stood behind her.

All of them looked toward Vera.

Vera looked across the battlefield.

Her expression remained calm.

"I knew you were going to do that."

She spoke casually.

Diane’s eyes remained glued to Vera.

"You have really grown strong, Vera. I could have already lost when you made use of that big gun."

Her tone remained light despite the enormous amount of power now standing behind her.

Vera shifted her center of gravity.

Her feet moved slightly.

"I would have made use of the artillery if this was a battle to the death."

Her voice remained light.

The statement was almost casual, but the meaning was obvious.

If there were no restrictions, she would have used everything available to her.

Diane looked at Vera.

"I see."

She shifted her stance.

Every single one of her ice clones copied the same movement.

One hundred and twenty-eight figures adjusted their feet at the same time.

Their bodies lowered.

Their arms moved.

They all took the Titan Arts stance of the Bergwyn House.

An excited smile faintly appeared on Diane’s face.

The same expression appeared on the faces of her ice clones.

Vera looked at them.

"Ice clones against my guns."

She raised her left hand calmly.

Her feet fully shifted into position properly.

Her body settled into the Steel Snake Arts stance of the Ashenlocke House.

Her expression remained composed as she looked across the battlefield.

Then she added...

"Of course, there’s more."

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

More firearms flew out from Vera’s space bag.

They joined the two hundred and fifteen BAR M1918s already hovering above the battlefield.

The number of weapons continued increasing.

Diane’s light-blue eyes moved across the mass of firearms in the air.

She began counting fast, inside her mind.

She recognized the weapons as they appeared.

RPG-2s.

Dual Barrel Shotguns.

Springfield M1903As.

Repeater Sword Rifles.

Kalthoff Repeaters.

AK-47s.

FAN FAL Battle Rifles.

AA-12s.

E-V 26 MK.IIs.

Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is.

The weapons did not float randomly, because Vera deliberately arranged them into their different categories.

Shotguns.

Assault rifles.

Sniper rifles.

Normal rifles.

Launchers.

Battle rifles.

And the main set...

The automatic rifles.

Diane’s eyes moved through the weapons while she calculated the numbers in her mind.

There were too many firearms to casually count by sight alone.

But she did not look away.

She continued studying them with her half-closed light-blue eyes.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

Diane cracked her neck and shoulders.

The movement was followed by a faint sound of joints shifting.

Her ice clones copied her.

Each of their heads moved in the same manner.

Their shoulders rolled together.

Across from them, Vera stretched her arms.

She rotated her shoulders before stretching her legs, preparing her body for the next exchange.

The cheering crowd gradually became quieter.

Not because their excitement had disappeared.

Quite the opposite.

Everyone was watching now.

The noise slowly settled as hundreds of thousands of spectators focused on the battlefield.

Some stared at the hundreds of firearms floating above Vera.

Others looked toward the hundreds of Diane’s ice clones.

Even many of the experienced Alchemists became more focused.

The two sides of the battlefield looked completely different.

Vera stood calmly in her Steel Snake Arts stance.

Hundreds upon hundreds of different firearms hovered above her and around her sides.

Every weapon was under her control.

Across from her...

Diane stood with her hundreds of ice clones.

All of them had taken the Titan Arts stance.

The ice fog around their bodies drifted slowly through the air.

For a moment, neither side moved.

The battlefield was quiet.

The wind passed between the two groups.

Loose snow slid across the cracked platform.

The weapons remained suspended.

The ice clones remained still.

Vera looked at Diane.

Her dull black eyes held the same calm expression as before.

"Shall we?"

She asked lightly.

Diane looked back at her.

"Yes."

She simply replied.