Chapter 585: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The Rematch of the Flowers VII

Diane immediately moved toward the large chunk of ice she had created earlier, with the other Ice Clones following closely behind her.

Even though they were made from ice, the clones carried the same appearance as Diane herself, from their faces and light-blue hair to the training clothes covering their bodies. From a distance, it was almost impossible to tell which one was the real Diane unless someone knew exactly what to look for.

The battlefield was already in a terrible state.

Cracks spread across the platform in every direction, pieces of stone, cartridge casings and frozen material were scattered across the ground, and the air remained cold enough for faint frost to cling to several broken surfaces. Smoke from the constant gunfire mixed with the pale fog produced by Diane’s Frost Alchemy, making the distance between the two Flowers difficult to judge.

A few of Diane’s Ice Clones moved toward her.

The Springfield M1903As immediately answered.

BANG!

The bullets tore through the battlefield and struck the legs of several Ice Clones, while others were hit along the sides of their heads.

Crack.

Crack.

The damage spread through their bodies almost instantly.

The clones that had been struck in the head broke apart first, pieces of frozen material falling from their faces and shoulders before their entire bodies crumbled onto the platform.

The ones that had been struck in the legs were not destroyed immediately.

Their legs shattered beneath them, causing their bodies to lose balance and fall heavily onto the ground. They tried to move, but with their lower bodies broken, they could only remain there while fragments of ice continued falling from their wounds.

Boom! Boom!

Another pair of sniper bullets tore through the cold air.

Both bullets struck the heads of the fallen clones.

Their bodies broke apart completely.

The frozen remains scattered across the platform before losing their shape and turning back into ordinary ice.

Meanwhile...

The other Ice Clones that ran towards Diane continued moving in zigzags, changing their direction every few steps as they attempted to evade the gunfire of the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is.

They were not simply running.

While moving, each clone was still executing Frost Alchemy.

Their hands moved while their feet continued carrying them forward, and small traces of Cognis flowed around their bodies as they worked through the Alchemy process.

Not every clone succeeded.

Several bullets struck them before they could finish their movements.

One clone was hit through the shoulder.

Another was struck through the side of its body.

A third had its leg shattered while it was still moving.

The force sent the clone tumbling across the ground, but the remaining clones continued forward without stopping.

Then...

KZZRAK!

The Alchemy Circles finally ignited after absorbing the Frost Alchemy materials.

Light-blue circles formed around the moving clones.

Their hands spread forward.

Ice chains immediately shot from the Frost Alchemy Circles and rushed into the air, their frozen links twisting through the battlefield toward Vera.

Vera’s black eyes shifted.

She moved before the chains reached her.

Her body turned sharply, and she swung herself upward with one hand, using the Repeater Sword Rifle in her grasp to support her movement.

Two ice chains swept beneath her.

The tips passed close enough to disturb her clothes, but Vera was already above them.

For a brief moment, her body remained suspended in the air.

Then she landed with both boots on the body of the Repeater Sword Rifle.

The weapon dipped slightly beneath the sudden weight.

Vera immediately used that movement.

She jumped forward while twisting her body, turning herself away from another group of incoming ice chains.

One of the chains wrapped around the rifle.

Frost instantly spread across the weapon.

The metal body turned light-blue as ice crawled over its surface.

Vera released it before the freezing could reach her hand.

At the same time, the firearms surrounding her followed her movement through Alchemy Levitation, shifting through the air around her like a moving formation.

Only the firearms that were still firing remained in their positions, while the weapons that had run out of ammunition were already being replaced.

Vera’s body descended.

Thud!

Her boots struck the ground.

The moment she landed, Diane’s Ice Clones were already moving.

They rushed toward Vera from several directions, forming a loose circle around her.

Some of the other clones moved toward the sniper rifles, targeting the weapons that were still firing from different positions.

The remaining clones attacked Vera directly.

At the same time, the Ice Clones that had stayed with Diane finally moved.

Diane and the clones around her held their slim swords tightly and charged forward.

Bullets from the remaining Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is flew toward them.

The ice swords moved.

KLANG!

A bullet struck one of the blades and was knocked aside.

Another bullet followed.

KLANG!

The clone holding the sword shifted its body, allowing the bullet to pass beside its shoulder.

Another clone raised its slim sword and blocked another shot.

Sparks flashed repeatedly as Diane and her clones pushed forward through the barrage.

Vera dropped the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is and Springfield M1903As that had run out of ammunition.

The weapons fell onto the damaged platform before being dismissed from her control.

Doing so also reduced the amount of Cognis she was using to maintain them.

Diane’s real body moved among the clones.

The similarity between them made the battlefield look as if dozens of Dianes were advancing at once.

Sparks continued to appear as Diane and the clones slashed through the bullets.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Vera leaned to the left.

Two heavy kicks passed through the space where her body had been.

She immediately took several quick steps to the right.

Another Ice Clone attacked.

Vera lowered her body without turning around.

The clone’s leg swept over her head.

The wind produced by the kick moved through her hair.

Vera straightened.

Her body turned sharply.

Another clone was already attacking from her side with a heavy punch.

Vera raised her right hand.

Instead of meeting the punch with force, she guided the attacking arm forward, using the clone’s own momentum against it.

Her fingers caught the clone’s hand.

At the same time, she shifted her right leg toward the clone’s leg.

Vera pulled.

The Ice Clone lost its balance.

Its body was dragged forward, and Vera used the opening to twist her body around it.

She spun the clone and threw it toward one of the Ice Clones that had just attacked her with a heavy kick.

Boom!

The thrown clone crashed into the other one.

Their bodies collided hard enough to send ice fragments scattering across the platform.

Vera barely looked at them.

At the same moment...

KLANG!

A bright spark erupted behind her.

A Repeater Sword Rifle rotated rapidly through the air at Vera’s back.

She had already controlled it into position.

The weapon intercepted a sneak attack from another Ice Clone.

The clone had approached from behind with the ice version of Diane’s slim sword raised in its hand.

It attacked again.

The blade struck the Repeater Sword Rifle.

KLANG!

The rifle turned slightly from the impact, but Vera had already adjusted its position.

The two weapons remained locked for only a brief moment before the rifle shifted and pushed the clone’s sword away.

All around Vera, the sounds of Alchemy execution continued to erupt.

KZZRAK! KZZRAK! KZZRAK! KZZRAK! KZZRAK! KZZRAK!

The sounds came from different sides.

Vera’s black, dull eyes moved.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Her eyes continued shifting between the movements around her.

Her mind saw.

Her mind calculated.

Her mind analyzed.

The battlefield had become a collection of moving pieces.

Diane was approaching.

The Ice Clones were closing in.

The sniper rifles were being attacked.

The Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is were being surrounded.

The remaining firearms continued firing.

Vera’s attention moved from one point to another without stopping.

Then...

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Ice Clones sent ice chains toward her from different angles.

One came from the left.

Another came from the right.

Several more came from behind.

Others came from the direction where Diane was advancing, as the clones near Diane finally dealt with Vera’s sniper rifles and remaining Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk Is.

The distance between Diane and Vera was becoming smaller.

Vera didn’t panic in the slightest.

Her expression remained casual.

She simply moved her right hand downward.

And...

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Repeater Sword Rifles moved at once.

Their slim blades struck downward, catching the incoming ice chains and pinning them against the ground.

The chains stretched across the platform, their movement suddenly stopped as the blades hooked them down.

Vera did not stop there.

The same Repeater Sword Rifles shifted again rapidly.

Several of them crashed into nearby Ice Clones.

Boom!

One clone was struck through the chest.

Its body cracked.

Another rifle struck a second clone.

Its shoulder and torso broke apart.

The weapons continued forward before stabbing into the ground, leaving the broken clones behind.

The battlefield had become crowded with broken ice, spent weapons, frozen chains, and drifting cold fog.

At the same time...

"I finally caught up to you."

Diane’s voice came from Vera’s side.

But Vera was already looking at her.

Her head tilted back slightly.

Several Dual Barrel Shotguns hovered at her right side.

Vera stood on the left, looking directly at Diane with the same casual expression she had carried throughout the fight.

Diane stood only a short distance away.

Her slim sword glowed light blue.

Cognis flowed rapidly into the weapon.

The same process was being performed by the Ice Clones around her.

The blades brightened one after another.

At the same time, the Dual Barrel Shotguns beside Vera began glowing white.

Cognis rushed into them.

The weapons entered their Overload state.

For a moment, the two Flowers simply faced each other through the cold air.

Then...

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Vera fired all the shotguns.

Diane and her Ice Clones thrust their slim swords forward.

Pellets exploded from the shotguns and spread through the air in different directions.

The sheer number of pellets filled Vera’s line of sight, creating a wall of gunfire between her and Diane.

At the same time, Diane and the Ice Clones released a combined barrage of thick, ice-made slim swords.

The weapons flew forward together.

For a brief moment, the battlefield was filled with two opposing waves.

One was made of metal.

The other was made of ice.

Then they collided.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The impact spread across the damaged platform.

Pellets struck the thick ice swords.

Ice swords struck the incoming pellets.

Metal fragments and ice particles burst outward from the collision points.

The ground shook beneath the repeated impacts, and pieces of the already damaged platform were sent sliding across the surface.

The thick ice swords deflected some of the pellets.

But there were too many.

The sheer number of pellets eventually broke through the bodies of several slim swords.

KLANG! KLANG! KLANG!

The weapons shattered under the pressure.

More pellets pushed through.

The barrage continued until...

Crack.

One of Vera’s Dual Barrel Shotguns cracked.

A second crack followed.

Then another.

The white glow covering the weapons flickered.

The shotguns began breaking apart.

Their bodies crumbled into fine dust, which was immediately caught by the violent wind moving across the platform.

One after another, the Dual Barrel Shotguns disappeared.

The slim sword attacks from Diane and her Ice Clones also stopped.

The center of the clash was now covered by a thick layer of cold fog.

The fog moved slowly across the battlefield, hiding both Flowers from each other’s sight.

Vera jumped several steps backward.

Her boots landed against the damaged platform as she raised her head.

She looked through the cold fog.

At that moment...

Diane ran forward.

One of her Ice Clones quickly moved in front of her and bent down.

Another clone moved ahead of the first and placed its hands together, creating a small platform with its arms.

Diane stepped onto them.

KZZRAK!

At the same time, Diane executed another Frost Alchemy Circle with her left hand.

The Alchemy Symbols appeared around the forming circle as Cognis flowed through the structure.

She used the posture of her two Ice Clones like a stepping block.

Her foot pushed against them.

Her body launched upward.

The Frost Alchemy Circle completed.

The process began immediately.

One of the Ice Clones was pulled into the Alchemy Circle.

Its body was drawn toward the center as the Frost Alchemy absorbed it.

The Alchemy process occurred.

The circle ignited.

Its light brightened.

Light blue spread through the cold fog.

BANG!

A loud gunshot sounded across the battlefield.

At the same time...

Whoosh!

Diane appeared in the air.

She emerged from the cold fog while rotating horizontally.

Her body turned through the air, and her slim sword absorbed the cold air flowing from the Frost Alchemy Circle.

The blade brightened light blue once again.

The surrounding frost gathered around it.

Diane’s movement continued forward.

Her eyes remained fixed on Vera.

But Vera’s black, dull eyes were already locked onto her.

The fog between them began to thin.

Vera’s hand was already holding one of her RPG-2s.

And the weapon had already been fired.

The smoke from the launch drifted through the cold air as Vera stood below, looking directly at Diane’s airborne position.

Her expression remained casual.

Only that familiar, detached look remained on her face as she watched Diane descend from above with the glowing slim sword in her hand.