Chapter 598: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: The End of the Tenth Round

A little earlier, before Ezra created the MCX-SPEAR and before he placed all his remaining firearms into a state of Overload, his mind had already begun racing through too many thoughts at once.

Think, Ezra.

The thought repeated itself as he moved through the air.

The battlefield below him had almost become unrecognizable.

The ground was cracked and partially melted from Maxwell’s Golden Flames. Hot steam drifted across the platform, and every now and then, a broken piece of stone would fall from the air after being thrown upward by one of their attacks.

Ezra had been fighting through all of it.

He had fired artillery.

He had used assault rifles, battle rifles, sniper rifles, Repeater Sword Rifles, M79s, the Twin Vipers, and countless other firearms.

He had even used the magnetic functions of his Black Magnetic Gloves to turn his weapons into moving platforms.

Yet Maxwell was still standing.

With the destructive power of his Alchemy, even with the use of Umbral Orichsteel alloy to create all my firearms and bullets, they are still getting burned or deflected.

Ezra’s black eyes remained fixed on Maxwell.

The only time I got a good hit on his body was right before he got serious.

His breathing had become heavier.

His body was still moving because his Cognis continued to reinforce his muscles and bones, but Ezra could feel the strain spreading through him.

The sensation was subtle at first.

Then it became harder to ignore.

Since I had to utilize my Cognis to such a high level, I’m getting closer and closer to exhaustion.

Spark!

A small spark passed beneath Ezra’s boots as he shifted his weight.

He was still moving through the air on a Repeater Sword Rifle like a skateboard, using the firearm beneath his feet to glide along the edge of Maxwell’s latest Sun Blast.

The heat rushed around him.

His hair moved from the pressure.

Ezra turned his body slightly and looked down at Maxwell.

The Young Sun Alchemist stood among the Golden Flames, his body surrounded by heat while the halo above his head continued to burn.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed.

Think.

He had to find something.

Something that could actually penetrate Maxwell’s defense.

What is the best form of action?

The answer was becoming more obvious.

I can’t continue like this, or else I’ll end up dropping from Cognis exhaustion.

Ezra looked at the hot air parting around him.

Even the air itself seemed to distort from Maxwell’s flames.

Ezra tightened his leg grip on the Repeater Sword Rifle while sliding down.

I need a Gun that can penetrate through his defense.

The thought immediately triggered something within his mind.

The Book of Memories opened.

Inside his mind realm, countless firearms appeared.

Weapons.

Designs.

Specifications.

Caliber.

Power.

Ezra rapidly moved through them.

One firearm after another passed through his thoughts.

He considered the possibilities.

A Heavy Artillery Gun?

The thought remained for only a moment.

But the mobility and Cognis cost would be too much of a problem.

Ezra had already experienced how difficult it was to maintain heavy artillery while moving against Maxwell.

And there was another problem.

There is actually no guarantee that he wouldn’t be able to block it.

A stronger gun did not automatically mean a successful attack.

If Maxwell could withstand the projectile or destroy the weapon before it fired again, Ezra would have spent even more Cognis for nothing.

Ezra continued scrolling through the firearms available to him.

Guns that aligned with the Adept rank guns of his world.

One after another.

He already knew the answer.

No.

His eyes became colder.

Adept rank Guns are too weak to face him.

The Book of Memories continued moving.

Then Ezra stopped.

So, I have to risk a Meister-rank Gun.

His thoughts settled.

Yes.

The scrolling stopped at one weapon.

The MCX-SPEAR.

A Modular Assault Rifle/Carbine.

A firearm that aligned in the Meister-rank.

Its power was close to exceeding the normal limit of the Meister rank.

Ezra studied its design for only a moment, also picturing the Alchemy Circle he had designed when he wanted to convert many other firearms in higher ranks, just in case.

He already knew what creating it would mean.

If I use this...

His expression tightened.

I’m really risking my remaining Cognis.

His body was already nearing exhaustion.

Creating a firearm above his current Alchemist rank would push him even further.

But there was another possibility.

It will either be me falling down from exhaustion, or Maxwell falling down from a bullet piercing into him.

Ezra’s eyes sharpened.

The choice was made, and the plan began immediately.

He placed his firearms into Overload, to buy time for himself.

The countless overloaded firearms forced Maxwell to defend himself while Ezra used the remaining moments to prepare the Gun Alchemy that he needed.

Everything had been calculated around that purpose.

The barrage.

The movement.

The weapons.

The Gun Alchemy ignition.

All of it had given Ezra the few moments he needed.

Now he was on the ground.

Ezra lowered himself into a kneeling shooting posture.

His breathing was rougher than before.

The MCX-SPEAR began forming through Gun Alchemy.

The weapon took shape from the materials and Cognis he had gathered.

Metal compressed.

The firearm structure formed.

The components locked into place.

The Alchemy Circle continued feeding Cognis into the weapon until the final shape was completed.

A sixth-grade Gun appeared in Ezra’s hands.

The MCX-SPEAR.

Yet creating it had come at a cost.

Ezra’s remaining Cognis had been pushed dangerously low.

The Cognis storage accessories attached to his body began cracking one after another.

Crack.

A small fracture appeared.

Crack.

Another accessory broke.

Ezra did not look at them.

His attention remained on Maxwell.

Even with the damage to his second Cognis reserves, he had still managed to create a top-grade firearm.

He raised the MCX-SPEAR.

His eye moved behind the SIG Sauer TANGO6T 1–6×24 mm riflescope.

The magnification was set to 1×, since the distance between him and Maxwell was already close.

Ezra’s breathing slowed.

His finger settled near the trigger.

He had the shot.

He had the weapon.

He had the angle.

But just before he pulled the trigger...

Wait...

Ezra’s eyes shifted.

Maxwell was moving.

Golden Flames were gathering around him again.

The flames were being pulled together as Maxwell prepared another attack.

Ezra’s expression remained calm, but his thoughts moved rapidly.

Maxwell is still a Meister Alchemist.

His gaze stayed on the young man.

And a talented one at that.

Ezra knew better than to assume that creating a Meister-rank firearm meant victory.

I should assume he would be able to block this if he pushes his Cognis.

And if he isn’t as exhausted as I am...

Ezra’s grip tightened around the MCX-SPEAR.

Then I will lose even if I get through with this.

His tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth.

"Tsk."

The sound was small, but the faint frustration behind it was real.

Is this all I’m capable of doing?

Ezra questioned himself while keeping the rifle in position.

His body remained still.

The battlefield seemed to slow down.

Not because time had actually changed.

But because Ezra’s thoughts had accelerated to a point where every movement around him appeared easier to separate.

Maxwell’s flames.

The position of his feet.

The movement of his hands.

The heat around his body.

The remaining distance.

The MCX-SPEAR in Ezra’s hands.

Everything entered his calculations.

Even with the MCX-SPEAR, Maxwell could still push through.

Yes, Maxwell would be injured.

But compared to Ezra’s nearly empty Cognis Pool and Maxwell’s remaining Cognis as a Meister Alchemist, the answer was obvious.

Who falls first?

Ezra needed something else.

Something that could increase the gunfire right now.

Can I push it into the state of Overload?

The thought appeared.

Then Ezra rejected it.

No.

He already knew the result.

I’ll break down before I even pull the trigger.

He needed something more controlled.

Something that could assist the bullet’s piercing power without consuming all of my remaining Cognis.

His thoughts raced.

Something...

Then it clicked.

Ezra’s eyes widened slightly.

He already had it.

He had possessed the answer for a long time.

Something capable of breaking through Maxwell’s Sun Alchemy.

The Law of Inversion.

Ezra’s thoughts stopped for the smallest fraction of a moment.

He remembered its condition.

I have to make contact with the Alchemy I want to invert.

His eyes moved toward the MCX-SPEAR, then toward the bullets inside its magazine.

But who said that contact has to come from my hand?

The realization came quickly.

I can coat the bullets with the opposite Cognis.

Ezra’s fingers tightened around the rifle.

Then, when the bullet touches the Sun Alchemy, the Law of Inversion can take effect through the bullet instead of requiring my hand to touch the attack directly.

The idea immediately expanded.

I’m not trying to overpower Maxwell’s Sun Alchemy.

His eyes sharpened.

I only need to invert the part of the Alchemy that the bullet touches.

That was the difference.

His bullets did not need enough power to destroy the entire Sun Blast.

They only needed to create a path through it.

Give the bullets an additional function apart from piercing.

Ezra’s mind moved faster.

Not only that...

His gaze remained on the MCX-SPEAR.

I could also improve all Guns from being simple functions of piercing and explosion.

The concept of a Gun has always been to use stored energy to project a projectile toward a target.

He continued looking at the MCX-SPEAR.

But if you look at the concept’s definition, you realize the amount of room it has for elevation.

His eyes remained sharpened.

Gun Alchemists use metal because it gives a physical presence to penetration that other forms of matter don’t naturally provide.

Gas.

Liquid.

But with Alchemy, those forms of matter mean nothing.

When you can coat them, or condense them...

Ezra’s thoughts continued.

The probability of creating a Firearm using condensed solar particles, or even cold particles, is possible.

His eyes moved toward Maxwell’s Golden Flames again.

Or, more than that, coating them with the Law of Inversion.

His breathing stopped for a brief instant.

But would it work?

There was no certainty that he could succeed.

It was only an idea.

Ezra looked through the scope again.

Maxwell was still gathering his flames.

The Golden Flame halo above his head rotated slowly.

The platform continued melting beneath him.

Ezra’s grip tightened around the MCX-SPEAR.

No...

His black eyes sharpened again.

I will make it work.

The final decision was made.

Ezra’s remaining Cognis surged through his arms and into the MCX-SPEAR.

The weapon vibrated beneath his hands.

The Cognis moved through the rifle and into the magazine.

All of his thoughts before making the decision had happened within less than a microsecond, almost matching the milliseconds Maxwell needed to fully gather his own Big Sun Blast.

Then...

Thud!

Maxwell slammed his boots into the ground.

The platform cracked beneath him.

His muscles tightened.

His entire body leaned forward as he gathered more power.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!"

He moved his hands backward.

The golden halo above his head reacted.

Golden flames peeled away from the halo and flowed toward the massive ball of flames gathering before him.

The golden sphere grew.

Heat intensified.

The air trembled.

The center of the attack became brighter as Maxwell continued feeding it Cognis.

The flames surrounding the platform also began moving toward the attack.

The entire battlefield seemed to be feeding Maxwell’s technique.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Maxwell pushed both hands forward.

KRAZZZOOOM!

The Sun Blast erupted.

The force of the attack immediately disintegrated the ground beneath it.

Stone melted as the blast passed over the platform.

The air split around its path, and a massive wave of hot steam rushed outward.

The attack moved rapidly toward Ezra.

Ezra did not move.

Because he could not.

At least not yet.

His white Cognis flowed rapidly into the magazine of the MCX-SPEAR.

The Cognis spread through the ammunition.

One bullet at a time, the opposite Cognis was carefully coated onto their surfaces.

His concentration became even tighter.

He was using the Law of Inversion.

The white Cognis had to be placed with pinpoint precision.

The coating itself did not make the bullets stronger.

Its purpose was to give the bullets the ability to carry the Law of Inversion to whatever Alchemy they touched.

If the coating touched the wrong part of a bullet, the Law could react against the bullet itself.

If the balance between the opposite Cognis and the bullet’s existing structure failed, the magazine could be destroyed.

The rifle itself could also be damaged.

Ezra knew all of this.

Yet he continued.

The Sun Blast was coming closer.

The heat reached him.

His hair moved from the pressure.

The ground around his knees began to crack.

His hands remained steady.

Bang!

Ezra fired the first shot.

The MCX-SPEAR recoiled against his shoulder.

The first bullet tore through the air.

Ezra immediately changed his aim.

Not toward the same point.

A different angle.

Bang!

The second shot followed almost at the exact same time as the first.

Ezra shifted again.

Bang!

Another bullet.

Then another.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The firing continued.

Ezra rapidly changed the direction of each shot by a small amount, creating a spread across the path of the incoming Sun Blast.

The bullets did not travel in one straight line.

They formed a wall.

White streaks of Cognis followed behind them as they moved through the air.

The Sun Blast approached.

The bullets approached.

The distance between them disappeared rapidly and they collided.

BOOM!

A massive explosion erupted from the center of the two attacks.

The shockwave expanded outward.

Wind tore across the platform.

Broken pieces of rock were thrown through the air, some striking the Force Field surrounding the arena.

Bang!

Another piece of stone hit the barrier.

Hot steam crashed against it as well.

The Force Field trembled beneath the pressure.

The entire arena fell quiet.

The spectators watched without speaking, because many of them didn’t know which attack had won.

The smoke and steam covered the battlefield.

The golden light of the Sun Blast had disappeared into the cloud.

Then...

THK!

THK!

Maxwell’s golden eyes widened.

Blood splashed from his right shoulder.

Another wound appeared around his left knee.

His body staggered.

For a moment, Maxwell almost lost his balance.

He looked down.

The wounds were not superficial.

The bullets had pierced through.

He could see the remaining projectiles approaching his other shoulder and knee.

Maxwell’s eyes followed them.

He could also see the holes the earlier bullets had created as they passed through his Sun Blast.

The Law of Inversion had done exactly what Ezra intended.

The Sun Blast had not been overwhelmed by greater firepower.

Instead, wherever the coated bullets touched the Sun Alchemy, the Law of Inversion interfered with that portion of the attack.

The affected sections lost their original function for an instant, creating narrow paths through the Sun Blast.

The bullets passed through those openings.

The Sun Blast remained around them, but the portions directly touched by the inverted Cognis could no longer stop the projectiles in the same way.

That was all Ezra needed.

He had not inverted the entire Sun Blast.

He had only created enough points of inversion for his bullets to pass through it.

The bullets continued.

They were supposed to melt.

Even though they were made from Umbral Orichsteel, that same alloy had struggled against Maxwell’s flames earlier.

Yet these bullets had passed through his defense.

And their piercing power had not been reduced by the Sun Alchemy.

The impact had even forced apart the strong bones of a Meister Alchemist.

Maxwell’s body leaned to one side.

His blood continued dripping.

His breathing became rough.

"I’m going to lose."

The words came out quietly.

Maxwell looked at Ezra through the smoke.

Complete disbelief appeared in his golden eyes.

He had finally used all his power.

He had fought seriously.

And he was still going to lose.

"Argh!"

Maxwell gritted his teeth.

His legs shook as he forced himself to remain standing.

Blood splashed from his wounds.

The pain was severe, but he refused to fall.

He poured more Cognis throughout his entire body.

The Cognis strengthened his muscles and bones, forcing his body to remain upright.

Another bullet approached.

It was only moments away from striking him.

Maxwell’s eyes moved toward it, then his hands came together.

CLAP!

At the same time, the golden halo above his head began rotating rapidly.

The Mass Sun Alchemy reacted.

A Sun Alchemy Circle formed beneath Maxwell.

It appeared quickly.

But this time, its glow began changing.

The flames from the halo flowed downward.

The Golden Flames burning beneath Maxwell moved into the Circle.

The heat waves covering the battlefield were also pulled toward it.

Everything gathered.

The golden glow became brighter.

Then...

It changed.

The golden light turned white.

A white flame ignited within the Alchemy Circle.

The flame spread forward.

The light expanded across the platform.

It covered the broken ground.

Then it continued spreading beyond the fight platform and across the arena floor.

The spectators reacted at once.

Many raised their hands to cover their eyes.

Others turned their heads away from the brightness.

The entire arena was filled with white light.

The Force Field reflected some of it back across the stands, making the entire Combat Festival grounds appear as though a second sun had suddenly appeared inside them.

The High-ranking Alchemists did not look away.

They stared directly into the light.

Their expressions carried different emotions.

Shock.

Excitement.

Disbelief.

And, for some, a strange sense of anticipation.

They had been watching the battle from the beginning.

They had seen the Gun Alchemist push a Meister Alchemist to the edge.

They had seen the Sun Alchemist reveal power that ordinary spectators could barely understand.

And now the result was hidden inside that white light.

The arena waited.

The light continued spreading.

Until there was only one question left.

Who was still standing?

The High-ranking Alchemists stared into the brilliance.

And slowly, the answer began to reveal itself.

The last man standing.