Chapter 97: The Predator’s Decision

Chapter 97: Chapter 97: The Predator’s Decision

Exactly as predicted, Aina was absolutely not the type of person to put all her eggs in one basket.

The moment she realized her first large-scale crowd control skill was neutralized by the Lunar Eclipse Team’s precautions, she instantly shifted her tactics, frantically pumping a massive amount of magic power into her third skill.

The air was instantly torn apart; besides the eerie swarm of Puppet Butterflies spiraling straight toward Leon, another massive swarm of butterflies split off, carrying a razor-sharp murderous intent as they plunged down simultaneously onto the heads of the remaining four Lunar Eclipse Team members.

Lucius, thanks to possessing the [Instant Teleportation] skill plus his positioning furthest away from Aina on the tactical chessboard, easily borrowed momentum to tear through space to dodge the moment the flow of time restored its order. However, Jeremy, Evelyn, and Phoenix did not share that luck.

The moment the Puppet Butterflies bearing a deathly aura brushed past the hem of their cloaks, they immediately bloomed, spitting out countless viscous, milky-white silk threads, persistent as silkworm silk weaving a cocoon, pinning their bodies tightly. A bone-chilling sensation shot straight into the marrow; the magic power in Jeremy’s sea of consciousness was drained at a terrifying speed. The paralyzing toxin clinging to the butterfly silk rapidly sealed their neural neurons, thoroughly stripping away all physical resistance capabilities of all three people.

Bound tightly by the toxic silk, Evelyn’s blue eyes flashed a sharp, cold glint. She did not struggle, decisively reaching out a hand that had begun to stiffen, forcibly summoning a wall of crisscrossing, thorny vines that curled and wrapped around her entire body from head to toe. Although this shell successfully isolated the enemy’s sharp vision, it simultaneously turned her into a self-imprisoning cocoon, neutralizing all her own retreat options.

The stands immediately erupted into a cacophony of ear-piercing commotion: "Is she planning to just give up and wait for death?"

"Even though the vine wall can block physical firepower, building a cocoon like this is no different from locking oneself in a cage and cutting off one’s own retreat!" Countless gazes poured onto the silent mass of vines, mostly convinced that the expressionless female student of the Lunar Eclipse Team had thoroughly raised the white flag.

Standing on the outer ring, Lucius’s phoenix eyes swept quickly over Jeremy’s tragic state of being bound by the silk cocoon. The reddish corners of his eyes narrowed, a thick murderous intent spilling from his smirking lips. Lucius raised his hand, lightly snapping his fingers with a resounding "click". The [Demon Slaughter] skill instantly erupted. A pitch-black mist carrying the breath of death billowed out, rapidly swallowing all the light on the arena.

However, deep within the vine shell, no one knew that deep inside Evelyn’s pale green pupils, an extremely complex Inscription runic matrix had quietly condensed. Lucius’s magic mist acted like a perfect camouflage curtain, silently spreading, concealing all the slaughtering schemes taking shape in every nook and cranny of the battlefield.

Simultaneously, the milky-white silk cocoons had tightened, completely obscuring the figures of Evelyn, Phoenix, and Jeremy. Catching the scent of prey that had lost the ability to resist, the enemy’s assassin Sze and meat shield Davion instantly accelerated. Their weapons flashed with cold glints, lunging straight forward with the intention of harvesting heads, cleanly eliminating the three core members of the Lunar Eclipse Team.

Lucius and Leon didn’t need to waste half a word of communication. The two masculine backs darted past each other, coordinating with eerie perfection, forming a violent steel wall that blocked the two’s path of advance. Capitalizing on the loophole while the vanguard lines were deadlocked, Helyn standing in the backline instantly waved her hand, ordering the Fire Phoenix and the swarm of ghostly Elves to bombard straight at Phoenix’s position.

"Troublesome." Leon clicked his tongue with deep impatience. He decisively retracted his twin crescent blades, without a shred of hesitation tossing the two eyesores Davion and Sze for Lucius to fend for himself alone. Magic power surged beneath his heels, his thigh muscles tensing; Leon stomped heavily on the stone floor, accelerating and soaring like invisible wings toward the safe zone in the backline.

The moment the phoenix fire was about to incinerate Phoenix, Leon erupted his Inscription’s exclusive skill: [Phantom Clone]. Space twisted. In the blink of an eye, Leon’s tall figure forcibly swapped physical positions with Phoenix. At the same time, at the original location, an illusion identical to Phoenix was copied and imprinted. The true body and the afterimage intersected for a mere millisecond before being repelled in opposite directions by the matrix’s thrust. The milky-white butterfly silk clinging to the illusion was so perfect it didn’t deviate a millimeter from the true body, completely deceiving the enemy’s vision, making them unable to distinguish flesh and bone from nothingness.

Right after successfully swapping, Leon did not stall. He spread his muscular arms wide, erupting a wave of extremely powerful physical magic force, roughly shoving Jeremy’s stiffly silk-bound body and Evelyn’s vine cocoon mass all the way back against the arena wall. This decisiveness allowed them to just narrowly escape the bombardment range of the Fire Phoenix and the Elf swarm, which were frantically redirecting their attacks due to the sudden loss of their target, Phoenix.

Witnessing the chessboard being flipped right before her eyes, Aina’s delicate brows furrowed tightly. Her initial smugness and ease when holding a sure victory in her hands was splashed with cold water, vanishing entirely. Having gone through high-intensity clashes and physical attrition, the amount of magic power consumed should have logically been utterly massive. Yet, that bunch of students labeled as bottom-tier Spirit Covenants of the Lunar Eclipse Team still had incredibly steady breathing, absolutely not revealing the appearance of those about to run out of energy.

Aina sharply darted her eyes to check on the situation of Davion and Sze. The scene before her eyes made her choke with anger: two against one, yet they were tightly entangled by that silver-haired guy Lucius, toyed with like mice, unable to snatch even half a point of advantage. Absurdity mixed with a trace of impatience began to gnaw at her mind.

"Fall back, now!" Aina hissed coldly through her teeth.

Hearing the order, Davion and Sze immediately withdrew their weapons, leaping backward to regroup around their captain’s position. Under Helyn’s control, the Fire Phoenix and the Elves swiftly changed direction, forming a pincer tightly pursuing Lucius and Leon to block their pursuit.

Aina lowered her voice, her razor-sharp murderous intent directing: "The four of you, instantly unleash your Holy Covenant exclusive skills simultaneously! Sweep them clean. This death match absolutely does not permit any more margins of error!"

The other four nodded in confirmation, their eyes blazing with murderous intent. However... right when they closed their eyes to gather power, intending to call forth their destined skills, a horrifying truth crashed straight into their brains: Their core energy was completely paralyzed, unable to respond to any control. Their skill systems were exactly like rusted machinery, extinguished and thoroughly sealed by an invisible force.

"I... I can’t activate my exclusive skill! What the hell is going on?!" Davion’s face contorted, overflowing with extreme terror.

Vivian also furrowed her brows tightly, cold sweat pouring out: "...Mine is completely paralyzed too."

A bone-chilling draft ran down Aina’s spine. She threw an astounded look at Helyn and Sze: "You two... are also locked?"

The two proud geniuses swallowed hard with difficulty, nodding in confirmation with dry throats: "That’s right. Completely unable to channel magic power."

Aina’s time manipulation skill had just been unleashed earlier, currently undergoing a harsh cooldown period, so it being temporarily sealed was easy to understand. But her four teammates hadn’t touched their trump cards from the beginning of the match until now; there was absolutely no reason for the system to automatically lock them out. Eliminating all variables, only one answer remained: On the Lunar Eclipse Team’s side, someone possessed an exclusive skill with large-scale sealing attributes, roughly choking off the opponent’s abilities.

Who on earth was that person?

Aina gritted her teeth until they bled, her razor-sharp gaze rapidly sweeping over the entire arena panorama. Her vision instantly locked onto the silver-haired youth standing proudly in the center. Surrounding Lucius’s lean body, rings of runic matrices characterized by his Inscription skill were continuously circulating, hovering and radiating a devastating oppression. The exclusive skill of someone bearing a cheap Spirit Covenant 304... actually had the capability to seal and suppress the Holy Covenant abilities of others? Aina took a deep breath, her chest heaving; her logical senses completely collapsed, unable to comprehend this inversion of the world’s order.

Helyn also acutely detected this loophole. Seeing her elf swarm and spirit beast being frantically chopped up by Lucius and Leon, she hastily suggested: "Captain, regardless, currently on their side, only two are left capable of moving freely. Why don’t we gather all our remaining magic power, focus our firepower using large-scale magic to crush them to death, clearing the arena in a single turn!"

Aina didn’t reply immediately. She slowly exhaled a heavy breath, forcing herself to maintain maximum composure. The duration of the binding from the Puppet Butterfly silk wasn’t permanent. The actual strength of the Lunar Eclipse Team far exceeded the absurd level she had previously despised and judged by tens of times.

Especially the bizarre ability of that silver-haired youth named Lucius; if that large-scale sealing power truly didn’t carry the risk of backlash, then its rarity level was absolutely on par with, or even overwhelmed, top-tier Holy Covenants...

Could the academy’s entry Inscription inspection system be broken, misjudging their potential?

No, that thought was too absurd. The Covenant blessed by the gods was an immutable law; every human in their entire life had only a single opportunity to step onto the inspection podium. From the very second the measurement system returned the result, it directly locked tightly onto the soul fate stone; there was never a concept of changing or upgrading halfway through.

Throughout millions of years of human history, only one single exceptional case of an Inscription swap was ever recorded. And the price paid for that time... was that madman having to resort to dark forbidden arts defying the world’s order, sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of mages to obtain fresh blood to forcibly break the rules...

Under normal conditions, once the number was stamped, the arrangement of fate was absolute. Even if the academy board made an exception for the Lunar Eclipse group to be re-examined, the returned results would definitely remain unchanged. Lucius’s sealing skill, although absurdly tyrannical, the law of equivalent exchange would definitely impose some hidden limit or backlash onto his body.

Aina gritted her teeth, suppressing her chaotic train of thought. As a proud genius, she absolutely never allowed herself to accept the word "lose". However, with four of her teammates stripped of their destined skills, if she dragged out the time until the three core members of the Lunar Eclipse Team tore through the butterfly silk cocoons to break free, this chessboard would definitely slip out of her control, increasing countless uncertainties...

Sweeping her eyes towards the four milky-white cocoons lying motionless without a trace of activity (including that fake illusion), Aina calculated the pros and cons in her head, finally decisively nodding to approve her teammates’ tactic.

"Do exactly as planned. The four of you immediately pour all your reserved magic power to Helyn to act as the attack core. As for that silver-haired guy Lucius... leave him to me to crush with my own hands."

As soon as the words fell, Aina unexpectedly gathered her strength, accelerating straight out of the safe encirclement of her teammates. Someone bearing a support-control system Holy Covenant, inherently always judged as weak in close combat like her, at this moment actively charged to the frontlines.

This contrary action truly kicked down all calculations and judgments of everyone present on the arena.