Chapter 55: Illusion Sword

“Deceit, sneak attack! It was definitely because Taigel wasn't paying attention!”

“Taigel didn't even use his trademark 'Spider Web,' it's not fair at all.”

Some second-year students, probably close with Taigel, started shouting gloomily in the stands.

“You have to focus all your attention and observe your opponent's every movement when the match begins If you were in the middle of a fight during a real mission, would you still babble about not paying attention?”

“A win is a win. Ayrin's skill was obviously a close-combat skill with a bewildering effect. You got bewildered, don't you blame anyone else but yourself!”

“It's a given the opponent won't let you take out your trademark skills in a real fight. The issue rests on you and your own strength if you can't use it.”

These people were immediately met with a unanimous suppression from the rest of the Holy Dawn students in the stands.

“So powerful!”

“He actually only needed a single move to knock out his opponent!”

Almost every freshman, after the initial shock, cheered and yelled even louder.

Rowan's face became a little unsightly.

Ayrin's strength far surpassed his expectation.

What made his expression turn even more unsightly was, Ayrin surprisingly waved a fist in his direction as he walked back to the rest area, and shouted out loud amidst the surrounding cheers:

“Did you see that, I'll beat you up just like that!”

Explosive crackling sounds came from the joints of Rowan's hands. He almost shouted out loud just like Ayrin.

“I have to beat every opponent! Join the team!”

Ayrin's gaze had already left him by now. His eyes actually fell on the selection field below, fell on the surrounding stands, fell on the clamoring Holy Dawn students.

He liked this feeling!

He liked the hot-blooded feeling when facing an enemy.

Liked the feeling of causing his supporters to erupt in cheers.

He liked the feeling of fighting for his own dream!

“His progress is indeed faster than I thought.” On the edge of the dome on top of the arena, Liszt couldn't resist rubbing his chin and smile. “Also, he had a hot-blooded look that seemed to enjoy battles.”

“Better than I thought. He was born to be a battlemaster,” the Rui of few words also said with a nod of his head.

“You guys didn't let me interfere and teach him.” Minlur said, very depressed, “It's a real pity.”

“This is only the beginning.” Teacher Ciaran said with a smile. “Chris didn't progress so fast either back then... Do you guys remember how many years it's been since we last felt so much excitement when watching a freshman fight?”

…

“You actually used my Reverse Pile!”

“What about it, I did it pretty good right? Do you have anything else better, you might as well tell me too?”

“In your dreams!”

Thus Ayrin and Kybaver spoke to each other, but their eyes kept busy, watching without interruption the duels in the fields below.

“Bora!” “Bora!” “Bora!”

The sound of cheers and encouragements burst out all of a sudden, so explosive it seemed about to flip over the entire arena dome.

Ayrin couldn't resist pulling on Kybaver next to him. He asked, “What's going on, is this Bora very strong?”

Bora walked into the field, a lanky boy sporting a long braid and a handsome face.

“It's the strongest student out of all the third year students, and also the one publicly recognized as the most powerful candidate among those participating in the selection.” Kybaver looked at that handsome boy with a little reverence in his eyes. “They say his father is a powerful elite arcane master. As to himself, he not only has a powerful “Earth Spike,” he also learned materialization skills. It's said that his enemies clearly know which arcane skill he will use, but it's still very difficult to defend against him. Also, he carries on the tradition of his clan and follows their philosophy. They don't learn too many arcane skills, but seek to bring out as much power as possible from those they learn. Many teachers already believe that, apart from an accident, he will certainly come to occupy a main spot in our academy's team.”

“Specialization without learning too many skills?”

Ayrin's gaze immediately locked tight onto Bora. He didn't hear what Bora's opponent was called. He could only see it was a short and robust boy wearing a headband. His eyes were a little small, and his face looked hard and serious at this time.

“Begin!”

The entire arena went quiet as soon as the referee teacher's loud shout rang out.

First, the handsome and calm-looking Bora nodded at his opponent. Then, dazzling arcane particles suddenly flowed out of his fingertips on his right hand.

These arcane particles flowed along his fingers and down to the ground like running water. However, when they neared the surface of the ground, they first shaped into a light blue sword point, then very quickly extended upward along with the flow, extending all the way into his hand, forming a crystal-like light blue sword.

“Swish!”

The moment this light-blue sword took shape in his hand, two stone spikes ferociously pierced up under his opponent's feet, stabbing at the bottom of his feet!

“He used the skill so fast!”

“As soon as he used the materialization skill, arcane particles already flowed from his feet and launched an attack!”

Kybaver's face paled at the spectacle. He realized the rumors weren't empty rumors. If he were to face Bora, it would definitely be a straight road to hell.

“Hm?”

A tsunami of shouts and exclamations suddenly went through the stands.

The bloody scene of pierced feet didn't appear. Two blue masses of air suddenly appeared on the bottom of the short student's feet the very instant the two stone spikes smashed them, just like two air cushions that wouldn't leak no matter what. The sting of the two stone spikes on the air cushions made the short student leap up at an extreme speed instead.

“Wind Escape!”

This short and stout student obviously had a counter-plan ready in advance. Cold light flashed in his eyes the moment he jumped up. Raging winds suddenly blew around his entire person. His body vanished inside the raging winds; when he reappeared, he was already behind Bora.

Bora turned around.

“Air Blast!”

A mass of white air surged out from the short student's hands. This short and stout student had little renown, but he unexpectedly had the strength of a master!

It seemed Bora's sword wouldn't be fast enough to follow the speed of the air blast. Bora still stayed calm at this time however. He didn't move his sword.

“Puff!” “Puff!”

Another two stone spikes fiercely stabbed up from the ground in a flash, and stung the bottom of the short student's feet.

The feet were still wrapped in air cushions, and with the force of the impacts from the stone spikes, his body jumped upward.

“Boom!” A tremendous explosive sound.

A mass of air exploded on top of Bora's head. The mere scattered streams of wind born from the explosion left several red traces on his fair face. He'd certainly have been blown away and heavily injured if the mass of air had struck him full on.

His expression was still extremely calm. He stood there, not moving an inch from his spot. He merely slashed the sword in his right hand at the short student.

“Ah!”

A shout of surprise came from the short student. At this critical juncture, his rough- and heavy-looking body actually reacted like lightning. He slapped his hands together, actually trying to clasp this sword between his palms with pinpoint accuracy.

But just when his palms were about to come into contact with the surface of the blade, Bora's sword melted as if it were made of frozen snow, disappearing at alarming speed from his right hand inch by inch. Instead, it “grew” out again from his left hand!

“Hiss...” A collective intake of cold breath.

The next second, the sword in Bora's left hand already rested against the short student's neck, pressing his body back to the ground.

The short student's face went snow white, cold sweat dripping down from his face, drop by drop.

“My loss!” Several seconds went by before this short student managed to speak, willingly conceding defeat.

“Amazing!”

Ayrin let out his breath. He turned his head around and asked Kybaver beside him, very confused, “How did he do this last move of his? I don't think I saw any arcane particle come out of his hands. Also, why was it so fast...”

“That's Illusion Sword!” Kybaver said, his face covered in sweat.

“Elusion Sword[1. The skill is literally translated as Illusion Sword Flow. Ayrin mistakes it as Change Sword Flow, because the characters for Illusion and Change sound the same here. Sorry couldn't come up with a better way to translate the wordplay. XD]? Huh, I know his sword was elusive, I'm asking how he did it.”

“Idiot, I'm talking about Illusion Sword, not elusion like eluding and evading!” Kybaver cursed him, depressed. “This is a special materialization skill. You think this sword is formed in his right hand, but in reality that's an illusion reflected by the arcane skill. In fact, the sword was in his left hand all along, and the sword in his right hand was fake from the beginning, just an illusory image of the sword in his left hand! His arcane particles were also gushing on his left hand. Otherwise, he can't spray out arcane particles and condense another sword like that in such a short time.”

“It's the type of arcane skill that deceives the eyes?” Ayrin finally understood. He said, astonished, “The sword at the beginning was only an illusion, the real sword was in his left hand, but it was actually hidden?”

“Correct.” Kybaver wiped off some cold sweat, his expression easing off a little. “But this Illusion Sword... The most important thing about it is, it's very difficult to tell which sword is the real one when you're facing him. This time the sword in the right hand was fake, but the next time around it might be the real sword from the beginning. Especially, when things move fast in a real battle, its even harder to tell which sword is real. This is an outstanding materialization skill that combines well with physical abilities!”

“I didn't expect there were people already this strong outside the school team.” Ayrin nodded, then cheered immediately.

“This guy, what's he happy for. The opponent's so strong, isn't he worried at all he might have to face him in the selection?” Kybaver turned his head around, gloomily watching Bora walking back to the rest area. His confidence was waning by the minute.