novelraw Chapter 250: Finish Line
Chapter 250: Finish Line
[The Obsidian Forest.]
The dense canopy of the Obsidian Forest cast long, jagged shadows over the dirt path. Carl, Hitachi, Rose, Kent, and Austin had come to a sudden, grinding stop, their boots skidding against the earth. They stared at the group obstructing the path before them with a slight frown. The tension in the air was palpable, thick with the unreleased energy of rival academies.
"Why are you blocking our path!!" Austin yelled at them, his voice echoing through the ancient trees.
"Come on, it’s our job to block your paths. If Mirabella was here, we won’t dare to, but what can you five do?" Andrew asked with a mocking smirk, sitting comfortably on a thick tree branch above them. His casual demeanor was a calculated insult to them.
Below him, stood the imposing figure of Honky and the sharp-eyed mage, Ophelia. Both Nirvana and Ethan were conspicuously absent, currently on the move, burning their stamina to run towards the finish line and secure the Sword Academy’s victory.
"Seems we can’t do anything but to take them down." Kent said, staring at the three.
"Without our weapons, most of you guys can’t face Kent and Honky head-on... Besides, I have an idea." Hitachi said.
As he spoke, the ambient energy around him violently warped. His eyes, normally a sharp, calculating red, suddenly fractured into a brilliant, shifting hues; The moment next—
BOOOOM!!!!
The ground beneath Hitachi shattered into a massive cloud of pulverized dirt and dense, spirit energy-infused smoke, instantly enveloping the Dragon Academy group in an impenetrable gray dome.
"You want to escape!! Ophelia!" Andrew yelled, his smirk vanishing as he launched himself, jumping down from the tree branch with the agility of a seasoned warrior.
"On it!!"
Ophelia stretched both hands towards the churning dust, her energy core flaring as she invoked an absolute dispelling command: "Disperse!!"
A shockwave of wind magic blasted outward, violently scrubbing the air clean. The smoke instantly cleared out, but the sight left behind was staggering, stunning the three Sword Academy elites:
"What the?" Ophelia was dumbfounded, her hands dropping to her sides.
"Hitachi." Andrew gritted his teeth in sheer frustration.
The three stared at the impossible sight: thirty identical Hitachis stood perfectly mirrored before them, their multicolored eyes gleaming in unison, overlapping energy signatures making it impossible to single out the original.
"Scatter!!"
With the unified command echoing from thirty throats, the whole thirty scattered all over the place, taking different locations and blurring into the deep forest. They moved with absolute synchronization, leaving the Sword Academy’s students and the audience watching through the arrays utterly dumbfounded.
"What... What should we do now?" Ophelia asked in confusion, looking right then left. Even with her advanced skill, she couldn’t tell which one was the real and which is the fake; the Celestial Eye’s illusions were too perfect, projecting false soul signatures into every clone.
"Chasing after them will be a waste." Honky lightly shook his head, his mind instantly calculating the stamina drain of hunting phantoms.
"Yes... But I just don’t understand one thing. Why would Hitachi run away? This isn’t his style at all..." Andrew turned to the two, his brow furrowed in deep suspicion. The Hitachi he knew was a terrifying berserker disguised as a student.
"The last time I saw him, he almost killed a student from the eagle empire because she tried to hug him... He is someone who will rather kill the enemy than run away... So why is he running?" He asked, highlighting the lethal, untouchable reputation the young master of the Celestial Eye commanded.
"Maybe it’s the order from their Captain..." Honky sighed, rubbing the back of his head as the terrifying image of Mirabella’s familiar crossed his mind.
"Anyway, forget it... We should catch up with our team. On the fourth round, we will know their strength." He said. Turning his broad back to the empty path, he ran into the Forest.
"Master Honky is right." Ophelia nodded, shaking off the residual shock, and also followed behind Honky.
Andrew lingered for a fraction of a second. He stared at his bare fist as searing, destructive flames spontaneously surrounded it:
’Hitachi, we will surely meet again!’ He thought fiercely, extinguishing the flames before he followed behind the group.
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[On the right path to the finish line.]
"Young Master Hitachi! Using such high skill, won’t it consume your spirit energy?" Carl asked worriedly, staring at Hitachi, who was running ahead of him with relentless efficiency.
They were back to their standard tactical formation, moving silently through the brush, but each of them was still wrapped in the complex, layered disguise woven by the Celestial Eye.
"It does, but that doesn’t matter, we are some miles from the flag... Fighting meaningless fights is stupid." He said, demonstrating newfound maturity. The old Hitachi would have burned the forest down just to prove a point; this Hitachi played to win the war.
"Ok, I think you should undo your skill, save up your energy." Rose suggested, recognizing that they would need every drop of energy for the final sprint. Hitachi nodded his head in agreement.
"Ok."
He closed his celestial eyes. The complex illusion magic fractured, and the disguise on his team shattered into ethereal pieces of light, drifting away on the wind and revealing their true appearances in their Dragon Academy uniforms.
__
"Almost there." He yelled, increasing his speed, his legs blurring as he pushed his physical limits.
WHOOSH!!!
Out of nowhere, the temperature plummeted to freezing. A volley of razor-sharp daggers made of absolute zero ice flew towards them from the treeline ahead:
"Watch out!!"
Rose yelled. Her reflexes kicked into overdrive. She slammed her foot down and waved her hand, aggressively raising the soil into the air right in front of them. The earth solidified into a dense, compressed wall of bedrock, violently blocking the ice daggers which shattered upon impact.
"Silence spell casting... Didn’t know the Dragon Empire has such a talented mage."
The icy, melodic voice drifted through the frozen mist. The five stopped dead in their tracks, as the earth defense went back into the soil. Ten miles from their location was the finish line; they could practically see the empires’ banners waving in the distance, right before them. But standing directly in their path was none other than Nirvana, the formidable second-strongest student in the Sword Academy. Her mastery over ice was just one of her elemental skills.
"Seems we’re late." Hitachi said, staring past the ice mage toward the finish line, seeing Ethan standing safely in the designated end-zone with a smug, victorious smirk on his face. He had secured his spot, and Nirvana was here to ruthlessly block the remaining students from qualifying.
"We need to get past her fast. If the other three get here, it will be difficult." Hitachi whispered urgently to the five behind him, his mind racing. He pointed at Ethan:
"He can’t join the battle because he already crossed the finish line, but his team can still attack us."
"You are right on that."
A new, mocking voice came from behind. Everyone looked over their shoulders, their hearts sinking as they saw the brush part, revealing Andrew, Honky, and Ophelia confidently walking towards them. They were boxed in.
"Haha! We meet again, Hitachi!!" Andrew yelled with a triumphant smile, fire already licking his fingertips.
The Dragon Academy’s Team immediately shifted, their discipline holding firm as they formed a tight defensive circle, placing the physically vulnerable Carl safely in the middle.
"What is the plan here?" Kent asked, staring down Honky, the two vanguards locking eyes.
"Without our weapons, we are in a Disadvantage... And these guys have stronger skills than us." Rose added, her hands hovering over the earth, ready to mold it into shields.
Hitachi stared at them, a slight, deeply troubled frown on his face. ’If I use my eye, I won’t be able to fight them all, and it consumes energy... None of my teammates have the strength to face Nirvana, and if I face her, how will they handle the others?’ He thought, the brutal mathematics of the impending skirmish offering no clear path to victory.
But before the weight of leadership could force him into a desperate decision, a firm hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to look at his team.
"Don’t worry, We are a team, we will fight one each." Austin said with a confident, unbreakable smile.