novelraw Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82 : Result
"Sal!"
Jack shouted Sal's name and slid in front of him.
A blue shield unfolded, emitting light just before the explosion occurred.
The impact of the explosion swept around Jack as the center, but he gritted his teeth and endured.
However, before Sal could even blink, two explosions occurred simultaneously on both sides again.
Jack extended one arm to block one, and pushed the other explosion away with the Pulse Gauntlet on the opposite hand.
It was truly a dramatic moment.
Sal watched in horror as Jack's arm holding the shield bent strangely from the impact.
It was clearly broken, but Jack did not let go of the shield.
With a face distorted in pain, he looked back at Sal and asked.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
Sal gritted his teeth and shook his head.
"Thanks, Jack. Keep holding on!"
Thanks to the sacrifice of Jack's arm, Sal bought precious time.
He decided absolutely not to waste that time on self-pity or anything like that.
Feeling anger he didn't even know he had boiling up, Sal poured all the remaining Essence into the sword and armor.
After pulling up the power to the limit as Upgrade had taught, he immediately suppressed it to regain control.
Sal looked back to thank Jack again, but pure wonder had risen on Jack's face.
Jack had already seen the armor operate before.
Sal found the reaction strange, but there was no leisure to think about it now.
He had to help the team change the flow of battle.
The moment Sal stepped one foot out of the shield, time began to flow slowly.
Putting aside questions, Sal utilized that time to scan the battlefield.
Barry was clearly reaching his limit, yet the illusion of the winged angel was charging between Jenny's team's Defenders.
The opposing team members were absorbed in blocking the illusion, and Barry was sweating all over his body blocking explosions.
Jenny Stravos was dominating the battlefield with both arms extended to both ends of the Prism.
Blanid and Anthony were continuously pushed back, and perhaps because they were too close to the explosions, Anthony's beard was burning.
Sal had no time to ponder.
He immediately unleashed a slashing attack towards Jenny.
Black Essence flashed drawing an arc, and yellow static electricity scattered around it.
With Jenny's scream, the stopped time began to flow again.
Sal witnessed the scene of two Defenders jumping up holding shields and throwing their bodies at the angel illusion.
As soon as that illusion passed through them, Barry spat out a curse from the spectator seats and erased the illusion.
Jenny realized, out of it, that it was an illusion from the start.
A smile spread on her lips.
But that smile did not last long.
The wave of Essence Sal unleashed struck the Defender team directly, and the barrier they had put up shattered into pieces.
Jenny turned both hands in an instant aiming at the rushing Sal.
But the moment she saw him, the color completely drained from her face.
As fear was revealed plainly on her expression, she snapped her fingers continuously at a speed never seen before.
But those explosions scattered vainly on top of Sal's armor.
Sal continued to swing the sword, splitting the empty air with sharp waves of the sword.
The waves flew towards Jenny accurately and mercilessly.
Jenny turned her body to check the Supporter side.
In front of the already fainted Supporter, Blanid was still standing holding a shield.
One of the remaining Defenders was kneeling, struggling to create a new barrier, and the other two threw their bodies rushing at Sal.
Their bodies collided head-on with the black armor.
Sal couldn't tell for sure whether the ability they used was solidification or reinforcement.
One was hard like scrap metal, and the other used tremendous brute force to strike Sal's chest squarely.
At that moment, Sal's equipment showed an automatic reaction.
Recognizing the attack as a threat, the equipment activated and reflected the attack very dramatically.
Jenny watched that spectacle with wide eyes and an expression of disbelief.
Her two most powerful Defenders were bounced off the armor and flew into the air.
One flew over Jenny's head, and the other fell onto the Defender making a new barrier.
Sal reached in front of Jenny and finally kicked the Defender who had formed a barrier.
The steel boot shattered the Defender's shield and lodged straight into the chest.
As all breath escaped his body, the Defender sat on the floor gasping for breath and lost consciousness.
When Sal stood facing her, none of Jenny's team members were standing.
Jenny stared at Sal with confident eyes even while her whole body trembled.
It was a look as if telling him to end it.
But overturning everyone's expectations, the final blow flew from her left.
A powerful Essence shock struck her body hard, flinging Jenny next to the fainted Supporter.
"That's for smashing my arm, you jerk."
Jack bared his teeth and lowered the Pulse Gauntlet.
Sal released the suppression of Essence and returned the sword and armor to their original state.
He thought it was fortunate to have saved Essence until the last match as it consumed much more than expected.
Jack turned around and said.
"Next time you use that transformation, make sure to look in front of a mirror first. It was really awesome!"
Sal looked at Jack's twisted arm and said.
"Before that, I think we need to look at your arm first."
Jack nodded, and Sal looked around.
Everyone was exhausted with bodies covered in wounds, but they had survived until the end.
As tension released, they revealed their conditions plainly without needing to pretend to be strong anymore.
Sal looked at everyone's wounds and felt deep guilt that the battle became difficult due to his initial mistake.
Just then, Barry grinned gesturing towards where Jenny had fallen.
"Is the reason you're not shaking hands because your assassin noona is watching?"
Sal looked at Barry as if glaring but eventually couldn't hold back laughter at the joke.
He approached Jenny and reached out his hand, but she was already unconscious.
As Sal stood there awkwardly, the team members seeing that burst into even louder laughter.
Sal shook his head and looked at everyone.
"How on earth did we get 1st place?"
***
1st: Salvatore Argento (#2) - 19 Wins 0 Losses - S / S / S / S / S
2nd: Lucia Hernandez (#4) - 17 Wins 2 Losses - O / S / S / S / S
3rd: Jenny Stravos (#17) - 16 Wins 3 Losses - C / D / D / D / S
4th: Divinity Khan (#1) - 16 Wins 3 Losses - C / S / S / S / D
5th: Evan McGregor (#6) - 15 Wins 4 Losses - O / S / D / S / S
6th: Gerard Kilsey (#20) - 14 Wins 5 Losses - O / O / O / O / O
7th: Whisper Ding (#12) - 13 Wins 6 Losses - C / D / O / S / S
8th: Victoria Chase (#7) - 13 Wins 6 Losses - C / S / S / S / D
9th: Crypto Daniels (#18) - 11 Wins 8 Losses - O / D / D / C / S
10th: Sanna Sinervo (#16) - 10 Wins 9 Losses - O/O/S/D/C
11th: Marta Virgo (#14) - 9 Wins 10 Losses - O/S/D/D/S
12th: Borja Diez (#15) - 8 Wins 11 Losses - O/S/D/D/C
13th: Con Lafleur (#13) - 6 Wins 13 Losses - S/D/D/O/S
14th: Trent Gold (#11) - 6 Wins 13 Losses - S/D/S/S/S
Relegation Line
15th: Zachary Lowe (#10) - 5 Wins 14 Losses - S/C/D/S/S
16th: Dominic Walters (#3) - 4 Wins 15 Losses - D/D/S/S/S
17th: Xander Michaels (#9) - 3 Wins 16 Losses - S/D/C/S/S
18th: Michael Welling (#8) - 2 Wins 17 Losses - S/D/O/S/D
19th: Christopher Gage (#5) - 2 Wins 17 Losses - S/S/S/D/C
20th: Harold Gunn (#19) - 1 Win 18 Losses - S/O/C/C/S
S: Supporter
C: Controller
D: Defender
O: Attacker
"The result won't change just because you keep looking at the screen."
Sal smiled and said to Blanid.
But those words didn't seem to work at all as she was still looking at the scoreboard as if she couldn't believe it.
Barry shook his head and made an expression to Sal that it wouldn't work like that.
Then he approached Blanid and pointed to where Jack was receiving treatment.
"It'll be hard for Jack to go back with us."
Blanid was noticeably surprised and turned her head sharply to find Jack.
Barry grinned seeing her like that and raised a thumb to Sal.
Blanid kept hitting Barry with her palm and said.
"Ha, that's not even funny! Don't joke about things like that!"
Sal laughed watching that scene.
Although she looked flustered, seeing Jack waving his hand vigorously with his good hand from the recovery area, she eventually burst into laughter.
The moon was high in the sky.
Everyone lacked the energy to organize their gear but started organizing even by force.
It took some time for the train to arrive, and the quiet stadium had a calm atmosphere.
They said the Gold Cohort finished matches much earlier and was returning to school first.
They decided to send them back first rather than making them wait at the tournament venue for no reason.
Anthony scratched his beard, then frowned seeing the hair that came out in his hand.
"Thanks to Jenny, I'll have to shave all this off...."
Muttering to himself, he felt Sal's gaze and said embarrassed.
"Ah, sorry! Just talking to myself."
Sal carefully put the sword into the case and said.
"It's thanks to you that we could come this far, Anthony. You worked hard."
Then an unexpected reaction returned.
Anthony burst into laughter.
"Are you serious, Sal? Do you know what you looked like when wearing the armor? It was scary and cool, but truly gave me goosebumps. I thought you were really going to kill Jenny or something!"
Sal asked with a bewildered face.
"Wasn't it the same as the appearance transformed into a knight before?"
Anthony shook his head.
"Not at all! It felt like your gear and sword were connected completely as one. Although octopus tentacles or something popped out for me, you were truly the death knight from hell itself."
Sal frowned trying to recall the difference between when he activated the sword at the training ground and at the Workshop.
But before he had time to think deeply, Barry appeared in front of him with two bags slung over his shoulder.
Barry dropped one bag in front of Sal with a thud and pointed at it with his free hand.
"Take some more gear as a price for getting hit by a bomb on the face and making us suffer."
Blanid turned her head sharply again and shouted with her face turning red.
"Barry!"
Ignoring Blanid's protest, Barry giggled and walked toward the train.
Anthony shook his head and lifted the dropped equipment case.
"I'll carry it. Don't worry."
Before Sal had time to protest, Anthony followed Barry.
Blanid shrugged with a sigh mixed with a smile.
"You go too. I'll wait for Jack."
But Sal shook his head and pointed to where Jack was getting up.
"If I leave Jack alone, I'm not qualified to be team captain. Plus, who knows? We might get ambushed on the way to the train by pissed off kids."
Sal said jokingly.
Blanid clenched her fist and said.
"Tell them to bring it on. I'll smash them again."
At those words, Sal burst into a bout of laughter, and Blanid laughed along.
Jack approached and wondered why the two were laughing, but Sal just nodded toward the train.
"Am I the only one curious? How our rank changed, how much Q-Credits come out, and how other Cohorts did!"
Sal pointed to the train station and asked sincerely.
Both nodded and walked ahead laughing and chatting with faces full of expectation.
Sal lifted the sword case and slung it over his shoulder.
After looking up at the moon once more, he smiled with satisfaction and walked following the team.