novelraw Chapter 127: Ending the Battle in an Instant
Chapter 127: Ending the Battle in an Instant
Seeing Fly return to the arena, Vera finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Winston Hayes also grasped the situation from a note handed to him by a staff member.
"Following a discussion by The Jade State League's tournament committee, it has been decided that competitor Fly's match results are valid, but he is strictly prohibited from destroying an opponent's Beast Totem in any future matches."
Winston Hayes relayed the tournament committee's ruling on Fly before offering his own perspective. "I believe this is the proper way to handle the situation."
"After all, prior to this, there were no explicit rules prohibiting the destruction of an opponent's Beast Totem."
"You could say it was a loophole in the match regulations."
"And the consequences of such a loophole shouldn't fall on the competitors. Ultimately, whatever is not expressly forbidden is permitted."
"Alright, let's redirect our attention back to the matches."
"The second competitor dispatched by Grand River High is Alan Sutton; according to his pre-match registration data, his Beast Totem is a Common Species: the Silverback Gorilla."
"Although it falls under the Common Species category, it's still a Beast Totem that shouldn't be underestimated. After all, in the natural world, silverback gorillas are incredibly formidable creatures."
Winston Hayes did his utmost to hype up Alan Sutton's Beast Totem to the audience, but deep down, he knew the truth: Spencer Sinclair was the undisputed strongest among Grand River High's freshmen, and his Mammoth Ant Tyrant was already the absolute peak Beast Totem within their freshman representative team.
Neither Alan Sutton nor any of the other remaining Grand River High competitors possessed a Beast Totem stronger than Spencer's.
And since Spencer had already been cleanly defeated by Fly, the next three matches were likely going to devolve into pure garbage time.
Still, driven by his professional integrity as a commentator, Winston Hayes diligently broke down Alan's background and strength, doing his best to stoke the crowd's enthusiasm.
"Roar!"
A faint shimmer of light flashed as the phantom silhouette of a silverback gorilla materialized behind Alan Sutton. It clenched its massive fists and violently drummed its chest, the sound resembling heavy, muffled drumbeats.
Its eyes glowed with an amber light, its narrowed gaze feeling as sharp as a razor; as it roared, its exposed fangs glinted with a chilling, macabre light.
Standing fully erect, the gorilla's silhouette towered at over two meters tall, its disdainful glare sweeping across the arena truly belonging to a king of the jungle!
I can't believe even Spencer lost... Alan Sutton looked utterly dispirited, forming a stark contrast to the explosive vitality of his Beast Totem phantom.
Ranked fourth among Grand River High's ninth graders, he was practically the weakest Beast Warrior on their tournament roster.
According to their original plan, he was supposed to be the vanguard, stepping into the ring first to test the waters.
His objective had been simple: he wasn't expected to win, only to drain as much of the opponent's stamina as possible to secure an early advantage for his teammates.
But now, because of the personal grudge between Spencer and Fly, Spencer had selfishly disrupted the plan, forcing his way into the very first match—only to get defeated by Fly.
Consequently, the morale of the entire Grand River High squad had completely plummeted to rock bottom.
Keep it together, you can definitely do this.
Alan took a deep breath to pump himself up, simultaneously praying to the heavens that the gaping wound on Fly's chest had severely crippled his combat strength.
That was the only way he might just have a sliver of a chance.
"Haaaah!"
With a loud battle cry, Alan charged aggressively toward Fly.
But what he absolutely did not expect was that there wasn't a single scratch left on Fly's body.
"What?!" Alan's eyes bulged almost as wide as the silverback gorilla phantom behind him, rubbing his eyes in sheer disbelief. "Where is his wound?"
Are you telling me that in just the short ten minutes just now, Fly completely healed that injury?
Alan nearly screamed out loud right then and there; already lacking any real confidence, he now felt as if he had been plunged straight into an icy abyss.
Healing a wound that quickly wasn't medically impossible, it just required spending an exorbitant amount of money. Generally, this was a 'privilege' exclusively enjoyed by students from top-tier Martial Studies academies like Sovereign High.
He never expected that Star City High would actually do the same.
Just how much capital did they dump into this tournament?
These thoughts flashed through Alan's mind like a rapid-fire montage, causing his forward momentum to falter.
Seizing the opening, Fly planted his foot and launched his body forward, clenching his fingers into a tight fist mid-air to throw a devastating punch straight at Alan's head.
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BOOM!
Accompanied by a heavy, sickening thud, a terrifying shockwave of displaced air swept outward in all directions.
The sheer, primal brute force directly sent Alan flying through the air.
He was blown backward over twenty feet, crashing into the ground and skidding quite a distance backward before finally coming to a halt.
Blood poured freely from both his nose and mouth.
After more than half a month of cultivation, Fly's physical strength was lightyears ahead of where it used to be.
Even without using any weapons, the sheer power behind this single punch was enough to crack solid stone and metal.
Alan's nasal bridge was shattered outright.
"Gotta... gotta be kidding me..." Alan twitched his lips, slowly stammering out the words.
His investment in Martial Studies cultivation was definitely not low; on top of the school's resource benefits, he had spent nearly half a year of his family's income to achieve a single bodily tempering.
Compared to average Warriors at his level, his physical toughness absolutely held an advantage.
Yet, Fly had caved in his nose and left him seeing stars with a single punch.
Just how obscenely hard are this guy's fists?
When Fly battled Spencer earlier, he had relied entirely on speed and his acidic blood to win, which subconsciously led Alan to believe that Fly's raw strength perhaps wasn't all that exaggerated.
But who could have known...
While Alan was still trapped in his bewildered, chaotic thoughts, Fly was already sprinting right at him.
Schwing!
A folding scythe snapped out from Fly's forearm, and executing a leaping cleave, he aimed straight for Alan's throat!
The speed of the strike was like lightning.
Alan hastily raised his arms to block, but little did he know that Fly's strike was merely a feint.
Mid-swing, Fly deftly twisted his wrist, redirecting the scythe to ruthlessly slash across Alan's flank.
Squelch!
A brilliant crimson line of blood erupted from Alan's shoulder.
It was at this moment he finally understood: not only was there a colossal gap in their speed and power, but they were in completely different stratospheres when it came to combat awareness.
From the very beginning of this fight, he never had any chance of winning!
Retracting his scythe, Fly immediately launched a horizontal sweep right at Alan's chest.
This time, Fly didn't hold back, and it was no longer a feint!
Although Alan sensed the incoming danger and desperately shifted his center of gravity to throw himself backward to evade the strike, his physical reaction was ultimately a step slower than his consciousness.
A splash of bright crimson gushed from his chest, wrapping around his sides as the laceration continuously widened while he fell.
Squelch!
Blood spurted out like a fountain, spraying into the air before raining down like a shower of crimson petals.
Alan's eyes went wide with pure terror.
Thud!
In less than half a breath, Alan slammed heavily into the ground, desperately clutching his chest with an excruciatingly painful expression as blood continuously seeped from his mouth.
Fly planted a foot on Alan's chest, the razor-sharp scythe pointed right at his throat, and then lifted his head to sweep his gaze across the dead-silent spectator stands.
...
"While Alan Sutton's Beast Totem is a Common Species, as a top-ranking honors student among Grand River High's freshmen, he is still incredibly formidable..."
Up at the commentator's desk, Winston Hayes was passionately breaking down Alan's martial prowess, urging the audience not to underestimate this scrawny kid from Grand River City.
But he was barely halfway through his sentence when Alan toppled straight down.
The blood welling from his chest formed a pooling crimson puddle beneath him.
"The winner of this match: Star City High, Fly!"
It wasn't until the referee's voice echoed out to announce the result that everyone finally processed what had actually happened.
Everyone had guessed that Fly would be the victor, but no one expected the match to be decided this quickly.
Vera glanced down at her watch; Fly and Alan had revealed their Beast Totems at 5:26, and right now the time had just ticked over to 5:27.
Which meant that this match hadn't even lasted a full minute!
Hiss...
It had to be known that among all the Martial Studies high schools in the group stages, Grand River High's educational resources were the closest match to Star City High's, to the point one could even say they were practically neck-and-neck.
Yet the result was that Alan Sutton had completely lost in less than two exchanges!
A curbstomp!
This was the ultimate curbstomp!
What shocked Vera even more was that this wasn't even Fly's full strength.
Whether it was against Spencer Sinclair earlier or Alan Sutton just now, Fly was clearly holding back and hadn't revealed his full power.
If Fly actually went all out, would there be anyone left in the entire group stage capable of standing up to him?
Medical personnel rushed up to perform basic triage on the wound and carried Alan away; although severely injured, his life wasn't in danger.
"Alright," Winston Hayes slightly calmed himself down, not feeling particularly sad over Alan's defeat, "The next competitor stepping up for Grand River High is Chloe Winters, a female Beast Warrior."
"Don't let the fact that she's a young girl fool you, her performance during Grand River City's Freshman Invitational was absolutely stellar, and her Beast Totem is a Mythical Species..."
However, before Winston Hayes could even finish his words, Fly had already sprinted right up into Chloe's face.
Without giving Chloe any time to react, Fly's black scythe cleaved down heavily.
The blade bit directly into Chloe's shoulder blade as blood continuously poured from her wound, and Fly used the scythe to hoist Chloe directly into the air, violently swinging her in a full circle before savagely slamming her into the ground.
BOOM!
Dust exploded into the air.
The ground was smashed into a deep crater, with a horrifying, gruesome gash extending directly from Chloe's shoulder blade down to her abdomen.
She clearly hadn't recovered from the shock, her mouth still locked in a perfect 'O' shape.
Ever since she embarked on the path of Martial Arts, this was the first time she had lost so thoroughly; she hadn't even figured out what happened before the match was already over.
She looked down at the wound on her chest, and for a moment, overwhelmed by excessive terror, her eyes rolled back as she collapsed completely limp onto the ground.
Seeing this, Fly didn't continue to strike, but instead gripped his scythe in a reverse hold and lifted his head once more to sweep his gaze across the dead-silent spectator stands.
That expression seemed to be saying that these opponents were just too weak, far too weak.
Winston Hayes opened his mouth, hesitating to speak.
Wait...
Wasn't this way too fast?
He didn't even get to finish his opening remarks!
And the match was over?
Furthermore, from the moment Chloe revealed her Beast Totem to the time she passed out on the ground, did it even take ten seconds?
She hadn't even fought back...
No.
Winston Hayes shook his head.
It wasn't that she didn't have time to fight back.
She clearly didn't even have the time to raise her hands!
Even he as the commentator hadn't seen clearly what happened.
It just felt like a bolt of lightning had flashed by with a 'whoosh'.
"Just what kind of monsters did Star City High bring this year..."
Winston Hayes sucked in a sharp breath of cold air, his gaze naturally turning toward Fly.
In a daze, he swore he saw a phantom silhouette overlapping behind Fly.
That silhouette had its arms crossed over its chest, the corners of its mouth curled upward in an almost devilish smirk, and its world-conquering confidence was exactly what that prodigy youth looked like back in the day.
"Lysander Thorne?"
Winston Hayes was secretly shocked in his heart, and when he rubbed his eyes to get a closer look at the phantom, he found it had already vanished, leaving only Fly standing tall against the wind, looking perfectly calm and composed.
"Was it a hallucination?"