Two wins in successions. It was also merely their second team member.
Everyone in team Mountain Kings was sweating some cold sweat.
Bolton, the teacher in charge of team Mountain Kings, looked at Robert while the latter was getting ready to take to the field. He originally wanted to say something like, "Robert, you’re nicknamed the Binding Expert. Your arcane skills should easily restrict him." But then, he remembered that he also told Kunrin just earlier that he could suppress Ayrin merely by relying on his speed, and in the end Ayrin beat him instead with his agility. So this sentence died in his throat and didn’t come out.
"You have to win for sure!"
Their heads dripping with sweat, Captain Werther and the other members of team Mountain Kings still clear of mind looked at Stingham shouting as he pleased on the other side, their minds in turmoil. They didn’t even know what to feel.
"Team Holy Dawn’s actually in the front seat already."
"He actually defeated Rykiel and Kunrin back to back, and he wasn’t even injured."
All the members of team Sea God looked at each other in the stands. "Apart from the captain, we probably don’t have anyone who could beat Rykiel and Kunrin back to back on their own, right?" They couldn’t stop themselves and looked at Joyce. "Captain, what do you think?"
"I can’t understand at all." Joyce smiled wryly. "No matter how I look at it, Ayrin isn’t a match for Robert in the next match. But instead, I’m wondering whether Robert can actually win."
"I’ll bet Robert can win." Team Dragon Breath had already started betting on who would win. What was at stake was inviting everyone to the evening meal three days in a row. The extremely sturdy "Heavy Punch King" Gaskin, his silver hair cropped short, was the first one to lay down his bet.
"I bet Ayrin wins," Audrey said with a laugh.
"I bet on Ayrin," captain Morgan said.
Cuswoth: "I bet on Ayrin."
"I also bet on Ayrin…"
"You’re all betting on him?" Gaskin was dumbstruck. "I’m the only one betting on Robert’s win?"
"Of course." Morgan patted his shoulder with a smile. "The so-called gambling odds, if you gamble on someone who looks like he’ll win, then what excitement is there to talk about?"
In another corner of the stands, in team Golden Stag, a cold-faced boy with especially long and slender fingers turned around to look beside him at Rinsyi. He said, "Rinsyi, this guy’s indeed very interesting."
Rinsyi’s smile was icy-cold. "If they can really make it a bit further and end up meeting us, it’ll be even more interesting."
"So adorable… It’d be a pity if he were to get killed," a beautiful and garish girl said, licking her lips with a smile. Her hair was somewhat dark purple, and her nails black.
"Mountain Kings Academy against Holy Dawn Academy, Robert against Ayrin, begin!"
While the stands were abuzz with discussions, Kleis declared the start of the showdown.
…
"He’s only an arcane master with one open gate. He must have consumed almost all his arcane particles by now. It’ll be fine, I just need to use the arcane skills I’m most proficient in and restrict his movements."
"I just need to pitch my invocation speed against his. No matter what, he only has one arcane gate open. There’s a very great difference between his invocation speed and that of an arcane master who’s close to three open gates."
Using normal criteria, Robert should have a tremendous advantage over Ayrin. However, for some reason, when he looked at Ayrin’s face surging with fighting spirit, Robert felt a strange lack of confidence. He kept roaring at himself in his mind, encouraging himself.
"Wild Growth Confinement!"
As soon as Kleis declared the formal start of the fight, Robert started a rapid chant.
Countless wild grasses sparkling with green light suddenly sprang up from the ground within five to six meters of Ayrin.
Shadows welled under Ayrin’s feet, but before this wisp of shadow could take shape, the wild grasses immediately pierced it.
"He’s tied up!"
Surprised shouts descended from the stands.
The wild grasses directly grew to a length of almost two meters and firmly bundled Ayrin, turning him into a green man.
"With a large area binding skill like Wild Growth Confinement, Robert should have consumed close to one-third of his arcane particles with a single cast, right?" Ivan coldly shook his head in the stands. "He immediately used an arcane skill like this. It looks like Ayrin’s already oppressing team Mountain Kings’ momentum and confidence."
"That said, Ayrin’s invocation is still a bit slower than his. Isn’t he going to lose anyway now that he’s tied up?" Silva couldn’t resist saying, watching Ayrin firmly bundled by the wild grasses. He was the one Ayrin once cheated on the tournament field, the one who’d immediately invoked two heavy fire shields.
"Silva, don’t you forget the fight between Wilde and him." Ferguillo glanced at him and said in a faint voice, "Also, he hasn’t even used Holy Body Ignition so far."
"Even Wilde’s Demon Sealing Needles were…" Several men from Iron Forest Academy seemed to have remembered something. They shook all over.
"Power of Wild Growth! Confine!"
In the center of the field, Robert’s eyes flashed with happiness as soon as he saw Ayrin tied up. Without any pause, he stretched both his hands forward in a strange posture. Arcane particles shot out nonstop from his palms, transforming into one beam of green light after another. At the same time, the wild grasses binding Ayrin surged wildly, contracting.
"This should be the end."
Those in Mountain Kings' school team all released their breaths.
Bolton, the teacher in charge of the team, wiped his sweat and exhaled softly. "We finally pulled one back."
The greatest weakness of this "Wild Growth Confinement" of Robert's was that it used too many arcane particles in one go. If by any chance the opponent adapted to the circumstances and couldn't be tied down, then he'd have wasted a lot of arcane particles all for nothing. But as long as he could bind his opponent, then he could continue pouring more arcane particles into it, and the power of Wild Growth Confinement would increase ever stronger.
If he couldn't break free at the very start, then it was even more impossible to struggle free after that. He was definitely going to be bound until he couldn't take it anymore and made to surrender.
"What’s going on?"
But just then, continuously pouring arcane particles, Robert suddenly felt something very wrong.
He felt that he was consuming arcane particles much faster than usual, as though there was something continuously sapping his strength.
At the same time, the wild grasses binding Ayrin felt as if they were being pushed from inside out.
"Impossible!"
His face suddenly became pallid. "Power of Wild Growth! Confine!" Along with a shocked chant, arcane particles gushed out from him nearly twice faster.
"Ah! Bloody break free!"
"Boom!"
However, just in this instant, Ayrin surprisingly erupted in a violent roar. The air around him seemed to immediately catch fire like a volcanic eruption. The green, witch hair-like wild grasses entirely crumbled, sprinkling away like the rain.
"Evil Flaming Eye!"
The moment he broke free and roared fiercely, Ayrin’s lifted his right hand, and a huge burning eye charged in Robert’s direction.
His arcane skill forcibly interrupted, Robert’s eyes bulged all of a sudden.
"Robert!"
Standing at the edge of the field, the members of team Mountain Kings all shouted loud in horror.
Robert somewhat came back to his senses. He only had time to bend backward. The Evil Flaming Eye grazed past his forehead. Some of his hair even caught fire.
"Whoosh!"
Ayrin had already charged to his side just then.
"Ah!"
Every member of team Mountain Kings, the team-leading teacher Bolton included, all shouted miserably in the depths of their hearts, closing their eyes in despair.
Bang bang bang bang. Explosive sounds burst continuously in the field without any pause.
Ayrin once again became a blur swirling around Robert, while Robert continuously snapped backward and flew in the air, his body twisting nonstop under the rain of blows, his cheeks deforming nonstop.
"He actually… won again?"
"How’s that possible, how did he even manage to break free from this kind of binding?"
"Holy Body Ignition! It’s Holy Dawn Academy’s Holy Body Ignition, an arcane skill that extracts every ounce of strength from the body!"
"Rinsyi, things seem to become more and more interesting." In team Golden Stag, that cold-faced boy with slender fingers calmly said amidst the surrounding commotion, "He shouldn’t have broken free of an arcane skill like this even with Holy Body Ignition."
"Could he have more than one open gate? Maybe he just usually hides his real strength and seals his arcane gates whenever he uses an arcane skill?" the flirty and alluring girl with dark purple hair and black nails said with a faint smile. She looked at Ayrin with eyes filled with even more interest.
Rinsyi snorted coldly. An icy-cold desire to kill flashed past the depths of his eyes, but he didn’t make any sound.
"The match is over. Ayrin wins!"
Kleis and the assistant referees who were especially on high alert were also genuinely shocked. Even as arcane masters standing at the peak of the kingdoms, they simply couldn’t understand how Ayrin broke free.
"The outcome is just like you said." Ivan looked at Ferguillo and released a breath. "Watching this guy’s matches, they’re indeed always full of pleasant surprises and expectations."
"It’s surprisingly a triple kill already…"
"It’s already three one."
"It’s so damn strange. He won’t really wipe the floor with all of team Mountain Kings just by himself, right? Could they really have the strength to be champions?"
There was every kind of expression showing among the spectators in the stands.
For many people who watched the national tournaments for many years, they all felt this was the strangest tournament they ever saw.
"He actually won again?
"What’s going on, even a guy with Ayrin’s strength can win three fights in succession?
"Ayrin, stop forcing yourself alright? Your arcane particles must be running dry now, right? With your strength, better hurry up and admit defeat."
Stingham started shouting out loud just then, very disappointed again.
"What are you pretending for! You just won three fights with your machinations! Stop faking it already! What’s there to be proud of, come fight fair and square if you’re really so amazing!"
Werther and the others in team Mountain Kings all started howling in anger, all shamed into a rage after they heard him.
"What am I pretending for?"
Stingham was a bit dazed. But then he immediately thought that if he looked as if he didn’t understand, people would think he was handsome but not that bright. So he tossed his hair and took a very handsome posture. "I don’t feel like telling you. You guys are too lacking in style. I’m the most handsome!"
"…" Many people in the stands almost directly fell down head first.