Kingdom of Stars, 10 p.m., Jiale City National Athletic Center.
Within the competition arena with a town alley layout, a two-story house collapsed with a roar. As Sonia retreated, she suddenly found time drastically slowed down. Shards of debris drifted slowly past her ears, the announcer’s excited introduction stretched into an electronic echo; the entire world seemed to stand still. She immediately realized she had triggered a passive Blessing—"Life-Threatening Sense"!
This dual Blessing, a mix of Prophecy and the Time Faction, warned her of imminent danger by slowing down time!
"Life-Threatening Sense" would only activate at the moment before a fatal attack—which meant Sonia would have been killed before she could employ the Defense Miracle and would have lost to the "Forbidden Death" Miracle.
Yet until now, she had no idea where the danger was coming from!
If she wasn’t mistaken, the attack that she hadn’t seen yet was capable of instantly killing her—probably another contestant’s gun technique Miracle. At this moment, the fatal gun bullet had already left the barrel, carving a supersonic path through the viscous air. Was it aimed at her head, heart, or throat?
The only thing Sonia could do was to change her body’s trajectory and try to avoid taking a critical hit as best as possible.
"Sword Maiden, I purposely chose Life-Threatening Sense just for you."
"Ah? Is that, is that some kind of riddle? Or some historical reference? Can you give me a hint?"
"What are you talking about? What I mean is, this Blessing is very helpful for your fighting."
"This Blessing is helpful for a Witch’s fighting too..."
"No, no, no, just like a Witch is proficient at creating personality sisters, you have a special skill called ’Dazzling Star Eyes’."
"That doesn’t sound like anything good... Why don’t I know about it?"
"Because its effect is to let you nip danger in the bud, but your life has been so fulfilling recently, with only you bullying others and no one bullying you, so of course you wouldn’t need this skill."
"I haven’t been bullying anyone—I’m not that kind of girl!"
"Although it’s good that you’ve never had to use this skill, no one can win forever. There will always be times when you get hit, so I purposely chose this Blessing. In the case of Life-Threatening Sense, if you are at your wit’s end, then you can choose to trust your heart."
"Is it really useful?"
Sonia closed her eyes and clenched the hilt of her sword in her right hand. Strangely enough, despite every cell in her body sending out crisis alarms, her thoughts zigzaggingly led her to think of that person who wasn’t on the battlefield. Then she seemingly sensed the malicious intent of the speeding bullet herself.
Miracle · Sword Flower!
Her upward slash with the wooden sword against the air emitted a malign Sword Flower. A clang resounded in the air, and the bursting aftermath collapsed the wall behind her, a testament to its destructive power!
Sonia’s thoughts felt drawn out, but in reality, everything happened in an instant. The announcer, who had been overviewing the match, was still talking about Miss Sevi being in danger, and now stood up in shock: "Did the Sevi contestant actually cut through Hubert contestant’s Miracle gunshot!? Is it some kind of Miracle effect?"
Many in the audience hadn’t seen what just happened. It wasn’t until the announcer announced that Sonia had cut through the gunshot that Adelle led the Sword Flower students in cheering!
"Sworad Maiden! Sword Maiden!"
"Claw Club is the best in the world!"
"Where is she cutting through gunshots; she’s clearly cutting through my heart!"
"Sword Maiden, I want to be your dog!"
Amidst the noisy chaos, the Holy Sanctuary Mages narrowed their eyes.
"A Reflex Miracle similar to the Spinning Stick Faction’s ’One-Arm Realm’?"
"No, Reflex Miracles require active casting. Hubert had timed it perfectly. Just now, Sevi was too busy dodging the collapsing house, her body and mind both in a hurried state to evade; she had no chance to cast any Miracle. She should have been out of the game here."
"Pure Talent? ...This year, Truth University really has met its match."
No wonder even the Holy Sanctuary Mages were surprised. After all, the sniper who had targeted Sonia was a fourth-year student from Truth University, with Two-winged gun technique proficiency!
The gun technique faction had become the top combat faction with the largest number of members in just a hundred years because of its near-dominant power among low-level Mages, capable of almost instantly killing any lower-level Mages with a pre-emptive strike. Only Holy Sanctuary Mages could rely on the Holy Domain to fully counter stealth Gunshots.
Apart from very few exceptions, most Two-winged Defense Miracles could not withstand the penetration of the Two-winged gun technique Miracles, meaning as long as the Gun Master hit one shot, victory was almost assured. Accordingly, Low-level Mages had only two strategies against Gun Masters: dodge or Bullet Reflection!
Most Mages could only choose to dodge. Bullet Reflection is a skill that only a few factions can cultivate into corresponding Reflex Miracles. For instance, the Spinning Stick Faction’s "One-Arm Realm" allows a Mage to instantly deflect any gun bullets that enter their attacking range, and the highest realm of Bullet Reflection is to send the gun bullet back to the Gun Master.
Up until now in the match, Sonia had relied on dodging Gunshots by using the complex terrain of the town, which also made it difficult for her to approach the gunman. Faced with certain doom, she suddenly revealed a hand of Bullet Reflection, which to those in the know was sheer spectacle.
Even more frighteningly, she wasn’t using a Miracle to deflect the bullet, but it seemed like an act of Talent sparked by a flash of Spiritual Light... The Rhythm Sword Saint, Nidara, couldn’t help but ask Trozan beside her: "Did you teach her?"