564: The End Of A Bout.
564: The End Of A Bout.
The Grand Arena erupted in cheers as Cassandra closed the distance to Damien, wasting no time in thrusting her halberd towards him.
The fans of the Bloodline Academy gasped in Shock as the halberd swiftly closed the gap between them, resembling a bolt of lightning, as it shot forth with bright light.
“Puchi!” The halberd made contact with Damien, but the scene that the Holy Grail Academy fans had been hoping for did not occur.
Instead, Damien’s body scattered into tiny bats, which flew away and reconvened on the other side of the arena.
There, Damien’s body reconstructed itself, but this time he wielded a unique-looking blood red spear.
The spear, approximately six feet in length, appeared to be crafted from a dark, dense wood.
It was polished to a high sheen and adorned with intricate patterns of swirling, thorn-like filigree, the carvings embedded reddish copper, while runes adorned the supple leather wrapping around it.
The spearhead had a leaf-shaped design, broadening from a central ridge before tapering to a deadly point.
With the spear now in hand, Damien wasted no time and charged towards Cassandra also, clearly focused on his target.
He thrust his spear towards her, but she swiftly flicked her halberd to deflect his attack.
However, it seemed as if Damien had anticipated her move, as he twisted his hand in response and flicked the bottom of the spear towards her jaws, causing Cassandra’s eyes to widen in realization.
She quickly shifted her head to the side, thinking she had evaded the full force of the attack.
However, a small crescent moon-shaped slash, made of blood, appeared.
With a flash, the slash grazed Cassandra’s right cheek as her hands became covered in Qi.
She transferred the energy into her weapon, using the surge of power to push Damien back.
As Damien tried to close the distance again, this time intending to use sneak attacks to disorient Cassandra, as he realized that she didn’t react swiftly to the blood slash he had unleashed earlier.
However, as he moved his legs, he swiped the spear, demolishing his blood chains and causing the blood to gather just above his head, levitating like a pool, as he closed in once more,
But he saw the halberd swinging horizontally towards him, with the bladed part aiming to strike him in two, the fans of the Bloodline Academy believed that he would be able to escape, just as he had easily done before by transforming into bats.
However, to their surprise, Damien’s expression changed upon seeing the bladed part of the halberd covered in bluish glowing light, prompting him to quickly maneuver his blood red spear into a defensive position.
“Bang!” The crowd immediately realized that their expectations had not come to pass.
As not only had Damien been unable to escape, but he also seemed to be in trouble as Cassandra dragged him along to the edge of the stage.
The hooked blade of her halberd was attempting to remove him from the battle ring, mimicking her tactics against Carmilla before eventually disposing of her the hard way.
She’s using Aura Blade!
Just look at the bladed part of her halberd, that’s the reason she’s able to pierce Damien now,” one spectator exclaimed.
“She must have realized that she couldn’t injure Damien normally due to his high bloodline density, the only way to counter opponents like him is to use either Qi or an aura attack, and she has both.”
“ By utilizing them, not only has she prevented him from escaping using his bat transformation, but she’s also able to deal damage,” some academy dean analysed.
“she has also forced him into a close battle, Damien needs to make a move quickly, or he won’t know what hit him when she’s done.
Let’s not forget that she’s slightly superior to him in strength,” another important figure watching the match from the VIP section couldn’t help but mention as he observed the intense confrontation.
Cassandra continued to drag Damien towards the edge of the ring, but when they reached the edge, Damien pushed his spear deep into the ground, anchoring himself firmly.
Cassandra, despite her effort, was unable to push him off, even with the little strength required.
Retracting the weapon, Cassandra firmly gripped the halberd with both hands.
Her dominant hand held near the shaft while her other hand was positioned closer to the head of the weapon.
She slightly angled the halberd blade upward and to the side, preparing for a sweeping motion with the confidence of throwing Damien off the stage.
However, Damien was not the type to wait and allow himself to be tossed aside, he pointed his right hand at Cassandra.
[> Mid Bloodline Spell – Blood Cannon <]
As Damien finished his chant, a loud explosion resounded, and his right arm up to the shoulder shattered.
The blood on his arm was propelled towards Cassandra, who was already in an advantageous position to knock him off the stage.
The Blood Cannon spell was faster than Cassandra had imagined, and with her positioning, she had left herself vulnerable to any attacks directed at her.
The impact struck her in the abdomen, causing her to be sent flying backwards.
The entire area around Damien now became engulfed in a mist of blood.
However, the mist was not enough to conceal the events of Cassandra flying out from the spectators, as they wondered what he had done as they observed.
Damien gritted his teeth and dashed towards Cassandra, who was still recovering and feeling numb as she rose from the ground, his left hand tightly gripping the spear.
What echoed through Damien’s mind was the question of what kind of monster she was.
Not only had she engaged in a serious battle previously with Carmilla, but she emerged from it with only minor scratches and burns on her skin and academy uniform.
Upon their few clashes, Damien had realized that he couldn’t defeat her with his current speed and power alone.
So he switched and had prepared to overpower her with spells, but neither the [Blood Shackles] nor the [Blood Cannon] seemed to have a significant effect on her fighting prowess.
Damien was certain that she must have sustained internal injuries since the [Blood Cannon] bypassed most of her body’s defences.
But this just confirmed that she possessed incredible strength to still be standing after enduring such an attack.
Recognizing the advantages she held over him, Damien abandoned his hope of defeating her through pure superiority.
The crowd gasped as he emerged from the mist of blood, noticing the gruesome state of his right shoulder.
Though it appeared to be slowly healing, with blood flowing into the severed hand from the blood pool above his head, but the process was sluggish.
They could all discern that Damien was in immense pain, yet he pushed through it and thrust his spear towards Cassandra with his left hand.
The spearhead emitted a laser-like blood beam as it shot towards her.
However, Cassandra, still feeling unsteady from the previous assault, realized she couldn’t reach her sword in time.
Instead, she extended her left hand to confront the attack, clearly willing to sacrifice her left hand for the greater cause.
The blood beam pierced a hole through her left hand, causing her to groan in pain.
Nevertheless, she held on tightly, clamping the spearhead in her injured left hand, meanwhile, in her right hand, she grasped onto a bright light in the shape of a sword, ready to retaliate.
The crowd has now become accustomed to such actions, knowing that Cassandra was about to summon another weapon from her space ring.
However, before she could complete the summoning, the spectators watched in anticipation as Damien’s hands swiftly moved towards the bottom handle of the spear.
Drawing back, a short sword was revealed from within the spear.
With the short sword brimming with a menacing Blood aura, the entire blade was coated in blood, and in a swift motion, before Cassandra could react or even move her right hand to counterattack with the new great sword she had retrieved from her space ring, Damien closed the distance between them.
The clash was sudden, and Damien’s left hand held his short sword to Cassandra’s throat as he stared at her intensely.
His eyes were bloodshot, reflecting the intensity of his determination, he had given his all to reach this point, and with just a small movement, he could slit her throat.
Despite Cassandra’s greater strength, Damien’s strategic thinking and versatile use of spells had given him the edge at the end.
“And the winner of this round is Damien Sorin!” the red-haired referee announced, igniting the crowd with wild excitement.
They had just witnessed a truly remarkable battle.