The instant the FAN FAL battle rifle clicked empty; Vera smoothly removed the magazine without hesitation.
Clink.
The empty tal magazine dropped onto the stage floor and rolled away with a tallic sound.
At the sa ti...
Her other hand had already reached into her space bag.
Several steel nuggets poured into her palm.
Cognis imdiately flowed through to her palm.
A glowing Alchemy circle ford above her hand while the steel nuggets lted and reshaped rapidly before compressing together into a newly loaded magazine.
The entire process happened frighteningly fast.
Like breathing.
In one fluid motion, Vera slamd the fresh magazine back into the rifle and raised the muzzle again.
anwhile...At the exact mont Vera started changing magazines...
Veda suddenly threw several steel bars high into the air.
Vera...
Veda stared at her quietly.
His eyes remained focused on every small movent she made while she reloaded the rifle without panic.
I know beating you won’t be easy.
His fist slowly tightened.
And honestly...
I don’t even want this fight to reach the point where blood starts spilling between us.
The pressure around his body slowly changed. His Cognis started surging outward more violently.
But...
I already promised myself sothing.
The white glow of Cognis intensified around him.
I promised that I would win. No matter what it takes.
He slowly exhaled.
So...I’m sorry, sister.
The mood around Veda shifted completely afterward.
The playful and nervous side of him vanished.
In its place...
Only resolve remained.
I’m going all out from the very beginning.
The instant Vera finished aiming...
Her vision suddenly darkened slightly, sothing flashed toward her face at terrifying speed.
Vera imdiately bent backward instinctively.
Whoosh!
A steel bar shot past above her head violently enough to distort the air slightly.
"This feeling..."
Vera’s eyes flinched faintly.
The audience erupted.
But unlike before...
This reaction felt completely different.
Linda, Nickolas, Tracy, Bale.
Every mber of Veda’s group except Ezra.
Even several Mainlines, Highlines, and Lowlines among both the young and old generation that were all Alchemists...
All stood up at once in shock, because they could feel it clearly now.
"He’s in the ister Rank!"
Silvia gripped the handle of her seat tightly while staring at the stage in disbelief.
The white-haired young man beside her looked stunned, even the silent black-haired boy who barely reacted to anything since the ceremony began...
Now wore an obvious shocked expression.
Veda.
The wasted twin, the sunless one, the child who struggled endlessly to gain strength while predicted to always stay behind Vera his entire life.
The person many of his group mbers described as the embodint of hard work.
Was now finally showing the result of everything he endured.
At the highest seat...
Valentin quietly stared at the glowing white Cognis surrounding Veda.
ister Rank...
His expression didn’t change, but his eyes remained fixed on Veda.
Clap!
The sound of Veda’s palms slamming together echoed loudly across the hall.
An Alchemy circle instantly ford beneath him, then he slamd both palms onto the ground.
Boom!
The circle expanded rapidly across the stage.
Far larger.
Far more stable than the Mass Alchemy Felix forcefully pulled off earlier.
"Mass Alchemy!"
Bobby shouted excitedly while turning toward Ezra.
"Compared to what Felix did, this one is way more stable."
Linda folded her arms proudly while speaking.
The mont the Alchemy finished...
Nurous Repeater Sword Rifles appeared across the stage.
Thirty-five in total.
Vera’s eyes quickly scanned through every single one almost instantly.
"Are you trying to kill your big sister now... little brother?"
Vera spoke sarcastically while slowly standing back up after evading the steel bar.
"I obviously don’t plan to."
Veda held two Repeater Sword Rifles tightly.
One in each hand.
The remaining rifles stood around him like an ard formation waiting for commands.
"Get him, Lady Vera!"
Nina shouted loudly alongside the rest of Vera’s mbers, even though they felt pressured by Veda reaching the ister Rank...
They still believed Vera would win.
"Hmm..."
Vera glanced at Veda with lazy eyes.
"I’ve only fought one ister Rank before..."
She slowly adjusted her grip on the FAN FAL.
"The leader of those Kalians during the fifth trial."
A faint amused smile appeared on her lips.
"So, let’s see what you can do now... ister Rank brother."
The instant those words ended...
Vera vanished again.
Veda’s expression sharpened imdiately, Cognis surged into all his senses at once.
The image inside his mind suddenly expanded outward like a wave detector.
Invisible pulses spread across the entire platform.
Then...
He found her.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Veda instantly started firing toward Vera’s moving position.
To ordinary spectators...
It looked like he was shooting at empty space.
Because they could neither sense Vera’s presence nor follow her movents, only Alchemists that had good sense and Binder rank above could use their Cognis to sense her.
Vera smoothly weaved through every bullet.
Her body twisted and moved with clean precision before she imdiately returned fire herself.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The FAN FAL roared repeatedly.
Her shots accurately intercepted many incoming bullets midair.
Sparks exploded continuously across the stage.
While the firing continued, Vera noticed how fast Veda’s gunfire were.
For a Binder rank gun... Hmm... A Ninth grade maybe?
Vera tilted her head, thinking while shooting, then suddenly...
Boom!
Veda flashed directly into close range.
The Repeater Sword Rifle in his hand swung violently toward Vera.
She dodged cleanly.
But the pressure of the swing alone made her black hair whip sideways from the force.
Bang!
Veda imdiately fired again at point-blank range.
But...
Vera blocked the shot using the FAN FAL itself before shifting her body to stop another incoming slash.
"AHHH!"
Veda roared and pushed harder.
The sheer force behind his strike overwheld Vera’s guard and sent her flying sideways through the air.
The instant she lost balance...
Veda grabbed two fresh Repeater Sword Rifles and resud firing imdiately since the earlier ones had emptied already.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets chased Vera through the air relentlessly.
While airborne...
Vera sensed every incoming trajectory instantly.
She threw the FAN FAL forward briefly while twisting her body midair and tossing out another steel bar.
Clap!
Cognis surged directly into her palms again.
The Alchemy circle ford.
She grabbed the nearby materials in midair and instantly created two new firearms.
Big-4Barrel Revolvers.
Vera landed smoothly afterward, then imdiately raised both weapons.
BANG! BANG!
The loud roar of the Big-4 Barrel Revolvers echoed across the hall.
Each shot accurately destroyed the bullets coming toward her.
The exploding sparks looked almost like fireworks raining through the air.
Veda flashed forward again aggressively.
anwhile, Vera calmly perford another Alchemy while moving.
The two revolvers rged alongside additional steel bars and transford rapidly back into the FAN FAL.
But the instant she grabbed the completed rifle...
Boom!
Vera leaped backward imdiately.
Veda had already appeared before her swinging another Repeater Sword Rifle downward violently.
The ground where Vera previously stood exploded apart from the impact.
Without stopping...
Veda raised his second rifle and fired imdiately, but Vera had already aid first.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A storm of bullets exploded toward Veda.
Several bullets clashed together in midair.
The rest forced Veda to quickly block and evade while grabbing another Repeater Sword Rifle to continue pressuring her.
To the audience...
The battle now resembled a deadly ga of tag.
Vera continuously leaped backward while weaving, blocking, and countering every attack thrown at her, while Veda relentlessly chased after her with terrifying speed.
"Lady Vera is actually getting pushed back?!"
Scott shouted with widened eyes.
"Idiot!"
Both Nina and Zack shouted at him imdiately.
"Lady Vera is only analyzing him because he’s a ister Rank now."
Nina spoke confidently despite the tension visible in her eyes.
"And even after all these attacks..."
Zack adjusted his glasses.
"...Lady Vera still hasn’t taken a single injury."
Scott quietly nodded afterward, but the tension inside Vera’s group still didn’t disappear.
Even though Zack sounded confident earlier...
None of them could fully relax anymore, because what Veda was showing now had already exceeded what many expected from him.
At Veda’s side...
The atmosphere was completely different.
The noise there had beco much louder and more intense than Vera’s group.
"Sir Veda! Keep the pressure!"
Linda stood on top of her chair while shouting energetically.
Her fist remained raised high in the air while the others around her followed loudly behind.
So slamd their hands against the chairs, others shouted Veda’s na repeatedly.
The excitent on their faces could no longer be hidden.
Ezra quietly remained seated.
His eyes carefully followed every movent happening on the stage while a faint amused look rested on his face.
Unlike the others...
He wasn’t shocked.
Instead...
He looked more interested in how both twins kept adapting to each other mid-fight.
Back on the stage...
The ground had already beco a complete ss.
Cracks spread across the platform from Veda’s repeated crashes, swings, and heavy footwork.
Broken stone pieces scattered everywhere; dust floated lightly in the air.
Veda suddenly flashed forward again.
The mont he entered Vera’s range...
He violently thrust the Repeater Sword Rifle straight toward her face.
The slim sword attached beneath the rifle cut through the air sharply.
But...
Vera rely tilted her head slightly.
Whoosh!
The blade narrowly brushed past her cheek without touching her skin.
Her expression still looked calm, almost bored.
Then...
She raised the FAN FAL at point-blank range and aid directly at Veda’s stomach.
Veda reacted imdiately.
His leg swung upward, trying to kick the rifle away before she could fire.
But...
Like Vera had already predicted the exact movent beforehand...
She suddenly adjusted the angle of the gun to 90degrees.
Veda’s kick missed completely, and at the sa ti...
Vera redirected the muzzle upward toward the stretched arm Veda used to thrust the rifle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The gunfire exploded loudly between them.
Several bullets pierced directly through Veda’s hand.
Blood splashed outward instantly, the flesh around his arm, palm and fingers tore open violently.
Veda gritted his teeth hard.
The pain twisted his face briefly, but he didn’t stop moving.
His second hand imdiately swung the other Repeater Sword Rifle horizontally toward Vera’s neck with brutal speed.
Vera bent downward instantly.
Whoosh!
The rifle passed above her head while the violent wind pressure pushed her black hair wildly backward.
But...
Before she could fully reposition...
A kick suddenly rushed toward her face.
Boom!
Veda’s kick slamd forward violently.
Vera quickly raised the FAN FAL to block.
The impact exploded heavily against the weapon.
The force behind the kick sent Vera flying backward across the stage.
Her body rolled across the broken ground before spinning once in a backward circle.
Stone fragnts scattered everywhere.
Vera imdiately forced herself to stop afterward.
Her right leg stretched outward against the floor while her left knee pressed down.
The muzzle of the FAN FAL scraped against the stage surface.
She could still feel the numb vibration from Veda’s kick spreading through both arms.
But...
The instant Vera raised her eyes again...
Veda was already directly before her.
The sa injured hand she shot earlier had already tightened into a fist despite the blood dripping from it continuously.
Boom!
He launched a heavy punch straight toward her face.
The force behind the strike distorted the air slightly.
Vera imdiately stepped inward instead of retreating.
The punch barely missed her face by inches.
The violent wind pressure pushed her long black hair backward sharply.
At the sa ti...
Veda instantly followed up with a headbutt.
Boom!
Vera flexibly shifted sideways before driving her left knee directly into the side of Veda’s head.
The impact made a dull sound.
Then...
Like flowing water...
Vera smoothly moved around him toward the right side while raising the FAN FAL again.
Her movent looked strangely graceful despite the violence of the fight.
But...
The instant she aid...
Veda suddenly grabbed the gun barrel with his bare hand.
Blood from his injured palm sared against the weapon.
At the sa ti...
He thrust the Repeater Sword Rifle in his other hand directly toward Vera’s chest.
Vera instantly caught his rifle as well.
The two froze briefly in extrely close range, their eyes locked onto each other.
Neither moved back.
Neither loosened their grip.
Then...
Cognis erupted violently from both of them simultaneously.
White sparks burst wildly across the stage floor.
The air around them trembled from the pressure alone.
Both activated the sa Alchemy skill at the exact sa mont.
LAW OF INVERSION.
Cognis surged violently through the weapons they held.
BOOM!
Both guns exploded instantly.
A violent shockwave burst outward from the center of their clash.
Smoke and sparks swallowed the two twins completely.
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