Chapter 66 : Wild Card
“Perfect, Blanid!”
Divinity shouted from the other side of the training ground.
Blanid didn't respond to her praise and continued to move nimbly with the jump boots, dodging the opponent.
Eventually, she faced Barry charging head-on, and at that mont, Blanid leaped over him, spinning her body to land on the other side.
Now only the energy attacks remained.
Sal swung his sword, sending a wave of white light toward Blanid, who was already sprinting toward the finish line.
She blocked most of it with her shield, but the impact of the attack nearly made her lose her balance.
However, Blanid quickly regained her center and started running at full speed again.
The subsequent two attacks missed completely as Blanid threw herself across the finish line.
Applause erupted from both teams.
Divinity tapped on her tablet and laughed.
“You're third, after Barry and ! Really well done!”
She looked around to see the next order.
With the first match just a few days away, Divinity had suggested a focused attack style training.
Each participant had to run from one end of the training ground to the other while engaging eight people.
Shields, pistol gauntlets, and jump boots were provided, but the goal was not to take down the opponent but to focus on evasion.
For Sal, it was an interesting training thod that also allowed practice for long-range attacks.
Blanid lay on the ground, leisurely taking off her gauntlets and arm guards with a smile.
Her breathing was rough, but she seed greatly satisfied with her own performance.
“What rank is Jack?”
Her eyes sparkled.
Sal didn't know Blanid had such a competitive personality.
Divinity checked the tablet one more ti.
“Currently second from the bottom. Last place is Anthony.”
Sal looked at Anthony, who was standing awkwardly in the center of the training ground.
“Wait a minute, Divinity.”
Sal said, pointing at Anthony.
Divinity laughed looking at the sword in Sal's hand.
“Even knowing the ending, this scene is the best among the futures I've seen.”
Barry looked back and forth between the two and asked.
“What am I missing right now?”
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Blanid, who was still catching her breath on the floor, answered.
“Anthony's ability is Supercharge. Since Sal's sword gets stronger the more Essence you infuse… maybe he wants to swap and experint what happens?”
Divinity smiled at Barry and nodded.
“It's going to be quite a sight. Really.”
Barry tried to go toward Anthony with an expectant face, but Divinity reached out and grabbed him.
“But you'd better watch from here. It's going to beco a ss soon.”
As Sal approached Anthony, Anthony frowned and turned away.
“Did Divinity tell to run again?”
Sal shook his head, and Anthony let out a sigh of relief, dropping his shoulders.
“My formations and stuff are getting better too… but this is just… not in my nature. You know what I an?”
His honest expression showed just how burdenso this situation was for him.
Training together for the past few weeks, Anthony had consistently put in effort, but his skills didn't improve as quickly as the others.
When Sal handed him the sword, Anthony didn't move and looked at him as if he were a crazy person.
“No, I won't take it. For us to win, you have to hold this sword. I don't want to ruin things by holding this uselessly.”
Sal laughed and thrust the sword closer.
“For ‘us’ to win, you say. You're our team. And we want to see how this sword changes when you use your Supercharge skill. Divinity also said it was a decent choice, and I trust her word.”
Anthony reluctantly took the sword and almost dropped it.
“Wow! It's heavier than it looks….”
Eventually correcting his posture, he gave an awkward smile.
“How do I use it?”
As Sal explained the sword's main functions one by one, Anthony's eyes grew wider and wider as he listened.
When the explanation was over, he tried to return the sword imdiately, but Sal didn't allow it.
“Just activate your ability and try using it. Once you get used to it a bit, we'll experint together with shields and pistol gauntlets.”
Anthony's face turned pale.
“Wait, does that an… we're going to spar like in actual combat?”
Sal waved his hand and said.
“Sothing like that. But we'll do it after you get used to it. Before activating it, please wait until I get so distance. And don't be too surprised even if tentacles start wrapping around your arm. It's one of the sword's effects.”
Anthony looked down and laughed softly.
The small octopus decoration caught his eye.
“Got it. But don't expect too much. I might ss it up again.”
When Sal returned to the group, Divinity handed him an arm guard with a aningful look.
Sal took it without a word, wrapped it around his arm, and activated it.
Instantly, a dazzling blue shield unfolded in front of his arm, and he raised the shield high.
“Start when you're ready, Anthony!”
Hearing Sal's shout, Anthony gave him a thumbs up.
Divinity and Barry each unfolded their shields, and Blanid, Jack, and the other team mbers gathered behind them, watching the situation over their shoulders.
The start was truly anticlimactic.
When he activated the ability, Anthony panicked at the tentacles wrapping around his wrist, apologized quietly, and tried again.
Sal knew the process of the sword turning silver and then black, so he hoped Anthony would reach sowhere near there too.
That was the way to raise the entire team's potential.
However, reality was completely different from Sal's expectation.
“Damn it!”
Anthony shouted.
The tentacles wrapped around his entire upper body and fused like crimson armor.
The pure white blade shone dazzlingly, and the light was so strong that Anthony had to cover his eyes with his hand.
Sal activated his own eyes to see how the sword in Anthony's hand had changed, but it was hard to see clearly due to the distance.
As Anthony frowned and carefully swung his arm, a thunderous sound soon echoed through the training ground.
Sal was so surprised his jaw dropped.
A projectile shot out as fast as lightning, then suddenly stopped in mid-air.
When Anthony twisted the sword, the projectile reacted, changing direction and striking the training ground's protective wall directly.
The training ground vibrated slightly from the impact, and everyone looked at Anthony with their mouths open at the sight.
The most terrified among them was Anthony himself.
He was staring blankly at the wall he had smashed.
“I'm absolutely not attacking an Anthony holding that.”
Barry whispered low to the other team mbers, but Divinity laughed and charged straight toward Anthony.
“Prepare to attack!”
As Divinity shouted with a laugh, Anthony looked back at her as if she were crazy.
Seeing the conflict clearly on Anthony's face, Sal made a decision.
“If you don't hit, you're going to get hit!”
Perhaps thanks to the trauma of the past few weeks, that single sentence brought Anthony back to reality.
He lowered his body into a defensive stance and swung the sword toward Divinity.
The mont a powerful projectile flew toward her, Divinity quickly pushed off the ground with her jump boots and leaped up.
Anthony didn't change the direction of the first projectile and imdiately fired a second projectile at her again.
The first projectile headed toward Sal and Barry, and the two looked at each other nervously.
“You fixed the shield properly, right?”
Simultaneously with Barry's question, the attack struck the barrier directly.
Sal burst into laughter at the explosive impact, and Barry was flung back and slamd into the wall.
Sal's uniform recognized the attack as a threat this ti and blocked it perfectly.
Turning his head again, Divinity was moving nimbly in the air using the jump boots, pouring fire with the bullet gauntlets.
However, the sword deflected all those bullets accurately.
It was before he regained his reason, but Sal instinctively grabbed his gear, called his team mbers, and joined the battle.
Anthony was dazed at the sight of his arm seemingly moving on its own, and the sword was activating the Absolute Counter ability, reflecting attacks and displaying trendous destructive power.
“How much longer can you hold out?”
At that shout, Anthony blocked Divinity's surprise shot from her bullet gauntlets without even looking and said.
“I think I can do it for another hour. Is that… bad?”
Instead of answering, Divinity laughed out loud and charged straight in, delivering a knee kick.
However, the sword moved Anthony's body in a different direction, and her kick was blocked by the crimson armor, having no effect.
At this ti, Blanid and Jack joined with bullet gauntlets, and the pace of the battle beca much more intense.
The Essence bullets they fired were all blocked by the sword and bounced off.
When they got close, Anthony shot projectiles at the ground, pushing everyone back.
The rest of Divinity's team had no ans of attack or defense, so they just watched, and Barry was still sprawled in the corner.
He seed to have fainted from the previous attack.
Although the sparring continued for only a few more minutes, most soon beca incapacitated.
The bullets from the bullet gauntlets could be blocked to so extent with shields, but the attacks from the Supercharged sword could not be defended against.
After a few shocking attacks, Jack and Blanid forfeited voluntarily, and Sal also couldn't last long.
There was no way to penetrate that sword's defense.
Even Divinity's ability to see the future found it difficult to beat Anthony in a battle of attrition.
When Divinity raised her hand to end the match, Anthony imdiately deactivated the sword.
Anthony looked down at the sword as if he couldn't believe it and kept shaking his head.
Then he approached Sal to return the sword.
“Where on earth did you get sothing like this? Who the hell is Mythos?”
Sal slowly got up, stretched his back, and loosened his body, anticipating severe muscle pain tomorrow.
Then he gestured for Anthony to just keep holding the sword.
“I did a lot of Appraisal work for the Reavers Guild, so they gave a Rare rank sword for combat preparation. Mythos is soone who works with them, and I just added so improvents to it. A genius who doesn't even know his own worth.”
Sal laughed as he looked at the sword again.
It seed he was feeling anew what kind of aning that weapon held.
Anthony nodded and cherished the sword.
Divinity approached and said with a smile.
“Wasn't it amazing?”
Sal nodded and looked at Anthony.
“I'm not trying to pressure you, but your role will probably decide the match in the next battle.”
The color that had barely returned to his face almost disappeared again, but Anthony didn't lower his head.
Holding the sword firmly, he smiled.
“I'll try my best.”
Sal tapped his back.
“That's enough!”
While organizing the equipnt, Barry woke up.
He glared at Anthony the whole ti he was moving the luggage, and Anthony tried hard not to make eye contact.
Sal burst into laughter.
“Is your body a bit sensitive, Barry?”
Divinity also giggled at those words and left the training room together.
As they entered the path coming out of the tower, Sal looked at Divinity and asked.
“Can you tell us how prepared we are right now? Or are you still worried we might let our guard down?”
Divinity shook her head.
Glancing back to make sure no one else was around, she lowered her voice.
“I've been looking into the future continuously these days, but I can't trust it. The flow is strange. So I think we have to go with our gut for this tournant.”
Sal frowned and asked back.
“Can't trust it, what do you an?”
Divinity looked at Sal with aningful eyes, then checked behind her again.
“The vision I saw during the Doom Society eting… that scene with Sinclair. It's scheduled to happen this weekend.”
Sal looked at her with a face engulfed in shock, but Divinity imdiately brought a finger to her lips, signaling him to be quiet.
“Headmaster Quest said he's handling that matter. I et him every few days to share the situation, but there's no change. He said right now it's just one of the possibilities, and because I worry too much, it only looks like reality. That I'm extracting prophecies from fear, not high-probability futures.”
Sal looked at her with an expression of disbelief.
“If that's the real future and people don't believe you… shouldn't we do sothing at least?”
Divinity pointed to the team mbers following behind.
“We've done all the preparations we can. Now… we just have to hope I'm wrong.”
User Comments
0 comments from readers