Chapter 77 : Tournant
"Sal, don't expect to go easy on you."
As they shook hands before the match, Nova spoke as if warning him.
The stress from the tournant was plainly visible on her face.
Just by seeing the cold glare she shot at her team mbers, one could tell they hadn't been much help in the previous match.
Nova looked slightly confused seeing the gear Sal's team wore, but soon joined her team mbers and stepped back.
As the announcer started the countdown, Sal tried to calm the adrenaline boiling up inside.
To win this match, reason had to take priority over excitent.
Nova was one of the most powerful students in the Silver Cohort.
That ant they had to execute their carefully and thoroughly prepared strategy just as planned.
According to existing data, in this match, instead of transforming into a giant, Nova fought by amplifying her body to be fast and strong.
Whether it was to save Essence or because she underestimated Sal's team composed of support classes, the reason wasn't certain.
When the countdown reached zero, Nova started faster than anyone else, swinging a punch at light speed and rushing toward Sal.
"Defense!"
At Sal's shout, Blanid and Jack simultaneously jumped in front of him and deployed a shield barrier.
Nova's eyes widened.
Her fist collided with a formidable barrier, and as the shield vibrated, Nova was bounced back.
Jack and Blanid also had to secure their stance to withstand the impact.
Just then, at a startled shout heard from behind, Nova reflexively turned her head.
A trail of Essence struck her team, and two mbers were blown away, hitting the Prism wall hard.
Following that, another Essence trail flew from Anthony's sword, accurately aiming at the remaining two.
Nova threw herself toward Anthony with fear-filled rage.
"Flank!"
As Sal shouted, at that mont, Barry revealed himself from empty air, aiming his hand equipped with the Power Gauntlet precisely at her side.
A powerful wave of Essence burst from Barry's palm and blew Nova sideways.
She spat out a startled breath, rolled on the ground, and barely stood up.
Nova took a step back and started healing, then looked back with bewildered eyes.
What she saw was a scene of another Essence trail flying toward her team.
"No! Move!"
Despite Nova's urgent shout, her team mbers, frozen in fear, could not move and only watched with their own eyes as their defeat flew toward them.
Anthony's aim was precise, and the Essence trail hit all the remaining team mbers, blowing them away to the Prism wall.
"Dammit!"
Nova gritted her teeth and backed away from Sal's team.
Seeing Nova's movent stop at that mont, Sal imdiately grasped the situation.
"Full attack! Finish it before Nova grows bigger!"
Before Sal's words even ended, the entire team charged in unison.
Nova inhaled sharply and opened her eyes wide.
Blanid and Jack leaped high and aid their gauntlets at her like guns.
In an instant, Essence bullets poured down like heavy rain.
Nova tried to turn and dodge, but a sharp sword strike already cut across her front.
Her eyes wide, she only then realized Anthony had approached to close range.
Although she was strong in close combat, Anthony's sword accurately stabbed at her openings.
"Hup...!"
Nova transford her hands to be hard like tal and blocked the sword strikes a few tis, but simultaneously, she beca vulnerable to the other team mbers' attacks.
At that overwhelming offensive, Nova spat out a curse with a bewildered expression, forced to admit she had underestimated this situation too much.
Sal watched Nova desperately defending.
This fight was already turning into a battle of attrition.
In fact, if he just gave the order to Barry, they could trap her in an illusion hell and take the victory instantly, but Sal's goal wasn't a quick victory.
This match was a stage to showcase his entire team's capabilities.
So, a scene of fighting through continuous attacks and tactical movents while executing instructions like this... would surely lead to a higher score.
"Flank!"
When Sal shouted again, this ti Nova was prepared.
She instinctively turned her body toward her blind spot and took a defensive stance, but there was no one there.
Realizing it was a feint, Nova gritted her teeth.
At that mont, Anthony jumped backward and accurately fired another Essence trail at Nova.
Nova was not in a situation to take a defensive stance, and Barry, Blanid, and Jack were blocking her retreat with shields raised.
Nova was eventually driven into a situation where she had to take the Essence attack head-on.
"Haha...."
She laughed out loud and took the Essence just like that.
Nova's body was flung away and hit a shield.
Falling to the floor as if rolling, she let out a short sigh as if feeling wronged and did not move.
Thus, this match ended with Sal's team's first real victory.
As the match ended, everyone moved to help the opposing team, and Sal approached Nova himself.
"Are you okay?"
As he lightly touched her shoulder, Nova groaned, lay on her back, and tossed and turned.
Sal almost laughed at her annoyed expression but barely held it back.
Nova shook her head and looked at him with resentful eyes.
"What is this.... My team mbers were all terrible. How did you pull this off?"
Sal reached out his hand, and Nova took it.
As he helped her stand up, Nova lost her balance, fell toward him, and let out a groan.
"Ugh... ha...."
Shaking her head again, she looked toward her team and sighed.
"I hope they aren't hurt enough to miss the next match.... No, we have to do this nineteen tis? This is ridiculous...."
After saying that, Nova composed herself, moved Sal's arm away, and regained her balance.
She slowly exhaled and held out her hand.
"Good fight, Sal. That was cool."
Although Nova's tone was cynical as if exhausted, Sal could clearly feel the emotion of respect budding in her eyes.
In the Prism right next to them, Divinity was seen delivering powerful kicks continuously to Dominic Walters.
Divinity's team had already dealt with most of Dominic's team, and only a few were still engaging in close combat.
But the real highlight of this match was the one-on-one battle between the two team leaders.
Every ti Dominic tried to deploy a barrier, a blue light flashed instantly, and Divinity dug into the gap of that defense, landing punches and kicks.
Every ti Dominic blocked once, Divinity succeeded in attacking two or three tis.
This was no longer a battle of attrition.
It was just a battle where the strong overwheld the weak, nothing more and nothing less.
The decisive mont was when Divinity's team activated their Power Gauntlets and started firing Essence bullets.
That mont was indeed the timing to drive the final nail into Dominic's coffin.
The chance for a counterattack completely disappeared, and after a few more attacks followed, Dominic collapsed again and t defeat.
Sal smiled seeing Divinity celebrating the victory with her team mbers and laughing.
They all wore expressions of surprise at the much cleaner victory result than expected.
And Sal shifted his gaze to Dominic.
Dominic was punching the floor with a face full of rage.
***
Sal had originally expected the match with Team 6's captain, Evan McGregor, to be much more difficult.
Evan's teleportation ability that traversed the battlefield could be a significant variable, so he was contemplating whether Barry's help would be needed.
However, Evan made the worst choice.
He targeted Anthony as his first objective.
At the mont Anthony was about to overcharge his sword, Evan appeared and raised his fist.
But the sword imdiately sensed that threat.
Not the blade but the flat side of the sword struck Evan's head squarely, and Sal watched the scene where Evan collapsed on the ground and fainted just like that.
Blanid and Jack perford their respective roles perfectly.
Approaching the team that had lost its leader, they fired shockwaves from their gauntlets, bouncing each team mber backward.
Before Sal even had ti to shout an order, the match was already over.
Having recorded 3 consecutive wins like this, Sal's team began to receive attention from other teams.
So students made a few comnts about the uniform design crafted by Blanid and Jack, but what captured all gazes was Anthony's sword.
Sal smirked listening to the complaints of lower-ranked students claiming they bought weapons with Q-Credits.
The sarcastic advice they themselves had given to Sal around the ti teams were decided was returning to them like a boorang.
The atmosphere of the stadium was no longer peaceful.
So team leaders exploded in anger and yelled at their team mbers, and other teams were gradually realizing how tough a fight the tournant would be, and how important a factor Essence managent would be.
Communication within teams collapsed in places, and weaknesses of team leaders lacking leadership were gradually revealed.
There were also teams that were ssy overall.
Especially poor Harold Gunn, the captain of Team 19, beca the target of ridicule from everyone as he dramatically lost every match.
Watching him, Sal couldn't hide his pity.
"Was the next one Michael Welling?"
Barry looked at the tablet for a few seconds and asked without even sitting next to the team mbers.
Sal nodded, but the one who answered was Anthony.
"Yeah. Looks like it'll be a pretty easy match. That team's performance so far hasn't been great. Sa for the next match, Zachary Lowe."
Barry nodded and closed the tablet.
Then he glanced at Sal and grinned.
"Honestly, we're quite lucky. Since we face the weak teams gathered by top rankers first. In the latter half, even strong teams will be exhausted if their leader isn't great."
Barry reached out and pointed to other teams sitting in the spectator seats waiting for the next match.
"If we just beat Michael and Zachary, it's like we dealt with 5 out of the top 10. Only 4 people left besides us. Since Michael is 8th and Zachary is 10th."
Sal shook his head and laughed.
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. For now, let's focus on the match with Michael and take it one step at a ti. How is your Essence status? Is everyone's gear okay?"
Everyone closed their eyes and started checking their Essence amount internally.
The ones who finished checking first were Barry and Anthony.
Barry raised a thumb and smiled brightly.
"Don't worry. I still have plenty left. Can't pass the 80th point if you can't manage Essence, right?"
When Sal looked toward Anthony, he also nodded quietly and smiled.
"No problem on my side either. The core inside the sword is handling most of the work, so I still have an absurdly large amount left."
After a brief silence, Blanid and Jack also opened their eyes and answered.
Both gave slightly embarrassed smiles, feeling awkward that the check took a long ti.
They had sufficient Essence, and their gear was also in a near fully-charged state.
Sal was contemplating whether to take out the spare supplies bought from the store just in case, but it seed there was absolutely no need.
Because no one even showed signs of fatigue.
Sal looked around and spotted Nova curling her body in pain, catching her breath.
'It's only been three matches, is it okay to be that exhausted already?'
Sal briefly considered handing her a recovery drink but eventually decided not to.
It had only been three matches so far, and he couldn't predict how many resources his team would need in the future.
He decided to steel his mind and focus on the mission right in front of him.
As soon as that decision was made, an announcent that the next round was starting flowed out.
Sal and his team stood up and headed to the Prism assigned to them.
The match was literally a one-sided massacre.
Anthony subdued Michael's entire team with just three sword strikes, Blanid deflected weak projectiles flying at her with her shield, and Jack hit a fleeing student with a shock round fired from his gauntlet.
This match was one of the most anti-climactically ended matches Sal had seen.
Sal was speechless at the bout that ended in less than 30 seconds.
Sal turned his head to examine the combat situation in other Prisms.
In the distance, Divinity was fighting a team composed of male students, and she appeared to be in a clearly dominant situation.
Barry, following Sal's gaze, added an explanation.
"Christopher Gage, rank 5. Not great. Divinity will have no problem. The real thing to watch is over there."
At Barry pointing to the left Prism, Sal turned his head and saw a sight hard to believe was a student match.
Nurous explosions burst out in mid-air, and the battlefield was instantly filled with smoke.
At the center stood a female student confidently with both arms raised.
Every ti she flicked her finger, new explosions occurred consecutively at the pointed location.
However, her attacks did not hit as is.
The opponent quickly deployed a temporary barrier to block the attacks, and both teams were fighting incredibly like masters.
A laser attack cut across the battlefield knocking down one combatant, and on the opposite side, road debris bounced and flew, almost crushing another combatant.
Sal's jaw dropped at that sight.
And when he realized that one of the captains of that team was surprisingly Whisper, his eyes widened even more.
It was that Whisper who sat next to him in skill class just a few days ago.
With her face hardened in thorough concentration, she was moving quickly through attacks flying from all directions.
Whisper's right hand was glowing white, and her left hand was covered in darkness.
She looked clearly in pain, but she didn't stop amplifying her team mbers' abilities.
Their defender was blocking all attacks and protecting Whisper.
The attacker hid behind the smoke screen continuously firing lasers, and one supporter was covering the entire battlefield with smoke using their ability.
Everyone was moving in perfect harmony.
Watching that breathless battle, Sal ca to ponder deeply whether his team could withstand such a battle.
Just then, another explosion burst at the center, and the silhouette of Whisper's team was montarily revealed within the smoke.
Barry whistled and admired.
"That's Jenny Stravos. Rank 17. Definitely an opponent to watch out for."
Sal nodded and watched the blonde girl roughly flicking her finger to continue the attack.
He felt that they weren't the only team that had prepared seriously.
Barry smiled, tapped Sal's shoulder, and said.
"Ah, and the match after Zachary is Whisper. So watch closely."
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