Vale smiled after hearing Lisa and Aubrey's voices.
He looked in their direction and saw some of his classmates cheering for him. Surprisingly, Leonore was also there and shouting something that he didn't hear.
Anyway, he shifted his attention to Nadine who was explaining the rules…
They can only use three Mystical Artifacts, they can't use Forbidden Dark Arts, getting help from another person outside the stage would be grounds for disqualification, and going out of the stage will get you the same result, disqualification.
After all of these simple rules are explained, Nadine left the stage allowing Noah Featherstar to continue.
Grover and Charmaigne also stood at the opposite corner of the stage to observe the battle.
"Are you both ready?" Noah asked.
"Yes…"
"Grrr…"
As the two answered, Noah looked at the Headmaster to get his permission to start the battle… He wouldn't normally do this but with the Headmaster's presence, he has to show his respect.
Headmaster Jean then nodded hinting that it was alright to start.
Then, without wasting more time, Noah announced the start of the battle.
"Fight!"
As soon as Vale heard the signal, he swiftly jumped back using his full strength to the edge of the stage…
Bam!
His feet destroyed the stage's floor as he exerted all of his strength from that movement. It means that it is his full 29.65 Strength on display!
Furthermore, he also unleashed his full Agility at this moment.
That's right, he's no longer using his Nimble Talon to suppress his strength and agility…
In the audience's eyes, it seems that Vale is using a Spell Boost or maybe an Enhancement-Type Mystical Item to increase his speed and power… Only the Professors were able to see that he was simply using his physical abilities!
Boom!
The Slender Zombie followed Vale's movement and crushed the floor with its Claw Gauntlet that seems to be emitting a vibration…
The stones on the floor were actually being shattered after being cut by the claw!
Soon, the human and zombie were running around the stage and the first-year students who were watching were having a hard time following their movements.
"T-this is crazy! Vale can compete against the Slender Zombie in terms of speed?!"
"That's so awesome! I wonder what type of Mystical Artifact is he using?"
"Hey! Don't keep running! That Slender Zombie won't get exhausted unless you cut off its connection to its summoner!"
"Indeed… It won't get tired! You have to change your strategy, Vale!"
Some students called out.
Although they were impressed by Vale's speed, there was no way of winning against a Slender Zombie with just speed.
Larkin was also aware of it so he remained calm watching the battle. He believed that Vale was using a movement-type Artifact and that he should have another surprise to attempt to win this battle… He wanted to see what Vale was really made of…
'If you're not showing what you've got, then I'll force you…' Larkin thought as he gave an order to the Slender Zombie.
Graaahhh!
The Slender Zombie seem to be very frustrated as it growled at Vale… Then, it stopped chasing Vale and stood at the center of the stage…
It was as if it was telling Vale to stop running and attack him.
In the meantime, Vale was a bit frustrated. He wasn't even using his two Movement-Type Mystical Items yet!
He was planning to use it once the Slender Zombie was about to catch him. However, he seem to have overestimated the speed of the Slender Zombie as it actually gave up and stood at the center of the stage to wait for him.
In the end, Vale still activated it as he decided to fight the Slender Zombie with his strength and speed…
As soon as he did this, he felt extremely light and believed that he could arrive behind the Zombie in just a blink of an eye…
'Lotus… It's your time…' Vale signaled.
At the same time, he summoned three large Ghost Hands and aimed them to suppress the Zombie.
"Hmph… As expected, it is still those Ghost Hands." Larkin smirked as he already prepared for it…
As soon as the Ghost Hands neared, the Slender Zombie's Scale Armour burst with blue flame!
A strong fluctuation of hot energy followed after…
"Hmm?"
Vale had no idea about this Scale Armor but as soon as he saw it activated, he felt his Ghost Hands started trembling before shattering and dissipating completely.
'Ahh? It's similar to Spell Dispersion?' Vale was shocked as he didn't expect that his Ghost Hands would be completely useless against the Slender Zombie!
Larkin laughed after seeing Vale's dumbfounded expression…
"Amazing, right? A Zombie using a Holy Art?! Hahaha! It's something I've prepared specially for your Advanced Realm Ghost Hands… Although it can only be used twice a day, it's more than enough…"
As soon as Larkin said this, he ordered his Slender Zombie to attack…
Vale's Ghost Hands can't be summoned for a few minutes because of how he forcefully destroyed the spell. In his mind, it would be enough for the Slender Zombie to put Vale to sleep!
However, Vale didn't just send out his Ghost Hands just now…
Lotus was actually hidden from those three Ghost Hands! She was also injured by the Holy Energy but it didn't stop her from possessing the Zombie secretly!
As Larkin thought that Vale would have to rely on his speed to flee once again, he realized that something was wrong with the Slender Zombie. It couldn't move nimbly as if something invisible was restraining its body…
There weren't many Tier 1 Dark Spells that can restrict movements so Larkin immediately investigated only to find nothing… He can't find the source of the problem but he felt something off with the Slender Zombie… The negative energy around him seems to be too strong…
"What did you do?" Larkin was baffled…
He couldn't understand how the Negative Energy blew up inside the zombie's body… Furthermore, it was weird that instead of getting stronger, the zombie seem to be struggling!
Of course, Vale didn't have to answer as he allowed Lotus to do her job… It's time for him to end this duel.
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