Without a good foothold, it was only inevitable that they were sent flying backwards for a while before they came to a stop.
The battlefield that had previously been filled with cries of agony and sighs filled with helplessness finally had hope. The alliance members could feel that their goal wasn't very far now as they had even managed to gain an upper hand against the mysterious trio.
Zavier now felt a little troubled as he had never expected to come across such a difficult formation before. He understood the real reason that Gabby had gathered so many individuals to help him fight Zavier. This formation was basically a must for those fighting with numbers against strength. He had never come into contact with formations before today unlike Valerie who was considered to be a master in the field. Admiration for Valerie once again sprouted in his heart as he imagined the skill level that Valerie had in formations.
Zavier couldn't just release his berserk mode to increase his strength because he was sure that once he did, the alliance members might never come to know how they died. He might not even be able to control his own strength.
Therefore, he hesitated to attack the formation without sufficient preparation.
*Ding*
A notification window popped up in front of him as usual and Zavier could only hope that it was something that could take him out of his current predicament.
[Blood Blade skill proficiency has reached 5%]
[Minimum conditions for the use of 'Crescent Flash' have been met.]
[User can now use an exclusive skill related to Blood Blade.]
[Crescent Flash can now be used as an area of attack skill. The skill will release an innumerable number of blades in the form of a Crescent ark that would constantly rain down on the targets and will destroy everything in the range of the skill.]
[Current proficiency: 0.01%]
As soon as Zavier read the details of the skill that he had just received from the multisystem, he wanted to try it out in order to determine just how strong the skill actually was.
He discreetly ordered his clone to distract the alliance members. The clone with the Magus system then moved ahead and stood in front of the formation while casting different kinds of area of attack magic skills mixed with illusions.
The alliance members continued to defend themselves using the formation barrier. It was as if the situation from before had been entirely reversed. Previously the ones with the ultimate defense were the masked men and those attacking futilely had been the alliance members. Now that the tables had turned, the alliance members were truly taking joy in the battle. Gabby on the other hand was busy attacking the clone with all his might. He shot laser after laser but the clone either dodged or blocked with his defensive barrier.
The clone kept being blown back but there wasn't a scratch on him. Meanwhile the alliance seemed to have forgotten about Zavier who had jumped up high on top of a tree by making use of the distraction provided by the clone.
Zavier was busy accumulating blood energy and mana to unleash the crescent flash. It didn't take long to mobilize the blood in his body following which Zavier dived down from the tree while holding on to a blade that appeared formless but exuded danger with every breath.
Gabby was too busy launching lasers at the clone to notice that Zavier was attacking him from above. When he did notice, it was already too late to stop the attack and the only thing that he could do was strengthen the defense of the formation.
The moment Zavier released Crescent Flash, he felt as if all his strength had been poured down into the blade in his hand. The slash resulted in the formulation of hundreds and thousands of blood coloured blades that merged together to look like a huge crescent shaped slash that was about to collide with formation.
The arc of blood was close to 100 feet in length and was enough to cover the entire formation in its effective area.
Thousands of blood blades crashed into the defensive shell with a loud explosive noise that hurt the ears of anyone who heard the sound. The barrier couldn't last a single second and was shattered at the first impact. The penetration power of hundreds of intricate blades was more than what it was able to withstand.
All the participants were sent flying while shedding blood due to the many injuries that they suffered as a result of the clash. Not a single one of them escaped unscathed in the wake of an attack that covered such a large area.
The attack didn't stop after destruction of the barrier, it continued in full force as it destroyed the surroundings and formed a deep ravine in the ground that was about the length of the crescent flash.
The magic formation could not be sustained anymore and had to be disintegrated.
The bystanders were unable to close their mouths due to the shock after shock that they had suffered from during the battle. The finale of the battle truly left them all dumbfounded. Who could have imagined that the masked men had still been holding back their strength?
They first looked at the deep crater that had been left on the ground and then they looked at the man that had been the cause. It was impossible to believe that all this had been the handiwork of a high school student. This was beyond the scope of what was referred to as just powerful. It was in a realm where they could only admire and despair. They could never hope to challenge such divine might with their mortal prowess.
Zavier was barely able to stand after the huge consumption earlier. He had felt as if his soul had been sucked away with all his blood for the attack. This new skill of his was far too consuming. He was sure that even if he was in his peak state, the skill would have drained him dry even then.
He wanted to fall down and rest for a while as the clones started to gather the cards of all the participants that he had managed to defeat. But all his plans fell apart due to a voice that echoed in the forest right after the end of the battle.
It was the announcement that proclaimed the end of the first round. Zavier knew that he couldn't do anything to the participants any longer. All the cards in their possession no longer mattered. He wanted to curse the examiners because he knew that the announcement had been deliberately done to stop him from taking their cards. Otherwise, they would have lost a lot of students with potential in the screening phase.
Since there was nothing that Zavier could do by hanging around his defeated enemies, he left with his clones to the deeper parts of the forest in order to avoid any lingering eyes. He didn't want to expose his identity to anyone in the test after all because that would make him the beacon of hatred for everyone else in the competition.
As Zavier had truly destroyed more than four hundred individuals alone despite their having made use of a formation, nobody dared to follow after him or his companions and Zavier finally found a moment of respite to gather his breath once again.
-------------------------------------------------
The first round ended with a lot of surprises. Everyone wandered off, the losers, the winners and those who had been too craven to actually fight- they all walked back in a haze of their own thoughts after the announcement. This had truly been an unexpected twist for all candidates from the different schools. Everyone had their own thoughts and observations, but none was more intrigued than the beautiful host- Mabel.
As someone who had been uniquely positioned to see everyone and everything clearly, Mabel had observed the first round thoroughly. Her keen eyes never left the screens. In the monitoring room, there was virtually no candidate whose data wasn't available. As an observer and as a host, she had the arduous job of evaluating several candidates. She had assumed (and with good reason) that this would be particularly difficult since this was basically the crème of the crème.
Truly there had been a lot of promising candidates, but none of them came close to capturing and holding her attention the way the Adam boy had. Seated in the swivel chair, pen clicking incessantly in her hand, and her eyes fixated on the impressive score of the young lad, Mabel couldn't help but be impressed. Zavier had certainly given her a lot to think about.
"Just who is this boy?! How does someone at his age get go powerful?"
Indeed, those were the questions of the hour. And as it stood, they needed to be found out. The more Mabel ruminated on the strange young man, the more questions she had. They were questions that she couldn't get answers to by sitting around mopping. So, with the zeal of an investigative journalist who was had a story burning a hole through her head, Mabel jumped to her feet rather energetically, and picked up her coat.
"I'm doing to get me some answers...just you wait Zavier, just wait!"
Coat in hand, along with her documented observations in the other hand, Mabel bounced towards the door as made to exit the monitoring room. In her eye was the burning fire of determination.
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