"Huh?" Melvin widened his eyes in confusion. His vision was actually getting flipped around, and it didn’t seem that he was on the ground. "I’m flying?"
Melvin didn’t understand what was actually going on.
Unlike him, Jane and Aran saw the bigger picture, the ’trap’ that Clovis had set up.
After all, when they were approaching the incoming Jay, the latter actually moved back as if he were scared.
Obviously, they had to chase after him to avoid Jay coming from an unexpected direction.
But what actually shocked them the most were the gunshots coming from the person they were chasing.
"Watch out!" Aran shouted while hiding behind a tree, avoiding the gunshots. His face became pale, not because he almost got hit by the bullet, but because of one question in his mind. ’Did Jay use a gun?’
The moment he saw through that, he couldn’t help but shout, "Not good. It’s a trap! Melvin, get away!"
Jane was confused and took a peek, finding a woman figure standing in their way. In other words, the person they had been chasing this whole time was not Jay.
"You…" Jane gasped.
"Yo! To think that you would actually get baited." Kanaria grinned as if everything went according to plan.
’If she is here, then…’ Jane looked toward the opposite direction, realizing why Aran was giving that warning.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Melvin couldn’t believe what he saw. Yes, the first person he found was Melody. Just like in the previous battle, Melody took the lead.
However, the person behind her was none other than Jay. He used the beast soul to increase his speed, approaching Melvin so fast that he wouldn’t have time to react. In fact, there was no way he could react, considering he was expecting a gunner instead of a close combat fighter.
But that was his fault. Jay simply punched Melvin so hard that his body spun upside down.
Melody stopped for a moment. As soon as Jay managed to pass him, she shot Melvin, taking him out of this match.
"Melvin, out!" The referee came and announced.
Rafael trembled, noticing something was wrong with Aran’s warning.
He looked to the side where Melvin was stationed and saw Jay’s figure coming out of the woods.
’Don’t tell me…’ Rafael actually predicted it wrong. Of course, he had considered this possibility, but he thought Clovis wouldn’t do something like this.
After all, it meant that Kanaria would be taken out as well. By stopping Jay here, he could rearrange his group and make a counterattack with Jane as the center. In other words, Jane would surround Clovis and take him down with sheer numbers. Even with Melody’s help, there was no way Clovis could survive.
That was why Rafael believed that Clovis would place Kanaria and Melody together as it was actually a more stable plan.
Sadly for him, there was one thing he never calculated. It was Erwin’s help.
Right after Jay came out of the woods, Clovis stepped forward and waved his blades at full speed.
"Kh!" Farhan gritted his teeth, getting overwhelmed. On the one hand, he couldn’t endure it much longer. On the other hand, he still had to follow Rafael’s order.
Yes, this was Clovis’ plan.
Clovis struck Farhan’s spear so many times with the assumption that Grace wouldn’t use this chance to kill him. Even then, Melody was already moving toward Clovis, fully prepared to stop Grace if she actually tried to defeat him.
"Not good!" Farhan couldn’t endure it any longer. His hands had become too numb to even hold his spear.
Clovis struck it two more times, knocking the spear into the air. Then he stepped forward and struck Farhan’s head with the sword’s body, officially defeating him.
"Gah!" Farhan was knocked back and fell on his back as Clovis ran past him, finally coming out of the forest.
This way, Clovis and Jay made their way out of the woods and headed directly toward Rafael.
The one who was actually smiling at this plan was Erwin.
Erwin still remembered what Clovis wanted to do after giving the Eight Swords’ information.
Clovis said, "We’ll have to defeat them that way, but I’m not planning to take advantage of Rafael’s family issue or Jane’s feelings or body. Instead, I’m going to use that absolute obedience."
"!!!" Erwin widened his eyes. The choice was actually quite unique. In their battle, he almost lost the group match because Jay didn’t follow his order.
However, Clovis actually wanted to show that absolute obedience was actually something wrong and he had never blamed Jay for disobeying his order.
And this was the result.
Clovis glanced at Jay as both of them were running toward Rafael. Clovis muttered inwardly, ’Yeah. I know. A powerful guardian versus a speedy fighter, Rafael must want to tire me in the group match so that I’ll lose in the individual match because I don’t have any stamina left.
’That’s why he will let me pass even if it means sacrificing his subordinate to make it look real. Absolute obedience? I don’t want robots, I want teammates. We can argue, we can have different opinions. It’s because each of us has our own thought that we’ll become strong.
’By crippling their plans at the same time, Rafael wouldn’t be able to give any order, which would cause his subordinates to follow the original orders. In other words, this loss is caused by the fact that people can’t make individual decisions even if they are mistakes!’
Rafael raised his sword and shield, planning to fight both Clovis and Jay at the same time.
At the same time, Grace had leaped out of the forest and chased after Clovis.
"You’re not getting away!" Melody shot her, but Grace sped up, showing a speed at least double that of Jay when he was using his beast soul. "What is this speed?"
Not a single bullet actually hit Grace.
This was a chance for Rafael. If Grace distracted Clovis just a bit, he could somehow push Jay back.
Unfortunately for him, this was the second miscalculation.
Clovis used the strategy that caused him his flag in the previous round against Rafael. Instead of worrying about Grace, Clovis struck Rafael at full speed, leaving more than twenty strikes.
"Kh!" Rafael gritted his teeth. He wanted to use his sword to stop Jay, but Clovis also struck it too, rendering it useless.
Grace reached Clovis’ position and stabbed his head with the back of her dagger as a sign that she had taken him out.
Unfortunately for the Eight Swords, Jay was completely free. He slipped past Rafael and grabbed the flag, marking Libation Fiesta’s victory.
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