After spreading terror for minutes, the last 6 students of this phase of the graduation tournament finally met for the last ultimate showdown!
For the past few minutes, Morgana and Rex's team were completely bossing the tournament as they eliminated any unfortunate student that met them.
They showed no mercy, ruthlessly eliminating like there was no tomorrow. While they spread havoc without mercy, the spectators outside watched them with keen attention and were already extremely hyped for this showdown.
Now, the spectators were about to see the spectacle that they wanted.
The 2 teams met in the forest at a part dominated by 4 large trees. Morgana led her team arrogantly through the forest from the left side, while Rex and Cassandra who moved cautiously paused on seeing them.
Seeing the 3 familiar faces, Rex and Cassandra were surprised but they felt even more surprised when they saw a different 4th face than they expected.
Rex and Cassandra were both intelligent, once they saw Morgana, their faces became solemn as they quickly understood what transpired in this group.
Unlike her 2 fellow students, once Morgana saw the 2 of them, she showed a relieved expression on her face that finally, she could battle again.
She didn't know who Cassandra was, but she found the face of the boy a little familiar. She didn't care to search deep into her memories though because the both of them would soon be eliminated.
"Make sure you contain the girl, wait for me, I'll eliminate the boy quickly!"
Whoosh!
Once Morgana gave orders to her teammates, without wasting any time, she threw one of her Tessens at the group of 2 as her legs immediately exploded forth with speed as a purplish wind enveloped her body.
Rex's normal instinct reaction to an attack like this was to simply dodge it and it was a nice reaction, but this time, his reaction was different.
For the first time after bonding with his master, Berserker felt that Rex was meeting a really strong opponent in battle and this stimulated the living sword as it made it activate another of its myriad abilities.
Berserker made use of its ability to communicate with Rex and became a danger alert to him. The living sword warned him of the incoming danger.
As a mystic sword, Berserker was far more sensitive to mystic energy and instantly knew the lethality of Morgana's Tessen which was the reason why it warned its master and Rex reacted instantly.
Instead of dodging, Rex took a step forward and faced the attack head-on. Before even swinging his sword, his head already geared into overdrive as he effortlessly channeled his mystic energy to empower it.
A mighty sword energy slash was unleashed which collided with the Tessen.
Clang!
Before the Tessen could veer off course, Morgana stretched her arms towards it as the weapon flew back towards her with speed the next moment.
She had no time to think about why her opponent reacted like that, this was because her speed was so fast that she was already before her opponents.
After deflecting the Tessen, Rex held his sword tighter and entered his sword stance while giving his only order for this battle to his teammate.
"Like usual, we stick together!"
Hearing that, Cassandra instinctively shifted closer to Rex as they stood side by side with the blade edge of their swords gleaming coldly, anticipating the showdown that was about to commence in its fullest splendor.
It finally started!
"Wind Skill: Floating Leaf!"
In the nick of time, Morgana, the Wind Fairy activated her trademark wind skill again as her body became as light as a feather the next moment.
She made a feint move to the left where Cassandra was, prompting the student to slash out with her sword instinctively only to pause and make a rapid change of direction before bolting towards the right where Rex was.
Rex's eyes were an epitome of calm and concentration at this moment, he caught the movement of his opponent despite her speed and reacted.
Shing!!!
Berserker slashed out like the sword of a demon lord!
Once the mystic sword slashed out in a mighty slanted vertical slash with golden sword energy enveloping it, Morgana was alarmed by the might on display as the identity of this student finally clicked on her head.
"Rex Vec…"
Morgana was surprised, but she was a student who spent so long practicing that her basics were already grounded.
Clang!
She made an almost impossible reaction by rapidly shifting to the side in the nick of time, then she hit the sword with one of her Tessens to prevent it from severing her left ear as it swiped across.
Rex's first move revealed his identity, and Morgana changed her plans instantly, she had an ego but she never made the mistake of underestimating her opponent, especially a strong one.
"Wind Skill: Wind Push!"
While Rex was still in the last phase of his slashing attack, Morgana's speed superiority became evident as she recovered from her maneuver, and threw a front kick at him before spinning to the left while slashing forward with her Tessens.
A powerful purplish wind pushed out with her Tessens as the center as Morgana aimed to separate Rex from his teammate, but Rex refused.
"Sword Skill: Plutonian Slash!"
This time, the slash was horizontal and it was accompanied by shiny golden sword energy. With a loud swooshing sound, the purplish gale was cleanly cut apart.
Morgana's attack and plan were nullified by that move.
She was stunned, and both Rex and Cassandra ruthlessly took advantage of the opening that it brought. They both closed the distance to each other, and entered a special sword stance before thrusting their sword tips outwards at Morgana.
"Sword Skill: Drilling Stab!"
"Sword Skill: Drilling Stab!"
Clang!!!
The heavy earth attribute of Cassandra's sword and the sharp attribute of Rex's sword overpowered Morgana completely as she was flung backward.
The shock of the impact rattled her fingers as she bled, but Morgana was still able to react in mid-air, activating a wind skill as she rolled in the air to safety.
Before Rex and Cassandra could close the distance to her, her teammates finally arrived and this time, Morgana went into battle with them.
"Change in plans, eliminate them with me!"
Morgana by now already dropped her casual attitude as her eyes became as sharp as an eagle's as she displayed the natural instincts of a deadly predator.
Like an eagle riding the wind, she lunged back at her opponents. Her 3 teammates flanked Rex and Cassandra from the sides and attacked.
As for Rex and Cassandra, they stood with their backs facing each other as they started defending.
A fierce melee battle started the next moment!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
For 2 straight minutes, Rex and Cassandra defended against the attacks of their opponents. They were injured mostly by the occasional mystic energy attacks but these 2 friends were tenacious enough to hold on till now.
They calmly waited for an opportunity, and in the 5th minute, after suffering another cut to his cheek, Rex saw the opportunity that he craved.
Once he saw it, he took it with the instincts of a hungry vampire.
"Movement Technique: Drizzling Rain Steps!"
Rex whispered into Cassandra's ears to watch his back before he exploded into action. His eyes were like a Tiger's as he pounced on the student who exposed an opening and unleashed a series of basic sword attacks.
The 3 students tried to defend their teammate but with Cassandra watching his back, Rex was able to go all out on the offense and it was horrifying.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
After striking over a dozen times with his sword in less than a second, Rex kicked his opponent's legs, throwing him off balance before he ended his attacking combo with a lightning-fast Plutonian Slash.
Whoosh!
The student lost his head in a shocking display of skill superiority.
Morgana and her remaining 2 teammates were shocked, even Cassandra was shocked, teamwork proved stronger than numbers again. Though she was shocked too, knowing Rex so much, Cassandra was able to react first.
"Earth Skill: Fake Gravity Control!"
It took a lot from her, but in this moment of truth, Cassandra was able to exceed her limits to activate this hard earth skill on time.
Once she did, her sword became so heavy that when she swung it down effortlessly, to her opponents, it was like they were facing a mountain.
Once they eliminated the first opponent, Rex and Cassandra strived to build on that momentum and swiftly eliminate all their remaining opponents.
For the 1st second, Morgana and her 2 teammates struggled to cope with the intensity. Everyone was shocked, including Morgana herself.
This was when the real dark horses became evident, Rex and Cassandra doing it against weak opponents did not mean much, but at this moment, this was being done against the Wind Fairy's team which meant a million.
Morgana felt humiliated and her anger finally amplified. She did not let the anger control her, rather she channeled it as fuel to increase her power.
Angered, this tournament favorite student finally revealed a trump card.
"Special Wind Movement Technique: Spiral Movement!"
The spiral movement technique was an exclusive movement technique of wind mystic ability users. To learn it, mystic warriors needed to thoroughly understand the essence of the wind element which was hard.
Morgana had never revealed her ability to use this movement technique in public, now, she finally made use of it in a mighty reveal.
If previously, she moved like a light leaf, now she moved like the wind itself.
Whoosh!
Morgana seemed to turn into a real Wind Fairy as she floated casually between the attacks of her opponents. She slipped through the tiniest gaps, dodging all the attack efforts of her 2 opponents.
At this moment, she was like a rat weaving through a den of cats, dodging all their attacks effortlessly and toying with them like a boss.
Her 2 teammates were relegated to support as with this movement technique, alone, she took on both Rex and Cassandra.
With her 2 opponent's attention taken by her, Cassandra was unable to react as one of Morgana's teammates finally stabbed her in the back.
She tried to turn but that was her mistake, Morgana's Tessen ruthlessly tore across like the wind, and flying alongside it was Cassandra's head.
Cassandra was eliminated!
Rex was affected by suddenly losing Cassandra, but his concentration was not affected the slightest as he remained focused and continued this showdown against his 3 opponents.
With Berserker's timely warnings, his instincts felt superhuman at this moment and served as an exciting spectacle to the spectators.
He fought admirably, displaying his formidable sword basics and capabilities in the process before he was finally eliminated after receiving a spear stab to the heart. He was eliminated by Morgana after an admirable battle.
Morgana's team won, but she was not done.
While her 2 teammates rejoiced, Morgana turned like the wind before throwing her Tessens as they effortlessly sliced through the throats of her 2 teammates, eliminating them also.
From this last move, Morgana got 10 additional points, becoming the sole survivor of the first round of the rampage phase of the graduation tournament.
She turned her head to the still stunned faces of her teammates coldly. "A good mystic warrior should always beware of a backstab, never forget that".
*****
[Wow! Damn man, that's over 1900 words, almost 2000. This is definitely one of the longest chapters now if not the longest, I hope its size is worth it.]
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