400 Chapter 400: Victory

Taking a deep breath, I gently dismissed Green Dragon and replaced him with Vermillion Phoenix. The flower petals dancing around the white blade of Bai Ri were replaced by flowery embers. The fiery aura that wreathed my figure seconds earlier coasleced around the sword in my left hand, allowing it to glow like a miniature sun.

\"Hmph.\"

Wilhlem glowered at me as he tended to his Castellan, both his hands outstretched as he frantically cast a spell to repair its broken knee. His technomagic was not exactly suited for repair, but in a pinch it would do to patch up damaged systems in an improvised manner. The Castellan would still need to undergo full repairs and maintenance after the match, but for now the temporary field fixes were more than enough.

I ignited my Bai Ri with superheated flames on one hand, and had an icy gale of ferocious frost swirl around my Hei Yue in the other. Taking a deep breath, I used the small amount of time to cast several spells in succession, planning ahead for what might happen later, and taking into account unexpected events and preparing contingencies for them. Even if I attacked now, the Castellan would just conjure his barrier and deflect my spells.

No…to penetrate and cleave through his barriers, I had to go up close and personal and slice through them with my actual swords.

\"Done!\"

Wilhelm backed away quickly, allowing his Castellan to slowly rise to his feet. Electricity still spluttered and sparked from the damaged joints and ruined mechanical segments, but the huge robot was now able to stand and wield his hammer without much difficulty.

\"Sorry. Did I keep you waiting?\" I asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

\"Nope,\" Wilhlem assured me. \"As it happens, my Castellan was slightly out of shape as well. Obviously I can't repair him fully, but this will do for now.\"

With thunderous clanking, the huge robot lumbered over the ruins of the scorched stage. I also slowly approached him, both of my swords deceptively lowered. We closed the distance between us, facing each other calmly.

For long seconds, nothing happened. Time seemed to drag on forever as we stopped less than a meter away from each other.

And then, in a blink of an eye, we both moved.

At first, it appeared that the Castellan might be a hair faster, and his hammer barreled down toward me at frightening speed. I swung Bai Ri up in response and the flaming blade sliced the hammerhead apart. The Castellan was forced to withdraw when I thrust the freezing blade of Bai Yue at him, and he conjured a new hammerhead.

The Castellan sounded as if he was grunting, his hammer swinging almost wildly now to swat me away. I was using my smaller size and more nimble speed to dodge his blows while trading somewhat evenly with him. My blades often cut through his hammer and left either scorched marks across his armor, or froze vital systems in ice.

\"UOOOH!\"

With a mechanical howl, the Castellan desperately smashed his hammer into the ground. The entire stage caved in, with concrete debris flying upward and pelting me. For a moment, my vision was blocked by the floating chunks of massive rubble, with even the Castellan's colossal figure partially blocked from view.

What more could I say for me, who was tinier than him?

Using my superior agility, I streaked past the Castellan, dodging his attacks and making use of the flying pieces of concrete for cover. Bouncing upward, I landed on one piece of floating rubble before jumping to the next. Springing from one piece of debris to the next, I weaved through the field of destruction, constantly disappearing from the Castellan's point of view. Making use of my flaming Bai Ri and chibi Vermillion Phoenix, I set many of the stones alight, confusing whatever infrared sensors the robot might have installed within his suite.

\"Damn it!\" Wilhlem howled from the side, his sight also blocked by the flaming debris that I left in my wake. Unlike his robot, he didn't have any infrared vsion or other hi-tech sensors. \"Stop moving around like a damned monkey!\"

Baka (idiot). Who was going to listen to him?

The Castellan remained undaunted and continued to rain down destructive blows with his hammer, but he only succeeded in creating more debris for me to hide behind. He flailed wildly, spinning around and ramming his hammer, but I continued to dodge and duck, hopping from one piece of rubble to the next. It was almost as if I was playing a dangerous cat and mouse game, aware that the Castellan only needed one good hit to finish me off.

Spinning about, I then streaked past the fumbling robot. As I did so, I whirled about in midair and kicked the flaming chunks of debris that I ignited with my chibi Vermillion Phoenix and possessed Bai Ri. The Castellan staggered as the concrete struck him, but they were more of a nuisance than a danger – to the extent that he couldn't be bothered to throw up a barrier to protect himself from such pitiful projectiles.

He underestimated the multiple amounts of small damage that were slowly but surely accumulating. Already his armored hull was stressed to breaking point. But there was another reason why he didn't bother with the barriers. If he did so, he wouldn't be able to attack.

And attack he did. With a thunderous mechanical roar, he swung his hammer to smash apart several debris and tried to pursue me.

\"?!\"

Twisting in midair, I planted a foot upon a crumbling piece of debris, and shot toward the approaching Castellan. Our weapons flashed across each other, my blades against his hammer. Rubble and debris shattered around us, and the robot's hammer was cleaved apart, but the mechanized puppet merely conjured a new hammerhead.

\"Your'e mine!\" Wilhelm shouted when he thought he caught a clear view of me. Following his mental command, the Castellan spun around and activated his thruster rockets. Plasma screamed from his jets, practically melting rock and debris as he hurtled toward me. I also danced about in the field of debris before dropping onto the ground to squarely meet his charge.

This was it then. I had spent this entire time casting this ultimate technique, and it was finally time for me to reveal.

\"Miyamoto Style: Blazing Sun and Frozen Moon.\"

Drawing both of my swords back, I infused them with the last of my mana. Fire ignited and blazed ferociously along Bai Ri while ice crackled and swirled along Hei Yue. Kicking off the ground, I also shot toward the advancing Castellan in a blur of crimson and azure.

Clang!

The both of us continued barreling past each other for several paces before we finally came to a stop. Catching my breath, I stood up straight for a few seconds, and then my mana ran dry. Both of my swords deactivated, the fire and ice vanishing permanently. I dropped to my knees and coughed out blood and was forced to lean on both of my swords to remain somewhat upright.

I was done. My battle was over. Without any mana left, with my current injuries, I could no longer fight.

The match was over.

\"Ha ha ha ha ha!\" Wilhlem laughed…for a moment before he witnessed something impossible.

His Castellan was frozen. The robot was completely encased in ice, his cracked armor locked beneath formidable layers of frost.

That wasn't all. Despite the ice that entombed the Castellan, there was a clear, visible fireball glowing ferociously in the mechanical puppet's center, where the solar plexus would be if he had been human. It was growing rapidly, almost as if it was feasting on the insides of the Castellan.

\"You…\" Wilhlem spluttered, fear evident in his voice. \"What have you done?!\"

\"I won the match,\" I replied dryly, a tired smile crossing across my battered face.

Then the Castellan exploded. A fiery piece of metal sailed across the air and struck Wilhelm in the head, causing him to crash against the sidewall of the arena and slump unconscious onto the ground, blood trickling down his temple and jaw.

With a tremendous exertion of will, I raised my right hand and pointed the gleaming black blade of Hei Yue toward the heavens.

\"Oh my goodness!\" the commentator was going wild over the sight. \"This is incredible! What a comeback! What an unexpected outcome! Against all odds…against such a formidable opponent, Richard Huang of Jing Tian Academy has triumphed over the previously unbeatable Castellan of Wilhelm Williams! The match is over! The winner is Team Jing Tian!\"

The spectators immediately erupted in joy, screaming and yelling their lungs out. Seated in the technical team area, Pearl leaped to her feet and cheered, along with the injured Lily, Cody, Bu Fan and Theodore. Over in the spectator seats, Harvey was jumping about and gesturing frantically, inspiring the taveling Jing Tian Academy contigent to a crescendo of thunderous cheers. They were hugging, slapping each other's backs, high-fiving and yelling.

I understood their delight. Against all odds, we had made it to the round of eight. We had far surpassed the expectations placed upon us and improved our performance and ranking from the previous year. We had taken everyone by surprise and exceeded their imaginations despite being acknowledged as one of the dark horses of the tournament.

Even if we crashed out in the round of eight, we had more than done our school proud. The principal, Vincent Violet, was even crying tears of joy.

\"Are you watching this, Alicia?\" he whispered, unheard among the screams of joy and disbelieving laughter. \"Your school…has done you proud. You can rest well in Heaven, and leave your aspirations for Jing Tian Academy to your peers.\"

Even Adrian was shouting himself hoarse, exchanging a high five with Melina and waving his hands. I acknowledged him – as well as Harvey – with a weary nod, and then shut my eyes.

Now that our victory was sealed, there was no longer any need to put on a show and force myself to remain consciousness. With my mana completely drained, I crashed onto the ground and allowed the inviting darkness to wrap me in a warm embrace.

*

When I woke up, I was greeted with unbelievable news.

\"…Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy…lost?\"

Even though they had grown stronger since the last time I team-killed them, they were still taken out in the round of sixteen. However, when I heard who their opponents were, my surprise was replaced with grim acknowledgement.

\"…so they were knocked out by Saint Teresa Academy, huh?\"

I glanced at the video that Harrison had sent me to watch while I was recovering in the infirmary. One of them caught my attention – it was the match between Cecilia and Kureha. The two captains fought valiantly, in a very close match that finally ended in the Sword Saint's victory.

The arena had been devastated by razor-sharp Sakura petals that sliced through rock like a hot knife through butter, but Kureha deflected each and every one of them with superlative swordsmanship. Her sword glowed golden and she unleashed colossal amounts of destructive mana with enough power to level fortresses. Despite her sturdy defense with wood magic, Cecilia found herself gradually overcome by her best friend's superb strokes and amazing techniques. She attempted a counterstrike when Kureha stepped in, but that turned out to be a feint, with the Sword Saint twisting the War Goddess's blade to the side before crisscrossing it back to the opening she had just forced. Cecilia tried to take a step back, but realized that she was too late.

There was no way for her to evade her opponent's next stroke. Indeed, her friend would have delivered the killing blow (not that it would have been fatal, given the boundary field), but she had chosen to respectfully show her mercy.

\"It's over,\" Kureha told Cecilia, the tip of her sword pointed straight at the latter's throat. \"Yield.\"

Cecilia glared at her defiantly at first, but then lowered her head, recognizing that she had been outmatched, and that Kureha was only being polite. With a sigh, the formerly invincible War Goddess dropped her sword and raised both her hands.

\"You have me. It's your win.\" She then smiled. \"But don't think the result will be the same next time.\"

\"I'll await your challenge again next year,\" Kureha told her simply. As the commentator announced her victory overhead, she turned away and sheathed her sword before stalking off the stage. \"But this year…the trophy will be ours, Saint Teresa Academy's.\"