Chapter 155 This Strike, Killing the Entire Freshman Match
After responding to Tan Han, I quickly calmed down.
I knew very well what I should do now.
At this moment, I should be on the arena using my Fireball Spell Spellbook to thoroughly blow Tan Han apart.
Instead of meeting Tan Han alone in a place where I didn’t even know what it was.
So, I should leave here first.
This place should be similar to that previous Dream Space, or perhaps an Awareness Space?
In any case, it was definitely not reality.
My Spirit Vision clearly indicated that everything here was nothingness; I had never seen such a clean feedback when activating my Spirit Vision, as if there was nothing here besides me, nothing but emptiness in sight.
Of course, this excluded Tan Han who was right in front of me; at this moment, she was wrapped in a glaring golden glow, just like the first light shining forth from a meaningless void.
Golden energy gathered into threads, weaving a cage around Tan Han.
Everything looked like a giant loom, threads wrapping around Tan Han, pulling her limbs slightly and repetitively, as if she were the Weaver of Fate at this loom, spinning her destiny.
The fabric woven from her past drifted by, showcasing her past glories.
And she continued to spin the future, and it all looked so natural, sacred, and untouchable, yet I felt her sadness.
It was like being a puppet controlled by fate.
At that moment, a realization surged in my heart…
“I understand… Spirit Eye, this is its true purpose! To see through fate and weave fate! And that golden power is the material that condenses the threads of destiny!”
At this moment, Tan Han suddenly expressed her understanding with ecstasy, as if I had turned into air and did not exist.
“You must be out of your mind…” I opened my mouth to advise, what do you mean seeing through fate, what do you mean weaving fate?
How could such vague things be grasped by one person?
“I forgot… Xiao Han, you’re here too, but I have to thank you, really… although I don’t know why my talent’s complete liberation pulled you in too…”
“Huh? You call the current situation ‘talent liberation’?”
“Maybe that’s it, I’m not sure, but I found… I can weave my fate by hand, look at my past… one by one…”
Tan Han’s hand gently caressed the golden threads that wove her past, cherishing every node like a treasured souvenir.
Something’s not right, everything was too wrong.
“Yeah… as expected, she’s lost it.” Tan Han at this moment felt completely different from the wealthy young lady I knew.
Maybe this was her true nature, or perhaps something had influenced her character, but I still preferred the old her.
When facing the unknown, one should maintain doubt first, instead of preemptively matching it with one’s own understanding; that is only a settling strategy for situations that can’t be confirmed later.
It’s just like the blind person trying to describe an elephant, making a conclusion without seeing the whole picture is undoubtedly foolish.
Tan Han believed it was a means to weave destiny, her talent of grasping her own fate.
But from my perspective, she seemed like a pitiful marionette being controlled; she was not the master of her fate, but rather someone being manipulated by it.
Ugh… honestly, I was almost swayed by Tan Han; I almost took that golden power as fate, but how could fate be something tangible and touchable?
If it truly existed, then it was more likely to be a bad thing that toys with people.
But I found that although I had a “body” at this moment, I had lost my Magic Source and Spellbook.
It was as if I only had the concept of “myself” right now, devoid of anything else.
Except for… the threads of Mental Power.
Phew~ luckily there was a power I could use; I didn’t know if the Mental Power could help me at this moment.
My Spirit Vision turned to the loom; since it was an existing object and I could observe it in this form, what kind of feedback would Spirit Vision give me?
Even if I couldn’t understand the feedback information, what about basic destruction methods?
I gradually walked towards Tan Han, heading for that massive loom.
But I saw nothing…
“Xiao Han, what are you doing?”
“I can see the malice in your eyes; everything you do will be woven out by me.”
“Do you want to destroy it?”
“Hehe… you! Can’t do it!”
Tan Han seemed to see through everything, advising me with a tone full of confidence and certainty.
“How do you know if you don’t try? Just like I said at the start of the competition, how do you know you can’t do it without trying?” I rebutted.
Then, I switched from walking to running, swiftly approaching Tan Han; I felt so light at this moment that the distance between us quickly narrowed, disappearing in an instant.
“On the arena? Hehe, I was about to forget; in the end, I will win this match.” When Tan Han said this, even a trace of confusion flashed in her eyes.
As she wove the last thread, she seemed to sense the conclusion of the final outcome.
But the process… was a blur, until this moment she finally realized that there were still many threads yet to be woven, yet the conclusion had apparently been determined, why were there so many excess threads?
That was what Tan Han was curious about at this moment.
As she pondered, the threads in her hand broke free from her control and swiftly floated away.
“So, it turns out… it’s to help me restrict unstable factors.”
Tan Han saw the threads wrapping around me; even though I was so close to her, in the end, these things hindered my movement.
Wrapped by so many threads, I appeared quite awkward at this moment.
“Tan Han! I suggest you find a mirror and see how disgusting you look in that self-righteous attitude.”
I watched my hand, almost touching the machine—what a pity.
Although I didn’t even know what touching it would mean.
But that feeling of realization drove me to touch it, as if my Spirit Vision told me it held huge secrets.
“Is that so? But your awkward appearance is also quite unsightly.”
“Hehe…”
I could only respond to Tan Han with a cold sneer; at this moment, I truly wanted to slap her face and wake her up!
But as I struggled, I found I had already touched the loom.
For a moment, I was stunned.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t reacted; rather, the moment I touched it brought a massive torrent of information flooding over me!
At this moment, I understood that everything here was nothingness, including distance; the feedback of the Spirit Vision was also nothingness, because Spirit Vision had no channels of feedback.
It was as if there was no information from things that Spirit Vision could not see.
Only when I made contact with the only meaningful object here did I gain a feedback channel for information.
In other words, in this space, touching was the channel for Spirit Vision to “see” and provide feedback.
This void had even severed the channels for information feedback.
That was why Spirit Vision would generate the thought of my touching, because my current “seeing” was meaningless, just my perceived “seeing” in the void.
It was akin to me being blind and seeing nothing, yet through an inexplicable manner, knowing there was something in front of me, urging my eyes to open.
This form of “opening my eyes” corresponded to touching here.
At that moment, my brain felt as if it were going insane; the sense of helplessness from being filled with such a massive amount of information reminded me of the initial time when I didn’t fully control my Spirit Vision.
Those pieces of information flooded over like a reservoir being unleashed.
The sporadic splashes of water were unfamiliar scenes.
This feeling led me to believe that it had been so long, yet in reality, it was merely an instant.
When that information finally concluded, I only remembered one image:… Tan Han… victory…
And at this moment, I discovered those golden threads were no longer a hindrance but instead danced gracefully on my shoulders; I felt that my Mental Power threads could manipulate them freely.
“Yang Yuelan… you…”
Before Tan Han could finish, I looked up at her, causing her to feel chills and horror behind her.
“Bang——!”
Then a crisp sound echoed here as my slap struck Tan Han’s face.
But it all happened too quickly; I didn’t even have time to appreciate Tan Han’s shocked expression, a sense of weightlessness hit me as if I had experienced a moment of disconnection.
When I could see again, the chilling cold from the blizzard made me shiver.
I’m back?
This was my first reaction.
Could it be that I slapped Tan Han and returned? That was remarkably efficient.
But I quickly realized my situation wasn’t too good; in contrast, Tan Han’s massive Ancient Ice transformed form loomed large.
However, the enormous eye that had terrified me had vanished.
At this moment, the Ancient Ice made a peculiar gesture, as if instinctively covering its face.
Seeing this action, I came to realize, Tan Han, she had also returned!
As expected, the one controlling that transformation was no longer Tan Han; perhaps that eye-like thing was what Tan Han referred to as the “Spirit Eye,” which was also her talent.
Indeed, she was a chosen one; even her talent was so sophisticated. However, it seemed she still couldn’t master this talent; hopefully, she wouldn’t let her talent turn against her.
But thoughts aside, I couldn’t let this opportunity slip by.
Since I had reacted first, the decisive blow in this match would be mine.
Without a medium outside, the Spellbook would gradually self-destruct, yet it could still be used most liberally.
As the Spellbook unfolded, every structure was something I had thoroughly grasped; seeing it so clearly now felt quite intimate, after all, this Spellbook had been with me for a while.
Now it would become my second ruined Spellbook.
To thoroughly shatter Tan Han’s current transformation spell, I needed to break the energy nodes of her current body, disrupt the ritual of this spell, and as the focal point, Tan Han herself.
If it were just a standard Fireball Spell explosion, the power would disperse too much; after all, a Fireball Spell is just that, it couldn’t break through this transformation’s defenses.
Unless I concentrated the impact on the core, only then could I shatter the opponent’s spell in one blow.
“Then let’s modify it into a Flame Cone…”
This was a method relying on the most primitive approach, twisting and binding the chaotic force within the Fireball Spell, a concentrated explosive modification, along with the Energy Shield to create a pinpoint explosion, would enhance the power.
Although the Energy Shield would surely shatter, the directional explosion still mainly aimed to minimize the damage I would take.
The modified Fireball Spell would be horrifying as I adjusted it; this wasn’t merely about improving the conversion rate, but also about multiple Magic Sources contributing power together.
Wasn’t my first Fireball Spell Spellbook the one that inadvertently canceled the infinite absorption of magic power until the Spellbook was destroyed?
I utilized this error, or rather, experience, but I would detonate it at the last moment before it could no longer endure.
I could hardly imagine, would such a Fireball Spell still be a Fireball Spell?
But then again, this operation involved a Spellbook that could only be used once.
“Xiao Han?”
At this moment, Tan Han also reacted, and while puzzled, she understood she had returned.
Her previous state seemed unbelievable even to her when she looked back, yet that slap still left a phantom pain on her face.
But there was no time for her to think too much now.
Though I felt a bit remorseful over the boast I made in that unknown place, I still understood that we were on the arena now.
With such an advantage, she didn’t know how she might lose.
“Although I deeply regret what I said earlier, I still won’t hold back on the arena.”
“Regret?”
I raised an eyebrow; I hadn’t expected Tan Han to apologize immediately. Did that slap make her come to her senses?
But it was better than being deranged; that golden power was indeed not a good thing.
“No need for apologies, let’s just return to the normal match.”
As I spoke, I dodged the rapidly flying ice spikes. Though numerous, I felt lighter at that moment.
With the Spirit Vision active, I could even anticipate the trajectories of the ice spikes; my Spirit Vision seemed to have improved?
No, it was my control over Spirit Vision that was elevating!
Just like that time I accompanied Tan Han in meditation, it seemed that every appearance of that Spirit Eye brought me good things?
Although prior to this, it had also caused me significant distress.
But as I acted, I seemed to see a wisp of gold fluttering by; however, my attention quickly focused back on the arena.
“Rest assured! I will give you the grandest failure with my most powerful means.”
Tan Han spoke while raising her ice staff; her tone was devoid of mockery, but showed respect for the battle.
Defeating an opponent with the strongest means was the greatest respect one could offer!
“What?”
I watched as a blizzard surged toward me, condensing into meteors resembling stars; this indeed was the form of Ancient Ice.
It carried the might of the ancients, charging toward me as if crossing a long river of time, bringing with it an absolute zero-degree chill that froze the air, this strike felt like breaking apart space itself, resonating with a sound of shattering throughout the area.
The piercing ring echoed across the arena; even the spectators secured by protective spells instinctively covered their ears.
This match seemed to come to a halt at that moment.
Tan Han subconsciously looked at the referee beside her, but the latter showed no signs of rushing to announce anything.
Yet the audience erupted into thunderous cheers.
After all, with such an attack, even veteran students wouldn’t have a chance to resist… isn’t this directly preparing for a Resurrection Spell?
This confrontation would be the most spectacular freshman match they had ever seen!
The arena echoed with Tan Han’s name.
Until a figure appeared and silenced the arena once again.
“How could this happen? I watched you get…”
The most shocked was Tan Han; she realized why the referee hadn’t announced her win, as everything still revolved around her self-righteousness?
She recalled that previous place, scolded for being self-righteous… recognizing her own absurdity even without a mirror felt so ridiculous.
“Just an Illusionary Clone.”
After a brief explanation, I made my way back toward Tan Han.
With a tiptoe on the Energy Shield, I leaped up; after all, without going up, I couldn’t touch Tan Han’s weakness. Considering the overload she’d done with the Spellbook, such spells released could not be executed normally, so it was up to me to send this spell on its final journey!
At this moment, my body began stacking Energy Shields, one layer, two layers, three layers…
The Spellbook continuously drained my remaining magic power, and it became a contest for magic power between me and the Fireball Spell Spellbook until the magic power was depleted.
After all, the yield of this Fireball Spell was not something a few layers of Energy Shields could withstand; even in a directed explosion, the damage I’d bear would still be terrifying.
It seemed I would have to let the Energy Shield Spellbook make some sacrifices.
“What is this?”
Tan Han could clearly see what was in my hands; it was the Spellbook!
Such a terrifying surge of energy made her feel uneasy!
But she also recognized that this Spellbook was already over its limits. Using it like this was simply wasting resources!
“Xiao Han! Are you crazy? You’re using such a powerful Spellbook like this! For just a match, it’s not worth it!”
“Hehe, it’s just a Fireball Spell.”
“What?”
Tan Han looked at me, unable to believe what she just heard, with that casual tone I had just used.
Just a Fireball Spell?
Impossible?
But Tan Han had no time to react; she raised the ice staff forming a spell structure to counter my spell.
I did not evade but charged toward the most crucial frost core of that ice staff, which was also one of the important energy nodes of this transformation spell.
Shatter it!
Then, Tan Han’s weakness would be completely exposed before me!
At this moment, my Fireball Spell transformed into a spiral cone, flames swirling in the air behind me.
These were all dissipated magical powers transformed into fire elemental energy, proving that this Spellbook had reached its limit.
The instant Tan Han’s ice staff core came into contact with my flames, a terrifying explosion erupted.
The fire element clashed against the ice element at a supernatural energy level, triggering a catastrophic explosion.
The shockwave generated by the explosion surged outward, mixed with terrifying shards of ice.
The students in the audience instinctively shielded their heads.
However, the protective spells for the audience were not the temporary spells used in the arena, which meant that the ultimate shockwave and ice debris were held back at the edges.
While the audience suffered no harm, many students in the front rows were scared half to d*ath.
But everything was far from over.
“Estimate, what’s the magic power conversion rate of this Fireball Spell?”
The Extraordinary Witches at this moment were quite interested in discussing this topic.
“20%?” A hesitant voice spoke up, clearly guessing.
“The peak conversion rate should be around 40%, I guess it doubles.” Another teacher openly stated his guess.
“To be precise, it should be 56%.” Finally, Teacher Lina spoke up to conclude the topic of speculation.
“Lina? How come you’re back?”
“I prepared the things; it seems the outcome is about to be decided.” Lina turned to look at the arena, even she was curious how Yang Yuelan would lose.
That’s right, it was about how Yang Yuelan would lose.
“56% magic power conversion rate for the Fireball Spell? Are you joking?”
“That’s not impossible, but you just can’t do it.”
“Don’t forget, they brought out their Spellbook; this strike wasn’t meant for the Spellbook to return intact; a peak value of 56% isn’t strange at all.”
“That makes sense.”
At this moment, due to that explosion, the shattered remnants of the Ancient Ice instantly tore through the several layers of Energy Shields I had stacked.
The remaining layers barely gave me a sense of security, but they should be enough; at most… it would just be serious injuries, after all, I had yet to experience severe injuries.
Moreover, the participants’ injuries were covered by the academy; I hadn’t forgotten that. Otherwise, fighting while injured, the freshman matches wouldn’t finish within a short five days.
But my Magic Source had been completely exhausted, I ripped my Witch Cloak; although it was of no use, it still gave me a slight false sense of security.
As for the Witch Hat?
That was long gone.
“Boom——!”
The terrifying collision ultimately produced an even more terrifying roar; this explosion was worse than the previous one.
This was the result of a complete super-modified Fireball Spell colliding with the core of a transformation spell.
The direct contact between the spell energy sources of ice and fire created a tumultuous reaction, causing a terrifying explosion.
The shockwave produced by the explosion spread, mixed with shards of frost, scattering throughout the entire arena, giving the audience a dual shock.
The protective spells of the audience stirred a ripple.
This strike seemed not only to conclude the match but to obliterate the entire freshman competition!
The first match delivered a shock to all students, like a heavy blow, completely ending the subsequent matches that had not yet taken place.
Because the climax of the five-day freshman competition concluded in the very first match.
As the sound of the explosion echoed, the referee and Lina rushed toward the arena.
Such a degree of explosion was naturally not something a freshman could endure.
Tan Han had the transformation spell to withstand it, at worst, she would lose consciousness, but what did I have?
That ridiculous Energy Shield that only consumed a little magic power? What difference did that have from paper?
Although the massive cloud of smoke enveloped the entire arena, a figure flying out was still quite conspicuous.
That’s right; the figure flying out was me.
Even after crashing to the ground, I tumbled several times due to inertia.
Fortunately, I “landed safely,” barely considered… seriously injured? Multiple fractures?
So this is what the sound of a fracture feels like…
Anyway, as long as I wasn’t dead, my body had completely lost feeling.
I felt quite distressed when the Energy Shield lost its integrity for the first time. The solid ice shattered several layers of my Energy Shields; while the Energy Shield was excellent at resisting energy attacks, it was much weaker against physical impacts.
The main issue was that I had lifted even the energy consumption limits of the Energy Shield; otherwise, during that brief moment, how could my Energy Shield Spell compete with the Fireball Spell for magic power?
From now on, I would have to take good care of the Energy Shield Spellbook; using it like this might just ruin it too.
Fortunately, it hadn’t broken.
As long as it wasn’t broken, there was hope for maintenance and repair.
“Are you alright? Did you modify your Energy Shield too?”
A sudden voice came from not far away, but I could no longer see who the person was; probably a referee or some teacher…
“Don’t move; let me treat you.”
As Lina’s words came, I felt a strange force surge into my body.
At this moment, my body, which hadn’t reacted yet, was stimulated by this sensation, and immense pain swept over me.
Sometimes pain doesn’t elicit a call; that’s because it isn’t painful enough, just like now, I felt like even my breath strained my throat in agony.
My body twitched uncontrollably as if entirely out of control.
This so-called healing spell completely stimulated me, making my body realize what severe injury was, what pain was.
“You rash kid, have you completely lost your mind?” Lina looked at my current miserable state and couldn’t help but express.
At this moment.
On Arena 1.
The referee gazed at Tan Han, who lay among the shattered remnants of Ancient Ice; her consciousness was in its last strands, and she struggled to look at the referee but collapsed before she could express anything.
Then the referee turned to the distant Figure 14; she finally spoke.
“Contestant 14 is out of the match; Contestant 1, Tan Han wins.”
Her tone lacked any excitement for who would be encouraged; strictly speaking, it could be considered a mutual destruction, but she had to provide a conclusion.
The result of a tie would mean they had to fight again, but there was certainly not enough time for them to go through that again.
“Medical staff, get moving! What are you waiting for?”
At that shouted command, the volunteers hiding behind the audience’s protective spells hurried to the battlefield as quickly as possible.
This battle only drew to a close at this moment.
On the other hand, the audience erupted into the most sensational and enthusiastic cheers and applause; even the two contestants they cheered for could not hear their fervor.
