Chapter 354: Three and Three
The same terrifying fluctuations of arcane energy appeared around Black Chris.
Two waves of black flames erupted and collided in midair!
The space where Chris and Black Chris stood was abruptly filled with black smoke as a powerful shockwave sent countless metal fragments flying into the curtain of light surrounding them.
"What is Chris trying to do?"
"Why did she suddenly use Dark Destruction Dragon?"
All the referees and medical masters were perplexed as they could not see anything at this current moment.
"A battle of attrition… this is where Ayrin is stronger than me. Against a stronger opponent, he forcefully endures their strike to land one of his own!"
"The ability to endure pain… I must endure!"
Amidst the smoke, Chris' entire left arm was covered with terrifying bloody wounds. However, the look in her eyes showed that she was more determined than ever.
"Whoosh!"
Her body trembled uncontrollably, but it didn't stop her as she grit her teeth and pressed forward.
She quickly passed through the smoke and flames and appeared before Black Chris, which was still trembling and unable to respond.
"What!"
All the observing referees and medical masters' pupils contracted simultaneously as the smoke was forcefully dissipated by a powerful wave of arcane energy, revealing Chris and Black Chris right next to one another.
Chris' right hand was like a spear of white light as it pierced Black Chris' chest.
"Sage's Stab!" A referee couldn't help but utter as they watched the scene unfold.
Sage's Stab was not a terribly strong skill.
Furthermore, Chris had already expended the vast majority of her arcane particles in her previous strike.
"Crack!"
However, it was enough as Black Chris' chest abruptly caved in.
"Fuuuuuu…"
All the referees and medical masters simultaneously exhaled as they watched Chris decisively strike out with her blood covered left arm.
Black Chris continued to tremble uncontrollably as Chris' left palm descended towards the depression in its chest.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion occurred as a red fireball appeared in Chris' extended palm and was pressed into Black Chris' chest.
"Cliff Sundering Blast!" Leonardo exclaimed in a serious manner.
Streaks of light began to appear as cracks emerged all over Black Chris.
Then, in the next moment, it blew to pieces.
"So this is the path she found," Clancy muttered, a complex look on his face.
At the start, Clancy had told Leonardo that the way to surpass oneself and pass this trial was to look for weakness in one's own skills which could be exploited, and to not pursue a physical breakthrough. Yet now, Ayrin, Rinloran and Chris had all passed this trial by physically surpassing themselves!
These children were many times more terrifying than the Holy Dawn Evil Six of the past.
"That's three of them. According to the rules of the competition, Holy Dawn Academy has already won first place…"
All the referees and medical masters felt numb as they exchanged looks with each other and then turned their attention towards yet another crystal ball.
"The other three… they won't all pass right?"
This very thought emerged in all their minds.
"Stingham…"
Their expressions all abruptly turned strange.
……
"Just what kind of strange thing are you?!"
"I'm going to shock you to death!"
"Why do you keep copying me? Why are you hugging me?!"
Stingham's screams rang out incessantly.
He and Black Stingham were entwined around each other like two strings of a rope as they tussled around on the ground.
Their fight looked like two children just playing around. There was no semblance of a dangerous battle at all.
A major reason for this was that Stingham, being lazy, had not learned any real offensive skills outside of Gates of Gods, which consumed many arcane particles. As a result, if it wasn't Water Dragon, then it was Fist of the Golden Lion.
But since Black Stingham had completely replicated his defensive skills, these skills only barely tickled it as they sent it staggering backwards.
As a result, Stingham had decided to try and use the method which had allowed him to pass the previous trial against the golden metal puppet. To his complete surprise, however, Black Stingham had immediately copied him, leading to their current state where they were stuck to each other with tremors traveling back and forth between them.
These tremors caused Stingham's limbs to feel weak, not because of pain, but because of comfort.
"Just what kind of trial is this?"
"Are you built to give people massages?"
"But if this is the case, why did you transform into me, and not a pretty girl?!"
Stingham continued to rant.
"Why is it like this…"
Many of the referees and medical masters felt at a loss for words.
"This child…"
Strange looks appeared on Clancy and Leonardo's faces.
Although it seemed as if Stingham was simply ranting and not considering how to deal with the crystal demon his wrestling skills had already greatly improved in this short period of time.
At the start, Stingham and Black Stingham were equals, but now, Stingham had gradually begun to take the upper hand. He was frequently able to press Black Stingham beneath him as they continued to grapple.
"This can be considered a close combat skill. He has managed to improve so much in such a short period of time… and he has just been randomly wrestling without any guidance. I've heard that he is extremely lazy and dislikes training, but just how little does he normally train?"
Clancy and Leonardo's faces became darker and darker.
Stingham was quickly reaching a state where he would be able to prevent Black Stingham from moving.
It was clear that his body's reflexes, agility, and other characteristics were all about to breakthrough to another level.
This child, had he truly been relying on his natural talents to progress this entire time? Did he truly never train like they had heard?!
No wonder he had mastered so few skills even with his high rank Green Dragon Bloodline!
But in retrospect, hadn't this also made it extremely easy for him to pass this trial?
……
"This?"
Just as Clancy and Leonardo finished making their conclusions about Stingham and how little he normally trained, Ayrin arrived at massive hall.
The hall was filled with various types of steel, spare parts, worktables, and countless tools and instruments including several smelting furnaces.
In particular, there were countless metal windup springs of varying sizes which all seemed to be incomplete.
On iron hooks next to many of these incomplete springs were almost finished metal clockwork puppets.
"This must be where the Corps used to construct metal clockwork puppets!"
Ayrin slowly recovered from his initial shock.
After all, this made sense. The speed of the invaders in the past must have been too fast. They must have broken through everything and reached this place too quickly. As a result, all the arcane masters working on these puppets left to go meet the invaders, leaving these barely incomplete puppets behind.
At this moment, a sound entered Ayrin's ear, causing him to fiercely turn around.
A familiar figure appeared within his sight.
"Rinloran!" Ayrin shouted excitedly, "You've also passed?"
"You are first again? You really are something…" Rinloran replied as he took a deep breath and bounded over to Ayrin's side.
"We should be able to exit if we pass through that huge gate," Rinloran said as he pointed towards a glowing gate in the distance. But at the same time, he was also greatly shocked by the magnitude of this workshop.
"Ayrin! Rinloran!" Chris' voice abruptly rang out from behind them.
"Chris, your arm?!"
"You used Dark Dragon Destruction?"
Ayrin and Rinloran both shouted upon seeing Chris' blood covered left arm as she ran over.
"It's fine. The battle allowed me to learn quite a bit, and I've improved greatly because of it." Chris' face was somewhat pale, but as she looked at Ayrin and Rinloran, a bright smile bloomed. "The others haven't come out yet? Well, there's already three of us."
"Let's go! Let's talk after we exit. We cannot let another team take first!"
The three enthusiastic youths shot towards the great gate, leaving behind a trail of blood on the dusty floor of the workshop.
Ayrin, Rinloran and Chris felt sunlight descend upon them once more as the figures of Clancy, Leonardo and the other referees and medical masters appeared in their view.
"Mister Leonardo is also here?" Ayrin exclaimed upon clearly seeing Leonardo.
At the same time, he also saw the strange looks on the faces of the referees and medical masters.
"Mister Leonardo, what place are we? Morgan and the others haven't come out, yet right?" Ayrin asked nervously.
"You guys are the first," Leonardo responded. Upon seeing Ayrin face to face, he had fallen back into a stupor.
"We're first! We won! Hahahaha!" Ayrin shouted as he jumped excitedly into the air.
"But then, why do you all look so grim Mister Leonardo? It got me thinking that we were too slow, and that the other two teams had emerged already. Then everything we did would have been in vain," Ayrin immediately continued.
Leonardo felt completely speechless as he took a deep breath and replied, "It's not because you guys were too slow, but because you guys were too fast. You children are simply too monstrous."
"Eh? Mister Clancy, what happened to your arm?"
As his group of three arrived beside everyone else, Ayrin abruptly realized that Clancy was missing an arm.
"I lost it during battle in Fallen Shadow Valley," Clancy replied with a slight smile.
"You are a true brave warrior," Ayrin replied in awe.
"The three of us have come out, so our victory has already been decided. In this case, Moss and the others no longer need to continue their fights right?" Ayrin asked several of the nearby referees.
"Technically you are correct," a referee responded. "But are you sure that you want to interrupt their fights and have them come out?"
"Well if we switched spots… I guess not…" Ayrin chuckled awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.
Right at this moment, one of the medical masters shouted, "Hurry and watch Belo!"