Chapter 632: The opportunity for victory (2 in 1)
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
Tumo did not force Emily to master the Snake Dance. In fact, reality had proved that cruel training in this era would only lead to all the females within the family giving up on mastering the Snake Dance. Therefore, he had resorted to a different method. He gave Emily freedom, while teaching her the fundamentals of the Snake Dance as a mere “dance”. She had started to learn it from the time she was 3. Although Emily was extremely strong, she was also rebellious. Not everyone could be forced to learn things; some people learn better when under guidance. Emily was able to sense the cruelty and strictness present within her family. Nevertheless, she was the only one who could live her life without restraint. Therefore, Tumo added a condition to her freedom, which was for her to learn that strange dance, resulting in her being extremely focused when doing so.
Frankly speaking, all of her recent attempts to learn it had failed, as soldiers required a specific type of cruel character to learn the Snake Dance. This trait was too deficient in Emily. Therefore, the many failures in attempting to learn it had caused Tumo to give up hope on this matter. Perhaps, giving her a blessed life was a pretty good choice, and Tumo just regarded the whole thing as a personal appreciation for dancing. This continued all the way till Emily returned home and requested for training. This presented a new opportunity for her, though this was still far from sufficient, as her talent had been suppressed for far too long. Therefore, a short period of training wouldn’t be of much use. However, in this CHF, the guidance of w.a.n.g Zhong and Grai, coupled with the continuous eruption of strength by Barran and Scarlet, had affected Emily’s spirit, and stimulated her talent and self-esteem.
Humans were social creatures. The end goal for being forced or guided was still to strengthen improve your own standard.
After 10 years of acc.u.mulation, a dynasty would benefit!
While executing those familiar dance movements, Emily felt as if she had truly become a snake! Her slender physique, incomparably soft yet resilient body allowed her to evade Napier Mo’s attacks from various angles. Despite being different in essence to the Shadow Dance, the Snake Dance allowed her to move her body in such an uncoordinated manner that similarly affected her opponent’s judgement.
Napier Mo’s Shadow Dance was an indeterminate flutter in a spectre-like manner, while Emily’s Snake Dance was a full-body set of movements. Not only were her feet in motion, even her body was also constantly moving about. In fact, every single muscle and bone in her body was in motion, causing her to appear pliable, boneless, as though she was something made from heaven!
Countless people were dumbfounded by what they saw. Was this the noob-est “Emily”?
A side character, who clearly did not possess any significant strength, had suddenly displayed a strength that could contend with the king of a.s.sa.s.sins?
“That’s the a.s.sa.s.sin’s Snake Dance.”
“That’s a divine a.s.sa.s.sin combat technique from the legends!”
Complicated emotions began to surface in the people within the partic.i.p.ant viewing gallery. What the h.e.l.l! That was an opportunity people might not be able to encounter in the entire life! However, this had appeared again and again in the Tianjing squadron! The crowd was feeling somewhat numb to this development. It was still impossible for Emily to defeat Napier Mo, as the disparity in strength was still extremely great. Furthermore, she was still in a semi-conscious state of mind, or in other words, a state of comprehension. The combat technique she was comprehending would still have a disparity with the perfection Napier Mo had forged through countless trainings. However, the most important matter was that she had opened a door for herself, allowing her to step on a broad path that would completely change her future.
The twin daggers encased in dancing flames turned, twisted and rotated about in the air, appearing to form what seemed like a point of fusion.
In the next moment, the lotus blossomed, a sequence just like the earlier moves Emily had unleashed. However, the earlier lotuses appeared incomparably stiff, slow, and appeared as though they had been drawn by a beginner artist. However, at this moment, fused with her mysterious movements, as well as the integration of her body motions into her dagger, everyone saw what seemed like a string of motion that appeared to be sewn together by nature! This wasn’t a Fiery Lotus Dance!
a.s.sa.s.sin’s Ultimate — Snake Fangs Chaotic Dance!
Every single petal of the blossoming fiery lotus appeared to have come to life, transforming into what seemed like poisonous snakes, and yet also appeared just like gleaming fangs coated with deadly venom. The glowing blade shades appeared just like rays of light radiating from their eyes, or the reflection from their fangs!
The centre of the lotus was just like a king of snakes patrolling its territory, while the blossoming blade shades appeared just like tens of thousands of snakes slithering out from their holes, crazily squeezing through the little exits of their dens. Surrounding the king of snakes, they twisted about as they flew through the air, lunging crazily towards their opponent!
Seeing this, many people could not help but hold their breath, while Ma Dong and the other Tianjing members clenched their fists so tightly their knuckles turned white. Finally, a sliver of seriousness appeared on Napier Mo’s face, while a wave of dimensional energies rippled out from his body. Finally, the king of a.s.sa.s.sins standing at the apex was no longer able to use ordinary moves to deal with the current situation. The move Emily was displaying was already sufficient to pose a danger to him.
Whoos.h.!.+
His figure instantly disappeared from sight.
Dimensional Combat Technique!
w.a.n.g Zhong gave a faint sigh upon seeing this. A Dimensional Combat Technique was something Emily could not handle at her current realm. Indeed, the Snake Dance was an extremely powerful move that could match up to Napier Mo’s Shadow Dance. However, he was in a completely different realm as compared to Emily. Therefore, it was already a win for her in this duel to force him to become serious.
All of the blade shades and fangs instantly landed on thin air. When Napier Mo reappeared, there were already 3 copies of him appearing right behind Emily. Upon reappearing, he had instantly sealed off every escape path and actions she could make, while a dagger was pressed right at her throat.
People without Dimensional Combat Techniques would be incapable of dealing with them. This was a fight between people of 2 different levels.
The referee’s voice rang out.
2nd duel. Tianjing. Napier Mo. Victory.
After a momentary bout of silence, the entire stadium erupted into fervent applause. In fact, even those bigshots “seated” in the VIP were clapping their hands. To them, it wasn’t the strength that she had displayed, or the so-called miraculous transformation that Emily had undergone, but the appearance of the Snake Dance that was important to them.
The loss of any ultimate art that could leave its name in the history books was a loss for the whole Federation. Likewise, any reappearance of a lost ultimate art would be a fortunate matter for the Federation.
The reappearance of the Snake Dance, that had been lost for over a hundred years, was worthy of their applause. The partic.i.p.ant viewing gallery and the audience in the stadium were also giving pa.s.sionate applause. In fact, there were also quite a few excited shrieks ringing about. The laymen were only able to see Emily forcing Napier Mo to use his true strength, while those with a keener eye were able to glean much more information from the earlier duel.
With her display of the Snake Dance, Emily had already obtained the qualifications to step over the first-cla.s.s experts within the CHF. Although there was still a definite disparity to those at the apex, she was still very young. In fact, she was the youngest person among these group of experts. Given a few years, when she became a 3rd-year student, she might even be able to become another Napier Mo, or become even greater than him! After all, even Napier Mo was unable to control a movement technique like the Shadow Dance during his freshman year.
Naturally, at this moment, Emily only possessed the qualifications to look up to him.
As excited voices rang out from the judges and the audience, the fame of the Snake Dance rapidly spread throughout the stadium. The former splendour of a.s.sa.s.sin, the only movement combat technique that was equal to the Shadow Dance, an ultimate a.s.sa.s.sin technique, as well as being the most difficult movement technique to learn, master, and display. Coupled with Emily’s harmless-looking and exceedingly adorable loli face, this la.s.s that did not have any dazzling combat results, and thus, the most unfavoured within the Tianjing squadron, had instantly ascended to the level of the Ba G.o.d!
The miraculous Tianjing!
0:2 deficit…
The Tianjing fans were probably the only people who could maintain such optimistic emotion while being down on points. Throughout the entire CHF, they have already experienced too many pitfalls and reversals. Although Tianjing had lost the first 2 duels of this match, who wouldn’t dare to believe that Emily or Barran would showcase their splendour in this finals?
Loud chants and cheers began to ring out across the stadium.
“w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong! w.a.n.g Zhong!”
“Grai! Grai! Grai!”
“Ha ha! Although they are down 0:2, the Tianjing fans still appear to be unchanged in their optimism.” Ruo Zhi sounded relaxed, while br.i.m.m.i.n.g with antic.i.p.ation as he continued his casting. “Now, everyone within the stadium is chanting the names of w.a.n.g Zhong and Grai out loud. The Tianjing fans are still placing their absolute attention and confidence on those 2. Naturally, victory or defeat in the match will indeed be determined from the duels that those 2 will partic.i.p.ate in. Although there’s a mountain load of pressure on captain w.a.n.g Zhong and Grai, this also represents the pride they deserve. Now, who is Tianjing going to send up for the next duel?”
w.a.n.g Zhong quickly gave the answer to that question.
“It’s Scarlet?”
The entire stadium and the Skylink turned silent for a good couple of seconds following the scene of Scarlet walking up the stage.
Frankly speaking, over 99% of the Tianjing fans had rather favourable opinions and respect for this vice-captain, who had endured, sweat blood and tears, and even created miracles for Tianjing in this CHF. Furthermore, they also held a lot of antic.i.p.ation for her combat performances in the previous matches.
However, Tianjing’s current opponent was Heaven’s Fate! What’s more, they were in a 0:2 deficit!
Heaven’s Fate responded quickly to Tianjing’s selection. Without any surprise, Mo Wen and Mo Ling were not fielded, obviously being left to deal with w.a.n.g Zhong and Grai. That left Mo Shang, who walked up to the stage.
After a short bout of silence, the entire stadium erupted into waves of discussions.
Did Tianjing still have a chance?
Indeed, Scarlet had created successive miracles in the earlier stages of this CHF. Furthermore, her Ice attribute special ability seemed to have a certain level of restriction over Mo Shang’s Fusion body const.i.tution.
After all, one was a Fusion body const.i.tution, while the other was a freezing ability.
However, the moment such thoughts appeared, they were met with countless ridiculing laughs of ignorance. What restrain? That’s just a fantasy dreamt up by the Tianjing fans. Although there were special abilities that naturally countered other special abilities, it would also depend on the realm the ability users were at. Vladimir might be the only person that could freeze up a Fusion body const.i.tution!
With Scarlet’s realm in her ice attribute special ability, there was still a staggering disparity form the Divinized realm. As for the possibility of freezing a Fusion body const.i.tution? Even dreams and fantasies weren’t as exaggerated as that!
Furthermore, many people could clearly see that Scarlet wasn’t wearing the pair of unique runic shoes that she had worn in the semifinals.
Although the laymen in the audience might not understand, the various great aristocratic families had already thoroughly investigated it after its appearance in the semifinals.
Indeed, there was practical usage in the innovation of the new runic system that was developed by old Potter and Tianjing, with the patent application already being processed at the Inst.i.tute of Sciences. Nevertheless, the system was still in its experimental phase, and had many difficult technical problems that had yet to be solved. The instantaneous movement could only be used once before the runic engraving on the shoes would be destroyed. Furthermore, the cost of producing it was too high, and it was too complicated to ma.s.s produce. As of now, that pair of shoes could only be treated as an experimental prototype.
Without that pair of miraculous runic shoes, Scarlet did not possess any opportunity of victory against Mo Shang, who had defeated Rennes in the semifinals. Even if she unleashed all of her combat experience and intelligence to its fullest, she would not be able to change the outcome.
Carolyn, Vladimir, Divian and the others in the partic.i.p.ant viewing gallery could all see that w.a.n.g Zhong had sent his squadron members up purely for the chance to experience a compet.i.tion of this magnitude. However, this was all based on the incomparably ample confidence he had on Grai’s and his own foundations. Basically, he was thinking of the bigger picture, and had escaped the boundaries of victory or defeat in this match.
“Ah, he really is…” Vladimir could not help but give a soft sigh, “big-hearted.”
Although he understood the reason behind w.a.n.g Zhong’s actions, how many people could see through that guy’s intentions?
A short while later, the compet.i.tion bell was rung. Before the start of the duel, people noticed that Mo Shang’s feet had already merged with the ground. Different from the usual planted feeling when someone stood squarely on the ground, his feet, and even his shoes, appeared to have melded with the ground! This was the unique feeling that would emanate from the Fusion Body const.i.tution.
In an instant, the twin pistols started firing, while Mo Shang simultaneously disappeared into the ground. A special ability like his was a true nightmare for a ranged soldier to deal with. Regardless of any combat occupation, the advantage of a ranged soldier lay in distance control. Any combat technique that could ignore distance control, like Dimensional Combat Techniques, or those like the Fusion Body const.i.tution that could directly meld with the ground, were nightmarish existences for any ranged soldier. If the ranged soldier wasn’t able to see their opponent, and was also unable to unleash any attacks at the opponent before they arrived, what else could they do?
Despite all of these factors, Scarlet did not give up easily. Instead, she started to move rapidly about on the stage. Being a special ability user, she undoubtedly possessed a greater sensitivity, as compared to ordinary soldiers, towards the unique fluctuations caused by special ability usage. The strength of her soul allowed her to just barely detect the Mo Shang’s position within the ground. While relying on her movements to maintain some distance from him, she had also continued to keep up her vigilance, maintaining a lookout for any chances to counterattack. After all, Mo Shang would definitely need to use energy to travel through the ground like that. Being able to drag this duel on as long as possible was a form of a contribution to her Tianjing squadron.
However, in the end, she was still closed in on by Mo Shang. As the ground trembled slightly, Scarlet, who had kept her vigilance to the highest stance, instantly leapt into the air. While doing so, her pistols instantly lit up the ground beneath her with chaotic gunfire.
The ice bullets br.i.m.m.i.n.g with ice-cold energies instantly froze up the ground. Forming a barrier, the energy from her ice-attribute special ability appeared to start drilling into the ground.
However, the trembling only lasted for an instant. In the next instant, a figure had already shot out from the ground approximately 4-5 metres away from the location Scarlet had unleashed her gunfire, with the frozen ground proving to be completely useless against him. Indeed, the disparity between their special abilities was too great. This allowed Mo Shang’s Fusion Body Const.i.tution to fuse through the ice that had formed above the ground.
Mo Shang, who was designated as the ranged soldier for the Heaven’s Fate squadron, did not carry any long-ranged weapons in his hand. Instead, he had chosen to wield a thin runic sword for this duel.
Instantly closing in, a chilling glint blossomed out. Reaching the limits of her reaction, Scarlet had already unleashed a barrage of bullets. Not only were the bullets launched to attack, lock up, and defend against Mo Shang, she was also using the recoil to change her movements and position to the utmost of her abilities. The movement reduction from her ice attribute special ability was constantly unleashed in her surroundings, affecting her opponent’s movements, regardless of how minor its effect was.
Despite evading the first wave of insta-kill attacks, Mo Shang had already completely suppressed her, instantly turning the duel into a one-sided show.
However, only by persevering on would there be a chance to create miracles. Tianjing had already created miracle after miracle during their journey through this CHF. Who knew whether they would be able to do it again?