"Vice-president!""Richard!"
The members of my society yelled in fear when they saw me getting knocked back and helpless against Craig"s thrusting spear.
However, I merely muttered something under my breath.
"Gemini."
"?!"
I deflected the approaching spear with a newly summoned Castor and slashed at Craig with Pollux. The white blade almost cut his face apart, but Craig"s reflexes saved him. He barely withdrew his spear in time to parry Pollux, the force sending him skidding back a meter or two.
Grunting, he raised his head to glare at me. I was now holding a pair of twin swords, one black and one white.
"Dual swords user, huh?" Craig sneered as he lowered his spear at me. I merely raised both my swords in a defensive stance. Grinding his feet against the ground, Craig prepared to launch himself at me, but not before spitting an insult. "A summoner trying to be a swordsman? Don"t make me laugh!"
He thrust his spear forward angrily, only for me to cross my blades and parry the strike. Deflecting a second slash, I countered by cleaving toward his side where his guard was lowered, but Craig spun the shaft of his spear around to knock it aside.
Craig"s attacks intensified as the battle dragged on, and he smashed Pollux to bits with an aggressive strike with his spear. I retreated a couple of steps, only to summon a new white short sword in my hand to parry his follow-up attack. He obliterated Castor next with a heavy blow from the blunt end of his spear, but again I summoned a new black short sword to take its place.
Growling in frustration, Craig sped up his attacks, forcing me back and almost catching me of guard. It was all I could do to keep up, dodging and parrying, but Craig"s blows were fierce and brutal. Another precise and powerful strike saw Pollux spinning out of my left hand, crushed into pieces, and the second chain of attacks disintegrated Castor. I was blown back a few steps, but regained my balance quickly, summoning yet another pair of twin swords.
"Why isn"t the vice-president summoning any of his Constellation spirits?" Stan asked impatiently as the battle wore on. "Why is he relying entirely on swordsmans.h.i.+p?"
"I"m sure Vice-President knows what he"s doing!" Harvey replied dismissively.
"That he does," Dong Fang Yue Chu agreed as he a.n.a.lyzed the battle. "There are two possible reasons. One, he"s conserving his strength and magical energy for the other matches. He might be trying to achieve another team-kill here. The second reason is that he knows that his Constellation spirits are useless against an opponent of Craig Carlson"s caliber."
"What do you mean?" w.a.n.g Fei asked nervously. "President Craig is too powerful?"
"Yeah." Dong Fang Yue Chu nodded thoughtfully. "I"m sure Richard has done his research prior to this match, and is aware of President Craig"s killer move."
"Killer move?" Stanley asked. Dong Fang Yue Chu nodded again.
"The Demonic Spear, Craig Carlson…the Cursed Crimson Spear that penetrates any defenses, no matter how powerful." Dong Fang Yue Chu sighed. "He"ll just destroy whatever Constellation spirits Richard summons."
"Why isn"t he using that move yet?" Stan asked suspiciously.
"Because it consumes a lot of magical energy and takes a while to cast. I"m sure Richard intends to finish Craig Carlson off before he can execute the move, but President Craig is capable of casting smaller versions of it. Not as powerful, but still strong enough to destroy Richard"s weaker Constellation spirits."
"That"s not good…" w.a.n.g Fei shuddered. "If Vice-President loses here, then none of us will stand a chance!"
"Vice-President Richard won"t lose!" Harvey insisted.
As much as I appreciated the vote of confidence, the battle was not going my way. Dong Fang Yue Chu was correct. I didn"t summon any of my Constellation spirits because I was aware of the killer move Craig Carlson had up his sleeve. One careless mistake and he would obliterate the Constellation spirit I spent so much time and magical energy to cast in an instant.
No, instead I focused everything on summoning a Celestial Guardian as quickly as possible.
Clang!
Craig Carlson"s next strike shattered Pollux and I staggered back, only to summon another short sword.
"…"
Suddenly, Craig stopped. He kept his spear lowered and pointed at me, ready to attack at any time, but he paused for now, studying me. Fury glittered in his eyes.
"Twenty-seven times," he said. I blinked, bewildered.
"Excuse me?"
"Twenty-seven times," Craig repeated. "That"s the number of times I have disarmed you and destroyed those swords of yours, yet you have more in reserve. How many times can you summon those twin swords? Just what exactly is your specialization?"
"Whoa…" I shook my head in disbelief. "You were actually keeping count? I don"t know whether to be impressed by your diligence, or amazed by your stupidity at keeping track something as trivial as that."
Honestly, I didn"t bother counting, but Craig Carlson evidently had been counting the exact number of times. For what purpose, I didn"t know. Maybe he was going to the online forums later to a.n.a.lyze our match? I heard there was an online forum dedicated to the matches between student mages in the Global Federation academies, but since there were literally thousands of matches taking place everyday, n.o.body was going to pay any attention to the match of an insignificant person like me or Craig. I mean, Craig wasn"t someone insignificant, but come one…no one was going to pay any attention to the students of a lowly ranked academy like Jing Tian. They would be more interested in Crowley"s Academy or the other schools in the top twenty, or even just the top eight.
Craig didn"t rise to the bait. He continued to glare at me.
"Just who the h.e.l.l are you? I"ve never heard of summoning magic that works like this. Normally, people summon spirit beasts or soul beasts, not weapons. And how did your swordsmans.h.i.+p improve dramatically in just the s.p.a.ce of a few weeks?"
"I took Teacher Fielding"s cla.s.s," I replied flippantly. "He taught me a lot on combat magic."
"Don"t screw around with me! If that"s the case, all the first year students would be just as proficient at combat magic as you! What did you do?!"
Honestly? It was only because Dad taught me martial arts, which helped greatly to pave a solid foundation. Now I realized how accurate Dad was when he told me I should master martial arts first before going on to learn combat magic. I could finally comfortably combine the two together and hold my ground against a seasoned veteran of Craig"s caliber.
This was something I wasn"t able to do about a year ago. No…even a few months ago, I was nowhere capable of this.
No wonder Dad told me to focus on mastering physical martial arts first. I had trusted him then, but I began to have doubts when none of them worked, and I lost ceaselessly against every opponent. Physical martial arts just could not stand up against combat magic. No matter how much I honed my reflexes, I couldn"t beat someone who magically increased their speed or strength with spells.
But now, I could integrate combat magic with martial arts to improve my own reflexes. Otherwise Craig would have cut me up several hundred ways before I could fight back.
However, I didn"t tell Craig any of that. I merely smiled mysteriously.
"I have no obligation to give my opponent all the information he needs to counter my techniques." Gripping my twin swords tightly, I shrugged. "What"s the matter, President Craig? Where did all your enthusiasm from earlier go? If you won"t attack, then I will."
Springing forward, I slashed at Craig with my Gemini twin swords, taking him by surprise and forcing him onto the defensive. Craig cursed and brought his spear up to deflect my attacks. Twirling his long weapon, he hit out in an effort to force me back, but I dropped to a crouch and slashed upward, hoping to get under his guard.
Craig twisted his body away from my blades, and then kicked at me. I blocked his foot with my forearm, but was still sent spinning several meters away. Landing in a crouch, I bounded back to my feet just in time to parry a strike from Craig.
My swords shattered again, but I summoned new ones. Dropping to a knee, I kicked Craig in the midriff, but he arched his back to lessen the impact. With a grunt, he folded back, only to bring his spear down in an impaling thrust. I whirled away before the spear could pierce through me, and sliced almost blindly, forcing Craig to block.
"Huff…"
Panting, I rolled away before Craig delivered his riposte, his spear gouging out a huge chunk of concrete from sheer brute force, and jumped back to put as much distance between us as possible. While I stumbled backward, Craig bent his knees, getting ready to launch himself forward once again.
I didn"t let him. Throwing my Gemini twin swords into the air, I watched as they intersected toward him in a beautiful arc. Craig moved in reflex, las.h.i.+ng out with his spear twice in two different directions. His weapon destroyed both of my spinning twin swords in succession, their broken pieces raining down on either side of him and fading into nothingness.
Without wasting any time, Craig kicked off the ground and stabbed his spear toward me.
I didn"t dodge. Instead, I raised both hands. This time, I summoned Aquarius. Swinging the broadsword downward, I met Craig steely in the middle of the arena, the ground shattering beneath our feet from the impact. With a yell, I swung the blue broadsword with both hands, trying to force my opponent back with the ma.s.sive weight of Aquarius, but Craig was able to agilely jump back.
The spearman then retaliated with a quick strike, hoping to take advantage of my slowed movements – now that I was slowed down considerably by the Water Bearer"s greater weight – but I blocked his attack. The sharp spear left a crack in Aquarius"s blade, but because of his greater ma.s.s the broadsword still remained intact.
Not that I needed him to. Bellowing, I swung Aquarius down and unleashed a tidal wave that washed Craig away, sweeping him off his feet and tossing him several meters back. Gritting his teeth, Craig sliced through the mini-tsunami, cleaving the water apart and dispersing it into puddles of water in the arena.
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Growling, he struck at me with his spear, and this time he succeeded in shattering Aquarius. I ducked backward from the thrust of his spear and retaliated with a kick that he blocked with his forearm. He lashed out with both spear and hand, only for me to flip over and skid a good distance away. Correcting his stance, Craig got ready for a new attack.
But before he could, a stream of flames erupted between him and me.
"Too late." I smiled as Vermillion Phoenix rose from a colossal magical circle between us. "I"ve finally summoned my big guns."