Book 14: The Finals!
Chapter 123.1: Dark Phoenix Transformation!
This Cla.s.s 6 soul tool that Ma Rulong had just used was strong in the sense that, once Ma Xiaotao touched it, she would be stuck to it like a housefly in a spider"s web. Immediately afterwards, the lightning energy contained within would envelop her entire body. When that happened, Ma Xiaotao would have to deal with the might of their attack. Although it couldn"t truly harm her, it would be able to buy sufficient time for her to be subjected to their immense firepower while she was trapped.
However, they didn"t expect Ma Xiaotao to stop the moment the lightning screen appeared. She stopped extremely quickly, and her sixth soul ring lit up.
"d.a.m.n it, the Phoenix Meteor Shower." Ma Rulong cursed to himself, his expression changing drastically.
Was Ma Xiaotao"s sixth soul skill so easily resisted? That lightning trap had become her defensive barrier instead.
The golden barrel that had given Team Shrek a lot of trouble appeared once again at this moment. Ma Rulong squinted his eyes as he aimed the golden barrel towards Ma Xiaotao.
Whenever Ma Xiaotao unleashed the Phoenix Meteor Shower, any movement she made would greatly affect its power. Ma Rulong had Xiao Xiafeng to defend him, thus he wouldn"t suffer too much if he were struck by the Phoenix Meteor Shower a few times. On the contrary, Ma Xiaotao would be the one in deep trouble if she was struck by his attack. Ma Rulong"s reaction was both quick and appropriate.
However, the Phoenix Meteor Shower didn"t strike when he expected it to. When the golden barrel appeared in Ma Rulong"s hand, Ma Xiaotao suddenly stepped backwards and punched out with her right fist. A ball of fire was sent towards the lightning barrier in front of her.
The lightning immediately engulfed the ball of fire, then blew apart. Ma Xiaotao"s figure turned illusory when this happened.
On closer inspection, her flaming wings were flapping rapidly behind her back. It was due to this flapping motion that she managed to rapidly change her position in the air. She even left a series of shadows behind her that s.h.i.+mmered as she continued to advance forward. Ma Rulong realized, to his horror, that he couldn"t lock onto her exact position.
What ability was she using? It was obvious that she wasn"t using a soul skill, as her body wasn"t s.h.i.+ning with any soul rings. This was obviously a secret technique suitable for soul masters.
Even though both parties had yet to truly clash with one another, they"d already displayed what they were capable of.
It was also at this point that superiority in numbers began to show its worth: Xiao Xiafeng"s soul tool fort was finally completed.
Waves and waves of light were rapidly unleashed. Light b.a.l.l.s, light rays, and even metal b.a.l.l.s that rose into the air and drew parabolas were unleashed.
The immense firepower of his soul tool fort was instantly unleashed.
Ma Rulong had been waiting for this opportunity. He clasped both of his hands in front of him, and a ball of intense, golden light shone as one of his soul rings started to flash repeatedly. His aura ballooned, while the golden barrel disappeared and was replaced with a huge, golden-red sword.
Was it a close-combat soul tool? Had Ma Rulong given up his long-range offensive capabilities for a close-combat soul tool?
This was the first time the sword had appeared in the tournament. Ma Rulong had also concealed his trump card, and was only using it now.
The offensive might of a soul engineer when they unleashed everything they had was extremely formidable. Ma Xiaotao tried her best to dodge, but Xiao Xiafeng depleted his soul power in order to increase the offensiveness of his various soul tools, which left her frantic.
Team Sun Moon was much stronger in terms of applying soul tool forts compared to other ordinary soul engineering academies.
Xiao Xiafeng"s attack was holistic. There were automatic explosions, intense rays… even trapping-type soul tools involved.
The entire compet.i.tion stage seemed to light up with dazzling lights. It was impossible for Ma Xiaotao to dodge all of his attacks, thus she could only face them head-on.
Ma Xiaotao was more powerful than Dai Yueheng, but her body wasn"t as tough as his.
She used her wings as her s.h.i.+eld, and exerted all of her soul power to resist the wave after wave of Xiao Xiafeng"s relentless attack.
Even though Ma Xiaotao wasn"t a soul engineer, she was rather familiar with the strategies that they used. Xiao Xiafeng"s soul power was bound be depleted extremely quickly if he kept this up, as he was only a Cla.s.s 5 soul engineer, yet he was trying to suppress a soul emperor. His attacks couldn"t last long at this rate. Xiao Xiafeng would become less and less useful to Ma Rulong as his intensity dipped, .
Ma Xiaotao was the calmest at the most critical moments. She carefully observed Ma Rulong actions while she was resisting Xiao Xiafeng"s attacks. Xiao Xiafeng was, without a doubt, aiding Ma Rulong. Ma Rulong"s attacks were much more threatening towards Ma Xiaotao because of this.
Ma Rulong suddenly grabbed the golden sword"s hilt with both of his hands and slowly lifted it, intense golden light s.h.i.+ning from the sword"s body as he did so. Nine core formations could be seen extending from the sword tip down to the hilt. Streaks and streaks of light shot into the air as the intense golden light shone. Ma Rulong lifted the sword far above his head, his pupils slowly starting to turn golden.
"Awaken, Judgement Sword!" Ma Rulong shouted, injecting his soul power into the huge sword at a frightening speed. A white halo could be seen rising from his feet because he was injecting his soul power into the sword so intensely. As the halo moved round his entire body, it eventually reached his hands, then entered the sword.
The sword also started to experience changes: The golden light on the hilt retracted, while the sword gradually turned two different colors. One side of the sword turned white, while the other side turned black. The two contrasting colors exuded an odd sense amidst the golden light that flashed.
"Ordained as darkness, guilty of heresy." Ma Rulong grabbed the huge sword with both his hands, then pointed the black side of the blade in Ma Xiaotao"s direction.
A streak of black radiance flashed through the air, then suddenly disappeared.
Ma Xiaotao"s entire body raged with flames. However, when the black radiance reached her, all of her defenses failed. The black radiance simply flashed as it entered her body.
Ma Xiaotao immediately felt her body turning abnormal. Her crimson-red phoenix flames instantly turned black and dark and chilly sense filled her entire body. The evil energy that had been suppressed immediately rampaged through her body and combined with the black phoenix flames. She was about to lose control.
What soul tool is this? Ma Xiaotao was appalled. It was her first time experiencing something as strange as this. This soul tool attack couldn"t be defended against?
It was also at this point that Ma Rulong flipped the huge sword over. The white side then emitted an intense white color and shone with an extremely bright white radiance. The surging aura of light instantly filled the entire venue.
Ma Xiaotao groaned in pain as the black phoenix flames on her body turned into a haze; she felt as if she was going to be decomposed by the light. The phoenix flames in her body started to flood out of her.
Ma Rulong appeared very pleased. The scheme that he"d plotted had finally succeeded.
He"d once mentioned in his compet.i.tion against Jiang Peng that a soul engineer was the most familiar with his own self. That was why all of his soul tools were self-developed. He hadn"t said it for Jiang Peng, however. He"d said it for Shrek Academy.
In reality, the Judgement Sword couldn"t have been created by him, as it was a Cla.s.s 8 close-combat soul tool. In fact, it was one of the best Cla.s.s 8 soul tools.
The Judgement Sword combined both light and darkness. It could infuse the power of darkness into the enemy"s soul and cause the enemy to turn dark uncontrollably. At the same time, it could use the immense power of light to then judge the enemy. If the enemy was weaker, his soul power would be instantly degraded. It could even be completely destroyed under the aura of light.
Ma Rulong was still only a Cla.s.s 6 soul engineer however. He"d had to pay a huge price in order to use this Cla.s.s 8 soul tool. What Ma Xiaotao couldn"t see was that a blood-red core formation was currently s.h.i.+ning behind Ma Rulong"s back, intense blood-red flames burning from it.
That was the power of a Cla.s.s 7 soul tool, which was known as the Sacrificial Seal. Ma Rulong had sacrificed his own life energy and potential to instantly increase his physical and soul power. This was needed to support the Judgement Sword. Of course, he still couldn"t last long. But he only needed to defeat Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Rulong knew that even if he and Xiao Xiafeng lost to Ma Xiaotao, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen would still be able to emerge victorious. But he was just like Dai Yueheng: He wanted to be the one to decide victory. Furthermore, he was their team leader.
That was why he"d paid the price necessary to unleash the Judgement Sword from the Ill.u.s.trious Virtue Hall.
This Judgement Sword was useless against only an opponent with a light-type or darkness-type martial soul. However, Ma Xiaotao didn"t have either of these. Her martial soul was a fire-type.
Ma Rulong felt that the price he"d paid was worth it when he heard Ma Xiaotao groaning in pain. An indescribable satisfaction filled his entire body; he was about to take revenge for his team members that had perished at her hands.
His determination to win reached its peak. Ma Rulong suddenly stepped forward and lifted his Judgement Sword, then swung it towards Ma Xiaotao yet again.
Ma Xiaotao was also experiencing weird changes as well as several emotional changes.
Her phoenix flames turned entirely black as her Evil Phoenix Fire surged out from her body, guided by the dark power. The Evil Phoenix Fire that had been suppressed by the Ultimate Ice had instantly been unleashed and turned into dark flames, which were raging and surging throughout her body.