F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 274: Bad Blood
Thousands of mouths snapped open, and brows furrowed.
At the centre of the arena’s main stage, a head was chopped off, red cubic particles trailing as the macabre evidence spun, vanishing into the winds before hitting the stone floor.
’Good counter!’ Daru praised inwardly, nodding appreciatively.
The crowd, however, was not so calm.
Cody, suddenly parking his foot and ducking the incoming slash before harvesting his foe’s head with a rising slash was a picture-perfect counterattack indeed — borne of a mix of focus, calmness, and boldness.
Solbrand could not even complain about his defeat, left gritting his teeth at the respawn point below the sides of the main stage.
He already knew losing his cool would only result in this exact moment.
Unfortunately, theories were useless if the application was incompetent, and Solbrand could admit that he had lost his cool, pressured into action by his opponent’s calmness and the thought of a slow defeat.
"V-Vulkhan bares his fangs and sinks it deep into Solbrand!! Has everyone been overlooking this A-ranker all this time?! Will he actually make the quarterfinals?!" Nathalie’s voice resounded in the arena, her passion further flaming the spectators’ excitement.
Their thunderous cheers, claps, and whistles sang a disorderly chorus of a glorious victory.
Has another competitor for the top eight, perhaps even the top four, emerged?
Are the already chaotic bets about to be thrown into further disarray?
After all, aside from the three S-rankers and the Sky Prince, the representatives predicted to make it to the top eight were those in the top ten among the tier-list of A-rankers in the forums.
The unassuming Cody Han was ranked nineteenth out of the thirty-three A-rankers...and Solbrand was eighth.
Yet, Solbrand didn’t seem to be a difficult challenge for him.
Does he actually have a chance to steal the spot reserved for Lucas Petrov? Suddenly, those who thought their bet was safe didn’t feel so secure anymore.
Only those who didn’t convert their money into risky tickets were able to enjoy the competition in its purest form.
Still, regardless of how delighted or sunk the spectators were, the show must go on, and they must stick with their tickets to whatever end it would bring them to.
A few less spicy battles passed, then Taiya secured his spot. Another few and Alopecion were in the top sixteen.
Of course, Skylar goes without saying. The Sky Prince had always defeated his opponent with a single move.
Would he be able to do this to the S-rankers, too? This was a popular question in the crowd.
After every few dozen slashes, a match concluded, and a spot was secured.
Keeping the Round of 32 exciting hadn’t been too difficult for Nathalie, thanks to so many interesting individuals, and with the less interesting ones eliminated, her job only got easier.
But there was just one problem.
Edelweiss hadn’t arrived yet, and she was down to one last battle — one that could end very quickly.
"Class 48’s Moonpiercer and Class 59’s Valthuzar, to the main stage, please."
Hearing the hostess’ announcement, Elune gulped.
She and her darned luck! She had been preparing herself since yesterday, but the mere thought of facing the hoodlum in battle made her quite uneasy.
’Calm down...it’s fine. It’s not like I’d really die if I lose, would I?’ Elune reminded herself. Based on the lessons she learned from Cody, she knew she would be headed straight for defeat like this.
She had to calm down.
Taking deep breaths, she ascended the stage. But the moment her eyes fell upon the ruthlessly grinning face of her opponent, her heart raced wildly again.
’No...No! Calm down, damn it!’ Elune cursed inwardly.
She really was not too fond of disagreements and grudges, so merely knowing that hoodlum in front of her both had a sword a tier higher than hers and bore a grudge against her made Elune cower.
She...really was not built for these kinds of matches.
’No...No...don’t think about unnecessary things. The battle...just focus on the battle, and there will be nothing to regret.’
Do her best — the thought finally calmed her down a bit.
No matter what happened, she just had to fight to the best of her abilities.
"Ah, I’m going to enjoy this, Elune Tseradze. So should you." Lucas taunted with a distasteful expression. He then turned to face Cody.
"I’ll be borrowing your chick for a bit, yeah? I’ll return her to you once I’m done with her."
The crowd burst into murmurs at the A-ranker’s vile words.
A sick few liked how Lucas worded things, although most were only interested in the relationship between the Dark Horse and the A-ranker, causing their "training time" to slowly leak out from a source, which was naturally Elune’s classmates.
Cody clenched his jaws and fists in fury.
Still, he wasn’t too worried.
"You’re a garbage human, Lucas Petrov. I wonder which guild would pick up someone like you? That would speak a lot about their nature, don’t you think? I can’t believe someone is so diabolically stupid as to look so proud after speaking like a filthy sexual offender." He snapped back.
The smile on Lucas’ face froze, soon replaced by sheer coldness.
"The academic year is almost over, Cody Han. I’ll see if you can still talk back a month or two later."
"Shut up and focus on your match, subordinate. No one’s scared of you."
The crowd erupted into pleased "oohs". They liked what they were seeing very much. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The two A-rankers locked eyes for a few moments before Lucas broke contact, shifting his attention to Elune instead.
The cruel coldness swirling in the depths of his oceanic eyes almost made Elune flinch again, but she suppressed the budding fear.
’Focus and fight with everything you got...’ she desperately reminded herself.
This was a good situation for honing focus, so Elune did try her very best to stay calm. Her heart wasn’t serene as she’d hoped.
But it will have to do.
At least she’s seeing her opponent and his sword clearly now, the noise slowly fading into the background.
"Begin!"
