51ST GEAR - OMNIPRESENCE IN THE LAND OF SWORDS
All of a sudden, everything became black and white. All the noise in the arena subsided, and everything and everyone was frozen. That popcorn from the audience that is about to fall off stayed in midair, those birds up in the sky that hovered indefinitely, and even the sweat on my chin that refused to drop. Time itself has frozen in place.
...Except Ericka, who seemed to have retained the colors of her body. She was heavily panting, and then she started to move.
I was only able to tell it because I have Mystic Glasses equipped. A normal human would not be able to spectate during this Time Freeze.
Ericka approached the frozen Vincent, and struck his back!
A magical circle point indicator manifested, but it was frozen in time. Not being contented, Ericka struck Vincent’s back again, and again, and again!
“Yaaaaaaah! Yayayayayah!” Ericka struck Vincent’s back over and over, and the stacks of blue magical circle point indicators manifested!
All of a sudden, the world retook its colors. The bird flying above has gone to the north, the popcorns of an audience dropped to the floor, and my sweat fell on the ground. Time has resumed its flow!
“What the!”
Vincent exclaimed as he saw his back stacked by multiple magical circle point indicators. Those magical circles burst out and repelled him away from the President of Ice!
“Gaaaaah!”
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Six points for Ericka, now in a massive lead of 7:3!
I never thought that scoring multiple times in a row was possible! Normally, the repelling effect prevents a Speedmage to do a strike combo. But since Ericka froze the time, the repelling effect was delayed until time resumed its flow!
“Heh! Not bad. You’re the second Speedmage that has ever struck me on the back.” Vincent wiped the sweat on his smiling face.
“Don’t… underestimate… the Merry Knights!” Ericka said. She was already gasping for air ever since the Time Freeze duration ran out.
I saw from my Mystic Glasses that Ericka’s Time Freeze spell burns a lot of mana. If I said a lot of mana, it means almost half of her total mana pool was spent just to get that blitzing six points. Her stamina is also almost empty, but it was a good move on Prez’s part.
“Gah… hah… hah…” Ericka panted as she tried to skate toward the opponent! “I’m not… finished yet!”
Vincent did a ninja seal, and then he teleported towards the 2nd Checkpoint Tower to evade Ericka’s sluggish strike. He touched the checkpoint almost immediately while panting.
Beep!
Point for Vincent, now at 7:4!
Both Speedmages seemed to be gasping for air. Ericka has exhausted her energy by freezing time, while Vincent was exhausted from being blitzed by those strikes during the Time Freeze. Since they are about 500 meters away from each other, they had a couple of seconds to rest.
“That was amazing, Prez! I mean, Useless Prez!” I cheered through the mic to lift her mood.
“How do you like that, Coach? That is my Time Freeze Blitz.” Ericka proudly clapped her chest. “Even The Teleporter can be helpless if I freeze time.”
“If you keep that up, we may be able to win!” I said.
“Maybe. But I can only cast one more of that spell right now. That is why I have to use the next Time Freeze Blitz at the right moment.” Ericka said.
“Stay on your tower and watch out for that teleporter sword. Once I give you the mark, count one, and then use Time Freeze again.” I said.
“Roger that, coach!” Ericka enthusiastically replied.
Stolen story; please report.
She must have regained her stamina a bit, but it will not be enough until she recovers the oxygen lost on her body. She has to rest as it strained all her bodily muscles just by using a spell that can stop time.
The small break time is over. Vincent teleported to the 3rd Checkpoint Tower and touched it. Ericka has no way of defending that tower so we just have to let the Speedmage Champion score the free point.
Beep!
Point for Vincent at 7:5!
There was a long-ranged staredown between Vincent and Ericka. They are five hundred meters away, but I can see from their glowing eyes that they are waiting for an opportunity. Vincent has no choice but to teleport to the 1st Tower to touch it. Ericka is just waiting for the Speedmage Champion to teleport to activate Time Freeze.
I saw a slight movement on Vincent’s arm as he is about to do a ninja seal!
“Now!” I immediately said through the mic.
“One!” Ericka counted out loud, and then she clasped her hands to burst freezing mana around her body. “Time Freeze!”
The moment Vincent teleported to the 1st Checkpoint Tower, time was immediately frozen.
Ericka, who is now gasping for air and drained of mana, went around the Speedmage Champion and made a series of strikes on his back!
One! Two! Three!
After three strikes, time resumed its flow! This Time Freeze Blitz lasted shorter than before!
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Three magical circle point indicators manifested and stacked on Vincent’s back!
Three points for Ericka, and the score is now 10:5!
“Graaaah!”
Vincent cried with a sharp voice as he was pushed toward the center of the Triangle because of the repelling effect of the magical circle point indicators.
“Gaaaah… haaaah… haaaaaaah…”
Meanwhile, Ericka was heavily gasping for air. She bent over and held her knees while she heaved over and over. At first, I thought she was going to puke, but she is too weak to be pressured right now. All her physical and magical strength has been drained completely. She’s not even activating her Ice Accel anymore.
“Coach… How much… time left?... haaaah…” Ericka muttered.
I looked at the magical jumbotron and replied almost immediately. “One minute left! Keep holding on!”
My heart is beating like a boombox. Ericka is on a massive lead, and this is the farthest we can ever go against the reigning Speedmage Champion. Prez just has to hang on for just a minute, and we can beat Vincent Shadowseek!
I looked at Vincent who seemed to have erased his smile. He has scrunched eyebrows, and his gleaming blue eyes glared at the drained Ericka. He slowly made a few steps forward, not activating his Photon Accel.
“Well done. You have pushed me this far, and you are the first one who has struck my back almost ten times. I acknowledge you… Ericka Azure!”
All of a sudden, fear mixed in the atmosphere. This sudden spike of mana inside Vincent Shadowseek is unreal. Combine it with the creepy crescent moon smile he just projected on his face, and his glowing blue eyes that could give an instant heart attack to anyone it looks into, and we have seen the true horror of a Speedmage Champion when he’s serious.
Vincent stomped on the ground, and the landscape changed. The Triangle turned into a barren land full of teleporter swords. In the skies, there are also floating teleporter swords that hover in the air. There are hundreds of thousands in them!
“An Alternate Reality Magic?” Ericka muttered.
Alternate Reality Magics are one of the most powerful spells that can be cast by a spellcaster. As the name implies, this type of magic terraforms a certain area, and it rewrites the reality within it using a different plane of existence. It is comparable to a divine creation spell used by the gods.
Vincent spread out his hand as he stepped on top of the hill of swords.
“This is my ultimate spell: The Land of Swords.”
Chills went down my spine as I gaze upon the Land of Swords. I can sense mana tracing from all those swords stuck on the ground, and even to the swords floating in the air! This means that he can teleport to every one of them!
“Rejoice, Merry Knights. You are worthy enough to see the Land of Swords. Only the world-class Speedmages were able to witness it in person and lived to tell the tale. You are about to see the true power of a Speedmage Champion.” Justine said with an assured smile.
My mouth was dry of response. I can only hope for luck as the threats of Justine drilled into my brain.
Thirty seconds left before the match ends. The score is still 10:5, in favor of Ericka. However, the scoreboard would soon change as Vincent once again made his move.
“I am… Omnipresent.”
Vincent teleported from one sword to another, in quick succession that he appeared to be making clones out of his speed. There were about thirty of them, spawning from different places all at the same time!
“Ice Accel!” Ericka used her last remaining juice to forcibly activate her speed spell. She is now beyond her limits, but she is giving it her 110% in this fight!
“Prez, circle the 1st Checkpoint Tower and never let him score a point!”
“Roger!” Prez said as she made a loop around the tower near her.
“Futile.” Vincent’s voice echoed. We can’t even pinpoint the source of his voice as he is everywhere!
All of a sudden, Vincent materialized right at the back of Ericka and struck it! A white magical circle point indicator manifested! Right after that, he vanished!
Beep!
Score for Vincent at 10:6!
“Ten seconds more, and we will win this fight!” I shouted. “Get away from there and forget about the Checkpoint Tower!”
“Got it!” Ericka nervously said as she ran in random directions.
Even though Ericka has left the 1st Checkpoint Tower, Vincent seemed to be uninterested in touching it. He just continues to appear and reappear in random places of the Triangle.
“Five seconds!” I shouted. “Hang in there!”
All of a sudden, the rate of Vincent teleporting all around the place increased. There are almost hundreds of them appearing and disappearing at the same time!
Three seconds left!
We, spectators, froze in terror as we heard an echoing voice a hundredfold. It almost seemed like a god spoke to this very arena.
“Omnidirectional Strike.”