Chapter 162: Black Feather vs. Reno

When the effect of Bai Shengye's potion wore off, the amplification plummeted, and the ice crystal castle collapsed and shattered. As lightning surged through the ruins, Bai Shengye instantly transformed the ice dragon behind him into an icy pillar, charging fiercely forward from beneath the phoenix.

The roaring onslaught of the ice dragon caught a confident Rena completely off guard. Her focus had been entirely locked on controlling the lightning phoenix to suppress Bai Shengye. Faced with the sudden blast of freezing cold, she raised a hand to summon a chain of lightning in defense, but it was to no avail, and she took a heavy blow.

Bai Shengye reached back toward his pouch again, only to find it empty. Moreover, the potion-induced enhancement his body could endure had reached its absolute limit; taking any more would yield no discernible effect.

"This is the final blow." Bai Shengye pointed his ice-blade sword straight at Rena.

He knew he might not be able to defeat Rena, but before exiting the stage, he had to deal her a severe wound.

The ice dragon shadow behind him turned into a phantom and plunged into the ice blade before him. Streaks of blue ice crystals swirled and merged into the weapon—this was Bai Shengye's remaining magic power, and also his most formidable technique, about to erupt.

"If I hadn't wanted to conserve my strength and held back at the start, someone like you would never have stood a chance of hurting me!"

Rena lifted her eyes with bitter resentment, pressing both hands against her bleeding wound. She had completely forgotten about conserving her strength, now driven almost entirely by the desire to kill the person before her.

"Roar, ice dragon!"

A phantom ice dragon surged forth from the tip of Bai Shengye's sword, carrying a ferociously biting gale as it charged unstoppably forward.

"Thunder Phoenix! Feather Storm Slaughter!"

Rena also unleashed her full strength in defense. Behind her, the golden phoenix spread its wings once more, then whipped them sharply forward, sending countless razor-sharp feathers flying that shattered into a sky full of lightning.

The two manifested giant beasts collided in the center of the arena. The ice dragon opened its jaws to bite, while the phoenix feathers pierced straight through.

After all, a gap in cultivation realms existed. Compared to the solid, intricately detailed feathers of the golden phoenix's manifestation, Bai Shengye's ice dragon manifestation looked hollow and ethereal, and it was quickly shattered.

The very instant the sky full of phoenix feathers was about to reach him, Bai Shengye decisively chose to leap backward, floating gracefully out of the arena and landing unscathed on the ground below.

Furious and exasperated, Rena had shattered the ice dragon manifestation, yet failed to inflict any damage on him. She deeply regretted not killing him the moment the match began.

"Damn it! Unforgivable!"

She cursed continuously, already panting heavily, her remaining magic power having plummeted to rock bottom.

Before the battle began, she had severely underestimated Bai Shengye's strength, so not only did she fail to gain any advantage, but she also suffered a heavy loss. Although Rena won, she felt no joy in her heart and stomped off the stage in a rage.

The announcer immediately proclaimed the match results.

"In the first duel, Rena of the Royal Magic Academy emerges victorious!"

The second match featured Yixin against a support-type light elf. There was no suspense; the opponent possessed very weak offensive skills, and even with speed buffs cast upon herself, she still could not evade Yixin's flames.

Although she demonstrated tenacity as an instant-recovery mage, once Yixin showed no mercy and shattered her protective barrier with "Blazing Inferno," she obediently conceded defeat.

After two rounds, though Holy City had lost Bai Shengye, the opposing side had also lost an on-site support unit.

Furthermore, Rena had suffered a significant depletion of magic power, making it difficult to recover her reserves on the battlefield. Thus, it appeared that Holy City held the upper hand.

As Yixin stepped down from the stage, everyone was quite satisfied with the opening. He said to his companions, "Brothers, keep this momentum going! We must take home the championship!"

In the subsequent match, Ling Meng faced an earth-type mage and was thoroughly suppressed by the earth walls erected by her opponent, leaving her powerless to counterattack and resulting in a crushing defeat.

However, since Ling Meng was primarily a support unit, no one blamed her, and they all vied to comfort her.

Unexpectedly, Shen Zaijguo faced an offensive-type light elf. They had originally assumed that as long as her defense was solid enough, victory was assured.

Yet, deprived of protection from her teammates, coupled with the blinding movement speed of the opposing offensive light elf, Shen Zaijguo's massive draconic form not only turned her into a giant target for arrows, but she also completely failed to track the light elf's movements, leaving her with no opportunity to counterattack.

Her opponent kept moving to wear her down, eventually exhausting Shen Zaijguo to the point of collapse. Once the dragon blood within her could no longer sustain the petrified dragon scales' defense, she released her transformed state, relying solely on her wings to fly and spin in mid-air. Although her target profile shrank, her defense plummeted as well. She barely managed to hold on for a short while before being struck down by a barrage of light arrows.

In the fifth match, Heiyu faced Leinuo.

This opponent had been chosen by Leinuo himself, driven by a playful mindset devoid of tactical planning, fueled purely by his interest in a non-elemental mage. Of course, this was all built upon his absolute confidence in winning the match.

Before Heiyu took the stage, the gazes of Yixin and the others all fell upon him.

He could tell that although Yixin hadn't voiced it, the look in his eyes clearly meant: "Shen Zaijguo and Ling Meng have lost two matches in a row; you must win, or else see how I'll deal with you!"

Heiyu said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, I'll definitely eliminate him for you."

The two of them stepped onto the stage. Leinuo wore an excited smile, wielding a shorter and slimmer magic wand, clearly favoring magic attack power and speed.

Heiyu stood motionless, intending to watch the developments unfold quietly.

The announcer declared the match underway, and Leinuo eagerly summoned heavenly lightning, intending to completely overwhelm Heiyu's momentum right from the start.

"Lightning Descent!"

Just like the technique Rena had used, this was an area-of-effect attack covering the entire arena.

Thousands of bolts of lightning raged down onto the ground. Without even lifting his seals, Heiyu was able to silently utilize the Demon's Eye, his toes lightly and flexibly tapping the ground as he merely tilted his body slightly, dodging effortlessly amidst the lightning.

Compared to Leinuo's attack, Leizhu's strikes back then were vastly superior.

"Interesting..." Leinuo grew even more excited, gathering a ball of lightning in his right hand as he sprinted forward at high speed.

By the time Leinuo closed the distance and his right palm neared Heiyu's abdomen, the past and present scenes overlapped in Heiyu's mind. His brow furrowed suddenly, and an inexplicable sense of disgust rose within him.

Back then, Leizhu's attack had struck him directly in the abdomen, moving with a speed that left him no room to react at all. But Leinuo was different.

"Too weak," Heiyu said, his pitch-black eyes resembling deep pools.

Hearing these words, Leinuo gritted his teeth in displeasure, launching an attack that was both swift and ruthless. Yet Heiyu simply grabbed his wrist, twisted it backward, and a crisp snap of breaking bone echoed through the air.

Leinuo was utterly shocked. He had not expected Heiyu to employ such a counter-intuitive combat style, and his barehanded physical strength was terrifyingly immense!

He raised his head in panic, locking eyes with Heiyu's cold gaze. It felt as though he were being sucked into a pair of bottomless black holes, striking a chilling fear into his heart akin to being watched by a demon.