Chapter 548
Chapter 548
There was no applause from the audience after the announcement of the winner. The reason lay in the humiliation that the citizens of Rosarrio felt along with the defeat of Elsa. Many felt sympathy and pity for the beautiful girl.
«Lady Valkyrie defeated Elsa, leaving her no chance… How monstrous are the geniuses of Saturn?» … «Yes, but if she is so strong, why not finish everything quickly, as Dick did with his opponents? Why did she mock her?» – people whispered, condemning Valkyrie’s methods.
Felix coughed dryly and explained: «Please don’t misunderstand my disciple. She simply saw the potential in the opponent and gave her a chance to prove herself. After all, you all came here for an interesting performance, not for the instant victories of the participants, right?»
Those present nodded tentatively in agreement with the archmaster.
Meanwhile, Stein received the empress’ mental order and descended into the arena. The long-haired, stocky blond seemed extremely tense.
The opponents stood opposite each other.
Torres’ total lack of interest in him puzzled Stein. Why did the girl inferior to him by 5 stages interest her more than he, the main hope of the empress?
~ding~
The signal for the start of the battle rang, and a protective barrier appeared.
Stein took out a heavy hammer and rushed to the attack. Every step he took was accompanied by a rumble. It seemed that if he hit this tiny girl, he would blow her head off!
«Can you do it faster?» – Valkyrie asked, crossing her arms over her chest and impatiently stamping her foot.
No one noticed anything, but “The eyes of truth” allowed Kyon to see the energy that the girl sends underground with each touch of her foot… By the time the opponent came within striking distance, she managed to stamp three times.
Stein growled in his throat and swung his hammer with amazing speed, but suddenly the energy of three full blows of Valkyrie burst out of the ground. The flow of energy rushed into the foot, which at that particular moment served as a fulcrum.
~crack~
Stein’s knee turned inside out with an unpleasant crunch. The big guy leaned sideways and collapsed. It took him a second to realize what had happened before the pain overwhelmed him and he roared like a bull wounded in the heart.
The audience gasped in amazement. Elsa opened her mouth. The twins shuddered. Even the empress frowned slightly. The imperial phaser at the 1st stage somehow broke the leg of the imperial phaser at the 7th stage without even budging!
«So I’m waiting for you, and you can’t even come to me?! Oh goddess, how worthless you are!» – Valkyrie’s ringing voice tickled his ears like a spring breeze, but her sarcastic words aimed at the weakest point struck with razor sharpness.
«A-AA-A-A-AAA-A-AA-A!» – enraged Stein screamed like a mad beast. Gritting his teeth, he leaned on his good leg, but another stream of energy burst out of the ground… The second knee was knocked out with a frighteningly loud click.
The pain-filled howl of the future patriarch of the Valentines evoked only sympathy. The elders of the family looked especially terrible: pale as death, as if their souls had been pulled out of them all at once. Their master is being mercilessly maimed…
«Please don’t yell like that! I have a ringing in my ears from your scream…» – Torres asked, covering her ears with her palms.
Gritting his teeth until they grated, Stein created a crust of rock around the broken legs to fix them in a straight position. With the element of the earth, he created an earthen wave under him, riding which he headed for the opponent.
~WOOF~
The hammer whistled at a tremendous speed very close to the girl’s head.
«I don’t want to fight a cripple… Would you give up?» – Valkyrie suggested with feigned peacefulness.
«I… WON’T LOSE… TO YOU!» – barked Stein.
~WOOF~ ~WOOF~ ~WOOF~
Torres easily parried several sweeping hammer attacks, each of which would undoubtedly break all her bones. Almost no one could see her movements. One might get the impression that the girl seems so dexterous only thanks to her skills as an archmaster, and Valentine, who has slowed down due to injuries, wielding a heavy hammer. However, in fact, the girl is very fast even without all these variables, in no way inferior to the enemy in speed, even with their solid difference in stages.
«That’s it, I’m tired of you.» – Torres muttered and, dodging another swing of the hammer, hit the opponent with the edge of her palm in the back of the head, simultaneously infusing the element of ether.
~BANG~
There was a deafening roar. A blinding lightning bolt, caused by the superior grade of ether and the amazing purity of the key, hit Valentine in the most vulnerable spot…
Stein’s eyes went out and he lost consciousness.
When it seemed to everyone that everything was over, the guy jumped up abruptly.
«UUAA-A-A-A-A-AAH! I WON’T LOSE!» – Stein roared and slammed his hammer down on the floor.
~BA-A-A-A-ANG~
An energy flash spread from the place of impact. He activated the Sphere of essence!
«How annoying you are… You can’t go against fate.» – the lady muttered and with a snap of her fingers sent a thick lightning bolt towards the opponent. The lightning shimmered with golden flashes due to the element of light.
Valentine tried to beat it off with his hand, but it went around the block and hit the young man right in the back of the head, because the girl had previously left a target mark there, into which the lightning flew.
~BANG~
Stein’s entire nervous system was strained to the limit. At this crucial moment, the Sphere of essence, which was about to take its final form, deformed and burst, because the mind of its creator was in chaos.
A wave of energy spread through the hall. Due to the destruction of the Sphere of essence, Valentine lost all elemental energy, becoming completely defenseless. He collapsed to the floor, but still did not give up. Fiercely burning his opponent with eyes full of hatred, he crawled to her in his arms, repeating over and over again: «I… Won’t… Lose…»
«Oh goddess, I can’t look at this!» … «Why does he want to defeat her so desperately?!» … «He continues to fight in order to defend the honor of his master… What a noble fellow!» – Stein’s will power won the hearts of people. He won the respect of almost every spectator in the stands, although he lost the fight. Still, Valkyrie is a gifted monster. Even a gap of 6 stages is not an obstacle for her.
Elsa was relieved: now she did not feel so insignificant, because she was defeated by such an intimidatingly talented opponent, for whom even Stein is not an opponent.
Felix nodded contentedly. What a good girl, she left a target mark for a lightning strike in the back of the head, as if she knew that the enemy would wake up and activate the Sphere of essence. This was the victory he expected from his direct disciple! The old man was almost glowing with pride.
Torres hung the annoying man crawling to her by the neck: {«You lost in front of her, like a helpless and insignificant weakling… She will never consider you a man… Accept your miserable fate of a beetle dreaming of a phoenix.»}
Stein shuddered at the bitch’s telepathic words. He shifted his gaze to the empress, and indeed, she was looking at him with barely perceptible disappointment… The guy’s heart was painfully squeezed, there was despair in his eyes, and he finally lost consciousness, and with it the belief that he would someday be able to win the respect of Lanatelle.
At that moment, Valkyrie closed her eyelids, as if reveling in the suffering of the poor fellow. After a moment, she opened her incomparable eyes, the color of which seemed to become even more saturated, and then she threw the guy away.
There was an eerie silence in the hall. Only Felix smiled and nodded to some of his thoughts.
When the protective barrier was removed, the Valentine elders quickly ran to their master and carried him to the infirmary, only shooting angry glances at the winner.
Valkyrie dusted off her palms and spoke with a confident smile: «Your Majesty, I have defeated all the senior disciples. Be kind enough to fulfill the conditions stipulated by us…»
«No, not all of them.» – Lanatelle replied dryly.
The fat man was slowly descending from the stands into the arena…
«Oh no…» – Valkyrie groaned. – «Do I have to fight this loser?»
Lanatelle pointedly remained silent.
The audience looked at each other excitedly. It turns out that only Baker can defeat Torres, thereby becoming a direct disciple of the empress and restoring her honor? But what are his chances, since even Stein lost? Zero!
Even Elsa, no matter how highly she appreciated Kyon’s strength, did not believe in his victory. However, she will undoubtedly be happy if he teaches the sidey a lesson.
Lovr entered the arena and stood in front of his sister. Inexplicably, just looking into her beautiful eyes made everything inside boil with rage. Yes, she offended Elsa and stole all his luck in infancy, but that’s no reason to hate her so much…
With the help of Synergy, Kyon found out that most of these emotions come from the soul: the previous owner of the body is angry with his sister! He thinks she ruined his whole life and killed his parents… Well, in a way he’s right.
Valkyrie, standing opposite the fat man, frowned disgustedly, as if she was being forced to crush a slug. Finally, she sighed dejectedly: «No problem, I’ll deal with him if that’s what you want. But don’t blame me if he accidentally gets injuries incompatible with life! Dealing with such an ugly bug, it is very difficult not to accidentally crush it…»
«If I’m a bug, what will you be if you lose to me?» – Kyon asked calmly.
«Oh, shut up! You weren’t asked!» – Torres snarled, grimacing in displeasure.
~ding~
As soon as the signal for the start of the battle rang, Valkyrie sent an air bullet into the enemy. The bullet’s power could be compared to an artillery shell. Then Valkyrie turned to the empress, as if already waiting for the fulfillment of the terms of the deal after an obvious victory.
However, after a moment, Torres turned around and furrowed her thin eyebrows in puzzlement: the fat man still stood still with his arms crossed, as if nothing had happened! Just now, he hit the bullet with the back of his hand, as if it was an annoying fly.
«Maybe you’ll give up? After all, I can not calculate the strength and inadvertently make your parents happy with the loss of their “beloved” son…» – Valkyrie quipped.
«Thank you, I will refuse. My real parents are already dead.»
«If you are in such a hurry to meet them, then you are always welcome!» – Torres hurled a thick purple lightning bolt at her opponent’s leg with a careless wave of her hand.
The discharge hit the target, but it didn’t even make his hair stand on end! It was like he didn’t notice anything at all.
This time Valkyrie launched the lightning in full force, as evidenced by a deafening crack, but the result was the same…
The audience knew about Baker’s strange ability to ignore fire, cold and lightning. But it turned out to be unexpected for them that even an attack of such a high level is nothing to him!
Felix chuckled thoughtfully. His eyes sparkled mysteriously.
Valkyrie felt something was wrong and launched an air bullet, already seriously intending to tear off the fat man’s left arm with it, but he still beat it off with the same ease with his palm.
«I’m tired of you!» – Torres said, stamping her foot.
Kyon’s eyes sparkled with excitement, and he jumped up sharply.
~BOOF~
A stream of energy burst out from the ground where he was standing a moment ago. It would have turned the leg of even the imperial phaser at the beginning stage into a bloody mess.
{What a wiseass…} – Kyon chuckled after reading the girl.
It is worth saying “thank you” to Lanatelle for sending him to fight last, thereby giving him the opportunity to gather useful information about the future enemy. For example, Valkyrie wields at least 6 combat fists! Sometimes her movements seemed strange, as if she knew in advance where the attack would come from… If Juno was able to read the intentions of the souls of her opponents, then Torres, apparently, simply relies on luck, which she has no problems with. But it remains to be seen.
Lovr also concluded that she knows the element of the earth, that is, she is a heavenly genius. Nothing less should have been expected from her. And he did it by analyzing her technique, with which she broke Stein’s knees. It works as follows: stomping on the ground, the girl sends all the impact energy (pure energy) to a pre-planned place, and thanks to her total luck, apparently, always hits the target.
The element of wind makes the sent energy so soundless that even the imperial phaser at the finishing stage is not able to hear it. The element of ether creates a shell that does not allow pure energy to dissipate along the way. The element of earth works as a conductor through solid matter. The element of light is used as a storage device: it is able to store the energy of at least three hits! For example, in a duel with Stein, Torres stamped three times, and struck once, but with tripled force.
The result is an extremely inconspicuous, sneaky and powerful technique that can take even someone who knows the principle of its operation by surprise. For its application, 5 elements are needed, therefore, the girl came up with it on her own! Commendable skill…
Valkyrie, realizing that the fat man had figured out her technique, became serious: «What is your name?»
«Baker, miss. Dick Baker.» – putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest, Kyon proudly declared.