Destroyer of Ice and Fire

Ayrin and Ferguillo stood still, facing each other in the field. The entire arena quieted down once again.

"Evil Flaming Eye!"

The spectators had the feeling they weren't ready to watch the fight yet when Ayrin used the Evil Flaming Eye all of a sudden.

A strange devilish Evil Flaming Eye streaked across the air like a meteor.

But what made everyone in the stands stare blankly was, Ayrin shot this Evil Flaming Eye a full five to six meters in the air on Ferguillo's left. Ferguillo stood where he had been standing without moving an inch.

This was really a little too excessive to talk about a bad aim.

"You can see through it even like this?" Ayrin said in a dispirited voice.

"So it turns out that when you were fighting Wilde, you also fired that Evil Flaming Eye at random," Ferguillo said in his faint voice.

Ayrin nodded. "That's right. I was against the wall anyway, so I thought he would be attacking me either from the left or from the right, and I just fired blindly. I didn't expect it to hit its mark at random, and I didn't think he would be able to block my strike either, and even take the opportunity to use that arcane skill to restrain me."

"What, the Evil Flaming Eye he shot at Wilde at the beginning was actually total guesswork?"

"I've never seen someone act so reckless!"

The stands went into an instant uproar. Many people who had no idea how Ayrin latched onto the flashing Wilde's position at the beginning became even more speechless.

Many people even started to sympathize with Wilde. Even a random strike actually happened to hit him dead on.

"Haha!" After staring blankly for a moment, some girls from Agate Lake Academy hugged their bellies and started laughing, without the slightest style of a prim and proper lady. "Ayrin can actually act so randomly, he's too adorable."

"You can really see through the thoughts deep in your opponents' hearts, and can even see through their next actions?" At this time, Ayrin actually couldn't resist looking at Ferguillo's pink eye, saying confusedly, "But, I didn't even think just now, I just casually used a random attack. It doesn't work even like that?"

Ferguillo looked at Ayrin and shook his head. "That's useless. You might believe you weren't thinking, but you were actually still thinking."

"Could it be you're not merely judging from the minute movements of the body and the flow of arcane particles. You can really penetrate to the layer of consciousness?" Ayrin looked blankly at Ferguillo. "You already sense it at the same time the opponent's consciousness commands his body, without any delay?"

Ferguillo looked at him. He didn't say anything. He didn't deny either.

Ayrin took a deep breath in. He looked at Ferguillo and said, "Let me try one last time!" Then he directly closed his eyes and rushed in Ferguillo's direction.

Ferguillo's body flashed, and disappeared from where he stood.

Just at this moment, Ayrin's body started spinning violently.

"Swosh!"

An Evil Flaming Eye flew out all of a sudden.

Ferguillo's silhouette just reappeared beside Ayrin when he suddenly saw an Evil Flaming Eye fly in his direction.

He frowned faintly. He stretched out both his hands, a pink luster flashing in his palms.

The Evil Flaming Eye crashed against this pink luster, producing a light muffled sound.

He borrowed the impact from the Evil Flaming Eye and flew backwards, light as a feather, holding the Evil Flaming Eye in front of his palm all along. The eye slowly vanished.

"It hit?"

Ayrin opened his eyes at this time. He looked dizzy, yet he shouted in a loud excited tone at the same time, "I spun until I got dizzy myself, I couldn't even tell north from south, I had no idea where I was firing at, but I actually landed a blind hit!"

"What!"

"Another blind strike? What kind of rubbish luck is that, his blind shot struck true just like that?"

Many people in the stands were wondering how Ayrin managed to latch onto Ferguillo's position even after he closed his eyes and spun around until he got dizzy. They almost fell down head first when they heard Ayrin's excited shout.

"His fighting intuition is really very strong." At the same time the stands went into an uproar, in team Iron Forest's rest area, the team-leading teacher Lee couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "He was indeed messing around, but at least he pointed out to some people a way to break Ferguillo's Mind Reading… He's clearly someone new who didn't go through all that much special training, he's merely relying on his body's own abilities to fight. So why does he have such a formidable fighting intuition, just like many people living and struggling at the edge of death?"

"He pointed out a way to break Mind Reading?" The other members of team Iron Forest became tense all of a sudden.

"Indeed." Lee nodded. "Ferguillo's arcane skill can directly perceive the activities of his opponent's nerves and consciousness. It's as if he can clearly see the activities inside his opponent's body even in absolute darkness. Almost all sight-cutting skills or darkness-type arcane skills are useless. But if you sealed your consciousness and perception at the same time, if you can use an arcane skill that severs consciousness on both sides, making you entirely unable to sense the outside world, as if you were genuinely deaf and blind and could only fight at close range by relying on your sense of touch, then both sides would be on the same starting line. His arcane skill wouldn't afford him any superiority to speak of then."

"…" The members of team Iron Forest seemed to feel their hearts tighten. "Why doesn't the captain dispatch Ayrin immediately, why did he give Ayrin an opportunity to probe him."

"Because of his pride, his absolute confidence in his victory. Let's just say it's a warm-up. There's also his respect for the opponent." Lee smiled faintly. "It seems Ferguillo sees this guy as a friend worthy of respect."

"I don't have the strength to fight anymore. You'd probably knock me out in a single strike now." Ayrin said at this time, "Ferguillo, I concede. I'll definitely beat you in the future though."

Hearing him conceding defeat, seeing him trembling from head toe because of his excessive exhaustion, Ferguillo nodded and said in a faint tone, just as he usually did when faced with some challenges, "I'm waiting for you."

But when Ayrin panted, then turned around and walked towards the edge of the field, he once again added in a whisper, "Do your best."

Hearing Ferguillo's words, the utterly exhausted Ayrin seemed to gain a little strength again. He shouted loudly at Chris about to enter the field, at everyone, "Brave warriors, everyone has to do their best!"

"Ayrin, thank you."

Chris welcomed Ayrin with a light hug, then told him in a serious tone, "We can enter the national tournament now."

"Amazing Girl, are you confident in your victory?" Ayrin scratched his head, a little embarrassed, "What are you thanking me for, it's my dream as well."

"What, it's directly Chris' turn to fight for Holy Dawn Academy?"

"Amazing Girl Chris is actually coming out in third position already? The confrontation between Chris and Ferguillo is going to happen straight away?"

Shouts and exclamations instantly filled the whole stands.

"Chris actually hugged Ayrin?"

"Isn't she a crazy girl who only knows to train? Why is she doing something so warm and gentle?"

"What does it mean? Does she want to snatch Ayrin away from Charlotte?"

"Charlotte is in a really tight spot, the distance will create a gap between them."

Many such voices also came from the stands at the same time.

Charlotte, the protagonist of these surprised voices, lowered her head with utter innocence, her face as red as a totally ripe apple.

..

Chris against Ferguillo, this was definitely a peak confrontation in St. Lauren.

Chris, Ferguillo, as well as the mysterious Ivan. Those were publicly recognized as the strongest three persons among all the academies in St. Lauren.

The intrinsic qualities of Chris' body and her fighting intuition were strong enough to make someone's hair stand on end. Many arcane masters, even with one more open gate than her, weren't her match at all. Especially since she learned this year one of the strongest secret skills in Holy Dawn Academy, Dark Destruction Dragon!

As to Ferguillo, even though the vast majority of people were unaware that he successfully trained the unique Mind Reading this year, everyone could still tell that he was considerably more formidable compared to last year.

"You are very fortunate this year to have so many strong teammates fighting at your side. This strengthens my belief that effort and perseverance will always end up rewarded." Watching Chris coming in front of him, the usually taciturn Ferguillo actually took the initiative to say, "That said, I don't hope for you to use Dark Destruction Dragon in this fight."

"Why?" Chris looked at him, a little puzzled.

"No matter which team qualifies, it will very quickly have to face even stronger teams in the national tournament, even stronger opponents." Ferguillo faintly told her, "With your current body and arcane level, you're bound to suffer serious harm using a taboo skill like Dark Destruction Dragon. You'd certainly miss the next match. Also, if you can't break my Mind Reading, there isn't much meaning either in using Dark Destruction Dragon. At most, we'd both suffer."

"I wasn't planning to use Dark Destruction Dragon anyway." Chris' smile brimmed with self-confidence as she said, "I understand your meaning, what you want is… for us to determine the victor while avoiding heavy injuries as much as possible?"

Ferguillo nodded. He directly said, "Each of us seals two arcane gates away, how about it?"

"A very good proposal. Everyone will decrease the power of their arcane skills manyfold. It'll decrease the harm on the opponent this way, but it won't prevent us from determining who's really the stronger one." Chris nodded, also very straightforward.

"What are Ferguillo and Chris doing?"

Many people in the stands suddenly noticed two balls of light flaring on both Chris and Ferguillo's bodies, then quickly receding.

"Seal two arcane gates each, to reduce their arcane skills' destructiveness?"

In the stands, Rinsyi exposed a little cold, mocking smile. "They actually harbor ambitions about the national tournament with teams like these. No matter what, it's simply ridiculous struggling, all to no avail."

"Alright."

In the center of the field, Chris and Ferguillo both gestured at the referee that they were ready.

"Chris against Ferguillo, begin!"

Along the referee's clear and resonant voice, the strongest battle in St. Lauren finally began!