The battle began to take its next phase as the Black Skulls began to lose momentum, their numbers dwindled and some had retreated. The bases were left undefended, giving Cian and the freedom of the other to move to the next.“Let's go! They're waiting for us!” Cian shouted as he ran ahead, followed by Vincent and Marina. “We were able to take care of the runaways. Where are the others?” Kurumi joined up with them as she was focused on the cleanup earlier. There was no chance that they were going to let Black Skulls regroup once more. Soon, everyone would reach the final base where a large barrier was. It was impossible to penetrate. “Tch! My Phantom Drive can't even go through.” Cian exclaimed as he stomped into the sand, frustrated that his skill didn't work.Not too long after, Kira and Evan would arrive on the scene, exhausted from running. Cian immediately came to them and helped Evan up as his feet twisted on themselves.“Ohoho... Thanks. I'm not good at keeping up with Miss
In no more than two hours, the barriers that had held the final base in began to break into pieces as they dissipate into the air. The winds of flame that rose to the sky had cleared the clouds, revealing the night sky. A heat wave would also slowly blast away as it poured out from the barrier, emitting a slightly hot temperature that traveled through the land. “The barrier broke! That means——?!” Cian exclaimed, looking at the others as their eyes create the same gaze. They all began to move in quickly as they could, past the barrier and into the bases that seemed to have caught on fire, but on the inside was but a large and deep crater that was dangerous to tread.“W-Whoa——!” Cian screamed, his feet barely stopping him from running into the chasm. “What the hell happened here?” Kira asked, looking for any signs of the Black Skulls. “There's... no one else down there,” Evan muttered as he focused his ability, Diagnosis, into the chasm and surrounding area. There were no other li
Amidst the battle against a normal contender in the Tournament that had finally opened up, Magi fought in the fifth match where his new ability was showcased.The host and people were shocked to see it as well but, for them, it was but a show to see, only putting aside those doubts for entertainment.Magi faced an opponent whose Grant was an Axe, boosted with rockets whenever they swung. Magi would only barely dodge the enemy's attack, while attempting to shoot right at his chest, only to realize that he had run out of bullets.“Hmm. I've run out of Ice Bullets, I'd have Kurumi make more tomorrow. This is quite inconvenient.” Magi hissed as he instead performed a back flip with one foot extended, knocking the opponent's head with a kick to the jaw.They were instantly knocked out, and without a dull moment on the ground, they shouted wildly as they celebrated his win once more.Despite him not being an Ice Magic user anymore, people still cheered his name as the Cold Mercenary, being
“I see. But why did you have to come here though? Isn't it good news for you guys? You can start bringing true order to the city of Newyark.” Teresa raised an eyebrow as she was still uncertain of Leonis' presence. He might have not known of the real reason for the people's migration from Newyark, but Teresa was almost certain that he could have guessed it easily. She was certain that it was just a front for something else that he needs. “Oh? I came here because... why not? I wanted to see my friends and borrow some money from the captain. I'm running out of funds, as you can see. I can't even afford my food right now!” Leonis would lean back as he placed a hand above his forehead, acting as if he was in distress with his dire financial situation. “If that's just it, then take this!” Cian kept on eating the other dishes as he swiped the air, sending something toward Leonis' digitalizer.The numbers on his digitalizer would go up from zero to half a million.“——Whoa?!”He fell back
Leaving out parts of conversations regarding Kira's insecurity about her age and marital status, Saeko's analysis of the report was finally done.“I-I've submitted it. We'll hear from the client soon when they see it.”The screen display of the consoles was still physical, using light to project color and create images. They were able to submit it by delivering the physical copy to their client using digitalization, a process in which a physical object is turned into readable data. They are usually done with documents and non-living things but if they do not have readable text, they only turn out to be a series of random characters.These digitalized objects are unable to be turned back into physical objects, unlike the present version of the digitalizer which is now widely used as storage.“But seriously, I might consider hiring this boy one day when you retire.” Kira casually placed her hand on Leonis's head, rubbing his hair all over. Leonis tried to get out of it, only to have hi
Under the light of the diffused blue light of the moon, the group began to walk home as they were finished with dinner. Cian was leading the way as he had both of his hands behind his head, casually taking huge, but slow steps as he waited for both Vincent and Saeko to catch up.“Woah. I couldn't believe Leonis had that kind of background. He must have admired his father.” Cian wondered, spinning around carefully as he traversed the street.“Well, he was indeed a weird one. He was always with us, but we barely even got to know him a lot. Kira had just trained him and went, creating a whole new team in Newyark. Though, he's putting real effort in.” Vincent raised his shoulders, gesturing his thoughts. He didn't know what Leonis was thinking, but he was certain that Leonis was successful in his ideas and missions, except financially, that is.“Now that I've noticed, why does he always seem to be broke? I mean, I and my brother had maintenance but, is it true that his Grant is very exp
The next day, Magi and the others were allowed to rest outside the Colosseum. Their matches were done as they neared the semi-finals of the second stage.Evan was defeated by a member of a Viper's Venom, which he was able to forfeit before he was injured worse. The only ones left in the competition were Kurumi, Magi, and Kira, to which almost all of the weak contestants were picked out, leaving only those with powerful and skillful combat prowess.“Hahaha, who could have thought that I'd be up against her.” Evan rubbed the back of his neck, laughing as he thought he had embarrassed himself by losing to a girl. “You absolutely stood no chance against her——” Kira immediately lays down the fact, casually saying it in front of the others. “Asa Narasu is a shapeshifter. But before that, she's a really flexible fighter. Fighting her is like fighting a snake. At least it's what I've been able to observe from her.” Sabrine began to share the details of her observation for the past week. T
Moving towards the next day, four days until the semi-finals of the tournament, Kira and her team were invited to an auction. With the Ranking Game in practice among those who use Grants, there was an auction being held that would sell Grants sold be those who are already wealthy or do not need them. There were more than two uses of a Grant would be if they were to be bought. First off was integration, to evolve a Grant, and second is for spare parts, to upgrade the Grant physically and add more features to the weapon.Ideally, some would integrate it into their Grant, but some would replace their old Grant with the new one, integrating the old into the new one with a chance of creating a much better Grant.However, the chances are not always with the user. The wealthy treats it like a game, but those who use it treat it like a wheel of destiny that would decide their fate in their next battle. Once their Grant becomes weak, so are they.*** “Does my outfit bother you?”“Err, not