When the first Cadet fell, the cheering from the crowd quieted slightly.
Anyone who had ever faced Rowan Vale Dusk in battle — or even witnessed him fight —knew he was one of the most terrifying combatants of the noble faction.
His ability to create illusionary clones that were indistinguishable from the real him was a nightmare to deal with for any opponent.
Yet, Samael effortlessly took him out.
He ignored Rowan’s illusions and allowed him to draw near.
And when Rowan’s surprise attack failed, Samael grabbed his arm and threw him in front of the rampaging Giaus.
Then he moved on to face Giaus himself.
Known as the Berserker, Giaus Vorant was a giant young man who had earned a fearsome reputation throughout the first-year batch despite being a commoner.
People feared facing him because the longer a fight dragged on, the more powerful he grew. It was widely believed that defeating him alone was impossible.
At least, that was the common belief until now.
…Until Samael knocked him down with such brutal efficiency that it was almost pitiful.
As soon as the giant young man collapsed, the training field fell silent.
Booing ceased, and jeering quieted.
For the first time since the match began, a haunting realization dawned upon the spectators…
Maybe, just maybe…
Samael might succeed.
He might win.
However, that silence was shattered in the next moment by the sharp sound of a deafening gunshot.
Samael, still on his knees with his hands pressed against the ground, flinched.
Before he could react, a bullet struck — not him, but one of the Cards hovering over his shoulders.
The Card that had aided him the most in this battle — «Steel Hide» — shattered into shimmering sparks that rained down like glowing snowflakes.
Samael’s eyes snapped up to the edge of the field, where a sharpshooter named Erwin Holt stood, his sniper rifle still raised and smoke curling from its barrel.
“Oh, come on!” Samael cried out in frustration, clearly devastated by the loss of one of his favorite Cards.
In battles like this, snipers posed a considerable threat.
Unlike brute fighters and melee combatants, sharpshooters could dictate the pace of the fight from a safe distance.
They could provide cover and force their targets to constantly remain on the move to avoid getting shot.
And surely enough, after destroying his defensive Card, Erwin locked his crosshairs on Samael.
“Tsk,” Samael clicked his tongue and used his innate power to erect a thick concrete wall in front of him, obstructing Erwin’s view and forcing him to reposition.
However, before he could catch even a second of respite, Samael noticed Leon charging up another lightning bolt to strike him down..
After Erwin the sharpshooter, Leon was one of the most troublesome Cadets on the field. And one of the strongest.
His innate ability to fire high-voltage plasma arcs made him a relentless force in long-range combat.
And now that Samael had no physical defense to shield his body, even a single thunderbolt could take him out of the fight.
He couldn’t afford to be hit by it. Not even once.
So by the time a crackling bolt of plasma surged toward him, Samael was already in motion.
He rolled sharply to the side as the electric blast seared past him, leaving the air electrically charged and buzzing.
A moment later, the ground where he had crouched exploded into a smoldering crater.
Leon clicked his tongue, already gathering another shot as tendrils of electricity snaked toward his fingertips.
Samael didn’t hesitate. In a fluid motion, he pushed off the ground and dashed forward at startling speed.
If there was one surefire way to deal with a ranged fighter—
It was to not give them space.
Fight them in close quarters.
And that was exactly what Samael was going to do.
Of course, Leon wasn’t going to let him close the distance that easily. He shot another bolt of lightning toward Samael.
But the golden-haired Ace had already reacted by jumping high and twisting his body mid-air.
The streak of electricity crackled past him, missing by mere inches. He caught the acrid scent of burnt ozone and felt the sharp heat singing his hair—
But aside from that, he was fine. He landed lightly on his feet and continued his forward dash, closing the gap.
Every ability had at least one weakness. A restriction.
Leon’s weakness was simple — after firing two or three consecutive lightning bolts, he had to wait ten to fifteen seconds before firing again.
And that was more than enough time to create an opening.
To capitalize on it, Samael summoned another one of his Cards — «Flame Arrow» — and in response, swirling orange flames coiled around his right hand, materializing into a blazing arrow.
Without breaking stride, he pulled his arm back and got ready to launch the arrow forward—
—Fwooosh!!
When all of a sudden, he sensed movement.
“…Huh?!” His gaze flicked to the side.
And he saw a lithe young woman right there, swinging a gleaming short blade straight for his throat.
Samael’s eyes widened. How did she get so close without him noticing?!
He never considered himself some peerless battle genius or anything, but he sure as hell had good spatial awareness.
Sneaking up on him without his notice shouldn’t have been possible.
But thankfully, after practicing Michael’s Essence Circulation Technique, not only had his body strengthened, but his reflexes had become razor-sharp as well.
So as the dagger arced toward him, the world seemed to slow down.
Samael dropped low just in the nick of time and let the blade slice right above his head.
Then, in the same motion, he rolled backward, pushed off the ground, and sprang several steps away, landing back to safety.
“What the hell?” He muttered, looking toward where the girl had been.
But she wasn’t there.
In fact, she was nowhere to be seen now.
Samael instantly realized what happened.
That young woman was Veyna Rosen. And her Origin Card — «Graceless Phantom» — allowed her to turn invisible as long as she stayed in the shadows.
“Argh…” Samael gritted his teeth as his eyes flicked ahead.
There was a long stretch of shadow between him and Leon, cast by the setting sun and one of the towering light posts of the arena.
Leon had positioned himself carefully just beyond that line of darkness — in which Veyna was lurking unseen, waiting for a chance to strike.
If Samael dared to cross that shadow, she would take him out.
That was why Leon had baited him into rushing in. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire
It was a good plan.
Unfortunately for them, Samael had dodged Veyna’s ambush.
As a result, the noble faction — and even much of the audience in the stands — fell into stunned silence.
Everyone understood one thing at that moment.
They had lost their best chance to take Samael cleanly out of the fight.
And that was going to cost them.
But Samael didn’t have time to relish their shock.
From his left, a broad-shouldered figure lunged at him with a massive mace swinging through the air. It was Doron Stormwatch.
Samael sidestepped just in time as the mace crashed into the ground, splintering the concrete beneath.
Then, from behind — another attacker rushed forward. It was a tall figure wielding a longsword. That was Calem Ardent.
The two of them unleashed a barrage of swings, slashes, and thrusts, their personal vendettas fueling their rage.
Samael quickly found a moment to encase his right hand in a thick concrete gauntlet. Then, he weaved between their attacks, evading or parrying every strike with masterful precision.
It was a blur of motion. He seemed to be always one step ahead, his gauntleted fist deflecting every blow he couldn’t dodge.
His technique was unrefined, but the display of his skills were pure masterclass.
Doron roared and swung his mace down in a brutal arc.
Samael veered to the side and threw a Fire Arrow.
The flaming projectile struck Doron’s chest and exploded on impact, sending him stumbling back a few steps.
Calem jumped on him from the left, but Samael’s foot snapped up, kicking him square in the face and knocking him back.
Doron, still groaning from the blast, whipped his mace toward Samael again.
But Samael stepped in close — too close for the mace to be effective — and drove his gauntleted fist into Doron’s jaw.
The noble staggered back one more time, too helpless to do anything as Samael pressed forward and landed a vicious punch to his throat.
Doron coughed violently and dropped down to one knee.
Calem tried to capitalize when Samael’s back was turned by thrusting a sword toward his exposed thigh.
But catching Samael off-guard seemed to be impossible today.
The golden-haired spun around Ace and batted Calem’s blade aside with his gauntleted hand before delivering a forward kick to the boy’s chest, sending him flying back.
Then, something strange happened.
A shimmering veil of green light enveloped both Doron and Calem and their bruises slowly faded, their wounds mending.
Samael’s scowl deepened. His gaze flicked toward Leon, then behind him.
Right behind the leader of the noble faction stood a short blonde girl. Her Origin Card glowed brightly above her head and her face was twisted in a grimace.
A healer.
Her name was Liora Glade.
Her ability allowed her to heal others by taking their pain onto herself. As long as they weren’t knocked out, she could keep healing them until she reached her own pain threshold.
Annoying.
So damn annoying!
Healers were the second-most frustrating enemies to deal with after long-range fighters on a battlefield.
And right now, she was healing both Doron and Calem — both the noble and commoner.
Apparently, both factions had decided to set aside their rivalry. They had now realized that the only way to take Samael down was to work together.
Smart.
But it was too late.
If they had done this from the start, maybe they would’ve had a chance.
Samael exhaled sharply and set his sights on Liora.
He was going to take out the healer first.
But before he could move, a large tentacle came speeding toward him, forcing him to move away as it crashed into the ground, carving a deep trench into the concrete.
Soon, a tentacle lashed at him. He ducked to avoid it.
But then a third tentacle came down from above, promoting him to roll out of the way before it could smash him flat.
Huffing, Samael snapped his gaze to the source.
Standing a few meters away was Reiner — the commoner faction leader.
His severed right-hand tentacle was still regrowing, but three new ones had sprouted — two from his back and one from his left arm.
“Not so arrogant now, are you, Golden Boy?!” Reiner sneered.
His tentacles cracked through the air like whips, slicing with terrifying speed and force.
Doron came in from the right, his mace raised high.
Calem darted in from the left, his longsword gleaming under the arena lights.
Both of them were now fully healed.
Samael twisted and wove between their attacks, keeping his movements sharp yet fluid.
A tentacle snapped toward his ribs. He barely ducked under it before Doron’s mace swung down.
He sidestepped, only to find Calem lunging forward with a blade aiming for his shoulder.
‘Damn it,’ he cursed in his mind.
Their coordination had drastically improved all of a sudden for some reason.
Well, Samael knew the reason.
It was another girl — Sylen Mordane, a commoner.
She was standing far away, subtly manipulating the battlefield, moving her allies like pieces on a chessboard.
Her ability allowed her to establish a telepathic link between willing targets.
Before, only the commoner faction had been benefiting from it. But now… the nobles were using it too.
And because of that, their synergy had suddenly skyrocketed.
They didn’t need to call out instructions. No words were necessary to know whom to cover, when to attack, or how to create an opening.
It was an incredible support ability.
And because of that, Reiner, Doron, and Calem were pushing Samael back.
He parried, dodged, and countered — but they weren’t giving him a moment to breathe.
Finally, Calem managed to force an opening by executing a wide horizontal slash and forcing Samael to take a step back.
But his foot landed just a bit too far.
And that brief misstep was a mistake.
One of Reiner’s tentacles slammed into Samael’s torso.
—Boom!
He was flung backward, crashing hard against the ground and rolling a few times before skidding to a stop.
Pain lanced through his ribs as he gasped for breath.
“Arghh…” Groaning, he forced himself to move, pushing up to his knees.
When he looked up, he saw Doron and Calem rushing toward him, weapons in hand.
Three of Reiner’s tentacles whipped toward him.
At the edge of the arena, Erwin had repositioned and lined up a clean shot.
Far in front, Leon was already aiming, preparing to launch another bolt of lightning as sparks of electricity lit up across his body.
It was… kind of a cinematic scene.
So many enemies.
One man on his knees.
Everyone thought he had lost.
Everyone thought this was the end of his reign as the Ace.
One of them — probably Reiner or Leon — was going to take him down.
…But all of them were wrong.
A defiant glint flashed in Samael’s eyes as he smirked and conjured another Flame Arrow — but this time, instead of throwing it at them…
He hurled it straight at the ground beneath him.
—Boom!
The arrow detonated on impact, kicking up a swirling cloud of dust, smoke, and debris that obscured everything in sight.
The crowd murmured in surprise.
Reiner narrowed his eyes but he didn’t stop his attack.
His tentacles lashed out and ravaged the entire area where Samael had been, the brutal impact displacing the air and blowing away the smoke.
But when the dust settled—
Samael was gone.
Confusion spread across the battlefield.
Even the audience in the stands whispered amongst themselves, craning their necks to see where the Ace had disappeared.
Reiner frowned. Then, his gaze flickered downward.
And that’s when he saw it — a deep crack in the ground.
All of a sudden, he realized something… but now it was too late.
Behind Leon, Liora Glade stood hunched over, panting from exhaustion, drained from healing her allies.
And behind her still, the earth split open.
—Thak!!
The crack widened, and the faint sound of earth rumbling made Liora’s breath hitch as she spun—
Only for a hand to clamp around her face.
Gasps rippled through the crowd as they turned to see Samael emerging from the crack in the ground and grabbing Liora’s skull in a firm grip.
Then, without hesitation—
He lifted her off her feet and slammed her down.
—Baaam!
The impact reverberated through the immediate area.
But before anyone could react, he yanked her head up one more time and slammed it down again.
Concrete cracked and Liora’s body went limp, a wound splitting open in her head as blood pooled under her.
The healer was out.
“Liora!” Leon’s panicked voice rang out.
He barely hesitated before pointing his finger at Samael, a bolt of lightning crackling to life—
But Samael had already moved.
The moment the lightning shot toward him, he sidestepped, then dashed forward.
Leon fired another bolt, but Samael dodged it again.
He wasn’t fast enough to outrun lightning. But he didn’t need to be.
He was fast enough to predict where Leon would aim.
He moved before the attack even came.
Leon’s eyes widened. Panic flashed across his face as he scrambled to summon a defensive Card—
But he was too slow.
Samael’s fist, still coated in a thick concrete gauntlet, crashed into Leon’s face with the force of a battering ram.
—Crack!
Leon’s jaw dislocated instantly.
His body flung backward and landed in a crumpled heap, unmoving.
And he wasn’t going to move again for a long time either.
The battlefield fell silent for a split second.
Then—
“What the…?”
“No way!”
“I-It couldn’t be!”
Shock spread through the spectators, as well as the remaining participants.
The leader of the commoner faction — one of the strongest Cadets on the battlefield — had fallen.
With two more down, that made four eliminated in total.
…Now six more to go.