432 Chapter 432: Last Stand

Coughing, I staggered out of the dense smoke, my body smoldering. Fragments of frost rained down around me, the remnants of my once great Snow Aegis disintegrating from the blast. Opposite me, Charles held his sword up before rushing forward.

"!!!"

I just barely managed to parry the holy sword in time, only to be knocked off my feet. Rolling away, I thrust Hei Yue up, but Charles deflected it before throwing a riposte that I just barely managed to parry with Bai Ri. Gritting my teeth, I swung both of my swords in a desperate counterattack to force Charles back, but the King of Knights easily blocked them before retailiating with his holy sword. Crossing my swords, I blocked the damned weapon, only for the ground to crumble beneath my feet and knee. With a grunt, I shoved Charles back with brute force, slightly catching him by surprise, but he whirled around and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying.

"Ugh!"

Tumbling over, I somehow managed to flip myself up and land on my feet. Even so, my momentum caused me to skid several meters back. Charles didn't wait for me to regain my balance. He was already upon me, his sword cleaving through the space where my head had been a millisecond ago. If I hadn't duck down on instinct, I would have been beheaded by that move.

"That was dangerous…"

Heaving, I parried another blow from Charles before being knocked over by a particularly vicious swing. Cursing, I withdrew as best as I could, but Charles continued to pursue me.

"Capricorn!"

With my major Constellation spirits obliterated, there wasn't much else I could rely on right now. As Charles turned to cleave my giant goat apart, I conjured a storm of petals, once again relying on my chibi Green Dragon, and cut him into shreds. The holy sword wielder staggered from the blow as the razor leaves and sharp petals washed over him, but he then blasted them apart with holy lightning. While the scorched petals drifted uselessly about his crackling form, I poured more mana into Green Dragon and had him return to his original form.

The gigantic dragon reared above Charles before conjuring another blizzard of flowers, vines and leaves. Wooden trunks grew rampantly, turning the arena into a mini-forest, but Charles chopped all of them down with a swing of his holy sword, all the while keeping the flowers, vines and leaves at bay with his defensive lightning.

The guy was insane. No matter what I threw at him, he would just counter it accordingly, making full use of his peerless swordsmanship and tremendous magical power. I understood why he was known as the strongest Servant…ahem, I meant swordsman. The best all-rounder, with the highest stats and incredible ability.

There was nothing I could do. Nothing at all.

"?!"

A golden blast of mana seared through the maelstrom of petals and leaves and slammed into Green Dragon, bowling the great Celestial Guardian over. As Green Dragon rolled about, Charles cut his way out of the tangle of vines and flowers, his holy sword glowing fiercely like a beacon. He then sent another surge of golden mana in my direction, but I summoned Scutum Sobiescianum to block the lesser Excalibur blast.

Even so, the reduced version was still a formidable anti-fortress spell that tore through my Constellation shield. Thankfully, the decreased output of destructive mana – most of which had been absorbed by my shattered shield – meant that I wasn't heavily injured by whatever remained of the spell that managed to get past my defense. While I righted myself, Charles threw himself forward to finish me off, but Green Dragon's tail whipped out and caught him, hurling his battered body against the wall. The blow didn't just pulverize concrete – I could see the cracks and chips in his slowly disintegrating armor.

Charles was not invincible. He was human, just like me. He could bleed too. There might just be a chance of victory…!

"Golden Kirin!"

The fifth and central Celestial Guardian materialized beside me, galloping alongside me. While Charles sprang off from the wall and engaged my Green Dragon once more, Golden Kirin and I attacked from the flanks.

"!!"

Charles whirled around to cleave apart a series of earth spikes that shot out in his direction, and then returned to parrying Green Dragon's claws. Making use of his smaller size and greater agility, he jumped from place to place, evading the verdant Celestial Guardian's claws and tail, while countering with his own powerful strikes.

Holy lightning detonated between them, causing Green Dragon to stagger back. While Charles was hurled back, Golden Kirin sought to take advantage of the situation, only for the King of Knights to behead him as he lashed out with his claws.

"!!"

And just like that, one of my Celestial Guardians fell.

"Did you forget that one of my abilities is Giant Beast Hunting?" Charles scoffed as he spun about to hack at Green Dragon's approaching claw. Holy lightning blasted out, keeping the dragon back, and Charles landed on the ground, skidding back. "My skills completely counter yours."

"That's what they all say," I grumbled as I struck out with my swords. He parried them, ducked under my follow-up strike, and then kicked me. While I stumbled back, Green Dragon's paw crashed down on his position, but he managed to deflect it and withdraw.

"Even so, despite my skills countering yours, you still managed to put up a good fight. I'll say this much – you're among the strongest opponents I've ever faced."

"Ditto."

More vines whipped out to ensnare him, but Charles easily deflected them. A brilliant blast of golden mana surged upward and annihilated the entire overgrowth in a single strike. His sword glowing brightly, he unleashed another Excalibur at near pointblank range. Green Dragon wasn't able to dodge at this distance and he was disintegrated by the spell near instantly, even though this was a lesser Excalibur that did not have the necessary Restrictions of the Round Table lifted.

"Guh!"

I fell back several meters, realizing that this was a very dire situation for me. None of my summoning spells were going to work. Whatever Constellation spirit I summoned, he would be able to easily slay thanks to that overpowered Giant Beast Hunting skill that he possessed. It was checkmate for me, no matter how I looked at it.

Or was it?

Another strike from Charles blew me back, the lightning searing through the arena. I hopped backward and sheathed my swords. Instead, I summoned Orion and let loose a volley of arrows, keeping him at bay. Even Charles wasn't able to handle the bombardment, and he sliced through the arrows as best as he could, his holy sword scything down a good number of them. Despite his best efforts, several of my arrows managed to graze him.

"!!!"

Glancing around, Charles realized that I was gone. Then he glanced upward and spotted me sailing through the air above, taking aim. Raising his sword, he readied himself for another onslaught, but he was too late.

"Betelgeuse!"

A rain of arrows plummeted down upon Charles's position with the force of multiple meteorites, pockmarking the ground with craters. Even as Charles fended off as many as he could with his holy sword, the sheer volume of countless arrows overwhelmed him and engulfed him in tremendous explosions.

"?!"

However, amidst the bluish-white explosions and hail of azure arrows, a brilliant beacon of golden light flashed forth. I instinctively threw myself to the side before a sudden burst of Charles's restricted Excalibur could obliterate me. Rolling on the ground, I got to my knees and unleashed another hail of azure arrows, but the smoldering form of Charles deflected them. Heaving, he slowly approached me, smoke pouring off his body, and golden mana shimmering around his sword again.

"Damn it!"

If I kept the battle at long range, it might actually be to my disadvantage. Cursing, I began running to the side while maintaining a constant hail of arrows, but Charles continued to blast a second Excalibur at me. Since this was the restricted version, it didn't need as much mana as the full-powered one he unleashed upon my Draco, but that was of scant comfort. Even a restricted version was more than enough to erase my existence if I took a direct hit from him.

"Aries!"

My Constellation spirit appeared behind Charles and rammed him, knocking him off his feet. Charles somehow managed to twist around and cleave the charging Aries before he was floored, but that was all I needed.

Skidding to a stop, I paused and took aim, finishing my spell. An azure arrow appeared in my hand, blazing brightly like a supergiant star, and I fitted it to my bow. Pulling it back, I unleashed Rigel upon the sprawled Charles before he could get up and dodge. Grunting, the King of Knights managed to bring his Excalibur up and deflected the arrow to the floor right next to his head, but it was futile.

Rigel wasn't just a projectile. It was practically a mini-nuke.

Boom!

A mushroom cloud expanded across the coliseum, obscuring the view of the yelling and shrieking spectators. Colossal flames licked the ceiling and walls, and a molten crater had been blasted into existence from the sheer destructive power of my arrow. Flaming debris rained downward, crumbling into blackened pieces as they struck the ground.

Then a golden beacon of light flared up once more. Charles struggled to his feet, his sword glowing, and he unleashed another Excalibur at me. It took me a second to dismiss Orion and conjure Snow Aegis, but I was able to nullify the majority of the blast, especially since it was still in its restricted form. Even so, it was more than enough to shatter my greatest defense.

Through the falling frost fragments of my broken snowflake shield, Charles came flying. I drew both swords in time to parry his strike, but was almost blown away by his incredible strength. Gritting my teeth, I stood my ground, refusing to yield. We traded a few more blows, each one sending a shot of chill up Charles's body and clogging up his mana circulation. He paused to withdraw a couple of times, his limbs locked in ice, but he shattered them with his holy magic before resuming the fight. It was only because of these little hindrances and my disruption of his mana circulation that I was able to fight on par with his superlative swordsmanship, or he would have cut me apart eons ago. However, on the same token, his holy magic was offering him great resistance against my icy disruption debuffs, and he was able to slog on despite my passive spells causing him problems.

I couldn't afford to withdraw – if I continue to engage him in close range, I could prevent him from firing off one of those dreaded Excalibur spells of his. Without a choice, I needed to keep him close, or I would be obliterated sooner or later.

"!!"

However, the longer we fought, the more I realized that I had been outmatched from the very start. My movements were becoming more sluggish and my arms numb. To my horror, I realized that the holy lightning that continued to crackle around Charles's body was having similar debilitating effects to mine. The electricity was gradually seeping into my body as well, hindering my mana circulation, numbing my msucles and cutting off the neural connections between my brain and my arms. Blood splattered the ground as Charles's attacks began hitting closer to home. I was unable to block and parry all of them, and I slowly gave ground.

"Ugh…!"

Another cut opened a new wound on my neck, and I staggered. A follow-up riposte slashed across my chest before I could block it, and I felt blood dripping from my left arm, a fresh injury that came when Charles almost casually flicked his sword. It was almost as if he was toying with me, but I knew he was suffering the same disruption as I was.

Lightning versus ice. Who would prevail?

I couldn't allow this battle to drag on any longer. I knew I couldn't hold on for much longer, given the mounting loss of blood, and my increasing lack of mana circulation. Charles was succeeding more and more with every stroke, with each strike coming closer to a vital point. At some point, he was going to break through my defenses and deliver a decisive blow. In contrast, it was all I could do to defend and keep up with his moments.

Clearly, I was never going to best the King of Knights himself in a sword duel. However, if we were talking about magic…

"Absolute Zero!"

I unleashed all of my mana in a single surge, enveloping the entire space in ice. Bringing the temperature down to zero Kelvin, or -273 degrees Celsius, I plunged everything into a suspended state of motionless. Even mana itself couldn't possibly move under such extreme conditions…

However, Charles's body continued to move. The golden aura that wreathed him continued to flare brightly, as did his Sword of Promised Victory. To my horror, I understood why. Absolute Zero, while extremely powerful, was not invincible. Of course there would be magic spells or enchantments that could resist it, otherwise ice mages would just dominate everyone else. It wasn't as if we could defeat everyone just because we had an ultimate spell of our own.

Charles had his holy magic – holy buffs and blessings that increased his resistance. It was the only reason why he was still able to move under absolute zero conditions. His Excalibur streaked toward me, and I weakly deflected it to the side, only for him to reverse the trajectory of his sword and plunged it into my chest.

I looked down dumbly for a moment, my consciousness fading away.

Like hell I would fall here!

Gritting my teeth, I lunged forward and slashed at Charles, but both of my swords missed because he pulled back at that very moment. Those cursed combat instincts of his…a natural gift he was born with, something he didn't have to work hard to attain, unlike my mind's eye.

This was why I hated talented geniuses…

Trying to endure the pain, I forced myself to take a step forward, but for some reason my body refused to listen to me…

*

Even as Charles Lacroix yanked his sword out, he realized that the opponent in front of him was still standing. He prepared for another strike, only to hesitate and pull back.

"What is he doing?"

"The match isn't over yet."

"Is he showing mercy?"

The spectators were confused, watching the two boys stand on the arena. Both of them continued to face off, but neither made a single move.

"Oi! Resume the match!"

"It's not over yet!"

"Hurry and finish him off!"

"There's no need for that." wiping blood from his mouth, Charles Lacroix turned to the commentator. "I think the result is clear enough."

The commentator watched the bespectacled figure of the other guy for a few moments, and then nodded.

"Match over. Winner…Charles Lacroix!"

"Huh?!"

"What's going on?!"

The members of Jing Tian Academy jumped to their feet in the technical area in an uproar, but Harrison gestured for them to sit back down, shaking his head.

"It's over," he told them sadly. "The referee is correct."

"But how?!" Craig demanded fiercely. "Richard is still standing…"

"Yeah, but he has lost consciousness."

At Harrison's words, the rest of the team looked at the boy on the stage, his silhouette stationary and motionless. His eyes were still open, but there was no light in them. He was staring blankly at nothingness. They could not detect a hint of consciousness in his gaze at all.

"Richard…" Pearl whispered, aghast.

They could do nothing but watch as the medics rushed up the stage to handle the unconscious guy, who – even until the very end – was determined not to fall.