Chapter 260: Focusing on the Bird First (1)

As soon as the announcer declared the start of the final round, the four-winged bird moved.

It unleashed a thunderous roar as the chains dropped to the ground with a deep clank, freeing it from restraints. And without wasting even a second—it furled its wings, and then unfurled them with power.

Swoosh—!

But this time, Kai was ready.

He activated the Ending Fragment of Stone—rooting him to the ground and bracing himself for the violent gust. Even though this gust was more powerful than earlier, he managed to defend against it and remain rooted in his spot.

And it was the same for Chester—his shield protected him again.

Despite its massive size, the four-winged bird only needed one flap of its wings to climb skyward.

It wasted no time heading straight for the Heart of Dragon.

Chester and Kai wanted to follow immediately—but there was a pressure pressing down hard on their shoulders. An invisible force that neither could sense until they tried to move. Seems like the creature was given a head start.

"You could still surrender right now, you know?" Chester broke the silence between them.

Kai lowered his gaze and stared the man across from him in the eyes.

A man who could draw out his anger at will.

Just a glimpse of this man was enough to make Kai’s blood boil inside his veins.

"Lay down your arms and kneel to me. Do that, and you’ll be spared from what would happen next." Chester added as he squared his shoulders once the invisible pressure disappeared. "I am still willing to spare you from the embarrassment that you would suffer if you decided to keep fighting."

"Nothing you say would make me surrender—Chester," Kai replied coldly. "It didn’t matter that I’m weakened. It didn’t matter what you have up your sleeves. There’s only one outcome of this tournament—your defeat."

Chester cackled at what Kai said.

Even now, he still found it funny that Kai thought he would win this tournament.

"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Chester channelled his mana into his winged boots, and slowly rose from the stone floor. He hovered higher—looking down at Kai, who looked a lot smaller from his perspective. "You don’t even have mana to fully use your winged boots— and you talk about defeating me? Do you hear yourself?

"Heed my words, Lesser Angel. Your delusion would be the death of you."

Swoosh—!

Chester waited no longer.

He blasted skyward—and went straight to the four-winged bird that already had the Heart of Dragon wrapped around its talons. It had been circling the zenith of the reddish barrier from the moment it seized the Heart of Dragon until now.

Just like the announcer said, it would only remain in defensive mode.

As long as there was nobody who tried to take the Heart of Dragon, it would remain passive.

But not anymore, as its eyes locked onto the approaching Chester.

On the other hand, the crowd of students was watching Kai, who stood completely motionless in the arena. Chester was already rising to engage with the four-winged bird, and yet Kai had not moved from his spot.

Not even his winged boots had been activated.

"What is he doing?"

"Fight on! Why are you standing around for?!"

"Is he giving up? Perhaps he knew there’s no way he could win against High Angel Chester."

"Are you kidding? Are we watching the same tournament? He defeated High Angel Barbara like she was nothing! I doubt he won’t at least try to win."

Many students were arguing at what they were watching, while some were shouting at Kai.

It would be boring if he didn’t even try to triumph over Chester.

Not too far away—a lean, muscular man with blue eyes and messy black hair rested his arms across the stone and let out a quiet, inward laugh as he listened to his peers around. "It’s not that he doesn’t want to fight, but because High Angel Chester probably has the academy’s full backing. A Lesser Angel wouldn’t dare move against someone like that."

Just being a Lesser Angel alone was already a burden.

No one survived the Blood Rite until Kai.

For him to survive meant he had played it right—approach the right people and take a step back when the situation required him to. Only then would he be able to survive as long as he did without being executed along the way.

Of course, there was another reason.

Kai was so strong and sharp that he simply managed to go through every unfair obstacle.

It was extremely difficult to do the latter than the former, so the man was sure that it was the first.

Meanwhile, Chester rose like a rising star, heading straight for the four-winged bird.

He placed the shield above him as the four-winged bird began to use its wind affinity, creating a rush of wind that pressed down from above—making it hard for anyone to climb. And with it, the powerful wind didn’t matter.

Chester pushed the shield open.

A surge of wind pushed against the pressing rush, shattering its force and carving out a clean hollow vacuum. He put more mana into his winged boots and blasted skyward, sickle already poised in his grip.

Slash—!

Fiercely, he swung his sickle at an angle, trying to cut the four-winged bird.

But the slash was stopped by one of its wings.

Chester’s brows furrowed as he felt that striking the wing was the same as striking a rock, and the vibration it produced hurt his arm. Before he could recover, the four-winged bird grabbed the shield with its talon and threw Chester to the side.

He slammed against the barrier, sending a ripple across it.

In the next breath, Chester was already airborne again, his wing boots propelled him straight ahead into a fierce aerial ballet—with the four-winged bird. Only specific Supernals of a really short list of divine bloodlines could excel at fighting in the sky.

But that’s where the winged boots played their part.

Not only did these boots give an advantage against grounded Star Beasts, but they also leveled the playing field against Star Beasts that ruled the air. Chester moved like a dark streak, leaving a trail of deep blue as he weaved through the bird’s lashing tails and charge.

He calculated the burst of speed to swerve to the side, stop, and then attack.

Going through the second class that forced students to train on using winged boots bore fruit.

Chester was fast, but even then, the four-winged bird was also as fast and unnervingly agile.

It swerved and rolled through the sky, gripping the Heart of Dragon tightly in its talon. Even though the four-winged bird was far bigger, it moved like a blur of cream and brown against the shimmering barrier.

Everyone watched as Chester tussled in the sky, probing for any weakness.

Any gap in the four-winged bird’s guard, but his sickle found nothing.

Each strike that should’ve landed was met by open air or glanced harmlessly off those massive wings. ’I upgraded my sickle recently, and it’s still not sharp enough to cut through?’ Chester thought inside in disbelief.

A cold frustration began to build.

Roar—!

Chester snapped out of his trance and saw a sight that widened his eyes.

Scarily, the four-winged bird twisted, turning into a tornado and ramming into him.

It charged like a battering ram of muscle and feather.

Instinctively, Chester raised his shield to protect himself, but the impact was still horrendous. It sent him hurtling backward until his back crashed against the tall reddish barrier—creating a ripple across its surface.

Before Chester could even breathe again, the four-winged bird already pressed to attack.

Giving him no chance to recover first.

Just then, a shadow moved from below.

Everyone inside the stadium gasped in shock; the roar died in their throats as the Lesser Angel was no longer on the ground. He was climbing—but not with winged boots. He leaped from the side of the barrier, a powerful spring that sent him soaring.

Then from the front. Then the left. And then from the back.

He bounded between the reddish walls of the arena—spiraling upward in a dizzying display of raw, unassisted agility. It was a feat of strength that bordered on monstrous, considering he was still an Awakened Supernal.

Each leap required the power to launch a body that high, and he couldn’t stop.

Since he wasn’t using the winged boots, he couldn’t lose momentum, or else he’d fall again.

It was a climb that should’ve been impossible for someone at his strength—but he seemed to always have a way to surprise the crowd, and that’s a good thing. Everyone cheered for him after breaking from their initial shock.

Kai reached the apex of his ascent, Blood-phantom Scimitar gripped hard in his hand.

His knuckles turned white from how hard he was holding it.

And then, with one final, explosive leap, he came in from below—a dark blur hurtling toward the four-winged bird’s talon. His target was the Heart of the Dragon. He would cut the talon and force the four-winged bird to drop it.

But the bird sensed it.

Possessing the wind affinity meant it was attuned to the air, and it felt the shift.

A trace of Kai’s approach from below.

Almost instantly, it flapped its wings, pulling the Heart of Dragon outside of Kai’s trajectory.

Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he clicked his tongue in displeasure. Had he had a sliver of mana, this wouldn’t have happened, as he could mask his presence with the Nigh-phantom Imprint, but he wasn’t discouraged.

In the same suspended moment, he adjusted and changed his target.

He swung his scimitar in a wide arc and dragged it across the upper right wing.

Sparks erupted—a shower of brilliant light as the tip of his blade scraped against something impossibly hard. It was almost like the wing was made entirely of steel. And the sound was a shriek of metal as the vibration it produced rattled up his arm like a physical blow.

Kai was taken aback.

’What...? It’s the first time my scimitar can’t cut through something.’ He thought inside—a frown formed on his forehead. His scimitar was special, forged by Matilda and enhanced with a powerful blood—from the Furies’ first victim, and yet it couldn’t hurt the four-winged bird. ’How are we supposed to hurt it, then?

He had expected dense muscle or unbelievably tough flesh.

After all, he was fighting a Scourge-class Star Beast.

But this was something else entirely.

Kai landed on the other side of the reddish wall, and then charged again.

He spun his body, avoiding the two long tails that tried to catch him mid-air, and made another slash. This time, he aimed for its body, thinking that its wings were the source of the wind affinity, but the same happened.

Clang—!

Tch! So hard.