Chapter 505: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Who needs Mass Alchemy?

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots echoed from inside the smoky area of the fight platform.

The sound of the M27 IAR’s rapid fire continued without giving Desmond much time to breathe.

Then...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The bullets crashed into the incoming Blood Daggers.

Some of the crimson weapons shattered from the impacts, while others were knocked off course and buried themselves into the platform. The explosions from the previous exchange had left the area covered in smoke, with small flames still flickering across broken sections of stone.

Desmond moved through the smoke.

His body was difficult to see clearly, but the crimson glow of his Blood Mercury occasionally appeared through the gray cloud.

He gathered several of the floating Blood Mercury spheres toward his right hand.

The blood compressed.

It stretched.

Then it hardened into a heavy sword.

The weapon was large enough to require his entire arm to control, yet Desmond didn’t slow down.

More Blood Mercury gathered around him.

Several of the spheres flattened and lengthened before forming slim blood swords.

Desmond controlled them with his Cognis.

The weapons floated around him for a brief moment before shooting into the smoke toward Ezra.

He had no intention of giving Ezra time to recover.

Inside the smoke, Ezra noticed the incoming attack.

He immediately pulled the magazine from the M27 IAR.

The weapon clicked as the empty magazine came free.

Ezra reached into his Space Bag with his other hand and pulled out a fresh magazine.

His fingers moved quickly.

He pushed the new magazine into the M27 and locked it into place.

At almost the same moment, the black thread from his Black Magnetic Gloves extended outward.

The repel force first activated, pushing the black thread forward, then the attraction force activated.

Ezra’s body was suddenly pulled forward.

His boots left the ground.

He used the magnetic force to move through the smoke rather than remaining in the same position.

Clank!

A Blood Sword stabbed into the spot where he had been.

Clank!

Another pierced the ground.

Clank!

Then another.

Several more Blood Swords stabbed downward in rapid succession.

The stone platform shook under the repeated impacts.

Desmond swung the heavy Blood Sword around the same area.

The blade tore through the smoke and pushed part of the cloud aside.

For a moment, the space around him became clearer.

But Ezra was already gone.

He landed on the ground several meters away.

His boots struck the platform.

He immediately turned his body and dropped into a kneeling shooting posture.

One knee touched the ground while the other leg supported his position.

The M27 IAR rested firmly against his shoulder.

Ezra looked through the scope.

His finger pressed down on the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The rifle unleashed another rapid series of shots.

The bullets rushed toward Desmond.

Desmond saw the muzzle flashes through the smoke.

He brought his hands together.

Clap!

The Blood Mercury around him moved.

The crimson spheres rushed toward his front and compressed together.

Layer after layer of blood joined the formation until a thick Blood Shield appeared in front of him.

The bullets struck it.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

The impacts echoed across the platform.

Small sparks appeared whenever a bullet collided with the hardened blood.

The Blood Shield trembled from the repeated impacts, but it remained in front of Desmond.

For the non-Alchemists and the lower-ranking Alchemists watching from the stands, that was almost all they could understand.

They saw flashes of gunfire.

They saw crimson shapes moving through the smoke.

They saw sparks appearing again and again.

Sometimes they couldn’t even tell whether Ezra or Desmond had moved until the next explosion revealed their new positions.

The higher-ranking Alchemists had a much clearer view.

Their enhanced perception allowed them to follow the movement of Cognis, the shifting Blood Mercury, and Ezra’s positioning even through the smoke.

Some of them watched the exchange without saying a word.

They understood that Ezra wasn’t simply firing as quickly as possible.

He was moving while maintaining his accuracy.

Desmond pushed forward.

The Blood Shield remained in front of him as he advanced, absorbing the incoming shots.

The M27 continued firing.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Desmond’s eyes narrowed.

How can a gun keep this much rapid fire?

He glanced at the weapon through the smoke.

Was the AK-47 this powerful?

He quickly rejected the thought.

Or is he using a new firearm from the Ashenlocke gun series?

Desmond’s smile returned slightly.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

Whatever the weapon was, he could deal with it.

More Blood Mercury moved behind him.

Several spheres gathered around his body, ready to support the Blood Shield while he continued moving.

Desmond pushed himself forward, using his Cognis to move through the air while keeping his defense between himself and Ezra’s bullets.

The gunfire continued.

Then...

Click!

The M27 IAR’s magazine ran empty.

Ezra immediately pulled it out.

His other hand reached into his Space Bag.

A new magazine appeared.

He inserted it into the rifle.

The entire exchange had lasted only a tiny amount of time.

But that tiny opening was enough.

Desmond saw it.

His expression sharpened.

He gathered the Blood Mercury surrounding him.

The Blood Mercury forming the weapons around him began to return.

The Blood Swords dissolved.

The Blood Daggers gathered.

The remaining Blood Mercury that hadn’t yet been used also moved toward him.

One sphere became two.

Two became several.

The crimson liquid compressed again and again.

Then dozens of Blood Daggers appeared.

More followed.

The number continued rising until eighty-eight Blood Daggers were floating around Desmond.

The sight caused the crowd to erupt.

Desmond raised his hand.

His grin returned.

"This is the end, EZRA ASHENLOCKE!!!"

He shouted.

Ezra’s eyes focused on Desmond as he came forward through the air.

The eighty-eight Blood Daggers followed him.

Their sharp points were aimed toward Ezra.

For a brief moment, Ezra’s mind went somewhere else.

Back to a conversation.

Back to a quiet moment he had shared with Vera.

His memory returned to the time when the two of them had exchanged their ideas about martial arts.

***

"The point behind Instant Force."

Vera raised her index finger.

She was sitting calmly as she explained the principle, her dull black eyes remaining fixed on Ezra.

"It is how you relax your muscles a little during the first action, then tighten them during the second action."

She demonstrated with her hand.

At first, her fingers and wrist remained relaxed.

Then she hardened her hand.

The difference was obvious.

Ezra watched carefully.

The first movement was loose.

The second carried the force.

He could understand the principle easily.

The problem was using it together with the Tai Chi Arts.

To blend the two, he had to keep his muscles extremely relaxed, even more relaxed than they normally were.

That meant the two Arts would be difficult to perfect together.

It was the same problem Vera also faced.

"But even without performing it naturally..."

Vera moved closer to Ezra.

Ezra was sitting on the ground with his legs folded.

Vera crawled forward until she was close enough to reach him.

"You can utilize your Cognis with the same ideology as Instant Force."

She spoke as though she were discussing something ordinary.

Her index finger moved toward Ezra’s chest.

She rolled the finger slightly as it came closer to the training top covering his chest.

Ezra immediately moved his hand.

Vera pulled her finger back before he could catch it.

There was no dramatic reaction on her face.

She simply continued explaining.

"Just imagine blending both your natural Instant Force and Cognis Instant Force together."

She shifted her body slightly and then rolled onto her back, lying flat on the floor.

"The speed would be amazing."

Her voice remained casual.

She had said it as though the idea were only a small possibility.

But Ezra understood how important it was.

"I see."

He replied while mentally noting down her words.

***

The memory returned to Ezra as he calmed the flow of his Cognis.

His grip around the M27 became firmer.

He remembered Vera’s explanation.

Then another memory surfaced.

Professor Paulina Greenwood’s lessons.

Cognis Physics.

Cognis already flowed throughout an Alchemist’s body.

Adding more Cognis to specific areas could enhance the physical abilities of that part of the body.

Strength.

Speed.

Reaction.

But there was another part of the lesson.

The key wasn’t simply putting more Cognis everywhere.

It was learning how to place more Cognis in one location while reducing the amount flowing into another enhancement.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed.

That principle was very similar to Vera’s Instant Force.

If I can control the flow instead of simply increasing it...

His thoughts moved rapidly.

The Blood Daggers were approaching.

There was no time to think about the theory for long.

"Ahhh..."

Ezra exhaled.

His grip hardened around the M27.

His other hand moved toward his Space Bag.

The first Blood Daggers were already closing in.

Ezra’s hand came out.

Several small black balls dropped into his palm.

He threw them towards the blood daggers.

His Cognis immediately flowed into their circuit systems.

The circuits lit up.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black balls exploded.

But these explosions were different from the explosive daggers he had used earlier.

There were no flames.

Instead, the devices released something else.

Black material spread outward.

The expanding shapes connected to one another.

Sticky-looking black nets appeared above Ezra.

The first wave of Blood Daggers struck the nets.

They became caught.

The sticky black material wrapped around their surfaces and slowed their movement.

Desmond’s eyes widened.

He was still descending through the air, but his attention had immediately shifted downward.

The Blood Daggers heading toward Ezra had been stopped by the strange black nets.

The remaining daggers continued forward.

Several stabbed into the ground around Ezra.

Clank! Clank!

Desmond didn’t panic.

He was shocked by the new gadget, but the surprise lasted only a moment.

His crimson eyes sharpened.

If the nets were going to stop the Blood Daggers, then he would simply destroy the nets along with them.

Desmond raised his hand.

"This is not enough to stop me!!"

His voice echoed through the smoky Arena.

Cognis flowed through his body.

He ignited the explosive function of the Blood Daggers.

The Blood Daggers caught in the black nets began glowing crimson.

The daggers that had stabbed into the ground also responded.

All of them were still within the range of Desmond’s control.

Then...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The first explosions erupted.

The black nets shook.

More explosions followed.

BOOOOOOMMM!

A huge blast consumed a large portion of the platform.

Crimson flames mixed with the smoke.

The force of the explosion sent snow and fragments of stone outward before the Arena’s Force Field stopped the debris from reaching the audience.

Several spectators gasped.

Many of them could no longer tell what was happening.

The smoke covered almost the entire area where Ezra had been standing.

Desmond smirked.

He was still descending through the air.

His Cognis spread through his senses as he tried to determine what had happened inside the smoke.

Did I get him?

Whoosh!!

Desmond froze.

Someone was beside him.

Ezra.

He had appeared there without Desmond sensing the Cognis fluctuation that came with his movement.

Desmond’s eyes shifted downward.

Below him, a path had been carved through the smoke.

The cloud had been disturbed by Ezra’s movement, leaving a clear trail behind him.

How did he move that fast?

Desmond barely had time to process it, when Black threads suddenly rolled around his body.

They came from Ezra’s Black Magnetic Gloves.

One thread wrapped around his arm.

Another crossed his torso.

More threads wrapped around his legs.

They tightened.

Desmond’s body was pulled into place.

"Tsk."

He clicked his tongue as the threads tightened around him.

His eyes moved toward Ezra.

The distance between them was almost gone.

Ezra’s hands moved again.

The motion was so fast that Desmond could barely follow it.

He was still thinking about how to escape.

His mind immediately considered controlling several Blood Mercury spheres and using them to attack Ezra.

But before he could complete the thought, Ezra’s movement changed instantly again.

The black threads pulled.

Ezra shifted his body.

Desmond’s body was dragged into a sudden motion.

He began spinning rapidly through the air.

The movement became faster.

The smoky cloud that had covered almost the entire fight platform began to clear around them as their spinning bodies disturbed the air.

The audience finally began seeing shapes through the smoke.

A black thread.

A crimson flash.

Ezra.

Desmond.

Then the two figures rotated again.

The smoke was pushed outward, revealing more of the damaged platform beneath them.

Desmond’s Blood Mercury followed his movement, scattering around the spinning pair.

Ezra maintained control of the black threads.

He didn’t release them.

The two continued spinning through the air as the remaining smoke was torn apart around them.

BOOOM!