Chapter 518: The Grand First-Year Combat Festival: Copy Genius vs Unbreakable Steel

"Let the countdown begin!!"

Patrick shouted from the commentator’s section of the Arena.

His voice echoed through the Arena speakers, carrying across every section of the enormous structure until even the people sitting at the farthest seats could hear him clearly.

The four large Holographic Screens immediately changed.

The match information disappeared, replaced by the countdown.

The first number appeared brightly.

"THREE!!"

The crowd shouted the first countdown number together, their voices rising from every direction.

The cheering from the fans of the two Young Lords standing opposite each other on the fight platform continued to overlap with the countdown chants, creating a strange mixture of excitement and tension.

"Sir Ravenor Burnwick!!"

"The Genius will always stand on top!!"

"My bet is relaying on you Sir Veda Ashenlocke!!"

"You got this Young Lord of Ash!!"

Some people were waving Burnwick banners.

Others had their hands raised while shouting Veda’s name.

The two groups were almost competing with each other to see who could make the most noise.

Yet on the platform itself, the two Young Lords reacted very differently.

Veda kept waving calmly toward the crowd.

His warm expression hadn’t changed, and there was still a friendly smile on his face as though he were greeting people outside a festival rather than standing on a platform where he was about to fight another First Year.

As for Ravenor...

He didn’t change his unamused expression.

His scarlet eyes remained locked on Veda Ashenlocke.

There was no smile.

No wave.

No movement that showed whether he was trying to intimidate Veda or simply thinking about the battle.

Veda couldn’t tell.

For a moment, he wondered what was going through Ravenor’s mind.

Then the next number appeared.

"TWO!!!"

The crowd shouted the second countdown number even more brightly.

The anticipation was building fast.

People leaned forward in their seats.

Some of the younger spectators gripped the edges of their seats without realizing it, while several Alchemists watched the two Young Lords with sharper eyes, already trying to predict which one would make the first move.

But it wasn’t only the crowd and the people of Britannia watching through the Live broadcast.

Veda could feel the excitement building inside himself too.

Since the moment he had seen Ravenor’s name as his next opponent, the thought of facing a genius like Ravenor hadn’t left his mind.

It wasn’t that he was nervous.

He wasn’t worried either.

But Veda already knew this fight against Ravenor wasn’t going to be easy.

Ravenor had reached this point of the Combat Festival without suffering the kind of difficult battle that could force him to reveal everything he had.

His reputation as the Copy Alchemist Genius of Burnwick wasn’t built from nothing.

Veda had watched his previous battles.

He knew how quickly Ravenor could execute Flame Alchemy.

He knew how dangerous that speed could become once Ravenor found a rhythm.

And he also knew something else.

Facing Vera in the last Trial of the Trial of Steel had already been hard enough.

During their fight, Veda had been forced to push himself to the level of risking his life just to beat his twin sister.

He had taken hit after hit.

His body had been pushed beyond what it normally could endure, and he had continued forcing more Cognis through himself because stopping would have meant losing.

That battle had left a deep impression on him.

It had taught him that raw strength alone wasn’t enough to face someone who is a genius like his twin sister.

But it had also taught him that when facing someone stronger, he needed to keep moving even when his body was telling him to stop.

Even though his average talent made it hard for him to surpass all the geniuses his age.

He could still catch up to them, by using every strength he could muster up.

That’s what his master taught him, and this is the Alchemy Strategy he came up with that made him the Young Lord of Ash.

And now...

It was Ravenor Burnwick.

Unlike that time when he faced his twin sister, both he and Ravenor are in the same Alchemist rank.

And that made the fight going to be completely different.

Veda wasn’t facing an opponent who stood above him in Alchemist rank.

He was facing someone who stood beside him.

But someone whose abilities were way above him.

Even now, if Veda were to fight Vera again, he wasn’t sure he could beat her.

That thought passed through his mind quietly.

Although, he didn’t allow it to shake his confidence.

Instead, he took another breath and kept his eyes on Ravenor.

The final number appeared.

"ONE!!"

The crowd shouted the last countdown number.

Veda dropped his waving hand.

His entire posture changed almost immediately.

He took his fighting stance, his feet settling against the platform as his body shifted from the relaxed position he had maintained while greeting the crowd.

The warm smile on his face vanished.

The change was so sudden that Ravenor noticed it immediately.

Veda’s presence felt different now.

The friendly Young Lord who had been waving at his supporters was gone.

What remained was a fighter.

Ravenor narrowed his scarlet eyes.

Even then, he still didn’t make any effort to take his own fighting stance.

He remained where he was, watching Veda.

"Ahhh..."

Veda calmly exhaled.

His black eyes remained locked on Ravenor while one hand moved toward his Space Bag.

He already knew that the moment this match started...

Ravenor was going to use his iconic Flame Alchemy attack on him.

That was the reason Veda had prepared himself before the countdown even ended.

So, no matter what happened, he had to brace himself.

He couldn’t afford to be caught completely unprepared by Ravenor’s speed.

"BEGIN!!"

The crowd shouted the word that officially commenced the fight.

Snap!

Boom!

Almost instantly...

The moment the crowd finished shouting the word BEGIN, Ravenor’s hands moved.

His right hand went into his Space Bag and pulled out a lighter.

The lighter had a wine-colored casing, with the crest of the Duke House Burnwick imprinted clearly in the center.

The design itself was simple, but Veda recognized it immediately.

Click.

Ravenor’s thumb flicked the cover open.

The metal lid snapped upward.

The flame was just about to ignite.

But Ravenor didn’t wait for it.

In the same motion, his left hand snapped its fingers.

The action was so fast that it almost seemed as though his two hands had moved together.

The Flame Alchemy Circle formed beneath Veda’s boot.

It appeared just as Veda was about to place his hand into his Space Bag.

The Circle ignited almost instantly.

Veda’s eyes widened slightly.

The speed of Ravenor’s execution was so great that Veda, along with many Alchemists below the Adept rank, couldn’t properly perceive how the Flame Alchemy had been completed.

There was no clear process for them to follow.

No obvious pause between the activation and the attack.

One moment, Veda was standing on the platform.

The next...

The ground beneath his boot glowed scarlet.

That was all he managed to see.

Then a small explosion erupted from beneath him.

Boom!

Flames burst upward.

Smoke immediately swallowed Veda’s position, mixing with the snow and loose fragments of stone scattered across the platform.

Many spectators gasped in complete shock.

The explosion had happened almost immediately after the fight commenced.

The cheering that had continued during the countdown and even after the word BEGIN was shouted settled almost instantly.

Hundreds of thousands of eyes turned toward the same location.

People stared at the smoke.

Some stood halfway from their seats before remembering that they couldn’t see anything through the cloud.

Others looked toward the Holographic Screens, hoping the cameras had captured what had happened.

Patrick stood up from his seat, excitement appearing clearly on his face.

"The Young Lord of Burn starts ag—"

Before he could finish his words...

Whoosh!!

A figure suddenly dashed out from the smoke cloud.

Veda.

Smoke and small flames swayed behind his training cloth as he ran forward at high speed.

The explosion had caught him, but it hadn’t stopped him.

His feet struck the platform one after another as he rushed directly toward Ravenor.

His body was already moving before the smoke had completely cleared behind him.

During that running motion, Veda reached into his Space Bag and took out the Colt 1911.

His fingers wrapped around the grip.

He was already bringing the handgun upward, preparing to aim at Ravenor.

Snap!

The sound of two fingers striking against each other echoed clearly through the now almost silent Arena.

Veda heard it.

More importantly, he felt something.

A rising heat came from beneath him.

His eyes shifted downward for only an instant.

The ground beneath his boot had begun glowing scarlet again.

Another Flame Alchemy Circle.

"Tsk!"

Veda immediately passed more Cognis into the boot that was just landing.

He was already in the middle of his running motion.

His next step was supposed to follow naturally from the current one, but the heat beneath his foot rose rapidly before he could complete it.

He understood what Ravenor was doing.

Ravenor wasn’t simply trying to attack him once.

He was following him.

He was placing Flame Alchemy beneath Veda while Veda moved.

The difference was that Veda couldn’t stop.

If he stopped moving now, Ravenor’s next attack would catch him directly.

Boom!

A small explosion erupted from Veda’s position again.

But this time, Veda had already prepared himself.

Several milliseconds before the explosion fully ignited, his boot slammed hard against the platform.

His muscles tightened.

Cognis rushed through his leg.

His boot pressed firmly against the ground, and the force of the movement created a small crack beneath it.

Snow scattered.

Broken pieces of rock jumped from the platform.

Then Veda pushed himself away at the exact moment the explosion ignited.

BOOM!

Flames and smoke swallowed the place where he had stood.

Veda flew out of the smoke and flame again.

His body rotated slightly in the air before he forced his posture back into alignment.

He didn’t waste any more time.

He had already survived two explosions.

He knew Ravenor wouldn’t stop after two.

So, Veda continued forward.

The Colt 1911 was already in his hand.

So, his arm rose, and his eyes locked onto Ravenor.

Then his finger pulled the trigger four times, fast.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The four shots came rapidly.

Veda didn’t waste another moment after pulling himself out of the exploded area.

Small flames still burned along parts of his training cloth, but he ignored them.

His focus remained on Ravenor.

Minewhile...

Ravenor hadn’t moved.

He was still standing in the same spot where he had been since the fight began.

His scarlet eyes locked onto the incoming bullets almost immediately.

He didn’t panic.

He didn’t even shift his body to evade.

Instead, Ravenor raised the hand holding the lighter.

The movement was quick and controlled.

Click.

The cover of the lighter flipped upward again, with a small flame appearing.

Ravenor’s fingers moved.

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

He snapped the fingers of his other hand four times in rapid succession.

Each movement was precise.

Each one carried the same purpose.

The four Flame Alchemy Circles appeared before the bullets could reach him.

For a brief moment, the bullets continued forward.

They were only several moments away from reaching Ravenor’s close range.

Then...

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Four small explosions erupted in front of Ravenor.

The incoming bullets were destroyed before they could reach him.

The flames briefly swallowed the space between the two Young Lords, and small pieces of heated metal scattered away from the explosions.

Many people in the stands leaned back in complete shock.

Some had expected Ravenor to dodge.

Others had expected him to create a Flame Barrier.

Instead, he had destroyed every incoming bullet individually.

And yet, no one had the luxury of spending time being shocked by what Ravenor had just done.

Because during that brief moment when Ravenor had focused on destroying the four bullets...

Veda had already reached him.

He had crossed the distance between them.

His feet struck the platform directly in front of Ravenor.

His grip around the Colt 1911 tightened.

At the same time, his other hand tightened into a fist.

Veda was already in front of Ravenor.