Chapter 420 (Patreon)

Boris and the rest of his team watched in silence as the enormous skeletal bird descended from the sky, its bony wings spread wide as it accelerated toward Suri's position. From where they stood, the creature looked almost unreal against the bright afternoon sky, a mass of pale bones growing larger with every passing second, and yet the girls below it showed no intention of running. 

Instead, Suri's team remained tightly grouped together, continuing to reinforce the barriers above them while Dana's wooden maze surrounded their position on all sides. One layer of protection appeared over another, each barrier overlapping the previous one until several translucent walls of magic had formed above the team, and Boris could only imagine how much mana they were already burning simply to prepare for the impact.

The battlefield itself was of course large for both teams. Since there were only two teams fighting in the center of the arena, the academy had expanded the usable area considerably, giving both groups enough room to maneuver, retreat, and reposition themselves without immediately running into the boundaries. 

That was precisely why Leo Stark found Suri's team decision so strange. They had more than enough space to move backward and let the skeletal creature crash harmlessly into the ground, yet they had chosen to remain exactly where they were.

Leo’s eyes squinted as he followed the descending creature, then glanced toward Boris. 

“They had plenty of time to run toward the back and avoid Roy’s summon,” he said, raising his voice slightly over the growing roar of the wind. “You said they wouldn't run from the attack, but why would they purposely stay there?”

Boris did not answer immediately. His eyes remained fixed on Suri's team as the Tavis Titan continued its descent, and the closer it came, the more obvious it became that Roy had no intention of controlling it. That had always been the weakness of their plan. Summoning something of this size was already an enormous burden on Roy's mana, and controlling it afterward would require even more. If he tried to guide the creature while it was falling, he risked exhausting himself before the real fight had even begun. They had therefore decided to let the Tavis Titan become exactly what they needed it to be, a massive projectile that required no further instructions.

Boris had simply made a guess about what Suri would do.

He knew her well enough to understand that she would not scatter her team at the first sign of danger. Suri valued formation too much, especially now that they were facing an opponent whose greatest strength was turning organized battles into chaos. If she moved everyone backward individually, she would create openings, and if she ordered the entire team to retreat together, she would give Boris's team exactly the time they needed to close the distance. The safest option was therefore the most stubborn one. Stay together, reinforce the barriers, and endure the impact.

Boris finally smiled. “I think I know why.”

Leo looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

Boris folded his arms across his chest. “At first, I thought it was only Kana and Suri who were stubborn.”

He glanced toward the girls, then shook his head with a faint grin. “But apparently, all girls are stubborn creatures.”

Adam, standing beside him, gave a slow and solemn nod as though Boris had just delivered an important piece of military wisdom.

“Right,” he agreed. “They really are.”

The rest of  the boys nodded in agreement even Toby, who had spent most of the match looking like he wanted to disappear from existence, gave a small nod of agreement.

Leo stared at all of them. “Why are you agreeing so quickly?”

Boris shrugged. “My father always told me that.”

Adam nodded again. “Your father was probably right.”

Leo sighed and decided there was no point arguing with them.

Above the battlefield, the Tavis Titan had reached the final stretch of its descent.

The sound came first.

A deep, growing roar rolled across the arena as the creature tore through the air, its enormous skeletal frame accelerating toward the ground. The wind beneath it whipped through the battlefield, scattering loose dust and debris long before the creature actually struck. Suri's team remained beneath their barriers, and for a brief moment Boris wondered whether they had truly underestimated what they had created.

Then the Tavis Titan hit.

The explosion of sound was immediate.

BOOM!

The impact struck with such force that the entire arena seemed to tremble beneath it. A violent wave of air burst outward from the point of impact, carrying dust, fragments of wood, and loose debris across the battlefield. Boris instinctively raised his arm in front of his face, while Adam and the others did the same as the wind slammed into them hard enough to make several of them stagger.

The noise was almost deafening.

Even the spectators recoiled.

A wave of shouting swept through the stands as people stood from their seats, desperately trying to see what had happened. The battlefield disappeared beneath an enormous cloud of dust that rolled outward from the impact site, turning the center of the arena into a thick brown haze. The wooden structures Dana had created were no longer visible, nor could anyone clearly see the barriers that had surrounded Suri's team.

For several seconds, nobody could tell whether they had survived.

Boris slowly lowered his arm.

The smile had disappeared from his face.

He had expected the impact to be powerful. That had been the entire point of their plan. They needed something large enough to force Suri's team to concentrate on defense, something violent enough to disrupt their carefully prepared formation and create a brief opening for the rest of the team to exploit.

They had not expected the battlefield to vanish.

Toby swallowed as he stared into the dust.

“Uhm...”

Nobody responded.

Toby looked at the others. “Did we overdo it?”

The question hung in the air.

Even Roy looked uncertain.

Boris stared toward the center of the arena, where the dust continued to swirl and hide everything from view. For the first time since they had entered the final, doubt crept into his mind. This was not one of the situations they had practiced against in their previous matches. They had never attempted such a large opening attack, and they had never tested what would happen if the Tavis Titan struck a team that had layered several barriers together.

Their plan had been simple.

Create a distraction.

Break Suri's formation.

Rush them before they could recover.

But there was a difference between creating an opening and causing so much chaos that even your own team could no longer tell what was happening.

Boris clenched his fist. “We stick to the plan.”

His voice was firm, even though he was not completely certain anymore.

Adam immediately stepped forward.

Roy tightened his grip on his staff.

Andel lowered his stance.

Leo glanced once more toward the cloud of dust before following them.

One after another, the members of the Muscle Team began moving. “Now!”

Boris charged.

The others followed close behind, rushing toward the battlefield before the dust had a chance to settle. Their timing mattered more than ever. Every second they wasted gave Suri and her teammates another opportunity to restore their formation, examine the damage, and prepare their next counterattack.

They had no intention of giving them those seconds.

The Muscle Team surged forward as one, their footsteps pounding against the ground while the dust swallowed them one by one.

Boris ran at the front, his eyes fixed on the indistinct shapes hidden within the haze.

Behind him came Adam, Andel, Roy, Leo, Freddy, and the rest of the team, each of them moving as quickly as they could.

Even Toby followed without complaining.

For once, he seemed to understand that there was no time to ask whether their plan had gone too far.

The final match had finally begun.

The Muscle Team had built its entire reputation around chaos. They did not maintain a proper formation, they rarely moved together, and they had never been particularly concerned about making their movements easy for their teammates to follow. Their opponents usually found themselves surrounded by bodies moving in different directions, each one creating another problem that needed to be dealt with, and Boris had no intention of changing that now. 

The moment they entered the dust-covered battlefield, the ten members scattered, each taking a different route through the maze of broken wood and swirling dust while trying to close in on Suri's team from as many directions as possible.

The problem was that they couldn't see their opponents either.

Their Scout had a specific role to fulfill, but even his enhanced senses had limits. He could detect someone once they entered his effective range, yet with everyone moving so quickly and the battlefield filled with dust, he couldn't stop every few seconds to confirm exactly where each member of Suri's team was hiding. He had to keep moving, keep searching, and trust that the others would eventually find their targets, this time in their previous location.

For the first few moments, it seemed as though both teams had been thrown into the same confusion.

Neither side knew exactly where the other was. Or at least, Boris thought that was the case.

A silver flash suddenly appeared somewhere in the haze.

It moved so quickly that Boris barely registered it before another burst of brilliant green light erupted several meters away.

The color was unmistakable.

One of their competition pendants had been broken.

Boris's heart dropped. He immediately turned toward the direction of the flash and caught sight of Roy stumbling backward, his expression frozen in surprise as the broken pendant's light faded from around him.

“Roy?”

Boris's eyes widened. That had happened too quickly. They hadn't even seen where the attack had come from.

For a moment, Boris wondered if Roy had simply been unlucky. Perhaps one of Suri's teammates had stumbled upon him by chance, or perhaps their Scout had finally located one of them and directed the attack.

But the thought disappeared almost immediately.

Boris looked upward.

Something was flickering high above the battlefield.

At first, he could barely make it out through the remaining dust and sunlight.

A dot.

Moving. Watching.

Boris's expression changed.

“Thorne...” The little lizard was still sitting on top of his head, her small armored body remarkably calm despite the chaos surrounding them. Boris remembered what Suri had told them before along with Kana. Thorne had an unusual ability that allowed her to remove Suri's illusions whenever she wanted.

But there was one thing Boris had never asked.

Could Thorne remove an illusion that was floating high above the battlefield?

Boris reached up and gently touched the little lizard's head. “Can you see it?”

Thorne stretched her neck forward, peeking over Boris's forehead.

She stared into the sky. For several seconds, she remained completely still. Then she slowly shook her head.

Boris sighed. “So it's a no.”

Thorne gave another tiny nod.

Boris looked toward the flickering dot again.

Suddenly, everything made sense. The illusion wasn’t merely hiding Suri's team. They were watching them.

Their opponents didn't need to see the Muscle Team directly. Suri probably had scattered illusions throughout the battlefield, and somewhere above them was another one, high enough to observe the entire battlefield while remaining outside the reach of most attacks.

They had been moving through the darkness thinking they were the hunters.

They were actually the ones being tracked.

Boris's stomach tightened. “They can see us.”

His voice carried through the battlefield.

Several of the boys looked toward him. Boris pointed toward the distant flicker in the sky. “We need to close the distance!”

The realization spread through the team almost instantly.

Their chaotic formation had suddenly become a disadvantage. Every second they spent wandering through the battlefield gave Suri more time to track them and choose her targets. If they stayed separated, they would continue losing members one by one without ever seeing the person responsible.

The boys stopped hesitating.

Then they ran.

Not with their usual reckless confidence.

This time, they ran as though something was chasing them.

Adam charged through the wooden maze, smashing aside branches that blocked his path. Andel followed another route, while Leo and Freddy sprinted through the dust from opposite directions.

Boris ran harder. “Don't stop!”

They needed to reach Suri's team before another pendant broke. They needed to force the battle into close combat. That was where their strength lay.

The distance disappeared surprisingly quickly.

The dust began to thin.

The broken wooden structures became clearer. Boris could finally see the area where Suri's team should have been hiding. They had reached the center.

But something was wrong.

Boris slowed down.

The others did the same. The final remnants of dust drifted away beneath the afternoon sunlight.

There was no Suri or any of her teammates. Not even a single member of Team Gorgeous.

Boris stared. His eyes moved across the shattered wooden maze, searching for any sign of movement.

Nothing.

The entire team had vanished.

Adam looked around in confusion. “Where did they go?”

Boris didn't answer. He slowly looked upward again.

A cold realization settled over him.

They had spent the entire time rushing toward Suri's team position but perhaps Suri along with her team had never been there in the first place. Then.. did they just hit an illusion? 

Post note:

Suri is never going to be an easy opponent 😂

2nd chap of the week.

Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

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