The overflowing wind magic vibrated in the air, and the swirling wind seemed to carry the clouds in the sky. White wisps gathered together to form three rotating wind cocoons. The wind cocoons expanded and fell from the sky.
The huge whistling sound in their ears caught the attention of Asta and Bai En.
But the swords in their hands were constantly clashing, leaving them no time to care about the swirling gale. In this clash of swords, if one person showed signs of retreat first, what awaited him would surely be a continuous barrage of attacks from his opponent.
Because Bai En's "Face Cutter" was forged from a physical object and no magic was used throughout, the Anti-Magic that usually gave Asta an advantage in battle had no effect whatsoever.
"Clang!"
Bai En's powerful blow came down. Asta blocked with the demon-slayer sword and the demon-dweller sword crossed. The collision of the three weapons put the two into a brief stalemate.
"So heavy!"
Asta's knees bent slightly, and his entire body was hunched over by the long, slender blade above his head, like an old man with a hunchback.
If you looked closely, you would find that the tiger's mouth on Asta's hands, gripping the swords, had already split open. Blood stained his palms, and also dyed the two dark iron swords with a distinct, unusual color.
The gale swirled, and then descended.
Wind blades cut past their faces like knives. A terrifying tearing force spread from the center of the wind vortex. White wind ropes flowed like water over the flat ground where Bai En and Asta stood, and both of them were submerged within it.
Dark brown clumps of earth were shaken up, leveled as if they were blocks of tofu.
In the exposed center of the wind vortex, Bai En stood motionless within the white circle. Asta, who had been struggling to support himself under the blade, was thrown out by the wind. As streaks of blood scattered, he crashed into the floating dark brown clumps of earth.
The undulating clumps of earth began to settle from the outside in, like a quilt being flipped.
Looking at the large chunks of soil falling from the sky, Bai En began to run across the ground towards Yuno's direction. His moving figure was so fast that only a blur could be seen.
The afterimages appearing at intervals made Bai En look as if he were teleporting.
Yuno, with his longbow in the air, aimed downwards, but due to the blurred figure, he hesitated to shoot the hurricane arrow on the string.
The swift wind hummed softly in his ears.
But the afterimages no longer reappeared.
Bai En's figure was gone from the empty ground.
'Where is he?'
In a brief moment of thought, a sharp blade descended, directly severing the wind bow Yuno had formed. Amidst the breaking sound of the wind, a sharp slash, like a long line, cut towards Yuno's chest.
The four-leaf grimoire, emitting a greenish-blue light, quickly flipped open.
At the instant the slash was about to bloom on Yuno's body, a circular wind shield appeared against his chest. The slash landed on the wind shield, and the accompanying impact sent Yuno crashing downwards.
Face Cutter returned to Xiao Tong's side, and another sword floated out.
Orange flames spread with Bai En's hand movements. Long sparks condensed into a bow, and the pure white three-leaf grimoire flipped to the first page. The floating longsword was placed on the flaming bowstring.
The transparent sword body, interwoven with ice-blue and fiery-red, became the arrow.
Drawing the bow, nocking the sword, aiming, and shooting—all in one fluid motion, the entire sequence taking no more than 0.5 seconds.
"Frost Ember · 'Open'!"
The flaming arrow shot out.
It was an orange sea of clouds with ice-blue edges, more magnificent than the highly praised polar nights of the northern Winter Kingdom.
The fervent and extremely hot flames consumed and burned everything.
The sea of fire grew larger and its temperature rose higher.
The spreading orange sea of clouds continuously approached Yuno, who was falling like a black dot, reflecting in people's eyes like a painting of a young man reaching out to touch the sea of clouds, grand and beautiful.
"Ahhh~ What kind of magic is that?!"
Magic Emperor Julius looked at the sky, his dark eyes sparkling with an unusual excitement and thrill.
The Mages on the viewing platform also gazed at that sea of clouds, their mouths agape and remaining open. They had never seen such beautiful magic, not even from Charlotte Roselei, the leader of the Blue Rose, known for her "beauty and strength."
"Bell, use that move!"
"I was planning to use it against them anyway. Now it's time for it to come in handy." The wind stirred his black hair, and the Golden Dawn uniform on his body danced like a battle flag. Yuno whispered to Bell beside him.
"Really?"
Bell's green eyes were extremely gentle. The surging, immense magic power accumulated and stirred, "That's great, I can finally become one with Yuno again."
Amidst the trembling sound, the wind brought the orange sea of clouds to a halt.
Bell transformed into a burst of green light, greatly expanding in front of Yuno. In the blooming light, Yuno's posture and aura underwent a dramatic transformation. A crown rose proudly on his head, a green wing grew from his left back, and his entire left arm was covered in an intense green glow.
He raised his left hand and said indifferently, "Wind Spirit Magic, Spirit Storm!"
A wind pillar, condensed with immense magic power, burst forth from his palm. Green light shone in the orange sea of clouds, plunging forward, as if to cleave the sea of fire in half!
At the same time, black and red light flashed like lightning.
A dark black line was drawn on the ground, like a violent and sharp stroke of a brush across a painting of azure, orange, and green light!
The magical phenomenon was annihilated in the black and red light.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
When the orange sea of clouds rose in the sky, Gosen and Mimosa, hidden among the rocks, watched the scene from afar.
"So hot!"
"What kind of magic is that? What are they doing over there?" Gosen smacked his lips, muttering to himself, "Among our three teams, is there anyone else besides me who uses Flame Magic?"
"From what I remember... probably not, right?"
Mimosa, listening to Gosen's mumbling, also pondered and replied, "Probably not, right? After all, we've already watched the matches of the other two teams, and none of them use Flame Magic."
"Then it must be Bai En. He always causes some kind of commotion."
"Bai En? But isn't Mr. Bai En's magic something like Sword Magic? Why would he use Flame Magic?"
"Who knows?" Gosen said leisurely, "Never mind, I don't care. While the entire field's magic power is in turmoil, it's the perfect time for us to strike."
"That being said..."
Mimosa asked, "But Senior Gosen, are you sure? We are about 1500m away from their magic crystal. At this distance, our spells would probably dissipate halfway through their trajectory, wouldn't they?"
"Isn't breaking the magic crystal a bit unrealistic?"
"Hmph hmph." Gosen's lips curled slightly, "Now is the time to show my strength, Gosen! Sure enough, at crucial moments, I'm still the one they have to rely on!"
"Let me show you all."
The fiery-patterned flintlock at his waist was not drawn.
The three-leaf grimoire floating in the air slowly turned a page...