u2018Zu2019 menarung mengerutkan kening saat menyaksikan jutaan panah hujan turun dari langit. Dengan energi Astra masih mengalir di tubuhnya, ia mempercepat kecepatannya, tubuhnya menghilang sebagai seberkas sekelompok panah bertemu dengan pisannya satu per satu. Bahkan yang ia hindari pun mengubah arah, mengikuti terus-menerus tanpa memberi dirinya sejenak pun untuk rehat.
Setelah semenit berkelana di medan perang, u2018Zu2019 sepertinya bosan berlari. Saatnya berhenti, ia membuka lubang hitam lainnya, menelan panah dengan lapar. Lalu meluncur ke langit dalam giliran kecepatan, menyatu dengan Asher.
Tapi saat dia hampir sampai, Arianna muncul di hadapannya, menghidupkan Spatial Lock. Pedang pendek ganda teriak ke arah leher u2018Zu2019. u2018Zu2019 segera memanggil Lightning Dragon lagi, langit menjawabnya, hingga saatnya Asher merebut kendali langit.
Saat pedang Arianna sempat terlepas sejenak dari sangkutan leher u2018Zu2019, tiba-tiba energi Astra meledak dari tubuhnya dalam ledakan petarung yang menutupi langit sejauh ratusan kilometer.
Ini salah satu teknik dasar manipulasi energi Astra yang diajarkan oleh Instruktur Melissa di Star Academy; menciptakan ledakan dengan energi Astra. Itulah yang u2018Zu2019 lakukan untuk selamat di saat genting.
Arianna dan Asher tak tertunda. Saat ledakan usai, keduanya meluncur ke langit, kembali menghabiskan jarak.
Asher kali ini meresapi afinitas Cahayanya, menciptakan ilusi dirinya dan Arianna menyerang dari kedua sisi, sementara tubuh sebenarnya tetap tak terlihat, menyerang dari belakang dan depan.
u2018Zu2019 langsung berputar untuk membelokkan serangan dari sisi, jatuh ke dalam ilusi. Tapi saat ia hendak membelokkan serangan ilusi, ia langsung menyesuaikan diri, berputar dan melawan Asher tak terlihat yang menyerang dari depan.
Dia tahu sejak awal itu adalah ilusi; ia hanya bermain seperti Asher yang pura-menipu setengah jam sebelumnya. Ia hanya memberi Asher taktiknya sendiri.
The Convergence sudah tahu keahlian ilusi Asher, jadi tentu saja mereka siap. Dasar sekali mereka setidaknya melakukan itu.
Saat pisannya takkan bertemu kalaianya, Optimal Movement Efficiency dan Perfect Muscle Memory Asher aktif, tubuhnya melampaui batas, Virelass bertemu pisana dengan gemuruh yang menghanyutkan langit, tubuhnya meluncur ke bumi seperti peluru.
u2018Zu2019 tercengang Asher berhasil memblokir di momen terakhir, tapi ia tak sempat tercengang, karena serangan Arianna sudah hampir menyentuh dari belakang. Ia segera membelokkan, lalu menancapkan pedang ke dada. Tapi Arianna hanya mengalir melewati serangan itu.
Ia tidak mundur, tapi maju, pedang pendeknya teriak ke arah leher u2018Zu2019, sementara yang kedua siul ke arah perutnya dengan gerakan nyaris sempurna.
Pisana u2018Zu2019 bersinar tenang, mata dan inderaknya mengikuti kedua serangan, membelokkan yang ke leher sambil condong badan melewati cakupan perut.
Tapi ia tak di sini untuk diserang di belakang. Ia melepas serangkaian serangan garis pedang yang terurai ke udara, siul ke arah Arianna. Tapi Arianna tak ragu, melompat ke depan dan bertemu dengan World Series-nya, pasti tidak memakai elemen apapun agar u2018Zu2019 tak bisa meniru.
Ia punya banyak keahlian, sangat banyak, tapi bertemu lawan seperti u2018Zu2019 terlalu menguntungkan. Tapi tak apa-apa, wajahnya tetap tersenyum lebar.
Langit sendapan gelap saat teknik pedang mereka bertemu, ruang berguncang di antara mereka.
u2018Zu2019 kembali menyatu, menggertakkan bahu ke arah pundak Arianna. Arianna langsung beralih ke sisi, tapi saat itu, tendangan lutu u2018Zu2019 menanti. Dampaknya kejam, menghancurkan tubuhnya meski dalam World Embodiment State, badannya melipat seperti kertas sebelum jatuh dari langit seperti tetesan hujan.
Tapi dari bawah, Asher meluncur ke langit dalam kilat. Saat sampai, tangannya merejang dan memegangnya, lalu berputar dan melempar kembali ke arah u2018Zu2019.
Arianna baru mengerti saat ini bahwa kemampuan Mirroring u2018Zu2019 tak meniru keahlian yang memperkuat lawannya. Jika ia bisa, ia akan menggunakan Lightning Armour Asher sudah lama ago.
Dengan pemahaman itu, saat ia mendekat, energi petir merah, angin, dan cahaya mengalir di tubuhnya, kecepatannya melonjak, tapi ia tak memakai untuk memperkuat dual pedangnya. Saat tiba, dual pedangnya membentuk huruf X, lalu ia menerjang udara. Tenaga di seberangnya naik level baru, bertumpuk elemen, semakin berbahaya.
u2018Zu2019 langkah mundur, tapi sebelum bisa, sesuatu meregang dari tubuhnya. Matanya langsung mengikutkannya, dan itu adalah Asher, atau lebih tepatnya, Photon Clone Asher yang baru saja diciptakan di saat u2018Zu2019 hendak menghadapi serangan Arianna.
Darah mengalir dari dada pria itu saat serangan Arianna menyentuhnya. Tapi u2018Zu2019 tak akan jatuh begitu saja. Dengan satu aksi, ia mengayunkan pisannya ke atas, bertemu serangan itu sekaligus, sementara tangannya lainnya menampar Photon Clone Asher hingga mereka meledang menjadi partikel cahaya.
Meskipun klon itu bisa membuat orang lain kesulitan, ia tak akan menjadi Dust Voidstar Life Ranker dengan percuma.
Asher memakai keahlian gerakan cahaya Malrik untuk muncul di sisi u2018Zu2020, kakinya melaju dengan niat jahat. Serangan itu langsung mengena, kepalanya tertikam ke samping, lalu meluncur ke bumi seperti bola panah dari senapan.
Virelass muncul di tangan Asher, ia telah meminjamkannya ke Photon Clone untuk menyerang u2018Zu2019 dari belakang, jika tidak, tak mungkin klon yang tidak bisa memakai Star Energy bisa melukai Dust Voidstar Life Ranker. Itu mustahil.
u2018Zu2019 mendarat dengan kuat, tubuhnya tertarik mundur saat meluncur ke hentian. Kepalanya menolek ke atas, melihat Asher dan Arianna jatuh dari langit.
u2018Remaja zaman sekarang,u2019 pikirnya.
Ia megabaikan luka-lukanya, petir ungu menggenarii pisannya sebagaimana ia mengayunkan ke atas, menyusulnya dengan aliran cincin-cincin petir ungu yang melaju cepat. Tapi Arianna dan Asher kembali menghabiskan jarak dengan cepat, menghindar dengan mudah.
Senjata mereka jatuh dengan kekuatan asteroid sekembali.
u2018Zu2019 mengangkat pisanya dalam seberkas perak, menempatkannya horizontal untuk memblokir. Saat itu terjadi, Asher dan Arianna menyerang, satu perak, satu hitam. Saat ketiga senjata itu bertemu, dampaknya kivan mengguncangkan radius seribu kilometer, kekuatan hebat menyebar di medan perang yang sudah hancur.
’Z’ frowned as he watched millions of arrows rain down from the sky. With Astra energy still coursing through his body, he augmented his speed, his body vanishing in a blur as his katana met every arrow head-on as he deflected them. Even the ones he dodged simply changed course as they followed him endlessly, refusing to give him even a moment of respite.
After a minute of blurring through the battlefield, ’Z’ seemed to become tired of running as he finally came to a stop. The moment he stopped, he simply opened another Black Hole, the Black Hole swallowing the arrows hungrily. With that done, he shot towards the sky in a burst of speed as he closed the distance between himself and Asher.
But the moment he did, Arianna appeared before him once more as she activated Spatial Lock. Her twin short swords screamed towards ’Z’s neck. ’Z’ immediately called upon the Lightning Dragon once more, the sky answering his call, but the next moment it stopped as Asher took control over the sky.
As Arianna’s swords were just a split second away from decapitating ’Z’, the man acted as the next moment, Astra energy erupted from his body in a titanic explosion that covered everything for hundreds of kilometers within the sky.
This was one of the basic Astra energy manipulation techniques that Instructor Melissa had taught back at the Star Academy; creating explosions with Astra energy. That was exactly what ’Z’ had done to save himself in the nick of time.
Arianna and Asher didn’t delay, the moment the explosion was done, they shot forward through the sky as they closed the distance yet again.
Asher simply tapped into his Light affinity this time as he created an illusion of him and Arianna attacking from both sides, while their real bodies remained invisible as they attacked from behind and the front.
’Z’ immediately twisted to parry the attacks from the sides as he fell for the illusion. But the moment he was about to parry the illusions’ attacks, he immediately recalibrated as he twisted and swung his sword towards the invisible Asher that attacked him from the front.
He had known it was an illusion from the beginning; he had just been playing along the same way Asher had faked falling for his feint about an hour earlier. He was simply feeding Asher his own tactic.
The Convergence had known about Asher’s illusion skill, so obviously they were prepared for it. It was basic that they at least did that much.
As the katana was about to meet his skull, Asher’s Optimal Movement Efficiency and Perfect Muscle Memory activated, his body pushing beyond its limits as Virelass met the katana head-on in a thunderous crescendo that tore him off the sky, his body shooting like a missile towards the ground.
’Z’ was stunned that Asher had managed to block at the last possible moment, but he didn’t have time to be stunned as Arianna’s attack was closing in fast from behind. He immediately parried hers, then moved to slash at her chest. But Arianna simply phased through the attack.
She didn’t take a step back, she pressed forward, her short sword screaming towards ’Z’s neck, the second short sword singing at the man’s waist with nigh-flawless motion.
’Z’s katana flashed with calm ease, his eyes and senses tracking both attacks, his katana parrying the one aimed at his neck as he simply bent beyond the reach of the attack on his waist.
But he wasn’t here to be on the back foot. He unleashed a series of sword-line attacks that tore through the air and sang towards Arianna. But Arianna didn’t hesitate, she dove headfirst into the attack and met it with her own World Series technique, making sure not to use any type of elemental attack as she didn’t want ’Z’ to Mirror it.
She had many abilities to use, so many, but meeting an opponent like ’Z’ was simply too disadvantageous. But it didn’t matter, she fought with the same grin on her face.
The sky itself blotted out as their sword techniques met, the space quaking between them.
’Z’ closed the distance once again, he feinted towards Arianna’s shoulder. Arianna immediately blurred to the side, but the moment she did, all that awaited her was a knee kick from ’Z’. The impact was brutal, ravaging, the force screaming through her body despite her World Embodiment State, her body folded like paper before she shot downward from the sky like a raindrop.
But from the ground, Asher shot forward towards the sky in a blitz. The moment he reached Arianna, he stretched out his hand and caught her, then twisted through the air and threw her back towards ’Z’.
Arianna had come to understand at this moment that ’Z’s Mirroring ability didn’t seem to Mirror abilities that enhanced his opponents. If the man could, he would have used Asher’s Lightning Armour by now.
With that understanding, as she closed the distance, red Lightning, Wind, and Light coursed through her body as her speed skyrocketed, but she didn’t use them to augment her twin short swords. The moment she arrived, her twin short swords formed an X shape, and with that she slashed through the air. The power behind her attacks rose to a new level as she stacked elements, the combined force becoming even more dangerous.
’Z’ moved to block, but before he could, something tore from his body. His eyes snapped towards it, and it was Asher, or rather, a Photon Clone Asher had created at that brief moment ’Z’ was about to meet Arianna’s attack head-on.
Blood flowed through the man’s chest as the next moment Arianna’s attack reached him. But ’Z’ wouldn’t go down so easily. With that one, he swung his katana upwards, meeting Arianna’s attack head-on, while he used his other hand to slap Asher’s Photon Clone into a burst of light particles.
While the clone might be able to give others a hard time, he wasn’t a Dust Voidstar Life Ranker for nothing.
Asher used Malrik’s Light movement skill to appear beside ’Z’, his leg snapping outwards as he unleashed a kick towards ’Z’s head with wicked intention. The attack connected with detonating impact, the man’s head snapping sideways, then shooting down from the sky like a bullet from a gun.
Virelass appeared in Asher’s hand as he had lent it to the Photon Clone to deal damage to ’Z’ from behind, if not, there was no way a Photon Clone who couldn’t use Star Energy could injure a Dust Voidstar Life Ranker. It was simply impossible.
’Z’ landed on his feet, his body dragging backwards as he skidded to a stop. His head snapped upwards as he saw Asher and Arianna shooting downwards from the sky.
’Children nowadays,’ he thought to himself.
He ignored his own injuries, purple Lightning flooding his katana as he swung it upwards, various crescent purple Lightning flowing upwards at lightning speed. But Arianna and Asher closed the distance in a blip as they dodged with extreme ease.
Their weapons came down with the force of an astroid once more.
’Z’ raised his katana in a blur of silver, positioning it horizontally for a block. The moment he did, Asher’s and Arianna’s swords closed in, one silver, the other black. The moment the three weapons met, the impact was maddening as everything within a one-thousand-kilometer radius was warped by the resulting shockwave, the immense force spreading across the already devastated battlefield.
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