Chapter 519
Kamibarez’s counterattack with the sniper device was certainly impressive.
However, speaking of the overall flow of the match, the tide had not changed. Alizarin, still overwhelming her with sheer numbers, was holding the advantage.
Kamibarez was too busy dodging attacks, jumping here and there to avoid being struck.
“Huup!”
She leapt into the air to evade the waves, firing off another Blood Chaser.
But this time, Alizarin was not careless. He formed a shield of overlapping waves and crouched down, letting the blood bullet graze past his arm.
“Ah!”
Swaaash—!
This time, his concentration did not break. The crimson waves engulfed Kamibarez midair and slammed her into the ground.
Her barrier gauge dropped even further.
“Haa… haa…”
Barely managing to escape the waves, Kamibarez shook off dripping water from her hair and checked the state of her body.
Because of the Blood Storm she had prepared, both her blood and mental energy were constantly being drained.
Growing anxious, she brushed her hand over the magic circle drawn on her wrist.
‘If I cancel this technique and focus my remaining Darkness on long-range attacks…’
“Kami!”
At that moment, a sharp shout from the stands pierced straight into her ears.
It was Simon.
“Don’t get dragged into his pace! Think about what you need to prioritize!”
‘Ah.’
That was it.
What she had to prioritize.
Given the opponent’s favorable terrain and timing, it was only natural he would hold the initiative. Right now, no matter how battered and swept she was, the only choice was to endure.
She began running again as Alizarin’s crimson waves came crashing down one after another.
“How’s that, Ursula!”
Alizarin laughed as he swept his arms wide.
To see Ursula’s supposedly great necromancer forced into a one-sided retreat before his black magic filled him with intoxicating satisfaction.
“Yeah! I wanted to enter Keyzen just like you!”
Alizarin too had taken Keyzen’s entrance exam a year ago.
But—
-You have no talent.
Those had been the examiner’s cold first words.
-Though you specialize in haematology, sadly, you were born with blood that is far too weak.
The examiner had rejected him, and when he failed Keyzen’s entrance after preparing for five years, his life had felt shattered.
“But here in Moyran, which accepted me, I was able to rise again!”
With a gesture, the crimson waves surged from the waterways, cutting off Kamibarez’s retreat.
With nowhere to run, she thrust both hands forward and cast Blood Wave. Alizarin countered with the same black magic.
BOOOOM!
“My blood being weak doesn’t matter! Like the waves of this great lake, I’ll rise again and again!”
Kamibarez’s Blood Wave crushed the first wave, but the second, third, and fourth smashed against it, until finally her blood magic was canceled out.
“You! Born with Ursula’s blood flowing in your veins! You’ll never understand my desperation!”
The fifth wave slammed into Kamibarez, hurling her into the wall. She cried out as she struck hard.
A hit was registered, her barrier flashing red. Alizarin clenched his fist with a surge of triumph.
He could win.
Win against Keyzen, against Ursula’s necromancer.
‘I’ll defeat you! I’ll prove my blood can surpass Ursula’s!’
“Haa… haa…”
Her soaked bangs drooped, covering her eyes.
“…Yes, I don’t understand your life or your desperation.”
Staggering, she rose to her feet.
“So don’t you dare presume to judge the path I’ve lived through.”
Kiiiing!
At last, it was complete. She tore off the magic circle affixed to her body.
“Stop spouting nonsense! You with Ursula’s great blood…!”
“Half-blood!”
She shouted hoarsely.
“That’s my identity! I’ve never once thought of Ursula’s blood as a blessing! For this cursed blood flowing in a human’s body is not a blessing—it’s poison!”
Her magic circle activated. Petal-like drops of blood scattered in all directions as a scarlet tempest roared forth.
<Ursula’s Original – Blood Storm>
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA!
A furious vortex of blood howled in the arena’s center.
“But even so, I’ll move forward!”
Kamibarez thrust her arms straight ahead.
“Because the ones who acknowledge me, and the ones I want to stay with until the end, are right here!”
The Blood Storm roared as it advanced.
Alizarin too poured every last drop of Darkness into his magic circle, shaping the crimson sea into a storm. Five crimson whirlwinds erupted from all directions.
Her Blood Storm clashed against the five crimson Blood Storms.
KWA-KWAK!
Kamibarez’s storm surged stronger, smashing through all five and barreling toward Alizarin.
‘Impossible!’
The tables had turned.
Now it was Alizarin fleeing, the scarlet vortex sweeping everything around him as it pursued.
‘If I keep running, it’ll catch me!’
Dropping blood into the canal as he ran, crimson waves rose in swells.
‘Blood Storm!’
A sixth crimson storm collided with hers—but shattered instantly, collapsing back into water.
Blood Storm! Blood Storm! Blood Storm!
Even while running, he kept conjuring them, but each one broke apart against her relentless storm.
“Blood Sto… kuhh!”
His Darkness was completely drained. Though he tried scattering blood, the crimson waves rose only halfway before collapsing.
The tenth Blood Storm he conjured was his last. Trembling lips, he lifted his gaze desperately.
‘Please…!’
The image of victory over Ursula.
But the image blurred. After nine collisions, her storm still raged unbroken.
The final clash—her first Blood Storm against his tenth.
KWA-AAAANG!
They collided, canceling each other out. Exploding whirlwinds tore outward in a massive shockwave.
“Watch out!”
“Kyaaaaa!”
As if thrust into the center of a typhoon, the stands were thrown into chaos, clothes and belongings flying everywhere.
Alizarin twisted his lips into a grin.
‘…Haah, haah… I… I blocked it on the tenth try! I did it!’
But his triumph was short-lived. His head snapped around urgently. Kamibarez had already leapt in, her eyes blazing.
‘She’s coming in with close combat!’
She thrust out her palm, and still reeling, Alizarin only had time to raise his guard.
Her sharp strike met his elbow guard cleanly.
‘Now for my counter—’
But—
BOOOM—
Instead of blocking, Alizarin’s body, still in guard posture, was flung sideways.
It was the technique Hongpeng herself had praised, Kamibarez’s original martial art that repelled anything it touched with explosive force.
<Kamibarez Original – Bakta>
SMAAASH!
He was hurled across the arena and slammed into the opposite wall, gagging with a harsh retch. His barrier flickered red.
Kamibarez drew back her palm from the strike.
‘Huh?’
Her eyes dropped.
Reflected in the puddle on the floor, she saw herself drenched in Alizarin’s blood.
‘Why is there blood?’
It wasn’t from the strike—Bakta only repelled, it didn’t cause internal injuries.
Then there was only one answer—
‘He spat blood on purpose… wha—?’
Piiiiiing—
Kamibarez’s pupils, splattered with Alizarin’s blood, began trembling madly.
And Alizarin, watching her, staggered with a triumphant smile.
‘Hhhss! Somehow, it worked!’
Just like the SM-1 blood Cloud uses to create clouds, each necromancer’s blood has its own unique traits.
Alizarin’s PU-4 blood—the very trait dismissed by Keyzen’s examiner—was specialized in enchantment and parasitism. He had applied it to manipulate water, and in theory, it could even control monsters or people.
Of course, he wasn’t yet capable of truly controlling a human.
But by now, Kamibarez—
It should be as if she’s under every kind of mental curse.
Her brain would become confused, showing her hallucinations. Indeed, she was standing blankly, her arms hanging loose.
Alizarin dragged his trembling legs forward, charging at the incapacitated Kamibarez.
‘I have to finish this with close combat before she comes to her senses!’
He sprinted with all his might, pouring every scrap of Darkness he had recovered into his fist. Then he thrust it toward her.
“!”
Alizarin’s eyes widened.
Blocked.
And not by her whole arm—just a single, slender fingertip of hers effortlessly stopped his Darkness-imbued punch.
Brrr— brrr—
The power reversed, forcing him back.
Her face was frozen cold, her eyes empty, hollow like a monster’s, staring straight into him.
‘The atmosphere… it’s different…!’
That thought came and then—his vision flipped.
His body was flying.
KWAANG!
He crashed into the wall opposite the one from before. And with a tsupat! sound, Kamibarez appeared right in front of him.
SMACK!
He didn’t even understand what was happening before his head snapped sideways.
THUD!
Pain struck his stomach next. As his body bent over, Kamibarez, with those lifeless eyes, grabbed his hair and drove her knee hard into his nose.
CRAAACK!
His head whipped back. Shock poured through his barrier, blood gushed from his nose in a flood.
That blood sprayed across Kamibarez’s face again, making her expression all the more terrifying.
THUD!
SMACK!
CRUNCH!
One-sided violence unfolded. The watching crowd fell silent, unable to shut their mouths.
Holding his hair, she slammed his face over and over into the stone floor—so unlike the Keyzen schoolgirl they’d first seen.
It was like she was someone else entirely.
<Kamibarez Original – Bakta>
The repelling technique, Bakta, was unleashed while pinning Alizarin to the ground.
With a BOOM! his head bounced up like a ball into her hand, only to be smashed back down.
THUNK!
SMACK!
THUD!
Even after his barrier shattered, she did not stop.
Some spectators screwed their eyes shut, others turned away. In the stands, Benz’s lips quivered.
“K-Kami…”
The shy girl who had once handed him a towel with a bashful smile—the girl he liked—was nowhere to be seen.
“P-please… stop…!”
At that moment—
A coat flared, blocking his view.
Just as Kamibarez was about to slam Alizarin’s forehead into the wall.
FLAP!
A large figure intercepted her, the sweeping black coat settling as her movements froze at last.
“You’ve done well, Kami.”
A gentle voice whispered in her ear.
“The match is over now.”
“……”
It was Simon. He had appeared and was holding her tightly. Benz’s jaw dropped, while Maelyn covered her burning red face with both hands.
The referee, who had been rushing in to stop her, raised his hand hastily at Simon’s signal.
“M-match over! The winner is Keyzen’s student, Kamibarez Ursula!”
Simon closed his eyes, tightening his arms around her.
“It’s enough now.”
Her hollow gaze shifted. She was staring at Simon’s pale neck.
Sss—
Her lips slowly parted, sharp fangs glinting as they crept toward his throat.
“Don’t lose to your blood’s nature, Kami.”
Simon spoke firmly.
“Show them who you are—show them how great you are. Don’t let anyone else take control of your body.”
His hand gently cradled the back of her head.
“The only one who can control you—is you.”
“……”
At those words, life returned to Kamibarez’s desolate eyes, as if by miracle. Tears welled in her large violet irises.
“Simon…”
“Yeah.”
He embraced her fully.
“You did well.”
Her wild, feral trembling gradually subsided. Soon, Kamibarez wrapped her arms around his back.
“…Thank you.”
Jane, who had been preparing a Binding Curse, smiled in relief, then shot a look toward the other adults.
It was a warning—don’t touch my student.
At her gaze, the necromancers sheepishly lowered their hands. The medics carried Alizarin onto a stretcher.
After a quick check, they signaled to the guards that he would be fine.
“Oh, right.”
Simon turned to the referee with a grin.
“This doesn’t count as interfering with the match, does it?”
“Eh? Ah, no! Since the opponent’s barrier gauge broke before you entered…”
“That’s a relief.”
Kamibarez, inhaling his scent, leaned her head against his chest as if seeking support.
She could hear the heartbeat within.
And—
It was warm.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters