Chapter: 134
Pandora August.
The arts of the August family are known for their sword particle techniques known as Sword Fragment Haze.
These techniques involve handling thin shards of sword-like ash that can tear through skin and muscle in an instant.
As a result, those who face the August family often end up looking like they’ve been through a catastrophic shredding.
Psh! Pshhh!
To exemplify, Haring’s body was accumulating small wounds continuously.
Her skill, Invisibility, was optimized for sneak attacks and ambushes.
Naturally, it wasn’t very effective in direct confrontations.
Especially when facing someone like Pandora, who had the ability to launch area attacks.
With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Pandora moved gracefully, and with each step, the swirling shards of sword powder relentlessly pressured Haring.
Realizing this, Haring soon dropped Invisibility and began deflecting the sword powder with her dagger.
She understood well that Invisibility was meaningless against Pandora.
“The Lagren family is one I hold a certain respect for. With the Poison King being one of the top ten martial artists, it’s clear their poison can affect even the World Erosion monsters.”
Pandora praised the Poison King as he adjusted his glasses.
“But it seems like his daughter is a different matter. Absolutely pathetic! You think there’ll be many frontal encounters in such a chaotic Erosion?”
While observing Haring, who couldn’t even cut through his sword powder, Pandora let out a mocking sneer.
Haring was already fatigued from her previous battle against Ligra.
Her wrist, which had been chained, was particularly affected.
Because of her injured wrist, she was struggling to wield the dagger and fend off the sword powder.
Psh!
And Pandora had no intentions of being lenient on her wrist.
The shards of sword powder that grazed past her wrist caused blood to splatter.
Ugh.
As Haring swallowed her breath, she stepped back once again.
But she quickly realized she had nowhere else to retreat to.
Her feet had reached the edge of the arena.
“No matter how I think about it, I really can’t understand.”
The storm of sword powder began to ramp up.
Amidst the swirling storm of sword powder, Pandora asked while staring at Haring, “Haring, what on earth possesses the Imperial faction to assist the Staroon nobility during this critical time?”
Pandora’s expression betrayed his inability to comprehend.
For him, a staunch supporter of the empire, it was utterly unacceptable behavior.
However, Haring’s expression remained unchanged.
“In the World Erosion, it doesn’t matter whether it’s the Empire or Staroon.”
She simply spoke about her own experiences and what she’d been told.
“I just know that someone like Kraush is the most dependable in the Erosion.”
On that day she faced Dekravia alongside the Dandy Dandans, Haring had put in every ounce of effort to combat Dekravia.
Kraush had returned that power with even greater strength.
If they had to fight against the World Erosion, she’d want to have his back.
And above all, she wanted to support Kraush, who would undoubtedly give his all moving forward, so that he wouldn’t crumble like before.
That was Haring’s true feeling.
I won’t let him end up like my brother!
She wouldn’t let a repeat of that day happen again.
Haring’s eyes shone brightly with a purple hue.
Pandora, who was watching with a distant gaze, swallowed a small chuckle.
“Oh, really.”
At that moment, the storm of sword powder came to a complete stop.
The sight of the once wildly swirling powder halting mid-air was far more pressuring than one could imagine.
“I wasted time trying to enlighten you for no reason.”
With those words, the sword powder suddenly poured down on Haring.
At that moment, with thousands of shards of powder raining down, it was certain her body would be shredded to pieces.
Yet, Pandora intended to show Haring a bitter lesson through this opportunity.
He wanted to teach her what happens when someone from the Empire prioritizes a foreigner over their own.
Just as Haring’s body was about to be ripped apart by the sword powder, a purple haze of poison began to rise from her body.
Pandora realized this too late.
Haring had leaped into the Sword Fragment Haze without an ounce of hesitation.
“Oh no! This is insane!”
Seeing Haring perform an act akin to suicide, Pandora panicked but quickly recognized that it wasn’t the right moment to stop the sword powder.
Because the poison emanating from Haring’s body was actually melting the sword fragments away.
Pandora’s eyes widened in shock.
He never expected her to charge in headfirst.
But regardless of how accustomed to poison Haring from the Lagren family was, such an act would undoubtedly harm her as well.
And as he thought, Pandora’s predictions were correct.
The poison from Haring’s Triple Poison Murder was so potent that it inflicted damage on her own body as well.
Her skin was raw, and the wounds were exposed to the poison, causing her intense pain.
Essentially charging in without looking back, she was a living embodiment of someone recklessly going into battle.
This battle method was eerily similar to someone else’s.
SSSHHHHHHHHHH!
The shards of sword powder began to dissolve as they approached her.
Finally, Pandora’s form, who had once dominated the storm of sword powder, was unveiled.
Pandora’s eyes went wide.
Haring had pierced through the Sword Fragment Haze and was now directly at his face.
Slamming her feet onto the ground, Haring leapt toward Pandora with unyielding determination.
With venom infused in her dagger, her arm extended towards Pandora.
Just as victory flashed through her eyes.
CLANG!
The echoing sound cut through the arena.
Right in front of her thrust dagger, a sword formed from the gathered sword powder blocked her attack.
Pandora’s eyebrows twitched as if he were in disbelief.
He hadn’t actually hidden amongst the sword powder; he merely thought that would suffice for defense.
For Pandora, whether Haring gave him space or not was irrelevant from the beginning.
He was confident even in a direct confrontation.
“…I did mention I want a frontal confrontation, didn’t I?”
CLANG!
With a swing of Pandora’s sword, Haring’s dagger was deflected.
With her wounded wrist, she could not contend with his strength.
TING!
As her dagger went flying and clattered to the ground, Haring hurriedly attempted to regain her stance.
However, Pandora had already reached out with his other hand toward her.
Gathering and condensing pieces of sword powder, he formed a cannonball.
Sword Fragment Haze, Second Form, Sword Fragment Cannonball!
BOOM!
With an explosive sound, the cannonball of sword powder engulfed Haring.
Her body soared into the air.
And before she could hit the ground, someone caught her.
Haring’s eyes fluttered open hazily.
She could faintly see a silhouette with dark blue hair.
Outside the arena.
Kraush had caught her before she hit the ground.
“Now, rest.”
Upon hearing those words, Haring slowly closed her eyes.
Kraush gently lifted her and passed her to a fellow student waiting nearby.
Kraush then turned to face Pandora.
Matching Haring’s disheveled state, Pandora wore a smug grin.
“Struggling unnecessarily.”
Kraush began ascending back to the arena slowly.
“Do you really think that way?”
As he questioned, Pandora’s eyes opened lazily, reflecting his confusion about the inquiry.
But in that instant, Pandora felt something off happening right in front of him.
Simultaneously, his pulse quickened, and his breaths became ragged.
Gah!
He clutched his chest as blood mixed with saliva gushed from his mouth.
Only then did he realize his own body was in peril.
He couldn’t recall when he was attacked, leading to a perplexed expression on his face.
But Kraush simply pointed to his arm.
“It must have happened when you recaptured the sword powder.”
Pandora’s eyes shot down at his own hands.
Among the powder, a thin, sharp wire was tightly coiled around his fingertips.
Drip, drip—
Drops of blood trickled down from his fingertips, darkening as they fell.
The evidence of his poisoning.
When Haring initially activated Invisibility, her intention wasn’t to hide herself, but rather to conceal her actions.
In the midst of the sword powder storm, she had secretly scattered the distinctive poison marking of the Lagren family.
This resulted in the wires, which were invisible while cloaked, creating a snare amidst the storm.
Therefore, Haring had chosen to go for a direct charge.
She wanted to bait Pandora into returning even a bit of the sword powder back at her.
And her strategy matched perfectly.
Given Pandora’s compromised state, this was the best course of action she could take.
“Ugh!”
Pandora retched, spitting out the contents of his stomach onto the ground, as pain coursed through his body.
With great difficulty, he leaned against the ground.
“Referee, start the match.”
Ignoring Pandora, Kraush casually ordered the referee to signal the start.
The referee appeared flustered, but according to the rules, one could only exit the arena if they acknowledged defeat or lost consciousness.
Pandora hadn’t declared his loss yet.
And he’d never voluntarily admit defeat.
If he did, it would mark an end to his reputation as a noble of the empire against Staroon.
Kraush understood this well, so he instructed the referee to call for the start.
“Y-Yes, begin!”
The referee, realizing it might be better to end it quickly, announced the start without delay.
At the signal, Kraush retreated a step.
“Looks like you wanted me to expend my energy.”
Simultaneously, a wave of overwhelming heat began to emanate from Kraush’s body.
The internal churn transformed into a surge of heat, steadily increasing.
As the heat grew, spectators began feeling the atmosphere shift.
One by one, they couldn’t bear the rising heat and began to retreat.
WHOOSH!
The black flame surged up fiercely, filling the arena.
Pandora’s face, standing right in front of the black flame, drained of all color.
CRACK!
Unable to withstand the heat, Pandora’s glasses cracked.
The suffocating heat felt like it would ignite all the oxygen around him, causing a choking sensation.
Kraush slowly lifted the Thunderclap.
As he did, a golden scabbard began to take form atop the sword blade.
CRACKLE!
With the sound of thunder cracking, the scabbard of the Thunderclap collided, amplifying its power.
SHIVER!
This was dangerous.
Facing it head-on could lead to disaster.
Through the lens of Pandora’s glasses, Kraush’s face came into view.
The irises, resembling those of his sister, emitted a unique intensity that seemed to fade.
Only then did Pandora realize.
He was facing the younger brother of Charlotte, a character with an even more reckless demeanor than her.
The rage in Kraush’s eyes bore the singular focus of intent to kill.
I’m going to die.
Pandora realized that this person truly meant to kill him.
“Wait a sec…!”
Pandora swiftly raised his hand, nearly on the brink of declaring defeat to save his life.
“I’ll give you what you want.”
But Kraush didn’t allow him to finish; he merely twisted his lips upwards into a grin.
And with that, the thunderous scabbard shattered.
CRACKLE!
Fire Erosion Siphon, Third Form, Fire Erosion Heavenly Thunder!
The storm, a mix of black flames and thunder, swept through the arena in an instant.
Unlike the previous sword powder storm, the devastation brought on by this was on an entirely different level, causing spectators to scream and scatter.
THUD, THUD, THUD!
On the engraved arena floor, Pandora collapsed, his head thrown back as he lost consciousness.
Alongside his broken glasses, he lay covered in the ash from the black flames.
Yet, whether it was the glance of death he witnessed or something else, his pants were damp.
And that was without receiving a direct hit from Kraush’s Fire Erosion Heavenly Thunder.
Kraush clicked his tongue.
He remembered Pandora’s shattering during a previous encounter with Arthur.
After all, Pandora had once faced a similar fate after attempting something foolish against Arthur.
Of course, from Pandora’s perspective, a rising local noble like Arthur would have been unwelcome.
At the very least, if he had some skill, it’d be a fairer fight.
Unfortunately for Pandora, he had nothing of the sort.
However, there was someone else present who definitely had skills.
Resolving the black flames surrounding Thunderclap, Kraush lifted his head.
Because emerging through the smoke was none other than Arsoldar Freya.
As a child of Freya, he bore a hefty build. When he locked eyes with Kraush, he grinned widely.
“Charlotte’s little brother! I bet you’ve had a dull wait.”
Kraush stretched a bit, looking at Arsoldar.
“You ever beat Charlotte?”
At Kraush’s question, Arsoldar blinked in surprise.
Then he erupted into hearty laughter.
“Nah, your sister’s too strong. I can never win.”
“Right.”
Arsoldar was completely unfazed by his defeats.
Seeing his demeanor, Kraush chuckled briefly.
“Then you won’t win against me either.”
Challenging both siblings would be considered quite the task!
