Chapter 19 - Unleashing Power Part 2

Outside, many eyes were watching the games.

**VIP Seats**

[She is great.]

[7th HST after only two months... She is a monster.]

[If she would separate from that powerless one, she would be perfect.]

[Not really a big issue. If she wants to keep a pet or two, she has all the means to.]

[Our company wants to recruit her, but which one doesn’t, haha.]

[Right, and with her talent, it’s nearly guaranteed that she will become a Ranker.]

[Athena’s would be eager to claim her as their own.]

[Of course, Claire will definitely want to do that.]

***

**General Population**

[Go, go, go, Mersa-chan!]

[Wow, did you just see that movement?]

[Her attacks are so graceful!]

[Why is she with that 'powerless' one?]

[Boooo, die, you 'powerless'!]

At that moment, Mersa was having a bit of her armor repaired by Vorst, who was still in normal Armor. In fact, he was the only 'LST' participating in the games.

[I heard that the 'powerless' one is a genius engineer.]

[What are those two bots? Their repair speed is so high... Is the 'powerless' one operating them?]

***

**VIP Seats**

[That child...]

[Powerless. I heard his engineering skills are superb.]

[If he weren’t powerless, he would easily be a great asset to any company.]

[Yes.]

[Hiring him secretly wouldn’t be a bad idea.]

[Right, he is close with the White Wolf Princess. If he can get her to your side, he might prove even more valuable.]

[Do you think Claire-sama hasn’t thought of that?]

[That fox...]

***

It was the end of the day as the second day concluded. After another night spent in the arms of the 10-year-old girl, they entered the final phase of the tournament.

Vorst stood at his post as events unfolded just as the demoness had foreseen. First, Athena and Mars launched all-out attacks on the 'coalition' of six schools from two sides. Despite a 2,000 vs. 6,000 advantage, the latter was completely crushed in less than two hours. After a brief skirmish, Athena’s forces quickly retreated to their reinforced positions.

The siege took some time, but Mars Academy’s forces slowly made their way through. Especially the trio with Renves Zec, who were pushing tremendously. The climax battles had ended several minutes ago. With top-tier soldiers from Athena gone, it looked more like a cleanup operation rather than a battle.

Vorst squinted as he stood still. Usually, he would have already jumped into the fray, but he and Lily had agreed that he should only arrive at the scene when his White Wolf Princess was in trouble. Unexpectedly, she was still fine. Her movements were sharper than ever as she fought fiercely against her opponents.

They were slowly retreating to the place designated for the last stand—where Vorst was stationed.

Most of the girls in the academy had already fallen, and the enemy outnumbered them heavily, approximately 500 to 100, with 90 of Athena’s forces being non-combat units like medics and engineers held in the back.

Ten soldiers were running towards their position, with Mersa among them. But she suddenly halted.

The reason was Vorst, who was standing out there watching her. As they made eye contact, she realized that if she lost this fight, the person she had promised to protect would also 'perish.' That was unacceptable, even in virtual reality, because such situations could happen in real life.

With new resolve, the Wolf Princess turned back and faced her opponents. Over 300 soldiers were still operational on the other side. It was 300 vs. 1!

One of them noticed her change in attitude and saw the 'normal Armor' standing there. He connected the two and felt a surge of jealousy and envy. What did this 'powerless' have that he didn’t? Why did it have to be him?

The boy’s name was Renves Zec. In his life, he truly had it all: a great background—his family was known for raising two Rankers and several Circle Tier warriors—and tremendous talent as a Red Bear, known for their immense strength. On the other hand, what did the 'powerless' have? Nothing!

With a gesture, he halted the advance and stepped forward. He nodded towards the 'powerless,' as if challenging him to watch. With a sudden increase in photon output, he enhanced his speed and charged at the Wolf Princess.

No matter how much willpower Mersa had, she was simply too tired. Her photon pool was nearly empty. With her last effort, she managed to deflect his first strike, but that was all. The sword her precious person had gifted her fell from her hand as she swayed. She knew the next strike would be the end.

***

**Claire’s POV:** This is it, dear. This is your limit now, Wolf Princess. Remember this feeling of hopelessness; it will help you grow stronger. Much stronger. To protect your Vorst.

**Mistglan’s POV:** This is the cruel reality. The stronger will win. What will you do? Will you be able to face it and move forward? Do you have enough courage, Mersa?

**Mersa’s POV:** She knew that with the next strike, she would fall, and with that, she would sign the death warrant for Vorst. With her whole heart, she swore to train harder in the future!

The audience fell completely silent. Mersa had become something akin to a great celebrity in the past several months. With all of Athena’s elites already gone, they knew this was a decisive strike. This was the end.

***

[--Lily--: Now.]

The demoness’s voice didn’t even reach his ears.

Vorst was already moving with lightning-like strides.

Enormous silent killing intent poured out from him.

[--Lily--: Hehe~]

[--Calla--: That’s why I love m'lord.]

***

The sword strike was falling towards her...

Filled with regret, Mersa closed her eyes.

BAM.

A collision sound echoed through the surroundings. But she didn’t feel it. Was death in virtual reality supposed to feel like this? Just nothing? As she opened her eyes, she saw a figure of a normal Armor before her. With his back towards her, he glared at the 500+ people before him, especially at the Red Bear who had just been attacking her.

[Mersa: V-Vor-chan?]

The surroundings fell silent.

The right armor on Vorst’s arm fell apart, and as it crumbled on the ground, Renves woke from his shock. Just as he was about to finish the girl, a shadow appeared in front of him, and with a BAM sound, he was sent flying back. With a quick glance at the numbers, Renves saw that his M-Armor wasn’t too badly damaged, but the shock was still immense. How did the 'powerless' do that?! How did he appear there so fast?

As he stood up, a shadow flashed past him. It was Vera Naem, one of the trio, also a 10th HST, charging towards the 'powerless.'

A direct, but lightning-fast cut ran through the 'powerless' like butter.

That’s how it was supposed to happen.

But the result was completely different. The 'powerless' lifted his left arm, and just as the sword came down, he made a horizontal swipe. Sparks flew in the air. His gauntlets were damaged, but the strike was deflected to the side.

Vorst’s right hand clenched into a fist. Several symbols appeared around it, and he performed a punch—a straight but lightning-fast punch.

A punch from the powerless.

A punch without even armor on it.

Normally, they would have laughed it off, but no one had time for that. The M-Armor flew back several hundred meters and crashed into several others. Several scraps landed afterward, indicating that the force, which should have been non-existent, had completely torn it apart.

The boy’s head turned back towards the girl.

[Vorst: Wait here.]

With a stunned expression, she could only nod.

Then 'it' appeared.

A 2.5-meter-tall figure, fully clad in dark golden scales. Long claws adorned its hands, and a three-meter tail was equipped with razor-sharp scales. Powerful, majestic, imposing. On its back were two blades measuring 1.8 meters in length and 20 centimeters in width. Two spheres appeared next to it.

The right hand drew a black hilt, and a pitch-black blade emerged from the sheath. It seemed as if it threatened to swallow the surrounding light. With a sudden movement, he charged towards Renves. The two spheres moved in a curve as if to surround him.

Though the Red Bear was shocked, he wasn’t a rookie. As the new opponent appeared, he immediately took a stance. As an official swordsman, he definitely had some skill. The spheres passed him, but from the readings, he saw that the bots did not have enough nano-photons to budge him. Therefore, his sight was fully focused on the charging opponent.

Just as the 'powerless' came within 5 meters, he suddenly disappeared!

Vorst focused nano-photons on his feet and, with one step, accelerated to incredible speed. First strike—a horizontal slash. Sparks flew in the air. The 'powerless' landed on one of the spheres! Second acceleration, second strike. More sparks appeared. This time he landed on

the white sphere, and with a third acceleration step, the third strike came. No sparks appeared, meaning the barrier was cut through! Everything was resolved in less than 2 seconds!

As he landed 3 meters away from his opponent, he turned to face the rest.

The 'powerless' lifted his black sword and pointed it at the 500+ M-Armors that were stunned.

His left scaled hand drew a pure white blade, which created an illusion of radiating light. His tail swayed viciously to the left and right. The spheres, which had been knocked away by the force of his jumps, flew back.

[Vorst: I will not allow anyone to bully my Mer-chan. Today, you all... Die.]

Renves's 'corpse' fell.