Chapter 29: Witch of Restriction Part 2

The Former Lord of Betrayal was currently sitting next to a stylish white table that she had summoned herself. Bringing a porcelain cup of scented tea to her cute lips, she commented as if the battle amused her.

[--Calla--: *Nods, gulp.*]

The Archangel of Slaughter, sitting next to her, enjoyed the tea as well, without a care.

After dodging another (Runic Shot), the Golden Knight made another attempt at the Witch, only to be pushed back once again.

The battle continued.

(Runic Shot). Explosions. Dodge. Hit. (Restriction). (Impact Blade).

The vicious cycle was repeatedly draining his barrier strength.

The Golden Knight’s tail was tattered, with only a few remaining scales. With a cracking noise, it moved to the front to protect its owner... For the last time. After another crash into the arena, it broke away from the main body and remained within the wreckage.

<Vorst's Barrier: 25%>

<Nova's Barrier: 65%>

Swish.

Burst. Vorst made an immediate move to dodge the incoming runic bullet.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

As usual, he dodged with seamless movements... But this time it was different. Perhaps because he had lost his tail, his sense of balance was a bit off...

The third shot hit him directly in the shoulder, pushing him back.

Nova didn’t miss it. She moved photons to her sword and charged up another (Runic Shot), one with three times more power than the last.

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The oval sphere shot out.

Then it happened.

His apparent bad reaction was a blatant lie, and as if nothing had happened, the Golden Knight instantly regained his balance and shot out at a speed faster than before.

A full Accel.

The white bullet grazed him. Golden scales turned into scraps. Then, he was before the Witch.

Strike. Strike. Strike.

Recklessly. Ferociously.

[Nova: (Restriction), (Impact Blade)]

With those two moves, his offensive was halted, and he was pushed back once again. Nova bit her lip; in his last offensive, she hadn’t been able to put up a psychic barrier in time. In fact, she was admiring him more and more.

<Vorst's Barrier: 14%> Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

<Nova's Barrier: 38%>

The Golden Knight’s movements halted. That was his last card. Just as she showed an opening, he aimed to exploit it completely, but Nova’s reaction was incredibly quick. Even when surprised, she didn’t lose her composure... Seeing him stop, the Witch correctly guessed his thoughts.

[Nova: Your last move was excellent, but I guess you’re out of options, right? You can surrender now. I still can’t believe you’re just 2nd HST; no one else has pushed me back this far. You can be proud of yourself. Now surrender and let this onee-san take care of you.]

She said this while caressing her long sword. The Golden Knight shook his head in resignation...

[Vorst: I didn’t want to use it... But since I hate losing, it can’t be helped.]

Nova’s eyes squinted. What would he do? She really wanted to find out...

With that, he accessed his PSpace again.

A white sphere appeared.

[Vorst: <Loki> Battle mode.]

Red lines appeared on the previously pure white surface, and as mechanical sounds resounded, the sphere transformed. It became smaller but grew four 1-meter curved blades on its sides.

System: Object? Power level: Low HST

[Nova: No way. Photon Transfer.]

That was a special ability only Circle Tier Engineers were supposed to possess. Since their fighting abilities were quite weak, they employed bots in their stead. They would transfer their photons to the bot and let it fight. Of course, there were major drawbacks, such as repetitive attack patterns and lack of flexibility, but the user would be relatively safe.

[Vorst: No need to hold back. Camouflage.]

With an additional command, the bot started spinning and its color began to fade until it turned transparent. Optical Camouflage—now the spinning bot was nearly invisible, with only a barely noticeable outline remaining.

[--Lily--: Huhu, I’ll just refrain from using the 'Omen of Deceit'.]

Once that special blessing was activated, the Intelligence Drone would truly become undetectable.

The barely visible object moved, but the Witch didn’t have the leisure to follow it as she was fully occupied with the golden flash that went straight for her.

[Nova: Kuh, (Restriction), Impa. Ah.]

As usual, Vorst was caught in her barrier, but just as she was about to create a rune on her sword, 'something' hit it with perfect timing. The Golden Knight had been waiting for this moment; he broke past the restriction barrier and slashed repeatedly.

Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.

A dark flare appeared on the sword.

Suddenly, an explosion happened.

The Golden Knight crashed into the wall once more. Yet he stood up again, a circular blur appearing next to him. One of the weaknesses of the Photon Transfer was the need to recharge, which meant if the two of them fought, it was a double photon consumption.

[Vorst: Fufu, this feels like the usual routine for me. But tell me, how does the wall taste?]

Indeed! This time the Witch, for the first time, also created a crash mark on the opposite side. It was a desperate move! If the last dark flare move had connected, she would have lost. So she fired off an 'Explosion' rune at point-blank range, damaging both of them.

[Nova: That sword is good; to be able to take (Explosion) and remain unscathed...]

Though she joked, she knew she was in crisis. This was one of her few weaknesses—her (Restriction) could only hold back one object!

[Vorst: Hehe, this little one is my pride.]

He bestowed a tender caress upon the black blade. Nova didn’t know why, but she felt a pang of jealousy...

With a burst, she arrived at the middle of the arena again. For her, being pushed back to a wall in a melee was a major disadvantage. The Golden Knight just stood there, allowing her to position herself.

Again, both of her opponents moved. The Witch didn’t dare to waste her breath with (Runic Shot) anymore.

[Nova: (Restriction), Impac..]

The situation repeated itself. She was able to lock the Golden Knight, but her runic invocation was disrupted. This time, she immediately slashed towards the blur which fell down. She knew that expending her energy on that one would cost her quite a bit... As she predicted, Vorst went all out. Myriad strikes came at her deployed psychic barrier.

BOOM. Yet again an explosion occurred.

<Vorst's Barrier: 10%>

<Nova's Barrier: 3%>

That’s right—the situation was reversed!

The Golden Armor, for the umpteenth time, stood up. Holding his black blade, he positioned himself once again. Most of the scales on his armor were already crushed, and the auxiliary armor behind it was bent all over the place, but his steps were still steady. Inside his helmet, hundreds of red warning messages were popping up, alerting him to the failure of nearly all of the M-Armor’s systems.

The Female Golden Witch also emerged from the haze. From the look of it, she was in better shape, though her armor only had dozens of cuts on the surface, they were quite deep. Her barrier was threatening to break at any moment. In the last exchange, she had also suffered a cut to her side. Though it was relatively shallow (for a cut from a 2m blade), blood was constantly pouring out, and the Virtual Game realistically transmitted her reduced pain and nausea.

Nova Aria’s heart was pounding wildly. The Golden Knight before her displayed a prowess that surpassed all her wildest imaginations. In all of the previous matches, it was all over once she used (Restriction) two or three times. The Golden Knight was still standing after receiving tens of them!

Creak. Clang. Creak.

Pitiful sounds echoed as he forcefully moved his Golden Dragon. Again accelerating to full Accel speed. The last of the dark golden scales that were holding on desperately began to fall off due to the enormous pressure, leaving a golden trail behind him. He didn’t care. Defeating the opponent before him was a priority. BOOM. A sonic boom occurred as Vorst expended the last of his photons, surpassing the speed of sound.

Seeing the golden line moving towards her, Nova raised both hands. She didn’t care about the (Restriction) anymore. She didn’t care about the psychic barrier either.

Clash.

A black flash cut through the Golden Witch, and in her last move, she threw a (Runic Shot) at him, one that surpassed previous explosions by many times.

BOOM.

With another crash, the Golden Armor was thrown into the wall. This time, after he crashed, a huge explosion occurred...

...

Everyone was silent. Since the moment Vorst took out his white bot and reversed the situation, even Mistglan was too surprised to say a word.

Right now, everyone’s eyes were glued to the holo-monitor that displayed the smoke left after the last explosion.

What happened to the tournament?

Did both of them lose?

A tie?

How would this be resolved?

Then, a blurred figure emerged from the crater. The Golden Knight, who now had not a shred of golden color left on him, was slowly walking through the flames. With the movement system at 0%, he was

forcing it to move by directly pouring his nano-photons into it.

...

In his left hand, there was a completely ruined white bot that had turned into the shape of a shield. Thanks to Lily, he had avoided the complete destruction of his armor.

[--Lily--: Such sacrifice for his master. Rest in peace, Intelligence Drone <Loki> *Sob sob*]

With a theatrical movement, she brought a white handkerchief to her eyes.

[--Calla--: Just fix it... "And it’s not even happening in the real world in the first place."]

Only after walking out of the crater did the Golden M-Armor shut down while standing.

That was Marc's pride. If he won, he would show that he did so while standing tall, so his opponents would not be shamed.

While basking in the light of victory, three lines pierced through his soul... That characteristic sting...

Although he won, why did it feel like he lost?