"Song of Cloud and Water has two key moves, and they are the Soul Binding Art and Ice Flame Slash. Everything else is what you'd see in a magic knight's repertoire."

I was explaining to He Yi the characteristics of Song of Cloud and Water before the battle began. " Soul Binding Art can penetrate Magic s.h.i.+eld and immobilize an opponent directly, but that doesn't matter to you. From what I've seen earlier, Soul Binding Art has an effective range of 3 yards. If she's allowed to get that close, it'll be almost impossible to dodge the skill. Just almost."

Eve shot the arena a long look before replying, "I'm… worried that I'm not good enough to avoid her skill. You saw what happened earlier. Not even Shadow Chanel was good enough to dodge it."

"That's because Shadow Chanel didn't know the effective range of the skill." I gave her a rea.s.suring smile before continuing, "When the battle begins, all you need to do is pay attention to her right hand. If a green light spirals around her arm, that means she's about to cast Soul Binding Art. All you need to do is to speed up and do a full zigzag, and you'll be able to dodge her skill. Also, Soul Binding Art's cast time is about 0.4 seconds, so you must perform the maneuver in half a second at most. In fact, you only have half a second to notice the skill cast and dodge the skill. It's all up to you now."

"Mn. I'll do my best!" A trace of smile crossed He Yi's lips. "I know we'll probably win this whole thing if I can win my match. I won't disappoint everyone."

"Yeah. Go!"

To be honest, He Yi was quite lucky that her opponent turned out to be Song of Cloud and Water. Had it been G.o.d Bone, Song of Ice and Fire or Ringwraith, her chances of winning would've dropped to 40% or below. It was because all three of them had bizarre cla.s.s skills and excellent techniques. A still growing He Yi would've been no match for them.

……

Swhoosh swhoos.h.!.+

Light scattered, and both He Yi and Song of Cloud and Water appeared in the arena. This was a critical match for us because the outcome would directly dictate the final result. If He Yi won, we would almost certainly not have to fight the fifth match.

Both girls were seventh-promotion magic knights, so the start of the battle was full of probing attacks and careful dances. A while later, they clashed s.h.i.+elds with each other—proving that He Yi had the higher Strength stat—and He Yi pierced Song of Cloud and Water's s.h.i.+eld with Barrier Break.

78828!

Song of Cloud and Water let out a groan and tried to retaliate with her own Barrier Break, but He Yi moved her s.h.i.+eld aside and crossed her the Seven Star Veluriyam Spear in front of her chest. Then, she thrust her weapon forward in one sudden motion and successfully parried half of the little girl's attack, decreasing the damage she received drastically.

32881!

A hint of surprise pa.s.sed through Song of Cloud and Water's eyes. She hurriedly turned around and used Trapping Net!

He Yi had the same skill, so of course she knew how deadly it was. After making a sharp turn and dodging the skill all too easily, she raised her Veluriyam Spear again and split the air in front of her five times in a row! It was of course Purgatory of Ice and Magma!

Song of Cloud and Water hurriedly raised her s.h.i.+eld and Guarded. The powerful skill reduced her HP drastically—

19383!

21029!

18287!

19227!

22109!

……

Song of Cloud and Water's HP dropped to less than 40%, forcing the girl to back off from He Yi. However, while she was doing so, she used her cloak to cover the fact that a green light was spiraling around her arm. It was Soul Binding Art! I wasn't expecting her to be this smart!

However, He Yi's eyes sharpened at that exact moment almost as if she had seen through Song of Cloud and Water's deception. The hint of a smile crossing her lips, she abruptly sped up and completed a zigzag at the same moment Song of Cloud and Water unleashed her skill. An instant later, MISS appeared above He Yi's head to show that she had successfully dodged the skill!

"Ah?!"

Song of Cloud and Water exclaimed in surprise and came to a full stop, her mind incapable of processing the scenario where she failed to shackle He Yi. Not letting the golden opportunity slip by, He Yi immediately closed the distance between herself and Song of Cloud and Water and trapped her with Trapping Net. Barrier Break and Triple Slash to the face later, Song of Cloud and Water was knocked out of the arena!

The score turned 1:0. I knew that He Yi would beat Song of Cloud and Water once she had a firm grasp of the battle. Of course, we both had Shadow Chanel to thank. Without her great sacrifice, I would never have found out the intricacies behind Song of Cloud and Water's Soul Binding Art.

Since ancient times, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

The same principle applied to PvP battles. With sufficient knowledge of the enemy's skills, it was entirely possible to exploit their flaws and defeat them, just like my Burning Blade Slash. For example, there was an unavoidable 0.2 seconds delay between the second and third hit of my Burning Blade Slash, and countless players such as Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow had researched it and found a way around it. That was why I couldn't land the full skill—they were either parried or evaded—on these players anymore unless I employed some sort of countermeasures. They included hiding the initial movement of the Burning Blade Slash, canceling my action to bait the enemy into freezing before finis.h.i.+ng them off with Burning Blade Slash, and more. Burning Blade Slash was meant to be used as a finisher and a deterrent, not the first skill of the combo. Battles between experts were similar to battles of wits where both sides tried to outwit each other.

……

The second round didn't differ too much from the first. He Yi kept a cool head and countered everything Song of Cloud and Water threw at her, and Song of Cloud and Water could do nothing because her skills, equipment and control were inferior or equal to He Yi's. In the end, the guild leader of Soul Battle Robes lost another point and the match altogether.

Against many expectations, our beautiful guild leader was able to take down Song of Cloud and Water with a beautiful 2:0 individual score. The overall score had also changed to 2:1 in favor of us.

Swhoos.h.!.+

Beiming Xue and Lian Xing hugged He Yi the moment she teleported out of the arena. Both girls were overjoyed because they knew just how close they were to the champion's trophy. Although this wasn't an offline match, there was a champion's trophy made of solid metal waiting to be sent to the champion of the WEL nationals. Of course, according to my prior agreement with Rose, the trophy would be kept at the club for bragging purposes...

At any rate, we had finally arrived at the decider match and the match point. The fourth match was Lian Xin versus G.o.d Bone the Iron Knight!

Right before the match, I gave Lian Xin a pat on the shoulder and said, "G.o.d Bone is a cla.s.sic juggernaut. His notable offensive skills are Bloodbreak Slash, Coldblood Flurry and Barrier Break, and Iron Bone Armor for defensive skills. Be careful and keep your distance, and you'll be able to win this easily!"

Lian Xin nodded and smiled at me. "Don't worry, big brother. I'll secure this win and knock out Soul Battle Robes for sure!"

"Good!"

In fact, I knew that our strongest opponent was already behind us. Soul Battle Robes was at best a poor man's version of Candle Dragon, and the main reason they were able to beat Snowy Cathaya was because of their line-up advantage and concealed trump cards. Now that they had revealed everything, they no longer had the surprise factor to outwit a top-cla.s.s team like ours.

Lian Xin and G.o.d Bone entered the arena at the same time. They watched each other calmly as they waited for the battle to begin.

Victory was now only one step away from us, the girls were already red with excitement. Our second seed was plenty excited as well. a.s.suming that we won, this would be the first time Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls became the champion of a top-tier compet.i.tion, and no one could claim that we were weaker than Candle Dragon anymore. This was a milestone and the reason we gave it our all.

G.o.d Bone was a very skilled player, and he was able to weave around Lian Xin's Origin Force Fields with repeated use of the b.u.t.terfly maneuver. Unfortunately for him, Lian Xin's tactics were almost flawless. She slapped down four Origin Force Fields so that there was only one way to go. When G.o.d Bone pa.s.sed through the center, he ate a surprise Touch of the Dragonkiss to the leg and Gravity Trap that slowed him drastically. Left with no choice, he locked onto a spot next to Lian Xin and activated Charge!

Swhoos.h.!.+

Antic.i.p.ating this, Lian Xin Blinked away and left behind a deadly Ice Spiral Matrix. The mage had excellent skills, and her tactics involved a great deal of traps. By the time G.o.d Bone made it out of the Ice Spiral Matrix, he had already lost 50% of his HP. In the end, not even G.o.d Bone's impressive armor was enough to save him, and she ended the round with Dimensional Storm. He failed to touch her even once throughout the fight. It was almost a one-sided slaughter.

……

The score turned 1:0, and it sounded like the audiences were about to explode with emotions. Already, a large majority of them were standing on their feet and cheering for the strongest mage of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls on top of their lungs.

We were just as excited, of course. We were literally one fight away from becoming the WEL champion of China!

Beiming Xue was crying tears of joy as she said to He Yi, "Ancient Sword is about to become the champion…"

He Yi's eyes were reddened and watery as well. She had waited for this moment for far, far too long...

She looked up at the grayish sky of Heavenblessed and murmured, "Are you watching this, sister? We're about to accomplish what you dreamed of achieving!"

……

The next battle began, and Lian Xin put on a near perfect performance. Her cla.s.s and skills were superior to G.o.d Bone's, and skill-wise she was almost good enough to match Lin Yixin herself. How could the iron knight hope to defeat her?

The score turned 2:0, and countless Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild members broke into tears.