194 194- End of Preliminaries

When the spear pulled all the way back had been released, a phantom copy of the same spear detached from Quinn's hand and traveled to Miles at speed of wind. Although it didn't look dangerous, Miles felt his back was going cold.

Miles tried to dodge the spear targeting his neck, but he was surprised to see the attack and couldn't react immediately. The phantom spear pierced through his armor and made a gruesome wound on his left shoulder. Luckily his armor was still strong and the spear didn't make a hole in his body.

"I suggest you take care of yourself from now on. I intend to win the competition so I will use big guns from now on." Quinn said seriously. "The spear in my hand has a piercing element. The smallest wound will feel hundreds of times worse and make wounds may cause lasting damage, but you are stronger than I thought, so I cannot hold back anymore. From now on I will fight with everything I have."

"Bring it on!" Marooner's husky voice reverberated in the arena. He felt his blood boiling and his body was yearning for a fight. He never felt like this before. The thrill of the fight clouded his judgment, but he was still able to scheme his following attacks.

An orb appeared in Miles's hand. When the orb melted, it turned into a mask and found its way on his face. But he didn't use it just yet. After the mask was placed, he dashed at Quinn with great speed. His speed was at the peak of the third serum, and with the augmentation of the armor, he was almost at the peak of the Grunt-Rank.

When he was in front of Quinn, he slashed the sword from the top of her head to her right arm. Quinn saw through the attack and took a step to her left, and the spear she was holding swapped to Miles's waist. Miles had his back to Quinn's approaching spear, but it was like he didn't notice it at all, didn't react at all.

Miles, with his free hand, grabbed the side of his cape and flapped it to approach the spear with great power. The piled-up momentum of the spear and accelerating cape collided at Miles back. Thunder and fire danced on the cape before the impact swung two fighters apart from each other. Miles with his amazing computational power calculated the effects of the explosion and positioned the cape accordingly. When the explosion pushed his body, he used the momentum to approach, now falling away Quinn, from the side and swung his sword with great force.

A water jet surrounded by lightning left the tip of the sword and traveled to Quinn's lithe body. When it landed, the purple currents of lightning explored her body from the top of her head to toes, and she was struck by lightning. Miles, taking another step, jumped into the air. When he was falling, he used his cape like a tail and landed it on Quinn's body.

Spiky cape collided with now stunned Quinn and swung her further.

"Bastard!" Quinn muttered silently. She got out of her stupor with the force of the explosion. She fell to the ground with a roll and rose to her feet with great mastery. When she was on her feet, she was holding another item in her hand. Armor and the spear weren't her only orbs. What she was holding was a scarf-like piece of cloth. It was so thin, one could see the behind through it.

Quinn threw the scarf into the air with great mastery, and it covered her whole body in the air. Miles's focus was still on her body, but when the scarf fell to the ground Quinn was nowhere to be seen. Miles looked around nervously and tried to listen to no avail. He couldn't locate his enemy at all.

Miles crouched on the ground and opened the heat vision, ready to dash out any time while trying to figure out where Quinn went, but a sudden alarm of danger on the back of his head woke him up from his confusion and he leaped forward. But a spear phantom still pierced through the previous wound but from the back of his shoulder. Now there was a hole in his shoulder, and he couldn't do anything about it.

He looked back and saw Quinn there holding the scarf again.

"I will not let you use it again!" Miles dashed forward and sent another pillar of thundered water. Quinn ignored the incoming attack and threw the cloth. When a pillar of water and lightning hit the cloth, it sent it away but Quinn wasn't around once again. Miles waited three seconds and turned back. When he did, he opened his mouth and roared as hard as he could while focusing it on the mask. His energy was drained to the limit, but this was all he could use now.

The lightning and wind mixed with each other and a criss-cross of azure and purple traveled while cracking the air. It flew all the way to the barrier closing the arena, but it didn't stop until it hit the barrier. 'I missed?' Miles was gasping profusely. He couldn't use one more attack now that he wasted it.

"Too bad, I was charging from the front this time." Quinn appeared on his back once again. Spear traveled to his neck and stopped there.

"Give up!" Quinn demanded.

"What was that scarf?" Miles asked. He never saw anything like it.

"It is something from F-Circle. It is normal for you to lose now that I can use that orb. It is unfair but the big competition in the main arena will not be any better. There, everyone will use a couple of orbs of this tier." Quinn explained without any emotion on her face. She had to win, so she did. That simple. She wouldn't want to use the Frenzy-Rank orb, but Marooner was much stronger than she ever thought. In the end, she could only use that.

"So, that is how it is." Miles was enlightened. He knew Frenzy-Rank orbs were much stronger and couldn't be used without energy, but now that he saw one used against him, he felt how different the legendary F-Tier was.

"Thank you for showing mercy." Miles thanked and rose to leave.

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