221 The Last Six (5)

"Start!" The referee announced.

Hearing the referee's signal, Gorde moved.

His right feet stomped on the ground, launching himself towards Bloed at full speed.

At the same time, he gathered mana in his hands. The mana quickly coalesced forming two translucid oversized wolf claws around his hands.

In less than one second, he was already less than two meters away from Bloed.

But Bloed did not stay quiet.

With a thought, Leto's sand surged forward, turning into a giant wave that blocked the wolf's way forward!

"That will not work!" Gorde bellowed. Raising his right hand, he swung it down, creating a giant mana wave that opened a path in the middle of Leto's wave!

Gorde rushed through that path and charged towards Bloed's location.

But Bloed was no longer there!

Instead, Gorde was greeted by a powerful ray of plasma coming from the sky!

"!!!"

It was Oculus's main attack, able to gravely injure or even kill an A-Rank if he was not careful!

Bloed had timed it perfectly, aiming it to the place where he was before as though he had predicted Gorde's actions!

Unfortunately, his prediction was slightly off. When the plasma ray fell, Gord's instincts screamed to him that something was wrong. Due to that, he resolutely jumped back and used as much mana as he could to form a protective layer over his skin, evading the brunt of the attack.

Even so, part of the plasma ray still fell on his body.

"Ugh!"

Gorde grunted in pain. Even after evading most of the attack and using mana to defend himself, his right shoulder and arm had been badly burnt!

Moreover, Bloed's attack had not finished. As though he had predicted that Oculus's attack was not going to be enough, Leto turned into several metallic spears that attacked his current position.

"Get lost!!!" Gorde suppressed his pain and roared, creating a powerful shockwave that forced Leto's sand back.

Using that opportunity, he jumped away.

At that moment, though, his instincts once more screamed to him.

Without bothering to find what was wrong, Gorde twisted his body aside and kicked the ground, trying to evade whatever was attacking him.

But even like that–

*Slash!*

A saber blade cut through his abdomen, giving him a serious injury.

Moreover, a bullet flew from Bloed's gun, aiming at the place where he was evading!

Gorde grunted and tensed up the muscles of his abdomen to suppress the bleeding. At the same time, he used the wolf claw in his left hand to barely block Bloed's bullet.

But, how could Bloed's blaster bulled be blocked so easily?

When Gorde's claw clashed against Bloed's bullet, the superheated plasma burned through the mana, reaching until his hand and burning his skin.

Gorde's face was twisted in pain. The combined damage caused by the injuries in his right arm, abdomen and left hand caused him to turn dizzy.

Moreover, he discovered that Bloed's saber was again coming towards him. Moreover, Leto's metallic sand had returned, taking the form of several metallic appendages that attacked his body from different directions!

It was a hopeless situation!

But even so, Gorde was not ready to give up.

"NOT YEEEEEEEEEEET!!!" With a cry of fury, mana erupted from his body, creating a flame-like aura that wrapped around him.

The powerful mana created a vortex of air around Gorde. At the same time, the injuries in his right shoulder, abdomen, and left hand started to heal at visible speed!

"Limit Break!" Someone in the stands exclaimed in surprise after seeing the technique.

[Limit Break]. A technique that burned one's mana in exchange for a forced boost in strength. However, the user's body could not endure such an unnatural boost easily, so the technique could only be kept for a short period of time.

Limit Break was not easy to use, though. To use it you needed to have perfect control over the mana in your body. Otherwise, the burning mana could damage your internal organs and mana pathways, provoking death in the worst scenery.

But Gorde was very talented. He took this technique one step beyond normal. He found a way to use the boost of [Limit Break] to increase the resilience and innate regeneration speed of his body. In other words, he was not only stronger than before but he also could disregard most injuries and continued fighting regardless of them.

It was as though he had turned into a berserk warrior.

Gorde's movements turned faster, and his injuries stopped hurting. Quickly, he stomped on the ground, launching himself upwards to evade Leto's appendages and Bloed's saber. He then sent mana to his feet, creating a shockwave in the air that sent him in Bloed's direction, with his claw ready to take Bloed's life.

Bloed remained calm. Countless calculations flashed in his mind, and each one of Gorde's movements was clear before his eyes.

When Gorde launched himself towards him, Bloed gave an order to one of his pets.

'Fire!'

And the eye in the sky fired.

Tens of plasma bullets were shot from Oculus, intercepting the wolf in the air.

Gorde's face changed. He was unable to avoid the bullets in the current situation!

Hence, he just gritted his teeth and put all his mana into defense, planning to endure Oculus' attack for a few seconds while he knocked Bloed out.

But his plan was destined to fail.

Suddenly, a wall of metallic sand appeared in front of him.

It was Leto.

Gorde's expression turned ugly. Bellowing, he unleashed a powerful punch that blew Leto away.

But due to that, he was forced to stop.

And Oculus's bullets reached him.

*Boooom!!!*

Countless bullets rained in Gorde's location, creating a cloud of dust that swallowed the stage.

After several seconds, Bloed waved his hand, and Oculus stopped attacking.

With another wave of his hand, Bloed shot a wave of psychic energy from his mind that blew the cloud of dust away.

When the cloud of dust was cleared, Gorde appeared kneeling on the ground.

His body was covered with injuries and burns of all the sizes, and his mana was almost completely drained after defending against Oculus barrage.

But even like that, Gorde was glaring at Bloed's with bloodshot eyes.

"It's your loss," Bloed said indifferently.

"… Not… Yet…"

Bloed raised an eyebrow and looked at the referee.

The referee put on a pensive expression and looked at Gorde. When he saw his injuries, he decided that Gorde was not in conditions to continue fighting.

Before he could speak, though, Gorde's mana erupted for one last time.

"Die!"

With a cry of anger, he flew towards Bloed and aimed his claw towards Bloed's neck.

But suddenly, Bloed's figure disappeared.

Then, Gorde felt something sharp piercing his back.

"… How predictable." Bloed shook his head and withdrew his saber.

Behind him, Gorde opened his eyes wide and collapsed on the ground. He discovered he could not move his body anymore.

Bloed's saber had pierced his spine, cutting several important nerves and immobilizing him.

He then sheathed his saber and looked in direction of the referee.

One second later, the voice of the referee was heard.

"Winner, Bloed Norman!"