Chapter 7 –– Final Round

Zum and Haru were facing each other as the final contestants of the tournament. As a newcomer in the squad, Haru had proven himself to be a force to be reckoned with.

Since the two of them saw each other's fyx skill and fighting style already, they made a strategy beforehand on how to defeat their opponent.

Unlike previous fights, this time, Haru made the first move. He dashed forward, getting closer to Zum.

Zum was preparing to block his attack by coating fyx energy on both of his arms as defence. However, Zum did not predict that Haru was throwing a punch at him, instead of his usual kick.

"Ugh!"

Zum got hit on his stomach which sent him flying. Haru's punch in the speed of light was nothing to be underestimated.

After got hit by Haru's punch, Zum was trying to get back on his feet. Before he could get up, Haru was already in front of him, once again.

Haru threw a kick and uses his heel to land a hit on Zum while mid air. Zum then rolled his body sideways on the ground, trying to evade his attack.

Luckily, Zum managed to dodge the attack by a split second. He then conjured some sparrows to help him get up and move away from Haru before he could get attacked again.

"Not giving any chance, huh...."

The look in Haru's eyes are different. He seemed resolute to win this fight, no matter what it took.

Without further ado, Haru took a leap once again and dashed at Zum.

This time, Zum was well prepared. He suddenly popped up sparrow lights from beneath the ground on the route Haru was taking when he was approaching him, blocking him with a series of attacks.

Knowing that Zum could not fight Haru in a close-range combat, he knew that he had to to do something every time Haru approached him. While he was rolling his body sideways to get away from Haru's attack, Zum planted several sparrow lights on the ground, ready to emerge at his command.

Haru halted on his way and got hit by several of Zum's sparrow lights. However, due to Haru's extraordinary reflexes, he was quick enough to coat his entire body in fyx energy as a defence mechanism. Haru did not receive as much damage as he had given so far.

"Host of Sparrows!"

Suddenly, a plethora of sparrows were appearing around Zum, creating some kind of barrier to help him avoid close-range combat. The amount of sparrows was so many that there were multiple layers of barriers in every step of the way.

Due to the complexity of conjuring and controlling every sparrow light, this technique consumed a lot of fyx energy. Zum had to finish the fight quickly, otherwise he was gonna lose since he would not have any fyx energy left to fight with.

Haru then tried to comply to what Zum wanted–– a long-range combat. He conjured a light arrow just like he did during his fight with Yara, and shot it at Zum.

Zum shot some of his sparrows in return to deal with Haru's arrow. This resulted in both of their attacks canceled one another, crumbled into smithereens.

Haru then tried a different type of projectile. This time, he conjured light blasts from both of his palms and aimed them at Zum. He then shot them, imitating Meixia's blaster attacks, although without the explosive effects.

Due to the smaller size and simpler design of the light blasts compared to an arrow, this attack consumed less fyx energy, which was perfect as the countermeasure against Zum's Host of Sparrows. By doing this repeatedly, Haru was slowly diminishing Zum's barrier by destroying the sparrows around him.

The two of them kept shooting projectiles at each other. Haru's light blasts were surprisingly effective against Zum's sparrows. Yet, Haru still received some damage from Zum's attack. This was due to the fact that, although they were both using lumina sorcery projectiles, Zum's sparrow lights were still nonetheless superior. Zum was able to control them and change their direction mid-air, while Haru's blasts could only go straight. In addition, Zum also had the "Target Lock" technique which allowed his sparrows to follow Haru's movement. This showed that in a long-range combat, Zum was still superior.

After receiving so much damage, Haru finally realised that he did need to get close to Zum to deal a significant damage. He then started thinking of a plan.

Meanwhile, Zum was frustrated by Haru's endurance. Haru was not supposed to be still standing up after receiving so much damage, let alone conjuring so many light blasts. Since Zum was running out of both sparrows and fyx energy, he was trying to come up with something to end the match as soon as possible. He needed to land an attack than could damage Haru significantly, unlike his current attack.

The fight between the two Sorcerers were coming to an end. Both of them were getting exhausted and were trying to find a way to wrap up the match.

Haru lit up his feet, trying to dash towards him. Zum noticed it and conjured even more sparrows as a defence. However, right before Haru was one span away from Zum's most outer layer of barrier, he changed direction and moved extremely fast. Haru then arrived behind Zum, unguarded.

Right when Zum was turning his head around, he saw Haru conjuring a sparrow light, just like Zum's. Haru then shot it at Zum, piercing it through him.

"Ugh!"

Haru's sparrow deals more damage than Zum's. Although Haru could only shoot it in a straight line and could not control it mid air, Haru could however accelerate his attack with his Lightspeed instead, which added more force, resulting in more damage.

Haru then kicked Zum with the sole of his foot, sending him flying once more.

Everyone was astonished by the scene. They didn't think Haru could get this far as someone who just joined.

As a valedictorian from his batch, Haru was particularly talented in lumina sorcery as a Sorcerer. He was able to conjure any type of light once he understood how it was formed and operated. In return, he was actually not good at hand-to-hand combat. He developed a fyx skill that could compensate his mediocre physical strength on purpose, by accelerating his speed in order to multiply the force of his attacks, resulting in more damage per attack.

Zum was annoyed yet impressed by what Haru just did. This was the first time Zum saw anyone imitating his signature sparrow attacks. Zum understood perfectly the complexity of conjuring an animal shape, maintaining its form, aiming it and shooting it to an opponent. Although Haru could not control its direction to Zum's extent due to the lack of the fyx skill necessary, he was still impressed that Haru could imitate him during their match. Zum and the rest of the members finally acknowledged Haru's skills and power as an equal.

Haru was having trouble keeping his feet lit. Because of the previous attack that Haru just did, he was now running low on fyx energy. Haru did not think that conjuring a single sparrow light would consume that much fyx energy.

Zum finally got up and prepared himself for his final attack. He collected all his remaining sparrow lights and merge them into one big bird. He charged it until all of the sparrows were merged, and got ready to aim.

Haru was horrified to see what was in front of him. He did not have enough fyx energy to escape such a big attack. He then decided to face it head on, by destroying it with his own hands. He then coated his fists with lumina sorcery, imbuing them with defensive and offensive strengths both at once.

"Sorry, kid."

Zum shot his final attack. A giant Garuda light.

Haru tried to stop it with both of his hands, struggling for a battle of strength. He was slowly getting pushed by Zum's attack.

"You are a hundred years too early to beat me."

After enduring the attack for a while, Haru finally lost energy in both of his hands and let go of his defence. The attack sent him flying several yards away from where he stood. He then landed in an unconscious state, lying on the ground.

Zum won the final round.

********************************************************************************************