123 Chapter 123: Trump Card (1/2)

I watched as Shawn Franklin dashed toward me, thrusting his glowing sword at my heart. The bloodthirsty blade sang eerily as it surged forward, pulsing with luminous green mana. It was completely different from all of Franklin's other attacks.

I had no intention of allowing myself to get stabbed by that.

Jumping back, I dismissed my broken Aquarius and summoned Orion. Not wanting Leo to get stabbed by whatever disturbing technique that Franklin was now unleashing, I dismissed him as well. I had a feeling that the so-called noble would simply slice through Regulus even if I had Leo fire it upon him, so I decided to hold him back and try out other summoning spells. For now, I thought it wisest to keep my distance and fight from range.

The black and brown bow materialized in my left hand, even as I was already fitting three arrows into it and taking aim.

”Orion's Belt!” I yelled, releasing the bowstring. Franklin's sudden speed and ferocity left me little time to cast Betelgeuse or Rigel, so Orion's Belt was the only spell I could conjure at the moment. The three glowing arrows streaked toward Franklin with deadly precision.

”Franklin's Royal Defense: Nine Division Fence!” Franklin shouted, aborting his attack and raising his katana in a defensive stance. He could have sliced through one arrow, maybe two, but with three swerving toward him from different directions, he didn't want to risk getting hit by even one. Nine massive white shields of light materialized out of thin air and landed around him. The triple Orion's Belt struck the shields and exploded but other than leaving smoke and black soot, it had little effect.

Personally, I was amused that he conjured such a massive defensive spell to protect himself from one of my weaker ranged spells. Perhaps I should have just used Leo's Regulus after all.

”You know, I've been wondering about this for a while,” I admitted. ”But who names your techniques? Those are some of the lamest names I've ever heard.”

”I could say the same to you!” Franklin retorted.

I just stared at him. ”I'm just summoning Constellation spirits and weapons. Their techniques are all named after the stars found in their constellations.”

”Just shut up and die already!” Franklin hollered at me. Gnashing his teeth in frustration, he withdrew to prepare for another attack. ”I'm going all out now!” he yelled out a warning. ”Final Franklin Style: Dividing the Heavens!”

He struck the ground, causing a massive tremor that shook even the boxes and the spectators seated within them. A fissure split open the marble floor even as hot steam rose out from it and consolidated into a tsunami of white mana.

”Betelgeuse!”

Taking a deep breath, I unleashed a hail of luminous arrows from my bow, thousands of them manifesting in reality. Taking aim, I bombarded the approaching tsunami of mana with a relentless barrage of blue arrows, the magical projectiles clashing ferociously with Franklin's Dividing the Heavens and blowing up.

Boom!

The resulting explosion rocked the building.

”Whoa.” I stumbled around the violently shaking building, struggling to regain my balance. Dismissing Orion, I summoned Aquarius again and thrust the broadsword into the ground, leaning on it to prevent myself from falling.

However, it appeared that Franklin was not suffering from the same problem.

”Final Franklin Style: Vanquishing thy Foe with Thyself!” he shouted, rushing toward me. His katana was radiating dangerously dark waves of mana as it began singing a dreadful Perish Song.

What a cheesy name.

That was the first thought that came to my mind as I watched him approach. However, I snapped out of my stupor when I realized what Franklin intended to do.

He was planning to take me down with him!

”Are you out of your freaking mind?!” I hollered as I yanked Aquarius out of the ground and deflected the currently black sword away from me. Smoke began hissing from my blue blade as the black mana rapidly spread over it, causing it to rot away. Even worse, the corruption was spreading throughout the entire Constellation weapon, forcing me to toss it aside before dismissing it.

What the hell was this technique?! I had never seen anything like it before!

Twisting around, Franklin made a motion to stab himself. However, I could tell that his move wasn't as simple as suicide.

He was planning to stab me together with him. By spinning around, he had blocked his weapon from prying eyes and obscured my view of where his sword would come from, but he planned on piercing his demonic katana through his body and stabbing me from an unexpected direction.

”Have you gone fucking nuts?” I snapped at Franklin. Summoning Gemini in an instant, I slashed his left arm, almost severing it at the elbow. Franklin recoiled from the pain and instinctively stepped back. I sighed at relief at being able to force him to stop.

”I…I can't go back now!” Franklin gasped desperately as he turned to face me. ”I'll take you down with me!”

In a sick, twisted way, I could understand why he was resorting to this. He had everything to lose. He couldn't afford to lose this match, or everything that he had worked so hard for would go to waste. Being humiliated in front of his future father-in-law like this, Lionel Stuart might annul the engagement after such a pathetic display. After bragging and boldly requesting for 55% of the corporation shares and being named successor, his name would be driven into the mud after losing so spectacularly. Nobody would ever be able to take him seriously again in the future.

Too bad. I honestly couldn't give a fuck about his predicament.

You can go die by yourself, I thought coldly. I would have let you win if you didn't insult me. If you didn't look down on me and mocked me and my dad. Too bad. Now I'll make you pay by taking everything away from you.

I was going to savor the feeling and triumph of utterly destroying his reputation. And if his engagement got annulled? Well, serve him right.

Despite his left arm now bleeding profusely and dangling uselessly by his side, and the agony he must be feeling from the numerous wounds all over his body, Franklin never relaxed his grip on Ye Mo. His face pale and sweaty, he raised his remaining arm for one final attack.

”Final Franklin Style: The King's Ultimate and Royal Requeim,” he whispered, his voice filled with both determination and pain.

I recognized similar traces from the move he had used earlier. However, this time, his Royal Requeim was on a completely different scale and level.

The black, vicious tongues of mana danced wildly, licking up everything unfortunate to get in their paths. I quickly jumped away, but was forced to defend myself from a stray tongue of energy, blocking it with my twin swords.

I managed to withdraw to a relatively safe distance, but Gemini had been corrupted. Shrinking back in horror, I was forced to discard them. Looking back at Franklin, I watched in horror as a nearby carpet was corrupted. Its rich, red color instantly turned black and its lush material rotted away into nothingness.