395 Chapter 395: Power and Electricity (1/2)
\”All right, Bu Fan. You're next.\”
Harrison didn't hesitate to pick out his next choice for the fourth match. Bu Fan nodded and stepped forward, cracking his knuckles in anticipation and doing some sort of weird warmup. He had embarrassed himself the previous match by losing to Harold's academy, and now he was relishing the chance to prove himself, to make up for that defeat.
I wouldn't be surprised if he scored a decisive victory here. Bu Fan was strong, by virtue of him being the stand-in protagonist of Versatile Mage. Thanks to that, he had an abundance of plot armor and Mary Sue godlikeness.
The other party was a girl, but as Bu Fan walked onto the stage, he smiled grimly.
\”Even if you're a girl, I'm not going to hold back.\”
\”Hmph.\” The girl looked offended that Bu Fan was taking a poke at her gender. \”As if I ever needed you to. Don't go crying to your mom later, complaining that you got beaten by a girl.\”
A shadow passed over Bu Fan's face and he glanced down.
\”I don't have a mother.\”
\”What?\” The girl suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable when she realized that she had touched upon a sensitive subject. Fortunately, Bu Fan didn't dwell on it for too long, and he glanced up with a shrug.
\”But my father and sister are watching, and I don't want to show them a shameful display like I did in the other match.\”
He waited for the commentator to signal the start of the match, and immediately drew his star maps. A massive crimson magic circle materialized underneath his feet before he launched a devastating torrent of flames at the girl, Juliana.
\”Damn it!\”
Juliana ducked under the roaring torrent of fire before whipping her gun out and firing off several rounds with her hi-tech weapon. Instead of the primitive standard lasguns issued to the Imperial Guard, she was wielding a more advanced plasma rifle that fired off powerful pulses of energy without fear of it overheating and blowing up in her hands. Manufactured for the Greater Good, the pulse rifle barked, emitting a destructive stream of plasma.
\”For the Greater Good!\”
\”You're in the wrong universe, lady.\” Bu Fan tried not to sigh as he dodged another barrage of energy pulses while returning fire – literally. Juliana ran across the length of the arena, barely avoiding getting singed by the rocket-like fireballs that detonated against the reinforced concrete. \”You won't be assimilating anyone of the Imperium…I mean Federation into your new, recently founded hi-tech Empire. We won't become Gue'la auxiliaries like you.\”
\”What the hell are they talking about?\” Pearl demanded, irritated.
\”I have no idea.\” Theodore's face was twisted in confusion. I sighed and shook my head, knowing that it would be a bad answer to explain, but I did so anyway.
\”A tabletop wargaming universe that takes place in the 41st Millennium, when the Imperium of Man is beset upon by a myriad of deadly xenos and heretical traitors who turned their backs on the light of the Emperor.\”
Everyone stared at me blankly. I regretted ever answering them. As I expected, none of them knew what I was talking about. Whatever. I impatiently waved my hand back toward the arena, to return their attention back toward Bu Fan's match. By now, Juliana had completed casting a more advanced spell of her own, her technomagic kicking into gear.
\”Crisis Battlesuit!\” she shouted. Her equipment glowed and her weapon seemed to disassemble. Stuff came from inside her uniform and flowed all over her body, encasing her in a white light. The mana then solidified and transformed into a full body armor suit that protected her from head to toe. The pulse rifle disappeared, replaced by two plasma rifles mounted upon her shoulders, and a pair of fusion blasters – one on each arm.
Her jetpack flared and she soared into the air, her new flight capabilities allowing her to jump, shoot, jump and fly (I wasn't literally meaning fly as in hovering in the air, but an ability that essentially allowed her to shoot even though she fell back from combat). Red-hot searing thermal beams that could punch through a meter-thick armored hull of a tank lanced out to incinerate Bu Fan, but the Versatile Mage threw himself to a corner, his hand raised to launch a bolt of lightning.
The thrusters ignited again and Juliana boosted over the jagged bolt of lightning while continuing to bombard Bu Fan's position with plasma bolts from her shoulder-mounted rifles. She raised her hands and unleashed twin bolts of thermal energy, but Bu Fan met those attacks with his fire spells, the flames taking on the shapes of giant fists and hammering against the anti-tank beams before all four streams erupted in a huge explosion.
\”What a truly heated battle!\” the commentator raved from above, his eyes probably wide as he struggled to take in the match below. The spectators went wild, cheering until their voices went hoarse. Two of the top fighters pitting their best spells against each other…Anuaiz Academy, despite being relatively new to the field, had been wowing and astounding many neutrals with their innovative spells, hi-tech gear and technomagic.
Screeching across the ground and leaving slight sonic booms in her wake, Juliana continued to unleash a hail of plasma and fusion blasts in Bu Fan's direction, but he continued to dodge while firing back with fire and lightning spells. Doing a barrel in the air, Juliana punched one of the fireballs, dispersing it harmlessly.
\”It's useless! Your flames are only Strength 4 AP 0, or Strength 5 AP -1 if you use a heavier version of your flames! They won't be able to penetrate my 3+ armor save, even if you somehow roll a successful wound roll against my Toughness 5! Your Strength 4 flames only have a 1/3 chance of wounding me, and your Strength 5 heavy flamers have 50% chance of wounding me…but even then I have a 50% chance of making my armor save, and I have 5 wounds!\”
\”Can someone translate that for me, please?\” Craig asked, frustrated. \”I know she's speaking Mandarin, but for some reason I don't understand a single word she just said.\”
\”Basically she's saying that her Crisis Battlesuit is fireproof,\” I replied. \”And that it's too armored and tough for Bu Fan's mediocre flames to hurt her.\”