574 Chapter 574: The Final Opponen (2/2)
There was a collective gasp as the gazes of all the spectators in the stadium turned to settle upon Lilith Porter. She was standing up in the VIP box, a hand on her hip. Beside her, her grandfather looked at her in approval, a smile on his face.
”That person…” Zhao Zi Jun's eyes widened in recognition.
”It's her!” Hei Cang Feng said, looking relieved.
Descending the stairs, Lilith Porter proceeded down to the battle cage, raising her other hand coolly.
”I wish to challenge him.”
”Lilith Porter! It's Lilith Porter! The goddess of Vermillion is going in!”
”We might stand a chance after all!”
”Amazing! A battle between the very best…!”
”I heard they had a duel before…sometime last year, was it? Now it's a rematch!”
”The goddess must want revenge for her loss last year then.”
”Isn���t she also a summoner? Will she be summoning her Hellfire Bear to deal with Richard's Soul Beasts?”
”Of course she will! A summoner versus summoner! Even though she chose to major in the fire element instead of the summoning department, there's no rules that says she's not allowed to use summoning magic!”
”This battle will be quite the treat!”
There was a loud chatter among the spectators as Lilith Porter strolled into the cage and walked into the arena before turning to face me. I watched her quietly for a while, even as my Celestial Guardians tensed and waited for my order. However, I held them back.
”It's been a while, hasn't it?” I asked, trying to hide my exhaustion but failing to do so. Lilith met my gaze evenly, her eyes as frosty as ever. I could sense the immense strength coiling within her lithe body. No doubt she had leveled up over the past year. I knew she was pretty strong and I didn't want to fight her if I could help it.
”Yeah. Are you ready for a rematch?”
”Not really, but…let's do this. But first…” I took a deep breath and held both my hands up. ”I'll wait for you.”
”Hmm?” Lilith's brow wrinkled in confusion. ”Wait for me? What do you mean?”
”Your Hellfire Bear,” I replied wearily. ”I will wait for you to summon it.”
”How kind of you,” she said sarcastically. Now it was my turn to frown.
”Kind? Consider it a professional courtesy.” I jabbed my thumb at my Celestial Guardians. ”We summoners were allowed to summon our Soul Beasts before the match. It allowed us an advantage. I am extending that gesture to you, a fellow summoner. Otherwise it'll be unfair.”
”Unfair, you say?” Lilith smirked and raised her hand. A gust of ferocious wind blew violently around her palm before transforming into a massive storm. Cold fury filled her eyes. ”Don't underestimate me. I don't need you to offer me any sort of advantage or courtesy! I can beat you even without my Hellfire Bear! Let's start the fight!”
I watched a massive tornado swirl around her, whirling rapidly with fearsome power. My Celestial Guardians scattered and I retreated, instinctively knowing that if I get sucked into that whirlwind, I would lose consciousness. I no longer had the stamina or durability to endure such a ferocious blow, especially after the consecutive battles against 152 other people.
At that moment, I understood why Lilith was mad at me. She was aware of my beleaguered and battered condition, aware that I had been stretched to my very limits and exhausted after so many matches. Yet here I was, offering her an advantage and a chance to summon her trump card. She probably read that as arrogance. Or maybe she was just angry that I didn't consider my own battered state.
Whatever the case, I backed away from the tornado, refusing to allow it to devour me. I needed to stay as far away from it as possible.
Still, I was impressed. From what I remembered, Lilith was a fire mage. Yet now she was casting wind magic. That was impressive. It also reminded me of some other Lily from another story, who used her wind element to enhance the power of her Inferno Bear or something. Wang Chui Niu was right, all Chinese webnovel authors were just ripping off each other, all right. Ugh…
”Did you think I was only limited to fire magic?” Lilith asked with a smirk before hurling a wind blade at me, which I dodged. Above, Vermillion Phoenix launched his fiery feathers at her. At the same time, Golden Kirin bombarded her with earth spikes from below, but she blew all of the projectiles away with her impenetrable tornado. ”I have been diversifying my skill set. Of course, it hasn't been easy – trying to master two different elements at the same time instead of focusing on one…only the most talented of mages are capable of pulling it off.”
She then incinerated a burst of vines from Green Dragon with a fire spell, as well as melting the icicles that Black Tortoise fired at her. White Tiger's lightning bolts crackled and sizzled, but they were kept at bay by her tornado.
Lilith then smiled cunningly and swung her hand, expanding her whirlwind to engulf all five of my Celestial Guardians at a go.