Chapter 328: Toying
Xigong City Academy sent out a player who hadn’t appeared during the 1v1 stage. Xu Zhi remembered from the material that this player’s extraordinary ability was quite special.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of anticipation curving her lips. Slowly and deliberately, she drew her blade, then casually tossed the scabbard to the ground.
Beside her, Senior Qiu Hou’s body shimmered with specks of purple starlight. The very next second—just as Xu Zhi felt the sensation of being locked onto—the space beside her shifted.
In an instant, the inconspicuous support from Xigong City Academy appeared in Qiu Hou’s original position.
Position swap. For now, that was what she would call it—one of the Xigong City Academy support’s abilities.
However, something was clearly off.
After switching places with Qiu Hou, the support wasn’t facing Xu Zhi. He had his back to her—as if this wasn’t the position he had intended to land in at all.
Xu Zhi didn’t waste time thinking.
The moment he appeared, her long blade thrust forward cleanly, piercing straight through his body.
In the support’s horrified, bewildered gaze, the girl gently twisted the hilt, shredding flesh before asking in mild confusion:
“Did you mess up?”
“…No!”
He barely managed a single word before blood poured from his mouth.
He hadn’t made a mistake.
His original target had been Xu Zhi.
Qiu Hou carried no weapon and was in the middle of activating an ability. If he had swapped with Xu Zhi, Qiu Hou wouldn’t have been able to immediately deal with him.
Had his ability been tampered with? Twisted? Interfered with by someone else’s extraordinary power?!
At that moment, Qiu Hou—now suddenly swapped into the enemy formation—immediately felt a barrage of debuffs crashing down on him, followed by a storm of blades. With a sour expression, he thought to himself: Good thing we prepared for this. Otherwise, getting ambushed like that would’ve cost half my life.
Since they had studied Xigong City Academy’s data beforehand, they had anticipated this move. Both Xu Zhi and Chu Xiaoyue believed the opponent would most likely target Xu Zhi—so the team had made preparations.
And one of Qiu Hou’s other abilities was the power to dismantle an extraordinary ability and alter its target—or even its mode of effect.
“Another miscalculation from Xigong City Academy! Lian City Light Academy clearly anticipated this. Support Qiu Hou substituted for Xu Zhi and was swapped away, causing Xigong City Academy’s support to misposition and get stabbed clean through!”
“If used properly, that ability could’ve turned the tide!”
The commentators sounded exasperated.
“However, Xigong City Academy’s support is a sixth-year and one of their Long-Lived members. A blade wound alone isn’t fatal! He’s still capable of fighting!”
“And now we’re looking at a first-year versus sixth-year duel!”
“Xu Zhi struck first and wounded the support, but her teammates are far away—and they don’t seem to be coming back to help her. Is this a straight one-for-one trade?”
Peak Bro finished, and Xiaoxiao followed:
“A one-for-one is definitely a win for Lian City. Even if Xigong City Academy’s support kills the first-year, if he takes too long, he won’t make it back in time to assist his team. After all, Lian City has a massive advantage in the team fight!”
“Unless he can instantly eliminate Xu Zhi and use his ability again to swap himself with another of Lian City’s cores—that’s the only way to create an opportunity!”
“In that case, Xu Zhi just needs to stall!”
“But can she stall?”
To most spectators, a first-year against a sixth-year didn’t seem suspenseful at all.
Even though Xu Zhi had the initiative, it was only a physical injury. For a Long-Lived, being stabbed clean through wouldn’t eliminate their ability to fight.
After his initial shock, the Xigong City Academy support quickly realized what had happened.
Ignoring the blade through his abdomen, he drew the sword at his side and slashed toward Xu Zhi. At the same time, he activated another extraordinary ability.
[Immobilize].
Simple. Brutal. Effective.
Xu Zhi felt her body stiffen for a split second. The blade still lodged in his body and the activated ability were clearly his calculated costs to ensure this strike would land.
The sword came straight for her neck—he intended to end it in one blow.
Nice dream.
Xu Zhi mobilized her [Lamp]-attribute extraordinary power to resist the ability acting upon her. She didn’t even use much.
Her extraordinary resistance was simply too high.
And his Long-Lived level did not surpass hers.
A mere trace of power was enough to shatter the restraints of [Immobilize].
So, under his confident gaze, Xu Zhi released her grip on the blade’s hilt and casually sidestepped, effortlessly evading what he believed to be a guaranteed strike.
His expression twisted in disbelief once more.
Xu Zhi stepped forward and drove a punch directly into his face. The moment her fist struck his eye—and triggered an uncontrollable physiological reaction—she seized the hilt again, yanked the blade free, and slashed down at his arm.
Clang!
Steel collided with steel.
A flicker of disappointment crossed Xu Zhi’s eyes. Even with one eye forced shut from injury, his reaction speed was impressive.
Rationally, she knew she should retreat now—kite him, feign weakness.
Instead, her lips curled upward.
She swung again—this time with slightly more force—bringing the blade straight down toward his head.
Clang!
Another collision.
—Heavy!
That was the support’s first thought as he blocked again.
How could it be this heavy?
It felt like facing an extraordinary of the same rank with a [Forge]-type attribute.
His fingers trembled. Blocking two strikes had already left them numb. Before he could process it further, another slash came.
Clang!
The sound of clashing weapons rang repeatedly as they shifted and dodged. Blood poured from his abdominal wound, staining the ground beneath them. Because he had to devote all his strength to blocking Xu Zhi’s relentless attacks, the wound tore wider and wider.
His arm shook violently. He could barely hold his sword.
The girl before him hacked wildly—no pattern, no technique, almost recklessly crude.
And yet he was forced backward step by step.
It felt like being driven toward the edge of a cliff—closer and closer to a bottomless abyss. He couldn’t even find a moment to breathe.
Each swing of her blade was like a gale roaring along a precipice, pushing him toward oblivion. One misstep—and he would be damned beyond recovery.
He stumbled back two more steps. His body grew heavier. His face turned pale from blood loss.
He had tried using his extraordinary ability to control her again.
It didn’t work.
Damn it. How could a first-year resist his power?!
Another slash came.
This time, he couldn’t block it.
His sword flew from his grasp.
In the moment of exhaustion, he saw her profile—the chain of her glasses swaying with her movements, and behind the lenses, those pale gray eyes brimming with mockery and amusement.
Suddenly, he understood.
The girl before him absolutely had the ability to kill him outright.
She simply chose not to.
Instead—she was playing with him.
