Chapter 193 :

Episode 37 : Quarterfinals (6)

Crackling!!

Bolts of electricity circulated through Raiden's hands like a work of art, channeling them to strike the beacon of frost targeting him.

Bang!!

Frost against electricity, it went out with a blare as the confrontation between these two elements wreaked havoc upon the nearby area.

"Keep it up you two!" Raiden cheered for his opponents. 

At the moment, Raiden's hands laid bare on the flare of frost, forcing the flare to split into two sides while evading him in the process.

Ignoring the scenery behind Raiden where ice covered all the nature and ground, Raiden clapped his hands together to create a big bang.

Zappp!!!

A bang in which resulted in a small thunderstorm to enlarge itself until it entirely masked away the field of ice and mist on the sand.

A once advantageous field for the Absolute twins was now a disadvantageous place against them.

The mist that once existed, increased the range of electricity that it could travel, scattering sparks without leaving an area untouched.

"Gr..!!" Noel grunted.

When a growl was heard, Raiden raised his hand up as if to receive the might of his thunderstorm.

STRIKE!

Like a pole to store the thunder of a storm, Raiden waved down his hand filled with lightning toward where the growl resounded.

[Player ‘137’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Aurora’ Lv. MAX.]

Whoosh!

Coming forth to shield the twins, northern lights emerged with grace as it let down a veil to neutralize the thunder strike of Raiden.

With such wavering light, it shone brightly to radiate the area, revealing Raiden's position within this electrical haze of a place.

The growl that Raiden heard earlier was definitely Noel, yet the place where the growl echoed, didn't have Noel there.

"Oh? Noelle?" Stunned when Raiden spotted only Noelle standing by herself, he stood without a care for the other twin.

"..." Noelle grasped her hands tightly before inhaling all the air for herself.

Immediately, Raiden noticed Noelle's cheeks turning as red as a cherry, yet it sorta looked like she was shy of something.

[Player ‘137’ has activated the Skill, ‘Ice Cream’ Lv. 5.]

Seems like Raiden found the reason why..

Roaring with a shout, Noelle resolved herself as she screamed with ice particles unleashing itself toward Raiden.

Fwoosh!!

Those ice particles either formed into a ball of cream or stuck onto Raiden's body, it freezed those it touched, piling frostbites after frostbites onto Raiden without a shred of difficulty.

It was like Noelle was immobilizing Raiden despite him being restricted not to make a move.

‘I'm already not allowed to move from this spot, so why would Noelle do this? Oh! Unless..’ Raiden realized before breaking out from the ice on his arms.

Swish!

Swiftly his gaze shifted, Raiden discovered Noel falling down with his Chakram splitted into two.

"I knew it!" Raiden chuckled, extending his hands to reach the Chakram.

Noel for some reason didn't look so shocked when Raiden laid his hands on the Chakram.

Noticing that small detail, Raiden asked with a smile. "What are you thinking, Noel?"

"Keep quiet..!"

"Doesn't this seem familiar? I think I remember your sister and Frostina Kun had this kind of situation you're in right now."

SWOOSH!

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Frost Flare’ Lv. 9.]

"None of your business!" Noel bawled as he struck down a beam of frost at Raiden like he did earlier in the match.

"Oh, this again? I won't get hurt from something like this!" Raiden spoke casually, clutching onto Noel's Chakram very firmly.

[Player ‘215’ has activated the Skill, ‘Electric Arc’ Lv. ???.]

CRACKLE!!

On the edges of Noel's Chakram, a mark was made in a flash as electricity built up from one end to another, dispersing throughout Noel's body in mere seconds.

Apart from the electricity generated by Raiden, there were sparks of penalty spawning in to reject Raiden from wielding a weapon he wasn't allowed, resulting in different kinds of sparks to unfold before Noel and Raiden.

No ends to the electricity, Noel bailed out by leaving his Chakram within Raiden's hands.

In some cases where one is unarmed, the situation would have gotten worse for Noel, however..

"Ehh?!" Raiden gasped in awe, staring at the Chakram.

Not the Chakram that was within his grasp, but another one which was flying toward him with frost and icicles covering it.

CLING!

Without delay, Raiden tossed aside the Chakram he held toward the other Chakram, flinging both of them far from him.

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Snow Cannon’ Lv. MAX.]

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Snow Cannon’ Lv. MAX.]

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Snow Cannon’ Lv. MAX.]

WHOOOOOSSHHH!!!

Going way too far with this, Noel enclosed Raiden with hundreds upon hundreds of cannons.

Not a single spot was missed as Raiden looked around, astonished by the sheer numbers of cannons and dumbfounded by overuses of a single skill.

‘This is.. Just because a skill is maxed and doesn't require much mana and less cooldown time.. Doesn't mean..’ Raiden was flabbergasted before shaking his head to focus on the situation at hand.

Raiden nervously laughed it off. "I've seen from Frostina Kun that you, Noel Kun, have a cannon-like skill that summons a hundred cannons! But wow, this is going overboard!"

"One skill wouldn't be enough, so get beat with triple of a skill!" Noel exclaimed confidently.

[Player ‘137’ has activated the Skill, ‘Frozen Grace’ Lv. MAX.]

Boosted in strength and coldness by Noelle, the cannons directed themselves at Raiden while charging up to blast at him.

POWWWW!!!

…

CLATTER!!

Cannonballs of ice that were charged by the lightning balls, had collided with one another as nothing else but lightning yellow and freezing blue illuminated the surroundings.

Shot after shot, the icy cannonballs were shattered by the lines of thunder connecting one cannonball to another.

SPLATTER!

Despite the cannonballs getting shut down by Raiden's lightning, shards of ice broke down and continued to strike Raiden, barely getting past his defense as it inflicted a small cut onto his temple.

"Incredible! You actually hurt me!" Praising his opponents, Raiden grinned.

Tired of Raiden's comments, Noel grumbled while sending another band of cannons at Raiden. "Can't uncle shut up?"

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Snow Cannon’ Lv. MAX.]

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Snow Cannon’ Lv. MAX.]

This time, however, Noel added something else to further enable him to reach the victory of this match with Noelle.

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Frost Flare’ Lv. 9.]

[Player ‘139’ has activated the Skill, ‘Frost Flare’ Lv. 9.]

"Whew.." Raiden, stressed by the numbers, let out a sigh. 

As Raiden stood without a shred of fear for the thousands of cannonballs and flares of frost, he rested his hands on his waist as if he was surrendering.

"From the beginning, this is our win! Surrendering doesn't mean I will stop attacking!" Noel exclaimed, not caring whether Raiden surrendered or not.

Raiden shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

BOOOMMM!!!!

And there goes the second round of shooting brutal shots at Raiden..

…

..or it should have been.

[Player ‘500’ has activated the Hidden Skill, ‘Freeze Frame’ Lv. MAX.]

Out of the blue…

"Foolish brat." 

Stuck in his spot was Noel, he suddenly couldn't move a muscle as he could only observe and hear Frostina's voice getting closer to them.

Aside from him, all the AOE skills and attacks were fading away seconds by seconds, seeming as though ice and lightning never existed in the first place.

The one who did this, Frostina, scolded the twins after landing down and walking toward the twins with delicate steps. 

"Have you learned nothing, fool?"

Unable to answer because Noel is just stunned in his position, scowled with glaring eyes at Frostina.

Frostina remained indifferent toward that foolish glare as she turned around and glanced at Raiden.

Understanding Frostina's gaze, Raiden exclaimed in delight. "The quarterfinals has come to an end! And at the same time as today, we'll have the semifinals tomorrow!"

"Noel and Noelle.. Since Frostina is currently in a bad mood, including everyone who needs to rest for now, you two will receive your advice later. Is that okay?"

‘I'm stuck! How am I supposed to answer that?!’ Noel grumbled inwardly.

On their behalf, Noelle nodded toward Raiden.

"Alright! Let's get back to the ship, and enjoy a big meal to refill your empty stomach!"

———

An hour later… 

After arriving at their destination, they had sat down to wait for the feast to be delivered to them, taking this spare time to have casual conversations.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh~!! I lost.." Alaine groaned with her hands ruffling her hair. "I didn't think I would fall from using too many clones! My brain needs some workout!"

Worried about that, Louis suggested. "Hey, you shouldn't put too much pressure on yourself for just a single loss."

"I can't fathom the sight of defeat!"

"Stop being dramatic, Alaine."

"Jeez, can't a girl have fun with drama?"

"I can't fathom the thought of you being a drama queen as it's unfit for you."

"Don't copy my dramatic way of talking, it's annoying that way!"

"Pfft!" Louis chuckled, irritating Alaine even more as she proceeded to smack Louis.

Although odd to see Louis opening up a little bit to Alaine, it must have been the match that made both Alaine and Louis communicate with ease.

Chattering…

Moving on from these two, there was a trio of kids chattering by themselves as they giggled and grumbled.

The one who grumbled a lot, was obviously Noel. "I could have had him! If only I wasn't stopped midway."

"I.. I don't think you should win by killing your opponent, Noel. It's only a light match.." Mya mentioned.

Resting lazily on Noelle's head, Crystal argued. "It wasn't a light match for me since I almost thought I would die! Even as a familiar, I wouldn't want to turn into swiss cheese from your arrows, Mya."

"I'm sorry.. I was too excited and focused.."

"Mya, you shouldn't apologize to Cryo! She literally used her powers at max and could have hurt you badly if the match wasn't stopped!"

"She did..?" Mya tilted her head while Crystal flinched and hid under Noelle's hair.

"It's because I was cornered! I really could have lost!" Crystal argued.

"But you still lost!" Noel scolded her. "You stressed Noelle out to where she had to faint to recover her mana!"

"Noelle, I'm sorry.." Crystal pokes her head out of Noelle's hair as she looks at her castor with puppy eyes.

As sweet as Noelle was, she grinned as to forgive Crystal, caressing her familiar with care.

"Sis, you're too kind! You shouldn't spoil Cryo like that!" Furious, Noel bawled.

On the other hand, Mya forgave Crystal by patting the bunny's head, along with Noelle. "Elle, you're so gentle toward your familiar. I wish I could have a familiar of my own.."

While enjoying the comfort of pat, Crystal was suddenly reminded of something. "Oh, I remembered."

"Remember what?" Noel asked, still grumbling.

"You haven't used 'that' yet, right? When are you planning to use it then? At the end or at the semifinals?"

"Using 'that' is a clear victory, and I absolutely don't want that! I want a fair fight!"

Dumbfounded by Noel, Crystal commented. "Noel, if you wanted a fair fight, what was the match with Raiden about?" 

"Uhhhh…… Isn't he strong though?" Noel tried to find his way out.

"Hehe." Mya giggled before gazing at Crystal. "About 'that', I'm with Noel on this one. I-I don't want everyone to think I won because I had the power that isn't my own.."

"What? Isn't that just as the ice maiden put it, foolish?"

"Ice maiden? Did you mean aunt Frostina?"

"Who else is a cold lady such as her?"

"Don't be so rude to an adult, Noel. That's bad manners. But.. How am I foolish?"

"Didn't father tutor us? I think he said something along the lines of.. It's not whether it's your power or not, as long as it helps you survive from anything, then use it!"

"Of course, I remember that. Maybe that's why Ahjussi informed us about it multiple times, because he predicted I would feel this way about 'that' power."

"That's right. You should use 'that' at every chance you get, Mya! Power is everything!"

"Not everything, silly." 

..Tap.

"Eh? Elle?" Surprised, Mya found Noelle's hand on her head as the latter caressed the former's head. "Hehe, getting comforted by Elle is nice."

Blissful, Crystal spoke. "Comrade! You understand how I feel!"

"No fair! I want Noelle's headpat too!" Noel groaned when he saw how relaxed Mya and Crystal looked.

Crystal laughed in victory while staring at Noel's defeated face. "Hahaha! Too bad, Noelle only got two hands!" 

"Then I just have to steal your place!" Noel daunted Crystal with his mischievous smile.

"Woah! No, no! This is my spot!"

Watching this sight by themselves, Mya and Noelle giggled to each other while Noel and Crystal were tussling.

**—**—**—**—**

Author's thought :

As sad as it is, my time is less compared to the past where I could write 3-4 chapters a week, but currently as I aged, I need to work.

So hm, it's literally excuses and excuses. 

In any case, there will only be 1-2 chapters a month. Yes, month. Disheartening, isn't it? I can't find spare time to write, so I can't do anything but melt away in the workload of stress.

So.. Hm.. Sorry? I'm sorry as an author. 

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