Read Novel Full Chapter 467: Capturing Rook [I]
Chapter 467: Capturing Rook [I]
Whenever Alexia tried to create distance, a deluge of condensed light lances would spear down from the sky above.
The glowing projectiles would come tearing through the forest canopy, obliterating anything in their path with blinding explosions.
The earth was shaking, and the heavens were spewing down searing light, forcing Alexia to weave through a constant barrage of orbital artillery.
Kaelron would always use this chance to close in on her.
It was a daring thing to do, engaging with Alexia Von Zynx in close quarters. Surprisingly, he was holding his own.
His trick was not letting Alexia generate enough momentum behind her swings, and he was executing it well until now.
Every time she wound up her warhammer, Kaelron would just dart inside her striking range and jam her wrists with the heavy shaft of his mace.
He knew that if her weapon didn’t make clean contact, the force wouldn’t convert into a shockwave.
It was a dangerous, razor-thin game of inches.
One mistake and he would become human paste.
But he knew that too. And so, he wasn’t making any mistakes.
Whenever her hammer did manage to clear an arc, Kaelron would instantly backpedal and call upon a light lance from the sky, letting the orbital bombardment intercept her follow-through.
None of this tomfoolery would’ve ever been possible if Alexia was operating at her full strength.
But right now, from the speed of her thoughts to the raw output of her Essence — everything was cut in half.
She felt so weak and slow as if she’d been reverted back to [C-rank].
“You’re breathing heavy, Fist of Heaven!” Kaelron’s voice was as irritating as his smug grin — even though Alexia couldn’t actually see it. Another radiant lance fell a few feet to her left and detonated, throwing her off balance for a proper swing. “What’s the matter? Is the throne getting a little too heavy for a little girl?”
What was this buffoon talking about? What throne? And what little girl? Surely not Alexia! She had gotten tall after her ascension! Was he blind or something?!
The target of her fury didn’t give her time to brood over her height— which was not at all short!
Before the dust from the latest explosion could settle, Kaelron lunged again, his spiked mace aiming for her left shoulder.
Once again, it was a calculated strike to kill her upper-body rotation before she could bring the hammer around.
Frustrating! So frustrating!
Alexia raised her hammer and somehow managed to block the incoming mace, but the force behind his blow drove her back a few feet, her heels plowing deep grooves through the ash and mud.
The jarring impact rattled her teeth, but the humiliation stung worse.
“Go on, Lady Zynx! Don’t disappoint me now!” Kaelron howled, his voice rising in a theatrical flair. He pressed his weight against the lock of their weapons, using his height advantage to force her down. “It has been such a long time! I’ve been looking forward to this moment for more than two years!”
Alexia tried twisting herself, looking to use the taller boy’s own weight against him. But Kaelron seemed too competent to fall for it.
As soon as she shifted her center of gravity, he also pivoted his upper torso before following with his lower half, bringing the spiked head of his mace under her warhammer, hooking it and wrenching it upward.
Alexia’s guard was torn asunder. With her arms flung above her head and her ribcage completely exposed, she was wide open for the iron-shod boot that came crashing into her midsection.
The blow first expelled the air from her lungs in a harsh gasp, then sent her petite frame careening backward through the smoldering brush.
She hit the ground once, twice, a few more times before crashing through the base of a charred trunk, splintering the dense wood into kindling and finally coming to a rolling stop in a crater left by one of Kaelron’s own light lances earlier.
Dirt, ash, and the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth.
Damn, this guy was strong. And sensible. Both his training and hard work were showing in his instincts and reflexes.
“Is this the extent of your martial prowess?” Kaelron laughed, wiping a speck of grime from his cheek as he sauntered toward the crater. “You were so strong in my memory. Even today, I was certain I would lose. My innate ability shines in wars such as this, but you still gave me so much trouble. I had them throw a plasma ball the size of a fucking car at you. I had them disorient you. I had them overwhelm you. And yet, fear never gripped your heart for even a second.”
He stopped a few paces from the crater and continued with an amicable smile. “But when your feet were bound… you panicked. You finally feared. That was how the Tyrant of Apex bested you in the Entrance Exam, right? Did you get some unpleasant flashbacks?”
Alexia slowly pushed herself upright, wiping a thin rivulet of blood dripping down her nose with the back of her hand. “So you’ve done your homework. Who the hell are you, you stalker?”
If Alexia could see, she would’ve seen Kaelron’s jaw drop all the way to hit the floor.
He blinked, confused, unable to decide whether she was genuinely unaware of his identity or simply mocking him.
For several seconds, the guy just stared. Then his expression melted into a mix of disbelief and wounded pride.
“…Stalker?” The word escaped him like he had been physically struck. “Stalker?! Me?!”
Alexia frowned. “Yes? You know, someone who obsessively watches another person from afar? Takes notes? Remembers weirdly specific details about their life?”
“I— No! What?! I’m not a stalker! And the Entrance Exam video is available to all enrolled Cadets— you know, never mind that!” he caught himself digressing. “Do you really not remember me?”
“Well, if I start remembering every chump I come across, my head would be full before lunchtime. So, sorry. You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Did you… a chump! You called me—?!” A vein visibly pulsed on Kaelron’s forehead. He pointed an indignant finger at the blind girl. “I’m not some chump! Do you at least remember how you once ran away from home and joined that combat tournament?!”
Alexia shrugged. “Uh, sure.”
“Well, I’m the boy you eliminated in the third round!” he screamed. “There was no one else our age. How do you not remember me?!”
Alexia now looked just as confused as Kaelron was before. “Wait, there were more than three rounds?”
Kaelron went completely still. Then he inhaled so sharply it sounded painful.
“You don’t remember the tournament?!” he cried, scandalized.
“I remember the tournament,” Alexia answered, trying to be placating. “There were just so many people there.”
“I was one of them!”
“There were indeed so many people there.”
“I was the boy with the red hair!”
“Boy, you know I can’t see you, right? I don’t even know what red looks like.”
Kaelron grabbed his hair with his free hand, looking on the verge of an emotional breakdown. The girl he had made his goal, the one person he had been chasing all this time… didn’t even remember him?
He wanted to cry and be angry both at once. “I admired you! I spent two whole years breaking my bones, training day and night until I vomited, all so I could stand across from you as an equal! And you didn’t even care enough to save a spot for me in your memory?!”
“Look, I’m flattered, really,” Alexia said, dusting off her singed combat vest with exasperating nonchalance. “Most people just write letters, but shooting down the girl you admire with artillery spells? That’s really some dedication to get her attention. Misguided, stalkerish dedication, but dedication nonetheless.”
“I am not a stalker!” Kaelron bellowed, his face flushing to a shade of red that matched his hair.
Alexia ignored the outrage. “And if you really admire me as you claim, why are you fighting against me? You should’ve joined our side.”