He seems pretty normal?"
"Yeah, he isn't even looking in our direction."
Surprised at the negative responses he got, Adam swiftly turned his head and saw that truly, Felix wasn't paying him any attention anymore, Instead, he was clicking with his finger rapidly in the air like a moron.
'Was he looking at an invisible hologram before as well?' He pondered to himself.
As the captain of the Hiltons team, he also possessed an AP bracelet. Thus, he knew that Felix was either currently playing a game on a hologram or chatting with someone. This made him assume that Felix's earlier look wasn't sent to him but to the person, he was chatting with.
...
After a grilling 10 minutes of listening to Mr. Jone's speech, the teams and the spectators were finally spared.
As soon as Mr. Jones left the arena, heading to the VIP rooms which were packed with authoritative figures and the elders of the families, the host took the stage and announced the schedule of today's battle.
Without any surprises, The Maxwells were going first against the Waltons since those two were the first to fight yesterday.
...
Meanwhile in the Maxwells' resting area...
"Captain Felix, are you sure this plan is going to work?" Nathan asked Felix with a worried expression.
"If Kenny is not complaining, why are you jumping around?" Felix gave him a side-glance and asked, "Do you want to take his spot?"
"The weather sure is nice." Nathan immediately sat next to Noah and stared at the sky with him, totally ignoring Felix's question.
"Thank you for your concern brother Nathan." Kenny looked at him with a hopeless smile and said, "Felix's plan might be the only one we have to win this battle without too many casualties."
'Hehehe, you so bad to force him into this plan.' Asna giggled at Kenny's expression.
'For his traitorous action in my previous life, this is nothing.' Felix narrowed his eyes, unnoticed by Kenny, and said, 'I will make sure to play with him until that day comes again.'
"Will the two teams please step in the arena!"
Felix's conversation with Asna was interrupted by the host's loud announcement. He cracked his neck and was the first to walk to the arena.
The rest swiftly chased after him. They were already prepared and waiting only for the announcement.
At the same time, the Waltons stepped into the arena in a straight line, headed by the red-bearded captain Oliver and the teenager Micheal.
After everyone got on the arena, they immediately started forming a battle formation. Felix's team surprisingly used the same formation as their last battle!
Three front-lines, two supports in the middle with Felix, two rangers behind them, Kenny and Johnson at the far left and right ends of the arena.
Oliver, who was in the process of laying out orders to take the A formation, stopped speaking at this sight.
Not in his wildest dreams, would he have thought that the Maxwells would actually repeat the same formation.
Didn't they think for a second that his team had already familiarized themselves with it? This thought coursed in his mind.
Regardless, he still didn't drop his guard down, as he knew that battle formations could be repeated, but abilities synergies or offensive plans used would be totally different.
You see, battle formations were merely the positions in which a team decided to take against their opponents.
It heavily depended on the type of bloodliner. If a team had more front-liners than their rangers or supports, the formation used would need to facilitate the front-liners into approaching their opponents.
On the other hand, if the formation depended on rangers, the total opposite would be required, which was helping the rangers to attack without getting threatened by assassins or front-liners.
After a proper formation was chosen, abilities synergies would be created in that said formation. For example, the Walton team yesterday, used their captain as bait to force the Alabama team's front-liners into thinking that only by removing the buffers would they have a chance to win the battle. The moment they left their formation, the battle was already over for them.
"Captain what now?" Micheal, who was standing right next to his shoulder asked, "Should we continue with our main synergy?"
Gleeful, Oliver nodded his head and said, "Let's show them the price of being lazy."
After getting his approval, Micheal grinned and pointed each finger at his teammates' directions, who were spread on their side of the arena away from each other. They were standing exactly like yesterday in a wide circle around Micheal.
On the tip of Micheal's fingers, the same grey wires came out and whizzed each to its target.
No one was spared from having their waist connected with that wire. It was clear that everyone knew beforehand about this, as all of them were wearing the same tough-looking leather belt that Oliver had on.
On the other side of the arena, Lexie was the first to buff the front-liners with her ability. Though, this time she buffed Kenny and Felix as well!
After she finished, Olivia took over and started planting on the heads of Noah, Nathan, and Dale. However, this time she actually planted one on Kenny's head as well!!
The sight ringed some alarm bells on Oliver's mind. He didn't know why they did so, as it was obvious that Olivia's abilities activated only inside a specific range.
He had no idea the limit of the range exactly, but he was confident that it shouldn't be big enough for her to heal their assassin, who needed to stay far off from his team.
After all, how was he supposed to ambush their backlines, if he didn't come at them from behind?
'Whatever.' He soon dropped the matter entirely.
What else could he have done? It wasn't like he could order his teammates to keep an eye on Kenny.
If any one of them had a proper vision ability to do so, Kenny should probably not join the battle with his stealth ability.
Meanwhile, the spectators and the stream MC were laughing their asses off at the new addition to the flower boys band to bother about looking deeply into the reason.
Noah and the rest already had their images captured and spread out on the internet yesterday, going insanely viral.
It got so bad, Nathan and Dale had thoughts of going full commando without Olivia's healing in this battle just to avoid any further embarrassment.
Thankfully, Kenny who just joined their flower band took most of today's mocking jeers, letting them sigh in relief.
"Alright, stop whining about Oli's ability." Felix looked at the last 5 seconds in the countdown and said, "Noah, don't go too deep this time."The moment Noah nodded his head, the host shouted at the top of his voice, "Battle!"
Every bloodliner with a morphing ability instantly used them!
They didn't want to transform before the battle began was because their energy was being sapped each second to sustain their transformation.
Only those with abilities like Olivia and Micheal had no issue doing that since they didn't have the same energy problems.
After a couple of seconds, Noah was the first to finish his transformation.
Boom!
He used his ice mace as a cane, putting his weight on it while standing motionlessly. Unlike the last time, he wasn't going to dash forward recklessly but remain with the team, moving as one.
He wasn't stupid to distance himself from the team after seeing what happened to Luke yesterday.
On another hand, Kenny and johnson were already gone out of sight, doing what they were supposed to do. Putting pressure on the Waltons' backlines.
After seeing that the Maxwells were taking a defensive stance, Oliver, who was hovering in the air on a grey tornado, frowned his eyebrows while ordering, "Protect the buffers at all cost while I am gone."
Just like yesterday, he was buffed by at least three to four abilities, making his skin glow with two different colors while inside a transparent barrier.
This barrier was the one responsible for protecting him from projectiles. For him to have that many buffs, it was obvious that his team had more supports than the rest of the teams.
"No need to worry Captain." Micheal, who was standing all alone in the center of the formation, flickered his fingers slightly, causing all of the wires to tremble.
"I doubt anyone could ambush those linked with me." He snickered in a cocky manner.
Micheal's confidence was based on the fact his ability *Metal Link* could pull anyone towards him in a split second. Thus, unless Kenny or Johnson straight out went for the kill, he could save his teammates from dying.
He was certain that after hearing Mr. Jones's speech, there was no way for those two to attack his teammates' vitals.
Satisfied by his response, Oliver nodded his head and immediately flew swiftly towards Felix's team.
With his speed, it didn't take even a couple of seconds before reaching above them. Without getting told what to do, Sarah and Isabella started hurling their elemental abilities at Oliver.
Phew, Phew, Bam!...
Oliver focused only on dodging those cats made of flame while letting the storm of pebbles to hit his barrier. He knew that his barrier was fragile against powerful attacks but steady against those types of abilities, like flame rain or such.
Felix didn't bother to join the girls as he understood that his poison bombs were even more useless than those pebbles against that barrier. After all, his bombs were made of mist and the barrier encased Oliver's entire body.
"My turn!"
After seeing that they were slowing down their attacks, Oliver pointed his finger at Olivia and Lexier, trying to use the same combo as yesterday.
However, before the small tornado finished whirling under their feet, Felix hugged their waists and jumped away in a swift manner.
Immediately after landing safely, he threw them on his shoulders instead of putting them down on the ground, making them yelp in surprise.
"The hell." Speechless, Oliver's eyebrows twitched at the sight of those girls, having their feet and hands dangling down Felix's shoulders.
What made him and the spectators even more speechless was the fact Olivia was giving him a smug smile instead of feeling ashamed like Lexie.
His aim at the start of each battle was to always get rid of the supports before focusing on the rangers. But now, how was he supposed to do so when they were being carried like that by Felix?
He only had two active abilities in his arsenal, *Upsurge* and *Wind Blast*. It seemed to him that Felix wasn't an easy target for his combo to land on, especially when it took a full second for the tornado to manifest completely.
Phew! Boom!
Sarah took advantage of his slight daze and sent her flaming cat at his barrier, making it eat a direct explosion!
Crack!
Sadly her bloodline and affinity rating weren't the best, as her offensive power only caused some cracks to appear in the barrier instead of shattering it.
"Nice work Sarah!" Delighted, Olivia gave Sarah double thumbs up while still dangling on Felix's shoulder.
However, her delight soon turned into confusion after seeing the cracks on the barrier were getting glowed on by a blue shimmer that was coming from Oliver's body!
A moment later, the blue shimmer retracted leaving the barrier to appear steadier than ever! Though, Oliver's body, which was glowing brightly before, dimmed a bit after so.
Felix recognized what had just happened, as he had knowledge of abilities that were able to affect other abilities instead of living beings!
Based on what he saw, this ability was exclusively for recovering barriers. He had to admit that the owner of this buff was pretty lucky to unlock it from the active abilities' pool even though he had only a rare bloodline.
"Don't lose focus, it's nothing serious." Felix tried to warn Sarah, who seemed like she was the most affected by the sight since she kept standing in her place with a stunned expression.
Whoosh!
Alas, his warning was a tad too late., as the same tornado manifested under her feet, lifting her up in the air.
He wanted to help her, but his hands were full with those two.
Just like Sarah took advantage of his daze, Oliver didn't hesitate to do the same!
The moment she reached his height in the air, he extended his palm in her direction and called out loud, "Wind Blast!"
Boom! Thud!
A mini wind explosion happened right next to her stomach, propelling her rapidly in the air with a drop of blood coming out of her lip. Her ears were hearing the sound of the wind while her heart was beating out of her chest. The notion of smashing into the ground scared her to the point she fainted mid-air.
The spectators knew that the fall was going to be nasty as Oliver sent her at least 30 meters above the arena!
"Sara..Ouch!" "Ayee!"
Just as Olivia wanted to yell in worry, she was dropped together with Lexie into the floor by Felix.
She spat dust from her mouth while looking at Felix, who was sprinting at his top speed with a calm expression toward Sarah. His superstrength plus the buff given by Lexie just made him bolt in supersonic speed!
"What the hell?!"
The viewers were dumbfounded as they saw him catching up to Sarah's body with a speed unprecedented in this tournament!!
25 meters...20m...14m...
Sarah's body was getting closer and closer to the ground. She was falling on her back with her eyes closed shut and limbs flailing everywhere.
"He is not going to make it!!" The stream MC yelled with a tense expression at the sight of Felix still twenty meters away while Sarah was getting closer and closer to her doom.
10meters...6m...
Whoosh!
The moment Felix saw that he wasn't going to make it in time, he bent his knees and lunged in Sarah's direction with his hands extended forward.
Everyone stopped whatever they were doing and just gazed at him in utter disbelief, flying at least 15 meters from the place he jumped to Sarah's body.
His flying speed was so fast by the time they blinked Sarah was already in Felix's arms.
The moment Felix caught her in his arms, he rolled mid-air to the side, making his back exposed to the ground first.
Fa-Thud!!!
He smashed into the ground while hugging Sarah in his embrace, trying to make her experience as few bumps as possible after their bodies start to roll forward due to their great momentum.
Thud, Thud....
Awestruck, the spectators had their hands on top of their heads at the sight of Felix and Sarah rolling over and over again until they finally stopped two meters next to the edge of the arena.
The moment Felix opened his arms, the spectators saw that Sarah had only a few scratches on her body while she was lying peacefully in his embrace.
Meanwhile, Felix's clothes were entirely ripped open, exposing his undamaged pale skin in plain sight.
He wasn't even scratched!!
"...."
A sudden silence descended in the stadium, lasting for merely a second before everyone jumped in the air screaming at the top of their voices.
WHOAH!!!
"HE ACTUALLY DID IT!!!" Thrilled and stirred, the stream MC banged the commentary table with his fists as he shouted.
The viewers at homes, bars, on the streets, the spectators in the stadium, the Maxwell elders, and even some young authoritative figures, all were sharing the same excitement as him, as they were either cheering, shouting, or clapping their hands until they reddened!
"That's what I want to SEE!"
Feverish, Mr. Jones who was sitting in a VIP room with the governor clapped his wrinkled hands until they started to sting him.
Meanwhile, the governor of Florida next to him was simply applauding slowly with a pleased smile. He might be moved but as a politician, his emotions were always in check.
"If only those little bastards valued their teammates like him, I wouldn't have gotten so riled up." Mr. Jones sighed and reseated himself.
He massaged his reddened palms while looking at Felix, who stood up while princess carrying Sarah to the very edge of the arena.You don't have to worry sir, the two-month camp we prepared for our national team is enough to shape them into one unit before sending them to Germany." The governor said, smiling.
"I do hope so." Mr. Jones merely blinked his eyes at the governor's promise.
Back in the arena, Felix was gesturing with his head at a staff member underneath the arena.
However, before the staff reached him, he sensed a slight tremble in his arms. He looked down and saw that Sarah was opening her muddled eyes slowly.
It seemed like that noise was deafening to the point it made her regain her consciousness.
"Wh...what had just happened?" She asked with a soft tone and muddled eyes after seeing the strange situation she was in. She assumed that she would wake up on a stretcher instead of being carried like this.
"Nothing happened." He showed her a faint smile and said while handing her to the staff member, "Get some rest. You did well."
Before Sarah could even ask him any further, Felix turned around and walked back towards his teammates, who were clearly blown away by Felix's timely save.
The promise Felix gave them in their first battle kept ringing in their minds.
Don't worry about getting heavily injured or killed, just go all out!!
Felix just showed them that his word and promise should be treated like gold!
He never broke his word even once and wasn't planning on doing so anytime soon. If it wasn't this, Asna wouldn't have trusted in him to fulfill his end of the bargain when she helps him reach the peak.
So he didn't care if Sarah, Dale, or even Kenny were the ones thrown in the air, he was going to save them first before thinking about other matters!
'Impossible... Just impossible!'
Meanwhile, Oliver was actually the one most shaken by what he saw. His mind couldn't fathom, having his combo, which was being coined by his teammates as 'unblockable', fail for the first time to inflict any damages to its target!
His teammates always envied him for unlocking two abilities that harmonies with each other too well. But now? The spell was finally broken!
"You saved a ranger, but gave away two supports."
Disgruntled and slightly provoked, Oliver shouted while aiming both of his index fingers at Olivia and Lexie!
Although those two girls heard him and knew what was about to come, their legs refused to budge from their position. The sight of Sarah being launched in the air kept playing in the minds, turning their brains into mush.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Before Oliver could even grin in delight at the sight of his tornados lifting up those two, Noah, who was only a couple of meters near them, dropped his Ice Mace and jumped forward!
He caught their legs and pulled them out of the tornados' zone with him. Those tornados could only lift one person each, and with Noah's weight, it was impossible to lift them all at once.
"Thank you, Noah." Olivia showed her appreciation the moment she regained her wits back. Noah gave her a slight head nod while standing up swiftly in a guard position.
He extended his arm and another ice mace was created in his hand. Simultaneously, the first one turned into icy blue particles, drifting in the air.
Satisfied by Noah's timely save, Felix smiled while still walking with hurried steps, not bothering to sprint and return to his position. He knew that Olivia and Lexier were beyond safe while near Noah.
After all, Noah never lost focus for a second, even after everything that had just happened. He never left Oliver out of his sight. Thus, the moment he heard his claim, he was ready to rescue Olivia and Lexie.
When it comes to reliability, Noah was a top-notch teammate!It seems like using Oliver's abilities to hone their reflexes isn't going to end well.' Felix sighed a bit disappointed by the girls' showing.
He had a ray of hope that Olivia wouldn't freeze like always in their practice if the circumstances were dire and real.
Sadly, nothing changed.
'Let's end this battle.' After seeing that Olivia's tragic reflexes were still the same, Felix decided to get rid of Oliver since he lost his worth in his eyes.
'Where is that snake?' He activated his infrared vision for a split second before blinking his eyes, making the red shimmer disappear as suddenly as it appeared.
He didn't want to show this passive to the public since he was already having too many similarities with Landlord. Especially when he decided to showcase his superstrength.
Thankfully, Kenny stuck with the plan Felix laid out before the battle, as Felix noticed a human-shaped aura approaching him in that split second. After he turned off the infrared vision, looking with his normal eyes, that aura disappeared.
It was obviously Kenny in his stealth.
in a couple of seconds, Kenny reached Felix's side and tapped two times on his shoulder without saying anything. This was the signal they agreed upon.
Felix acted a bit surprised by making his shoulders tremble. He had to fake it since he never told the family about his infrared vision.
It would appear super weird to Kenny if he didn't have a single reaction after getting tapped like that without a single soul nearby.
"Hold my forearm and increase your speed." Felix murmured softly.
The moment Felix felt Kenny's hand on his forearm, he started sprinting towards his teammates, who were being barraged recklessly by the infuriated Oliver.
Why wouldn't he be?
Noah and the rest were all grouped up in one spot, holding each others' shoulders. The two small tornados used under their feet weren't able to lift a single one of them. Only their clothes and hair were flattering by the wind ceaselessly.
It seemed like one of them finally realized a way to counter Oliver's *Upsurge* after seeing how Noah saved Olivia and Lexie!
As long as they keep supporting each other's weight like this, Oliver could only dream about lifting one of them.
As for getting harmed by the small tornados? They didn't worry about that as their bodies were enhanced after awakening.
One shouldn't forget that a 1st stage bloodliner had 1000 BF. This meant for those at lesser purity or greater purity, their Bloodline Force was 300 and 600 respectively.
So, one should never assume that awakeners had the same bodies as commoners even though they never obtained any physical ability!
'Damn it, this isn't working.'
Frustrated at the sight, Oliver let a long exhale through his mouth and stopped his attacks at once. He knew that getting rilled up would only harm his team's chances of winning the battle.
That being said, he was still pretty upset, he knew that even if he won the battle, the finals were going to be hell for him when his weakness was laid bare like this.
As for the wind blasts? He couldn't use them unless he was in close distance to his target. He wasn't stupid to leave his super advantageous range and bring himself to their striking zone.
'I should probably head back.' He swiftly decided to regroup with his teammates and think of another solution.
However, the moment he turned his head, he was flabbergasted by the sight before him. "The hell?"
A thick long foggy wall was standing at the center of the arena and stretching from the right to the left. Not to mention its height which surpassed 20 meters and closing in on 25 meters.
For Oliver, who could only hover at 20 meters max, his vision was thoroughly blocked!
Since he couldn't see his team's condition, it only meant that his team was also having difficulty seeing the situation on this side of the arena.
'Why the hell would he do that?' He was utterly confused by Johnson's decision to focus on blocking their sight instead of doing his job properly and try to assassinate his supports. After all, one less support means one less buff reduced on him.
The reason he wasn't worried by such a weird behavior was because of the wire on his waist!
As long as it was still linked with him, it signified that Micheal was safe and sound, and if Micheal was alright, his teammates would be alright as well.
'Micheal are you good?'
Worried or not, he still didn't feel safe being separated like this from his teammates without having them in his plain sight. Thus, he sent a message to Micheal using the Queen's voice.
'We are fine. How about you?' After receiving a positive response, he sighed in relief. Then, he lowered his head, wanting to see one last time what his opponents were up to before going back.
'Huh???' absolutely at a loss of words, he gaped at Felix, who was spinning around himself with his arms extending forward and hands tightened like he was grasping into an object.
He wasn't the only one weirded out by the sight, as the spectators, who were still feeling feverish due to Felix's previous save, had their eyes widened at the sight.
How could someone transform so quickly from being a hero into appearing like a moron?
Too bad, before this thought could even take root in their minds, Felix stopped spinning and swung his arms in throwing animation towards the bewildered Oliver.
Felix's delightful expression while doing so sent shivers at the back of his teammates.
Whoosh!
'What the he...'
SLAM!!
Before Oliver could even comprehend the incoming the strange sound of the wind, his body recoiled back, akin to being tackled by a rugby player!
ARGH!
A breathless groan escaped through his lips while his eyes bulged outside of their sockets. He felt like his stomach just got attacked by someone's head.
Sadly, that's exactly what happened, as Felix used his superstrength to hurl the invisible Kenny towards him!!!
'Your accuracy is slowly catching up to mine.' Asna giggled, making Felix tighten his buttcheeks subconsciously at that damned memory.
Not wanting to get entangled with her about that, Felix ignored her jab and focused on Oliver, who appeared to be struggling to free himself from Kenny's grasp. His arms were tightly held against his waist, making him unable to move.
If he wasn't having difficulty breathing after getting his guts hammered by Kenny's head, he would have had it a bit easier to kick Kenny away since his physical strength was stronger than him.
He couldn't even use his wind blasts as he was going to get hurt as well by the ability.
Meanwhile, the spectators had no idea what was going on, as they didn't have omnipotent sight or vision enhancement.
They were merely commoners, using their commoners' eyes to spectate the battle. Even the stream MC had zero clue on what to commentate.
They just kept murmuring to each other while watching Oliver slowly dropping to the ground with a twisted expression.
They switched their vision to the tornado that was lifting him and they saw that its whirling speed was getting weaker and weaker.
If the stream MC knew about Kenny, he would have explained that the small tornado was having difficulty supporting the weight of those two.
"Prepare to receive them." Felix ordered while standing exactly next to the whirling tornado, that was responsible for lifting Oliver.
After seeing his teammates surrounder the tornado with him, Felix unexpectedly stepped inside of it!
His green hair kept flailing everywhere while his ripped open jacket was getting torn even further by the raging wind, exposing his....T-shirt.
Thankfully, his T-shirt was spared as the tornado lost all of its momentum when a 3rd person stepped on it too. Well, even if Felix was the only one affected by it, he wouldn't be lifted in the air like the others.
Poof!
Ultimately, the tornado gave in and exploded into grey particles, forcing those two to drop from 15 meters to the ground.
Whoosh!
Even during the fall, Kenny didn't let go of Oliver. He actually tightened his grip even further!
'Shit! Shit!'
Not bothering with Kenny, Oliver swiftly activated *Upsurge* again with a horrified expression.
He was hoping to save himself from the fall. However, the moment the tornado showed up, it exploded into grey particles!
As expected, Felix who was standing directly underneath them, made it impossible for the tornado to lift him up since his physical body was counted as a 2nd stage bloodliner!
There was absolutely no way for a greater purity bloodliner with a rare tier 1 bloodline to affect Felix with such a strength gap between them!
the power used in those abilities could easily be blocked by Felix's physical defenses. It was already tested before in the measurement center when he first unlocked his superstrength passive.
The only way for anyone in this tournament to harm him was by using a mental ability. That's why he always had that laid-back attitude.
Sadly for Oliver, he neither had a mental ability nor a primogenitor bloodline like Felix. If he had that kind of bloodline, he would have been able to affect those in higher stages than him just like Felix did in the games.
"SAVE ME!!"
Now? He could only cry out loud in despair while looking underneath him at the mocking expressions of the Maxwells.
He wasn't begging for Felix and the rest to catch him, but trying to make his voice heard to the other side of the arena, so Micheal could pull him over. He was too terrified to remember that he could use the Queen.
Unbeknownst to him, Micheal was already pulling him as hard as he could until the wire was making creaking noises!!!