Seeing the dirty move Cedric made, Rose laughed and said, "Well done, Cedric!"
Although the attack was indeed cowardly, victory was all that mattered in the end. People remembered the winners, not the losers.
But Rose's smile quickly faded as she noticed two figures approaching her. When Fleur destroyed her own domain expansion by transferring the damage to her own world to save her life, Michael and Ana were expelled from the Domain Expansion.
Rose wasn't afraid. Even with only 5% of her magical energy remaining, she would still fight, buying herself time and recovering her magic in the process. In terms of magical energy regeneration, Rose was proud to say she was the best!
"Bring it on, I can do this all day!" Rising to her feet with her head still aching and her shoulder bleeding, Rose lifted her head proudly and took a fighting stance.
Cedric also stood up, pointing his wand at the two first-class wizards. Even a few seconds of delay would be of great help to Rose, giving her enough time to recover her magic.
Ana didn't say a word and immediately went on the offensive, lightning surrounding her figure as she vanished from the battlefield. Her speed was so extreme that Cedric and Michael only caught glimpses of a white blur, finding it incredibly difficult to track Ana's movements.
Suddenly, to their surprise, Ana halted her attack and retreated, standing next to Michael.
Crack!
With the sound of glass shattering, the black dome on the other side of the battlefield broke into millions of pieces, signaling the end of Alexei's Domain Expansion.
All eyes turned to the spot, where they saw an unconscious Alexei lying on the ground and Asterion standing tall.
Both were in terrible condition, Alexei especially. Almost every part of his body was charred, making it hard for anyone to look at him directly.
Asterion, on the other hand, had several burns on his arms and chest, particularly on his chest, where a fist-shaped mark was seared into his flesh.
His entire armor was in tatters; the parts still in place were completely melted beyond recognition.
"Baskerville." Without much thought, Asterion summoned his loyal companion and transferred his injuries.
The demon dog didn't even flinch as burns appeared on its body, which healed almost instantly, disappearing as quickly as they had formed.
Before everyone's astonished eyes, Asterion's wounds vanished immediately.
Asterion, now fully healed, stood before them, causing Ana and Michael to sigh helplessly at the situation unfolding before them. Fighting a special-class wizard was difficult; fighting Asterion Black was even harder. You never knew how many cursed spirits he had or what powers they possessed.
Michael nodded and focused on his opponent. At least Rose Potter was injured; he hoped that would give him some advantage in their fight.
"Running away again?" Asterion asked, his voice relaxed and completely free. After so many battles in less than two days, he was remarkably at ease and very satisfied.
Originally, he had thought this tournament would be boring and annoying, but his opinion changed as he witnessed various innate techniques and saw that even ants could harm an elephant, even though he had been limited from the start.
Being limited didn't diminish Alexei's achievement of wounding him or even Ana's ability to force him to use his innate technique against her, someone infinitely weaker. This tournament had become something truly interesting to participate in.
"No, let's finish this once and for all. Don't show mercy like you did before," Ana replied with a determined tone, her voice laced with seriousness.
"I wouldn't show you any less respect just because you're a woman," Asterion said as he assumed his fighting stance, leaving his shattered armor in pieces still clinging to his body.
Lightning surrounded Ana's figure as she disappeared from where she stood. Asterion only saw a white flash in the air before Ana appeared in front of him, her fist ready to strike.
Asterion caught Ana's fist before it could land and used his knee to strike her stomach. The knee hit with such force that the impact made a deafening sound!
Boom!
Even though Ana's speed was incredible, Asterion's eyes could still perfectly track her movements.
Bruaghhh!
The excruciating pain in her stomach caused Ana to spit out a large amount of saliva as the air was knocked out of her lungs in an instant.
However, even in that state, Ana escaped Asterion's grip on her wrist and, in a flash, climbed up his body, using her thighs to shift the special-class wizard's center of gravity.
Asterion was thrown to the ground as Ana rolled off and landed on her knees. She didn't stop and immediately fired bolts of lightning at Asterion's fallen figure.
Ziziziziiii!
Bolt after bolt of electricity crackled and sizzled through the air, bathing Asterion's form in the purest form of energy. But incredibly, despite the barrage of lightning, his body remained unharmed.
This made Ana's eyes narrow cautiously as she prepared her final trump card. She was simply biding her time, gaining every precious second with intelligence.
Suddenly, Ana drew a coin and tossed it into the air.
As the coin spun, blue and white lightning gathered around her, accumulating a massive amount of electrical energy.
"Electromagnetic Cannon," she whispered, not holding back a single ounce of her magic. Even if she lost, she would go down knowing she had used every bit of her strength.
Ana aimed her attack at Asterion, who was getting back on his feet, and without hesitation, she fired!
Zummmmmmmmmmmm!
As the electromagnetic cannon was unleashed, Ana's hair whipped wildly in the wind, and she was forced to step back from the massive recoil of her attack.
Facing such an overwhelming assault, Asterion merely extended his hand as the pentagram in his eyes glowed intensely.
[Analyzing Existence]
[Analysis Complete.]
[Best Option Chosen with Current Remaining Magic – Reflect.]
As the massive, plasma-charged cannon approached, a dark shield appeared in front of Asterion, absorbing the entire attack head-on.
The concentrated plasma collided with the black shield and was deflected upward into the sky, splitting the sea of clouds in two, creating a scene worthy of being remembered by everyone watching at that moment.
"I'll take Asterion, and you handle Rose. Don't hold back your magic at this point, end the fight as quickly as possible," Ana said, walking towards Asterion with firm steps as lightning crackled around her figure.
I tried, Mom.
Ana thought as she collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, staring at the sea of clouds split apart by her final attack, her eyes widening in shock as she witnessed the aftermath. It brought an unparalleled sense of satisfaction to her heart.
Then I'm not weak anymore. she thought, her eyes gradually closing as her mind drifted into sleep from exhaustion.
Asterion deactivated his second innate technique, knowing he had revealed one of his trump cards. Most people wouldn't notice the pentagram in his eyes, but he was sure every special-class wizard watching had seen it perfectly.
Looking at the unconscious Ana, she had no idea how much trouble she had caused him in that moment.
It made him sigh, though he didn't dwell on it. Even if his enemies discovered his second innate technique, it would only make them more cautious when facing him.
The only reason to hide his second innate technique was to catch his opponents off guard and finish them in that moment, but since that was no longer possible, Asterion would just have to crush his enemies head-on.
Asterion set these thoughts aside and focused on the fight between Michael and Rose—if that could even be called a fight in the first place. Michael's innate technique was related to gravity, while Rose's was related to space.
One could say Michael was being suppressed in every way. If he were a special-class wizard, things wouldn't be so simple, but in the wizarding world, there are no "ifs"—only the now.
This made Michael's situation rather embarrassing, as Rose was practically immune to the effects of his gravity-based technique.
Rose was actually getting bored. She had watched Asterion and Ana's fight; she wanted a battle like that, not a punching bag that was easy to defeat.
While watching the fight, especially Ana's final attack, Rose noticed something very interesting about her cold-looking cousin. Truly, something quite fascinating!
Shifting her attention back to the fight, Rose grew tired of dancing around the young man and appeared behind him.
"I'm going to show off a little for my fans; I hope you don't mind," Rose said with a wide smile as she effortlessly dodged Michael's attack.
Without hesitating further, she punched Michael in the face, sending one of his teeth flying, followed by an even harder punch that knocked out another tooth, mixed with blood.
Rose didn't stop there. She continued beating him mercilessly, completely brutalizing Michael's once handsome face.
After some time, Rose noticed Michael was already unconscious, but to make sure, she landed another punch. Seeing that he didn't react, she released her grip on his collar, finally letting him fall to the ground.
"We won," Cedric murmured to himself, surveying the area with no enemies left standing.
He sat down on the ground and let out a long sigh, filled with relief and the accumulated pressure from the entire ordeal.
"Tie them all up and wait for the three days to end successfully," Rose said as she stretched comfortably. This had possibly been the most exciting fight of her life, filling her heart with a sense of satisfaction.
Suddenly, she noticed Asterion standing in front of her, inspecting the wound on her shoulder.
"Ridiculous, a special-class witch wounded this badly by a first-class witch," Asterion commented as he examined the injury. Seeing it was just a normal wound with no bone fractures, he stopped worrying and mocked Rose.
Rose wasn't angered by Asterion's words; she had seen the concern in her cousin's eyes earlier.
"How cute, the Great Asterion Black worried about me~" Rose said, placing her arm on Asterion's shoulder with a teasing smile on her lips.
"I should let you bleed to death," Asterion replied coldly, brushing Rose's arm off his shoulder with a look of disgust.
"You wouldn't let that happen. I know you love me," Rose responded arrogantly, laughing.
Asterion simply rolled his eyes and didn't reply.
Luna, who had been sitting on the throne the whole time, rubbed her eyes lazily and asked in a sleepy tone, "Are we finally done?"
This made Cedric, Asterion, and Rose glare at the girl with threatening looks. They had worked so hard, while Luna had comfortably slept on the stone throne, not caring about anything.
Aware of her teammates' glares, Luna simply stuck out her tongue and continued lounging comfortably on the stone throne.
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Author's Thoughts: I know I promised two chapters, but I didn't have much time to write today, so here's this 1900-word chapter. The next chapter will mark the end of the King's Game, and some news will bring Asterion back to Black Mansion.
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Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 158 - Second Phase of the King's Game (13 e And), Chapter 159 - Death of Arcturus (1), Chapter 160 - Death of Arcturus (2), Chapter 161 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (1), Chapter 162 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (2), Chapter 163 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (3), Chapter 164 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (4), Chapter 165 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (1), Chapter 166 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (2), Chapter 167 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (3), Chapter 168 - Vellory of Arcuturus Black (4), Chapter 169 - Torture and Secrets (1), Chapter 170 - Torture and Secrets (2), Chapter 171 - Conspiracies and Secrets (1), 172 - Conspiracies and Secrets (2).