Boom!

  The explosion finally separated Hua Yong from the throne as he tumbled a few feet away, the blast wave sending him sprawling across the floor.

  He got back on his feet, gasping, his ears ringing. Half of his clothes were burned, the fabric blackened and smoldering.

  Nearly one fourth of the metal was completely wasted. The skill only allowed control of pure metal, and the wasted part had already been mixed with too many non-metal impurities to be useful.

  He used his skill to change the throne into liquid metal, shaping it with a thought, forming it into a sphere that slowly crept across the ground to reach his body like a metallic amoeba returning to its host.

  "Have you gone mad?!" He shouted, his voice cracking with fury and disbelief. "You are using explosives inside the temple! You will damage everything!"

  "Shut up." Xia Sahui's voice was flat, almost bored. "It won't be damaged from this much." She paused, nocking another arrow against her bowstring.

  "But if an explosive is used another time, then it will definitely be damaged. So, I hope you won't use them." A thin smile crossed her lips.

  "You bitch!" Hua Yong's shout echoed through the chamber, his face contorting with rage.

  Going all out, he tried to use half of the metal to form another armor for himself and the other half to form a spear. But Xia Sahui didn't give him the time.

  Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.

  She retreated hurriedly, constantly firing arrows at Hua Yong. The arrows flew in rapid succession, some he dodged, weaving his body with practiced grace, while others were shielded by the liquid metal that became solid at will. It was clear that even though this metal morph skill was incredibly strong, his control of the skill was sloppy at best.

  Recognizing he couldn't leverage the skill to its full capacity, Hua Yong shifted tactics. Immediately, he went from passive to aggressive. He stopped using the skill to form a complicated weapon and instead used it to form a basic, long metal rod and a simple thick metal plate with a handle to use as a shield.

  And the simple approach worked!

  He hid behind his rudimentary shield and ran straight toward Xia Sahui. Her arrows kept missing as she had to constantly move around, keep her distance, and protect herself from getting hit.

  Finally, she stopped running and also decided to fight close range. She moved in quickly while he was still charging around like a bull.

  But when he finally realized that she had stopped, she had already reached him.

  She darted inside the reach of his metal rod just as he brought it down in a wild swing. Her hand shot out to grab the weapon’s shaft near his grip. Using his own momentum, she wrenched it sideways, jamming it against the back of his own shield and pinning his left arm awkwardly behind the metal plate.

  In that moment, Hua Yong had two choices: keep holding onto the rod and somehow protect himself from the kick that was going to come next, or leave the rod, giving it to her for a few seconds until he morphs and takes it back.

  He chose to hold.

  And as expected, a left kick came straight toward his face. He tried to duck, but the kick connected anyway. But he endured, his jaw clenching against the pain, and then used his bending motion to charge a powerful jump, shooting toward Xia Sahui headfirst.

  But Xia Sahui jumped using only her right leg, and then jumped again, this time using his shield as a prop, pushing off the metal surface with a grunt of exertion.

  Both of their movements were clunky and sloppy. They were trying to do too much in a normal fight. And as a result, both paid the price.

  Hua Yong's shield arm flung backward due to Xia Sahui's leverage, the motion wrenching his shoulder with a painful pop. The metal rod tangled around him as he fell face-first onto the ground, his own weapon hitting him.

  Simultaneously, Xia Sahui tumbled backward, landing headfirst as though she'd been suplexed by an invisible opponent.

  That hit probably gave her a mild concussion, but miraculously, she was still conscious.

  Not miraculously, actually—she had taken many physique enhancement pills during the game. That was probably the biggest factor in her resilience.

  Hua Yong quickly composed himself and got back on his feet, his movements shaky but determined. Xia Sahui was a bit slow—her reaction time dulled by the blow to her head. Taking the opportunity, he swung the metal rod in a wide arc, but once again, she caught it, her fingers finding the weapon with extreme precision.

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  Without hesitation, he ran to tackle her once again, his body low, shoulder aimed at her midsection.

  She prepared herself—

  Flash!

  Blinding radiance flooded her vision, searing white light that obliterated all sight. She couldn't see anything, but her senses screamed at her to move.

  Whoop.

  In a second of urgency, she used her gift and pulled herself nearly five steps back.

  Gradually, agonizingly, her vision returned in swimming, blotchy patches. She blinked, clearing her sight.

  Hua Yong stood before her in complete armor. In his hand, he held a heavy spear, its tip catching the torchlight and reflecting it back in deadly glints.

  "That's your gift?" he asked, his voice muffled by the helmet but carrying a note of curiosity.

  She nodded and asked in return, "And I am assuming that flash was yours?" Her eyes narrowed. "So that's why you were not wearing armor earlier? What a waste. But I am sure our clan needs more human light artifacts. It's a great gift." She tilted her head, assessing.

  "No gift is weak." Hua Yong's voice hardened.

  "Any gift can be strongest or weakest depending on who uses it. This is basic education. Did your family not even teach you this?" He shifted his grip on the spear.

  "They did." Xia Sahui replied with casual dismissiveness. "But they also taught me that some gifts are inherently stronger than others, which gives them a good advantage. And as far as I can see, yours seems much weaker than mine."

  "Tch." He clicked his tongue. "It doesn't matter. You will still lose."

  "I'll see." She replied confidently, her voice carrying the weight of absolute certainty.

  Hua Yong strode once again, taking small steps that broke into a run, his armored form closing the distance with terrifying speed. Meanwhile, Xia Sahui stood still in one place, her bow hanging at her side, her expression calm.

  He knew that she was planning something, but he didn't care. Whatever trap she had set, he would crush it under the weight of his superiority.

  Out of nowhere, a figure erupted from behind her, flipping sideways through the air in an acrobatic arc before descending directly onto him with devastating momentum. The figure was Lu Er.

  Clang!

  Caught off-guard but battle-trained, Hua Yong still managed to raise his spear defensively. The impact, however, sent shockwaves through his armor. The momentum was too much, he was forced to fall backward, his boots sliding against the polished stone.

  "Guh." A slight cry escaped his lips. The attack wasn't sharp or deadly, but the blunt force did some damage.

  Hua Yong tried to counterattack, but Lu Er had already moved. And in that same moment, Xia Sahui also joined the fray. She picked up her bow, and the arrows that Lu Er had brought along, and shot the arrows in quick succession.

  Though most of them either broke or bounced off his armor with metallic pings, some actually pierced through gaps in his defenses and injured him, drawing thin lines of blood that traced down the metal surface.

  Even then, he swung his spear in a wide arc, buying some time to stand up. Then he pulled the arrows out—one by one, his face set in a grimace of pain—and looked at them.

  "You…" He breathed heavily, his chest heaving beneath the armor. "You are not a scion."

  "I'm not." Lu Er replied, his voice steady.

  "Do you know what you are getting yourself into?"

  "Yes."

  Hua Yong looked around himself. There was not a single person in the hall. Everyone was elsewhere, caught up in their own battles. He didn't have any helpers. He had a slight suspicion that Lu Er joining the fight this late was related to that.

  "You are strong. Don't waste yourself on her. Be my subordinate."

  "I'll lose my credibility if I switch sides mid-fight." Lu Er interrupted flatly, as though the mere suggestion insulted his professional standards.

  Hua Yong gritted his teeth. He now had to fight against two strong people alone. The previous encounter alone was enough for him to understand that Lu Er was a strong and trained fighter, the kind of opponent you didn't underestimate.

  The difficulty had increased multiple times over. Two people together were much more powerful than their sum. The situation was not in his favor, but still, he had to fight. There was no other choice.

  Lu Er moved first, with a rusted dagger gripped in one hand, his wooden cudgel streaking through the air in deadly arcs. Meanwhile, Xia Sahui fired more arrows, her shots precise and calculating, each one aimed at gaps in his armor.

  Forced into desperate motion, Hua Yong thrust his spear forward in a probing attack. Lu Er sidestepped the thrust with minimal movement, then used his cudgel to deflect subsequent strikes with practiced efficiency, the wood ringing against metal with each deflection.

  He got hit by the spear a few times, the impacts slamming into his ribs and shoulders, blood pouring out from a few slash wounds, but all of them were minor injuries.

  Hua Yong kept making jabs, thrusts, and slashes—each one designed to find a gap in Lu Er's defenses. But then he suddenly changed the length of his spear, extending it with a thought, catching Lu Er off guard.

  Lu Er, who'd been timing his dodges to the weapon's established reach, found himself startled. He instinctively used his gift.

  The thick wooden shield somehow stopped the spear. The point sank into the wood and came out from the other side slightly.

  With the spear stuck in the board, Hua Yong looked at Lu Er, surprise evident even through his helmet. "You are also a Ranked?"

  "Yes." He replied, pulling the board back—and then he threw it. The board hit Hua Yong in the torso, the sudden action catching him off guard. He instinctively reeled back. It didn't cause any damage due to the armor, but that wasn't his goal.

  An arrow came flying through the air and hit Hua Yong in the back. Despite the armor, the arrow still dug into his back, sinking an inch into flesh.

  "Gah!"

  Lu Er's only job was to not get hit and keep Hua Yong busy. It was easy for him. Hua Yong was a much bigger target than him.

  After the hit, Hua Yong also realized that a single arrow to the head would be game over for him and the armor was half useless against the arrows. So, without pulling out the arrow, he tried to cause confusion for Xia Sahui. He shortened the length of his spear and went close range.

  Using the close range, he went for continuous thrusts and slashes. Lu Er parried, his cudgel moving in a blur of motion, but then—out of nowhere—he started attacking aggressively. He let go of the parrying cudgel, jumped a little, and used his palm to grab the helmet and push Hua Yong to the ground.

  Fortunately for Hua Yong, he was much heavier and had a stable center of gravity. He staggered but didn't fall.

  Lu Er, however, proved relentless. He flowed around Hua Yong's bulk like water, sliding to his opponent's back, then locked both arms around him and wrenched backward with all his strength.

  This time, he fell.

  Since he fell onto Lu Er, one would expect that to be an unfavorable outcome, but Hua Yong already had an arrow in his back, and Lu Er had made sure that it stayed in place, driving it deeper with his body weight.

  As expected, the arrow pierced even deeper before it broke.

  “Argh!”

  Hua Yong shouted, his voice raw with agony, grimacing from the pain that shot through his entire body. But he controlled himself. He still had his spear. He elongated the weapon and tried to stab Lu Er, who was half-stuck beneath him, the point aimed at the one advantage he had left.

  Then another arrow streaked through the air, aimed directly at his armored head—and missed by a hair's breadth, close enough that he heard its passage.

  "I win." Xia Sahui walked toward them slowly.

  Hua Yong released the spear, the weapon clattering to the ground, and exhaled a heavy breath.