Chapter 377: Variables

On the arena, Li Mochen and the others also sensed that the five from St. Meken High seemed to have undergone some change. Even William, the weakest, felt it.

“Strange, it feels like they’ve been swapped out.”

“They have been swapped out.”

Louise Linden’s gaze was cold, tinged with anger. What she despised most was this kind of cheating.

“I’ll go all out in this fight.”

—Meaning holding nothing back, going all out beyond the usual limits.

But just then, Coach Ricard below the stage suddenly waved a red flag, signaling the head referee for a timeout.

He directly requested, on grounds of suspected external interference, that the NHSAA competition committee immediately conduct a public, comprehensive inspection of the venue and all participants.

Li Mochen was not optimistic about this. He noticed that the aura of those from St. Meken had shifted slightly again. They all looked calm, without a trace of unease.

Sure enough, when a large group of personnel carrying various instruments entered and performed brainwave tests and magical energy scans on Li Mochen and the others one by one, they found nothing.

This result sparked another round of uproar and curses from the surrounding stands.

“Shit from Linden Academy! You cheat and think others cheat too?”

“—They’re just stalling for time, I know it. During NMOSA matches, people pull this trick all the time. Stall for a few dozen minutes, and they’ll come up with something.”

“Haha! They’re panicking, they’re scared!”

“Go to hell, lucky Andre!”

When they returned to the stage, the five led by Claude Antel had resumed their previous expressions, grinning coldly, aloof and contemptuous.

“That expression—really pisses me off.”

Lina Eldridge took a deep breath. She hadn’t cared much about the outcome of this match, but now she too was provoked into anger by the opponents.

At this moment, Li Mochen finally noticed Angela’s abnormality.

“Are you okay, Angie?”

Her soul-consciousness fluctuations were much stronger today. Especially just now, the intensity suddenly increased, making it impossible for him to ignore.

“I’m fine.”

Angela smiled sweetly: “You know what? Those guys over there, they’re really interesting, very interesting!”

Li Mochen frowned slightly, sensing something amiss. But he had no time to investigate further, as the head referee had begun the countdown.

The five from St. Meken stood ten meters away, their formation somewhat loose, clearly prepared for a charge.

“Three! Two! One! Zero! Start!”

As the referee’s red flag swept down, the berserker from St. Meken expanded his body, his armor swelling into a giant nearly 2.6 meters tall, and charged at them in a flash of blood light.

He aimed directly at Louise Linden, evidently judging her as the weakest of the three magic swordsmen.

With a loud bang, Louise Linden, shield raised, was knocked back several steps without surprise.

“These guys—”

Louise’s pupils contracted, a hint of shock on her face. The berserker’s speed and strength were beyond her expectations. At the moment of contact, what seemed like a simple collision was actually a dozen rapid changes and maneuvers in angle and point of impact, and she was completely outmatched.

“A Mo, be careful, they have at least six divine blessing domains!”

“Too late?”

The berserker laughed loudly, stomping the ground, shaking the arena like an earthquake, and sending a surge of source energy outward. The five had anticipated this ‘Barbaric Stomp’ and were unharmed except for William, who was weaker and flung three meters away.

Then the berserker’s two Viking axes, each the size of a door, swept toward Angela like a whirlwind, the relentless heavy axe strikes covering a five-meter radius.

“Hey, little boy, can you make my Whirlwind Slash fly too? Like that idiot Cardio you faced over a month ago?”

Following close behind, a golden flash streaked in—Claude Antel’s ‘Holy Charge’!

He targeted Lina Eldridge. With a thunderous crash, the girl staggered back, just as the berserker’s axe storm slashed toward her retreating position.

Li Mochen, still standing ahead and slowly retreating, struck at the right moment. His ‘Holy Thunder Judgment’ swung back like a lightning bolt, cutting into the whirlwind of axes. This made the berserker’s pupils contract, forcing him to stop his pincer on Lina and even abort the Whirlwind Slash.

This was because the female shield warrior, Isa O’Neill, had also charged with the warrior skill ‘Barbaric Charge’, but the clash resulted in her being deflected by Li Mochen’s shield, heading straight into the berserker’s axe storm.

If he didn’t stop, there would be only one outcome—Isa O’Neill would be the first to be eliminated.

“Interesting, interesting! You, we underestimated you. You’re really strong, damn strong.”

The berserker’s eyes narrowed, his face finally showing seriousness.

The other four also showed wariness. In the exchange with Isa O’Neill, Li Mochen hadn’t displayed superior strength but used technique to suppress her. Yet inside that shield warrior’s body was a legendary shield warrior also blessed by divine grace.

Even if she couldn’t fully utilize her new body’s potential, her combat skills and awareness were beyond ordinary people.

“But so what? You’re still going to lose this time.”

The berserker’s entire body was now covered in a blood-red aura—a sight that sent the stands into another uproar.

“Source energy armor! That’s source energy armor! Only outlaw-level berserkers can use that!”

“At the eleventh-grade level, that’s just cheating—”

“Haha, mighty St. Meken!”

“I love you guys, crush that Andre! He’s actually useless.”

Li Mochen remained calm and indifferent. According to their pre-arranged tactics, the next phase would be simple: he would deploy ‘Silence Domain’, combined with Angela’s simulated ‘Ice Domain’, to suppress the opponent’s domain power.

Then, while the opponents struggled to adapt, the five would team up to take down one of them.

The berserker was now showing signs of initiating the berserker skill ‘Blood Rage Charge’, locking onto Angela with his mind. Li Mochen was about to open his domain, but then he paused, a look of surprise on his face.

This was because Angela hadn’t followed the planned tactics. She stood still, her body floating into the air. Her black hair danced without wind, and her pupils turned a lake-like blue.

“Petty humans, dare to draw your swords against the beloved of the Creator? I admire your courage!”

The next moment, two loud bangs erupted on the arena. The berserker’s Viking axes came crashing down like a mountain on Isa O’Neill’s head.

This ‘Mountain Cleave’ was so sudden that Isa O’Neill, caught off guard, could only barely raise her shield overhead. The immense force drove her to her knees, blood trickling from her mouth. The concrete arena floor, reinforced with steel plates, cracked like a spiderweb.

Li Mochen was startled for only a moment, then reacted. His sword shot out like a viper, striking Isa O’Neill’s temple.

Though he didn’t use much force, and the speed was only subsonic, the slight vibration of the blade prevented her protective armor from fully blocking it.

As layers of magical energy arrays collapsed, the sword tip struck the helmet, sending her flying off the arena, where she collapsed unconscious.