Chapter 257 Group Elimination  

Few moments before

When Leon was fighting against Moksh, Rio stared at the halfling who jumped at him. Heath didn't speak, introduced or talk nonsense with him and directly stretched out his claws and ready to slash at Rio.

Maybe he would've taken this fight lightly before, but after seeing Vanessa getting eliminated instantly even after using her best skills, Heath dropped that idea.

'Let's see how many moves I can take.' He wondered in his heart, as he used the elements of wind and nature to increase his speed and strength.

Unlike others his age or in his class, Heath didn't have the arrogance or pride to hope for a win against Rio. Nor did he feel humiliated for a loss.

He was arrogant, extremely too, as it was the pride of the superior bloodline flowing in his veins - but he was also self sincere. He understood his level and strength, and there was no shame in accepting it.

After all, even if he ignored everything else, the fact that Rio was chosen by a primordial and had a higher rank than him was enough for him to let go of his ego. So he just wanted to use this spar to test his skills and check the difference between them.

As Heath charged towards Rio. He used his skills - Wings of the Wyvern, Claws of the Wyrm and Thunderous Stomp.

With a heavy stomp to the ground, his figure jumped high into the air, creating a crater below on the ground.

His hands turned into lethal claws. As sharp nails grew on the edge that could rip everything it touches to shreds.

Clothes on his upper back tore open as wings erupted from his back, growing in size. As the wings unfurled, he flapped them in succession, propelling himself faster and farther, creating air shockwaves that shook the trees in the surrounding area.

His movements became a blur, leaving only fleeting afterimages in his wake, a testament to his staggering speed.

Yet looking at him Rio had the same calm expression as before, thinking - 'So flashy and showy. What a waste.' When Heath was close to Rio, he stretched his claws to attack him, trying to end this match in one slash, yet when he was within attack range, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as if he was hit by a powerful hammer and his figure flew backwards with the same speed.

If he hadn't used his skill 'Cloak of scale' which created a scale armor around his body to shield him prior to this match, he doubted he would have had time to react to this attack.

Yet despite the amazing defense that scale shield provided, Heath still felt the force behind that hit.

His figure rolled on the ground two times, before he used his wings to stabilize himself. Yet due to his own high speed before, his feet still got dragged over on the ground for a few meters before they came to a halt.

Two lines were left near his feet, a mark of his struggle.

"I call it 'The Scalebreaker Punch'." Rio's words came to Heath's ears when he finally stopped himself.

Heath saw Rio looking at his clenched fist with a look of approval. Like he was satisfied with this new 'skill' his hands created.

Heath wiped the trace of blood near his lips and looked below, only to see cracks forming on his chest, and he could only watch as the scale armor broke down and turned to light particles.

If it were the real world he would've surely felt immense pain or some backlash from that skill, but due to the sensors which kept the pain in check for this virtual match, he could still endure it without screaming or rolling down to the ground.

Feeling the loss of mana in his body and seeing the condition of his internal organs, Heath canceled his transformation skills and decided to use his mana for another skill called 'Draconic blessing' instead, which gave him slight healing and regeneration powers.

Yet before he could heal himself to get ready for his next attack, he saw the white haired boy in front of him waving both his hands, as a chilling air passed by him and froze everything in its place.

Including him. magic

"And this is called the art of ice"

Before his body completely froze and turned into frost covered sculpture, Heath heard those mocking words from Rio. And he clenched his fists in anger again.

'Not like this,' Heath said in his heart. Losing was acceptable to him, but never this easily and never this bad. Thus he decided to use a skill which he never used in the outer world till now.

-Dragon's breath

As one can understand from this name, this skill had the simple function to release a stream of scorching fire made out from pure mana and his life force, from his mouth. Since Heath still hadn't mastered the art of complete transformation yet, or awakened his bloodline, his physical body couldn't control the long lasting aftereffects of this skill. And he could only burn his lifeforce to compensate it.

But since this wasn't the real world, and at best he would just get eliminated after using this skill, so he didn't care about those side effects and used it.

While Heath was doing his best to chant the skill and control it to break free from this thick ice, which he couldn't break free while standing stuck. On the other hand, Rio ignored the tiny amber glowing in his 'art piece' and looked at Moksh and Leon, who were both staring at him, struggling with the bone chilling cold.

The sudden wide range attack from Rio had successfully interrupted the magic duel of both Leon and Moksh. As Moksh, who was multicasting spells even suffered some backlash.

While the other teammates of class A-4 had already been eliminated. Including Zirrix, who was already hanging by little health.

While Moksh was busy staring and trying to control his mana to break free from the ice which reached till his legs, he didn't notice the small movements in his shadow behind him. And just when he managed to break the ice and was ready to take a step back and rush out of this skill range, he felt someone tied his feet and he fell down to the ground.

Yet before his body could hit the ground, a spike rose from his shadow and stabbed his neck, ending his life and eliminating him from this match.

[The firefly is shining bright.]

System said to Rio, as he canceled his aura avatar and looked back at Heath, who managed to melt the ice around his face and neck.

'Interesting' Rio said and didn't act to kill him, yet waited to see what this worm ?? could do next.

Not noting the smiling expression of his opponent, Heath closed his eyes and started chanting something in some weird ancient language.

His body was glowing in amber now, not sure if it was due to his skill or mana, or the backlash from these skills reducing his health.

'Dragon tongue' Rio said in his mind, when he noticed the movements of mana in the surrounding area. His lips couldn't help but curl up in a smile, as he felt the richness of mana in his vicinity.

[What a fool.] System spoke up in Rio's mind while looking at Heath like looking at some idiot.

There were not one, but many things wrong with what Heath did or wanted to do. Worst of them all was to gather evenly spread out mana from the environment and put it all over his head, right in front of the guy who basically lived over sucking thin mana from the air for two years in a dungeon.

And true to the system's thoughts, next under Rio's control over elements and mana, all of that magic flew over to Rio and got swallowed into his body.

'Delicious' Rio said, as he felt the high amount of mana into his body. Which was even higher then what this match allowed in the beginning.

"Thanks for the gift. But it's time to end it."Rio whispered and punched out, sending a projection of fist flying through air, which shattered the 'sculpture' and eliminated Heath.

"And this is called one punch _ forget it. It's nothing." Rio was saying something but after remembering the bald head hero, and comparing his hair he gave up naming this 'skill'

With Heath dead it ended the hope of winning this tournament for class A- 4. As a token flew over to Rio's hands and rested near his waist.