Chapter Eleven

1

A pale-blue object, shaped like a water snake, suddenly lashed toward us at incredible speed.

The enemy was a little surprised to see Qin Ying safe and sound, but he adjusted almost instantly. A warrior’s reactions were always frighteningly fast. The initial shock had already faded.

There was no time for more explanations. We’d have to wait until the end.

“These two are counterattacking!” I swung the motorcycle around and dodged the water snake with Qin Ying.

After probing them several times, we knew they both wielded water Magic. The troublesome part was that they were dual-element users.

It felt like humanity was evolving. More and more young people could control two elements.

The human ranking system was variable. It refreshed every few centuries. The divine ranks of today couldn’t be compared directly with those from a thousand years ago.

The pale-blue motorcycle wielded water and light. The dark-blue one wielded water and lightning.

If Zhao Yuansong and his partner didn’t attack for the moment, we could deal with them quickly. But behind us, Zhao Yuansong was clearly ready to strike at any time.

His teammate still hadn’t appeared.

Even in a two-against-four situation, we were confident we could win.

“The target stays the same.”

There was no time to explain further. Qin Ying kept her focus on the two targets ahead while I turned the motorcycle around.

As my eyes swept over Zhao Yuansong, he froze slightly.

Our gazes met in that instant.

My blood-red eyes locked with Zhao Yuansong’s. Caught completely off guard, he was unlucky enough to be intimidated again.

He had resisted it once before, so the opening this created wouldn’t last long.

We had to seize it.

I turned the motorcycle back around and accelerated at once.

After dodging several water snakes, we were already close enough to strike. I was just about to cut down my opponent when something suddenly rose from the ground.

A water prison glowing with warm light appeared right in front of me.

The violent impact sent both me and the motorcycle flying. I barely managed to steady the bike, but sharp pain pulsed through my right arm.

“Ho—Holy Water? Sis, that’s Holy Water! It really is!” Xiao Yao leaped up from the spectator stands and shouted at Xiao Qiong.

“Sit down. Holy Water isn’t yours alone!”

“But can Xiao Yang win?”

“Does it matter? This isn’t even our match. Sit down!”

Qiong pulled Yao back down with one hand. Her palm was already slick with sweat.

By then, the entire street was covered in water. It had become an extremely dangerous battlefield.

“Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt—!”

The lightning had already spread throughout the water on the ground.

The motorcycle’s speeding tires didn’t conduct electricity, so they were safe. But the moment I stopped and put my foot down, I’d turn into a charcoal-black sheep.

I endured the pain and kept driving.

Part of the pain in my arm came from the Holy Water. The rest came from the electricity running through the water.

My hand was starting to go numb.

“Qin Ying, break it open!”

Qin Ying had split away from me earlier. As I closed in on the enemy, she immediately widened the distance between us and stopped in a dry patch.

She released both hands from the motorcycle.

The black-and-white Twin Stars were already in her grasp. Light and darkness Magic surged at the same time.

The enemy reacted the instant he saw where Qin Ying was heading.

A milky-white object as thick as a man’s thigh, wrapped in lightning and shaped like a water snake, burst from the prison and charged toward her.

A huge amount of Magic gathered in the muzzles of Qin Ying’s guns. Even the contract sigils on her hands began to glow.

Qin Ying silently recited an incantation.

The Twin Stars were loaded with real ammunition, and those bullets required spells to fire. Black and white bullets shot from the two barrels.

The entire audience gasped. So did every citizen watching across the empire.

Light and darkness coexisting together—experts and senior researchers in Magic all instinctively told themselves that this had to be fake.

The two bullets crossed the water snake in the blink of an eye and split it in two.

They kept flying and slammed into the Holy Water prison.

The black and white bullets continued pushing forward even after the impact. Little by little, they tore the prison apart.

I appeared behind them on my motorcycle and accelerated in a straight line.

The two bullets punched a huge hole through the prison. Before it could repair itself, I charged inside.

The outer layer of the Holy Water prison was covered in a soft glow. Ordinary people couldn’t see through it.

To most of the audience, it looked as if I’d simply rushed straight into the prison at full speed.

Then flames burst from within.

The intense heat sent water vapor rising nonstop, forming a surreal veil of mist.

“Whoosh—!”

I burst out of the mist and stopped at the far end of the street.

The spectator stands fell completely silent.

Even the commentator had nothing to say.

“Bang!”

Before I’d even caught my breath, the corner of my eye caught a flash of blue.

It was like lightning.

The owner of that blue light was even faster than lightning.

Faster than light itself!

“Ugh!”

The blue light slammed into me.

Pain exploded throughout my body, leaving me weak and numb. I was certain then that the blue light was lightning.

Blue electricity now wrapped around my entire body.

The person who had struck me stood right before my eyes.

It was Little Fish, Zhao Yuansong’s teammate.

On the other side, Qin Ying had already been entangled by Zhao Yuansong. He must have been wary of the intimidation I’d just used, so he had no intention of confronting me directly.

Unfortunately, because of Perra, Zhao Yuansong’s entire team had already been bitten and turned into vampires.

No one could escape the curse of those red eyes.

Little Fish didn’t leave immediately after striking me.

That guy was always half a beat slow. Even his intimidation had come late.

When he finally struck me a second time, I caught him.

The faster-than-light speed I’d feared had appeared, but now I clearly had a way to deal with it.

“Remember this. I’m allergic to ordinary lightning!”

Little Fish’s lightning crackled loudly. He had poured everything into it, pushing the voltage as high as he could.

But after hearing my words, he stared at my face in confusion.

I smiled like a demon.

“Boom!”

Blood-red lightning tore through the clouds without restraint.

It swept through the sky recklessly. A floating drone was accidentally shattered by the raging blood lightning.

Even with his speed beyond light, Little Fish couldn’t escape after being captured.

He could only watch as the blood lightning descended from above.

The strike blasted him off the motorcycle. His arms flew away from the handlebars, and he crashed onto the ground in a spread-eagled position.

Qin Ying and Zhao Yuansong stopped at the same time.

That meant the match was nearly over.

All we had to do was reach the finish line. The outcome was already clear, and there was no need to struggle any further.

Zhao Yuansong got off his motorcycle and ran to Little Fish’s side.

He gently helped him sit up, removed his helmet, and said, “Good thing you were wearing that protective suit. Otherwise, you’d be meeting Pluto by now!”

“Boss… I’m sorry.”

Little Fish sounded extremely weak.

Being struck by blood lightning was no joke. It hurt more and caused more damage than ordinary lightning.

“It’s fine. At least we’ll still take third and fourth place. That’s much better than the other four.”

He paused, then added, “And there’s still tomorrow’s match. We haven’t lost overall.”

“But… Her Majesty…”

At the mention of Perra, unease surfaced in Little Fish’s eyes.

“It’s fine. Losing to Qin Yang isn’t anything to be ashamed of.”

Zhao Yuansong smiled naturally.

I couldn’t tell whether he was comforting Little Fish or himself.

“Hey, let’s go! Why are you watching their bromance? You’re not even a fujoshi!”

Winning the match naturally put me in a good mood, so I couldn’t resist teasing the person beside me.

“You still haven’t told me how you remembered!” Qin Ying pressed.

“Then tell me your real name first.”

“Qin Ying.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Of course there is…”

Our conversation continued all the way to the finish line.