Battle of Ascension

Chapter 413: Marlin Show

"As swift as the wind!? But what a pity that he chose the wrong opponent. If he chose Boroo as his opponent, there is a slight chance for him to win. But against Marlin"

Randy shook his head after hearing Pristine's story about Alwin.

It was not that Randy underestimated Alwin, it was just Marlin was different level compared to Alwin. After all, Marlin was at the verge of breaking through to Saint Grade Beastmen. So the percentage of Alwin winning against Marlin basically nil.

But there was someone who disagreed at Randy's words. It was Pristine of course.

"But Alwin is at the advantage now! How can you say the chance of Alwin winning is nil!?" Pristine retorted as what she saw was completely different from what Randy said.

Hearing Pristine's retort, Randy looked back. Pristine showed a face that said, "I'm right, you're wrong!"

After that, he looked toward Long Xinya who was a seat away before him. Long Xinya seemed to notice Randy's gaze and she turned her head toward him with a look "What!?". It was as if she was picking a fight with him.

Randy shook his head and muttered, "Not only you inherited your knowledge to her, but you inherited your habit as well to her!"

Yes, in the past, when Long Xinya just joined Happy Guild. She always questioned each decision he made. She would always use every chance she had to attack, though she always obeyed his order. Now, Pristine also always questioned his judgment too and this was not the first time at that.

Zhen Yi let out a giggled after hearing her husband's murmur. She did feel the same feeling when Pristine retorted while Long Xinya acted as she heard nothing. As for Pristine, she was clueless about what the three talked about.

Yes, Pristine was not retorting baselessly. At the stage, it was clear Alwin was pushing Marlin back slowly. Even though what could be heard was only a sound of metal clashed each other which indicated Alwin's attack was successfully blocked.

However, if one looked clearly, Marlin already retreated for 5 steps in less than a minute. So it could be said Alwin was in the advantage. Moreover, Marlin could not launch a counterattack even once toward Alwin.

...

2 minutes passed since Alwin started his attack, yet he only managed to push Marlin a little. Even though the outsider could see he was an advantage, but it was no the case.

Alwin felt suffocated as he relentlessly attacked Marlin. He felt that every his moves were being read by Marlin.

"I can feel it. I can feel it that" the monkey was perfectly blocked each of his attacks. Alwin anxiously thought. But he knew that he could not rush thing. He had to calm down and thought another countermeasure.

'If my swift attack doesn't work, then how about this, '

Alwin took a deep breath and this time, he picked up his speed. He stopped attacking Marlin head-on but using his movement speed to launch an overwhelming attack from all sides.

Alwin was circling Marlin, but he also did launch a barrage of sword attack. The other guilds could see each Alwin attack was imbued with Wind Elemental Power. The more spectator looked at the fight, the more excited they became.

They could see Marlin was having a hard time dealing against Alwin. However, as the onlookers became excited, but there was one person became even more frustrated. It was Alwin, he became frustrated as his sword failed to land a single hot on Marlin. He felt Marlin perfectly reflected his sword with ease. Alwin also could feel that Marlin was still calm and he felt the title of Swift Sword was perfectly fit for this monkey rather than him.

Marlin did stop his attack despite feeling anxious and frustrated. But then, suddenly, Marlin changed his movement and it caught Alwin off guard.

With the faster and swifter attack, the tip of Marlin's golden stick landed on Alwin's belly.

"Uwackk!!"

Alwin released a weird voice as his belly was hit. But then, he felt his body floated on the air with a hand was holding his right foot.

It was too fast even Alwin did not know what happened until his body landed outside the stage.

Bugh!

Alwin's body landed on the ground and he had a bewildered look on his face. It happened too fast and he could not proceed with what happened at all.

"Happy Guild win!" The referee immediately announced the winner right after Alwin's body landed on the ground.

Not only Alwin, but the spectators also bewildered with the sudden change. Marlin who "looked like" being cornered suddenly turned the fight with him as the winner.

But looking Marlin current condition who gasped for a breath, the spectators came with a conclusion Alwin was too careless.

Alwin was winning, but because he thought he had won the match, he lowered his guard down, and Marlin used this chance to take Alwin down.

Marlin bowed his head to the audience, but everyone could see Marlin seemed at his limit as he kept gasping for breath. After that, Marlin walked toward the Happy Guild, but there was a voice which made Marlin's step halted.

"Wait! Your next opponent is me! So you don't need to get back to your seat!"

Marlin looked back and saw a mature man with a handsome look walked toward the stage. The man had light brown hair, his hair was neat, white skin, and lastly, he gave off a feeling approachable. He looked like a friendly uncle with his amiable smile.

But no one thought this uncle friendly at all after what he proposed just now. Clearly, this uncle wanted to take advantage of Marlin's condition which looked weak after the fight against Alwin. However, the other six guilds would not despise Saint "17" move by challenged the exhausted Marlin. They would do the same if it was their turn to fight.

Yes, his code name was Saint "17" with a real name Joe. Saint "17" meant he was the 17th strongest figure in Saint. Almost the same Heroes Land, Saint was like an organization established by a few countries and had their base in Paris. It just Saint was stricter compared to Heroes Land.

Hearing the challenge from Joe, Marlin turned his body, and walked toward the stage once again. He said no words and Marlin had no complaints but faced Joe with a solemn look.

However, Joe smiled at this and he did not feel shameful at all for challenging the tired beastmen. He pulled out a sword. The sword was a fencing sword, thin but one could see the fencing sword was sharp. The sword also exuded yellow light which meant the sword installed with Rune.

Marlin took a deep breath, stabilizing his breath before making the same stance when he fought Alwin.

"Start!" The referee announced.

"Haa!"

Joe immediately dashed toward Marlin, giving no chance for Marlin to rest. Joe movement was faster than Alwin and in the flash, he arrived before Marlin.

Joe swung his sword toward Marlin. If one looked from the sideline, one could see Joe only launched one attack but

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

The sound of metal collided resounded through the Colosseum. Joe only swung his sword once, but the sound the weapon clashed was five times. This meant Joe launched five attacks at once. It just one could not look at the other four attacks, at least most people could not see the other four attacks but it was not a big problem for Marlin as he perfectly blocked the five attacks.

Of course, the other six guilds already knew the reputation of Saint "17". So they did not feel surprised at Joe sword move. But they surprised Marlin manages to block Joe's attacks.

As time went, the audience felt deja vu, the fighting scene was almost the same when Alwin against Marlin. Joe attacked Marlin without giving Marlin a chance to counter him.

But of course, the beforehand fight and the current fight was different. Joe showed that his Wind Elemental Power was stronger compared to Alwin. The audience also could see the wind sliced the floor of the arena which left a sign of sword cut.

Even though the opponent was different and the level of strength between Joe and Alwin also at a different level. But the flow of the fight was almost the same.

Joe kept attacking Marlin whereas Marlin just passively defended Joe's sword.

However, by looking at Joe who could push Marlin even more than Alwin, the audience became hopeful once again. Somehow, whoever they were, the audience hoped that person could defeat one of Happy Guild core members, even that person not from the same guild.

In five minutes, Joe pushed Marlin at the edge of the stage. One more push, Marlin would fall from the stage and Joe would become the winner in this fight.

That one push that audience hoped went into naught. In Joe's last attack which supposed to be the last push stopped on the mid-air. To be more exact, Joe's sword stopped on the mid-air.

After that, Marlin made a jump to Joe's back. Using his golden stick, Marlin stick shot toward Joe's back and pushed Joe out of the stage.

Joe fell out of the arena and Marlin knelt down on the arena's floor. It showed the audience Marlin used a great of his stamina to defeat Alwin and Joe.

But everyone also puzzled as for why Joe's attack came into a sudden stop. If Joe continued his attack, they believed it was Marlin who would fall from the arena, not Joe.

As everyone puzzled about this, but there was one person aware of this. It was Joe himself of course.

Just now, in his last attack, Marlin made a shocking movement. Despite passively defending his attack, Marlin launched a sudden attack that caught him off guard.

It was the golden stick managed to hit his joint on elbow and shoulder. Surprisingly, the hit was not that painful, but it made his right arm went numb and he could not move his right arm afterward. Even now he still could not move his right arm.

And then, he realized something. Marlin defended passively was not because of he not be able to attack him. Marlin studied his sword attack and countered his attack afterward.

"Maybe that monkey did the same to Alwin!" Joe muttered.

Meanwhile, the seven guilds noticed Marlin was at his limit. As Marlin was taking his time to recover his stamina after two consecutive battle, there was one person climbed up arena.

Looking at the person who climbed arena, everyone knew that this time Marlin bound to be lost if that person issued a challenge to Marlin.

"I will challenge you!!"

As everyone expected, Zephyr III challenged the exhausted Marlin. Then there was no need to guess anymore. Marlin bound to lose in the next match.