F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 284: Insurmountable
Everyone in the arena stood frozen in stupefaction.
They were jolted awake only by Nathalie, who was able to snap out of her stupor a second earlier.
"I-It’s over, folks!! Just like that, the promised battle had concluded. Cody Han, after a fiery showing in the Round of 16, bows out of the competition at the hands of his friend and rival! Daru Finnley remains too tall and tough a wall to topple for the A-ranker!"
With how Cody Han almost incinerated the soul of the Petrov Family’s heir out of existence, they thought he "should" be the one to put a stop to the F-ranker’s fairy tale run in the tournament. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
After all, even before he used his sword’s dangerous Innate Sword Skill, he had already proven that he could easily go toe to toe with Lucas.
Perhaps if it had been him who went against Alopecion, the S-ranker would’ve been booted out of the competition already.
So...what was this?!
How was he defeated in seconds?! His loss was so thorough that it seemed inevitable.
Clearly and simply, he was outmatched by the legendary F-ranker, Omaru.
Those who bet on Cody couldn’t even cry that he threw the match.
He had fought really well in the first few seconds, somehow holding his own in a back-and-forth exchange despite being sent flying in the first sword clash.
It was just that Omaru turned out to be far stronger than anyone anticipated.
They thought he was on the same level as the S-rankers, and that was already stretching it. This meant that Vulkhan would’ve had a fair chance of winning.
But no.
Cody Han was destroyed in less than a dozen seconds, and this was despite his performance against Lucas Petrov.
Quickly, the sharper ones turned to look at Skylar. The Sky Prince’s reign was being challenged!
Yet, the second young master of the Ashwind Family didn’t have much of a reaction.
Either he already knew that Omaru was this competent, or he was still very confident that he would win.
Perhaps even both?
If anything, it was an orange-haired lady watching venomously at the stands who was trembling in disbelief and denial.
A certain squad of goons, and two pretentious B-rankers, too.
They were the "pillars" of Class 70 — Lynn, Zach, Dylan, and Bao. The latter three broke out into cold sweat, while the young miss of the Pemberton Family was drowning in a chaotic mess of emotions swirling and warring in her heart.
At this point, could it still be denied that she was inferior to Daru Finnley?
Yet, at the same time, she felt indignant about it. Anyone would’ve treated an F-ranker like trash!
Her reaction was normal...so why does she feel deeply humiliated?
Lynn wanted to scream in anger, embarrassment, and vengeance. Why is this Daru Finnley so lucky?! So blessed by the gods and goddesses?!
Unfortunately, she was someone who valued how others viewed her, especially in physical appearance.
She refused to make a fool of herself.
Lynn couldn’t bear to watch him reveling in a glorious victory, even though Daru wasn’t reveling at all.
He had long been used to this. To him, fame always tasted bland. It was a fiery competition that he craved. Eyes are irrelevant.
Nonetheless, the spiteful young lady decided to stay, resting her hopes on Skylar’s shoulders.
Just one time. She just wanted to witness Daru Finnley fail one time.
Gods...goddesses...she had never wished for anything else in her life, just this...
Meanwhile, on the stage, the referee announced:
"O-Omaru wins and proceeds to the semi-finals!"
Of course, he didn’t dare call this without approval from the defeated party. Cody wholeheartedly accepted his loss, grabbing the hand offered by Daru with a bittersweet smile.
He...had somehow felt this was coming, and he desperately fought the thought off, finding peace in fighting to the best of his abilities and accepting whatever outcome would be.
He even had the perfect boon his partially recovered soul gave him: fearlessness.
Yet, he still got run over. The mountain was just that high.
"Well, that’s the extent of a good fight I can give you...it seems. Sorry." Cody felt a bit ashamed, talking so big and feeling that he underdelivered.
Daru’s brows, however, only rose.
"Why are you apologizing? You did give me a good fight. Two, even."
Cody was confused, then he realized what his friend meant. His battle with Lucas.
That was a great fight, wasn’t it?
He shook his head with a smile, but Daru didn’t notice, so he thought his friend was disheartened.
He somehow felt he needed to explain, so as not to hamper Cody’s growth.
"Well, there’s no shame in losing in such a way to me. As you can see earlier, none of the other A-rankers lasted for as long as you did. They couldn’t even take two strikes from me."
It sounded as if he was being high and mighty, but really, he was just encouraging his friend in the sincerest way his limited conversation skills could come up with.
"That was a good fight, Cody." Daru smiled.
Cody froze, a strange mix of emotions welling in his heart. Pride? Inferiority? Joy?
He couldn’t tell, so he decided to just drop it.
"Well, thanks, I guess..." Cody sighed, then smiled at Daru as the two descended the stairs of the main stage together under wholesome cheers and applause. "No, but really, how the hell are you so strong? I’m curious...I mean, you simply can’t blame people for underestimating an F-ranker, and even I unconsciously do so. C-Can I get in on your secret, at least?"
Daru fell silent.
He knew his secret was safe with Cody, but the problem was, it was about to not be a secret soon, so there was no point in telling him right now.
"Sure...I’m about to tell everyone, anyway, due to some circumstances...Wait just a bit more. You’ll learn about it soon. Maybe you’ll also feel better then."
Cody wasn’t an unreasonable guy. He merely shrugged with a smile, then split with Daru, heading over to the seat beside Elune.
His jolly little Moon Fairy was probably worried and dying of curiosity.
