Chapter 547

Intense First Half, even as physical stamina began to feel the pressure, the attacks intensified.

[No Name is maintaining as much distance as possible.]

[Katsuhata is closing in. No Name is retreating, aiming for close combat! No Name deflects the sword and goes for the head! Oh! A well-aimed strike, but Katsuhata cleverly evades!]

No Name’s sudden counter made Katsuhata raise her guard even more.

The two swords clashed incessantly, engaging in a fierce duel.

High and low, bottom left and top right, thrusts are deflected sideways and downward slashes are blocked horizontally.

Flames and sparks create long tails like a meteor shower, intertwining to form a tangled path of swords.

[Both players are incredibly fast! They haven’t lost their focus for a moment.]

[This time No Name has enveloped her attack in a Black Aurora, closing in! Ohhh…! Wow, two out of seven strikes landed on the body! No Name has removed 3% of the barrier and satisfactorily deactivates the magic.]

The commentary team struggled to articulate how rapidly the techniques were unfolding.

(18th technique Crescent Cut – 2nd technique Sky Cut – 14th technique Earth Cutter – 420th technique Cross Cut 1 – 420th technique Cross Cut 2 – 233rd technique Piercing Thrust – 19th technique New Moon Cut)

The emanation and retraction of Aura flowed seamlessly in a combination.

At the bottom of the streaming screen, subtitles glided from right to left.

└ The level of the match is insane lol

└ Nice hit!

└ Is this a real combination?

└ Katsuhata’s reaction speed is insane?!

└ Both are crazy fast!

└ If this sword is an issue, then it’s definitely a disaster lol

└ These crazy people don’t have time to use magic lol

└ Why is the final so intense;;

└ Because it’s the final

└ Aha!

The crowd, trembling with excitement, couldn’t take their eyes off for even a moment, overwhelmed by the surging dopamine.

[No Name is going again! Katsuhata, alongside Giselle Fisher, is a player with substantial endurance; No Name will want to end this quickly before going into overtime!]

Once again, Emika’s sword digs into NaeMe’s thigh.

Clang-!

But it’s the intended sacrifice of the barrier.

In that brief moment, she completes the magic circle.

[Cast: Updraft]

Whoosh-

A strong wind split the space between NaeMe and Emika.

[Cast: Ignis Explosio]

Boom-!

With a tremendous explosion, black smoke billowed forth.

NaeMe lifted the SkiaBona and seemed to suck in the smoke like thread into a wand.

Swish-!

The long-range attack from NaeMe unfolds without a warning.

The rapidly approaching black wave swept over Emika’s barrier.

[Wow! The sword aura pierces through Emika’s chest!]

[The sense of creating a low-pressure mana environment and generating shockwaves—wow… this can truly be seen as sending an intangible shadow!]

[But that’s not all, she also adds Black Aurora for a combined cast!]

└ The long-range Adele has been countered, let’s see how it plays out lol

└ The shadow sword aura is so cool!

└ Big NaeMe, Hwang NaeMe, God NaeMe, and now it’s Celestial NaeMe!!!

└ NaeMe sends out the sword aura!

└ They’ve won, won, won! How can you block this!

[In a match where the outcome is uncertain, NaeMe searches for an escape! She continues to apply pressure! Perfectly pressuring Katsuhata!]

Emika contained her Aura, pushing maximum power.

Crackle-

Blue electricity charged in her sheath.

[Katsuhata’s style of Drawn Sword Technique – Ichinen Chidori no Tachi]

Crackle-!

A bolt of blue lightning struck Emika’s sword.

[Legendary Sword – Charge: 753 times]

[Cast: Adele – Far]

Peeling-!

Hundreds of electric birds rushed out from the first circle of the magic circle.

Each body, made of electricity, was marked with cogwheel engravings.

Behind the electric birds split up by the black wave, dozens more appeared, flying with sharp beaks.

Bam bam bam bam-!

There was no space to evade.

Though it caused no direct damage, it was a guaranteed attack once cast.

NaeMe stared coldly at the 17 cogwheels engraved on her body.

If she did not counter Adele within 17 turns, a secondary attack amplified by a factor of 5.05 would come.

Thud-

NaeMe stepped forward, applying her full speed.

Emika simultaneously extended her sword to aim.

The mana spear shot from the tip struck NaeMe’s shoulder with a crack.

Crack-

The slender thread connected to the magic circle was ignored.

Crack, crack, crack-

Ducking sideways was for amateurs; to avoid getting hit in the rain, the only way was to run faster.

[Cast: Demon Lord’s Horn (Continuation) – Wings of Vacuum]

[Cast: Momentum Correction]

NaeMe launched herself towards the incoming spears.

‘12, 13, 14.’

With each number counted in her mind, the jarring impact drawing closer seemed to topple her insides.

Despite knowing this, NaeMe did not hesitate and stepped on the acceleration magic circle.

‘15, 16.’

Once her speed and wings were sufficient to lift her from the ground.

‘Seventeenth!’

[Imperial Palace Sword Method 5th Technique – Dragon’s Heart Thrust]

Emika’s last spear pierced through NaeMe’s sword.

Boom-!

The sword of injustice struck the center of the magic circle, causing the spell to lose its power instantly.

Mana surged back, causing Emika’s body to sway.

Yet, she held tightly to her sanity and performed mechanical reactions.

[Materialization: Barrier Establishment]

[Cast: Eyes of Karas]

Emika piled thousands of mana crows like an igloo to buy time, but…

[Dispel: Eyes of Karas]

[Quick Cast: Le Kaizen Familia – The Nightmare of Le Penseur]

Boom-!

An unidentified bird erupted from the magic circle, a creature resembling a pterosaur with a massive beak, shattering the barrier.

[Perfect barrier counter! Groggy! Katsuhata is groggy!]

[NaeMe has completely penetrated! The first golden opportunity in the final! Here it comes!]

[Ohhhhh!]

NaeMe held the SkiaBona, now reduced to a fraction of its length, in reverse grip.

Just as she was about to strike down…

Hum-

“Hmm?”

“…!”

The joint between the SkiaBona and wand became loose, and the output weakened.

Signs of breakdown.

Seeing this with her own eyes, Emika waited for her chance.

She scoured the ground for her sword.

NaeMe immediately threw the useless wand and struck Emika’s fallen legendary sword.

She tackled into her waist.

[Did you throw away your sword? Whoa! Takedown!]

[It seems something went wrong with the wand…! Otherwise, there would have been no reason for NaeMe to toss her sword here!]

NaeMe climbed atop Emika, throwing punches imbued with her aura.

Though Emika raised her guard to mitigate damage from the punches coming right at her, she occasionally had to evade.

As Emika tried to get up from the ground.

NaeMe grasped her arm and twisted her body, flipping her over.

With her legs tightly wrapped around Emika’s neck, she tightened her grip.

“Ughhh!”

But NaeMe had to expend considerable strength to maintain her position.

To overpower an opponent with overwhelming strength required significant output.

“Hah… Hah…”

Emika pondered with her cold head.

Had NaeMe been wielding a sword, it would have been different; there was no need to rush in a physical confrontation.

She pushed her arm between NaeMe’s legs, waiting for her to weaken.

About 30 seconds of stalemate ensued.

Beep-!

Before long, the referee blew the whistle signaling the end of the first half.

[Final Match 128]

[Time: 15:00]

[NaeMe (South Korea)] [58% / 63%]

[Katsuhata Emika (Japan)] [51% / 79%]

“Haa, this is tough! Why did that break!?”

While NaeMe panted with her small chest, Emika simply stared blankly at the scoreboard.

‘From start to finish, even perfect operations didn’t work. So what now…?’

* * *

[Stade de France]

[Notable attendees include:]

A stadium filled with 120,000 spectators.

The list of “notable attendees” shared with the various broadcasting teams exceeded 300 names.

Hollywood directors and actors, artists, CEOs of global corporations, national leaders, and even royalty.

During the 10-minute halftime, taking a moment to glance at who attended the finals was one of the highlights.

[Queen Victoria of Sweden, and Elias Larsson, who participated in last year’s National Exchange Tournament. This year, Sweden finished with a strong performance, reaching the Round of 16 with Walter Larsson.]

[Ulysses Murphy, the founder of the National Exchange Tournament, and President Charles Debré of France are here for the finals.]

[Next to them is Freya Sky, who brilliantly lit up today’s opening stage, and… huh? Oh! It seems to be NaeMe’s family! Her older sister and father are here to cheer for her today.]

[Wow…]

[Huh… Hehe. What’s up with that?]

[Oh, did you dye your hair silver today? You look stunning. The camera can’t help but move away from the smiles of the two ladies, haha.]

The commentary team was momentarily silenced seeing Saetbyeol waving her hand in greeting as she accompanied Freya Sky.

└ Oh wow, was she NaeMe’s older sister?

└ Whoa, silver hair! So pretty!

└ This is totally an Adele cosplay!

└ She’s ridiculously gorgeous!

└ Why is everyone speechless? lol

└ Freya Sky is right beside her, but she doesn’t lose in looks!

└ That person has such beautiful silver hair!

└ Looks just like Adele. Am I the only one who thinks so?

└ Isn’t she Korean?

[Live] NaeMe’s older sister appears, 99.9% synchronization with Adele’s cosplay!

(VIPs collection.gif)

What is this? She looks almost exactly like Adele? lol

[Comments]

-No way, our Adele’s over there!

-?????

-Why is she so stunning? Legendary!

-You call this looking alike? Does everyone have poor eyesight?

└ No, they look exactly alike.

└ It’s like a copy-paste level.

└ Adele was pretty to begin with, don’t slander her.

-What is this?!

-How can they look so similar? It’s shocking lol.

-Hmm, maybe just the makeup, I guess.

└ Compare it to Freya; their head sizes are identical.

└ You think anyone can pull off makeup like that?

-What is her actual identity? I can’t guess her nationality, lol.

[NaeMe’s older sister = Adele theory]

[This is definitely a violation of 개인정보 by Waresoft.]

[Adele’s synchronization rate?]

[NaeMe telling Adele to be called “sister” makes sense now.]

[Adele is her sister? I’m not really following this plot twist.]

[Something… something big is coming…]

[Just caught Kim Geun yelling at the audience earlier lol.]

[Is Kim Geun out of his mind? lol]

Had this been any other topic, it would have ignited a blaze, but the discussion was temporarily put on hold due to the ongoing second half.

[NaeMe’s intrusion into the audience.gif]

(“I’m looking for a wand! I’m looking for a children’s broadsword with the engraving!”)

NaeMe has charged into the audience.

She’s running alone on a lengthy quest to find her wand.

[Comments]

-The wand was indeed broken, what to do now.

-I can’t laugh at this, sigh lol.

-Why did this have to happen today!

-I should be laughing, but I’m just so stressed;;

-Why does this have to break today? Is it a prank?

-Is there anyone who carries around a children’s broadsword engraved? lol.

-Is there seriously no one? Please…

-I knew I recognized when she was mishandling it during the Cecilia match!

[NaeMe’s entry into the second half (feat. Sword of Injustice)]

(Grand entrance with the Sword of Injustice.jpg)

[Comments]

-What? It’s just the same product she was using before. There must have been another replica; thank goodness.

└ (Original poster) No, no, it’s said that the power went out for a moment due to an auto-update.

└ No way lol.

└ What kind of absurd excuse is that?

-(Awkward NaeMe)

-If that update had ruined the first half, it would have been a real disaster.

└ Imagine the update included graffiti art; that would be legendary.

└ The share price of the corporation might have dropped lol.

-It’s sturdy, so that’s good.

-Hah, I felt like my heart would explode during the first half; how will I handle the second half?

└ Everyone is tense right now lol.

└ I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.