Chapter 145: Injury and Tachibana Tomoe's Miserable Scream

"Oh goodness, you're so late, Yechen!" Hakuhime, whose eyes had never left the entrance, finally waited for the person she had been expecting. With a gentle wave of her jade folding fan, an invisible, immense force cleaved a pathway through the ring of dozens of surrounding people.

Trotting over to Yechen and grabbing his arm, she complained pitifully, "Yechen, they are so mean! We were just waiting inside, and suddenly they all crowded around us." Tachibana Kanade and Kirito also walked over through the path cleared by Hakuhime and nodded, confirming that this was indeed the case.

They had simply been trapped behind a transparent barrier cast by Hakuhime. No matter how fiercely these surrounding people attacked, they could not break through. This had initially shocked Kirito, who had thought her elimination was certain. Seeing that Hakuhime did not counterattack, Kirito had subconsciously assumed that her Blaze Edge possessed outstanding defensive capabilities but poor offensive power, or perhaps her wide-range defense prevented her from sparing the mental focus needed for attacks.

The people blocked outside the barrier by Hakuhime shared this exact thought; otherwise, it would have simply felt too much like cheating. The only reason they refused to leave was that they wanted to wait until Hakuhime was exhausted and her stamina failed before resuming their assault. What frustrated them was that nearly half of the Blade Ascent Tournament's time had already passed, yet Hakuhime showed no signs of fatigue. Instead, they had ended up waiting for two formidable new adversaries: Yechen and Julie.

Some people had also entertained other ideas. With so many individuals present, if they seized a moment of inattention during an attack, they could wipe out quite a few duos at once, drastically increasing their chances of securing an ascension opportunity. If they managed to eliminate everyone else, success would be guaranteed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but it looks like you were having plenty of fun," Yechen said with a smile, instantly grasping the situation. If Hakuhime had truly wanted to deal with them, these people would have been lying on the ground long before Yechen arrived.

It didn't take much time for Hakuhime and Tachibana Kanade to pull this off. The only reason they hadn't struck yet was likely to reserve some insurance for securing their own ascension opportunities. With so many people here, as long as they took out a large portion of them, the ascension slots for the five of them would be virtually secured.

"Ehehe~" Hakuhime smiled sweetly. "Then we can start now, Kanade!"

Covering the lower half of her face with her jade folding fan, a pale blue light solidified upon the fan, signaling that she was about to launch an attack. Tachibana Kanade also spread her pair of pristine white wings, gradually ascending into the air. At this sight, the students who had intended to engage in close combat were dumbfounded.

Except for special cases, the objects materialized by Blaze Edges were predominantly melee weapons, offering virtually no ranged attack capabilities—unless one simply threw their weapon away, which was obviously out of the question. Of course, Tachibana's chain was well-suited for this, but as luck would have it, she was nowhere to be found among this crowd.

How were they supposed to fight someone who could fly? Tachibana Kanade possessed the ability to attack using feathers, making her essentially the equivalent of a human-shaped fighter jet. Just as the desire to retreat began to sprout in their minds, a flash of deep light swept through Hakuhime's eyes. In tandem with the falling feathers from Tachibana Kanade, nearly ten people were knocked down in an instant.

Yechen, bringing Julie and Kirito along, surged into the crowd like an arrow released from a string. Every time Yechen struck, he used only the scabbard wrapped around his sword. With a few successive slashes releasing explosive, cannonball-like shockwaves, several more people were treated to the sensation of flying.

Despite their vast numbers, under the assaults of Hakuhime, Tachibana Kanade, and Yechen—three individuals clearly operating on an entirely different level—the crowd could not hold out for long. Seeing the numbers dwindle rapidly, Torausa Aoi and Kujon Tyoru exchanged a glance, mutual understanding passing between them, and fled in the opposite direction from where Yechen and the others were.

They felt utterly depressed; having entered the school only recently, this was already their second time fleeing. Last time it had been from Poison Island Saeko and Shiina of the first-year cohort, and this time from Yechen and his peers, who had enrolled at the same time. It seemed that they were also closely acquainted with Poison Island Saeko and Shiina—they were all a bunch of unscientific monsters.

With the two of them taking the lead, the remaining people scattered and fled in all directions. Yechen and the others dealt with the opponents closest to them, then checked the time—there was still half an hour left before the end. Judging by the number of rivals they had already taken care of, even if they spent the remaining thirty minutes chatting idly right here, they would still pass safely.

"There wasn't a shred of challenging difficulty to this, was there?"

"Not a shred at all," Kirito said, looking with a complicated expression at the sea of 'corpses' sprawled across the ground. The competition she had always believed to be impossibly difficult had turned out to be so effortlessly and simply resolved after joining Yechen's team that she didn't even know what expression to make.

"They'll be fine. Minister Umi and the Chairman both said that Blaze Edges generally only inflict damage upon the soul and do not cause physical injury to the human body." Seeing Tachibana Kanade looking somewhat worriedly at the fallen students, Yechen patted her shoulder and spoke.

"Someone's coming!~" Just as they thought no one else would dare approach after so many students had been defeated, Hakuhime noticed a single figure moving slowly toward them, her sweet voice ringing out in warning.

"Someone else is coming?" Kirito couldn't imagine who else would have such audacity. Looking in the direction Hakuhime had indicated, she spotted a figure stumbling and collapsing onto the ground, her body seemingly stained with blood.

"Hey, are you alright?!" When Kirito realized that the injuries and blood on this person were real rather than some act put on for an ambush, she instantly recognized that something might have gone wrong. She lifted the young woman up and shook her gently, trying to rouse her.

"Ah, Hodaka Masaru?" Julie, who had hurried over right behind Kirito, recognized the identity of the unconscious girl and spoke with great puzzlement.

Perhaps because of Kirito's shaking, the girl gradually regained consciousness. Seeing Julie and Kirito beside her, she pleaded in an extremely urgent tone, "Tachibana, Tachibana is still over there! Go quickly, go save her..."

Her halting voice barely managed to convey the plea for help when a cry of agonizing pain echoed from the distance. If one listened closely, it was evident that the owner of this voice was none other than Tachibana, whom Hodaka Masaru had come seeking help for.

"Kanade, you and Hakuhime stay behind to treat her. Julie and I will go see what's happening over there." Judging by the severity of Hodaka Masaru's wounds, whoever had struck did not intend to take her life, but launching such an attack against students here was clearly a violation of the rules—or perhaps an intrusion by outsiders. Yechen told Tachibana Kanade before sprinting at full speed toward that direction.

Even without Yechen's prompt, the kind-hearted Tachibana Kanade was already using the healing abilities inherited from her angel lineage to tend to Hodaka Masaru. Under Tachibana Kanade's gentle, glowing energy, the wounds on the girl's body began to heal rapidly.

Seeing there was nothing left for her to do, Kirito quickly shouted, "Wait, I'm coming too!" and gave chase after Yechen and Julie. This unusual cry of agony had also begun to draw other people rushing toward the scene.