Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst-Chapter 147: VOL 2 - 92: A fine display of strategy and skill.

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Immediately after Zoe landed on top of the fox, several powerful barriers surrounded her, shielding her from a fierce barrage of spells that arrived from all directions. These spells detonated in brutal explosions, unleashing shockwaves so potent they sent the other participants who were trying to approach flying.

"Release!"

At the same time, Zoe made a hand sign with her right hand and exclaimed loudly, causing the secondary images of air she had left when moving between platforms to "explode", releasing small hurricanes of cutting wind that made the scene even more chaotic. At that moment, without a second thought, Zoe fled the area at full speed, quickly reaching her group, who were already prepared and flying on all sorts of magical artifacts.

"Go into full defensive mode, cover our retreat like we practiced, and move toward point 3!!"

The instant Zoe rejoined the group, a powerful shout from Elara echoed, causing everyone to take up a defensive formation. They conjured multiple barriers around themselves while they fled at top speed, keeping the white fox at the center and covering every possible attack angle in all three dimensions.

Simultaneously, Zoe jumped off the fox's back to land on Elara's flying carpet. Then, without uttering a word, she took her guard stance, right hand on the hilt of her Katana, ready to attack at any moment. Elara kept her black staff extended forward, using all her strength to maintain part of the barriers.

In a matter of seconds, a wave of spells struck the barriers, unleashing ferocious explosions accompanied by overwhelming shockwaves that ravaged the surrounding terrain, sending massive mounds of earth and huge boulders hurtling through the air. They tore apart the foolish beasts that tried to assault the group, creating a grim scene filled with dust, bloody mist, and shattered corpses covering the landscape.

After enduring the relentless onslaught, Elara swiftly took a mana-recovery potion from her storage ring, drained it in a single gulp, and then tossed aside the beautifully engraved crystal bottle. At that moment, she urgently announced in a loud voice.

"Knights, repel!"

Almost in sync with Elara's shout, six people holding weapons in their hands and surrounded by barriers swiftly cut through the curtain of dust and blood that obstructed visibility. At the same time, their barriers disappeared to allow them to attack, prompting Zoe, along with three other young combatants armed with weapons, to step forward to intercept the attackers.

"Zero Pressure Abyss!"

Zoe performed four rapid hand signs and then drew her Katana to execute a circular slash with such speed it was barely visible, unleashing a wind slash before sheathed her Katana once more. At the exact moment the sound of the blade colliding with the scabbard was heard, the slash collapsed into a single point in front of the group, creating a vacuum that managed to pull in three of the attackers.

"Crown of Thorns!"

A young woman with light purple hair, wielding a black whip, made her announcement while four small magical circles formed around her whip, causing countless darkness-made thorns to cover the whip's entire surface. She then lashed out forward with a circular motion.

The whip's movement caused the darkness thorns to shoot toward one of the attackers, who, despite trying to defend himself, could not hold out and was quickly overwhelmed. Struck in multiple places, he was branded with ominous black splotches before being teleported to the space station, his face showing an expression devoid of will.

"Meteor Strike!"

Another young man, tall, robust, and muscular, with short blonde hair and countless runes tattooed all over his body, quickly announced this while lifting his massive two-handed mace over his head. At that moment, the runes on his body emitted a faint glow, and he hurled his spinning mace forward with all his might. It rapidly became encased in a coat of rock with long spikes.

The "Rolling Meteor" swiftly collided with another attacker, who barely managed to shield himself but was nonetheless sent flying backward, once again lost within the curtain of dust, smoke, and blood. The moment this happened, the young man extended his hand forward, causing the mace to move on its own back into his hand.

"Dance of Sharp Shavings!"

The last young man, who had dark blue hair tied in a ponytail and held a silver Jian sword, rapidly made six hand signs with his right hand while performing several slashes with his sword in his left hand. It seemed to release metal shards that shot forward at high speed.

Those metal shavings quickly reached the last attacker, who held what appeared to be a long staff, which he spun at great speed around his body to block the attack. However, the impact forced him to step back, and combined with the group's swift retreat, he was unable to catch up.

"Let's go for a combined attack to widen the distance. Mages, on my signal!!"

Having managed to repel the offensive, Elara quickly announced in a loud voice, while a magic circle formed in front of her. This was followed by Liliana, the disciple Williams, and three other young people in the rear, using runes or magic circles to cast their own spells.

"Now! Fiery Charge!"

Swiftly, Elara called out loudly. A large amount of fire appeared in front of the group and condensed into a single point before blasting forward. In that instant, disciple Williams pointed his staff ahead, then loudly announced, surrounded by various summoned runes in the air, causing a barely noticeable sphere of mist to follow behind the point of fire.

"Combustible Gas."

"Solar Flash."

Without wasting a moment, Liliana announced confidently, a magic circle forming in front of her, causing a tiny point of light to shoot out right behind the fireball. At that same moment, a young man with tanned skin and long black hair tipped in pale green extended his staff and announced, surrounded by conjured runes, causing a sphere of highly compressed wind to join the lineup of spells.

"Expansive Pressure."

"Explosive Shards."

Simultaneously, a young man with short golden hair and black skin loudly announced, a large magic circle in front of him, prompting what seemed to be a brittle yellowish crystal sphere to shoot forward. This was followed by the last young man, with light blue hair and bronze skin, who had also conjured a magic circle. He extended his staff and announced, causing what appeared to be a sphere of water vapor to launch.

"Overcharged Vapor."

A few seconds later, the spells converged in the midst of the haze of smoke, dust, and blood, with the mist being released first and spreading through the air. At that moment, the fire expanded, creating a brutal explosion that instantly activated the sphere of light, the wind sphere, the crystal sphere, and finally the vapor sphere.

The combination of all six spells produced a colossal explosion that seemed to shake the very world. It formed a massive fireball stretching a couple of kilometers, unleashing a shockwave so powerful that it tore trees from their roots over a radius of several kilometers, only to incinerate them afterward, while a ferocious flash of light blinded everyone present.

Amid the blinding glare, all those present could hear and feel small explosions happening everywhere, while fragments of explosive shrapnel clattered against their barriers, forcing them to use huge amounts of mana to maintain them until the light finally subsided. It revealed a thick cloud of scalding vapor filling the entire area, creating a sort of barrier that hindered pursuit.

Unwilling to let slip their opportunity to enter the ruin, all the groups urged their mages to drink recovery potions as though they were water in order to maintain the barriers. Then they charged forward at full speed, hoping to catch their prey as quickly as possible.

Their pursuers' indiscriminate attacks forced Zoe, Elara, Liliana, and their group to defend themselves with everything they had. They were pushed to their absolute limits and sustained only by the high-quality recovery potions they possessed as direct disciples, including disciple Williams. These they shared freely with their other companions.

With tremendous effort and exhausted beyond belief, the group managed to enter a beautiful forest, which was quickly devastated by the colossal attacks they were desperately fending off. They spent the last of their energy there, which brought broad smiles to the leaders of the other pursuing groups. The leaders immediately began considering how to deal with the other pursuers, believing that these fools who had rushed too far ahead were about to fall.

But contrary to what the enemy leaders expected, the expressions of the group they were chasing did not become filled with despair or resignation. Instead, they bore malicious smiles, while a short-haired blonde girl shouted at the top of her lungs, brimming with confidence.

"DISPERSION!!!"

With her powerful cry, the group unleashed spells with everything they had while a dense fog enveloped them, sending everyone else into a panic. The pursuers began firing spells and attacks in all directions to prevent their quarry's escape. But to their surprise, many of their spells were reflected back, catching some off guard and eliminating them from the selection tournament.

Meanwhile, those who managed to defend themselves in time avoided that fate, but lost sight of the prey that had been so close to collapse. Taking advantage of the chaotic mana, the quarry hid themselves from their ethereal projections and disappeared among the devastated forest foliage, which quickly filled with fog, concealing them completely.

With irritated expressions at having lost something they were about to claim, the pursuing leaders gave orders to deploy wind spells to clear away the fog in a single blow. But contrary to their expectations, the more air they introduced into the fog, instead of dispersing, it intensified, to the point it almost reached them, putting grim looks on their faces.

Seeing no other choice and especially not wanting to give time to the ones hidden in the fog to escape, the pursuers entered the fog. Staying highly alert and extending their ethereal projections as much as possible, ready for any stealth attacks from those elusive opponents.

Stealth attacks, just as the pursuers expected, did not take long to appear. From the moment the fog covered them, spells rained down from all directions, leaving them no choice but to defend and counterattack, gathering in a circle to improve their defense.

...

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In the station's meeting room, the Master-level experts watched the battle playing out on the holographic screens with great interest—especially Ryoma, Thalia, Eleonora, and Jessica, who wore focused expressions as they examined every move of their young disciples.

"Indeed, these tournaments are a wonderful opportunity to see the youngsters' performance firsthand. My little Zoe, for instance, made a couple of mistakes here and there that we need to work on when we return." Ryoma commented, trying to sound casual and humble, but the proud and satisfied smile on his face—brought on by his granddaughter's outstanding performance—gave away his true feelings.

"Fufu, you're absolutely right, Ryoma. I also noticed a couple of errors in Liliana's spell accuracy, in addition to the fact that we need to polish her mana constructs a bit more."

Eleonora added casually, but the emphasis she placed on mana constructs was a clear reminder that much of the success of the youngsters strategy stemmed from Liliana's exquisite mana constructs. These were key in the initial battle and helped pull Zoe out of a desperate situation.

"Certainly, my Elara also slipped a bit with her spell accuracy, and there's a lot of room for improvement in her strategy. After this, we'll need a little review session to refine her skills, hehe." Thalía inserted herself into the boasting contest, highlighting her disciple's crucial role—especially as a tactical leader.

"I couldn't agree more with what you're all saying. My Ethan was somewhat slow to infiltrate the enemy camp and eliminate the mage in charge of one of the barriers, and we definitely need to work on his Illusory Fog matrix. It's still a bit green and has several important flaws." Not to be left behind, Jessica quickly joined in the fray, emphasizing the strategic importance her disciple had throughout the entire battle.

While the Master-levels shamelessly flaunted their disciples' achievements among themselves, Sigrún, feeling somewhat bored, watched on the screens as the youngsters slipped away through various tunnels out of the forest. Meanwhile, Illusions and magical traps assailed their pursuers from all sides to buy them time.

"Truly, the young ones have shown a fine display of strategy and skill. They really are the geniuses who carry the Order's future in their hands." Adrian remarked politely, further inflating the egos of the masters.

"Although I must admit, your disciple's affinities are somewhat surprising, Jessica—fog and illusion, that's quite a curious combination." Sigrún commented with mild interest as she leaned her face on her hands, elbows resting on the table, obviously bored while watching the images on the holographic screens.

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