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"Rinsyi?" Stingham choked in disbelief.
Fleeing at the head of the approaching figures was someone who looked exactly like Rinsyi who was carrying a person covered in blood. Chasing behind him were three referees.
But Rinsyi's soul had been thoroughly dissipated during his battle with Ayrin. Rinsyi had turned into a vegetable, and even Songat had said he was unable to treat it.
Furthermore, back during Ayrin's fight, Rinsyi's hair had been magenta, yet now, it was white as snow.
But most critically, this pale 'Rinsyi' before them seemed completely lifeless. Their body was devoid of any traces of heat.
"What's going on?" Clancy and Leonardo asked as they arrived at the scene.
"Rinsyi?" Clancy and Leonardo both gasped upon seeing the familiar face in the distance.
"Is it actually Rinsyi?" An ominous feeling filled Rinloran's heart.
Although they were still far apart, they could already sense the frigid killing intent emanating from his body.
"Are you Rinsyi?" Ayrin shouted towards the approaching figure as he also felt ominous feeling arise within his heart.
"Ayrin!" A harsh voice which sounded like two grating pieces of metal rang out in response.
Everyone could sense the strong hatred contained within.
"Is it really Rinsyi? Why does he look like this?" A cold sweat emerged atop Stingham's back. "Was the Rinsyi before them an evil spirit which had clawed its way out from hell to exact revenge on them?"
"Stop!"
"Otherwise, we will attack!"
The referees chasing after Rinsyi issued several warnings.
"Attack? Go ahead as long as you don't care for his life," Rinsyi replied in the same chilling voice as he raised the bloody person in his clutches and continued to approach Ayrin and the others.
"Who is he?"
Ayrin tensed up as he felt a sense of familiarity. But due to all the blood covering their face, he couldn't tell who it was.
"What? You can't even recognize your good friend from the national tournament, Joyce?" Rinsyi shouted as he raised his head and glared at Ayrin, revealing his eyes.
His pupils had also turned white, making the hatred and killing intent contained within his eyes seem endless.
Stingham subconsciously gulped and took a step back.
"Joyce!" Ayrin stiffened.
"Sea God Academy team's captain, Joyce!" The expressions of Clancy and the others also changed.
"Rinsyi, what are you trying to do?!" Clancy immediately shouted back.
Clancy immediately determined that Joyce had been rolled into a larger plot. And it could not be a good one as the laws of the Kingdom of Eiche outlawed maliciously harming other arcane masters.
"Rinsyi, you actually…" Ayrin's expression twisted as he clenched his fists so hard that his knuckled popped.
With how blood was still flowing from Joyce's wounds, it was apparent that he was still alive. However, his arms and legs were all twisted in strange manners. Evidently, Rinsyi had broken all of them.
"It's nothing, really. I just don't believe that I could lose to someone like you. I've come to exact my revenge."
Rinsyi's expression also twisted slightly. However, it was extremely strange. It seemed as if only his skin had moved, as if his skin was not connected with the muscles and bones below.
"I vowed to kill you… but there are always people in the way, preventing me from doing so. So when I met this pitiful little bug on the way over, I thought he would be of some use to me."
"So, Ayrin. Make your choice. Either you fight me one on one, or I will kill this friend of yours before you," Rinsyi declared as he held Joyce out by his neck.
"You are indeed the reason why Joyce is like this!"
"You… you are unforgivable! I will kill you!" Ayrin roared furiously, causing the wreckages around him to rumble.
"So terrifying. He's completely enraged… I've never seen him like this before." Stingham felt a cold sweat emerge atop his back once more.
Veins bulged all over Ayrin's body as the hair on his head stood up and layer after layer of fiery red light appeared over his body, causing him to look like a blazing flame.
Ayrin's face became unrecognizable as it turned incomparably ferocious.
"Ayrin is someone who puts his friends over everything else. So much that he is willing to help them achieve their dreams like Chris." Moss thought as he looked dazedly at Ayrin, whose face had undergone a complete transformation. In his heart, Rinsyi was already as good as dead.
A murderous look had also appeared in Rinloran's eyes.
Yet without making a sound, he turned around and walked away.
"What are you doing, Rinloran? Do you feel no comradery?!" Stingham shouted in disbelief.
"Idiot!" Rinloran replied as he walked past Stingham without looking. "Can it be that you don't see the state Ayrin is in? Do you think anyone can stop him from agreeing to fight Rinsyi one on one? So why don't you hurry up and make some space for them? Do you have anything else to do?"
Off to the side, Belo used his hand to push a nonexistant pair of glasses. Although his glasses had broken during one of the trials, he was too used to making such an action.
His eyes were full of impulsiveness.
"Hey, Rinsyi, if you don't die immediately, remember to come and give this grandfather's feet a good licking!" Belo shouted before turning around and following Rinloran and Stingham.
"We should go as well," Chris said to the still dazed Moss as she patted his shoulder.
Watching the six youths, Leonardo couldn't help but see the image of the past Holy Dawn Evil Six.
But Rinsyi… just what kind of transformation had he undergone? He was not going to be so easily dealt with.
Leonardo took a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes and glared coldly at Rinsyi. "If you let go of Joyce, I promise that I will allow you to fight Ayrin undisturbed."
"I don't believe in your promises. Furthermore, if I let go of him, the expression on his face will not be as satisfying. But rest assured, I will not let him die." Rinsyi shook his head.
A chilly white smoke spewed forth from his palm.
In but a moment, Joyce's entire body except for his head became encased in a column of white ice before Rinsyi.
"Leave the matter here to us. You all go back and watch the other two teams," a lazy voice abruptly rang out.
Liszt, Ciaran, Minlur, and the other teachers of Holy Dawn Academy made their appearance.
"Alright."
Except for Leonardo, Clancy and the others hesitated for a moment before nodded in acknowledgement and withdrawing. As for Leonardo, he remained where he was.
"Relax. Joyce will not die. Ayrin, just let go and fight him," Liszt said to Ayrin as he observed Rinsyi.
Ayrin did not reply.
"This must be true anger!"
"My friend has been beaten into such a state… such an uncomfortable feeling. No wonder arcane masters… even when they are in desperate situations…"
Ayrin's anger had already reached its limit.
His blood was boiling so hot that he could feel his veins tingling beneath his burning skin. Every breath was like fire.
"Joyce. He must be in immense pain."
"To be in such a helpless state, he must also feel extremely humiliated."
"Rinsyi… these feelings I'm experiencing… are even more painful than when I consumed the fruit."
"Rinsyi… I promise that I will make you experience something worse than this… and then, I shall kill you!"
"Whoosh!"
The air around Ayrin was burning hot, yet at this moment, snowflakes began to descend.
Each flake of snow was like a tiny mirror.
The eyes of Liszt, Carter and the others immediately brightened with satisfaction.
Even while feeling such anger, he had not forgotten how to fight.
"Rinsyi, unfortunately for you, all you will accomplish this time is further stimulate his growth." Such a thought passed through all their minds.
……
Ayrin disappeared into the midst of the countless falling pieces of snow and ice.
"Boom!"
A massive ring of ice abruptly burst out behind Rinsyi, slamming into him and sending him flying forwards.
"Boom!"
Without any pause, a massive pillar of ice erupted from beneath him, sending him flying into the air.
"Crown of Ice and Snow!"
Ayrin appeared beside Rinsyi.
As Ayrin roared, a massive sphere of ice formed and crashed into Rinsyi. In the next moment, countless sharp shards erupted from the ice, enveloping Rinsyi.
"This is the fruit of Ayrin's training!"
"A combination which uses continuous invocation of ice-based skills to restrict the opponent!"
Seeing Ayrin's fierce combination for the first time, and the extent to which he executed it, Moss and the others were thoroughly shocked.
"Was Rinsyi just boasting again? Didn't he lose a little too helplessly?" Stingham commented as he let out a sigh of relief and wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead.
"Eh?"
But at this moment, Rinloran gasped, his pupils abruptly contracting.
After undergoing the Lunar Essence's baptism, Rinloran's eyesight had become far sharper than a normal person's. At this moment, he could faintly see that although Rinsyi had been pierced by so many shards of ice, he was still standing as if he was completely unharmed!
"Boom!"
All the ice around Rinsyi shattered as he made his move.
"Bang!"
Everyone watched as Ayrin, hands crossed before him, was sent flying backwards through the falling snow and ice into the ground as if he had been struck by a powerful and massive beast.
"Rinsyi, he…"
Everyone's eyes widened as they watched Rinsyi, arms extended before him, float slowly onto the ground and stand firmly facing Ayrin.