Chapter 12

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Chapter 12: The Sword Light Beyond the Script

“Fool, get up here!” The magical girl shouted in a panic, signaling towards the knight in black armor.

“Hey! Hey! Lin Mo! Don’t just stand there, hurry up!” Chen Ying, the dedicated makeup artist behind the knight, noticed him blocking the entrance like a wall. He seemed dazed, so she quickly pushed him repeatedly, but with the weight of the mystic steel armor weighing three to four hundred pounds plus his own weight, there was no way a frail woman could budge him.

“There are so many people!” Outside the stage, the massive crowd scared the knight in black armor, leaving him speechless. When had he ever been surrounded by such a huge audience?

The sea of people surged, and it felt like they would come crashing down on him at any moment.

At that moment, the host standing on the stage noticed something was off and quickly thought on his feet, holding the microphone and loudly announcing, “Please welcome the knight of the Divine Battle Squad to the stage!”

“Knight!”

The familiar title from the host jolted the knight in black armor awake. He finally felt someone behind him pushing him and couldn’t help but take a few steps forward onto the stage.

“May I ask our knight, where is your mount?!” The host didn’t miss the chance to tease the newly arrived knight, though there was no way they could bring a horse onto the stage; that would be too outrageous.

However, the knight in black armor didn’t even glance at the host, simply ignoring him as he strode past.

Crack! Crack! The nearly one-inch-thick tempered glass stage groaned under his weight, but all of this was drowned out by the resounding background music, leaving the host speechless with shock. Perhaps even the stage designer never expected anyone in such heavy armor would walk on this stage.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A row of three to four-meter-high silver fire trees shot up from the front of the stage, electrifying the atmosphere once again.

The knight in black armor seemed startled by the sudden appearance of these silver fire trees and quickly retreated a few steps, cautiously surveying his surroundings. Everything felt unfamiliar and unsettling; he had never seen such things before. The crystal stage could actually hold so many people and their weight, and what were those lights? They flashed in various colors and were blinding. The crowd below was excited, occasionally erupting in flashes of light, leaving him more flustered, his movements appearing even more foolish.

The audience saw the powerful knight in black armor on stage, who had just arrived, displaying a panicked demeanor as he shielded his eyes from the intense spotlight.

“Kid, I’ve put in a lot of effort; I even set up cold fireworks in advance, don’t fail me at this crucial moment!” The host was sweating nervously, realizing that a dead air on stage would not only ruin the event but also embarrass him personally—he relied on this work for a living. He subtly signaled the staff below to ignite the cold fireworks to stir up the atmosphere.

“What’s up with Lin Mo? He’s participated in these events dozens of times and still gets stage fright?” Ding Tuo, dressed as the tauren, sighed in relief and urged, “Quick, stick to the script and don’t mess up again!”

Their group had participated in many cosplay contests and often received invitations for commercial events to earn some extra cash. After all, the costs for their gear and makeup were quite high. Ding Tuo shook the long-handled double-headed axe in his hand, mimicking the tauren’s battle cry, and stomped forward.

On the other side of the stage, the blue-robed magical girl intoned an incomprehensible spell, waving her hand to release a tiny fireball. This wasn’t a real fireball, but a special effects prop made from pyrotechnics; while it looked ordinary, it was the result of much brainstorming, hard thinking, and a significant investment by the Divine Battle Squad.

Outsiders watched for the spectacle, while insiders recognized the profound details involved. Other cosplay teams lacked such meticulousness, leaving the performers backstage envious and resentful.

The judges at the side of the stage marveled; the standard of this year’s cosplay performers was unprecedentedly high, with black mist, gunfire, and miniature fireballs. While they may seem unremarkable, the thought and special props behind them demonstrated true craftsmanship.

“Is this an arena?!” Seeing the tauren rush in with his axe, the crowd screaming and cheering, the knight in black armor suddenly recalled a scene he had witnessed before—an arena of gladiators?! His nerves instantly tensed up.

Damn! It’s a trap.

Screech! The sound of steel boots scraping against the tempered glass stage produced a piercing cry. He reached for the giant sword behind him. In his training, every martial arts instructor had warned him: never let your guard down, regardless of the opponent, no matter how weak they may seem; countless examples existed of powerful individuals being defeated by lesser opponents. Even against a rabbit, one must give their all.

“Ha! Lin Mo! You’re finally getting into character as per the script!” Ding Tuo, playing the tauren, unleashed the character’s intimidating and fearless demeanor as if he had rehearsed countless times.

The tauren’s muscular legs kicked off the stage, leaping high while roaring, bringing down his double-headed axe toward the knight in black armor. The intense momentum was nearly a professional cosplay performance, demanding a high level of physical capability from the performer rather than simply posing weakly to satisfy picky judges.

Clang… It was like a striking crescent moon; all the lights on stage flickered and dimmed in an instant. As the knight in black armor raised his sword, drawing the sword from its sheath, he unleashed an extremely sharp wave of light. As a Dragon Knight, he specialized in handling powerful opponents, aiming for maximum lethality, and his first strike was far more ferocious than that of an ordinary swordsman.

Even as the two-hundred-pound wide-bladed sword swung out halfway, the knight felt something was off—his opponent’s jump was not accompanied by any killing intent, nor was it from an ideal attack distance. Their power and speed felt superficial, with only the momentum resembling genuine intent. It seemed he could easily counter the attack with just a few steps forward or backward, or even without doing anything at all.

Since when did this bull-headed character start employing half-baked tactics? Were they not known to use their full strength, let alone the muscle-minded race?

Thoughts rushed through the knight’s mind like lightning, and with a flick of his wrist, he adjusted the downward sword strike into a horizontal slash, simultaneously stepping back a step.

Woo… A sharp whistling sound erupted on stage. A wave of energy dissipated the momentum of the tauren’s charge without a trace. The double-headed axe hadn’t even struck down before a remnant of the sword light shattered most of its blade.

The tauren’s eyes widened like copper bells as the sudden gust of air sent him flying backward, landing hard off the stage with an unfortunate scream, taking the evil mage down with him, causing chaos around them. The dwarf with the firearm stood stunned, jaw dropped, trembling in fear.

The dwarf’s performer, Qian Jie, was shaking inside: “The script didn’t say it would happen like this, were we not supposed to fight for three or four rounds first?”

Whoo! The giant sword swung in massive arcs around him, the blade shining coldly, making it difficult for anyone to look directly at it. The sword dragged behind the knight in black armor, dissipating the explosive energy from before. The blade tip screeched against the tempered glass stage, producing a piercing, sharp noise. A chilling aura spread outwards, causing many who had never encountered such a fierce killing intent to feel as if their hearts froze, their legs growing weak as if they wanted to flee.

The previously roaring crowd fell silent as if someone had pressed the pause button. A hush enveloped the area; save for the background music still playing, the stage was eerily quiet, as if all sound had been cleaved in half by the brilliant sword light. The only noise came from the spot where the tauren had fallen, where the evil mage actor, Xi Mingshan, wailed like a slaughtered pig, crushed under the weight of the fainted Ding Tuo—it was a scene of pure injustice.

“Who are these people?” The knight in black armor, holding the massive sword comparable to a shield, assumed a standard defensive posture, brimming with vigilance. If he hadn’t pulled his strike back in time, the tauren would have surely been cut in half. The power of the Dragon Slayer sword was not something even the dragon kin would underestimate, let alone a hollow tauren who couldn’t withstand even the residual force of a dissipating sword wind.

Mastering one’s control of power is a fundamental lesson for every high-level warrior. It was this control that had saved the tauren’s life. The last remaining dwarf, visibly shaking, barely held onto his prop firearm, feeling the sting from the strong gust that had just hit his face, as if his very soul were about to be wrenched from his body.

The lightweight dual-bladed axe wielded by the tauren felt feeble like dry straw in the knight’s hands, filling him with suspicion: what kind of substandard weapon was this? It was not only light but also didn’t seem metallic; even if he weren’t armored, he could be struck by it without sustaining any injury. Was this even a bull-headed warrior?!

Crash…

The thunderous sound of heavy raindrops pelted the stage like a torrential downpour, igniting the audience. The knight in black armor had never imagined that the sound of so many people erupting all at once would produce such a mighty roar.