The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Chapter 480 To The Duels (2)

Hanna and Javier stepped into the arena, each ready for battle. One was defending her ranking, while the other sought to snatch it away.

"Little sister, you are Big Brother Klaus's sibling, so I won't make things hard for you. You can concede now and make things easier for the both of us," Javier said with a confident smirk.

Hanna used all her willpower to suppress the twitching at the corners of her lips. 'Little sister? Really?'

She was older than Klaus, her brother, so why was she suddenly the "little sister," while Klaus was now the "big brother"?

She glanced at Klaus, who was grinning at her with a teasing expression. Shaking her head, she turned back to Javier.

"I'm not that little. If you don't believe me, we can fight, and you'll see for yourself," Hanna replied, stepping into a fighting stance.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you." Javier mirrored her, his spear exuding potent ice qi.

"Klaus, do you think Hanna can win? She doesn't know anything about her opponent," Lily asked, her voice tinged with worry.

If Hanna lost, she would have to swap her rank with Javier, who had recently risen to the 45th rank after defeating the previous holder just hours ago.

Now, he was aiming for the second spot. He was feeling confident because he felt like this new batch was not worth paying much attention to.

The only person they fear is Klaus.

"I don't know about the dude who's trying so hard not to be arrogant, but Big Sister will handle him in a way that'll make him think twice before challenging her again," Klaus said, unfazed.

He wasn't worried. Hanna had confided in him about the Lightning Seal within her soul sea and the benefits she had already begun to reap from it.

"START"

The instructor gave the order, and ten ice arcs immediately sliced out of Javier's spear, appearing in front of Hanna.

Javier followed swiftly, closing the distance and entering the attack zone the next second. However, before his attacks could land, a sharp whizzing filled the air, and Hanna reappeared four meters away.

The attacks struck her—but only on her afterimage, a flicker of lightning left in her wake.

"What?"

Javier was stunned but quickly recovered, spinning around to charge at Hanna again. This time, he unleashed a flurry of strikes, each one sending ice bullets hurtling toward her.

Yet, just as he prepared to land a decisive blow, Hanna vanished again, leaving behind another shimmering afterimage crackling with lightning.

"Looks like she's started to master the technique," Klaus muttered, a proud smile playing on his lips.

He had transferred a movement technique called [Lightning Steps] to her seven days ago, forgetting to give her one when he distributed the techniques the last time.

But he hadn't expected her to master it to this level so quickly. She was using the first form, [Afterimage Steps], to evade Javier's attacks effortlessly.

"Is she not going to use her bow?" Lily asked curiously.

Hanna, however, continued to dodge, moving gracefully away from Javier, who was growing visibly frustrated as his attacks failed to connect.

His irritation simmered, but in an effort to maintain his composed image, he refrained from lashing out.

His restraint turned out to be his mistake.

Hanna's next move stunned everyone.

After creating a distance between them, she parted her middle and index fingers, forming a V-shape. Then, as though pulling back the string of a slingshot, she drew in lightning, which instantly locked onto Javier.

"Lightning Slingshot." Her fingers cracked with blue lightning, "Exploding Bullets," the lightning bullet escaped the slingshot like a fired gun.

BOOM!

The lightning bullet that shot out from her makeshift lightning slingshot appeared in front of Javier in the blink of an eye.

But rather than piercing his body, Hanna snapped her fingers, and the bullet exploded into a three-meter-wide burst of crackling lightning.

Javier was blasted out of the arena, landing heavily with a few lightning burns marking his body.

"The winner of the duel is Hanna Kendrick. Congratulations! You have retained your rank and earned 1,000 Celestial Points for defending your position.

Challenger Javier Diego has dropped to level 47 after losing to Hanna Kendrick. You may challenge her again in two weeks."

Hanna gave Klaus a small smile before walking over.

"You did well, big sister. I never knew you'd dropped the bow and decided to take up the slingshot. What an unruly girl," Klaus joked, glancing at Nari, who was now holding onto Hanna.

The two women were part of the same team—two determined ladies set on reforming Klaus and steering him away from his shameless self.

In plain terms, they plan to make his life a living hell in order to force him to train instead of lazing around.

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"If I had used the bow, I might have accidentally killed him," Hanna replied calmly.

"Don't worry; this arena is designed so nobody can truly die. The Archmage who created it is a Transcendent with exceptional mastery over a field called Runic Magic.

Even if he's burned, as long as he's inside the arena, he won't die—unless you attack him outside," Nari explained, prompting Klaus to nod in understanding.

He wasn't surprised, considering he'd used a similar arena in his past life. Back then, Fruity had single-handedly challenged a hundred demons to quickly rise through the ranks and enter the Bloodline Awakening Trial.

Even if you died, you would simply respawn outside.

"Who are the next targets on your list?" Klaus asked.

"One is ranked 34, and the other is 28."

"Okay. Do well to win, big sis. Losing is not an option."

Klaus couldn't understand why nobody dared challenge him, especially since Nari wasn't the one who would fight on his behalf.

It was like they all thought he would fight with Nari on his team or assumed Nari would fight for him. Long story short, they are not challenging him.

Twenty minutes later, Lily won her next match, pushing her to the 7th rank after defeating Madison—a legacy from the Southern Union who hated Klaus for obvious reasons.

Hanna also secured a victory in her second match, which lasted only a few seconds. Her opponent, who was also a bow user, failed to land even a single arrow. In the end, Hanna delivered a powerful blow to his ribs, sending him flying.

Two hours later, Klaus's other friends arrived for their duels.

"Anna, who will you be battling today?" Klaus asked. Feeling increasingly bored, he wanted something exciting to stir his mood.

"I challenge Ruby, the so-called Ice Princess from the Ice Union," Anna responded with a frown. For some reason, the title annoyed her deeply.

It felt personal—so much so that she was determined to defeat Ruby before the girl could become widely known by that title.

"I like the spirit. Go kick her butt and claim your rightful title as the Ice Princess. It'll suit you perfectly," Klaus said, giving her a playful wink.

In his past life as Fruity, he had been infatuated with an Ice Princess to the extent that he sneaked onto the carriage his Uncle Monks were using to transport goods to the city—just for a chance to meet her.

Ultimately, their meeting was brief, after which his life turned upside down. He didn't know when—or if—she would recover her memories, but he hoped Anna would claim the title in this life, too.

"Then I'll be going now. I need to put that bitch in her place," Anna declared, walking away clad in the ice-green armor Nadia had crafted for her.