Fusion, The End

"What is that, multi-control?"

People asked each other in private, turning their heads. Some looked bewildered, while others shook their heads.

"Is that multi-control?" Blood Night Demon Moon typed word by word among the crowd.

R was silent for a moment, then replied, "No, the Walker doesn't need control in a zero-gravity state, but—"

"But?"

"But I'm not sure if he did it intentionally."

Hong Ye, however, had no such complicated thoughts.

She was simply angered. In her eyes, Fang Heng's smile in response to her was like a silent mockery. Gritting her teeth, she swiped her hand, and the Core Crystal, in its high-temperature state, shot out two flame rays again.

Two red beams swept past the Walker, one after the other, making Fang Heng exclaim, "Such strong offense?" He immediately had the Walker slide right as it landed to dodge the first strike. But facing the second strike, he merely tilted its center of gravity, avoiding vital areas, letting the beam pierce through its outer shell, entering from the upper left and exiting from the lower right.

Then, it left a golden-red flare on the ground not far away, its residual heat lingering—

This was the first time 'Sword Plover' had been directly hit. The high-temperature melted shell still glowed a fiery red. The Visual Link Crystal was damaged, the second set of gears on the right was also damaged, and the right rear leg was disabled.

Fang Heng calmly opened his panel—Speed and Balance lost 20%. Speed -4, Balance Cap -2. The right rear leg's functionality was reduced by 70%, and Evasion Cap -30.

But the second strike readjusted its center of gravity and balance, bringing its Evasion value back to the safe average of 80.

As for durability, there were still 25 points left.

The non-core parts could withstand several more attacks at least.

Red beams pierced through the sky like a rain of fire. However, Fang Heng's decision to sacrifice damage to restore Evasion played a decisive role in this round of attacks.

As it used up its last bit of Evasion, the Walker also carved a path through the beams.

Its outer shell gained another graze mark, but it was insignificant.

Hong Ye's storm-like attacks almost made Fang Heng think his calculations were wrong. But after rechecking the opponent's temperature rise, he found that the result hadn't changed—two flame rays at 8 degrees, two magic spears at 24 degrees, two golden rains at least 50 degrees, plus the gravity trap and anti-gravity at 20 degrees. Added to the initial temperature, it had long exceeded the warning threshold.

Fang Heng couldn't help but glance at Hong Ye's Flexible Construct. White steam was rising from various parts of the Annihilator's octagonal shell. Its core cooling system must have been running at overload. Even accounting for cooling efficiency, it was already nearing its limit.

"Still not controlling the temperature?" he asked himself.

Hong Ye finally realized that she had made a mistake in temperature control.

This was actually her usual style. However, normally, after a round of fierce attacks, her opponents—even the instructors—should have been at their last breath by now.

But the problem now was that her opponent was clearly far from being at their last breath.

Hong Ye frowned deeply but still gave up on the next overload. Once in a high-temperature critical state, she only had one chance to attack. But she found herself unsure if she could end the battle in one move.

Her style leaned towards aggressive, but not reckless—

"Switching to defense?"

Hong Ye calmed down and assessed the situation. Her disadvantage was that she had lost temperature control, and the Magic Stabilizer had already been used. But her opponent was not unscathed either. The key point on the field now was time.

She immediately ordered the Annihilator to slowly retreat and activated another subsystem. The metal plate behind the Annihilator opened, and small spherical objects flew out.

The two small spheres were less than a quarter the size of a Clockwork Sprite, but their working principle was similar. They flew with a pair of thin wings. They flexibly drew a beautiful arc, arriving in front of the octagon.

These were the sub-cores of the Shining Field. The audience outside the arena grew excited. People were always fascinated by the multi-control abilities of Combat Artificers.

"Is that triple-control?" Tian Lan couldn't help but turn his head, asking in surprise.

"No," Hu Di shook his head. "Although the Annihilator itself is slow, one of its major advantages is its very simple flight posture. The system can directly manage it without consuming much computational resources. So, she's actually just using dual-control."

He listened for a moment and added, "The Shining Field actually has four subsystem sets, each one is a separate shield. Experts can even do quadruple-control, but dual-control is already very impressive at this stage."

What was happening on the field at that moment served as a testament to his words.

The Annihilator retreated very slowly. 'Sword Plover' quickly caught up, lowered its body, and assumed a pre-jump and attack stance. With a flash of silver light, the latter, like a pouncing predator, opened two fangs and bit towards the octagon in mid-air.

However, the two small spheres suddenly split open, shooting out a seven-colored fluorescent light from the center, forming a dome-shaped hexagonal net that blocked the Walker's sharp blade-like feet. The latter was repelled as if it had hit a real wall and fell.

The Shining Field only lasted for less than a second before disappearing. Hong Ye had timed it perfectly.

This was undoubtedly a brilliant exchange, and bursts of cheers erupted from the audience.

Seeing this, Tian Lan clenched his fists. Etila and others also wore solemn expressions. Their opponent had switched to defensive temperature control, and once the temperature was controlled, Fang Heng would surely lose.

Only Hu Di simply believed that Fang Heng, knowing these facts that even they were aware of, should have been prepared.

And he was indeed correct.

As soon as Fang Heng's Walker landed, he clenched his hand. The Walker's brass shell suddenly opened, like an enraged beetle's elytra. The magic patterns on it glowed golden-red, entering an overloaded state.

Then, the Swift Burst plugin and Strength Enhancement plugin were activated.

After the construct's structure was fully deployed, the Walker seemed to grow a size larger. It swung its dual blades, hitting the Shining Field once again, causing the light net to shake violently.

Hong Ye was startled and instinctively increased her magic output, stabilizing the Shining Shield once more.

But in the exchange of offense and defense, the audience could already see that the former could not break through the latter's defense—the level gap was too great. Even activating the overload state only forced Hong Ye to increase her magic output further.

But what was this amount of magic output compared to the Ether capacity of a Flexible Construct? It wouldn't matter even if they fought for an hour.

However, the overloaded state could only be sustained for seconds—

But just as people were thinking this, an unexpected scene occurred. The two small spheres suddenly emitted a magic spark, flickered in mid-air, and both fell to the ground.

Everyone froze.

Hong Ye's heart skipped a beat.

She hurriedly opened her status panel and discovered that the core temperature of the crystal had not only failed to decrease but was actually rising and had already reached its critical temperature. Under the high-temperature overload, the Annihilator's system's self-protection mechanism had activated, cutting off all systems except for the core system that maintained the construct's survival.

The regular octahedron suspended in mid-air suddenly stopped spinning. The magic patterns on its surface dimmed one by one, turning it into a motionless flying brick.

Hong Ye was stunned.

She finally understood that she had been tricked by Fang Heng. His all-out offensive wasn't meant to break through her defenses but to force her to increase her magic output further.

The Shining Field was a powerful tool for controlling temperature in magic-oriented Combat Artificers, but under high magic output, it would also contribute to the core temperature's rise. Moreover, the core crystal's temperature was already close to its critical limit at that time.

A terrifying thought suddenly surfaced in her mind:

"Did he... did he calculate my temperature control the entire time?"

Hong Ye's mind felt a little dizzy.

She almost thought she wasn't participating in an artificer challenge match on Elpaxin's territory, but rather one of the Second World's three major traditional Chosen top-tier competitions, or the Dragon Knight Championship.

At this moment, Fang Heng gave the order for the Walker to begin attacking the Annihilator, which had lost all its power source.

However, he immediately bared his teeth.

The Walker's silver blade-like legs only struck a faint refraction. A circle of shimmering pale light appeared around the Annihilator's body before vanishing. The 'Sword Plover' was once again repelled and fell back to the ground.

Seeing this, Hong Ye's eyes lit up slightly.

That was a shield, the last line of defense for a magic-oriented Flexible Construct—

Although for most Flexible Constructs of the same tier, the offensive-oriented Annihilator's shield value was practically non-existent, and it could be shattered with one or two attacks.

But the problem was, the 'Sword Plover' was clearly not among them.

Its attack power was too low.

In fact, during the second attack, others had already noticed this from the bright changes in the Annihilator's shield—Fang Heng's Walker could not easily penetrate its shield.

The crowd couldn't help but exclaim, "How low could its level be?"

Tian Lan couldn't help but let out a cry, "Why is that shield so thick?"

"It's not that the shield is thick," Hudi shook his head, "it's that Ed's attack power is too low."

On the competition field.

Hong Ye glanced at Fang Heng in surprise. She had vaguely sensed that his level wasn't high during their previous battles, but she hadn't expected it to be this low.

The nearly insurmountable gap in levels seemed to be fully revealed at this moment.

Hong Ye felt both ashamed and fortunate. Fortunate because she realized she still had a chance. Without hesitation, she pulled a lever on the Magic Furnace, activating the remote shield recharge device.

But Fang Heng's expression remained calm.

As if oblivious to his surroundings, he had the Walker attack repeatedly. "-57, -62, -33, -51..." Under the recharge condition, the shield's value decreased slowly, but it was at least steadily decreasing.

Fang Heng mentally calculated the opponent's recharge efficiency and determined that seven more attacks would be needed to break the shield.

A peculiar scene unfolded on the field. Everyone was focused on this dull, almost static battle, concentrating intently, even holding their breath. Because everyone understood that the outcome of this battle would depend on the present moment—whether Fang Heng could break through his opponent's shield first, or if Hong Ye could control her Flexible Construct's core temperature first.

Hong Ye also kept a close eye on the slowly decreasing temperature on her panel. It was indeed approaching the critical state.

She was also calculating mentally and suddenly noticed that her opponent's attack power had dropped significantly. She suddenly realized that the Walker's overload state had ended. Hong Ye couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief—seven more attacks.

A deep light flashed in her eyes.

She had won.

Indeed, during the Walker's final charge, the Annihilator's surface shield finally shattered into countless light points and dissipated into nothingness. But at the same moment, the patterns on the surface of the black octahedron lit up again.

And it began to rotate slowly.

The Walker launched its eighth attack but collided with two dome-shaped light nets—two small orbs flew out from behind the Annihilator, and the Shining Field reactivated once more.

"Ah!" Tian Lan exclaimed, slumping back into her chair in disappointment.

The Walker landed back on the ground.

However, Hong Ye didn't feel much joy in victory. She had already put on a humiliating performance in this battle. If her opponent's level hadn't been so low, she would never have had a chance.

She raised her hand, opened her palm, and prepared to end this farce.

The four metal plates above the Annihilator slowly opened downwards. The patterns on its dark body gradually turned golden-red, a sign that it was entering an overload state—

And at the same time, nine overlapping magic circles appeared above it.

The overload form of the Magic Spear—Thorin Formation.

But at this moment, Hong Ye didn't see a fleeting small movement in Fang Heng's hand. A tiny object flew out from his hand, a faint golden light flashed in the northern obscured area before disappearing.

Only Blood Night Demon Moon noticed this detail: "What is he preparing to do?"

On her communication page, the other party didn't answer directly, only writing.

R: Watch carefully.

In the audience seats, Wu Di and Liuli Yue shifted uneasily at the same time. The latter had been captivated by the battle since the end of the first round. They exchanged a glance.

"Cute enough to be foolish," the young man couldn't help but glance at Hong Ye.

'Sword Plover' was retreating.

Hong Ye's calm gaze was searching for a target. Nine beams of light converged in mid-air, forming a sphere of light beneath the grand hall's dome before exploding into a shower of blue light arrows that enveloped Fang Heng's Walker.

But just then, her vision suddenly blurred.

A golden copper sphere, buzzing with two pairs of wings, hovered motionlessly less than five centimeters from her nose.

It made her lose her target instantly.

"Wait, attacking competitors isn't allowed—" the Gnome Referee's voice suddenly choked.

Because the Clockwork Sprite didn't make any further moves.

There wasn't even any physical contact between it and Hong Ye.

The Gnome Referee was stunned for a moment, standing there with his mouth agape, as he didn't know if this counted as a direct attack on an opponent—to say it did seemed wrong, but to say it didn't also seemed wrong.

But this moment of hesitation had already changed the situation on the field.

Hong Ye couldn't be sure if she had hit her opponent.

Silence fell over the arena like a shroud.

Everyone saw—Fang Heng's Walker weaving through the rain of light. It had been wounded multiple times, with at least three beams passing through its torso simultaneously. Its right hind leg, dragging on the ground, was almost blown off, its left foreleg was broken, and its left third leg had lost its sensitivity.

The data Fang Heng saw on his panel was even more devastating. The strength enhancement module and swiftness burst module were completely dark. The cooling system was damaged by fifty percent, and the gear assembly also had varying degrees of damage. Only the Core Crystal remained intact under his meticulous protection.

'Sword Plover' was practically riddled with holes, its durability reduced to single digits.

But it still hadn't fallen—

Hong Ye anxiously swayed left and right, but no matter what, she couldn't shake off the little thing in front of her. She reached out, and the little thing nimbly retreated—only then did she see for the first time that the severely damaged Walker had once again returned near the Annihilator.

A sense of alarm surged in her heart.

But as soon as her mind relaxed, the Clockwork Sprite returned before her again.

At that moment, Hong Ye almost cursed aloud:

"How did he do that?"

"Is he even controlling his Walker?"

And it was at this moment that Hong Ye suddenly heard a low murmur of astonishment from her surroundings.

Her heart sank. Forgetting about the Clockwork Sprite in front of her, she simply closed her eyes and began to control it blindly. She first had her Shining Field block the front of the Annihilator, guarding against any sudden attacks from the opponent.

But it was at this moment.

The exclamations of astonishment grew even louder.

Hong Ye's heart began to pound. She couldn't understand where she had gone wrong, and could only subconsciously have the Shining Field retreat to the rear of the Annihilator. Since she was controlling it blindly, her movements were somewhat clumsy.

But in reality, it no longer mattered.

Because people were astonished to see that Fang Heng's Walker was motionless in front of that black octahedron construct, while his opponent had actually moved her two Shining Field shields aside.

The opening was wide.

Only then did Fang Heng let out a long sigh, wipe his sweat, and have his Walker pounce.

The Annihilator's shields were already depleted and could no longer protect it from harm.

When Hong Ye opened her eyes again, the Clockwork Sprite had landed playfully on her hand. She was staring blankly at the scene, watching her Flexible Construct split in two and fall to the ground.

She instinctively wanted to throw the Clockwork Sprite away, but hesitated for a moment before stopping herself.

She looked at the young man before her with a complicated expression.

She suddenly thought of a scene from five years ago, facing that person. The thoughts of those people must have been exactly the same as hers.

And so, the second round ended—

I've posted the protagonist's character card in the work-related section. It took up some time yesterday, so I slept late. I'll post the construct's data in a couple of days. I need to write some backlog these next two days because the New Year is coming soon. As for the New Year, it's the usual tradition, and I don't plan on stopping updates. The protagonist currently doesn't have much equipment, so I won't write about it for now. I'll add the Magic Furnace and control gloves later.