Intense first half! Even as fatigue loomed, the attacks intensified.
[Nona-me is keeping her distance as much as possible.]
[Katsuhata is chasing! Nona-me dodges, going for the body! Oh! Tried to strike, but Katsuhata skillfully avoids it!]
Nona-me’s unexpected counter made Katsuhata more vigilant.
The Cheonghwa Sword and Inherited Sword clashed continuously, engaging in a duel.
Up and down, lower left and upper right, thrusts deflected from the sides while slashes were blocked horizontally.
Flames and sparks created long tails like a meteor shower, intertwining the paths of their swords.
[Both players are incredibly fast! Not a moment of lost focus!]
[Nona-me has wrapped herself in Black Aurora for this attack! Nona-me is throwing punches! Whoa! Two hits landed on the torso during a 7-hit combo! Nona-me, who has removed 3% of her opponent’s barrier, is satisfied as she releases her magic.]
The commentators struggled to describe the rapid display of techniques.
(Technique 18: Crescent Slash – Technique 2: Sky Slash – Technique 14: Earth Cut – Technique 420: Cross Slash1 – Technique 420: Cross Slash2 – Technique 233: Point Thrust – Technique 19: Waning Crescent Slash)
The emission and retrieval of aura flowed smoothly, creating a seamless chain of actions.
Subtitles at the bottom of the broadcast screen scrolled from right to left.
└ The game level is insane, lol
└ Nice hits, just nice
└ Is this combination even real?
└ Katsuhata’s reaction speed—are they even human?
└ Both are so fast, it’s crazy!
└ Sword ← If that’s a problem, it’s totally downvoted, lol
└ No time to use magic against these crazy folks, haha
└ Why is the finals so intense?
└ Is it because it’s the finals?
└ Aha!
The crowd shook with excitement, their limbs trembling, but couldn’t take their eyes off the exploding dopamine.
[Nona-me is going again! Katsuhata, alongside Giselle Fischer, has remarkable endurance; Nona-me will want to finish this quickly before it goes to overtime!]
Another strike from Emika crashes into Nona-me’s thigh.
Clang-!
But it’s a sacrifice for Nona-me’s intended barrier.
In that brief moment, she completed her magic circle.
[Spell: Updraft]
Whiiiiing-
A strong wind split the space between Nona-me and Emika.
[Spell: Ignis Explosio]
Bang-!
With a powerful explosion, black smoke engulfed the area.
Nona-me, brandishing Skiabona, sucked the smoke into her wand like pulling a thread.
Shwaaaack-!
A distant attack from Nona-me unfolds without warning.
The swift black wave rushes past Emika’s barrier.
WAAAAAH! The blade cuts through Emika’s chest!
[The low-pressure mana environment generates shockwaves—WOW! This can be said to be sending a blade of shadow!]
[And it’s not over! Nona-me adds a joint cast with Black Aurora!]
└ The long-range Adela has been countered, so let’s see who wins this! Haha
└ Shadow blade looks dope, it really does
└ Da-noma, Wang-noma, God-noma, now it’s Heavenly Horse Noma!!!
└ Nona-me sends the blade flying!
└ They’ve won! They’ve won! How can they block this?!
[Nona-me player, seeking an escape route in an unpredictable clash, continues the pressure! Perfectly trapping Katsuhata!]
Emika gathered her aura, maximizing her output.
Crackle-
Blue lightning crackled in her sword sheath.
[Katsuhata-ryu Ippan Batto-jutsu (Standing Draw Sword Technique) – Ichinenchiroudori no Tachi (One Thought Thousand Birds Sword)]
Crash-!
A streak of blue lightning struck Emika’s sword.
[Inherited Sword – Charge: 753 times]
[Spell: Adela – Far (Distance)]
Fiiiiiing-!
Hundreds of electric birds dashed out of the first-circle magic circle.
Each electric body had a gear engraved on it.
Dozens more came flying in, following those that had been dismantled by the black wave.
Bababababang-!
There was no space to evade.
While they may not deal damage on their own, once cast, they guaranteed an attack.
Nona-me stared with cold eyes at the 17 gears engraved on her body.
If she doesn’t dissolve Adela within 17 attacks, an enhanced 2nd attack amplified by a factor of 5.05 would come at her.
Pop-
Nona-me stepped forward with determination.
Emika quickly aimed her sword ahead.
The mana harpoon shot from the sword punctured the hollow of Nona-me’s armpit.
Crack-
The fine thread connecting to the magic circle was ignored.
Crack, crack, crack-
Dodging to the side is for amateurs; the best way to minimize getting hit when it rains is to run fast.
[Spell: Demon King’s Horn (Continued) – Wings of Vacuum]
[Spell: Momentum Adjustment]
Nona-me flung herself towards the incoming harpoons.
‘12, 13, 14.’
With each number, the shock flipping her insides grew closer.
Even knowing this, Nona-me accelerated, stepping onto the magic circle.
‘15, 16.’
As she had enough speed and wings to lift off the ground.
‘Seventeenth!’
[Imperial Palace Swordsmanship 5 – Dragon’s Heart Thrust]
Emika’s final harpoon pierced Nona-me’s sword.
Ka-Chaaaang-!
The Cheonghwa Sword was lodged in the center of the magic circle, causing the spell to lose its power instantly.
Mana surged back, causing Emika to sway.
Yet, she firmly held onto her mental state and executed mechanical responses.
[Creation: Barrier Setting]
[Spell: Eye of Karasu]
Emika stacked thousands of mana crows like an igloo to buy time.
[Dispel: Eye of Karasu]
[Emergency Spell: Le Kaizen Familia – Lufencia’s Nightmare]
Bang-!
An unknown bird-like creature erupted from the magic circle, akin to a pterosaur, shattering the barrier with its massive beak.
[Perfect Barrier Counter! Groggy! Katsuhata is in a groggy state!]
[Nona-me has completely penetrated! First perfect opportunity in the finals! She moves in!]
[Oooooooh!]
Nona-me gripped her shortened Skiabona in reverse.
And at the moment she was about to swing down her sword.
Whoooosh-
“Huh?”
“…!”
The connection between Skiabona and her wand was loosened, and the output weakened.
Preliminary signs of a malfunction.
Emika seized this opportunity as Nona-me noticed with her own eyes.
She scrambled to retrieve her sword from the ground.
Nona-me immediately threw her useless wand and struck the fallen Inherited Sword.
She tackled toward Emika’s waist.
[Did you just drop your sword? Whoa, take down!]
[Looks like something went wrong with the wand… Otherwise, Nona-me wouldn’t have discarded her sword here!]
Nona-me landed on Emika and unleashed punches filled with middle aura.
Emika raised her guard to minimize damage from punches flying her way and sometimes even dodged.
While trying to stand up from the ground, Emika.
Nona-me grabbed her arm and twisted, flipping her body to the side.
After firmly wrapping her legs around Emika’s neck, she tightened her grip.
“Uhhh!”
But Nona-me was consuming significant strength to maintain her position as well.
To immobilize a clearly stronger opponent required immense output.
“Huuh… Huuh…”
Emika, her head cooling down, repetitively thought.
If Nona-me was carrying a sword, things might be different; there was no reason to rush into a physical fight.
She slipped her arm between Nona-me’s legs, waiting for her strength to wane.
About 30 seconds of stalemate ensued.
Beeeeep-!
Before long, the referee blew the whistle signaling the end of the first half.
[Final Match 128]
[Time: 15:00]
[Nona-me (Republic of Korea)] [58% / 63%]
[Katsuhata Emika (Japan)] [51% / 79%]
“Gah, this is hard! Why did it break?!”
While Nona-me gasped for breath, Emika stared blankly at the scoreboard.
‘Perfect operation from start to finish didn’t work. So what now…?’
*
[Stade de France]
[Notable attendees include:]
In the stadium packed with 120,000 people.
Over 300 ‘Notable Attendees Lists’ were distributed to international broadcasters.
Hollywood directors, actors, artists, CEOs of global companies, heads of state from various countries, and even royalty.
During the 10-minute halftime, it was also a thrill to see who attended the finals for a moment.
[Sweden’s Queen Victoria, along with Elias Larsson, who participated in last year’s National Exchange Tournament. This year, Sweden finished with a great performance in the Round of 16 thanks to Walter Larsson.]
[Ulysses Murphy, the founder of the National Exchange Tournament, and the President of France, Charles de Verre, are here at the finals.]
[Next to them, today’s opening act shined brightly, Freya Sky, and… hmm? Ah! It seems to be Nona-me’s family! Her sister and father came out to support today.]
[Wow…]
[Hmm… Why is that?]
[Ah, did they dye their hair silver for today? They are quite stunning. The camera can’t stop moving away from the two women’s smiles, haha.]
The commentary team was momentarily speechless as they saw Cheon Saetbyeol following Freya Sky, waving her hand.
└ Wow, that was Nona-me’s sister?
└ Wow, she has silver hair, and she’s so pretty!
└ This is totally an Adela cosplay!
└ So gorgeous, wow, wow, wow!
└ Why is no one talking? Haha
└ It’s crazy to see Freya Sky right next to her, and she’s not being overshadowed!
└ That silver-haired lady is stunning!
└ Looks exactly like Adela. Am I the only one who thinks so?
└ Wait, she’s not Korean, right?
[Real-time) Nona-me’s sister appears, Adela cosplay sync rate 99.9%]
(VIP Seat Celeb Collection.gif)
What’s happening? Her face looks almost identical to Adela’s? Haha
[Comments]
– Why is our Adela here!
– ????
– Why is she so pretty? Legendary!
– Are you all sure she looks exactly the same? Has everyone’s vision gone?
└ It’s just crazy identical.
└ Almost level of copy-paste, yeah.
└ Adela was originally pretty, don’t slander her.
– What is going on? Wow!
– Can it really be this identical? This is shocking, haha.
– Hmm, maybe it’s just makeup.
└ Compare her to Freya, their head sizes are the same!
└ Makeup looks good on everyone, right?
– What’s her identity? Nationality is so unpredictable, haha.
[Nona-me’s sister = Adela theory, wow!]
[Wearsoft surely exploited personal info!]
[What is Adela’s sync rate???]
[Nona-me called Adela her sister for a reason!]
[Is Adela actually her sister? I’m having trouble understanding this plot thread.]
[Something… something big is coming… ]
[Recent footage of Kim Gun arguing with the crowd surfaced, haha.]
[Is Kim Gun crazy? Haha.]
If it weren’t for the National Exchange Tournament finals, this would have been a topic caught on fire, but it slightly subsided due to the ongoing second half.
[Nona-me breaking into the audience.gif]
(“I’m looking for my wand! I’m looking for a children’s broadsword engraved with it!”.gif)
Nona-me broke into the audience.
On a quest for her wand, traversing 30,000 miles.
[Comments]
– So her wand really was broken. What to do?
– I can’t laugh at this, haha.
– Why today of all days…
– This is supposed to be funny, but I feel so raw inside.
– Why did it break today? Was it a prank?
– Does a person carrying a children’s broadsword engraved with something exist? Haha.
– Is there really not a single one? Please…
– I noticed even back when she mishandled it during the Cecilia match.
[Nona-me’s entrance for the second half (feat. Cheonghwa Sword)]
(Entering majestically with the Cheonghwa Sword).jpg)
[Comments]
– What’s happening? The one before looks exactly the same. There must be a secondary product. Thankfully.
└ (Writer) Nah, she mentioned it was because of an automatic update that led to an abrupt power loss.
└ Nah, seriously!
└ What kind of ridiculous slander is this?
-(Awkward Nona-me)
– If the update caused her to mess up the first half, that would’ve been a close call!
└ If the update was just for adding graffiti art, that would be legendary.
└ Samyeon Group’s stocks might have fallen a bit, haha.
– It seems sturdy, that’s good enough.
– Phew, I thought my heart would explode during the first half, how am I supposed to handle the second half?
└ Everyone’s tense, watching tightly!
└ It’s not just me, right?
[Nona-me’s sister appears again.gif]
(Cat greeting.gif)
(Hand heart.gif)
[Comments]
– She is definitely Adela!!!! I’m a first-class sommelier for Adela; please trust me!!
└ Is the writer losing their mind? Haha.
– What a magnificent…
– The Hamagel Guild sincerely cheers on the ChaeSeob’s idol debut.
└ She is definitely not an idol.
└ Who is that? Haha.
└ All personal information is out there, haha.
