Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong employed what was known as Margin—or rather a technique named ”Preemptive Command.” His exposure to this technique wasn’t particularly deep; counting from when Shana gave him the second stage of the training program, it had only been a week at most.

Of course, he didn’t know that in the Second World, the problem of exceeding one command’s Margin remains unsolved to this day. It’s because, on the leaderboard of that training program, there were several people who could make the Clockwork Fairy lose control and fly for more than three seconds.

That frustrating feeling of others being able to do something that he had no clue about was terrible; he spent a great deal of time each day pondering and calculating on how to solve this issue. There was no progress in training, but he gained some understanding of Margin, big or small.

That’s why, when he entered combat, he thought of using Margin as a possibility in the first place.

As for the inspiration behind this particular hit, it actually stemmed from the construct designs obtained from Lonely White Field, which, though not applicable in the training program, gave him a whole new perspective—starting to consider external conditions that might affect Margin.

The Energy Angel’s Sensing Field naturally became the first to enter his Vision.

This was his first time incorporating the Energy Angel’s Sensing Field with Margin Technique in real combat, and surprisingly, the result was extraordinary.

The Energy Angel’s Platinum Blade pierced the heart of the Dragon’s Claw, whose expression solidified. Its body collapsed like sand, disintegrating into black dust and scattering about.

With a ’click,’ Fang Hong retracted his Control Gloves. The remaining two Dragon’s Claws, astonishingly quick to react, spread out to his left and right. One pounced towards him while the other leaped forward, violently swinging a claw at the nearest Energy Angel.

But Fang Hong’s movements were just as swift. Raising his hand, he channeled concentrated power into several Magic Buoys atop his Control Gloves, directing the Main Crystal’s Magic Power to activate every Output Crystal and movable mechanism within the Energy Angel’s body. The metallic maiden’s blade-like slender legs each stepped back, shifting her center of gravity downward. She then exerted force to leap, balancing her weight mid-air, Floating up, narrowly bypassing the swipe from the Dragon’s Claw’s talons by a mere hair’s breadth.

The Dragon’s Claw turned as the Energy Angel leapt, watching her hang upside down over its shoulder and thrust a sword towards its back. Taking a step forward, it narrowly avoided the stab, simultaneously turning around, its long tail sweeping towards its rear.

There, the second Energy Angel had just arrived. Without retreating, the tail-sweep would strike her like a whip.

The first Energy Angel had barely touched the ground, unstable on her feet due to the loss of Balance from the aerial Attack. The system’s feedback to Fang Hong also indicated that the remaining Balance was insufficient to launch a second Attack.

Rebalancing would take about one-third of a second, more than enough time for the Dragon’s Claw to repel the second Energy Angel and turn to face the battle.

But if he retreated now, his previous efforts would be in vain.

Fang Hong looked up to see another Dragon’s Claw charging towards him.

Where was the opportunity?

His thoughts moved like lightning.

A low murmur rose from King’s Square.

The crowd was standing, heads tilted up, watching this scene, clearly seeing the desperate situation Fang Hong faced. But then, they glimpsed a slowly advancing light blue glow, like a ripple, an orchid blooming in the darkness.

The first Energy Angel tilted towards the ground, but a glimmer radiated from the crystal on her chest, forming a hemispherical Shield that extended past the edge of her blade and collided with the Dragon’s Claw, pushing it forward.

Such a push didn’t seem to matter much, but the Dragon’s Claw had just completed half of its Attack. Losing its footing from the push and involuntarily stepping forward, this move might seem harmless under normal conditions, but at that moment, it looked to the onlookers as if it had voluntarily run into the Energy Angel’s blade.

Thus, a sword pierced its heart.

”This guy...” The Chairman of the Silver Vislan laughed upon witnessing this in the hall, shaking his head. Employing the Energy Angel’s large Shield for Attack wasn’t exactly a high-level skill, but at least it showed ingenuity.

Neither he nor Odin were professional Combat Artisans, failing to see the level of the preceding Margin Technique, but they did appreciate Fang Hong’s combat instinct.

Some were highly skilled, yet not adept in Combat.

Clearly, this young man was not such a Chosen.

But not everyone had their perspective.

Whether it was King’s Square or Dragon Horn Hall, people were agape, their minds seemingly still not recovered from the previous scene.

On screen, the Variant Sword-Bearer leapt over enemies, seeking Balance in mid-air, and simultaneously launched an Attack. The Dragon’s Claw dodged, then counterattacked, but as the former landed, the spread Shield pushed the latter forward to be stabbed through the heart in a single motion.

A dizzying sequence of exchanges ended in an instant.

The outcome was clear.

But this was not a typical combat.

This was Combat Artisan.

All eyes involuntarily turned towards the young man at the center of the scene.

In Dragon Horn Hall, it took a while for some people to grasp what had happened, and they couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration. Hudi alone remained motionless among the crowd, but his heart was touched with emotion—he had become stronger yet again.

He was reminded of their first encounter during the craftsman challenge, when he could still teach Fang Hong how to manage the competition, looking as if he knew nothing, making many blunders.