As the saying goes, he who strikes first gains the upper hand.
With the trash talk phase concluded, next was the combat phase.
Pei Guang looked at Aventurine, who had already turned into a boss in front of him, and pointed his weapon at him.
"Come on! Let's see who laughs last. Game start!"
As Pei Guang's voice fell, Six-Phased Ice armor appeared on Stelle's body, and she was the first to charge at Aventurine.
"Hmph."
While Stelle was charging, March 7th drew her bow and arrow. Blue light gathered on the bowstring, and when it reached its limit, the ice arrow was loosed.
The shot ice arrow split into many cute ice sculptures, smashing towards Aventurine.
Facing March 7th's attack, Aventurine intended to dodge, but looking at the attack distance, he didn't move an inch from his spot.
Because...
The attack from March 7th successfully hit the charging Stelle.
March 7th essentially wanted to execute a small combo with Stelle. While Stelle charged, she would use the Six-Phased Ice to restrict Aventurine's movement.
Previously, she had always coordinated with Pei Guang: every time, Pei Guang would taunt first, and then March 7th would attack. The monster would usually move forward during this process.
March 7th was used to this attack distance, so she attacked directly out of habit.
Plus, this was a Dreamscape, and essentially, the fight with Aventurine contained elements of acting and playing; everyone couldn't really get too tense.
With the Dreamscape setting, the fact that it wasn't a fight to the death, and Pei Guang not taking the initiative, combined together, this shot accurately hit Stelle.
But this time, Pei Guang hadn't acted yet. Stelle went in first, and she did so with a direct charge, which led to Aventurine not moving forward at all.
The result was that this attack accurately struck Stelle in the middle of her charge.
Normally speaking, Stelle wouldn't be hit.
However, the habit from previous coordination was that after Pei Guang attracted the enemy, she would just mindlessly charge and deal damage, since he could tank the opponent's attacks and hard control them anyway.
As a result, this time she still habitually charged mindlessly, so in the process of her charge, March 7th's attack accurately hit the charging Stelle.
When the two realized it was bad, March 7th's ice sculpture dolls accurately smashed onto Stelle's body.
Pei Guang looked at March 7th: "Don't hit your teammates! What are you doing?"
Although he said this, Pei Guang wasn't worried at all, because he knew Stelle's lines when using the War-Flaming Lance.
When Stelle charges directly, her charge is just a feint, not a real attack. In this state of attack, she didn't even use much of the Path's power: it was just a simple charge.
When Stelle is serious, she will shout: "The lance tip is ignited."
Why shout instead of just charging? This is to tell her teammates she is serious, because she needs to charge up power on the War-Flaming Lance, and since the power of the hit is immense, they should try not to get close to her.
But obviously, Stelle charging directly proved she definitely had a follow-up set of attacks.
Seeing her attack hit a friendly unit, March 7th covered her mouth: "Oops..."
Accompanying this "oops," Stelle was directly frozen in ice.
But fortunately, the moment she was frozen, the amber light on the lance tip protected Stelle's body: this hit didn't cause any damage to Stelle.
Stelle, having been hit, stopped her charge and fell to the ground clutching the War-Flaming Lance.
She turned her head and shouted loudly with dissatisfaction: "Ah! Someone come save me! I took an arrow to the knee! I'm injured! I'm gonna die!"
Stelle shouted with full vigor.
While shouting, she sat on the ground hugging her knee, her body trembling.
Watching this scene, Aventurine fell even more silent. Leaving aside the fact that the power of Preservation had blocked everything, just looking at the direction of March 7th's attack, it should have hit the head, not the knee, right?
"Who am I? Where am I? Who am I fighting?"
This was Aventurine's truest mental state right now.
He was prepared to seriously deal with Stelle's charge, and the result was this guy getting knocked down by her own teammate?
Wait? Look carefully again. This guy isn't injured at all! The shield from Preservation on her body protected her thoroughly.
Let alone March 7th's hit, even if he went all out, he wasn't sure he could penetrate the shield on her.
"Ah..."
Aventurine felt his head buzzing. Although it was acting, they still had to fight for real. He had to beat them all to force Acheron to make a move.
How did it turn into this?
Do you have to act like this?! The trash talk earlier was each more ruthless than the last, so why did it become like this once the fighting started?
In fact, Stelle was indeed acting. It was just that because the enemy wasn't a traditional enemy that needed to be killed, but an enemy to be defeated.
Since it was just a defeat, she prepared to try some tactics she usually dared not use, such as a sneak attack during the confusion.
However, just when Aventurine was questioning reality, Stelle, who was lying on the ground feigning illness, seized the moment Aventurine was dazed.
"The lance tip is ignited. War-Flaming Lance, Charge!"
Aventurine: "????"
Stelle: "Do you have many question marks?"
Stelle, lying on the ground, held the War-Flaming Lance that was emitting fire and charged towards Aventurine from below.
In this instant, Aventurine had even more question marks in his head.
He was wondering… wondering how Stelle managed to charge while lying on the ground, and faster than a running charge at that.
And in the process of charging, Stelle smiled: "In a dream, you~ must~ have~ i~mag~in~a~tion~ Die!"
During Stelle's charge, her entire charging path presented an unpredictable S-shaped jitter.
While jittering during the charge, her body spun like a drill, and her body became abnormally bouncy, sometimes shrinking into a small lump, sometimes stretching into a long strip, while her body was covered with pure power of Preservation.
This move could be said to be Stelle's strongest hit in a solo attack scenario. It was a desperate gamble combining her own imagination and all her power.
Looking at past enemies, only Phantylia could withstand this hit.
The moment she approached Aventurine, Stelle's War-Flaming Lance aimed at Aventurine's chest.
"Take this! This is my Heaven-Piercing Rotating Lance Tip Heart-Piercing Attack!"
Facing this move, Acheron, who was eating peaches on the side, offered a temporary comment: "What a terrifying attack. Even I felt the danger."
Welt: "If it were the young me, facing this attack, I could only die miserably on the spot."
Himeko: "Truly a terrifying and imaginative fighting style."
March 7th: "Go for it!"
Firefly: "Go for it! Finish him in one move."
Pei Guang: "You'll win!"
Originally, Stelle was full of morale, but when Pei Guang said the words "You'll win," she suddenly felt a wave of malice from the world.
But now that she had already released her improvised ultimate technique, how could she stop here? The moment she was about to reach Aventurine, Stelle locked her gaze onto Aventurine's rear.
Aventurine instantly felt a chill on his butt, but he didn't defend his butt: instead, he reached out towards his chest.
As he reached out, the lance tip of the War-Flaming Lance appeared in his palm and was gripped by Aventurine.