CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 297 THE FINAL FIGHT

Figuring that Cerise was going to be the biggest problem, Avery aimed at her first.

With the press of a button, he fired off a few volleys from his laser cannons to push her away from Liesel.

Fortunately, this did force Cerise to back off and move farther away to avoid getting hit.

While the fight had been between all three of them, De Vlak’s representative had mostly been focusing on Cerise. No doubt as a former ace pilot of the Alliance Police, he understood just how skilled she was and that she possessed a greater threat that Liesel.

’Which is probably why she wanted to take out Liesel quickly. That way she could have turned their fight into a one-on-one battle instead.’ Avery thought, having a good grasp of the other competitors intentions.

Only a couple seconds after his intervention, the sound of an incoming transmission resounded in the Dauntless’ cockpit.

Naturally, it was from Liesel, and Kasandra accepted the call.

"What took you so long? I was in some pretty big trouble for a moment there thanks to what that jacka*s Atlas did."

"Sorry, it was a bit harder to beat him than I expected. He turned out to be more bulky than brute." Avery replied sarcastically.

Despite her lithe and ethereal appearance, Avery had noticed that Liesel had a penchant for swearing and calling other people names when she was nervous.

Her rough words did not really match her looks, but they certainly made it apparent that she was from a long line of mercenaries.

"I’m sure that you’ve already come up with the same plan, but we should take out Cerise first. She’ll be the trickiest to deal with even two-on-one."

"That’s obvious, but do you think we can do it? Both of our shields are barely holding up right now. Honestly, I thought it was about to be forced to drop out." Liesel said, a somewhat bitter look on her face.

Avery nodded assuredly and told his temporary partner what he figured their best strategy would be.

Obviously, while the two of them discussed things, the fighting did not stop, but the two of them remained mostly passive, focusing on avoiding attacks, and firing off shots to keep their two opponents at bay.

However, once they had solidified their plan, Avery shot off immediately and headed directly for Cerise.

’I can’t read her ship’s energy like I did at the end against Atlas. Was that just some sort of fluke, or do I need a trigger of some kind?’

Avery had been hoping that the strange ability he had displayed against Atlas would still be in effect, but it seemed that it was gone now.

He had been hoping that he would still be able to use it, since it would have made this fight far easier. Still, he really could not rely on some unexplainable sixth sense. He would just have to use his normal skills and judgment to find a way to win.

The two of them darted around, trying to get into the best position while trading fire with each other.

Avery had to be more careful since his shields were already so low, but Cerise could not come at him with all of her weapons going at full power since she had two of the adversaries to worry about.

De Vlak’s representative was hounding Cerise, firing off a pair of multicannons with a high rate of fire, and two high intensity pulse lasers that while firing at a slower rate, that boasted incredible power.

Even for an extraordinary pilot like Cerise, dealing with multiple opponents that possessed vessels just as capable as her own was difficult.

Eventually, she tried to break the deadlock by charging towards Avery, ready to take some heavy damage if it meant eliminating him. What she needed now was to lessen the enemies that she needed to deal with. Though his defenses were only hanging on by a thread, Avery’s weapons still presented the same level of offensive threat as always.

At the moment that she determined to attack Avery though; he whipped around and started running away. Firing his stern scatterguns rapidly and quickly weaving around to avoid and shots coming his way.

’That’s right, follow me.’ Avery thought as he headed towards where Liesel was.

Obviously, Cerise realized that she was heading towards some sort of trap, but she could not stop and turn around.

De Vlak’s representative was following right behind her. He had not let up on his attack since the start of the free-for-all battle, and he had no intention of doing so until he had taken down Cerise.

Once Avery had made it to a specified location, certain objects that had been hiding within the debris strewn around the area were activated.

Liesel’s ship from Star Road Enterprises was equipped with a micro seeker missile pod.

They typically were not widespread due to how expensive the ammunition was and how effective regular seeker missiles were.

Each of the smaller missiles still needed the same sensors as a normal sized seeker missiles, and a more specialized and effective fuel for propulsion to reach an acceptable speed for space combat.

Nevertheless, the high costs could be accepted considering how dangerous a swarm of micro seeker missiles were.

Regular seeker missiles were easier to shot down because of their size and lesser numbers. The micro missiles were a lot more difficult to deal with.

And to make matters even harder on Cerise, Liesel had spread out these micro seeker missiles throughout the area. Having disabled their targeting feature momentarily and leaving them inert until the time was right.

The moment that the missiles were activated, they all locked onto the signature of Cerise’s ship.

From every direction, micro missiles were coming directly for her. With no opening for escape.

Except, despite being dragged into a perilous situation that would make most pilots fall into despair, Cerise did not stop moving for even a moment.

Having already expected a trap, she released as many flares from her ship as she could and began targeting the thinnest cluster of micro seeker missiles with her weapons. Swiftly destroying them with her precise and expert marksmanship.

For a second, Avery was dumbfounded by how skilled Cerise was.

Her years of experience really shined through int his moment.

Even if she had been forced into a trap, her mentality was simply that she would need to break through.

From the very start of this event, she had been on the back foot, yet two of the competitors that had initially targeted her were already defeated and she was still fighting with greater ability than anyone else.

’I knew it when I first saw her in person, but she really is astounding. This is the level of someone who is truly at the top.’ Avery thought as he observed Cerise.

Of course, he could not just sit around and enjoy the show.

She was still an opponent he needed to beat.

Chasing her down, Avery fired his laser cannons and plasma launchers.

Even if he could not take her down he needed to restrict her movements.

Joining in, Liesel aimed her multi-barrel laser cannon and fired a spray of red lasers in a wide spread.

Cerise ship was too fast and her maneuvers to good to try and land focused fire on her. So, the best option was to just fire a barrage that she could not possibly dodge in its entirely.

"Avery, we just dropped below five percent shield capacity." Kasandra warned as he pursued Cerise.

Though she was basically in a fight that was three against one, Cerise still got in hits of her own with her pulse lasers.

Avery had just avoided a direct hit, but even a glancing blow at this point ate away at his shields diminishing capacity.

’She’s almost lost her defenses as well. But, I don’t think things are going to go the way I want even if we take her down.’

Out of the four competitors left, Avery, Liesel, and Cerise were just barely hanging on. It would not be long before each of them were only relying on their armor to protect them.

The same could not be said for De Vlak’s representative, however.

He had taken some damage, but it was far less compared to the rest of them.

Even if Cerise was brought down, he would probably be able to beat Avery and Liesel afterwards.

Since his goal was to win the entire event, and not just take down Cerise, Avery slowly backed off from her while still maintaining fire with his laser cannons.

He had an agreement with Liesel, but the same could not be said for the retired police ace piloting De Vlak’s vessel.

So far, he had not fired a single shot at Avery and Liesel while they were fighting Cerise. Clearly, he did not see them as much of a threat now that they were worn down and would be easy to finish off.

’I’m only going to get one chance at this.’

Having slowly gotten closer to the rank four competitor, Avery suddenly switched direction right as the man moved in to attack Cerise with all of his armaments.

This definitely caught him off-guard, as he had been too focused on his own target and there had been no signs of hostility between them so far.

"You should have paid more attention to us." Avery said as he pulled the trigger on his plasma launchers.

The old police pilot hastily managed to dodge one of the balls of plasma coming towards him, but the second managed to connect.

This had not quite take him out, but a full volley from Avery’s three laser cannons finished the job.