Chapter 1945: Phoenix Force
"And there goes Phoenix Force right on the ground! This is an unbelievable sight!" The emcee said and every other partic.i.p.ant who was in the arena awaiting their turn to fight suddenly had cold feet.
They could not imagine it. Phoenix Force of Hainan. They were considered one of the stronger few Demon Exorcist commandos that had existed within China for the longest time. Their reputation of tedious training sessions has had its rumours spread to a "memorable" for those who had partic.i.p.ated in it.
That was why the people could not believe that the Phoenix Force had been beaten by the two Demon wolves that should be considered as an appetiser in the eyes of the audience.
Those Demon Wolves only had a Grade 8 Peak Cultivation within them and while they might have a few tricks in their sleeves, in Jin"s eyes, they were really considered cannon fodder based on the cultivation of the Demon Exorcist Commandos.
Surely, the Grade 8 Peak Demon Wolves had techniques like Shadow Step which allowed it to move through the ground utilising the shadows around the arena to get by. So even if Jin closed an eye to not see how the Demon Wolves were able to ambush the Demon Exorcist Commandos, they could have taken a hit or two by these wolves, right?
That was what Jin had thought as well and he a.s.sumed the rest of the audience watching the combat exhibition showcase would be the same too. They even a.s.sumed that the cloaked human was one of the Demon Exorcists who had pretended to be an enemy.
However, when the wolves had managed to ambush them well, they performed a light swiping attack thinking the Demon Exorcists could defend it. No, it did not go well. Out of the two attacks, two of them connected and the two commandos lost their arms from it.
Everyone did not expect the monsters to be this vicious and this also gave Jin a big headache. The only comfort was that the wolves had been named and categorised for the public to see that they were Grade 8. So, their disappointment could only be tracked to the Demon Exorcist Commandos instead.
The other three commandos decided to take the chance to retaliate as they knew that worrying about their wounded comrades would not help. Besides, deep down they knew that the dimensional instance was able to revive their comrades again.
But even though their counterattack was a disappointing turnabout, the audience believed that could not recover the honour they had lost from the first attack. Jin even tried to restrain the Grade 8 Peak Demon Wolves down to Grade 8 when the Demon Exorcists attacked.
"I could not believe it. They did not make a dent in the monsters at all? Are you sure they are Grade 10 Demon Exorcists?!" Jin wanted to pull his hair out from learning that they were unable to execute a proper attack. He even asked the System to a.n.a.lyse the Demon Exorcists once more to make sure that they were really an average of Grade 10.
The System who saw the chain of events happening had decided to comply with the User"s request and it had confirmed once more that they were indeed of Grade 10. Even the techniques that they used to attack the Demon Wolves were at least Grade 10.
"At least?" Jin started to get suspicious and the System stated that their cultivation foundation is extremely weak upon closer inspection of their chi circulation and as well as the quality of chi. The reason one could become of Grade 10 was mainly due to the fact that they could output a high quant.i.ty of chi out.
Quality+Quant.i.ty including some enlightenment here and there would definitely allow those Demon Exorcist Commando to reach Grade 10 easily.
But more importantly, they do not have much experience in combat at all. Unlike Jin who had gotten his cultivation grades through constant struggles and fights to the deaths, most of these Demon Exorcist Commandos got their grades through pure training.
Sure, they might have the determination and persistence to achieve this Grade 10. But their Grade 10 compared to Jin"s previous grade 10, would be like comparing a potato from j.a.pan who had gone through lots of processes and care to a potato from a ma.s.s manufactured farm that handled everything through automation. A poor a.n.a.logy but it should have brought the example through.
But that was not the case for the Grade 8 Wolves. Those were souls who had experienced life and death, battle to battle over and over again, willing to do anything just to survive.
That was why the Grade 8 was able to defeat the Grade 10s easily. In the audience, the Demon Exorcist Teacher who saw this scene was reminded of the mysterious Grade 4 Demon Exorcist who could control the Grade 12 Red Cross Ape.
The Demon Exorcist Commandos attacked once more upon learning that their counterattack did not work. The Demon Wolves even gave them time and s.p.a.ce to charge their techniques and it was so evident that even the audience was somewhat speechless.
"I think the wolves are giving them a chance." A spectator commented.
"The wolves are giving them a chance? More like the wolves pitied them so much that they even decided to let go of all the defences just so that they can let them put a scratch on their hides." The other spectator scorned.
"I cannot believe the standard of Phoenix Force had stooped so low that they cannot handle just a few Grade 8 Wolves."
"The cloaked master who saw the entire scene must have also thought that this was a joke beyond a joke. He is not even doing anything at all!" A reporter stated and the people around him agreed.
"They really need to up their game after this combat exhibition showcase. Looks like the Demon Exorcists in this JODE school are in good hands. The enemies can be tough enough to give them the needed experience."
"Who knows? Maybe if the enemies are these tough, there might be a retention problem."
"If there is, then how can we rely on this generation of Demon Exorcists to protect us?"
"If I am in that battle, I would have already surrendered my life to the Demon Wolves. There is no way I could have won." Another said.
It was ironic but people were starting to have more confidence in the school knowing that these enemies were created from within the Dimensional Instance. But the confidence of Demon Exorcist Commando dropped significantly and it brought a different type of pressure to other Commando groups.
Needless to say, most of the Commando Groups were in a dilemma about whether to continue with the showcase. This was mainly because most of them who were here even though they were Commandos, were actually akin to reserves that were being sent to this dimensional instance thinking it would be a normal showcase.
No one told them it would be this crazy difficult. If they had known, their commanders might have sent out the best of the best into this showcase. Yet at the same time, at least they had excuse that the reserves are still in training and therefore were unable to perform as intended. (It was undoubtedly still a bad excuse.)
The Phoenix Force finally readied their attacks and sent their techniques flying for everyone to see. As s.h.i.+ning and spectacular as it was, the flame attacks did little against the Demon Wolves" hide that the wolves started to think that maybe if they acted like they were damaged by giving some "face" to the Phoenix Force.
"Erm guys, just kill them already. Anymore and I think the Phoenix Force Demon Exorcists would not be able to tolerate this insult." Jin said and even the Wolves agreed, putting them out of their misery after the end of their flashy moves. The audience could also feel some shame for them to be so desperate and clapped in hopes that they could get better in the future.)
The wolves continued to stay along with their cloaked master as depicted in the rules where the winner had to stay for the next fight. This was to let the winner be "tired out". In the event that the Demon Exorcists ever win the fight, it would be the end for them. But for the "enemies" they had to stay so the next Demon Exorcist should have an "easier" time handling them.
But as stadium staff cleaned up the arena, the next Demon Exorcist Commando team did not dare to move forth to the stage. Their thinking was that if Phoenix Force, a veteran team hardened with some experience was unable to defeat the Demon Wolves, what makes them think that they could get away with winning this group?
"Looks like we may need a change in programme. I cannot believe the Demon Exorcist Commando would be so frightful of losing that they did not even dare to go up the stage." Jin said as he shook his head at the condition of the Demon Exorcist teams. It was no wonder the public had been so critical of them and why Ma Ge wished to revamp everything in such a rushed state.