"You!"Tie Quan hollered madly as he tried to punch me. I retreated a few steps, but my Canis Minor and Ursa Minor took over to overwhelm him, pouncing on him and burying him under a pile of bodies. Tie Quan yelped and flailed about, but he was slowly being grinded down by the sheer weight of numbers.
To be honest, I could have won even if I just left Tie Quan to my little Constellation spirits, but as my opponents had learned the hard way before, it never paid to underestimate the enemy. I wasn"t going to give Tie Quan the chance to recover or fight back – he might have some hidden trump card or get-out-of-jail spell, like me.
So while Tie Quan was distracted by my Constellation spirits, I completed my summoning spell and called Vermillion Phoenix into being.
"Everyone, retreat!" I ordered. I needn"t have to, to be honest, since at my mental command, the whole pack of Canis Minor and Ursa Minor disappeared from existence. Tie Quan got up, dazed but also relieved that the onslaught was over.
I hadn"t really done much damage to him, even with my Constellation spirits. His Iron Spirit remained mostly intact, but he was slowly being worn down by the constant attacks. Furthermore, even if the Ursa Minor"s claws couldn"t cut through his Iron Spirit, the tremendous impact behind their blows were dealing heavy internal damage.
As it was, Tie Quan could barely get up. Not that I was going to let him.
"No way…"
Tie Quan"s eyes widened when he caught sight of my Vermillion Phoenix spreading its wings. With a single flap, it unleashed a torrent of flames and incinerated him.
"Okay, stop!" Teacher Fielding shouted. "The match is over! Student Richard Huang has won!"
I gently pulled my Vermillion Phoenix back with a mental tug, and the gigantic summoned beast responded by ceasing its attack. It proudly soared to the air and remained hovering there, casting its eyes toward the Iron Fist Society members in an intimidating manner.
A few medics had to rush onto the stage and ferry Tie Quan"s charred body out of there. Even his Iron Spirit could not withstand the superheated flames…then again, it shouldn"t. Metal element was weak against fire element. Never mind that the difference in power was too great, but in fact it was probably overkill because of the elemental interactions.
Fire beats Metal. Metal beats Wood. Wood beats Earth. Earth beats Water. Water beats Fire. This was the elemental interactions that governed the conflicts between types. If the level gap was high enough, you could obviously overcome the elemental weakness against a less skilled opponent, but generally the elemental type would confer upon you an advantage and disadvantage.
Smiling, I turned toward the rest of the Iron Fist Society members.
"Who"s next?"
They all glanced at each other in dismay, not knowing how to respond. None of them seemed eager to go up against the majestic Vermillion Phoenix.
"Team kill! Team kill! Team kill!"
Apparently my fans were going wild over the sight of my summoning spell, and they were chanting excitedly. The first year students who wors.h.i.+pped me were antic.i.p.ating yet another ma.s.sacre. They were licking their chops as they slavered at the thought of another team-kill moment.
Only now did the Iron Fist Society and the other second and third year students realized that my challenge to their entire team wasn"t a boast. I could really do it. Especially since I had the Celestial Guardians on my side.
"Who"s next?" Teacher Fielding repeated, turning to the Iron Fist Society. "If you don"t decide soon, I"ll consider your decision as forfeiting the matches."
"You go."
"No, you go."
"I…I have a stomachache. I can"t fight today."
"Coward!"
"Then what about you? Why don"t you go, since you"re so brave?"
"I…well…I"m not at my peak condition today."
"See? You"re also making excuses!"
There seemed to be internal strife in the Iron Fist Society as they tried to pa.s.s the buck around.
"I"ll give you a minute. If you still haven"t decided who will be the next duelist, then I"ll consider this as you forfeiting the rest of the matches." Teacher Fielding was getting impatient at their indecision, infighting and lack of courage.
"Don"t forget. This means that your booth s.p.a.ce will now belong to Dong Fang Yue Chu"s Great Eastern Society!" Alicia reminded them with a smile. I made a mental note to myself to change the name later…a.s.suming that I won, of course.
Even though it seemed like none of the remaining Iron Fist Society members had any confidence of beating a monster like my Vermillion Phoenix, I wasn"t going to take anything for granted. Lucky accidents could still happen.
"Cowards!"
"Hurry up and choose!"
"What a pathetic society you are!"
The audience began hurling abuses at the hesitating Iron Fist Society members. A good number of my fans were also taunting them, which made me feel a bit embarra.s.sed. d.a.m.n, but I honestly didn"t want people to use my name to insult others.
Also, I was beginning to feel sorry for the beleaguered Iron Fist Society members. Plus this was a pretty boring way to end the matches. I didn"t want to win by technicality. I wanted to roast them alive, after all the insults they put me through.
"Why don"t you draw straws?" I suggested.
"…good idea."
"Let"s do that then."
"While at it, we might as well draw for the remaining three members as well."
The Iron Fist Society members were all nodding in agreement, pouncing on my suggestion and capitalizing on it. One of them began tearing a few pieces of paper apart, scribbled something into them, then rolled them up and stuck them in his fist.
With that, the order of the next four fighters was decided.
*
"WOOHOO!"
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"Another team-kill!"
"Senior Richard is the best!"
Less than fifteen minutes later, all four matches ended. Predictably, they ended in my favor, with my Vermillion Phoenix utterly destroying them with its humongous flames. The last member was lying on the ground, blackened to a crisp, while medics hurried onto the stage to cart him off. Again, if it wasn"t for the boundary field, they wouldn"t be alive.
Most of the audience were dead silent, with the second and third years having unpleasant expressions on their faces. On the other hand, the first year students were whooping, screaming and cheering. Was it my imagination, or did the group where my "fans" were situation grow larger again? I could have sworn there weren"t that many of them at the start of the match…
"Winner…Student Richard Huang!" Teacher Fielding announced, his voice neutral. He wasn"t allowed to take sides, so his voice wasn"t filled with as much gusto or enthusiasm as the first year students.
"The Iron Fist Society"s booth s.p.a.ce will be given to the Great Eastern Society, as per the agreement." Alicia also added to confirm. She nodded toward me with a bright smile. "Congratulations, Student Richard."
"Thank you."
I wasn"t able to exchange any more words because Dong Fang Yue Chu practically threw himself at me. I dodged on reflex, and watched in shock as he ended up sprawled on the ground before my feet.
"Thank you very much!" he blubbered. The guy had actually been crying. "Thank you so much! You"ve saved me!"
"Yeah…anyway, we ought to change the name of our society, if you don"t mind."
"Anything! Anything for you, buddy!"
Dong Fang Yue Chu was openly weeping. Feeling a little awkward, I helped him to his feet and offered him a few pieces of tissue. He wiped at his tears and blew his nose.
"I owe you so much!"
"Okay, okay. Anyway, let"s put that aside for now and start prepping our booth. We"ve quite the huge amount of s.p.a.ce to cover."
With the matches over, everyone was beginning to disperse. There was nothing more to watch, other than the sorry figures of the Iron Fist Society that I had just team-killed all by myself. Teacher Fielding was departing, having fulfilled his duties.
"I"ll be going too," Alicia told me. "I also have to prepare for the Black Roses Society"s booth." She beamed. "You"re always welcome to drop by and say h.e.l.lo."
"Oh, okay. Thanks."
"Do come and say hi. Troy probably wants to talk to you as well." Alicia giggled. "No doubt he"ll want to challenge you to a duel soon enough."
I gulped. Spare me. Troy King was probably the one person I didn"t want to face. That guy was a monster. I had no doubt he had a way to tear apart all of my summoned beasts with terrifying ease, even the four Celestial Guardians.
After watching Alicia leave, I then accompanied Dong Fang Yue Chu to the remains of his booth. The fans who were cheering for me were approaching, but I had to tell them to return the next day, because we had nothing to show them.
"Can"t we help?" Harvey Deng asked.
"Nah, there"s nothing much to help." I glanced at the Iron Fist Society"s booth. "That"s their stuff. If they"re going to leave it here, then we"ll use it. Otherwise we"ll have to wait for them to take it away. Either way, there"s not much else we can do until that"s settled."
"Oh, leave that to me," Dong Fang Yue Chu brightened. "I"ll make sure to handle the negotiations! I"ll pull in Black Roses Society as a mediator if necessary."
"Okay. I"ll be counting on you then." I really didn"t want to deal with those sort of stuff, and I was glad Dong Fang Yue Chu was around to settle those affairs. Turning to the expectant first year students, I smiled. "It"ll help us more if you visit our booth tomorrow."
"Yes, Senior Richard!"
The first year students then dispersed. I watched them go, and then returned to repairing the broken pieces that the Iron Fist Society left in their wake earlier. Honestly, we only needed this amount of s.p.a.ce, what with only two of us running the booth. On the bright side, I had eliminated an annoying neighbor that would be sure to hara.s.s us, or cause trouble.
"All right, let"s get started…"
"By the way, Richard." Dong Fang Yue Chu glanced at me while he was helping with the hasty repairs. "You said something about changing the name of our society. You don"t like the Great Eastern Society?"
"Uh, well…not really."
"Fair enough." Since I had helped him so much, Dong Fang Yue Chu took no offense. He was more grateful than annoyed. "Do you already have another name in mind, then?"
"I actually do." I grinned conspiratorially. "It"s…"