Chapter 52 – A Battle of Assassins
Trying to compete with me!? Barran, show them what you’ve got!” Ma Dong shouted. With a raise of his eyebrows, he flung his coat aside, revealing the printed words on his back; ‘Heavenly Dragon Ice Room’!
Barran hurriedly switched his skylink to voice broadcasting and took out a small piece of paper from his pocket. “The mind recommends this! Heavenly Dragon Ice Room is extremely cooling, so come and share the joy. Feel a sensation of freshness that has never been felt before! The location is the academy’s second food hall! If you report President Ma Dong’s name to them, you’ll get a 10% discount!”
Emily, who had been following behind them, almost slipped and fell when she heard those words. Even the entire arena turned silent. Suddenly, a chorus of shouts and curses spilled into the area. What the fuck, was this possible?
Free advertisement?
“Ma Dong, go and die!”
“Pummel this prodigy! Rape Ma Dong! Brother Zhan Tian, good luck!”
Facing the onslaught of emotions from the crowd, Ma Dong still acted indifferently. The advertisement had already been played, the money collected. How much it had been was unimportant. What matter was the training and experience it gave. One day, he’d be a man who did big things. Cases like these would only benefit him.
The judge presiding over the arena today was the president of Black Rose, Scarlet. She was currently trying to resist laughing. The Prodigy Society was really ballsy. After looking at the people Lu Zhan Tian brought, however, she also felt a bit worried.
Wang Zhong, on the other hand, looked calm. It was unknown what methods he’d thought of, and truthfully speaking Scarlet wasn’t able to find anything out. She’d assumed Wang Zhong would find her during the weekend in order for her to help him with an analysis. If he did so, she wouldn’t give it a second thought before accepting. Yet, contrary to her expectations, they had instead just been preparing for a battle.
After submitting an application to the academy for authorization, it was quite simple to utilize the competition system for a KOF group battle. Both parties would anonymously submit their player choice for the first battle. The victor of each round would then have chance to pick the next arena If both teams were evenly matched, then it all fell to whichever occupation chosen was superior. Therefore, it could be said that the vanguard for the first match was extremely vital for both teams.
Furthermore, being struck down, knocked out of bounds, or admitting defeat resulted in a victory for the other party. The judge’s decision would only be used if disputes occurred. Injuries happening in this kind of match was inevitable, and there was even a possibility of serious damage and death.
None of this was rare within the heroic soul academies. Although the Freedom Federation was quite relaxed with its regulations, a heroic soul soldier was a risky job where facing death was a must. As such, the sole thing that was forbidden was voluntary manslaughter. If one were to be determined to do such a thing, then the penalty and subsequent conviction was extremely serious.
After both sides were briefed on the rules, Lu Zhan Tian and Wang Zhong both sent in their chosen participants for the first battle.
“Emily versus Colby!”
“Assassin vs Assassin?”
“It’s actually Shadow Blade Colby!”
“He’s one of the three great assassins of our academy! Third-year Colby against a freshman, Holy Judgement sure isn’t leaving anything to chance.”
Once the participants of the first match came out, the audience went nuts. Assassin against assassin was one of the most exciting match-ups. It was a dance of swords, a flourishing of one’s life.
Colby was Holy Judgement’s core assassin and a part of their core line-up. This wasn’t someone expected by the audience.
Scarlet, however, nodded her head secretly. She knew Reeves wouldn’t ever get carried away. Although he despised his opponent openly, he would in fact attach a fair bit of importance to them. Furthermore, their opponent had two specially recruited freshmen, which wasn’t easy to deal with.
On one side was a strong third-year senior. On the other side was a freshman of the Assassin clan. Although it wasn’t an even match, both sides had a fair chance at victory.
“The competition is about to begin! Let us catch and use this last bit of time to interview the two societies battling today!”
The cute little school reporter waited until the last bit of time before the competition started to rush onto the arena and shove her microphone at Lu Zhan Tian. “Vice-Captain Lu Zhan Tian, your choice for the first match is quite the counter! May I ask if this was a decision planned beforehand?”
“Planned? Haha. You’re thinking about it too much,” Lu Zhan Tian replied casually. “Even if one uses their butt, they would know Emily will be in the first battle. They only have this one ace to play. Let’s show them today what a real assassin is! It’s not just a name given due to the fame of a clan, but earned by those with talent!”
As he replied, Lu Zhan Tian raised his fist, showing off an imposing aura. The feeling of being able to pass judgement on everything was something he loved.
“Woah! Vice-Captain Lu Zhan Tian sure is overbearing. But as the vice-captain of Holy Judgement, he definitely possesses the qualifications and confidence. Alright, the competition is about to begin, so I won’t waste anymore of the two societies’ time. This report is proudly presented to you viewers by the Heroic Soul Academy Newspaper! I’m your reporter, Little Mei, and I’ll continue to bring you the latest updates of this competition!”
“What about us? Fuck, why did they ignore us!?” Ma Dong questioned this as he’d prepared heavily for it. In the end, he’d been ignored. “Academy newspaper reporters these days are too lacking in standards and eyesight. What horrible work ethics!”
Damnit, your father had already prepared an entire speech…
“Brother Wang Zhong, I’m going up!” Emily said excitedly as she dashed up to the arena.
Shadow Blade Colby!
“Bring out your best. I want to know if the ‘Assassin’ deserves its reputation.” Colby spoke in a solemn voice.
“As you wish,” Emily said with a faint smile.
“Trying to be pretentious against a member of the Assassin clan?” Ma Dong exclaimed from below. “Castrate him, cousin!”
Colby was using a rune sickle while Emily was using dual daggers. Ever since her match with All-Mouthy King, Emily had been focusing on using dual daggers.
As Colby stared unblinkingly at Emily, a formless killing aura started to congeal between the two.
This flat and open arena wasn’t originally suited for an occupation like an assassin. Yet, from a different point of view it allowed for an assassin to have greater clarity, as well as freedom to move those soul-chillingly sharp blades.
Colby started to take action.
In an instant, he burst forth with an extremely fast speed. Those with weaker vision were simply unable to follow his movements. It felt as if he’d disappeared in a flash!
Emily had also begun to take action. Ever since she’d stepped onto the arena, she’d maintained a combat-ready condition. Being able to maintain such constant vigilance was the most basics of basics of an assassin’s skills. This was something Emily did quite well.
She stomped viciously with her feet. Speed was her strong point, so she was absolutely able to keep pace with Colby’s actions.
Furthermore, she faced Colby without the slightest intent of dodging, instead openly charging forward.
Emily’s instantaneous speed and decision to face him head on was slightly outside of Colby’s expectations. He’d assumed that this brat would at least show some respect for her elders, but none of that was shown!
The next moment, Colby’s pupils contracted slightly. With it came an eye-dazzlingly quick sickle!
In the blink of an eye, the sickle and dagger created intense striking sounds as they clashed in mid-air, scattering soul power in all directions. It had to be mentioned that a freshman actually possessed soul power fluctuations similar to that of a third-year. This kind of talent showed that a person brought up by a clan wasn’t someone any ordinary person could compare with.
The whooshing sounds caused by dodged attacks melded together to form a single, constant tone. Cold light reflected off the blade and daggers. It couldn’t be counted how many times they’d clashed in that instant.
Colby was cold and indifferent while Emily, despite being petite, gave off a feeling of being light and quick.