Volume 5: Chapter 14 – Suffering Heavy Casualties
It would be Mu Zi, Hai Yue, and I who would compete during the third day of the competition, due to the fact that Si Wa and Ma Ke had used up most of their energy.
Mu Zi and I won the first two battles easily, but the third match would have to be fought by Hai Yue who had never appeared on the battle stage.
Hai Yue looked a little depressed and walked onto the battle arena listlessly. When she raised her head, her heart shuddered as her opponent looked similar to Feng Liang. Hai Yue just stood there and stared blankly at her opponent with a myriad of thoughts passing through her mind. At that moment, her heart was in pain, so she just stood there, rooted to her spot.
Her opponent didn’t think that Hai Yue was acting strangely and was instead was extremely nervous as our team hadn’t yet lost a single battle. He chanted his spells with his head bowed. I was amazed that he could actually form a power ball. It seemed that guy actually had the power of a magic scholar.
His powerball was green in colour as he was a wind magician. However, one could see that it was difficult for him to control the powerball as it flew towards Hai Yue at a slow pace.
There was no one who cared for Hai Yue as much as Ma Ke, so he had already realized that something was wrong with Hai Yue. He shouted at Hai Yue, but Hai Yue was in a trance and didn’t hear him, focusing on her inner thoughts instead
My mind screamed out ‘This is bad!’ as the powerball was extremely strong. Even if she was fully awakened from her trance, she still might not be able to deal with it easily. Furthermore, she would be totally unprepared.
I used my magic power to make my voice form a line to reach her ear and shouted.
The loud voice made Hai Yue snap back to reality. Hai Yue was startled and raised her head, and saw the powerball had already closed in on her. Hai Yue wasn’t a Magister so she needed time to chant her spells. She knew at this point she didn’t have any way to dodge this offensive spell, and so she had totally given up on countering the attack. She just made a resolute expression which showed her willingness to die for a righteous cause.
Just when the powerball was about to deal a death blow to her, a red figure suddenly appeared in front of her, shielding her by using his body to stop its the advance. That red figure was none other than Ma Ke.
I shouted from below the battle stage, “Ma Ke!” When the powerball came in contact with Ma Ke, the power of the powerball had succeeded in breaking the simple defense spell that he had cast on himself and hit his chest heavily. Ma Ke cried out in pain and was sent flying. Hai Yue was in shock as she saw what had happened. After seeing Ma Ke’s figure which was blown away, she hastily gathered her magic power to catch him, but Ma Ke’s momentum was too powerful and they were both thrown off the battle stage.
The surrounding observers erupted in an uproar. The vice Principal ran over and asked, “What is going on? Why did you send two of your members onto the stage?”
I didn’t have the time to deal with him and bluntly stated, “We concede defeat for this match,” before sprinting towards Ma Ke.
I didn’t have the capacity to bother about rebuking Hai Yue at that point and immediately used an advanced recovery spell on Ma Ke. The white light enveloped Ma Ke’s entire body and managed to bring him back from the Death God.
Si Wa was already on the battle stage. We didn’t plan for him to participate in any matches today, but we were forced to send him out after this incident.
I checked Ma Ke’s breathing and monitored on his pulse, and heaved a sigh of relief as he wasn’t in immediate danger of dying. However, his meridian channels had been thrown into disarray by the shock of the strong magic power. The worst case scenario would be if his fire elements were to become turbulent and flowed throughout his body. I let out a sigh and waited to get back to the hotel before continuing his treatment
Right then, Si Wa exited the battle stage. He walked over, thoroughly exhausted and asked, “How is Ma Ke?”
I coldly glared at Hai Yue and replied, “He isn’t in mortal danger for now. But this may not always be the case.”
Hai Yue hugged Ma Ke and weeped, continuously muttering, “Ma Ke, why are you so foolish? Why did you save me?”
I said with hatred, “Ma Ke is foolish to the point of his brain emitting foam. He knows that you have no love for him and yet still risked his life to protect you.”
Even though we had eventually attained victory in the third match, we had lost Ma Ke as a team member and knew that Hai Yue wouldn’t be be a participant tomorrow either. Who would dare let her take the stage again? There wouldn’t be another Ma Ke to shield her from the opponent’s blows this time.
After returning to the hotel, our moods were unusually depressed. Hai Yue had used her strength to carry Ma Ke back and didn’t allow any of us to interfere with it.
She gently placed Ma Ke, whose face was pale white, on the bed, and suddenly knelt in front of me and painfully wailed, “Zhang Gong, I’m begging you! Please….Please save Ma Ke!”
Mu Zi hastily pulled her up and said, “Hai Yue, don’t be like this. Zhang Gong will do his best.”
I sighed and said, “Ma Ke is my brother. How can I not save him? However, because his injury is too severe, I can only temporarily keep his heart beating. We will give up on the competition and immediately head back to the academy as only Teacher Zhen will has the ability to treat Ma Ke.”
Ma Ke hoarsely and softly voiced out at that moment. We hastily gathered at his side. There was blood flowing from the corner of his lips. He forcefully opened his eyes and said in short gasps, “Boss… My brother… It looks like I can’t continue any longer… You must… win the competition… Please don’t… give it up… just because of me…”
I anxiously said, “How can I do that? You must undergo treatment as soon as possible.”
Hai Yue came over and rubbed Ma Ke’s face. “Ma Ke, why are you so silly? You must get well!”
Ma Ke raised his hands with great difficulty and wiped the tears from Hai Yue’s face. He smiled and uttered in short gasps, “Hai… Yue… you are shedding tears for me… I am already… very happy. After I die… you must… take good care of yourself… and not let your thoughts… overwhelm you…”
I held Ma Ke’s hand and said, “You should also stop overthinking. You will definitely be fine.”
Ma Ke smiled and continued to utter in short gasps, “Boss… I know… how bad my own condition… You don’t need… to console me… but I have one last request… that I must ask of you… I beg of you… help me to take good care of Hai Yue… and you must become the champions… It is our responsibility… and possibly my last one… You must help me… accomplish it… I know that… with your power… you will definitely… be able to succeed…”