Chapter 258 - Gasping in Amazement (Two-in-one)
Milami had grown up with her father's words etched on her heart: Hard work and diligence are also a kind of talent, and they are the most reliable talent of them all!
She had always wanted to prove this point. However, in a world where talents were highly regarded, it was hard, to the point of impossible really, for her to do so. At least until Wang Zhong had appeared in her life.
So to whom was this match important to?
It would obviously be Milami. Milami had arrived all by herself in Tianjing three years ago and had always been hardworking and diligent. Her attitude made it a surprise for everyone when they found out that she was the successor to the Apollo Family. Regardless of what the world had to say, she had always believed in hard work and diligence.
Finally, after so long, her efforts had paid off!!
In the battlefield, there are often two types of battle: solo and group. For some, solo duels suited them. For Milami, she belonged to the other group where group battles were their forte!
As such, the cooperation between Milami and Scarlet were a notch higher than the cooperation between Wang Zhong and Scarlet, which already was impressive in itself.
The two of them only need a single glance to know what the other was thinking.
The large screen in the arena that displayed the names of the participating members showed a big red cross across the names of Feng Zhan and Yan Dong.
The question was, why did Milami and Scarlet not bother about Grai? The reason why was that they were actually supporting Emily and Lily! Tamil decided that handling the two of them by himself would be a suicidal attempt, and had backed away with his tail between his legs.
Laura almost lost her composure and wanted to question their actions. What kind of squad is this? They're a bit "emotional". Did they hold that Grai with such high regard?
Even with the combined attacks from Sully and Man Lu, Grai seemed to be holding out well against them. In fact, the match appeared to be under the full control of the prince-like Grai instead! The current situation had evolved into one in which it was difficult for Sully and Man Lu to completely take down or turn their attention away from their target.
Sully was well aware about the current situation, which made him even angier, almost to the point of vomiting blood. How did this happen?
Those two were reprimanded severely yesterday! And yet, how could they get so easily beaten upon meeting the opponents?
Four people had encircled Tamil. This fellow was trapped, his only "advantage" was that he had Man Lu with him. And yet, this skinny person was still so hard to deal with!
The female students of Copperfield Academy were shouting Grai's name with lots of enthusiasm, which Sully took to be a cry of mockery towards him. For a person who held much pride and loved beautiful women, Sully could not endure such treatment.
Acting like a pretentious little prick in front of women! These women are mine!
Whenever he walked into the arena, there would always be shrieks and shouts from all of the women in the audience, all of them calling his name. With the titles of "Freshman King Contender" and "Strongest Freshman", he was always placed in the spotlight. However, he had unexpectedly become the opening show for another person. Furthermore, it was to someone that had suppressed him on all aspects: appearance, strength and aura!
So that's the reason why! This was why Hymin did not show much interest when he had introduced himself! Could it be that she loves that little pretty boy? That person's simply the enemy of all men in this world!
Sully wanted to pull his hair out in anger. At this moment, he had nothing to fall back on. The only desire he had right now was to tear apart that Grai!
"Man Lu, let's attack together and send him on his way!"
With that declaration, Sully's attacked rapidly in a haphazard manner, transforming his attacks into a flurry of disorderly cold glints that blotted out the sky. While at first glance, it seemed easy enough to dodge and evade, the attack was supplemented with Man Lu's assault, who had also shot forward at the same time.
Man Lu brandished his sword and made his attacks merge seamlessly with Sully's disordered cold glints, covering up the gaps within it that made it seem easy to avoid. At the same time, black light that filled the skies erupted from the left hands of both Sully and Man Lu.
Heavenly net-Deathly Killing Formation!
Naturally, assassins were well versed in the usage of hidden weapons. However, in most battles to compare notes, there was an unspoken rule that hidden weapons were forbidden. However, to think that Sully and Man Lu had actually used those extremely lethal hidden weapons in such a match…
Cries of astonishment rang out across the arena as realization struck the audience. Who would have guessed that Sully would actually throw his pride away and resort to using hidden weapons when matched against Tianjing? Had he lost his confidence in winning the battle?
Leo and the rest of the captains retained their emotionless expression as they observed the scene before them. Grai's strength had drawn much of their attention to this battle between him against Sully and Man Lu. What Sully and Man Lu had initiated had the potential to kill off Grai. The hidden weapons used a special type of steel that, coupled with the way Sully and Man Lu were using their Soul Power, would penetrate any average soul power defenses. Even if their target did not die from the attack, they would receive severe injuries at the very least.
Although it was a little underhanded, they were unable to interfere with the match.
However, Grai suddenly turned his body around in such a twisting manner that it appeared as though it distorted the space around his body.
Instantly, the sound of numerous things slamming the ground resounded across the entire arena. White spiraling rays of brilliance enveloped Grai's body, before blossoming into a myriad of sword slashs!
Sword Beheading Combat Technique-Heaven Soaring Dragon revolving flash!
With radiant snow-white light, the hidden dragon rose forth!
Eye-scorching brilliance filled the entire arena. Other than a few handful of people, the majority of the audience had to close their eyes against such brilliance. When the powerful brilliance finally faded away from their eyes, the fight had already ended.
The bodies of Sully and Man Lu were riddled with holes, especially Sully, whose face appeared as though he had turned into a porcupine with numerous steel needles sticking out from it. Compared to him, Man Lu's condition was slightly better, but only just a little.
The long sword in Grai's hand pierced the ground before him, with him adopting a calm and collected stance and gentle intent present in his gaze. Despite that, there was no mercy in his counterattack. In such a fight where hidden weapons were used, one must suffer the consequences for doing so. If Grai had not been strong enough, Sully's end would not simply be the disfiguration of his face.
After ending the fight, Grai didn't even glance at the two people lying there. Instead, he glanced in another direction, appearing free and easy. This match was about to end.
Laura's face held an expression filled with disbelief. The number of people that could see and understand the technique that Grai had used weren't many. The eruption of attacks at the end wasn't much to marvel over. What was frightening was how he had started his assault. The rotational force generated in an instant using his Spiritual Energy and physical strength was able to negate all of the hidden weapons and attacks heading his way. His control of Soul Power was on par with experts of the highest level. The number of people in all of the academies in the eastern area who could control their Soul Power to such an extent could be counted on one hand. Compared to his opponents who had used hidden weapons, him using this in retaliation was deemed as apt.
He had completely blown away the hidden weapon killing formation that required the cooperation of two assassins. The activation of the attack was exceedingly quick; from start to when the attacks were launched, not even a second had passed. However, under such a situation, that frightening fellow had unexpectedly pulled off a perfect counter attack. With his speed of response and perfect control over his Soul Power, killing the top ten people in the eastern area wouldn't be any problem, let alone the freshman king of the eastern area.
Being surrounded by the four ladies, Tamil lost all hope and immediately surrendered. Upon seeing the red crosses appearing across all five members of the Saxon academy, the entire arena couldn't help but to erupt with shrieks of excitement.
Their opponent had been Saxon and yet, Tianjing had actually won against them. Furthermore, they had unexpectedly won without suffering any casualties. That's why they were able to defeat Adolf in the past. It wasn't pure luck, Tianjing's got the strength to back them up!
With this counterattack by Tianjing, Saxon had fallen off their godly podium. Fortunately, as Captain Paul had not participated in this match, Saxon still held onto some of their dignity.
Grai's display of strength was truly too dazzling, overwhelming the fact that Saxon had just suffered a loss against Tianjing. Everyone present was discussing the fight between Grai and the duo at the back of Tianjing's formation. However, due to that, Saxon's embarrassment at losing to Tianjing was disregarded without a care.
"That fellow's truly a freshman?" Arnold Teuton couldn't help but ask in astonishment.
Grai alone would be able to lift any academy up in the rankings. Furthermore, Tianjing also had such an explosive, cooperative backline. In addition to that, their captain was able to see through every strategy of his opponent! If Wang Zhong was just a newbie, there was no way Arnold Teuton would believe that such a terrifying freshmen would act so respectfully to such a person.
Damn it! Why didn't Copperfield have such luck? That Grai seems like a first year freshman? If he had joined Copperfield, with Laura and I, we would have…
Laura felt dumbfounded at the outcome of the match.
Is there something wrong with me? Why does Grai have an aura similar to All Mouthy King? He had such superhuman-like response and perfect control over his Soul Power, especially those movements right before unleashing his counterattack. Laura could clearly remember that it was the trademark technique of All Mouthy King: Ghostly Steps!
Brother King's Ghostly Steps was extremely popular in the academies, to the point that countless people had tried to imitate it. However, not a single one was able to combine the orthodox Ghostly Steps with the swaying motion that All Mouthy King's possessed! The Ghostly Steps were indeed the Ghostly Steps. The hardest part in attaining the swift changes in directions was maintaining balance. Also, under what context would you start swaying? In fact, why would you want to sway at all?!
However, Grai had just done it.
Additionally, when All Mouthy King fought in the OP today, Grai was not in the Wild Beasts Society. He had only rushed over after receiving news of Barran getting injured from Scarlet on his Skylink.
The two biggest reason why she had assumed Wang Zhong was All Mouthy King were that Wang Zhong had evaded her soul bear by using Ghostly Steps and the fact that he was never around when All Mouthy King appeared in the OP. As such, she had vehemently believed that Wang Zhong was All Mouthy King. However, now it seemed as though Grai could also be All Mouthy King too!
"Captain Wang Zhong," said Laura said while facing Wang Zhong, "where did you find this fellow?"
With a smile, Wang Zhong didn't respond to her, making it seem as if though he had no hand in such a matter. Laura felt peeved at the response of Wang Zhong and had to resist the urge of beating up Wang Zhong. Even after having three "exchanges" with the great Captain Wang, she was still unable to get anything out of him. Things like status and disadvantageous situation were completely useless against someone like Captain Wang Zhong.
However, Wang Zhong's smile urged Laura on, making her feel that she had placed too much thought into it. There was a huge difference between Grai and All Mouthy King. Being able to carry out Ghostly Steps was not proof of anything, as there are still some that were able to mimic such a move.
The key element was the composure!
The princely Grai gave off an aura that screamed of nobility and aristocracy. All Mouthy King, contrarily, was one who was passive aggressive and overbearing. These two styles were completely different. However, when one thought about it in greater detail, Wang Zhong felt a little overbearing when he confronted Captain Paul about the issue of equality.
The more she thought about it, the more of a headache she got. Laura shook her head. All her recent thoughts about All Mouthy King was enough to give her a migraine.
As the battle had ended, the audience in the arena started to leave the venue.
A few medical personnel rushed onto the scene in the arena. Tamil was the only person on Saxon's side who remained standing. Feng Zhan, Yan Dong and Man Lu's condition were not serious, all three of them having fainted due to the intense impact. The most pitiful one was Sully. Disregarding the injuries to his face, his arms had broken at some point in time, causing him to shriek in pain with tears and snot running down his face. His condition was severe enough to make people feel a chill run up their spine, especially for those with trypophobia. It would be difficult for him to participate in the upcoming CHF.
Was this what Grai had intended?
Even if it's intentional, Sully deserved his comeuppance. Even if the Saxon squad had acted out of hate, till the very end, they didn't mention it at all as this was Copperfield after all. Also, their ruthless actions had caused them to lose more people, which costed them their formation. They were also the ones who had used the hidden weapons. It was already good enough that they were not marked down for that.
Truthfully, Paul did not express sorrow or disgust. In fact, he had a smile on his face, albeit no one knew whether it was genuine or false. It was just a faint, calm and collected smile, as though those people that had just lost the match weren't his squadmates.
"Captain Wang Zhong, that person by the name of Grai was very outstanding. There aren't many freshmen who are as strong as him this year." Paul took the initiative to approach Wang Zhong, garnering the attention from a number of people.
As the captains of the squad that had engaged in a match today, both Paul and Wang Zhong had undoubtedly received more attention than others.
The actions of Paul had changed the impression he gave others by quite a bit. After losing the match, he had unexpectedly remained calm and had even taken the initiative to step out and say his greetings. How he had reacted and his attitude towards the loss was enough to subdue anyone, as not many would be able to do the same should they be placed in his shoes.
Only Leo and Jalen who were standing beside him understood what Paul had in mind based on his faint smile and actions. After all, they had been rivals for the past couple of years. Paul knew that the disparity between them and Tianjing had truly become big. Although he might not care about the lives of Sully and the rest of his squadmates, he still needed the Saxon Academy squadron to have a golden reputation.
"Every one of them are strong. We're a squad after all and we are only as strong as the weakest link." replied Wang Zhong with a faint smile.
"Is that right?" replied Paul with a faint smile, before speaking out in a profound manner. "This group fight has left a deep impression on the minds of many. I truly look forward to your performance in the CHF. My apologies, I've got some matters to attend to. As such, I'll take my leave first."
However, Wang Zhong completely disregarded the pretentiousness of Paul. Perhaps some squadrons might take offense. However, for Wang Zhong and the Tianjing squadron, what they wanted to do was to get stronger, much stronger in fact. From the very beginning, Wang Zhong's sight had been set far beyond the eastern area. It was his visionary attitude that urged Laura to step up and ask Wang Zhong, "Are you free tomorrow, Captain Wang Zhong? If you are, do come down to engage in a closed training with our Copperfield Academy. I feel that our squadrons would be able to learn alot from one another."
"That's right! That's right!" roared out Arnold as he joined in. "The cooperation of your backline was flawless! Its fortunate that I'm also a ranged soldier. The performances of Scarlet and Milami are truly a sight to behold. My partners and I are really hoping that you could show us a thing or two!"
Copperfield also used the three-two formation. Arnold was their centre for their ranged unit, with his position in group combat being not much different from Scarlet's. He also cooperated with a cannoneer, one with strength that was greater than Milami's in terms of firepower and combat mobility. However, he and his cannoneer did not move together with such fluidity and grace as that of Scarlet and Milami.
For them, one plus one would equate to two. However, for Scarlet and Milami, one plus one equated to more than two.