*Slap!*

“Ouch, can’t you be a little gentler, woman.” said Raven as he was slapped awake.

“It’s our turn and the principal are asking if we want to concede.” she said with a serious tone as she looked at him. Raven and Tulga were doing so too.

“Of course we’ll fight!” shouted Raven as he looked at him.

Surprise covered Stein’s face but soon turned into a grin “Team Raven vs Rulers.”

“Dafuq?! What is the meaning of this!?” shouted Raven as he cursed his own luck for drawing the wrong lot.

They took the stage within minutes and Jet asked Robert “Didn’t you say that Rulers don’t fight?”

“Well, you’re practically the first one to accept this match in …” said Robert and looked at Stein.

“39 years.” he answered with a smirk. “But they lost horribly.”

Raven’s team had lost half of its motivation.

“Battle Start!!!*

The crowd started cheering for Raven’s team, encouraging them to fight.

“What?!” shouted Stein with a surprised tone.

He was right to be surprised, because what he saw would flabbergast anyone.

As soon as the match started, 2 Rulers left the stage. They were Laura and Marco.

“I’m not in the mood.” said Laura with a monotone voice.

“I’d rather die than fight my sister.” said Marco as he walked towards the bench. Then he sat on it. “Go! Go! Lily! You can do it.”

Seeing his frantic cheerleading, the principal almost fell out of his seat.

“Wouldn’t you do the same, Robert?” asked Lily with a surprised expression while ignoring his brother.

“No need, he’s a battle maniac.” said Jet as he patted on her back.

Although they seemed to be having a conversation, the atmosphere was thick. Everyone stander by was quiet, well, except Marco.

*Bam!!!*

A [Condensed Fire Ball] hurled at Lily, which was blocked by an [Ice Shield].

The attacker was Robert, he then launched at Jet, hitting him in the abdomen.

However, Jet didn’t budge, but slammed his hand into Robert’s face.

They were both assisted by qi, so it would be wise to say that their hits were more than strong.

In the background, Tulga and Raven were fighting with the red-haired Ruler.

She specialized in [Lava] and [Summoning].

A giant rhino crashed into Tulga, almost sending him out of bounds.

Lava burst out from where Raven was standing, which was dodged.

An enormous hawk grabbed him by the shoulders, but he separated into two by using [True Shadow Clone].

He then launched at the female Ruler by using his wings.

*Crash!!!*

Jet was sent flying towards Raven, hitting him. They were both sent crashing.

Robert had punched him away while fighting Lily’s buffalo.

Then the two girls exchanged glances.

*Bam!!!*

Lava hit Ice and the buffalo clashed with the rhino.

But Lily was punched away by Robert.

“Robert, I can take care of them, so you just fight the wolf boy.” said the girl with an overly cheerful tone.

“Whatever, I was planning on doing just that.” said Robert, grabbing Tulga by the face and dragging him away.

He took a considerable amount of space from the others and stopped, softening his grip. Tulga didn’t waste it and hit his arm away.

“Tulga, let me see the fruits of my research.” he said as he threw a [Fire Claw] at him.

[Phantom Claw]

A ghastly purple claw was sent towards it. Then Tulga ran to the side.

It was the right thing to do, as his attack passed through the claw of flames and hit Robert straight in the chest.

It didn’t cut him up, but Robert shouted in pain.

“There, is that enough.” said Tulga with a smirk.

“As if, I know that there is a lot left in you!” shouted Robert with a grin as he activated his Aura.

Tulga did the same.

A man with a red Aura stood looking at a boy with a purple Aura.

Then they clashed, or that was what was supposed to happen.

Tulga passed right through Robert, giving him some pain while doing so.

[Spirit Claw]

Tulga’s signature move hit Robert’s back, tearing his clothes away.

[Fire Dragon]

A fire in the shape of an Asian dragon left Robert’s hand and swirled in the sky. It then launched at Tulga faster than the eye could perceive.

[Phantom Shield]

[Phantom Claw]

He was covered in a purple ball of light as a claw of the same color launched at his opponent.

‘He can guard and attack at the same time?’ thought Stein with a surprised expression.

“Fuckoff.” shouted Robert as used [Flame Devourer]

A giant ball of flame appeared over his hand and slowly approached his opponent, devouring the claw in its path, or that was supposed to happen.

He was hit again and screamed in pain.

[Spirit Slicer]

A series of boomerang shaped balls of yellow light left the purple ball and hit the [Flame Devourer]

It cut it into pieces. But Robert smiled instead of frowning.

[Explosion]

The pieces exploded near Tulga and covered their battlefield in debris.

“The heck?! Is that a nemean lion or something?” said Robert with a big frown on his face, looking at the unscathed purple ball.

Another series of [Phantom Claws] left the ball, attacking Robert.

This was a fight of endurance. Would Robert outlast Tulga’s painful assault, or would Tulga run out of magic and qi?

As for the other side, things were bad.

The red haired girl was completely dominating them.

A giant green snake choked Jet, revealing its poisonous fangs.

“You move and you die.” said their opponent with a carefree tone.

She was sending [Lava] magic skills from one of her hands and kept Lily at bay.

As for Raven, she was beating him up with one hand, which held a stick. To beat a qi-using boy with such ease surely meant that she wasn’t from the Central Continent.

Why? Because if you possessed such strength, you should be from one of the Dynasties, The Misty North or The Incendium.

The Dynasties had the strongest Qi Cultivators, the North had Berserkers and the South had Worldly Energy.

As for Robert and The Berserking Girl, they were from the North.

Nicholas was from the South, so it was only logical for him to use Worldly Energy. But Lily didn’t use it for some unknown reason.

*Bam!!!*

The stick hit Raven right on the head, sending his mind to shuffles.

A small drop of lava fell on Lily, resulting in a scream.

Jet was being pecked by a giant hawk, which Lily’s hawk tried to stop but couldn’t.

[Summoning: Chains of Suppression]

Chains started erupting from the ground and covered Raven from neck to toe, rendering him immobile.

“You won’t be able to use your skills anymore.” she said as she turned to Lily with a sadistic grin. “Now, let’s break you a little bit.”

…

“Aaaaaaah, heeeeelp!!!!!” a bloodcurdling scream was heard from the stage as the audience sat silently, some even closed their eyes and covered their ears. This was just too gruesome.

On the field, Lily was being tortured while the other two were being suppressed with little effort.

The Ruler was burning her with drops of lava all over her body while melting her ice with a little bit of fire.

She could use both [Earth] and [Fire], which she combined into lava, so she had impaled her with a spike of earth.

Then Robert who was interrupted by Lily’s scream looked their way, after beating Tulga.

His eyes widened as his expression contorted into that of pure rage.

“Vivian, you motherfucker!!!” he shouted as he appeared near her in a quarter of a second.

*Bam!!!*

A deafening sound could be heard from the stage, where Robert had punched something.

He was sure it wasn’t the Vivian, as she would be a lot softer. It was Stein.

“The fuck, out of my way!!!” shouted Robert as his drool jumped all over Stein’s face.

He only smiled in return and said “Robert Pennison, disqualified for friendly fire. Now, SLEEP.” said Stein as Raven’s eyes closed and he dropped to the ground.

An enormous [Ice Spear] and a red light the size of a building were blocked by Stein, as he looked at the assailants.

They were Laura and Marco. The audience could only watch it in silence.

“You two too, huh?” he said as his body started changing.

He grew bigger, his eyes turned red, his previously slim body started bulging with muscles. Stein’s skin turned darker until it became grey and his bloodthirsty eyes washed over the 2 in front of him.

Even the ones on the other side of the field almost pissed their pants, while the ones behind Marco and Laura had fainted.

“Last time I checked, there were rules in this tournament.” he said with a suppressed angry voice.

*Bam!!!*

“Don’t worry, we’ll get even.” said Raven as he broke out of the chain and smiled at Marco.

Laura’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the attractive smile.

*Bam!!!*

“That’s right.” said Jet as he turned at Vivian and gave an eerie grin. “You’ll pay.”

Vivian only smiled back at them “You couldn’t even make my use my full power, what makes you think you can beat me?!”

Stein then turned back to his normal form and asked with a smile “So don’t make trouble, kay?”

”Time for round 2, pile of shit.”

“It’s the second round, scum.” said Raven and Jet respectively at the exact same time.