"?!"
If I could have seen Hal Gunther, I would have spotted him jumping back in fear when the whole world transformed.
"What…what the hell is this?!"
"You never bothered to find out what kind of mage I am, did you?" I asked, even as his Hunter's Forest caught fire. The entire Artificial Reality was enveloped in an inferno, with the trees and grass instantly rendered into ash and flaking away, revealing the sterile ground of the stage.
"What's this?"
"I have no idea…"
"This is the first time Student Richard Huang has ever completed his summoning spell…"
"Yeah, I've never seen it before…"
The spectators were whispering to each other again, in that irritating manner that pissed me off. But I couldn't attack them, not when I was locked inside the boundary field of the stage – the same boundary field that would keep me alive no matter what kind of damage I sustained in the arena. So I chose to ignore them.
"Fucker!"
Roaring in fury, Hal Gunther unleashed a volley of arrows, but a wall of fire burst out in front of me and incinerated them.
"!!!!"
Hal Gunther skidded backward. When his Artificial Reality had been wiped out, when his Hunter's Forest had been razed to the ground by the inferno, he had reverted to visibility. He was pale and perspiring profusely, and not just from the intense heat of the flames.
"Answer me!" he hollered, his voice almost cracking from fear. "What the hell is this?! What spell did you just cast?!"
I merely smiled at him. "I have no obligation to tell you."
Even though I remained cryptic about my magic, there actually was no use in keeping it a secret. Everyone could see the gigantic phoenix that was emerging from the blazing ground, almost as if the burning floor had turned into an interdimensional gateway.
"That's…a Phoenix."
"Holy Molly! Richard Huang is actually a master of a Phoenix?!"
"Isn't that a legendary beast?! How did he…?!"
"No wonder his summoning spells take so long to cast. This isn't something you can summon in a couple of minutes!"
The spectators were gasping in awe and fright. Once again, I ignored their annoying side comments and focused on the battle before me.
By the way, they were wrong. I didn't summon just any Phoenix.
I had summoned the Vermillion Bird (apparently that was the official translation and not Red Phoenix, but who knows why Wee Tian Beng and TCZ Studio translated Zhu Que into Red Phoenix instead of Vermillion Bird?). Well, Vermillion Bird sounds a little silly, so I'll just leave it as Vermillion Phoenix. The celestial guardian of the south.
The Vermillion Phoenix spread its wings as it emerged from the ground, its wingspan almost twenty meters in length. The size of a house, it took to the air, raining down fiery feathers upon the scorched earth.
"What the hell is that thing!?" Hal Gunther wailed, almost on the verge of breaking down. He realized that I was right – he should never have toyed with me, should have finished me off when he had the chance.
But no, he had to savor my suffering, prolong my agony and bully me. Thanks to his idiocy, he had given me all the time I needed to summon my Vermillion Phoenix.
"As long as I finish off the summoner, the summoned beast will disappear as well!"
Even though he was a despicable bully, Hal Gunther was still a competent combat mage. He knew how summoning spells worked. Once again, he notched multiple energy arrows to his bow and fired upon me.
However, another wall of fire erupted between us, incinerating all of those arrows into nothingness.
"!!!"
"What's the matter?" I asked snidely. "Are you no longer able to give your best shot?"
"UGH!" roaring, Hal Gunther shifted his aim. "I don't believe I can't shoot down that gigantic bird of yours!"
Conjuring multiple arrows, he bombarded the hovering Vermillion Phoenix with a barrage of energy arrows.
The Vermillion Phoenix didn't even bother to defend itself with a barrier of flames as it did to protect me. Instead, it merely held its position and allowed the arrows to slam into it.
However, the moment the energy arrows made physical contact with its crimson body, they spontaneously combusted and faded harmlessly against its fiery feathers.
"No way…"
Hal Gunther fell to his knees. The Vermillion Phoenix fixed him with a ferocious stare, causing his body to lock up and tremble violently in fear.
Instinctively, Hal Gunther knew he was no match for the majestic, godlike existence before him. Raising his hand, he opened his mouth, which had gone dry.
"I give…"
The Vermillion Phoenix didn't give him the chance to finish his sentence. Spreading its wings, it unleashed a massive wave of flames that washed over him. Hal Gunther's words were cut off in an agonizing scream as his whole body blackened, his clothes scorched into ash instantly. He crashed onto the ground, fuming.
Taken down in one shot. Hal Gunther couldn't even withstand a single attack.
"…"
A hushed silence fell over the spectators as they watched the unbelievable sight. No one felt any pity for Hal Gunther, mostly because they were aware of his notorious reputation for being a sadistic bully. More than a few actually thought he deserved it.
By the way, he wasn't dead. As I said, the boundary field that enveloped the arena ensured that nobody was dead. Even if Hal Gunther was burned to within a millimeter of his life, he could still be fully healed by a healer mage like Teacher Cure. It would take quite some time for him to recover, but he was in no danger of losing his life.
"…whoa…"
"Scary…"
"I'm so glad I knocked Richard out before he could summon that monster…"
"The fuck?! The bottom-ranked student was hiding such a trump card?!"
"No wonder he never finished casting his summoning spell…it's such a terrifying monster!"
One day, I had to request that they make the arena soundproof. It was so irritating listening to all these comments and remarks from the spectators.
"Student Hal Gunther is unable to battle!" Teacher Ruff Fielding announced, having jumped onto the arena a few seconds earlier to check on him. Satisfied that he was still alive, and the boundary field was still working, he straightened and gestured toward me. "Student Richard Huang is the winner!"
There was polite applause and wild cheering from my schoolmates. Not because I was popular, but because they enjoyed watching me take down these arrogant elitist students down a peg after all their bragging. These bastards had come to our school to mock and humiliate us, but they got thrashed pretty badly instead.
I had to admit, it was pretty satisfying.
While my schoolmates were cheering, there was some movement in the Crowley Academy area.
"That asshole…" the guy with dark hair and narrow eyes moaned. "That fucking idiot chose to play around, and now he ended up embarrassing our school! If only he finished the match early! But no, he just had to toy with his opponent and give him the chance to summon that crazy monster of his…that fucking idiot!"
"I always knew he would end up like this sooner or later," the massive, thickset guy murmured as he folded his arms and shook his head with a stern expression. "Hal was always underestimating his opponents. He paid the price for it."
Cecilia Stuart's brow furrowed, but she maintained that calm expression of hers. "I will have to strongly reconsider Hal's position in the team."
"Yeah! Kick him out already!" the girl with shoulder-length hair huffed. "I'm sick of seeing his face. I never understand why you put up with him, Captain!"
"Results," the handsome guy replied seriously. "Even though Hal is like this, his skill is the real deal."
Cecilia nodded in agreement, but didn't elaborate any more than that.
"Well…I'll be the next opponent."
The burly, thickset guy stood up and glanced at Cecilia for approval. She nodded.
"I'll be counting on you then, Chang Cheng."
As Crowley Academy sent out their next representative, Teacher Fielding approached me in concern.
"Before the next match begins, would you like to swap out for a team member?"
I could already see Alicia Violet rising from her seat and proceeding down, most likely to help me. There were quite a few students, heartened by my display, and wanting to volunteer as well. Given my injuries, they expected me to tag out.
But I didn't. Instead, I shook my head and grinned.
"Team member? I'm not a member of any team." Scratching my head, I exhaled lightly. "I'll continue fighting."
"Are you sure?" Teacher Fielding asked skeptically, and also out of worry. "You're badly hurt."
He was right. I was bleeding all over from the numerous wounds that Hal Gunther had dealt me. However…
"That's fine." I grinned and gestured toward my Vermillion Phoenix. "I'm not going to be the one fighting, after all."