"Huh? What are you talking about?!" the first guy snarled.
"Wait…isn't this Richard Huang?" the second guy was beginning to grin when he recognized me. "Yeah, we've been looking for you for a while now. Why has it taken you this long to respond to our challenge?"
I shrugged. "Honestly? Because I received hundreds of challenges everyday. I just thought you weren't worth my time."
"What?!" the third guy roared and threw a punch at me. I stepped to the side, ducking it, and then slammed my elbow into his stomach. He doubled over with a grunt.
"How pathetic. Picking on someone even though you're this weak. Or is the Iron Fist Club nothing but a group of bullies?"
"You…!" the fourth guy bellowed. The remaining members closed in to surround me, but I merely stood there indifferently. If they wanted a fight…
"What is going on here?"
Alicia Violet had seen what was going on, and she quickly stepped in to intervene. The Iron Fist Society members, upon recognizing her, quickly stepped back.
"Nothing!"
"We're just…messing around!"
They weren't fooling anyone. Alicia caught sight of poor Dong Fang Yue Chu, his stall demolished and the guy beaten up. She turned her angry gaze on the Iron Fist Society members.
"What do you think you are doing? Picking on the members of other societies?"
"This loser doesn't even have an official society! He's the only member!" one of the Iron Fist Society guys protested.
"We have provided Student Dong Fang the opportunity to recruit from the first year students and establish his own society. If he fails to recruit the required amount of members, then naturally the school will ask him to disband. But whatever the case, you are not allowed to take matters into your own hands and bully others like this!"
The Iron Fist Society members grumbled under their breaths, but did not say anything else. Alicia glared at them.
"Now return to your booth. I don't want to hear about this again, or I'll be submitting a report about your behavior."
The five of them trudged toward the partially set up booth next to Dong Fang Yue Chu's one. The first guy turned around.
"But a big society like ours need more than this space." He pointed at Dong Fang Yue Chu rudely. "Is it possible to move this loser's booth somewhere else? We could really use the extra space here."
"Each society has been allocated their space appropriate to their club's size and status," Alicia told them sternly. "No more, no less."
"Can't you do anything about this, President Alicia?" the second guy pleaded. Wow, these guys were so shameless.
Dong Fang Yue Chu looked so pitiful that I ended up helping him. Picking up the pieces of his booth, I tried to fit them back together, to no avail. The Iron Fist Society bastards had really done quite the job on his space.
"Thanks," he said meekly as I propped up a piece of painted wood that was snapped cleanly in half. Seeing his pathetic state, I couldn't help but feel a stab of anger.
"President Alicia," I addressed her, much to her surprise. "It is possible to make concessions based on the outcome of duels, correct?"
"If both parties are willing." She nodded, looking at me uncertainly. Someone as intelligent as her probably already knew what I intended to do, but she still thought of me as the same summoner with that glaring weakness, and was worried that I would seriously challenge the Iron Fist Society to a duel.
"Good." I turned toward the Iron Fist Society members. "Remember what I said earlier about accepting your challenge? Let's make a bet."
"Oh?" the five members turned toward me curiously, ugly grins covering their burly faces. Their leader stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. "Sounds interesting."
"What kind of bet?" the second guy asked.
"A bet on the booth space here." I indicated the place where Dong Fang Yue Chu was attempting to salvage his booth. "If you win, you can have this space. We'll have Dong Fang Yue Chu quietly disband his society and you can set up your booth here as well."
"Deal." The leader didn't hesitate. "Let's do this!"
"We'll set up the stage immediately," the third guy added gleefully.
"A free win!" the fourth guy snickered.
"Let me finish my sentence." Wow, these guys were just so rude and arrogant. They were already assuming that they would win, so they couldn't be bothered to hear the rest of the terms. "If I win, you'll have to give your booth space to us."
"Huh?!" the five Iron Fist Society members burst out laughing. "Are you sure?!"
"What a joke!"
"This punk actually thinks he can win!"
"He let his victory over Crowley's Academy get into his head!"
As I said, they knew my weaknesses, and unlike Hal Gunther, they weren't going to wait for me to summon my Celestial Guardian before attempting to defeat me. From previous experience, they were going to pummel me before I get a chance to finish my summoning spell. Having defeated me before, they had every right to be confident.
But this was a chance for me to test my new skills, and see if I could overcome that weakness somehow.
"Sure," the leader promised, snickering. "We'll go with that then."
They obviously thought I had no chance of winning, otherwise they wouldn't have agreed to this so easily.
"Do you mind being the witness?" I asked Alicia. She hesitated.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yeah." I nodded, and then smiled. "At least allow me to look cool."
Alicia returned the smile uncertainly, and then nodded. "All right. I'll make the arrangements."
"…why…why are you helping me? What benefits do you get from this?" Dong Fang Yue Chu was staring at me, stunned. "Why are you going through such lengths to help me?"
"I assume Richard is going to join your society," Alicia suggested with a shrug. Dong Fang Yue Chu's eyes widened and jumped to his feet.
"Really? You're really going to join my club?!"
"Honestly, I'm only doing this because those guys pissed me off." I jabbed my thumb at the Iron Fist Society. An idea began to form in my mind as I saw several ways I could use this to my advantage. "And don't get me wrong. I'm not joining your society. You're joining mine."
Dong Fang Yue Chu continued to gape at me, but then he quickly nodded.
"Whatever you say, President! I'll follow you to the ends of the world!"
"Nah, I'll just be the vice-president." I honestly didn't want the responsibility of heading the club. Dong Fang Yue Chu could take care of all the paperwork and duties that being a president entailed. "I just want to make a statement. Starting with these guys."
Turning to the Iron Fist Society, I cocked my head toward the main building, where the arena was located.
"Let's begin then."
"You had better not regret this," the Iron Fist Society president said with a feral grin. I merely smiled back.
"No, I won't. What's the worst that can happen? You guys get the booth space. I go back to being without a society. Nothing changes for me."
Without waiting for a reply, I then proceeded toward the main hall, with Alicia and Dong Fang Yue Chu following me.
*
"Did you hear? Richard Huang is finally fighting a match!"
"It's only been a week. What's the big deal?"
"Are you kidding?! Of course it's a big deal! Let's see if his team kill of Crowley Academy's representatives was only a fluke! Or does he have something up his sleeve? He has to, otherwise he wouldn't be so confident to challenge the Iron Fist Society!"
"Senior Richard is fighting!"
"This I have to see!"
"Awesome!"
Word flew around, and a good number of students abandoned the setting up of booths, or after-school activities to flock toward the main hall. As I expected, the first year students who proclaimed to be my fans turned out in force, eagerly watching the match.
If I actually won these matches, I might actually be able to recruit enough first year students into my newly formed society. They had been pestering me about it for long enough, and I decided to answer their expectations on a whim.
Normally, I wouldn't be bothered – I was not obligated to fulfil their expectations or requests. It really was just a whim, and honestly, it didn't feel bad to have people cheering me on and admiring me.
Of course, I had to win first. If I lost, then everything would collapse and the first year students would realize what a fraud I was. I would lose all my fans.
Given what I had been through over the past year, that honestly wasn't as bad as it sounded. It would just mean I returned to normal, and I could return to being obscure and being by myself again. For someone like me, returning to square one wasn't the end of the world.
"All right. You'll get the honor of fighting against me, the president of the Iron Fist Society, Tie Quan. Usual one-on-one format, ends when one of us surrenders or is unable to battle. I trust you are all right with that?"
The president of the Iron Fist Society, Tie Quan, proudly puffed his chest out and strode onto the stage.
"It appears that you've misunderstood something."
"Hmm? You want to face one of the other members instead?" Tie Quan tilted his head curiously. "Well, it's fine. The result won't change either way."
"No, you can stay on stage. I want to face you. But not just you." I took a deep breath and loudly proclaimed. "I want ten!"
Everyone stared at me, and then they began roaring in laughter. With the exception of my fans, who believed that I was truly intending on repeating the feat that made me a legend.
"You want to fight ten of my members? Are you serious?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"That's not possible." Alicia sighed. "The most we can do is a team format, where five members fight five members. You're not allowed to do ten consecutive matches."
I shrugged. "Let's do that then."
"You're serious?!" Tie Quan exclaimed mockingly. "You think we're like Crowley Academy? We know your skills very well. We're not stupid enough to give you time to summon your spirit beast."
"I know." I smiled mysteriously. "But it's more fun this way. Or are you afraid? My team only has me and Dong Fang Yue Chu. You can easily provide five members."
"You had best not regret this…" Tie Quan clenched his fists tightly. "I'll pound that arrogance and delusions out of you!"
Good. The idiot had taken the bait. Now all I needed to do was survive until I could summon one of my Celestial Guardians.
The only question was whether the new skills I had developed were enough to help me withstand Tie Quan's ferocious onslaught until then.