"Xanthus, what is wrong with you!?"
Inside the endless darkness, Lord God Lu Yi was doing her best to wake up the seemingly unconscious Xanthus.
For the duration of the whole competition, Xanthus was fine even though Viel was glancing at Li Zhao from time to time.
He just had this seething rage inside of him that he couldn't seem to hold back, but still able to control. Lu Yi asked about Xanthus condition, but Xanthus just knitted his eyebrows and telling that everything will be fine.
As long as he concentrates, the anger and rage won't consume him. He was doing fine. He was fine. But as soon as Li Zhao came up on stage and started spouting nonsense about teaching the students, and then calling Viel up on the stage, Xanthus suddenly blanked out as he stared at the screen in front of them.
No matter how hard Lu Yi tries to hit or call Xanthus, it was in vain.
-------------------------------------------------
"Combatants, ready…"
An Da raised his hand to signal the combatants to finish their preparation.
Li Zhao was still feeling a little bit creeped out when he saw Viel smiling back at him menacingly earlier during their formality, but he took his mind off of it when he once again get excited thinking of how he will toy and humiliate the boy in front of all these people.
Nothing gives Li Zhao joy other than playing with westerners. Li Zhao grew up in a very culturally narrow-minded family. Their house is full of slaves, primarily composed of westerners of all types.
Blacks, Red-heads, Blondes… you name it, Li Zhao took pleasure in beating them to submission. The poor slaves could do nothing but cry, begging for their life would usually only lead to more beatings. It only got worse when Li Zhao grew older.
Every month, a slave will go missing from their mansion. These slaves are used as target practice by Li Zhao. This is one of reason why his craft grew stronger, by killing and testing his techniques on real live humans.
And then, as he matured enough to take in the pleasures of the body, his desires grew more twisted. He treated the female slaves as nothing more than sex toys, impregnated them only to throw them away as their bodies become bloated.
Make no mistake, there were many people like Li Zhao. But unlike most of them, Li Zhao gets away with it not only because of his background and martial talent, but also because of his astonishingly good looks. One look at him and you will not even think that the man in front of you is a sexual abuser.
There came a time that Li Zhao grew tired of slaves. They could only obey orders and say yes- there was no fun in that. That is why he ventured out to the immigrants.
Immigrants that came from the west to escape the war with the Evil Monarch. Immigrants who came to the east in search of hope. How fun would it be to make them fall in love with him, only to throw them aside as soon as he deflowers them?
With his astonishingly good looks and wealthy background, this would be like lifting a finger for him. And he was right, he got his first victim with just a single smile.
It was a beautiful blonde woman named Charlotte Quinn, who wanted to be a famous performer.
Li Zhao promised this woman that he can make her goals come to life, that with the status of his family, this would be easy.
Charlotte Quinn came from a noble family. But it was wiped out when the military and the Demon Lord's forces decided to make their zone a battleground. Her brother was enlisted in the army, still not knowing whether he's still alive.
Charlotte was treated as a princess and did not know anything about the world.
And because of this, Charlotte was easily swooned by Li Zhao's charms and promises. For the first time since she immigrated to the east, she felt like she was home. But this home was shattered as easy as her chastity.
After Li Zhao got her way with Charlotte a couple of times, she was thrown away like a whore. Treated like she did not even exist. She was unlucky, in more ways than one. As Charlotte was Li Zhao's first victim, Li Zhao was still lousy and did not know what to do after he got bored with her. And the only answer that came to Li Zhao's mind was, to have her killed.
Charlotte treated Li Zhao as her life, her hope. But Li Zhao only saw Charlotte as the first of her many victims. Li Zhao, was all but life.
Li Zhao shook his head and concentrated to what's in front him. For some reason, whenever he sees this little boy in front of him, he keeps being reminded of his first victim. It wasn't only because of the boy's golden hair, it was his whole being. The boy looked a lot like how Charlotte would be when she was younger… and maybe he could even say that the boy looked a little bit like him. But he once again shook his head to remove this thought from his head.
Him and Charlotte having a child? That would be impossible. He had confirmed the girl's death with the Guard Leader. He shivered at the thought of having an offspring with western blood in it. Because of this, his blood boiled even more as he looked at this smiling boy in front of him.
As he was in the middle of his long monologue, An Da finally signaled the start of the battle.
"Begin!"
None of the two combatants on the stage moved. Viel just once again stared at him with a smile on his face, like he was waiting for something to happen.
Seeing as the boy seemed to have no plan in attacking first, he opened his mouth to speak. Surprisingly, true to his words. He turned his back on Viel and started giving out pointers.
"Very good, student Viel. What student Viel is doing now is matching up his opponent, waiting for the chance to strike. But this is good only if you know you have the chance to actually win. So this is my first lesson to you, the Elite class…", Li Zhao smiled and readied his fighting stance as he faced Viel, "To a weaker opponent, always strike firs-"
Before Li Zhao can even finish his lecture, he felt a sharp pain on his left cheek as he rolled over a few meters from his spot.
He looked around him and saw all the people were staring at him with their jaws wide open. He was about to impart his great wisdom to the kids but suddenly rolled away like a ragdoll. The students were confused, was this his lesson?
He then looked at his opponent, who was now standing on the spot he was standing on earlier. He did not even hear anything, no sound, no indication of being attacked. But there was no mistaken that he was kicked by the boy, seeing as there were traces of his blood on that boy's shoe.
The students of the elite class could not help but be in awe. Could a student actually be winning against a famous genius like Li Zhao? But considering that the one fighting him was Viel, a monster of his own-Was it really that farfetched that he can beat Li Zhao?
The only ones that made noise were Viel's friends. They cheered as they saw what just happened.
"Wooo! Go Viel, kick his ass!", Xiao Pei was wild with his cheers as he almost climbed up on the stage just to hug Viel.
"You can do it, I know you can", Diao Mei could not help but nod at Viel's show of strength.
"Do it, do it for us!", Violet clenched her fist, she was the only other student with western blood in the class. She took pride in Viel's strength.
"Tch, I can do the same thing if I was there.", Wei Song, as always, was snarky.
In response to this, Viel only glanced at his group of friends and winked.
Li Zhao became irritated when he heard that the students was almost looking down on him. He was a dignified inner disciple of the Azure Fist sect. By all means, these students should be full with nothing but praise for him. He bit his lips as he stood up.
"Very good", once again Li Zhao opened his mouth. He must retain his dignity, so he pointed out another lecture.
"Student Viel here just demonstrated a very good lesson, always catch someone off guard. This might very well decide your li-", however, once again before Li Zhao can finish his sentence, he felt a sharp pain on his right cheek.
"Y-you!", this time, Li Zhao decided to immediately get back up to his feet. But Viel did not give him the chance to do so as Viel stomped his head from above with both feet.
"Bla ba bla ba bla", Viel finally opened his mouth as he walked over the body of Li Zhao, not giving him the chance to stand up.
"You speak of lessons, but have not the strength to back it up. A weak man who was arrogant enough to think that he could stand amongst the strong", Viel opened his arms wide as he smiled, breathing heavily as if relishing the moment.
During this, all of the students of the elite class started to cheer along with Viel's friends. They howled in excitement and wild abandonment, like what kids do.
Li Zhao tried to get up, but everytime he does so, Viel would somehow stomp down the very body part he uses to get up.
"My fellow students, the beautiful sister there has imparted me with this wisdom…", Viel pointed at Elder Xing Cai, his smile as wide as a clown.
"When you get the chance to hit back", he then looked at Li Zhao, who was struggling to stand up beneath him, "Never stop!"
He then slightly jumped up and brutally stomped on Li Zhao's hand. A crunching noise reverberated throughout the whole courtyard. And then, followed by a hollowing scream.
Finally, silence. The once rowdy hall became as quiet as the empty skies.
The cheers instantly died down the moment the children heard the sound of bone breaking. It was brutal.
"S…shit…", the only thing that broke the silence was Wei Song's utter.
At the stands, Elder Xing Cai stood up as she saw Viel's display of prowess.
"My my… What are you teaching the boy, senior?", an obvious jab by Headmistress Cha, 'Hm, I heard reports that the boy was irregularly strong, but to think it was to this extent... My academy must get this boy, I can mold him to be the center asset for the palace!'
"T..this…", Xing Cai was shocked. She knew firsthand how fast and strong the boy is, she experienced it after all.
But this was different. The boy he fought with had no technique at all and was just using raw power just a few days ago, but this…
She did not even hear or feel anything when the boy first attacked Li Zhao. The ground Viel stood on does not even have the slightest sign of damage, unlike their sparring, where every step of Viel caused the ground beneath him to shatter.
This was a show of technique, a masterful show. But this wasn't what made Xing Cai stand up on her feet.
It was Viel's show of violence and cruelty.
There was no trace of the spoiled boy who easily cried when things don't go his way. She looked towards the other elite students who almost had their eyes shut as they did not want to watch any longer. Viel's friends also had conflicted expressions on their faces as they saw their friend one-sidedly beat an adult on the stage.
Viel continued on and did not even give the slightest chance for Li Zhao to stand back up. Once Viel sees Li Zhao even lift a single finger, he would immediately crush it with his small feet. And worse of all, he had this weird smile on his face like he was enjoying it. Like he was a cat playing with his prey.
Xing Cai had enough, this fight… no, this slaughter must stop. Any longer and Viel will no longer be able to come back from the abyss. Even his friends will truly treat him like a true monster if this display of violence continues.
"Viel, stop!", so with all of her might. She shouted.
Viel immediately stopped stomping on Li Zhao and looked towards the direction of the Elder. Li Zhao took this chance to get away as he crawled his way out of Viel's feet. He no longer cared about prestige, about the way he looked, he just wanted to get away from this little monster. So he crawled while letting out pained moans as he tried to move his broken bones.
"Viel, stop. Your opponent can no longer fight…that's… that's enough", Xing Cai stuttered. She knew that with the boy's powers, his path will be harsh and full of pain. But not now, the boy was only 5 years old. He should not yet carry the burden that comes along with his power.
"No, continue. As we can see, Li Zhao is still able to move.", however, the Headmaster stopped Xing Cai. This was it, this was his chance to cut Li Zhao from the academy. Li Zhao was never ever going to get back from this, from the academy's former star teacher, he is now going to be known as the Azure Fist inner disciple who was beaten by the academy's top student. The Headmaster revealed a cunning smile.
"N-nonsense, the man can barely-", before Xing Cai can finish her words. She heard a loud sound coming from the stage.
When she turned to look, what she saw horrified her. It was a surreal scene. She has seen a lot of things in her path to cultivation, but never this.
She saw a little boy, holding an adult's leg and hammering him down on the ground a couple of times.
Yes. As soon as Viel heard the Headmaster said the he could continue, he immediately grabbed the crawling Li Zhao's leg and proceeded to lift him up and smashing him on the ground back and forth. A total of 4 times before stopping.
Li Zhao was already gurgling with his own blood as he lied down on the ground. He could no longer think, the only thing that comes to his mind was…
"S-stop… I g..giv-", however, before he could finish his words, Viel stepped on his throat and smashed it, "Ughck..k"
"Now, my fellow students, this is one lesson we should never forget", Viel once again started to talk to the students, seemingly mocking Li Zhao's earlier lessons as he imitated him, "Never forget to have fun while fighting".
Viel then proceeded to lock the struggling Li Zhao by sitting on his chest. He then started punching Li Zhao on the face repeatedly, with just enough force not to knock him out cold.
"Gue..kh..ghk", Li Zhao was saying something, but only gurgling and disgusting noises can be heard coming out of his mouth.
"Huuu…huuu", some of the Elite students are already crying. Even some of the so called Azure Sect disciples had conflicting expressions on their faces. As deducted by Elder Xing Cai, they were not really disciples of the Azure Sect but ruffians that were paid by Li Zhao to attend this mock battle. But even they felt like what was happening to their employer was too much.
"V..viel", Diao Mei's voice was shaking as he watched the scene unfold in front of her.
"Kyaaa!", suddenly a female student could not help it anymore and started to bawl her eyes out, weeping. The other children followed as their cries filled the stage. The courtyard was filled with only the sound of Viel hitting Li Zhao and the cries of the students.
An Da, who was officiating the match, could not help but stare at the Headmaster. Was this really alright? To not stop this onslaught. The Headmaster, however, only looked calmly at the situation.
Suddenly, something happened that immediately stopped the cries of the student. Once again, the whole courtyard, like a guitar's string being cut, was eerily quiet.
There was only one sound that could be heard, a giggle.
Then, it turned into a laugh
Viel was laughing, he was laughing maniacally while his small little hands strangled Li Zhao's neck.
And then, the laugh turned into a cry.