Several members of the Clear River Dragon family were in attendance after they found out before the final rounds started. Having rushed over after hearing from their spies that the bastard had grown strong, they wasted no effort to make it over and chewed out the Elder that was here already for not reporting properly.
"Do you honestly think you can win?" Li Ran taunted. Hearing of Leroy having a bit of following growing on the campus made him upset. He was the prodigy amongst the younger generation trained by the Principal himself! "Your way of fighting may have worked on the others, but not on me!"
The crowd ate this stuff up. Those from the Unlimited Sect thought him to be quite dreamy and were smitten by the Noble. Much to their Teacher's annoyance. Elder Boksun was very happy not to have brought any of the male students with her.
"Hahaha, ok." Leroy laughed in his face. He raised his finger up and wagged it. "I will defeat you in one minute. As brutally as possible at that for your arrogance today and for the fact you represent everything wrong in the Akademy."
"Humph!" Li Ran's face contorted viciously. "I will break your arms and beat into you the gaps in the Realms!" His qi started to build up and felt more like one at the Foundation Establishment Realm and not a step into it. Despite the Elder not announcing the beginning of the battle. Leroy threw his outer robes to the side along with his vest that showed restraints. "Heh, a body cultivator, is that what gives you the confidence to face me?"
Leroy did not answer. Just bouncing in place as he built up qi. That is how it looked on the outside but he was just circulating the qi to his toes, waist, spine, and his hands ready in preparation.
*Woom! Woom!* The Metal Seed started to spin with enough force the ring generated a weird atmosphere. Destroyed shavings of armor and weapons floated upward.
"Final Bout, you know the rules already.." The elder announced while backing away slowly. Not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. "...best of luck!" He jumped out just in time. 'These ... kids...'
"Give me your best..." Li Ran was not done being foolish. Provoking Leroy would be the last thing he would do for a while. His eyes closed, and he missed the next action of his opponent.
Blue lines traveled down Leroy's body briefly. Fire-Lighting Body triggered as he shot forward with flame and lighting trailing behind in weird rings.
*Bam!* A hook fist smashed against Li Ran, effectively silencing him. But it didn't stop there. Shifting a little with the flow of the blow, Leroy came around from the other side. His fist brimming with fire produced by qi.
*Wham!* A wide blow due to the momentum but supplemented by the qi flowing in his body pushed the speed faster than his opponent could recover. Leroy still did not stop his attack. His qi flared out producing more flames. The lighting that trailed behind caught up with his body giving his muscles a jolt.
*BBBzzzzttt!* Buzzing was audibly heard among the entire crowd to notice. Leroy twists his body to the very limit. The Metal Seed hummed intensely under the qi influence in his mind. Aware of the immediate field in the area of both him and his opponent.
Leroy's fist came around at an angled-up hook. The flames around the fist still growing in power and intensity. The air starts to distort just slightly as heated fumes made a slight imagery shift. Making contact with the blow, Leroy transferred all of the lightning into the attack.
'Damn my muscles hurts like hell! Even with the restrained qi released more to help reduce the stress!' Leroy was not fond of the boxing move much. But it had to be done. 'Think of the resources and what I will learn from this!'
*Crack!* The next sound that echoed in the arena was enough to give a few chills. Li Ran's bottom jaw and the sides of his skull cracked under the blow. Skin burnt from lighting and fire as his head drifted back.
The force pulled his body along despite his desire to lean back forward.
"Ughh!" Li Ran's body was completely out of whack. His qi was in a jumble from the lighting running rampant in his body. 'I.. can.. not lose..' Unable to even complete his thoughts, a breather was not allowed. 'Huh?!'
Leroy grabbed his opponent by the arms as he placed his foot in the center of the back once maneuvered behind. Almost like a wishbone. All of his Flamelighting Martial Arts qi pushing out. Five feet from his body, flames flickered about in a powerful corona. Small explosions combusted as the qi built in the area.
The heat he generated from before kicked up as it ignited in the air. The oxygen directly near them started to thin out.
"I have 13 seconds left. Ring out or give up?" Leroy asked. But it was not to his opponent. It was towards the Principal. The humiliation of giving up was more than losing martially in front of his father. "You have three seconds to decide."
The ring was quiet besides a few murmurs going on. Akademy Teachers and various Clear River Dragon elders that remained looked at Leroy in contempt. The look received was not of someone joking or amused by what was going on. But with the others having left to report back due to events, he couldn't make a move so openly and provoked the Akademy.
"It is not my place to say anything for this match." The Clear River Dragon elder was about to make some thinly veiled threats, but that was cut short by Leroy's smile as time was up. 'He wouldn't dare!'
*Fwish!* The flames and small combustion in the area were pulled into Leroy in a single instant. The bluelines reappeared and now covered his entire body. He started smiling as he felt the Flamelighting Martial Arts start to change a little. Just was at the wrong time though.
"Wanted to break my arms huh!" Leroy pushed his foot firmly while twisting the arms. With the help of lighting inside Li Ran's body, it was easy for Leroy to damage the muscles there. "I will break yours in compensation!"
*Rip!* Muscle tendons tore audibly along with bone sticking out of the skin. With a spin, Leroy launched him out of the ring. A trail of lighting connecting to his opponent still.
"Hmm?" Leroy had know idea what it meant. With a snap of his fingers, he broke the connection. Something odd happened after that. "What in the blazes..."
*Bzzzt! Boom!* The trail of lighting exploded with small combustive flames. Good thing it had only a little qi left inside. The crowd started to cheer at the upset. Especially those that were part of vice-principal Jin's section.
As well as those in the other vice principal Ms.Itsumi's section. For both groups were sick of the principal's bastard son strutting his stuff. If he won it would have been all over for relative safety in the Akademy.
"Shouldn't change teachers when you haven't mastered the basics yet... learn some humility brat." Some took it as disrespect to the Clear River Dragon House and some saw it as him speaking up for the principal. "Is it my win?"
Smiling, the referee definitely agreed so.
As the proceedings continued on with the winners from the other two divisions not wanting to go against Leroy, one knowing that would just be foolish and the other still recovering from the matches made it a seldom affair to try and stress.
However, they did open the day for open challenges. Next to the principal, his student and disciple Bai Xing looked at Leroy in awe. They joined at the same time but he was not at the level of the other. As another who had a 7-Branch Spirit Root and was younger, he was expected to be the best of the best.
He was really strong and had good fundamentals but no experience just yet. What the boy didn't know is that the principal was doing it this way to keep him from getting poached. Bai Xing didn't know about his family the Principal knew there was a Bai Family in the West Kingdom that was prominent in power.
He refused to lose another seedling like this. Regret in not choosing Leroy passed as he remember the proceedings during the Test and the report of the Aftermath of it.
'I will have let him test himself a little today.' Looking at his student and disciple, the principal felt a fervent gaze on him. 'Hoho, little Bai Xing has some admires!'
Fist bawled up, Bai Xing wanted to exchange blows with his senior. With his cute rosey red cheeks and face having a determined look, the young females of the Unlimited Sect wanted to snatch the little boy up.
"What do you think Gia?" Elder Boksun didn't look away as she spoke to her top disciple. A smile was hidden behind her veil at the young girls exposed to matters of the heart. "Think he can give you a challenge?"
The girl Gia had her sword gripped tightly in hand as she wanted to fight Leroy but also the person he was talking to now. Seeing how the girl with him carried a sword as well she wondered if it would be better to challenge her first.
"I do not know." Gia answered with a soft voice. Seeing the two leave and the girl more or less deferring to Leroy's judgment she wondered what their relationship happened to be. "I may have missed my chance since they are leaving."
"Oh?" She figured Leroy would stick around for a bit but someone called her attention before thinking on it more. "So this is where you have been Constance, how are you doing?"
"Boksun, let's talk somewhere else about old matters. Bring your disciples if you don't want to lose them to these wolves." Constance did not say this nicely and it was almost a command. 'If I didn't know better I would think she had some weak disciples with her. It is good to see the Unlimited Sect still raise good seeds.'
The disciples wondered who the woman was to their teacher. But they were not the only ones wondering that. Those who knew Constance wondered how she knew the Elder from the Unlimited Sect.
Tang Ansui slipped out of the crowd as he went to make arrangements.
The principal allowed Bai Xing to challenge freely to stimulate his battle prowess and consolidate his cultivation further. Various students under the other teachers started to do the same for their prize students.
It didn't take long before those who didn't think first years should participate changed their mind. New bets and rewards were given as the various Nobles and Imperial Officials were scouting now.
While Leroy and Saori walked and talked, they were met by an Elder of the Dark Tiger-fire Family. The Elder wanted to speak with him in private but Leroy kept on going. The Elder was only at the Foundation Establishment Realm 5th Rank. Not really a threat to survival and Saiori could handle her own well enough to escape.
"Tch!" Knowing it would be bad to cause a scene with so many nearby, the Elder with back to the fighting area. 'I told them they should have captured him earlier to check, now he has influence and a little power! Hopefully, the blood test comes back in our favor!'
The blood retrieve would give the Dark Tiger-fire Family a big suprise.
.
The decision to build a Family-
.
In the Registration hall, Leroy and Saiori signed some paperwork and sealed it with a drop of their blood. They spoke of it a few times before and Saiori liked the idea about some of Leroy's ideas. The idea of being a part of a Family had a sort of comfort to it. With both of them being alone in the World the situation evolved pretty quickly.
"Well, I was surprised you chose this instead of being like a cousin of the Family." Leroy stashes his copy away for the Family Tree. With him being a Tier 5 Doctor it helped establish this even further. He just needed money to have a place really to call his own. "But I am happy to have you all the same."
"Ehh hmm! We will have to take care of each other big brother! Lots of changes in the world to face!" Saiori put hers away excitedly. It had been another happy day and she was glad to have the idea of having "family" out there somewhere.
"Saiori Shentai, quite a name to it." Leroy smiled as they walked off to spend some of her winnings and sell some of his Medical Procedures. 'A small step but at least someone to inherit everything in case I die. And she is at least honest. Now I need to increase my forces or Family to really matter. So many ways to go about it.'