Zen was already anticipating this so he calmly responded, "How about a single favor from my master, as long as it doesn't endanger her life or career?"
"WHAT?" Chloe's eyes widened, registering shock and disbelief at the unbelievable proposal.
Did she hear incorrectly? Was she hearing things? A favor from an 8th inner ring is like a priceless treasure. Chloe couldn't believe she would get a favor just by beating crap out of two students.
She wanted to jump in excitement but she controlled herself and looked at Shreya.
"Don't look at me." Shreya shrugged, "I will follow the wager if you win."
"Alrighty! So let's start." She signaled Antonie to do his best. This trivial bet has transformed into something significant.
Hearing this, Evelyn came forward. After days of suffering in training, she was completely confident that she could beat anyone in her league.
"Evelyn Walker, fourth ring." She announced.
Everyone had their jaws hanging. A second year student in the 4th ring? What is going on?
What they didn't know was the training Evelyn did in the last few days was nothing short of torture. She trained for more than 14 hours a day with only breaks for eating. She was only driven by one thing, she didn't want to be left behind. And finally, her hard work and Shreya's efficient training showed results and she broke through last evening.
Antonie looked at Evelyn with wide eyes. He was surprised that someone could break into the 4th ring this early. Although surprised, he was not worried as he was just shy of breaking into the 5th outer ring. He obviously was more powerful than Evelyn.
"Antonie Dubois, fourth ring, please." He shouted rather arrogantly.
Evelyn took position and got ready to fight. She was not nervous but rather excited as she wanted to see how she performs in front of someone more powerful than her.
"Sending your girlfriend to fight… I can't approve of it." Antonie slowly shook his head to show his disappointment.
He looked at Evelyn as his eyes sparkled with excitement. He glanced at her body and thought, 'Damn! She is so hot!'
How can a girl like this belong to a nobody? Even when Evelyn got ready to fight, his stares didn't stop, he glanced at each part of her body lecherously.
Evelyn was used to these stares from people and never cared about them. Adding another idiot into the group won't matter much.
"If you don't approve, how about conceding right away?" She smirked, "You won't be able to win anyways."
"Hehe, a beauty with a vile mouth." He chuckled. "I can approve of this." He said as he nodded.
|HAHAHA| A wave of laughter spread around the French side. A top genius from the main family of Dubois was being asked to concede. They were really amused by this beauty.
Antonie grinned, "Girl, you are really lucky that you caught my eye. How about you come with me if I win?"
Evelyn's eyes widened. Although she got tons of compliments and stares from people, no one has ever dared to talk shit to her before. She clenched her fist in fury after listening to his insulting remark.
"Oh! Are you not willing? Is it because of your boyfriend?" Antonie asked while looking at Zen. When he saw Zen's handsome face, he was irked.
"Alright, I should not snatch someone." He nodded righteously. "Just spend a night with me and then you can go back. I will compensate him with a few millions."
Evelyn gritted her teeth but then calmed down. Why do people have to screw up like this? Can't they just fight without spouting any nonsense?
Her mouth formed a cold smile, "Sure, I don't mind."
"Haha" Antonie laughed. "I didn't think you'd agree. Your boyfriend must be so bad that he couldn't even satisfy you."
Evelyn didn't reply and just took the fighting stance. She knew what she needed to do.
On the other hand, everyone looked at Zen. James couldn't help but ask,
"Are you not gonna say anything?"
Zen just shook his head, "I just pity that Antonie boy. He will probably miss the training program."
Everyone who heard Zen's words were astounded. Was he stupid? How can Evelyn do anything to a senior student, who was also a genius?
Everyone's thoughts came to a halt as soon as they heard the announcement, "Enough chit-chat!"
As Shreya stepped between Antonie and Evelyn, tension hung thick in the air. Her voice cut through the silence, "As soon as the coin hits the ground, the match will start. Remember no killing or fatally wounding anyone." With a swift flick, she sent the coin spinning into the air.
As the coin descended, Antonie burst into action, hurtling toward Evelyn like a force of nature. A shiny substance enveloped him, transforming him into a living, shiny cannonball, leaving onlookers in awe.
"Antonie's a metal user? A fire elemental like Evelyn can never defeat someone like him," someone remarked, voicing the collective doubt of the crowd.
"Yup! The fight was already disadvantageous for our academy; now it is a sure defeat."
Anticipation gripped the onlookers as they watched the clash on stage. The odds seemed stacked against Evelyn. A murmur of skepticism spread among the spectators, as everyone knew that a fire elemental faced a disadvantageous battle against a metal opponent.
On the stage, in a blink of an eye, Antonie appeared in front of Evelyn. He jumped forward in a punching position. His fist turned into a ball of black metal as he tried to punch Evelyn's face. He was confident that if it connected, Evelyn wouldn't be able to take the punch.
Evelyn, however, remained seemingly unfazed. Her feet ablaze with fire as she calmly observed the approaching strike. With a swift and elegant movement, she flicked her legs, gracefully evading the incoming attack.To the viewers, it looked like she avoided a big bullet like N*o from Matr*x series.
As Antonie touched down from his failed strike, Evelyn seized the opportunity to turn the tables. Closing the distance with astonishing speed, her elbows ignited with fire, resembling a rocket lifting off. A punch was unleashed, aimed straight at Antonie's torso. Seeing a punch coming his way, Antonie was relaxed. He knew his defense was near perfect and a punch posed no threat to him.
Yet, Evelyn had a trick up her sleeve. Just as her fist approached, her entire hand ignited in brilliant blue flames, a sly smile gracing her face. |Boom|. With a resounding loud sound, her punch connected with Antonie's stomach. A sudden, acute pain shook his body, causing his face to contort in agony.
"Arghhh" Antonie couldn't help but groan in pain.
"How? How can a 4th ring injure him?" The question echoed in Antonie's mind. Since he was in his thoughts and because he was distracted by the pain, he couldn't notice Evelyn drifting forward.
When he noticed Evelyn, it was already too late. He instinctively tried to cover his torso and fortified his defense. However, a thunderous sound disrupted the arena.
|Paaahhhhh!|
"..."
A stunned silence enveloped the onlookers. No one had anticipated such a twist in the battle, and bewilderment painted the faces of the spectators. Even Antonie, momentarily forgetting his previous pain, stood frozen. It was only when a sharp pain stung his cheek that he regained awareness. His hand instinctively reached for his face, but he found himself speechless and immobilized. He, Antonie Dubois, was slapped by a woman in front of a crowd.
His eyes burned with anger as he looked at Evelyn in fury. Evelyn had a snobbish expression as he looked at him while she caressed her palm like preparing for another slap.
"Haha" Zen laughed loudly. He knew Evelyn won't stay quiet after getting trash talked by Antonie. Evelyn understood that to get back to Antonie, she didn't need words, rather she needed to humiliate him so much that he would think twice even before showing his face.
"Bitch! How dare you? I will kill you." Antonie, consumed by rage, attacked Evelyn from every direction. However, Evelyn danced effortlessly through his onslaught, like a matador skillfully evading a charging bull.
|Paaahhhhh!|
Another resounding slap filled the air as Evelyn struck Antonie's other cheek, a clear declaration of her dominance. With a cool demeanor, she opened her mouth,
"That's it? If only your strength matched your crappy mouth."
Evelyn delivered the final verbal blow. A taunt!
In response to the taunt and faced with Evelyn's condescending smile, Antonie reached his breaking point. Gritting his teeth, he transformed his hand into a spike and roared, "Die!" The relentless onslaught continued, each swing accompanied by a fervent cry of "Die. Die. Die."
Evelyn had a bored expression as she dodged everything. a mindless attack is often more detrimental than a weak but strategic one. Antonie's uncontrolled assault proved futile in the face of Evelyn's composed and calculated defense.
"Enough time wasted." She declared emotionlessly as soon as she dodged the coming attack. In an instant, she strategically positioned herself behind him, and held his Aontonie's head from behind.
"You wanted to spend a night, right? I will make sure you spend a good night on the hospital bed."
She focused all her power on his head. The temperature on her hand soared exponentially. What she did was simple, she concentrated all the fire energy on a very small area. An attack which could potentially cause an explosion was now concentrated on Antonie's head directly. Metal on Antonie's body, being a good conductor of heat, didn't help either.
To say the least, he was practically experiencing hell on Earth.
"ARRGHHHHHH!" Antonie's inhuman scream echoed through the arena, a testament to the pain he was enduring.
Evelyn, calculating and methodical, carefully controlled the energy output to avoid fatal consequences, gradually increasing the intensity to prevent Antonie from adapting to the pain. Everyone watching this scene trembled as they saw Evelyn torturing Antonie. The crowd couldn't help but shudder.
"ARGHHH" Evelyn continued torturing Antonie, who was now on his knees with Evelyn standing behind her.
"ARGHHH… urghh" He couldn't even scream properly because of the pain. As Evelyn increased her power output a bit more,
"ENOUGH!" A loud voice interrupted everyone.