The two students stood atop the competition arena. Waiting for the teacher in charge to start the fight.
Karni was thinking of how Ma Fai might counter this. Usually, when he faced this student, he simply dodged the attacks and then used his soul skill, Fiery Hawk Gaze from the side to win. This hasn't changed once he became a Soul Grandmaster. That being said, he usually had trouble getting to such a point, resulting in some losses during the spars.
The fight began and the opposing student activated his first soul ring. A giant wave of water approached Ma Fai, just like how it usually did when the two faced each other.
The Soul Skill was called Water Wave. Much like the name implied, it simply released a giant wave of water. This time the student had a plan. He sent another wave, then another, using up a lot of his soul power, but at least Ma Fai won't be able to dodge around the waves now.
Ma Fai simply stood there, staring. When the waves reached close to him, his eyes lit up, as did his first soul ring. He sent out his Fiery Hawk Gaze directly into the first wave. The beam of fire from the eyes and the wave met, and the wave completely evaporated, while the beam continued.
Everyone who was paying attention to this fight was shocked. Ma Fai has never before shown such a display of power. But when thinking about it, Karni and Siduo did realise that, for some reason, Ma Fai's power didn't really increase much since he became a Soul Grandmaster. He was hiding it from the start.
Another Fiery Hawk Gaze was released soon after.
The first one disappeared before it reached the opponent, so Ma Fai sent out another one. Meanwhile, he simply started walking forward.
The opponent summoned another wave to block the incoming attack, but part of the beam still passed through and hit him. He was already injured. Then another fiery beam arrived just as he blocked the first one.
A teacher intervened and blocked the attack at the last second. Ma Fai won. It only took three beams. He didn't have to dodge, he simply walked straight forward. Power was all he needed. He glanced at Tie Tiao. This was a clear show of force. Tomorrow, their battle will commence.
… … …
Ma Fai was in his room. Looking at a couple of gloves with claws on them. It was a soul tool with the heat element, very compatible with Ma Fai. It was a gift from his father.
He could still remember the words he spoke when he got the gift. "If you can't win against that menace with this, then be prepared to suffer a world of pain."
These claws were especially suitable to combine with his second soul ring. He didn't have an actual weapon beforehand, but now he did. The family made these when they heard of the quality weapons that Tie Tiao got.
On one hand, Ma Fai felt insulted. They didn't even believe he could win when he was already a Soul Grandmaster. On the other hand, he didn't dare not use them. If he somehow did lose, and they found out he didn't use this. He didn't even want to imagine the consequences.
Putting on the claws and trying them out for a bit, he could tell that they were of extremely high quality. The best there could be below Thousand-Refinements. Thousand-Refinement was something he wasn't worthy enough to get in the eyes of the family.
Tired after the day, he took a bath and looked into the mirror. Ma Fai's face turned ugly, then turned towards the bath and entered into a soft bubble bath. Ma Fai's only joy in life.
"I have to win."
Yet… another silent instinct was true in his mind. A wish to actually lose. To be free of the burden. To finally admit everything. But it was suppressed. It wasn't allowed to surface, for it would disappoint the Ma Family.
… … …
The next day, the whole Green Tiger Academy gathered to watch the two most exciting matches. First it was Hu Fuya. Then Ma Fai vs Tie Tiao.
The first year tournament came to a closure much faster, and they wanted to see how they could perform against the Star Luo City Academy. On the other hand, Ma Fai and Tie Tiao was an exciting match for them mostly due to the fact everyone and their mother knew about their feud.
Most people were also aware that Karni and Siduo were personally helping Hu Fuya with training, as well as personally training Tie Tiao to beat Ma Fai. If Ma Fai were still a Soul Master, they would've most likely considered the match certain. Tie Tiao would most likely win.
But Ma Fai has become a Soul Grandmaster since then. The match became much more exciting than before. Not to mention the fact Ma Fai has been hiding his true power until yesterday. In Tie Tiao's, Wu Siduo's and Val Karni's case, they were all quite nervous about the result.
Before that though, they'd have to look at Hu Fuya's performance. She was already standing in the arena along with her opponent. She was clearly nervous right now, not because of the difficult opponent, but because she knew of the possibility that she could, in fact, win.
If this was some other opponent, she would just try her best to see how far she could go. But this was different. She didn't know what would happen. Would her martial soul even work under artificial darkness? Did it work in a way it brought out power with darkness or with the lack of sunlight? She wasn't sure. Fluorescent Cat was one of the more known mutated martial souls. Because of that, there wasn't any consistency with how it acted. Some reacted to the starlight, others absorbed the sunlight, others simply needed the sun to be absent in general.
Before she could actually be more nervous about it, she heard the words: "Begin!"
Wu Siduo was looking from above and clenched her fists. "C'mon Fuya. Focus."
Hu Fuya quickly dashed straight into the fray. Usually, this would be a mistake to do against a control system like Dark Mist. The usual strategy for agility systems that were bad against most control systems was to try and confuse them.
The opponent smiled. She didn't expect that the people from Green Tiger Academy were such newbies. She released her martial soul, her first soul ring, which was yellow. One of two soul rings on her.
Her first soul skill was called the Spreading Dark. It simply brought the Dark Mist to a wide area, making it dark and hard to see.
Hu Fuya waited to be encapsulated in the dark, then her first white soul ring shone lightly. She really begged for this to work. And… Her vision went bright and seemed to almost shine. She could see the arena and her opponent incredibly clearly.
She smiled. This was great, she rushed forward. Meanwhile her opponent frowned. She could feel the general movements inside her Dark Mist. Much like Karni's sixth sense of his first soul ring. It was a way she could navigate through her own darkness.
She quickly activated her second soul ring. It didn't matter if she was facing a normal Soul Master. She couldn't have such a shameful loss. The mist began to become thicker and thicker.
Hu Fuya felt the difference in the mist. It became. Heavier. Thicker. Harder to breathe. What was this?
The second soul skill of the Dark Mist was called Dense Dark. It gave the simple darkness property a denseness. One that would slow people down and to those with truly weak bodies, might even make them faint.
Hu Fuya hurried up. She could see her opponent clearly. But she could see that the opponent knew where she was too. She could see the panic on the opponent's face. Then her own heart began beating faster, there was a change in the surroundings.
She could see the movement of soul power in her opponent becoming active. The dark mist was gathering directly in front of her. Its denseness was enveloping the front to create a semi-effective shield.
Hu Fuya calmed down and focused. Her biggest advantage was that the other girl didn't know her abilities. She charged directly towards the 'shield of denseness.' And just as she was about to crash into an incredibly dense darkness, she moved around it as fast as possible.
The opponent panicked and stepped back, but she couldn't do much in such a short time. She needed time to change the denseness. Hu Fuya was upon her, and put her on the ground.
"I don't want to actually hurt you. Surrender."
The girl sighed and nodded. "I surrender." She couldn't do anything more. She didn't have any true combat skills. That being said though, she liked this Hu Fuya. The two of them would be an incredible team with high synergy.
The result was announced by the teacher before the mist even disappeared, all they saw was Hu Fuya and the other girl shaking hands when the mist disappeared. It wasn't really as exciting as they hoped.
Hu Fuya turned towards the girl at the end, realising that her opponent's ability actually brought out her own abilities. "Hey, what's your name?"
The opponent turned towards her in shock. "You- You don't know? You know our names were announced at the beginning, no?"
Hu Fuya went red. "I… I was a bit too nervous at the start."
The other girl laughed. "I'm Song Daiyu. I guess I'll see you in the advanced academy." She waved before stepping off the arena.
Hu Fuya breathed, before panicking. She just got into the finals!
… … …
The stage had changed and the true awaited match was about to begin. Hu Fuya joined Karni and Siduo on the stage to watch the match that everyone in the Green Tiger Academy anticipated.
Tie Tiao was already standing on top of the arena, his daggers out. He was staring at them, focusing, breathing deeply. He had to calm his nerves. He could feel the little amount of shaking in his hands.
Looking in front of him, he could see his enemy of today and the past. Hopefully, this feud would end today.
Ma Fai stepped onto the stage, a pair of weird gloves hanging off his belt. While walking into position, he grabbed them and put them on his hands. Red, hot gloves with claws. It was clear that Ma Fai was taking this seriously. He stared right back into Tie Tiao's eyes. Sparks were already flying.
The teacher walked into the middle and announced the battle. "Ma Fai and Tie Tiao of Green Tiger Academy. Get ready."
"5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Begin!" The teacher moved away as soon as he finished.
Tie Tiao immediately dashed. As an agility system soul master, it was crucial to get close to your opponent. He used his superior agility to the fullest, zigzagging around the field.
In a similar style, Ma Fai knew exactly how to answer. He activated his first soul ring and sent a fiery beam straight at Tie Tiao. It was on point. The zigzagging movement didn't confuse Ma Fai. Interestingly, the beam was just slightly bent to Tie Tiao's left as well.
Of course Tie Tiao was aware of it, but the beam was fast. If he wanted to dodge, he needed to go to the right.
As soon as he did, Ma Fai's second soul ring shone brightly. His body immediately started burning with a dark fire, before, like a meteor, he suddenly reached Tie Tiao, his claws at the ready.
Tie Tiao reacted accordingly, even if he never saw it before, his instincts have been greatly enhanced since he first began sparring with Karni and Siduo.
His cold daggers connected by chain pointed each into a separate claw. Coming into contact, he immediately noticed that the cold daggers greatly boosted his resistance to the immediate heat, but he was still being overpowered. He quickly cut off the chain effect of combining cold and sharpness and leaned into the naturally cold dagger. This unbalanced both of them, and Tie Tiao used it as a boos in another direction. He didn't fight the force that was upon him.
To do all this in such a short time was a clear show of Tie Tiao's familiarity with the daggers and the focus he had right now.
Ma Fai frowned. The slippery guy hasn't even activated his first soul ring yet. He also noticed the change in the daggers in the midst of their clash. One of the knives better handled the heat of the claws, but interestingly, it was the other one that managed to damage his weapon.
He refused to let Tie Tiao breathe freely, however. He used his second soul skill again from basically point blank, immediately rushing Tie Tiao while burning with heat. This soul skill was called Burning Hawk Rush. An explosive skill. Using it point blank was extremely effective.
Now that Ma Fai was up close, Tie Tiao could truly feel the pressure. His very martial soul was screaming at him to surrender. But he couldn't do that. He had no chance to dodge this time.
Tie Tiao's first soul ring shone brightly. Just as the claws were about to hit his body, he shrunk by more than 60 percent, then put the daggers in the way of the claws.
Ma Fai wasn't ready for this timing. Instead of hurting Tie Tiao, Tie Tiao was instead sent far away due to the lighter body. It was like hitting a ball.
Tie Tiao used this chance to create distance, even floating up high in the sky to catch a breather. The distance was now more than 20 metres between the two. He could take a breather from the pressure he was feeling a second before.
But he immediately noticed a small difference between the two. Ma Fai used what one could say are active skills. Those used a large amount of Soul Power. Tie Tiao meanwhile had a single passive skill that was much less intense in usage of Soul Power.
Even if he was of much lower rank in Soul Power, his stamina should last longer. This meant that he shouldn't give Ma Fai room to breathe either. He went back into the fray from the sky with great speed, his daggers at the ready.
He came in at a 70 degree angle, Ma Fai shot his Fiery Hawk Gaze directly at the incoming Little Swallow.
Floating in the air gave Tie Tiao an easy way to dodge the blazing beam. But just as he did, another fiery shot was fired in quick succession. Tie Tiao dodged again, but now he was off track to actually hit Ma Fai.
Tie Tiao slowed down to land and Ma Fai took this chance and used his Burning Hawk Rush to close in. The claws wished to tear him apart.
The daggers met them instead. Just like before, Tie Tiao used this force of power to make distance. Then he rushed back onto Ma Fai immediately.
Ma Fai clicked with his tongue. Seeing that he was basically using the force from the claws and the soul skill, this time, he let Tie Tiao rush in.
Just as Tie Tiao was about 5 metres away and rushing in, Ma Fai burned brightly and rushed into him, in terms of his skill, this was another point blank attack. The claws raised high, swiping directly down.
Tie Tiao wasn't too surprised and tried to keep calm. He expected something when Ma Fai simply waited. He put up his daggers like before, the pressure and the claws came crashing down on him.
He was small. He used this force to yet again push him, between Ma Fai's legs and out from the other side. Running in the opposite direction. He let out a sigh of relief that it worked. That was a split second decision.
"Bastard!" Ma Fai shouted, enraged more than usual. He turned around and let out the Fiery Hawk Gaze at Tie Tiao's back. Wait who's back? There was no one there?
It was the very thing that Siduo originally intended. Ma Fai, with his bloodline, and his power, wasn't yet strong enough to truly suppress someone only using the martial soul. So… if he couldn't see it? What could he suppress? The aura around him? He wasn't yet strong enough for that either.
Ma Fai was enraged. He turned around. No one. So instead, he readied his beam and just shot in a full circle. Turning his own body. Then he did so again. And when there was still nobody, again. It was a scorched earth strategy. Burn everything.
Meanwhile Tie Tiao was a bit frustrated. With the amount of shots fired, he could hardly close in, even if he didn't feel much pressure at the moment. Sooner or later, he was gonna get hit. The strategy Siduo taught him worked, he was mostly safe, but he also couldn't do much right now. What would Karni and Siduo do? What would Siduo do? She was closer to his style.
"Right. That's what that crazy girl would do." Tie Tiao commented to himself while dodging another Fiery Hawk Gaze.
He turned and ran directly towards Ma Fai. He simply readied his daggers. Ma Fai finally saw him, frustration turning into happiness for a split moment, she fired another beam of burning light. Tie Tiao intercepted the hit directly with the daggers. It was clearly stronger than before, that fire was getting aroused. He had to end this quickly.
He was imbalanced into one direction, but he continued in Ma Fai's direction nonetheless. Another Fiery Hawk Gaze was fired directly at him.
This time the daggers intercepted it head on, but Tie Tiao didn't have the momentum to keep going to one side. He was stopped in his tracks for just a second. His hands hurt like hell as well. They handled force that would usually knock his whole body far away.
But he was close already. Ma Fai saw an opportunity. He rushed in with his second soul ring ability. Tie Tiao reacted by stabbing the daggers directly into Ma Fai's neck.
Ma Fai had to use the claws to hold against the daggers, he held them before the neck was injured. Both stopped momentarily, before a knee kick into the abdomen kicked Tie Tiao away.
Ma Fai didn't follow. Instead, he was holding his neck. Clear blood leaking out from the right and the left side of the neck.
"How?" Ma Fai wondered out loud before looking at Tie Tiao who was already rushing back in, though slower, the kick clearly injured him.
At that point Ma Fai noticed that Tie Tiao's daggers didn't look like daggers anymore, but shortswords. Clear blood at the end of the blades.
The wounds were uncomfortable. Both of them felt cold to the touch, completely unnatural. There was but a simple moment of panic on Ma Fai's face. The only people that had managed to hurt him this way before was his own family. He's never fought against anyone else that made him genuinely bleed.
Seeing the confident look on Tie Tiao, Ma Fa quickly released another Fiery Hawk Gaze, but it was so obvious, Tie Tiao dodged it with ease.
Now close to each other, Ma Fai tried to scare him by rushing in with claws and his Burning Hawk Rush from above like before. He had to take back the tempo of the fight.
Tie Tiao wouldn't be surprised by that again. Using his now short swords, he deactivated his soul ring and rose into normal size again. This was the exact opposite of what was the intention of Karni and Siduo's training. He was doing this in his own way, using his own tactics.
The short swords and the claws clashed. The claws had visibly more power, but Ma Fai didn't notice that the two met in the upper part of the short swords.
Suddenly, the short swords retracted, and Ma Fai fell forward with force, while Tie Tiao pointed the now two daggers into Ma Fai's shoulders.
Ma Fai still had more momentum, so he ended up falling on top of Tie Tiao. Tie Tiao landed on the ground, while Ma Fai was on top of him. The daggers were in Ma Fai's shoulders.
In a split second Tie Tiao pulled out one of his daggers from the shoulders and turned it into a shortsword, slashing against the side of the neck. Ma Fai's claws on the other hand were against the ground, as he tried not to fall completely.
Tie Tiao allowed himself to fall, while Ma Fai didn't. Yet because of that, the shortsword was now against Ma Fai's neck, while a dagger was in his shoulder. A single move and Ma Fai could die. The fight was over. Tie Tiao won, on the ground, below Ma Fai.
Karni and Siduo instantly stood up and cheered from the stands, while a teacher came to check on Ma Fai's wounds. He wasn't wounded in any lethal place, but would have to recover for about two weeks.
"I'm sorry." Ma Fai sounded out.
Tie Tiao looked at him.
"I'm sorry for doing… that… to your sister. I'm sorry." Ma Fai started crying.
"I forgive you." Tie Tiao said with a hoarse voice.
"I didn't mean to… back then… I-"
"I want an apology from your family as well." Tie Tiao stared back.
"I don't need your apologies, I know you couldn't control yourself. My sister has basically been beating me over that fact ever since the incident. But I won't forgive your family. I want a formal apology to my family."
Ma Fai had visible fear on his face when Tie Tiao said that. He gulped and then nodded heavily.
"Good." Tie Tiao turned around and was about to go off.
"And… I'm actually a-"
Tie Tiao rushed back and covered Ma Fai's mouth, not letting him tell anything more.
"You… Don't have to tell that to anyone. That's your thing. I'm not about to force you to reveal that." Then he moved his hands away, nodding with a little bit of blush. His task was completed. His family could finally soon put everything behind them, and get some well deserved justice.
Ma Fai just stared at Tie Tiao, before beginning to cry yet again, continuing to mutter sorry, over and over again. How good it felt to finally say these words. The teacher pulled him off the arena and into the Nurse's Office to patch up the wounds.
Tie Tiao went to the stands next to Karni, Siduo and Hu Fuya to sit down to rest. He sat next to Karni since Hu Fuya was on Siduo's side. He had greatly exhausted his physical stamina as well as his soul power. It was the most he had ever pushed himself.
When it came to battling against Karni and Siduo, he only had to run away. It was why he was so good at it. But he wasn't used to attacking as much, even with all the training. Hit and run was the only way he could actually fight against Ma Fai. If Ma Fai found a way to actually combat that, it would be over.
Luckily, Ma Fai wasn't that type of soul master. A control type soul master on the other hand would finish him in seconds.
"You sure that's okay? Wouldn't you want more punishment for their family?" Siduo was the first to voice what Karni was also thinking.
Tie Tiao shook his head. "It's not something our family or I should worry over. Once they admit their faults to us, the government should handle the rest. They were doing some shady stuff outside of us as well."
"Looks like you've thought it through before? When you made the bet you were quite intense." Karni also gave a piece of his thoughts.
"Don't remind me of that, as soon as I told my family, they scolded me. Well, it turned out well, so I'm satisfied with that."
The three continued to chat, while looking over the rest of the competition.
The Cloud Sword, Li Tai easily won over his opponent. This was the one Tie Tiao will have to face next.
Thankfully, Tie Tiao wasn't really injured. His abdomen and arms were sore, but it was nothing that the healing soul master in the nurse's office couldn't handle. Every big school had a decent healing system soul master.
… … …
The next day. It was the day of the semi-finals for Tie Tiao and finals for Hu Fuya. In fact, those were already over, and Hu Fuya lost quite badly. She now felt how it was when her abilities didn't directly counter the opponent. She stood no chance, basically losing in a few seconds. She was on the stands and she was still feeling a bit sad at how everything ended all of a sudden after she hyped herself up.
Even the girl she defeated before, Song Daiyu, came to the stands to comfort her. She was also confused, because Hu Fuya was clearly weak today compared to yesterday. It was only now that she found out the characteristics of Hu Fuya's martial soul. She didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. If it weren't for Hu Fuya, Song Daiyu would've likely won against the actual guy who won.
Meanwhile Tie Tiao couldn't be in a better mood. He was almost sure he would lose against the Cloud Sword, but he would still try his best.
He was now guaranteed to eventually enter the Star Luo City Advanced Academy. His future looked incredibly bright at the moment. Though he was sure that Ma Fai would manage to reach there as well, even without the guarantee.
Li Tai and Tie Tiao were both on the competition grounds already. The teacher in charge quickly started the match.
Tie Tiao dashed with full force. He understood this soul master very well already. He thought he had a slim chance of winning, but a chance nonetheless.
Meanwhile Li Tai simply waited. Completely focused with his soul rings hovering over the martial soul. Two yellow ones.
Tie Tiao swung with his daggers when he got close. Li Tai met it with his sword, then suddenly stepped to the side and activated his second soul ring.
Tie Tiao immediately went on alert. He softened his grip on the first dagger and strengthened his grip on the second dagger, expecting to meet the reappearing cloud sword.
While the sword did change into clouds, the first soul ring of Li Tai shone immediately after.
Tie Tiao panicked, he could feel an invisible, sharp force touch the first dagger, he couldn't hold it in his hand, the force was much stronger than he imagined. It felt similar to hitting Karni's 10 Stacks, except he wasn't ready for it at all.
The dagger flew off his hand, and before he could actually activate his soul ring, he could already feel the sharpness of a blade on his neck. Yet he couldn't see the blade itself.
He lost immediately. He was incredibly disappointed with himself. Now he knew how Hu Fuya felt.
Karni and Siduo were in thought when he arrived next to them. While Hu Fuya felt better about herself a little now. At least she wasn't the only one. They'll have to see how the other years from Green Tiger Academy perform as well.
"I thought I'd at least give him a good fight." Tie Tiao said ashamed.
Karni waved his hands. "Don't worry about it. The fact he felt the need to use this trick on you and revealing it, shows how highly he thought of you. Think about it, he didn't want to face you the regular way. He used a one time trick that would never work again once seen on you of all people. Be proud of that. He was unsure of how good his chances were in a long bout."
Siduo added a comment. "If I understand this right, this is a fusion of both of his soul rings or at least a joint effect. The immaterial blade becomes material, but is still invisible. He should actually be both an assault and agility type soul master."
Tie Tiao felt a bit better when he heard this. "I'd love to face him again in the future. I think I could last a while."
Hu Fuya had a similar experience. At least she could blame the fact she wasn't at her strongest when facing the finalist. Otherwise she could have given him a good fight too.
Karni and Siduo now fell silent. They were still processing what just happened. Just these two soul rings of Li Tai offered a great amount of variety. Does that mean that the Dragon Shield has more usage as well?
They were sure to see once the two challenge them after the finals.
Sadly, none of the students from Green Tiger Academy survived the semi-finals, they were all defeated by students of Star Luo City Academy. This made Hu Fuya the undisputed champion of the students in Green Tiger Academy, with interestingly, the Ice Axe Bing Ran coming in as a close second. She almost beat her adversary, but got tricked at the end.
Overall, the Green Tiger Academy's fights against Star Luo City Academy could be seen as a success, since they gave them something worth fighting against.