"I'll think about it," I replied, "but for now, I want to prepare for my upcoming match."
~ "Each participant has been matched up against a random against a random person," the instructor announced, "you opponents are..."
"Shit," I cursed out loud as I heard my opponent name, "is this instructor sure this stuff wasn't rigged," I muttered.
"Don't be ridiculous, the royal academy is a prestigious school so they won't think about rigging the results even if the Prince himself requested they do so," Sophie said, "and I don't think the king would have the time to be rigging a match except if it is really important or something came up."
Although I was eager to face off against strong opponents, I never planned to go against the number one student in the main academy, at least not until I had made it to the top 20 spot or so.
"Haha my friend, I never expected us to meet this early," Prince Saniel said with a laugh that was clearly trying to ridicule me, "but don't you worry, I'll leave you in good shape so that you can participate again next year but that's only if you manage to last long enough to be in a good shape."
"Tsk, I just hope you would be able to maintain your composure after I defeat you and prove to everyone that I deserve to be the main academy number one student," I replied with a snort.
"Academy number 1 student, it does have a nice feel to it however for someone like you, a position like this is simply unattainable," he said, "you haven't even made it to the top 20 spot of the academy and here you are thinking of defeating me, stop being delusional."
"Just get lost," I replied a bit angry, "I just hope you don't end up regretting everything you just said."
"I hope you also don't end up regretting your words," he said with a dark look before walking away.
~ "You moron," Sophie said as she smacked my head, "why did you go and antagonize him? You know he's already a mid-level Master stage cultivator and even if you do have some tricks up your sleeves, defeating him won't be as easy as you think."
"What's been done has been done, there's no going back now," I said, "besides it's not like he's going to kill me, he still has to protect his image as a prince you know."
"Seriously, I would love to see him beat you up maybe you can learn a thing or two about the danger of over confidence from there," Sophie replied with a deadpan look on her face.
"Huh, shouldn't you be worried about me," I said with a sigh, "besides, who would marry you if I'm dead?"
"Wait, what do you mean by who would marry me," she yelled, "hey Kai, I'm still talking to you, come back here."
"Just make sure I don't lay my hands on you else, you won't have to wait for Prince Saniel to kill you," Sophie snorted as she ran after me.
...
After a short while, the next phase of the competition finally began.
~ "Are you sure you made the right choice? You know he's just a peak Advance stage cultivator," the principal said with a sigh.
"Let it be, besides, how is he supposed to become stronger if he doesn't fight against strong opponents, you of all people should understand this better than anyone else," she replied.
"If he can't defeat an ordinary mid-level Master stage cultivator on his own then I'm afraid of what would happen in the future if he encounters the others besides, we have to get him ready, he hasn't met him yet."
"Fine then, I'll listen to you this last time but, don't expect me to do this again," he said, "this will be the last time alright?"
"Fine by me," she replied with a light chuckle.
...
~ "Next up is Kai Everette and Prince Saniel," the instructor announced enthusiastically.
*Roar*, the students in the audience shouted in excitement.
"Go Kai, we believe in you," some students shouted.
"Are your brain cells dead," another student protested, "although that Kai is strong, that doesn't mean he is going to defeat prince Saniel besides he's still a newbie from the outer academy, even many pros from the main academy can't make Prince Saniel break a sweat so there's no way he can do it."
"Just wait and watch or didn't you say the same thing when Kai had his last fight," another student added, "I can't wait to see the look on your face after your Prince Saniel is defeated."
"Seriously," I sighed inwardly as I heard the shouts of the students from the sitting arena.
Although I wasn't really scared of fighting Prince Saniel, I was still worried because of the wide gap in our cultivation level. Even though my vampire form made my skin able to withstand attacks from a peak Expert stage cultivator, my vampire forms did not posses immense attacks unlike the abilities and I was very sure that as the Prince of a kingdom, he would definitely have a large amount of them.
"I hope you're ready Kai, 'cause I'm not going to hold back anything," he said as he took his battle stance, "back then your tongue was as sharp as razor, I will like to see if you would still have that big mouth of yours after I teach you a lesson."
"Guess you'll never know until you beat me up," I replied sarcastically as brought out my daggers.
~ "Contestants, your match has begun," the instructor announced at the top of his lungs.
*Boom*, the floor began to rip apart as Prince Saniel activated his ability.
"What the hell is that?" I mumbled as I observed for any slight change in his movement.
"Kai, if you perhaps crawl out of the podium while admitting defeat, I might just spare you," he said as his voice turned cold, "else, don't blame me for what will happen next."
"If you're expecting me to surrender then your wish won't be fulfilled anytime soon," I yelled as I activated my flash steps.
"Alright then," Prince Saniel yelled as he slashed his sword at me, "since you want it this way then, go die."
*crack*, *boom*, a large explosion followed by a huge shockwave spread throughout the whole battle arena.
"Shit," I cursed as I picked myself up from the ground.
[Warning]
[Host has sustained serious internal injuries. host is advised to avoid taking any more damages.]
Even after using flash steps, I barely managed to dodge his attack and despite dodging the attack, the shockwaves was still able to cause so much damage and I'm very sure that if not for the barrier protecting the students, a large number of them would have been dead by now.
~ "How is Kai still alive?" A student asked his friend, "if I was caught up in that kind of attack, even my corpse wouldn't remain, that guy is definitely a demon."
"He was just lucky, I bet he can't survive that kind of attack twice in a row," his friend said.
"Yeah you have a point but, I keep on getting this feeling that something about him is different," his replied back.
"Let's just watch the fight for now, I don't want to miss any of the fun parts."
"Yeah, me too."
~ "Hmm, I'm impressed," Prince Saniel said without a trace of tiredness in his voice, "but how long do you plan to run? I know you were probably lucky the first time but I will see how long it takes for your luck to run out."
"Oh and I forgot to tell you one more thing, " Prince Saniel said before continuing, "once I get my hands on you, I'll cripple your cultivation and turn you back to the commoner you truly are that way you won't go around to antagonize the nobles in your next life."
"Death slash," he yelled as he began to shorten the distance between us as he released powerful strikes as well.
"I can't continue like this. At this rate I'll run out of mana before I can even think of counterattacking," I mumbled as I dodged another one of his attack with my flash steps.
*Boom*, another explosion was heard as another carter was formed on the podium.
"If I'm to continue like this then I'm going to definitely die," I muttered wryly, "seems like I'm going to have to use it."
...