Dong Min looked at the young man in front of her and gritted her teeth. She knew her chances of winning today weren't big, maybe even zero. 'I don't care. Even if the heavens stand in my way, I'm going to win, no matter what.' she thought. Determined and unflustered, she stepped into the ring, ready to give it her all.
"I admit that you are strong in close combat, but today is going to be different. You better prepare yourself." Chen Cheng said with a grin on his face.
"Yeah, we will see." Dong Min replied, not entertaining him any further. She activated her Gu worm and rushed toward Chen Cheng. Her body was shining, almost burning, and her movements were much faster than Chen Cheng's, even though he had already activated the Berserk Gu.
'That's the Fire Muscle Gu, a movement type. Your attempt to overwhelm me with speed is really cute.' Chen Cheng thought. He knew he wouldn't be able to touch her any time soon now that she had activated such a Gu. 'But I don't care about your speed. I'm going to exhaust you.'
He defended his face from Dong Min's attacks, feeling the heat from her strikes that almost burned his skin. 'That fucking Gu is so annoying.' he thought, but he persevered, reactivating his Gu every five minutes or so. He was determined to win this fight no matter what.
"Just give up, Dong Min. I have more primeval essence than you, and I don't even need to activate my Gu as many times as you do. We already know how this fight is going to end." Chen Cheng taunted, his confidence evident.
He was right, every single student and teacher knew how this fight was going to end. It was obvious the moment Chen Cheng took a defensive position, not even bothering to attack her back. 'Her primeval essence is going to end soon.' everyone thought. And as if confirming their thoughts, Dong Min slowed down considerably after some more time.
'God damn it, that's not fair...' she thought, gritting her teeth even harder as Chen Cheng delivered punch after punch. 'Why, why, why is heaven so unfair?' She wanted to cry, but she didn't have the chance. Chen Cheng was superfast, and with no primeval essence left in her aperture, she was basically a mortal. She needed to defend her vital points, but it felt increasingly impossible as Chen Cheng's relentless attacks continued.
"Hahaha, why even bother? You already lost, just surrender." Chen Cheng taunted, wanting to break her spirit so she would never challenge him again. He knew she might win in their next daily fight, so he aimed to prevent that from happening.
Dong Min already wanted to surrender. She knew there was no chance of winning today, but every time she opened her mouth, nothing would come out. She was too exhausted and overwhelmed by the relentless onslaught.
'I made a promise, so even if I'm going to lose, I will never surrender.' she thought, gritting her teeth and enduring punch after punch. She held on as long as she could, but eventually, her body couldn't take it anymore. She collapsed on the ground before the teacher could end the fight. Her last thought before losing consciousness was. 'I'm sorry...'
Chen Cheng's victory was no surprise, he was one of the only four B grades, after all. If he hadn't won, that would have been the real shock. He wanted to challenge Long Mei now that he was in 4th place, but he knew his limits. 'Dong Min is just a C grade, and she drove me this far. Long Mei is a B grade with even higher talent than me. I shouldn't push it too far. At least I need to know how he fights with his Gu before I challenge him.' he thought.
With that, the match between Long Mei and Rue Bu began. They both stepped into the ring at the same time, nodding to each other. At the teacher's signal, they dashed forward. Long Mei immediately activated his Gu worm, his eyes shining with the blood-red hue of the berserk Gu. Rue Bu, however, hadn't activated his Gu worm yet.
'What is he doing?' Long Mei was confused. He was much faster than Rue Bu and closed the gap first. With a strike to Rue Bu's left side, Rue Bu barely managed to dodge and deliver a round kick. But Long Mei, still much faster, avoided the kick, pulled back some distance, and then suddenly appeared behind Rue Bu. He attempted to lift Rue Bu into the air and smash him back down to the ground, but Rue Bu used his hands to soften the impact.
'Why is he not activating his Gu worm? Does he really think he can win like that?' Long Mei was furious at the thought.
"Don't underestimate me, Rue Bu! Activate your Gu worm!" Long Mei shouted at him, but Rue Bu continued to fight, ignoring his screams. Closing the distance between them, Rue Bu twisted his hips and attempted to strike Long Mei's stomach. Long Mei saw it coming thanks to his speed and stepped to the side, but Rue Bu's other hand was already there, smashing into his jaw and almost cracking it.
Long Mei tried to retreat, but after taking another punch to his stomach, he managed to pull some distance between them.
'What the fuck is going on? How is he doing that? I'm way faster than him. It's like... it's like he sees all the moves I'm going to make and plans ahead. He isn't even using a Gu. What is going on?' Long Mei was flustered. He didn't understand how Rue Bu was so much stronger than their last fight, but he had no time to dwell on it. Rue Bu didn't give him the chance to even think. He was already in front of him, and like before, he twisted his hip and delivered a punch.
'I'm not going to fall for the same trick twice, Rue Bu.' Long Mei thought fast as he stepped backward, not falling for the trap. But his movements were now a little sluggish. If it were any other student, they wouldn't have noticed, but the effect of the Berserk Gu was slowly fading.
With a grin, Rue Bu finally activated his Gu worm. His shiny blue eyes turned into blood red, and with his black hair fluttering in the wind, he looked like a demon in human form. Long Mei felt a shudder, but even he didn't feel his movements slow down. So when he saw Rue Bu in front of him out of nowhere, he was flustered, throwing a punch into the air. But it landed on nothing as Rue Bu moved fast, appearing at his side and kicking him in the side. Long Mei was sent flying.
*crack*
He heard a sound of bones cracking and he felt the searing pain from the kick, but all his focus was on Rue Bu's words, he just said. "I'm sorry, Long Mei." He didn't understand what he meant but when he looked to up he understood and realized, Rue Bu was standing on top of him ready to strike. He delivered a punch but Long Mei managed to move his head slightly to the side, avoiding the first punch, but the next one looked even faster, brushing his cheek and drawing a little of blood, the third one looked even quicker, and Long Mei couldn't avoid it. It landed squarely in the middle of his face, his nose twisting in a weird angle, it was broken sending pain shooting through his skull.
Rue Bu's punches were relentless, getting faster and faster. Long Mei struggled to defend himself, but whenever he managed to block one attack, Rue Bu's fists would immediately switch to another target. There was no chance for Long Mei to rest or catch his breath.
'Fuck! He is not the one who is getting faster, I'm getting slower. The effect of the Berserk Gu is slowly wearing off, and I can't activate it until the effect is fully gone. He was waiting for the moment I slowed down just a little to use his Gu. He wasn't underestimating me, but I still don't get how he was so strong before he even activated the Gu...' all he could do was think, there was no coming out of this situation. His face was swollen, his nose broken, his eyes blackened, and every part of his body that Rue Bu attacked was sore. He was in a bad condition.
'Hmm, winning without even letting your opponent activate his Gu but one time... He's smart. The fight will end before the five minutes the Berserk Gu needs to activate again. And even if it didn't, the Berserk Gu doesn't give you a fixed boost in strength and speed, it multiplies your base strength by a number, depending on its rank. So if Long Mei activates the Berserk Gu again in his condition, the boost he would get would be way less than normal. Rue Bu, that kid is smart, going for the weakness of his enemy's Gu without hesitation. And the movements he performed at the beginning of the fight were also top-notch. I didn't expect him to be this talented. Is it his longer training with the Berserk Gu that gave him this advantage? We should focus on him more and make him even stronger. By the time of the war, he is going to be a monster, especially if he steps into the realm of Rank 3 by then.' Elder Ru Da watched the fight, analyzing the reasons for Rue Bu's victory as he signaled a teacher to end the fight between the two students.
"How are you...*huff*...*huff*...this strong? We were mostly...*huff*...*huff*... matched the other day. Were you going...*huff*...*huff*...easy on me?" Long Mei asked between heavy breaths.
Rue Bu shook his head and replied. "Don't overthink it. I just had a little more training with the Berserk Gu than you did, that's all." Long Mei didn't entirely buy it, but he didn't press further.
"Are you going to run like the other day too, Rue Bu?" Rue Gang didn't mean to taunt him, he genuinely just wanted to fight with him.
"Shut up, Rue Gang. Get in the ring. Today, I'm going to be in 1st place." Rue Gang was excited when he heard him, wasting no time and telling the teacher before Rue Bu changes his mind. After the teacher confirmed with Rue Bu, the final fight of the week finally started.