Rue Gang was really excited, he was finally going to have the fight he had been waiting for all week. 'Rue Bu always finds an excuse not to fight me, either by losing to that princess or by pretending he can't fight anymore. But today, I guess he wants that first place prize of primeval essence stones. Hahaha, I'm going to make him regret avoiding the fight for so long.'
He was also angry because Rue Lan had been cheering for Rue Bu in all his fights. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he blamed his anger on Rue Bu avoiding him.
'This fucking kid, I can tell what he's thinking just by looking at him.' Rue Bu thought as he watched Rue Gang's facial expressions change and shift. "If you like her, just tell her." he said loudly enough for Rue Gang to hear. 'It's already weird enough.' he thought to himself.
"Shut up and come at me." Rue Gang screamed at him.
"What? You aren't going to activate your gu worm first?" Rue Bu said flatly.
"I don't need to, hahaha." Rue Gang bragged, flexing his muscles.
"Alright, don't regret it." Rue Bu didn't waste any more time. Activating the berserk gu, he dashed forward, appearing instantly before Rue Gang.
'What the fuck! He's way faster than those other students who used the berserk gu.' Rue Gang thought. He had used and seen many of them use it in their fights, and their speed was roughly similar. He didn't know exactly how this gu worked, but he now had some idea.
Not flustered by Rue Bu's sudden appearance, Rue Gang braced himself for a strike in one of his vital areas, as all his opponents throughout the week would have done in Rue Bu's place. But Rue Bu didn't follow the expected pattern. Instead, he retracted his hand and delivered a punch straight to Rue Gang's stomach, pushing him back slightly, shock evident on his face.
'Ah, he's strong too, not just fast.' Rue Gang thought. 'Should I play with him a little or activate my gu?' Rue Bu didn't give him much time to think, as he was already in front of him again. Rue Gang saw his own reflection in Rue Bu's blood-red eyes, which gave him a shudder. He quickly got over it, though, after receiving a kick to his stomach that sent him flying.
'Why is he not taking this fight seriously? I can't believe it irritates me, but it does. Well, if he doesn't use his gu, he's going to lose much faster.' Rue Bu thought to himself, feeling annoyed at how Rue Gang was fighting.
'Ahhh, my chest hurts. I should go all out, or I'll lose.' Rue Gang thought. They both had the same realization at the same time. When the dust settled, Rue Bu was standing in front of Rue Gang, their blood-red eyes staring at each other with a desire to rip each other apart.
"I guess you have some brains after all." Rue Bu taunted.
"If you're this strong, why were you running from me?" Rue Gang retorted. Rue Bu didn't reply. Instead, he started walking toward him, picking up speed with every step. Rue Gang did the same after receiving no answer.
They closed the distance in less than five seconds. Rue Gang was much faster than before. He initiated the first attack, sweeping his leg at Rue Bu's head. Rue Bu ducked just in time to dodge and prepared to counter, but Rue Gang's fist was already on its way. Rue Bu had no choice but to defend, raising his hands to protect his head and deflecting the attack to the ground. Taking advantage of Rue Gang's momentary slowdown, Rue Bu delivered a kick to his lower body.
'Fuck! Why is it so hard to land a hit on this guy!' Rue Gang thought as he knelt on one leg. Rue Bu didn't waste any time and delivered a flurry of punches and kicks to Rue Gang's head, stomach, and lower body. It was fast and precise, giving Rue Gang no chance to retaliate.
'Hmmm, he managed to win against Long Mei quickly by exploiting one of the berserk gu's weaknesses, but Rue Gang hasn't given him the opportunity to do so in this fight. I wonder how he's going to win this one—can he even win?' Elder Ru Da watched the fight in silence. He knew Rue Bu was more talented, but the difference in physical strength seemed too much, at least in his eyes.
'I'm actually surprised that he's almost as fast and roughly as strong as Rue Gang. Considering their physiques and the berserk gu's ability to multiply base strength, you'd think Rue Gang would have a slight advantage. But look at him—taking all these punches and unable to retaliate.'
It was exactly as Elder Ru Da thought. Rue Bu was evidently a little slower, and his punches didn't have as much power as Rue Gang's, but his reflexes were far superior to the 15-year-old's. He could almost predict all of Rue Gang's movements. The speed difference was still evident, as Rue Bu had to redirect one of Rue Gang's attacks that was just fast enough to prevent him from dodging it. So, even if it looked like they were roughly the same speed, they weren't.
"Aren't you surrendering yet, Rue Gang? Look at yourself." Rue Gang was sore all over his body, his face blue with bruises and red with blood. He wanted to surrender, but he managed to discipline himself, taking the punches and waiting for an opportunity in silence. However, the opportunity never came—Rue Bu never gave it to him.
Whenever Rue Gang tried to attack, Rue Bu would increase the intensity of his strikes, making it impossible for Rue Gang to do anything. Even when the effect of the berserk gu wore off and Rue Bu slowed down, he would immediately reactivate the gu worm. Rue Gang wanted to do what Rue Bu did in his fight with Long Mei and wait until Rue Bu's gu worm effect wore off before using his own gu. But firstly, he couldn't notice the effect wearing off. The slowing down was so subtle it was almost negligible. He could only tell when the five minutes were over, as Rue Bu's speed would then be significantly reduced. Secondly, if he chose to take the hits without the berserk gu's speed enhancement, he would definitely lose because he wouldn't see the attacks coming, turning this "advantage" into a huge disadvantage that Rue Bu would certainly exploit.
The fight continued with Rue Gang defending on the ground and Rue Bu delivering all the strikes. Rue Gang would try to strike every now and then, but Rue Bu would thwart his attempts by either deflecting the strike or increasing his intensity, not letting the strike develop. After some time, Rue Gang tried to activate his gu again, but as he had already assumed, his primeval essence wasn't enough. He only had 7% left in his aperture.
Not enough to activate the berserk gu again, Rue Gang was not resigned to lose but he knew he had no chance anymore when he looked at Rue Bu's blood-red eyes, as they always have been this whole fight. "Hmph, you are just lucky to have more primeval essence than me." He said in an annoyed voice.
"Hahaha, just surrender, Rue Gang, or I will enjoy smashing your arrogant face into pieces....in front of your little princess." Rue Bu laughed and then whispered the last part into his ears, making Rue Gang even more angry.
"I don't have enough primeval essence, so I will surrender today, but next week is going to be my victory!" Rue Gang screamed out loud, giving an excuse for his loss.
'Hmmm, I did somewhat expect this outcome, but why do I feel a little disappointed? I guess I expected too much of a little kid. He can't overwhelm every opponent, can he? Besides, Rue Gang had a huge advantage, he should have been faster and stronger than Rue Bu, but Rue Bu didn't even let him realize that... he almost made me not realize that. That's impressive enough, and winning due to your talent is normal in this sort of competition.' The elder was anticipating something clever from Rue Bu again, which is why he was disappointed. But he managed to calm himself again, Rue Bu was still just a 15-year-old in his eyes, and him winning against Rue Gang was significant, even if he had more primeval essence.
"The winner of this week's fight is Rue Bu. According to the rules, he will receive 50 primeval essence next week. Additionally, according to the tribe's orders, the top five students of the week, taking into account the daily fights, will get to choose another gu worm for free from the tribe's storage."
The students were stunned, they had never heard of a rule like this before. But once they calmed down, envy started to creep in. 'If I knew that, I would have put in much more effort.' and 'They are already strong, why make them even stronger? This is unfair.' However, no one dared to voice their thoughts aloud, as the elder said it was the "tribe's" orders.
'It must have been the tribe leader's orders, but why would he do something like that? Is he trying to recruit talented students? Does he even need to do that?' Rue Bu continued to think, while the elder wasn't finished speaking.
"This will be a rule from here on, do you understand? Good. And one more thing, the first five students to reach the middle stage will also be rewarded. Work hard, everyone." he didn't say what is their reward going to be, as he walked away into one of the buildings, leaving everyone stunned again. The tribe had always rewarded only the first student to reach the middle stage, not the first five. But once everyone calmed down, they immediately looked at the four B-grade students, as they were almost guaranteed the first four spots.
'So, in actuality, we are competing for just the fifth spot.' everyone realized their limits, and realistically, there would only be one spot for the C grades to compete for.
'The prize for advancing to the middle stage should be primeval essence stones, like it always has been, this time for five students instead of just one, for whatever reason. But what does he mean by 'it will be a rule'? Are they going to reward the top five students every week with gu worms? Is that even possible? These students would surely struggle to feed that many gu worms. So they might change the rewards every week, that's the only way I can see this becoming a rule. But why would they even reward the top five even more? They have never done that in the past years. Something weird is going on.' Rue Bu analyzed the elder's words, but he couldn't find an answer to the sudden rewards the tribe was willing to give, and no one else could either. If Rue Bu knew about the imminent war, he would understand why the tribe was going all out like that.