What is your favorite Chinese Novel?
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"In the dance of combat, those who keep their minds clear lead the steps"
(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)
"He who has won all matches by a huge margin. . . LIAM AMADEUS"
The male commentator said, his voice I was barely able to make out as I was standing on the stage.
"Going against, he who has ended all his matches with a single punch, RYOMEN SUKUNA"
The female commentator said, she was also the one who said, after hearing about our match, that she was...
Let's not talk about that.
The guy standing in front of me, Liam Amadeus, was quite tense.
His name reminds me of the guy from that one anime...what was it's name? Welcome to school, Iruma-kun...or something.
I remember the guy's name was Asmodeus.
Anyhow, back to the current topic...
A boy stood on the other side of the stage, his hands in front of his chest, as he assumed a fighting position.
His left eye was deep black, as if carrying a deep darkness. His right eye was blocked by his blond hair, which reminded me of Dazai.
He was wearing a plain red T-shirt, along with plain black pants which allowed free movement.
His muscles were visible on his arms, one could tell that they were built by intense training over the years.
A light breeze went by, his hair waving to the right, his right eye was revealed, which glowed in a bright red light.
My eyes widened, before going back to normal. I was not expecting a Sharingan here.
It wasn't actually a Sharingan, obviously, but I felt a sense of unease when looking at the eye.
Though, the eye did not have any aura of itself, which leads me to conclude that it has not been awakened yet.
Or maybe I'm just overthinking this and he's simply heterochromatic.
Liam was quite nervous, readying his stance the best he could, making sure to leave no openings.
Meanwhile, I was standing without a care in the world, hands in my pocket, as I looked at Liam with a provocative expression.
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"BEGIN"
Cheers rang out all around the stadium, expecting a huge collision to occur as soon as the word was uttered.
But soon, the cheers died down, seeing that none of the two were moving.
Liam's gaze was piercing, trying to figure out Sukuna's plan, he found his stance to be too open, even a child could land a hit on him right now, and that didn't sit well with him.
Most of the fighters had noticed this as well, if they were in Liam's place, they would probably have done the same.
But, only about four people found the true meaning of this action.
It was a challenge, a challenge put up with so much confidence that the opponent does not have the ability to land even a single hit.
The Head of the Hunter Association and the principals of the academies looked at each other, the Principal had his eyebrows furrowed, while the Head had a big smile on his face.
'This will be a nice show,' the Head thought, completely focused on the upcoming battle.
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Slowly, more people started figuring out the meaning behind Sukuna's stance, a glint of surprise in their eyes as they started cheering, daring Liam to attack.
For those who didn't get it, Sukuna explained...
"Come at me with all you got..."
Liam's expression changed, into one of confusion.
"...If you land a hit, I'll surrender."
Gasps were heard all around the stadium.
Liam knew that it was better not to be affected by the provocation, but everyone, especially one of the strongest in the world, had a sense of pride in them, which, if damaged too much, could cause actions driven by emotions.
"For my sister," Liam whispered, his voice audible to only himself.
"What was that?" Sukuna asked, his voice irritatingly sarcastic.
Liam charged at Sukuna, his fist crackling with fiery sparks—his special ability, Fire Fist. He aimed a punch at Sukuna's gut, his movements fueled by a mix of anger and determination.
Mistake.
His punch lacked precision, the excess power and sloppy angle betraying his determination. Anger exploded beneath the surface, clouding his judgment.
Such little subconscious changes can decide a match.
*THUMP*
Sukuna caught his fist, which sent a loud yet muffled sound throughout the stadium.
He had made a little Cursed Energy flow into his hand holding the flames to disrupt the flow of mana, hence causing the fire explosion to be quite small and do negligible damage, even which was healed in an instant.
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For the next part of the fight, Liam tried to destroy the ground and send the debris at Sukuna to block his vision while also running at him himself.
He had figured out that the lower part of the arena was reinforced with metal, so he melted the metal and burst it towards Sukuna using blasts.
A dome of molten metal covered Sukuna whole. Almost everyone in the audience thought it was over.
After all, molten metal had such high temperature that no human can survive, but that is only if the metal touches them
'Interesting, you fascinate me every second, Ryomen Sukuna' thought the Head of the Hunter Association as he closed his eyes with a smile.
"Dismantle"
A loud sound of metal clashing rung out throughout the stadium.
Sukuna had cut the semi-liquid using Dismantle, due to which it divided into drops and blasted away from him, creating a 'safe zone' of a meter radius around him.
Liam had an expression of disbelief, his heart beating rapidly and breathing uneven.
While Sukuna was enjoying emotionally torturing this young fellow. He had a huge grin on his face, and no sign of difficulty anywhere.
"That's all you got?" A voice reached the spectators' ears. Even though the words were not too loudly spoken, they were heard clearly by ever single one present.
As soon as Sukuna said this, he seemingly disappeared from his spot. None but a few of the students were able to follow his movements.
He instantly appeared behind Liam, with black sparks appearing on his hands, which were clenched into fists.
Many of the students that had witnessed his spar with Johan knew what was about to happen.
"Black...
.
...FLASH"
Liam was sent flying out of the arena, the point of contact being at the right side of his rib cage, the bone fragments impaled his lung, causing a fatal injury which could have possibly resulted in death.
'That wasn't in my control, I just happened to hit Black Flash at the perfect moment to end the fight,' thought Sukuna as he gracefully walked back to the resting area.
He suddenly froze, realizing an important point...
'Wait...if he dies, I get disqualified and expelled...shit'
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.
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(POV: Aiden Arceid)
I was indifferent externally, but inside, my thoughts were running at a mile a second.
Many people would have put off the 'Black Flash' as just a normal, stronger attack, but I felt what it truly was.
I felt something even the principals next to me could not fathom.
I felt a distortion in space, does that mean he can use space magic, is he that high level?
Space magic can be learned by anyone, but it requires decades of practice and consistency.
Even I was able to do it only after practicing it each day for 36 years.
Wait, no. Haha, I keep forgetting that he is manaless, he cannot even use basic elemental magic.
That's right, this person was born without mana, which is why he had piqued my interest in the first place.
What was that distortion then? I need to investigate, I need more information to unravel this enigma.
It had been years since I found any person so intriguing.
"What is your opinion on it, Blaze?" I asked the person sitting to the left of me, who had a little smirk on his face.
"He has done that move before in the Academy, but we still have not been able to deduce what it does, our best guess is some damage multiplier or something that controls how much force is applied in certain areas." He said, his expression serious and tone respectful.
"I see, your students are dominating this year, Blaze." I said, getting a little smile from Blaze in response.
Force Multiplier huh? Using the space distortion to increase the power behind the punch, or is it something else like using it to damage internally?
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(A little while later...)
I was sitting, calmly talking with the heads of the academies, when my assistant burst open the door, rushing through it.
His face was filled with panic, and he was panting as if he had ran up the stairs in one go just to tell me something.
I motioned the principals to leave.
They immediately complied, noticing the weight of the situation.
I motioned my assistant to take a seat, passing him a glass of water which he hurriedly drank and slammed the glass on the table.
His voice rose as he said in a voice that demanded urgency...
"Sir, there was a huge spike of mana at an area, so we spent people to investigate it, and the results are not good."
He paused, gulping down his saliva before continuing:
"A student, which participated in the Tournament disappeared, but worse, there are traces of 'those beings'."
My eyes widened. I leaned towards him.
"Are you sure it was 'that'?" I asked, my tone grave and my voice holding authority.
"Yes sir, I went to check myself, it really was the energy of demons." He said, now calming down a bit as if a huge load was off his shoulders.
"We need to take quick measures then, this means that 'they' can now create portals connecting the two dimensions." I said, my voice mirroring his earlier panic.
"Go alert the special branch now, I'll give you your orders soon." I said as I dismissed him.
"Yes, sir," he said as he left hurriedly
I leaned back on my seat. Sighing, I picked up the paper my assistant left on the table.
The kidnapped student was...Lucas, no last name. Son of [Unnamed Character], a well-known assassin in the underworld.
An anomaly occurs, multiple strong students join the academy on the same year, a student gets taken to the demon realm.
All of this is...
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...exactly as planned.
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Yay big reveal.
Liam has a sister? What happened to her? Is she alive? Find out 150 chapters later!
Did you like the chapter? Tell me tell me.
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My exams are coming closer, so there might be lesser updates :<
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now, GIMME POWER STONES.