February 5, 2023, Near Midnight
"The eighth duel of second round of the Zhan Dou tournament is about to begin. Contestants number fifteen and sixteen, please introduce yourselves."
Standing in the middle of the arena. A field surrounded by dense, dark green bamboo trees. A beautiful girl, dressed as a Japanese Shinto priestess, a shrine maiden, a miko as she is called.
Wearing a white Japanese robe (kimono) and a long red Japanese skirt (hakama). Her autumn red hair was styled in such a way, showcasing the white beauty of her face. She carried a fan in her slender hand.
Her opponent was a ferocious man carrying two short swords at his waist and two pistols hidden beneath his leather jacket. He had a green-dyed mohawk haircut and a scrawny build. Piercings on his face looked messy here and there. Including his lips, nose, and cheeks. His nails were long, looking like cat claws. Whether they were real nails or iron nails. They seemed to blend with his hands.
"Akane Mononobe."
"Razor Carter."
"Woah, look. That woman looks so beautiful."
"Is she some kind of priestess from a temple? Her name sounds quite unfamiliar. Where is she from?"
"Haiya, don't you know? That girl has a name from the Japanese archipelago. That country is closed off, but there is one of the zodiac Hunters in the International Hunter Agency there. We rarely encounter their people because their country is isolated from the world and integrated with the spirit world."
"A country integrated with the spirit world? Like the Indonesian archipelago?"
The spectators gossiped, looking at Akane's striking and unfamiliar appearance. The world currently knows Japan as a closed-off country. A mysterious country that not many people know about.
Some places or islands, even countries in this world, experience a strange phenomenon where spirits appear unnaturally. Although they do not have physical forms, wild, masterless spirits can still harm souls and living beings. Most cases like this occur on large and small islands. But not on the central mainland (continent).
"Hekhekhek. My opponent is a beautiful girl. You are so beautiful, sweet girl. How about we forget this duel and go somewhere private with me. Hekhekhek!"
Akane, the miko girl, did not answer a single word. She opened her fan and covered her face from the mohawk man named Razor.
"Tsk, boring girl. At least I'll get to see the beauty of your body after I tear your clothes off with my hands. Hekhekhek."
"Are you ready?" Guan Zen raised his sword beside the arena. Both contestants nodded together. "The eighth duel of the second round of the Zhan Dou tournament, begins!"
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
The mohawk man immediately drew his two slender swords and ran quickly forward.
Akane gently swung her fan as if performing a dance move.
Red sparks appeared in the air as the fan swung, following Akane's gentle hand movements.
As soon as Razor reached Akane's face, he immediately made messy slashes. Random slashes like a madman who knew nothing about swordsmanship.
Akane, with her fan, gracefully parried and deflected the two swords that swung at her like a madman. She seemed to be dancing, dancing with light footsteps and the sound of the fan gently tapping the messy sword swings.
Razor felt unable to injure Akane with his attacks, so he immediately jumped back and threw both his swords forward, then switched to using pistols.
Clang! Clang!
Akane easily parried the two spinning swords coming at her, but she wasn't fast enough to parry the two bullets fired while she was busy parrying the swords flying towards her.
Bang! Bang!
Two bullets struck Akane's right hip and upper left arm.
Not stopping there, Razor grinned widely as his attack landed and he emptied his bullets.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"天照大神よ,昼の空に輝く光よ,我に祝福を与え,聖なる炎にて我を守り給え.
Amaterasu Ōmikami yo, hiru no sora ni kagayaku hikari yo, ware ni shukufuku o atae, seinaru honō nite ware o mamoritamae.
(Oh Great Goddess Amaterasu, shining light in the daytime sky,
grant me Your blessing, and protect me with Your sacred fire.)"
Tiny fire petal leaves formed a protective wall in front of Akane's face, shielding her from the rapidly flying hot lead bullets. The lead bullets melted instantly upon hitting the wall made of hundreds of beautiful small fire petal leaves.
Seeing that a frontal attack was useless, Razor ran around Akane while firing his pistol, aiming for an open gap in Akane's defense.
Bang! Bang!
Akane used her fan as a fire petal control baton, moving the fire petal leaves to Akane's exposed side, blocking the shots from Razor who was running around her.
Swish! Swish!
Akane did not open her eyes; she listened to the footsteps and the sound of gunshots, then reacted quickly without making many movements.
Bang! Bang!
Swish! Swish!
Akane skillfully controlled the fire petals around her body, protecting the spots where bullets flew and blocking them before they touched her body.
Seeing his plan fail again, Razor pulled something out of his pocket. It was a grenade.
He threw the grenade at Akane, who stood still in the middle of the arena. Akane immediately gathered all the fire petal leaves in the air to create a dome around herself just as the grenade touched the fire petals.
Boom!
An explosion occurred; the dome formed from fire petals did not shatter but became thinner, losing some fire petal leaves with the explosion.
That's when Razor rushed from the front and tore through Akane's defense with his clawed hands, whose nails were made of iron in the shape of cat claws.
Penetrating the fire petal dome Akane had created, he prepared to tear Akane's body apart afterward.
"Hek! You lose!"
Rip!
Akane protected her body with both hands crossed over her chest. One claw mark deeply tore Akane's left wrist, reaching the bone.
Before the second claw mark followed... Akane slowly stepped back while swinging her fan upwards...
"燃え上がれ
Moeagare.
(Burn up.)"
Giant fire petal leaves emerged from Razor's feet and devoured his body in one gulp.
BURZ!
Forming a fire flower with closed petals. After a few seconds, the giant fire flower petals bloomed, and Razor emerged half-cooked, or rather, charred.
He immediately fell to the ground unconscious after being roasted alive for a few seconds.
"Uwooh! What a beautiful technique!"
"Controlling many magic projectiles is not easy! She's a fire magic-wielding shrine maiden!"
"Hot! This match is so hot!"
"Burn me! Akane!"
Akane glared sharply at the spectators, making them swallow their own saliva at her sadistic gaze.
"The winner of the eighth duel of tonight's second round of the Zhan Dou tournament, Akane Mononobe!"
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
***
In the academy coliseum building. The fifth arena of the Zhan Dou tournament was located there.
Hundreds of seats encircling the circular field in the center were filled with spectators, most of whom were magic academy students. The rest were Hunters and town residents from below the mountains.
The five-star Hunters and two Shengxiao guardians stationed there were the tiger Shengxiao and the monkey Shengxiao.
The burly man with a big greatsword on his back, Laohu Xin. And the expert in unarmed martial arts, Liu Xingsheng.
"The seventh duel of tonight's second round of the Zhan Dou tournament, participants number thirteen and fourteen, please introduce yourselves."
Standing in the middle of the arena, which resembled a gladiatorial coliseum, was a short young man with long dark pink hair tied in a ponytail. He carried a one side blade sword on his back and was chewing gum.
His opponent was an adult man carrying three hand-sized iron balls. He wore a warrior's robe and had long, straight, shoulder-length brown hair.
"Kai Zen."
"Student of the Iron Ball dojo. Jinwen Tang."
The spectators whispered because the Tang family was one of the families with special magic techniques, just like the Zen family.
"Woah, look at them. Descendants of famous magic families are going to duel!"
"If I'm not mistaken, the Tang family specializes in ordinary poisons and magic poisons, right? While the Zen family specializes in blue fire magic. And they seem strong."
"The Tang descendant who learned the iron ball technique seems like he's going to win. That short young man from the Zen family looks weak. Look at him, so relaxed and his face is handsome but expressionless. Just looking at him annoys me."
The Tang family specialized in poison techniques, while the Zen family was blue fire.
This duel was a duel between two famous magic families.
"It's an honor to fight against the descendant of the former Hunter Taurus." Jinwen bowed, clasping his hands in front of his chest (right hand gripping the left).
Kai did not return the bow and was busy chewing gum in his mouth.
"Let's start fighting quickly. I want to play games. Hoam..."
Kai weakly waved his hands, telling Jinwen to start the duel immediately.
Jinwen's forehead veins tensed and twitched.
"Alright, I hope we fight fairly."
"Hoaammmm..." Kai yawned for the umpteenth time.
"Are you ready?" Laohu asked beside the arena with his big giant sword raised high.
Jinwen nodded confidently while Kai nodded lazily.
"Duel, begin!" The sword was lowered.
Jinwen immediately threw two fist-sized iron balls at Kai, who was still standing casually.
The iron balls spun using kinetic magic techniques that could return to their user at any time like a magnet. The user of the iron balls could also control the direction of the throw, the speed of the shot, and the direction of its flight.
Two iron balls headed towards Kai's face, who was still silent while chewing gum.
Kai blew his gum until it formed a bubble that filled his face. Just before the two iron balls shot like bullets hit his face.
Plop!
Kai disappeared and the iron balls landed on empty ground.
Still standing as before, Kai only moved two steps to the side from where he originally stood.
The iron balls that landed on the ground were still spinning, and Jinwen controlled them to shoot back towards Kai, who was standing casually while chewing gum.
Two iron balls shot back from the ground. Jinwen's hand reached out to control the direction of the two iron balls, he smiled broadly, feeling his opponent was off guard. From behind Kai's head, two iron balls shot back like bullets.
Kai merely squatted and the two iron balls passed over his head like cannonballs that missed their target.
Back in their owner's hands. Jinwen bit his jaw hard until his jaw muscles tensed.
"You! Fight me properly!" Pointing at Kai, who was squatting, full of anger.
Kai stood up, he was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and long black pants. School children's clothes when relaxing at home.
He drew a single-bladed sword from the scabbard on his back.
The sword had a dark blue dragon carving. Kai did not assume a stance and was still standing casually while chewing gum.
Meanwhile, his opponent's face was flushed red.
"Heh, soon you won't be able to move!"
Jinwen threw three iron balls simultaneously. Three hand-sized iron balls shot like bullets towards Kai.
Kai raised his sword, deflecting one iron ball that was heading for his face. Clang! Tilting his body to the side, avoiding another iron ball, and he cut one more in half. Slash!
However, he didn't know that these were not ordinary iron balls. A cloud of ash immediately billowed in front of Kai's face as soon as he split the last iron ball.
"Hah! Hahaha! You have inhaled the poison powder inside my iron ball! That poison is a paralyzing poison that can paralyze an elephant in two blinks of an eye! Even if you resist it using body hardening techniques or held your breathe, the poison enters through the skin's pores! And it will flow throughout your body through the bloodstream!"
"Oh, I see. So it's like a paralyzing debuff in a game."
Kai waved his sword to clear the puff of powder floating in front of his face. He seemed fine.
Jinwen became more annoyed and extended his hands to control the two missed iron balls, which flew in a continuous stream towards Kai.
Kai glanced at the two iron balls flying rapidly towards him. His movements did become a little stiff with each passing second, but Kai could still deal with the two iron balls trying to hit his body by casually parrying them with his sword.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The two iron balls shot like flies. Continuously attacking Kai without stopping. Kai's movements slowly but surely became very stiff and he would be paralyzed in the next minute.
"Even if you can withstand the effects for a few seconds! It won't change anything! I will be the winner!"
"Oh." Kai took a deep breath and then chanted a spell. "First skill."
"燃煌之暗,照烈蒼焰.
於汝中,幽光長明.
蒼焰焚魂,蒼焰焚萬物.
焚吾魂,亦焚吾敵之魂.
"Rán huáng zhī àn, zhào liè cāng yàn.
Yú rǔ zhōng, yōu guāng cháng míng.
Cāng yàn fén hún, cāng yàn fén wàn wù.
Fén wú hún, yì fén wú dí zhī hún."
"(The darkness in the burning blue flame shines brightly. Within you, a faint light shines eternally. The blue flame burns the soul. The blue flame burns all things. Burn my soul. And burn the soul of my enemy.)"
The sword Kai held began to burn with a bright blue flame. Just as Kai's movements froze and the two iron balls successfully touched his body, hitting his left waist and right shoulder.
Kai burned himself in a very bright blue flame. His old blue eyes glowed brightly, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of Jinwen, who had opened his mouth in delight that his iron balls would tear Kai's shoulder and waist, but the expression on his mouth changed to disbelief that Kai moved so quickly, stepping like lightning and standing in front of his face.
The iron ball attack only slightly touched Kai's body before he suddenly placed the sharp blade of his blue flaming sword at Jinwen's neck.
"Boring."
The blue flaming sword began to slice Jinwen's neck until it bled, and the blood immediately evaporated due to the blue flame on the sword.
"I surrender! I surrender! You win!"
Kai stopped his hand movements and sheathed his still blue flaming sword into the scabbard on his back.
Jinwen immediately knelt with wide eyes full of fear. Both his hands immediately held his sliced neck, leaving painful burn marks.
Still chewing gum, Laohu Xin raised Kai's hand and announced the winner.
"Winner of the seventh duel of the second round Zhan Dou tournament! Kai Zen!"
"Woah! He seemed to have no trouble fighting that Tang descendant."
"Even though he was poisoned. How did he escape the effects of the Tang family's poison? The Tang family's poison magic is very difficult to cure, let alone cancel its effects as if nothing happened."
The spectators were confused by the strange incident in the arena. It was clear that Kai was exposed to a puff of poisonous powder in front of his face. But it seemed that the poison had no effect on him at all.
No. The poison did affect the dark pink-haired young man. At the last moment, when he used the blue flame magic technique, he burned his entire body to its deepest parts and burned the poison in his body in the blink of an eye. In doing so, he freed himself from the opponent's deadly poison.
Sizhu, who had been watching the fight, was amazed by Kai. Burning oneself to the deepest parts using hot blue flames is the same as self-detonation. But Kai was so skilled at controlling his blue flames that only the poison in his body was burned away. Sizhu immediately knew that Kai was a genius.
"He's amazing."
"Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou! Zhan Dou!"
***