[""As the General of the Luofu, Tengxiao commands the Cloud Knights; as the foremost of the Suiyang, the principle of the second blaze issues commands to the host of demons; the two are like heaven covering and earth bearing, yin and yang in opposition—the dragon battle between both sides is perfectly reasonable and in accordance with the rules.""]
[""But right now, I am the General of the Xianzhou, while you are no longer the Blaze Origin—you are merely a prisoner confined in shackles. If you wish to do battle with me, you must follow my rules: defeat my army, fight your way to the central command tent, and only then will I grant you this opportunity.""]
[Jing Yuan's few light words reversed offense and defense in an instant, brimming with boldness—even Cirrus couldn't find any rebuttal for a moment. Helpless, it could only agree. And the opponents it needed to defeat were none other than Stelle, Huohuo, and the other three.]
[""Eh? Us? N-No problem… right?" Huohuo's momentum was weak, her reply clearly lacking any confidence.]
[Stelle sighed. She had originally planned to push the General out as the surprise force, but after circling around in a big loop, the surprise force turned out to be herself…]
——
Akame ga Kill!
Inside the Empire's Jaegers meeting room.
"Wow…!" Wave's eyes widened, his fists unconsciously clenching, "General Jing Yuan is so amazing! Not just his strength—his way of speaking is incredible too. In just a few words, he shut that Cirrus up completely!"
"Wave, you basically have the word 'admiration' written all over your face." Kurome bit into her biscuit and glanced helplessly at Wave. Ever since General Jing Yuan first appeared, he had become the role model Wave dreamed of… Whenever the General showed up, Wave's gaze locked onto Jing Yuan like auto-aim.
This level of obsession… it might interfere with training.
"Wave, you could learn from his fighting style—don't always charge headfirst into the enemy formation like that. Even someone as strong as Jing Yuan needed to coordinate with teammates when fighting Phantylia."
"Oh, oh… got it."
Wave scratched his head sheepishly, "But aside from combat, I also really want to learn General Jing Yuan's skill at talking to people… For some reason, when the General speaks, it's like there's some kind of magic that makes people can't help but believe him. Does this have something to do with reading books? I didn't read much when I was little…"
Lubbock smiled gently and said warmly, "Speaking skills can be learned. When I was a teacher in the countryside, I taught quite a few students like you."
Wave's eyes lit up: "Really? Mr. Lubbock is willing to teach me?"
Lubbock nodded with a smile: "Of course. First, you need to learn to control your tone—General Jing Yuan commands belief not only because of his strength, but also because of the calm and confidence in his speech."
Wave nodded seriously, imitating Jing Yuan's posture: straightening his back and lowering his voice, "'You must defeat my army, fight your way to the central command tent, and only then will I grant you this opportunity'—like this?"
Kurome burst out laughing with a "Pfft," nearly choking on the warm tea in her cup: "Idiot, you're being way too deliberate."
Lubbock couldn't help chuckling either: "Make the tone a bit more natural—the key is to let the other party feel your confidence, not to put on an affected air. But Wave, it's great that you have this idea. We'll be fighting Night Raid soon, so let's continue the next lesson after the battle, okay?"
——
[Cirrus still somewhat looked down on the people before it, but the General chuckled confidently: "If you win, I shall resume our battle from years ago. If you lose, you must answer one question from them—no lies, no quibbling. Deal?"]
[Cirrus agreed on the spot and impatiently began the first battle. But having lost most of its Suiyang fragments, it was pathetically weak and was casually taken down by Stelle with two staff strikes.]
[As agreed, it first had to answer one question from Huohuo. After being informed of Bailu's disappearance from the Luofu Miscellany, Cirrus truthfully revealed that it was done by a Suiyang named Azhuo, who was extremely playful and loved only freedom and frolicking.]
[Bailu was also a child who longed for freedom; a freedom-loving Suiyang possessing an equally freedom-loving Bailu… everything made sense.]
[Having obtained important intelligence, Stelle prepared to head to Aurum Alley, but before leaving she had one lingering question. She found the General, wanting to know why Cirrus and the others were so fixated on dueling him.]
[From Blaze Origin to Wrathflame to Cirrus… it seemed every Suiyang carried an immense obsession.]
[The General explained: "According to ancient myths, the Xianzhou once faced a great enemy invasion, on the brink of total clan annihilation. To save the desperate situation, a mortal made a possession pact with the progenitor of the Suiyang, [Suihuang]."]
["Suihuang lent its power for the battle, but if the mortals triumphed, they would forever lose their own bodies."]
["After that great war ended, not a single hero returned alive, and Suihuang was also gravely wounded. The deal thus came to nothing. People gradually forgot the story. But the Suiyang still remember. They demand repayment of this debt, never forgetting for eternity."]
——
One Punch Man.
Inside an apartment in Z City.
Genos stood by the window, his golden mechanical eyes flickering slightly: "Teacher, not only did the Xianzhou people break the agreement, they even imprisoned the ancestor of the Suiyang in the Zhuming Xianzhou. Teacher, do you think… the Xianzhou people's actions are reasonable?"
"Reasonable, yeah." Saitama replied without looking up, his finger paused on the supermarket half-price beef ad.
"Suiyang are immortal, undying creatures—seems like the Xianzhou classify them as Abundance-side monsters, right? Whether there's an agreement or not, monsters like that definitely need to be controlled."
"But Suihuang only made an agreement with humans, right?" Genos's tone carried a rare heaviness.
"Oh, that… yeah, it's pretty tragic for it." Saitama finally looked up, scratching his smooth head, "Do you know exactly what happened on the Xianzhou thousands of years ago?"
"Sorry, Teacher, I don't know."
"Exactly? No one knows what really happened in that history. I don't buy that if Suihuang posed zero threat, the Xianzhou would imprison it. It's like a Dragon-level monster appearing in the city—even if it hasn't killed a single human, the Association still has to eliminate it."
"…That's a threat, Genos. At this point, whether there's an agreement or not doesn't matter much. If they don't imprison it, what if one day Suihuang recovers its power… and suddenly goes on a rampage? Then the Xianzhou would be in danger. Anyway, no matter how low the probability, the General definitely has to consider that possibility."
"I see." Genos's eyes brightened, admiration appearing on his face, "As expected of Teacher—you always see things so clearly."