Bonus Chapter. Enjoy!
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The next morning, the early sun shed its warmth without hindrance; it was clearly a cloudless day. Golden light covered every corner of Star Luo Plaza, casting a warm hue over the dense crowd in the spectator stands.
Flags fluttered in the breeze, and cheers rose and fell; the entire plaza was immersed in a boiling sea of excitement. And the finals of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Duel Tournament were taking place today.
The two sides in the duel were Shrek Academy and the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Tool Master Academy.
The finals were divided into three matches: the team battle, the individual battle, and the two-two-three battle format.
In the first match, the team battle, those representing Shrek Academy were Spirit Emperors Dai Yueheng and Ma Xiaotao, Spirit Kings Ling Luochen and Huo Yuhao, and Spirit Ancestors Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and He Caitou.
Wang Dong, a Spirit Elder, did not participate in the team battle. He sat in the preparation area with Teacher Wang Yan, his eyes fixed on the stage.
Huo Yuhao, as before, did not plan to reveal his true strength. Once the match began, he only used Mental Detection Sharing, Soul Lash, and Mental Resonance for support.
On the side of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Master Academy, they fought very aggressively from the start. They were clearly prepared, deploying many Spirit Tools that had never been used in previous matches.
Those Spirit Tool attacks poured down like a rainstorm; for a moment, the stage was filled with radiant light and the sounds of successive explosions. However, under Huo Yuhao's Mental Detection, nothing on the stage could remain hidden. The position of every opponent, the trajectory of every attack, the charging status of every Spirit Tool... everything was clearly reflected in the minds of every Shrek team member.
Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, the two Spirit Emperors, fought the most fiercely. The Phoenix Evil Fire and the White Tiger Martial Soul complemented each other, and they soon eliminated two opponents.
Facing Shrek Academy for the first time, the members of the Sun Moon team felt incredibly frustrated. They had clearly given their all, yet it felt as if all their movements were being predicted by the opponent. That feeling of being seen through made them so frustrated they almost spat blood.
"We forfeit!" On the stage, Captain Ma Rulong suddenly shouted, his voice echoing over the vast plaza.
The referee, Huang Jinxu, immediately descended from mid-air, landing steadily in the center of the stage, and loudly announced the end of the match. Shrek Academy had won the first team battle!
After both sides left the stage, Xiao Hongchen walked up to Ma Rulong in a huff.
On that face, which usually wore a cynical smile, there was now only anger and resentment. He ripped off his jacket, threw it onto a chair, and his voice cracked: "Why forfeit? We haven't lost yet!"
Ma Rulong looked solemn as his gaze swept over his teammates.
He said in a deep voice, "We've already had two people eliminated. Five against seven, we simply have no chance of winning."
"If someone gets seriously injured later, the next two matches will be even harder, and we won't have even a sliver of a chance for a comeback!"
Although Xiao Hongchen was furious, he wasn't stupid. He bit his lip, his mind racing, and he soon understood the reasoning behind it.
He glanced at everyone and finally looked at Elder Ma, asking in a low voice, "Elder Ma, do we still have a chance?"
Elder Ma fell silent for a moment. The team representing the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Tool Master Academy this time was already the strongest in three thousand years. But looking at it now, there was still a significant gap between them and Shrek Academy.
As for winning, even he lacked confidence.
After thinking for a moment, Elder Ma spoke slowly, "The opportunity is in your hands; just do your best."
"However, compared to the outcome of the match, you must also protect yourselves. Do not suffer any injuries that are difficult to recover from!"
These Students were all geniuses of our Sun Moon Empire! Every one of them had countless efforts poured into them, and each was a future pillar of the Sun Moon Empire. If deaths or injuries occurred for the sake of a championship they hadn't attained in thousands of years, it would truly be more loss than gain!
After the team battle came the individual battle.
The rules were simple: each side would send seven people to take turns on stage. The winner would stay, and the loser would be replaced until all seven people from one side were eliminated. If Shrek won the individual battle, they would have won two matches, ending the competition immediately.
In the previous team battle, both Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had consumed a lot of energy, so for the first match of the individual battle, Ling Luochen took the stage.
Although her ice control ability lacked offensive power, it was very effective against Soul Engineers. She took some time and successfully eliminated one opponent. In the second match, after exhausting more than half of her opponent's Spirit Power, she was finally eliminated.
The second to appear for Shrek Academy was Ma Xiaotao. With her cultivation as a Spirit Emperor, she eliminated three people from the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Tool Master Academy in succession.
Now, the Sun Moon team had only three spots left, while Shrek still had five people who had not yet appeared. In the preparation area, everyone on the Sun Moon team looked solemn, and the atmosphere was very oppressive. Those faces, usually proud and confident, were now shrouded in a layer of gloom.
One of the team members, named Xiao Xiafeng, whispered, "Maybe we should just forfeit."
As soon as he spoke, everyone's eyes instantly shot toward him, filled with anger.
Seeing this, Xiao Xiafeng quickly lowered his head, wishing he could shrink his head into his neck, not daring to meet their gaze.
At this moment, Ma Rulong, as the captain, stepped forward. He took a deep breath and scanned his teammates. "I'll go next!"
Before going on stage, he looked at everyone and said, "We will likely lose, but we cannot lose the courage to fight Shrek!"
As the only Spirit Emperor of the Sun Moon team, although his Spirit Power still couldn't match Ma Xiaotao's, the gap wasn't too large.
Ma Rulong knew that Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Evil Fire was very powerful; its temperature was enough to melt steel.
Therefore, from the start, he adopted a kiting tactic, using long-range Spirit Tools to attack. One spirit tool ray after another shot out from various tricky angles, forcing Ma Xiaotao to split her attention to deal with them.
After fighting three matches in a row, Ma Xiaotao's Spirit Power consumption was also significant. Her breathing was slightly hurried, fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead, and her Phoenix Evil Fire was not as intense as before.
But she still gritted her teeth. To defeat her opponent, Ma Xiaotao recklessly erupted her Phoenix Evil Fire! The dark red flames soared into the sky, enveloping her entire body like a Phoenix rising from the flames. The temperature on the stage rose sharply, and the air distorted.
Ma Rulong was also determined to win. Under the pressure, he finally brought out his trump card.
He put away the long-range Spirit Tools and replaced them with a golden greatsword.
The greatsword was as tall as a person, with a broad blade upon which golden light flowed, emitting heart-palpitating fluctuations.
As he injected his Spirit Power, the greatsword began to change. Starting from the hilt, the golden light rapidly contracted, and the two sides of the blade showed black and white colors respectively, as if two completely opposite forces were being fused into one.
In the preparation area, Huo Yuhao's eyes were fixed on the greatsword, his brow slightly furrowed.
Beside him, Wang Dong keenly noticed his abnormality and leaned in to whisper, "Yuhao, is there a problem?"
Huo Yuhao's gaze remained fixed on the black-and-white greatsword on the stage, his voice somewhat heavy. "This Spirit Tool is not simple; it's an eighth-class melee spirit tool. Sister Xiaotao might be in danger."
"Eighth-class?" Wang Dong exclaimed, his eyes widening. "A Spirit Emperor can actually use an eighth-class Spirit Tool?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head, his gaze falling on Ma Rulong, thoughtful. "Perhaps this Ma Rulong has some extraordinary quality."
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A/N:
5 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter
2 Reviews = 1 Extra Chapter
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.