Chapter 213 - Clash Between Beast Tamers!
"Ye, Xing, let's go," Hei said to his little sisters. This time, they would fight all three together.
'Wait, big brother. We have to coordinate first about our entry. ' (Xing)
'Right. Yesterday it was your turn to fight so we didn't say anything. But today, it's our turn to be in the spotlight. We need to shine and let everyone know how terrifying we are.' (Ye)
"Terrifying?" Hei asked before smiling at his little sisters' words. As always, they managed to keep their playful side even during a serious moment like this.
"Okay, if you have something in mind, tell me, and I'll help you." Hei finally answered, making Ye and Xing happy.
*
On the fighting stage, Pablo Cortés had already taken his seat and was waiting for his opponent.
'What is happening? Why doesn't he come out? He doesn’t have changed his mind, I hope. Yet, he didn't seem like the type. You didn't want to show up after talking so big yesterday? '
Screech!
A loud hiss and a huge dark shadow came forward - it was a dark purple spider with silver patterns. Sitting on the spider was a young man with long, pitch-black hair, around whom a long black snake with golden patterns waved. The snake's tail held a dark purple spear on its tail that followed the snake's movement. With each step of the spider, the young human would generate an incomprehensible yet at the same time audible hiss throughout the stadium.
They were Hei, Ye, and Xing.
As wanted by the two divine beasts, they made their entrance attracting the whole stadium's attention. Those who watched couldn’t help but admire and at the same time be horrified by the terrifying appearance of the two creatures.
"You came. I thought you weren't showing up anymore." Pablo Cortés said with a smile. He then opened the leather bags tied on his belt and summoned his four spirit beasts - Sea Lamprey, Giant Pangolin, Luciferase Tree, and his Condor Pasa.
"Since it's a fight between beast tamers and Hei is the one with the fewest spirit beasts, Pablo Cortés, you will have to choose two of your four spirit beasts to fight with." Song Yazhu warned, remembering the rules regarding beast tamers.
"What do you want to do? You said yesterday that your two spirit beasts could beat all my four ones. Are you willing to verify it?" mocked Pablo Cortés. Even though Hei was superior to him in a 1 vs. 1, he didn’t believe he would lose if he could use all four of his spirit beasts.
Hei didn't reply directly to his opponent but turned to Song Yazhu. “Teacher Song Yazhu. Yesterday, Pablo Cortés and I agreed on a 3 vs. 5, me and my two spirit beasts against him and his four spirit beasts. I hope the teacher can make an exception to the rule.”
At Hei's request, Song Yazhu raised an eyebrow. Normally he would have warned the young man not to be presumptuous and not to underestimate the enemy, but he knew Hei's character. He wasn't the type to make such a mistake.
"Why do you want to put yourself at a disadvantage of your own free will?" Song Yazhu asked.
“To defend the honor of my spirit beasts. I want to show him and everyone that my spirit beasts are inferior to none." Hei quickly replied, arousing the surprise of the spectators.
Put yourself at a disadvantage to demonstrate your talent. This wasn't something too unusual; after all, those who were called geniuses or defined themselves as such had to prove it with facts by facing increasingly difficult trials. Yet, it was rare to see someone willing to put themselves at a disadvantage during an event as important as this for someone else, let alone for the honor of two spirit beasts.
“Defend the honor of his spirit beasts? Interesting." Eska commented from the VIP stand. As the head and member of the Ice Wolf Beast Family, he appreciated the reason behind Hei's choice.
'Those spirit beasts… there's something strange about them.' thought the Ice Wolves' pack leader, Amarok, to himself. Yet something inside him kept him from reporting his thoughts to Eska, despite being lifelong companions.
Meanwhile, Song Yazhu, at Hei's response, quickly turned his head towards Dean Long Jiang. The latter nodded his head, giving his consent.
"Alright. Pablo Cortés, you are allowed to use all four of your spirit beasts. Now start the fight,” Song Yazhu announced as if nothing had happened.
Pablo Cortés was stunned by all this; he didn't believe Hei would have had the courage to fight under those conditions. But soon, his bewilderment turned to anger.
“Do you think you're cool by throwing a statement like that in front of everyone? You wanted it. My spirit beasts and I will crush you and your spirit beasts. You signed your sentence." threatened Pablo Cortés before addressing his Condor, “Pasa! Let's go up! "
Pablo Cortés positioned himself on the head of Pasa, his Condor, and together they took off. Meanwhile, the Luciferase Tree began to insert its roots inside the tiles' cracks that made up the combat stage. At the same time, it began to move its branches, ready to engage.
Stomp! Stomp!
The Giant Pangolin stomped the ground ferociously with its paws, ready to charge. The Sea Lamprey rested upon the Pangolin, and it too opened its mouth as if to intimidate the enemy.
Ye and Xing responded the same way. They opened their mouths and showed their fangs, making screeching hisses. Their fighting intent was at its peak.
“Ye, Xing. Let's start." Hei said to her little sisters.
Let's start—a simple command but which contained a myriad of words.
Hiss!
Xing advanced on her eight legs with Hei and Ye still on her back. Waiting for them were the Giant Pangolin and the Sea Lamprey. Further back the Luciferase Tree and above them, Pablo Cortés and his Condor.
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"Ye."
Hearing her name, Ye wrapped the tip of her tail around Hei's waist. She then waved it, throwing Hei at the opponents above them.
"What?!" exclaimed Pablo Cortés, who didn’t expect such a move. However, he quickly composed himself and prepared to welcome Hei.
"Pasa, get ready to pierce him with your beak." commanded the beast tamer to his flying spirit beast. The Condor responded by shaking its head and directed its pointed beak along Hei's path of ascent.
Meanwhile, immediately after throwing Hei, Ye lunged forward, sliding off Xing's back. As planned, her targets were the Giant Pangolin and the Sea Lamprey. With her mouth wide open and her teeth in plain sight, she tried to bite the latter's body as she pinned the former with her tail.
Xing instead leaped into the air to get past the three spirit beasts entangled in a writhing struggle and headed for her target - the Luciferase Tree. The latter waved its mighty branches to crush the approaching purple spider while moving its roots simultaneously.
However, Xing was too fast to be trapped by the branches and roots. She had eight legs, each of which could become support and propel her body at high speed. Not to mention her spider sensing ability - the hair that covered her body. Thanks to these, she could detect each branch or root in advance even without seeing them directly.
Ye was doing fine as well. She had failed to sink her bite into the Sea Lamprey's body, but she had slightly injured the latter. At the moment, she was in a violent vice on the Giant Pangolin as the Sea Lamprey attempted to hit her in the flanks using the Pangolin as a shield. However, Ye's scales were stronger than expected, and the Sea Lamprey found it hard to dent them.
Hei finally, after being thrown high, was greeted by the pointed beak of the falling Condor. Even if he were a talent like Hei, such an impact would consume much of his spirit power. Therefore, it was considered a suicide move, similar to what Pablo Cortés' previous opponent did in the previous round.
"Spider Run, Two-Legged Mode, Aerial Mode."
Just before impact, Hei kicked the air under him. In an instant, he stepped aside as if he had just kicked something solid, thus dodging the Condor's beak. Then, using the same move, he circumnavigated the spirit beast's body to come face to face with his human opponent.
"Intent of the Spear, Spider Thrust."
Stab!
As soon as Hei was in front of Pablo Cortés, he aimed his spear forward, aiming at the stomach of the young beast tamer. The latter replied by drawing his sword, but he didn’t have the time to defend himself since he had been caught off guard. Fortunately, his Condor had noticed the dangerous situation and rotated its body in a circular motion.
Peng!
The blade of the half-drawn sword collided with that of Hei's spear. Thanks to the circular motion of his Condor, Pablo Cortés had to suffer only a small portion of the power behind Hei's attack.
"Snake First, Leg Mode."
Slash!
As he thought he was out of danger, Pablo Cortés found something flashing before his eyes before being scratched in the face. The damage he received wasn’t so great to break his defensive layer of spirit power. However, the speed behind that blow had left him stunned, especially considering it had come out of nowhere.
Hei took off his shoes during his ascent, dropping them to the ground and leaving his feet bare. When his body passed past that of his opponent as the latter was riding his flying spirit beast, Hei used the Snake Fist variant and landed a kick with his feet’ claw-like nails. Even though he hadn't done any physical harm, he had still managed to do some mental damage. In that unlikely situation, Hei had hit his enemy with an unthinkable attack.
"Bastard. Pasa! Combined technique, Feather Storm! " shouted Pablo Cortés.
Suddenly, his spirit power and that of his Condor merged, reaching a greater power than the two had individually. Pasa then flapped its great wings, raining feathers full of spirit power against Hei.
“A technique combined with his spirit beast? Has he already reached a similar level?"
From the stands came comments of surprise at this display of skill. This achievement alone was enough to put Pablo Cortés among the younger generation's best beast tamers in the entire Sun Empire.
In response to the combined technique of his opponents, Hei did nothing. He just smiled as he descended at an insane speed downward, thus dodging the feather storm generated by the Condor. It was as if he was being pulled down by something, and indeed he was.
At Hei's feet was tied a silk thread that was almost invisible if not observed carefully. That thread was tied to the body of Xing, who, seeing her big brother in danger, pulled it with all her might, saving Hei from being hit.
This was one of the moves they had come up with to cope with the air superiority possessed by their enemies, although they had to admit that they didn't think they had to use it so soon, a sign of their opponents' strength.
“Xing! Spider Push!"
At Hei's cry, Xing promptly responded by taking flight. Although she was a spider, after reaching the second level, she had acquired the skill of flight. Although not her forte, she could fly at high speed for short periods.
She quickly got to where Hei was falling and positioned herself underneath with her legs stretched out towards him. Hei responded by bending his legs towards his chest before kicking down. Xing, at the same time, moved her mighty legs and hit Hei's feet.
Hei then received the propulsion forces from both Xing's push and his own. His target was again Pablo Cortés and his Condor. This time, however, his ascending momentum was higher.
"Darkness Law, Spider Carapace + Snake Tail Blow, Dark Carapace Tail Blow!"
Knowing that the Condor would intercept him and that Pablo Cortés wouldn’t be caught off guard as before, Hei braced himself for a head-on collision.
“Pasa! Pierced him!" urged Pablo Cortés with his sword drawn entirely, ready for a possible counterattack.
Peng!
There was a loud crash as the human and spirit beast were in a head-to-head force. Hei's arms, protected by Spider Carapace enhanced by the Darkness Law, coupled with the crushing force of Snake Tail Blow, halted the advance of the Condor's beak, stunning the spirit beast and its tamer.
"Pasa, hold him!"
Seeing that his Condor had been stopped, Pablo Cortés lunged from the head of his spirit beast to join the battle and hit Hei while he was busy. However, his move had already been seen through.
Woosh!
An object whipped the air at the beast tamer in mid-air. Pablo Cortés halted his advance and parried the incoming object, which was none other than Hei's spear controlled remotely via the spirit imprint on the weapon.
'Now.' Hei said to himself as he stretched his hair against the human opponent. However, the Condor glimpsed in his plan and spawned more feathers. Without the combined spirit power of Pablo Cortés, these feathers had less power than before but were still dangerous to receive at full impact.
Seeing this, Hei promptly changed the direction of his hair. He thus created a protective veil that protected him from the feathers but had to divide his spirit power, thus losing the confrontation of strength with the Condor. Quickly, however, Xing once again tugged at the thread tied to his feet.
"Pasa, chase him," ordered Pablo Cortés as he swooped down to chase Hei. He wouldn’t allow him to use the same tactic as before and decided to activate the secret tactic they had prepared for this fight.
"Lucy, use the Luciferase Light!"
Flash!
The Luciferase Tree that had been maimed of many branches after Xing swooped down from above responded with a furious roar. Soon after, it lit up with a luminescent green-yellow light that dazzled Hei and his little sisters. However, Pablo Cortés and the other three spirit beasts had prepared in time, nullifying the dazzling effect of the Luciferase Tree move.
'Shit! Stupid tree! ' Ye swore as she closed her eyes.
'Shit, big brother!' Xing also swore as she realized the danger.
“Lampry, now! Cut that thread! Pangu, keep the snake busy! Lucy stops the light and blocks the two spirit beasts!"
Under the orders of their tamer, the three spirit beasts did as ordered. The Sea Lamprey, Lampry, cut neatly the thread that bound Hei to Xing; the Giant Pangolin wrapped itself with all its strength on Ye, pinning her to the ground. The Luciferase Tree finally stopped its dazzling technique and began to move its roots.
'Even if Lucy's technique has been disabled, you still need some time to recover your sight.' gloated Pablo Cortés as he opened his eyes. “Pasa, let's end it here! Stealth Mode! We will make sure he doesn’t avoid it."
Chirp!
Pasa cried out as it deactivated its spirit power. It could hear the euphoria in its master's voice, and it too was infected with that euphoria. It would defeat the enemy and deliver victory to its master.