I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 62

Ryouma released the Kurou no Tatsu and walked offstage. Arata nodded as he came back. Ryouma sat down and began meditating. He still couldn’t control the Kurou no Tatsu, nor did he have the strength to survive drawing it. Instead, he allowed the swords aura to explode out of him and do what it wants, allowing the oppressive power of the blade to spread out and affect everything and everyone around him.

Even though he didn’t draw the blade, being a channel for the power to go through was tiring for Ryouma and he needed to regain his Energy and bring his Elemental Reservoir back into order. Arata was looking over at Class 2. He was interested to see what the matches against then would be like. He turned his head as he felt a familiar Energy. Vice Principal Zhang walked out from the side. He walked over to the teachers in charge and began whispering to them.

The students all saw this and were surprised.

“Vice Principal Zhang came? Why is he here?”

“This level of competition can’t be that important for him to be here?”

“Maybe he came due to the shock Class 7 gave everyone yesterday?”

“Classes 7 and 2 have been putting up one heck of a show, maybe he got curious?”

As the students speculated as to why Vice Principal Zhang would grace everyone with his presence, he had finished talking to the teachers. He smiled as he called out

“Could I please have a representative from Class 7 and a representative from Class 2 to join me please.”

Arata had a look of curiosity. He turned to his classmates and they all nodded at him. Arata walked over, as did the student that had taunted Class 7 after his battle, named Harun. The two boys eyed each other out as they reached Vice Principal Zhang. He grinned at the two boys.

“Competitive. I like that. Young people should have that kind of fire and passion. So, here’s the deal. As it is the two classes going against each other, I wanted to make this more interesting.”

The two boys nodded as Vice Principal Zhang explained what was going to happen. Both Arata and Harun asked a couple of questions, but they mainly listened to Vice Principal Zhang speak. When they decided on how the next section was going to go, they bowed and walked back. On the way, Harun chuckled.

“You really are a fool for agreeing to these rules. You and the other three are going to be completely crushed by my class. And the great Class 7 will fall.”

As Harun laughed mockingly, he walked over to join his class. Arata walked further towards Class 7. Antioch, Cephas and Ryouma looked over to him. Arata grinned.

“They just gave us the perfect deal. This is going to be a piece of cake.”

Vice Principal Zhang walked on stage and the Arena went silent.

“Students and teachers. You are all in for a treat. We have changed the layout for the individual tournament and it is now a competition between those from Class 7 and the students of Class 2.”

The audience were stunned. But there were only 4 students from Class 7. How was this a fair fight? Vice Principal Zhang continued.

“I have spoken with the leaders of both classes and have come to an agreement on how to proceed. The four students from Class 7 will fight 3 one on one fights each. After each battle the loser will be eliminated. If a member from Class 7 loses, the student is eliminated and the opponents that he didn’t beat will then need to be defeated by another Class 7 student. The competition is over when either all the Class 7 students have been defeated or all the Class 2 students have been defeated. Class 7 will decide on the order of the matchups. We will give the classes 10 minutes to prepare.”

The students were stunned. This competition was clearly in favor of Class 2. Class 7 had to take on 12 students with just 4 of people. 3 battles each. So they would have to fight consecutively. And if they lost, their classmates would have to battle more people. Both teachers and students were shocked at how unfair this was. Yet they noticed something even more shocking when they looked at Class 7.

The four boys were all grinning.

They were eyeing up Class 2 like hungry predators. Arata walked over to the teachers. Vice Principal Zhang had taken a seat by the side of the stage with a perfect view. The teacher that was judging stood next to him. Arata spoke with the teacher and decided on the order of the fights. The teacher nodded as Arata headed back to Class 7.

“OK. Antioch, you’re up first.”

Antioch smirked as he rubbed his hands together.

“I’ll make this quick.”

Antioch walked up on to the stage, as did the large student with the giant sword that won Pool 2. The teacher announced to the audience as the two boys eyed each other out.

“Class 7’s Antioch vs Class 2’s Goliath.”

Goliath smirked.

“Two seconds, right short stuff? OK then. I’ll give you a two second head start.”

Antioch chuckled at Goliath’s taunting

“Short stuff. Great insult. Did you come up with that yourself or did someone from your class write it on your hand? I feel like they should’ve written more. With those gorilla hands of yours, I think they could’ve written more.”

Goliath frowned angrily and seemed to be unable to retort. Antioch gasped dramatically.

“Oh dear. Did I hit a nerve? Is reading a touchy subject? I do apologize profusely.”

Antioch exaggeratedly bowed. Goliath growled more as he began growling and stuttering. Antioch stood up and saw Goliath’s expression.

“Am I speaking too fast for you? I’m sorry. I. Hope. That. We. Have. A. Good. Bat-tle!”

The audience laughed at Antioch’s antics. Goliath was now fuming with rage. Antioch grinned.

‘Great. He’s off balance. Perfect.’

The teacher gave the signal to start the match. Goliath roared. He was about to charge forward when Antioch suddenly shouted.

“Wait! What happened to the two seconds thing?”

Goliath paused and was stunned. He remembered he had said that and didn’t want to go back on his word in front of so many people. The next thing he knew, Antioch had disappeared. There was a loud bang and Goliath realized he was in a lot of pain. He also found that he was now slammed into the Arena wall. No one had seen what had happened. Antioch was lying on the ground on stage where Goliath was previously standing. He was rubbing his head on the ground.

“Aaaah! Ran too fast! Aaahhhh my head! Is that guy made out of rocks?”

As Antioch slowly stood up, still rubbing his head, the rest of the people that were watching were stunned. What had just happened? Antioch looked over to the teacher that was judging. The stunned teacher came back to his senses.

“G-Goliath has been removed from the stage. W-winner is Class 7’s Antioch.”

The students and teachers were silent as Antioch walked off the stage and joined Class 7. Arata nodded in approval before turning to Cephas

“You’re up.”

Cephas nodded as he walked on to the stage. Brinley, the Fire user that won the first Pool, walked on stage as well. Seeing that Goliath was defeated so easily, he looked at Cephas with a serious glare. He wasn’t going to underestimate him at all. When the teacher gave the signal to start, Brinley charged up his Energy as he rushed forward. Cephas stood still, waiting for Brinley to approach him. Brinley threw a powerful Fire filled punch. Cephas raised his hand in response.

There was a powerful explosion that obscured everyone’s vision of what was happening. As the smoke cleared, Cephas was holding Brinley’s fist. He was completely unharmed and had a smirk on his face. Rocks began to form on his fist as he pulled Brinley in and threw a punch at him. His rock empowered fist sent Brinley flying out of the stage, crashing hard on the ground outside of the stage. The teacher stepped forward.

“Brinley has been eliminated. The winner is Class 7’s Cephas.”

Cephas walked down to Class 7 with a satisfied grin on his face. Without being told, Ryouma walked up on to the stage next. His opponent was the girl of ice, Tahki. As soon as the match began, Tahki grew a large ice blade on her arm and slashed at Ryouma, sending a powerful wave of Ice Energy at Ryouma. It smashed into him and he began to freeze.

He was instantly covered in Ice as Tahki grinned in satisfaction. Just as the teacher was about to call for the end of the match, steam began to rise from the Ice. Ryouma began to move slowly as the powerful Ice melted. Tahki was stunned to see Ryouma move so easily. Ryouma walked seamlessly through the Ice and exited it. He looked at Tahki and grinned.

“Is that as cold as you can get?”

Ryouma rushed forward with his fist gathering his Fire Energy. Tahki channelled her Energy and slashed at Ryouma with her Ice blade. Ryouma caught the blade and his palm melted through it easily. He then threw a fist of flames at her. As it collided with her, there was a powerful explosion and she was sent flying off of the stage. She tried to block it, but Ryouma’s power was too much for her.

The teacher announced his win and Ryouma rejoined Class 7. Arata looked over to Class 7 with a smirk. The students in Class 7 whispered amongst themselves. Arata decided to let the others finish their matches first, so he let Cephas go for his second match, as he hasn’t used much Energy and was perfectly fine.

Cephas walked on stage and was versing a student who had defeated his opponents by the use of Lightning. The student charged at Cephas using a powerful Lightning strike. Cephas simply channelled the Lightning strike into the ground, completely disabling the power of it. The student was unable to do anything as Cephas beat the student into the ground, gaining yet another win for Class 7.

The students and teacher were stunned as Class 7 was able to take down four students from Class 2 like it was nothing to them. Class 2 were still whispering amongst themselves and had seemed to come to a decision as the next battle was announced. Antioch walked on stage. His opponent was a student by the name of Maona, who had won his Pool battle through the use of metal.

He looked towards his Class as they nodded back at him. Maona looked at Antioch with an evil glare. Antioch wasn’t fazed by him and chuckled. As the teacher was getting ready to begin the match, Arata became confused as he noticed Maona circulate his Energy. Cephas felt that something was wrong as he felt the Energy in the ground and urgently shouted out.

“Antioch! Watch out!”

Antioch turned in confusion. Suddenly, a metal spike came up from the ground, piercing through Antioch. The students from Class 7 all opened their eyes as they sensed that something was wrong. Arata shouted out in rage.

“Antioch!”

The teacher rushed in and removed Antioch from the metal spikes. Teva stood up and rushed over as she began to heal Antioch. The teacher turned to Maona with an angered look.

“Class 2’s Maona is disqualified for attacking before the start of the match.”

The students began to boo loudly. It was clear that he had attacked prematurely, and it was definitely an intentional move. He had injured his opponent badly. And even though he was now disqualified, he had taken out one of the four students from Class 7. Now the remaining 3 had to take on the rest of the students. That was a disgusting move and those that were watching were not happy with it.

Arata looked over to Class 2 and saw smug faces on the students. This was a planned, intentional move. He was absolutely pissed off. He called out to the teacher.

“Don’t disqualify him. He beat our classmate. It is now my turn to face him.”

Class 2 were stunned at Arata’s words, before grinning. They were smirking at his foolishness. Arata had allowed him to not be disqualified, meaning an extra battle for Class 7. Arata walked on stage at the astonishment of the teacher. Arata gave a him a stern look. The teacher understood and let it be. He quickly gave the signal to begin the battle. Arata vanished. Maona was confused as to where Arata had gone.

Instantly, he felt a surge of pain coming from his back. Arata was standing behind Maona. Instead of his usual Vitality Bestowal stance, he was leaning forward with his fist on Maona’s back. This was the Gluttonous Cloud stance. Arata devoured Maona’s Energy in his Elemental Reservoir. Maona was instantly weakened. But Arata still didn’t stop.

He continued to absorb and ravish through Maona’s Elemental Reservoir. Vice Principal Zhang stood up in shock. He realized that Arata had finished absorbing his Energy, but he was absorbing more. He was now shrinking Maona’s Elemental Reservoir. Making it smaller. If he continued, Arata would be able to cripple Maona’s cultivation, reducing the size and the strength of his Elemental Reservoir. It was clear that he was pissed off.

Vice Principal Zhang appeared on stage and pulled Maona away from Arata. He looked down and saw that Maona was completely drained and was deathly pale. He was on the verge of dying. Vice Principal Zhang looked back at Arata, who was now staring viciously at Class 2. There was a cold look in his eyes that even scared Vice Principal Zhang because he had seen that look before. It was the look the Angel of Death had on his face when he went on a rampage for revenge over a fallen comrade.

Arata spoke quietly, yet his voice and words sent a chill down the spines of everyone in the Arena.

“I’ll take the rest of you on by myself. Send up the next victim.”