Infinite Star - Chapter 26

“YOU-” Flint wanted to shout at Zayn, but a hand on his shoulder interrupted him.

It was Teacher Leaf’s hand. He noticed Flint and Zayn’s interaction and knew that Flint would do something if he didn’t react fast enough.

“I told you, don’t antagonize him anymore. You have to apologize. This kind of development is also important for your growth. You need to start to swallow your pride. Quick your round is starting.”

No matter what Teacher Leaf told him Zayn was still enraged. He entered the arena while clenching both of his fists. At least he was able to fight, even though he wasn’t allowed to cripple his opponent. It was still able to cool him down.

Flint’s opponent, a 5-Star Body Refinement Realm boy, also entered the arena. He ignored Flint in front of him and constantly murmured something to himself.

“I can do it. I can also do that. That’s not hard. Even the unknown kid could do that. 2-Stars aren’t that far apart. I can do it. I can…”

While he was inciting himself, the round started. Flint was immediately surrounded by his fire particles and slowly walked up towards his opponent.

As the opponent saw the fire particles and felt the pressure of it, he was intimidated by it. Every step towards him made him even more panicked.

‘No, I can’t. I can’t do it. He’s just too strong… There’s only one move remaining for this situation. I swore to myself and my teacher I would never use that move, but I have no other way.’

Flint expected this kind of situation. The opponent was 2-Stars below him. Of course, he would get frightened only by his presence.

But what caught Flint off guard was that after getting frightened he started to smile. A broad hysterical smile.

“I give up!”

Flint was again caught off guard. What?!? Why would he give up with that kind of smile? What was wrong with him? That’s why he should be allowed to trash worms.

‘You can’t cripple me, Flint. I knew you were up to something!’

The crowd wasn’t surprised by this fight at all. Flint was just too strong and overbearing. No individual in the tournament could defeat him or even dream to match him. This was just pure power.

Both of the contestants walked out of the arena. On one corner of the arena, you could hear Flint’s opponent talking to an elderly person.

“I am sorry, teacher! I disgraced you… I know I shouldn’t have used that move, but I had no other choice.”

“It’s all right youngster. You couldn’t help it.”

.

Flint walked up to Teacher Leaf’s side and just straight up sat down on the floor. He started cultivating out of the blue.

Teacher Leaf was surprised by this action, but at the same time delighted about this development. Cultivation was a great tool to control emotions. Furthermore, if Flint mastered to control his emotions, he could grow far more than in his current situation.

After that Teacher Leaf announced the next round. It was time for Kayn versus Zayn.

“Before you start to fight, I need to tell you something. Remember his gaze? The one he used on his opponent and terrified him. This “gaze” is called Killing Intent. Killing Intent is the intent to kill someone. On the higher worlds, it is a common ability to have, but in this academy, it should be out of the ordinary. In order to gain the Killing Intent one has to kill dozens of people and only through that can one receive it. The more one killed, the more terrifying it gets. Released on an opponent, the opponent has to use his willpower, or as you may know it, mental strength, to counter it. Without sufficient willpower, one could die or collapse from Killing Intent. Even though you may be able to counter it with willpower it still will affect you. You will feel cold, uneasy, scared, terrified and so on. And these emotions will slow you down, so you will also get weaker through the Killing Intent. I don’t know how that corpse got his Killing Intent, but you have to be careful, in dealing with it. I just wanted to warn you about that.

Also, don’t forget it will be your first real fight. Everything before was just a practice game. This fight will be on a whole new level and if you can’t even deal with that then there’s no point in challenging that 7-Star boy. You will have to use everything that you learned in the tournament. And you have to bring it to the next level. Right now, your prowess should at best only match with that corpse there.”

Zayn absorbed everything what the Infinite Star just told him. He was thrilled to fight this round now. He wanted to know how a real fight would feel like and if he was good at it.

He then entered the arena and waited for his opponent.

The crowd knew who the opponent was. That’s why they issued concerns out for Zayn. They didn’t want their top talent to get hurt in a nearly meaningless tournament. Everyone was thrilled about Zayn’s talent, skipping 2-Stars in a combat, but that’s where it ended. Kayn was in the 6-Star Body Refinement Realm, that was 3-Star above Zayn. An impossible gap to bridge. And with Kayn’s known attitude, Zayn could be in danger in this round.

“You don’t have to fight anymore! Just start to diligently cultivate and you will easily become the top student of our academy.”

“IDOL! DON’T GO! PLEASE! I CAN’T TAKE IT!”

“Junior student, a warrior of the light should always know where his limits are. Don’t engage in a meaningless fight.”

Even though this time they were on Zayn’s side, he just ignored their concerns. He knew it was possible to win this fight so he couldn’t waste his time with the crowd. They meant well, but just the fight before, all of them hated him. The only people who were earnestly supporting him were Vown and Ryu.

‘Wait a minute… Where the hell did Vown and Ryu disappear to?… Right they were consumed by the crowd!’

He immediately looked around, trying to track Vown and Ryu. And he found them after a few seconds of looking around. What confused Zayn was their whereabouts. They were on the other end of their previous location. Somehow their uniform was missing a few parts, and their face and hair looked completely messy.

Zayn tried to hold his laughter back. They were obviously consumed by the crowd and ended up on the exact opposite side of Zayn’s location.

Kayn also entered the arena, again with his lifeless and lazy movements.

The crowd went into an uproar after his entrance.

“Hey, you! Be careful with what you do to your opponent! If you have a mishap with him, the principal will kill you.”

“DON’T YOU DARE TO HURT IDOL! HE HAS A FUTURE!”

“Junior student, the warrior of light always destroys the enemy of his friends.”

Kayn didn’t even pay any amount of his attention to the crowd. For him, there was only his opponent.

After both of them entered the arena, the fight began. Zayn and Kayn only stared at each other, not moving a muscle.

“Infinite Star! I want you to promise me not to help me at all in this fight. No guidance or analysis from you!”

“Kid, I didn’t even intend to help you at all. It’s good that the request came from yourself. If I constantly guide you, you will become dependent on me. This will hinder your growth in the future. You need to be able to make decisions on your own. Now, I won’t talk to you at all during this fight, you’re all on your own.”

Following that conversation, Zayn burned with fighting spirit. He wanted to have a real, fair and square fight on his own against his opponent.

The fight had already begun, but Zayn and Kayn just stared at each other. The crowd was in silence. One could even hear a pin drop. They were really focused on Zayn.

But Zayn interrupted the silence, he charged forward at his highest speed towards Kayn. Zayn’s highest speed was never displayed before and it promptly shocked the audience.

The speed was so fast that many first graders in the audience and even a few second graders, couldn’t keep up with it.

Right in front of Kayn, Zayn jumped forward and using that momentum, he sent his fist flying towards.

One could only see a small smirk appear on Kayn’s face. He instantly reacted to this assault and punched at Zayn’s fist head on.

Both of their fists connected.

*BOOM*