- The Arena -

"Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome you back to the Advancement Exams," Song Qian Long's booming voice resounded across the Arena, via the advanced speakers system. "I hope you all have enjoyed a delicious lunch."

Several snickers could be heard directed at us, from people who happened to saw us heading to the cafeteria earlier.

"However! Eating time is now over," the old master continued. "Now, is when the second half of Shenzhen Magic High School's intra-class tournaments will begin! Prepare yourself, for the upcoming battles of Class C - and D!"

He said that in an excited tone, but most of the other students consisting the audience weren't as hyped up as before. Class A and B had already finished their battles this morning; they were the main spotlight of today's show. Everyone expected Class C's and D's battles to fall way behind in terms of excitement and thrill.

However, they still held hope for two battles in particular. One, was Liao Fen's, known as the Solo Devil of Shenzhen Magic High School. Infamous for his insane physical prowess and magic power in duels, he held the 31st spot on our school's Magus Rankings, as a mere 2nd Year. It was frightening to even think about just how strong he would become by the time he graduates as a 6th Year.

The other fight was ours - though for quite a different reason. Excluding myself, all of our team members were strong, sure, but they didn't really make a name for themselves through duels. Three of them had just recently transferred into this school, and the other didn't care about that kind of thing.

Even so, I was confident they would be able to make it to the top 100 at least. Considering our school had 600 students across 6 years, spanning 4 classes each, making it into the top 100 was quite a feat already, not to mention they were only 2nd Years. It was the general rule of thumb that the older a student was, the more powerful they were, after all.

The Magus Rankings didn't care about age or gender. It was simple and straight-forward - if you wanted a higher placement on the charts, you dueled for it. Similarly, if you wanted to make it into the top 100, you had to fight your way there, whether it was 1st Years or 6th years in the way of that.

That being said, the four girls didn't seem to have any intention of doing so. Therefore, a large portion of the audience was focused on us for a different reason. By a large portion, I meant all the males.

...You probably see where this is going.

Indeed - they were excited for our battle because of how stunning the four girls were, in terms of appearances. Each and every one of them was considered a top beauty of Shenzhen. In fact, the four of them took the top four spots, in no particular order. Maybe there was an order, actually? Not sure...never paid attention to that kind of thing.

But yeah, that's the reason all the boys were excited to see us fight - not to witness our strength, but to witness the gorgeousness of the four beauties on my team...

Well, in any case. Our match will be the last one of the day, so there was still quite some time before we would have to fight.

I sat back thinking this and watched as the Class C teams began to fight.

As expected, the battles that followed weren't anything exciting. I carefully evaluated every team that has fought so far, and the only ones I wasn't 100% confident we could beat were Xuan Kun's and Ming Hao's. That being said, there was one more dangerous character I should be wary of...

"And now, the finals of Class C - The Devilslayers vs Death's Door!" Song Qian Long announced. He appeared a bit uncomfortable reading these names, since they were excessively dark. It was an attempt to sound badass that failed miserably, to the point where it's just cringey now.

...Then again, who was I to talk? Thinking back, the names I came up with weren't much better. Funny how they seemed like such good ideas at the time

Death's Door was the team that automatically advanced to the finals in Class C. Devilslayers, on the other hand, fought their way here, and were considerably worn down, putting them at a slight disadvantage. Though they were given sufficient time to rest between matches, it still took a toll on their bodies, be it little or big.

I spotted Liao Fen on the team Death's Door. He wore the standard male school uniform, dressed in all black. Basically, my outfit, except more fancy and fashionable. I then recalled Liao Fen's alias in the school: the Solo Devil.

Ah...so that's how it is. I see. On one team, we have the Solo Devil. On the other, we have the Devilslayers. And from the looks full of hatred the Devilslayers were giving Death's Door, I doubted this was a coincidence. Most likely, the Devilslayers were a group of students that held anger or resentment towards Liao Fen. This wasn't surprising - he may be strong, but that came with a price. Liao Fen's nasty personality and lack of any teamwork skills were infamous around the school. There was bound to be some students who hated him.

I really couldn't care less, though. It didn't matter to me who won here - if it was Death's Door, I will have obtained enough information about Liao Fen to form a plan. And if it were the Devilslayers, well...that just means the so-called 'Solo Devil' isn't as strong as the rumors say. And once again, I have seen enough of their fights to know how to counter them.

A loud, mechanical beep from the Arena speaker system signaled the beginning of the match. The Devilslayers didn't waste a single moment - the five of them all immediately targeted Liao Fen together, with three front-liners and two back-liners. The Solo Devil was taken by surprise for a moment, and widened his eyes. However, luckily, Liao Fen's teammates weren't just sitting idly by either. Their support, who was a largely-built boy with glasses, cast the Level Two Earth Element spell, Earth Surge, forming a massive wall made of pure hard rock, halting the Devilslayers' advance.

"Pay more attention," the large boy said to Liao Fen. "The match has started."

From everyone else's perspective, that was nothing more than a friendly reminder as a teammate, especially when coming from someone who just saved your ass. However, to Liao Fen, it seemed like the student was looking down on him.

"Tch...I don't need ya help," he muttered angrily, and glared at the boy who had just protected him.

The large boy narrowed his eyes. "Oi, I just saved you. Shouldn't you be more grateful-"

"Hey, save it for later. They're coming," a third voice cut in - their assassin, and the only girl on the team. The earth wall put up earlier had collapsed, and the Devilslayers were about to attack once more.

It was good timing too, since had the poor guy continued talking any longer he would've gotten sacked by Liao Fen first, before even getting hit by the other team. The Solo Devil's glare held killing intent. Even though it wasn't directed at me, I could still feel it from all the way here, in the audience seats.

"Liao Fen, you're going down today!" a handsome boy with blonde hair who appeared to be the leader of the Devilslayers, yelled with determination as he pointed towards Liao Fen's tall figure.

"Heh...I usually hate teamfights, but the only reason for that is I have to worry about not accidentally hurting my own allies. But...not once have I complained about my opponents..." Liao Fen taunted in response, with a mad grin. "I'm perfectly fine with a 1v5! Come at me with all ya have, ahaha!"

"Grr...! We'll wipe that cocky smile off your face!" another boy from the Devilslayers stepped up, and declared this as he charged in and jumped up high, preparing to unleash a barrage of spells from above.

"Level Two Poison Magic - Intoxication Cloud!"

A fog of poison emitted from his palms, and descended onto where the Death's Door members were standing. The student who launched this attack remained hovering in the air, so I assumed he had a Sky Element affinity as well. The poison gas blocked everyone's vision, including the audience. No one could see if the attack succeeded or not, but I doubted a single Poison Element AOE (area of effect) spell would wipe out the Solo Devil's team completely.

The boy who had cast this spell, however, was far too naive. He appeared to be feeling relaxed, as he wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Ah...that should do it," he sighed in relief, after seeing nothing come out of the toxic fog he placed down. "Liao Fen...how do you like that, huh? What 'Solo Devil'? You're nothing but a weak-"

A shadow appeared behind him in the blink of an eye-

"Oh...I heard someone say my name...?" a deep voice, dripping with venom, asked quietly but threateningly. The boy who had been bragging just moments ago stood frozen in fear, still levitating in the air - for he knew who this voice belonged to. He knew who was behind him, and his entire body immediately became paralyzed, too scared to move even a single inch.

"Look out, Jiao Nan!" his teammate cried, but it was too late.

CRASH!

Liao Fen, with a decisive roundhouse kick to the boy named Jiao Nan's stomach, sent him flying. He crashed into the hard magic barrier set around the battle platform, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Jiao Nan!"

The Devilslayers quickly ran to where Jiao Nan lay, limp and bleeding from the corner of his mouth.

"...He's unconscious, but alive," one of the members reported after checking Jiao Nan's wrist for a pulse.

"Liao Fen, you...!" the blonde boy, leader of the Devilslayers, clenched his fists as he whipped around to glare at the perpetrator of this incident, who was still hovering in the air since he also possessed the Sky Element.

"Heh...who's next?" the Solo Devil made a hooking gesture with his index finger, as if saying 'come at me'.

"Tch!" the blonde boy, blinded by anger, fell for the taunt, and began running towards Liao Fen at full speed, ignoring the warnings and protests from his teammates behind him.

*****

By this time, the poison cloud that Jiao Nan had created also dispersed, and it was revealed that in fact, none of the Death's Door members were hurt one bit. The same largely-build boy from before had cast the Level Two Blessing Element spell, Shield of Life (a better version of the Level One Blessing Element spell, Mana Shield), on every single one of his team members - Liao Fen excluded, of course.

"Damn...why you gotta run out alone like that...?" the large boy muttered in dissatisfaction. He seems to have forgotten the audience can hear everything he's saying thanks to the special Sound Element Magic Array embedded in the Arena battle platform magic barrier, since he began cursing without showing any restraint.

"Eh...it's fine, isn't it?" the assassin girl from before said. "He seems to be doing okay."

"Uh...pretty sure he's doing better then just 'okay'..." a young man, the tallest in the group, said as he pointed at Liao Fen, who was having fun toying with his opponent. He remained in the air on purpose and dodging his the blonde boy's attacks by just a slight margin every time, as if encouraging him to keep trying.

"So...we were holding him down in the end?" the last of the four concluded as the large boy from earlier took down the shield he had put up. He was a short boy, also wearing glasses. In fact, he resembled the large boy so much you could say he was the split image of the large boy, except much shorter and less buff.

"Yeah...I hate to admit it, but he really is strong," the large boy sighed. "Let's just stay here and wait for him to end this..."

"Yuppers!" the assassin girl agreed as she stared at Liao Fen's fighting figure with a slight blush.

"I wonder why he can't work better with others," the tallest boy pondered.

The assassin girl merely laughed heartily, gaze not once leaving Liao Fen.

"Hehe...he is the 'Solo Devil', after all..."