Chapter 215 - Flame Winners

"The winner is Hei." Song Yazhu proclaimed. After that, as soon as Hei finished his victory cry, the teacher continued, "Given the conditions in which the fighting stage is, we will take a break before the next challenge."

Indeed, the combat stage was in an unusable state. The material used to build it was very resistant, and in fact, the tiles hadn’t been damaged. The problem was that most of the surface was covered by Xing's web. With a web of such sticky properties, how could the next two fighters fight?

Therefore, Song Yazhu proposed a break to clear the stage of the web and rescue Pablo Cortés and his spirit beasts still trapped in the web.

“Well done, Ye, Xing. Now you can rest. Tonight I'll get you all the food you want, "Hei said to his little sisters as he walked back toward the other tournament participants.

‘Yeah, yippee!’ Ye yelled with joy.

She was the one in better shape of the two spirit beasts in a certain way. Her body was bruised everywhere and was covered in blood, both her own and her opponents’. Although she possessed the Metal Law, she couldn’t use it during the match. As a result, she had to fight, relying solely on her body's basic resistance and her defensive spirit power layer. Against two spirit beasts at the same time, it was normal for her to have been injured.

Xing, on the other hand, didn’t respond. Even though she hadn’t suffered as many injuries as Ye, the technique she had used had drained her strength. At the moment, she was in a deep sleep as she let herself be dragged by her big brother.

Seeing this, Hei stroked her face gently and then stroked Ye's head. Ye rubbed her face against his hand, a sign that she liked the caresses she was receiving.

"Hurray Hei, Ye, and Xing! Congratulations on your victory!" Hei's companions exclaimed when he returned to them.

Hei replied by putting a finger to his lips and gesturing to be quiet. When he pointed to the exhausted Xing over his shoulder, the others realized that she was sleeping and postponed their congratulations.

"Congratulations on your win. It looks like we will be opponents tomorrow. I can't wait." Hu Jie said in a low voice.

"It seems so. I also am eager to fight you." Hei replied.

Although he normally had a calm nature, Hei also possessed a strongly combative nature. Hu Jie was a genius among geniuses and had awakened Hei's fighting spirit to the peak.

"The next to take the field will be Feng Chen of the Feng Family and William, one of the Imperial Guards of the Imperial Prince Long Tian."

Hearing their names, the two fighters stepped forward and headed for the fighting stage, now cleared of any spiderwebs.

"Feng Chen, it's an honor to challenge someone as strong as you," William said with a slight bow of his head.

"William, you don’t need to use formalities here. Instead, I am curious to see your true strength. Knowing Long Tian, ​​his judgment is quite far-sighted when it comes to assessing a person's talent." Feng Chen answered as he drew his sword.

"Let the fight begin!" Song Yazhu announced.

Crack!

As soon as Song Yazhu gave the go-ahead, William pulled out his glass vials containing his blood. This time, however, the vials were larger than before. Each was capable of occupying the entire palm of a hand. But the procedure didn’t change anyway; William smashed them with his Katar daggers, and the weapons drank the blood contained in the vials.

Stab! Stab!

Two consecutive stabs to the abdomen flew into Feng Chen, who parried using his sword after covering it with his spirit power. William didn’t undertake a challenge of strength, however; as soon as Feng Chen interposed his sword, William quickly moved aside.

'Feng Chen's knowledge of the Fire and Ice Laws is first class. If I give him the initiative, my defeat will only be a matter of time. So, as long as I keep breathing down his neck and don’t give him a moment of breath, I still have a chance at victory.’ William pondered as his eyes moved at high speed to detect possible gaps in Feng Chen's posture.

’He won't give me the initiative? Considering his fighting style and his Elemental Law, it is the best choice. However, even considering that, not many people would be able to attack so aggressively without creating flaws in their guard. As predicted by one of Long Tian's men, he is powerful.' Feng Chen analyzed in his mind.

From the stands, especially from the VIP grandstand, compliments came on William's foresight. Normally it would be difficult for a person to admit they were inferior to their opponent, especially at such a young age. Yet William did; after all, his opponent was Feng Chen, someone who could give even his boss, Long Tian, a hard time. So, he gave up any tactic or strategy to devote himself to a pure frontal attack. And as soon as he made a mistake, the victory would go to Feng Chen.

The two stayed in that furious dance for a while. As time passed, Feng Chen became more and more surprised by William's fencing skills with daggers. Despite trying in every way to destabilize William’s rhythm, he could find no opening. Not only that, apart from lighting the flames on his sword, he hadn’t been able to use any other elemental techniques.

'Since you don’t fall for tricks, I'm forced to break through your guard with sheer force.' Feng Chen said to himself before activating his bloodline, "Phoenix Bloodline, Activate!"

After activating his bloodline, the flames on his sword rose and reached an impressive temperature. William standing right in front could feel the heat of the sword breaking through his body. Soon, drops of sweat began to cover his whole body.

‘Shit. Even if it's just a basic Fire Law technique, the power he can unleash after activating his bloodline is incredible. I even struggle to breathe by being so close, but I can't let go.’

Despite the difficult situation he was in, William didn’t want to slow down for a second. Unfortunately, as time went by, it became evident that his body was starting to have difficulty maintaining this rhythm. Then again, it was already difficult to maintain a flow so fast and steady of attacks with no drop in intensity, let alone while facing such flames.

The situation came to a turning point when all the blood on William's Katar blades evaporated. Now, his blood injection technique was useless as there was no blood on his weapons.

Seeing this, Feng Chen smiled and made his move. So far, he had held back for fear of the high penetration of the Katar daggers and Hide's Blood Law technique. But if the blood on the weapons had evaporated, he didn’t need to worry.

"Intent of the Sword, Fire Law, Phoenix Blaze!"

Another bunch of flames added to the sword's flames before condensing and fired like a beam of flame at William. The young imperial guard had no way of dodging or blocking and fully embraced Feng Chen's flaming technique. However, William stuck one of his daggers to the ground, not to be thrown away by the flames.

‘The moment I let go, it's over. I won't have another chance to regain the initiative. I must win now, or I will lose!’

Without letting go of the dagger stuck to the floor, William stretched out the arm that held the other dagger Katar. "Blood Law, Blood Spike!"

Stab!

Suddenly, William's blood oozed from small wounds on his hand caused by the Katar dagger. The weapon drank that blood and glowed red. Not only that, the blood that had been evaporated condensed again on the tip of the weapon; together with the new blood extracted from the body of its user, the Katar dagger’s blade lengthened, forming a spike of blood.

Stab!

The spike generated by the Katar dagger's blade went to lodge itself in Feng Chen's stomach, who was caught off guard. The Feng family's young man fell backward as his defensive layer of spirit power was shattered around the area where the spike had stuck.

Seeing this, the spectators were incredulous. William had managed to penetrate Feng Chen's defense despite being entrapped inside the latter’s flames. Everyone still remembered the blood technique William used in the previous round. If he were to use it now, would Feng Chen be able to resist?

But William didn’t resort to that technique. The reason wasn’t that he didn't want to win; his blood simply had failed to penetrate his opponent's flesh. 'Another protective layer, probably an Ice Law technique.'

Thinking this, William smiled bitterly. Feng Chen was too far-sighted to be caught off guard like that. It was obvious that he had left behind countermeasures in case of a surprise attack.

“But that doesn't matter. What I have to do is attack! " William shouted as he ran towards Feng Chen with all his strength.

"Phoenix Flame Field."

Feng Chen, noticing William's advance, plunged his sword to the ground. After that, three circles of flames were generated around him, one larger than the other.

William then ran straight to those flames without caring for the damage. He passed the first layer, but his defense was beginning to show signs of failure. At the second layer, his defensive layer of spirit power was on the verge of collapsing, and once he reached the third layer, that layer collapsed completely.

"Blood Spike!" William shouted with a last desperate attack.

Unfortunately, Feng Chen was already ready and easily avoided it as he put away the flames. Wiliam's defense had now been reduced to ashes, and if he hadn't put away the flames, he would have burned his body too.

"The winner is Feng Chen!" Song Yazhu proclaimed.

Seeing his victory awarded, Feng Chen put down his sword and leaned over to William. The latter, although he had burn wounds, wasn’t in such bad conditions. So Feng Chen helped him to get up, and together they went back to the fighting room.

"The next two to take the field are Xinya, another of Prince Long Tian's Imperial Guards, and He Fen of the He Family." Song Yazhu called the next two fighters.

As before, the battle involved one of Long Tian's imperial guards and a Fire Law user in possession of a fire-type bloodline.

“He Fen, I advise you to get serious right away. Since William has lost, it is up to me to avenge him by defeating Feng Chen. I'm not going to lose." Xinya announced, pulling out his Urumi swords.

"I'm sorry, Xinya, but even I can't allow myself the luxury of defeat." He Fen answered smiling and pulled out his Wheels of Wind and Fire.

It was a challenge between two people who could consider themselves friends in a sense; there were no enmities between them, and they had collaborated several times. However, this wouldn’t affect their desire for victory in the slightest.

"Go my Urumi, cut!" Xinya shouted, waving his Urumi swords.

The flexible Urumi swords boomed like thunder as they crashed into He Fen. The latter was ready and began to move to the fighting stage to avoid being cut by those flexible swords. At the same time, he threw one of his Wheels of Wind and Fire at Xinya to disturb his movements. However, the Imperial Guard had mastered controlling his multiple Urumi and dodging He Fen's ranged attacks.

'This won’t do. If I continue like this, I'll never be able to touch him. Remember what Hei told you.' He Fen said to himself as he continued to move to the combat stage.

“Your problem is that you don't have strong close combat techniques. Normally that wouldn't be a problem because you have the range advantage thanks to your Wind and Fire Wheels. But as soon as you find someone with a higher range or covers a larger range, such as Lian, you no longer know how to move, and you end up losing."

This was what Hei told him long ago during one of the usual workouts between them. Despite being of the same age, Hei had an incredible acumen in detecting flaws in others' fighting techniques. He Fen, Leon, Mia, Lilian, Haruno, Mareo, and even Lang and Fenrir often came to him for advice.

“What do you advise me to do then? Should I opt for a more close-up style?" He Fen asked.

“Changing your style isn’t advisable. Your way of fighting suits your weapons, but above all, it is something you have chosen yourself. To change it would be to change your whole nature. Instead, it would be best if you thought about how to fill in those gaps of yours without changing your style but using what you already have. "

Hei's words were difficult to understand at first, but thanks to his guidance and the help and advice of his other companions, He Fen had developed countermeasures for situations like these.

“Bifang Bird Bloodline, Activate! Intent of the Wheels of Wind and Fire, Fire Law, Burning Meteor!"

He Fen's Wheels of Wind and Fire began to swirl around him as they generated high-intensity flames. In an instant, he was engulfed in an envelope of flames. At that point, He Fen moved forward at full speed - his target was Xinya.

Seeing him advancing covered in flames, Xinya waved his Urumi. The flexible swords crashed into He Fen to curb his advance. However, the continuous emission of flames from the Wheels of Wind and Fire repelled the Urumi even before touching He Fen. Their extreme flexibility was compensated for by their low weight, making it easy to move them with shock waves or similar attacks.

"Intent of the Urumi, Poison Law, Blade Acid Rain!" Xinya yelled as he generated several small razor blades from his Urumi. Each of these blades was coated with poison to overcome He Fen's barrier of fire and flame.

Drip! Slash!

The blades fell like hail against the fireball that was He Fen. The flames' envelope this time began to show disintegration signs, but the structure itself still held up; it was strong enough to last until the end.

Boom!

He Fen struck Xinya with the power of his flames. As a last resort, Xinya tried to interpose his Urumi in front of him as a shield. However, the Urumi weren’t designed for that purpose and could only cushion part of the damage.

Cough! Cough!

Both Xinya and He Fen spat blood as they collided. His flames flared across Xinya's body as the rest of Xinya's razor blades of spirit power slammed into He Fen's back, which was now uncovered.

Thud!

The two fell to the ground, close to each other. However, neither of them was out of the game yet. Their will to win was too great to give up like that.

“Bifang Flame Pillar!" He Fen yelled as his hands tightened their grip on Xinya's left ankle. From his body, red-green flames began to rise and covered the two fighters.

"Cut him, Urumi!" Xinya shouted in a worried voice. If he stayed inside He Fen's flames too long, he would surely lose. Therefore, he ordered his Urumi to crash on He Fen, who was on the ground.

"Wheels of Wind and Fire, protect me!" He Fen ordered as his Wheels of Wind and Fire rotated above him. Using the spirit imprint, he could mentally manipulate them as he continued to unleash his flames.

It thus became a competition to see who resisted the most. Xinya kept waving his Urumi to hit He Fen while He Fen used his Wheels of Wind and Fire to protect herself and at the same time unleash his flames.

Crack!

Eventually, a familiar noise and the defensive layer of one of the fighters finally gave way - it was Xinya.

The young Imperial Guard failed to break through He Fen's defense in time before giving in to the latter's flames. With this, the clash could now be declared over.

"The winner is He Fen!" Song Yazhu announced, officially declaring He Fen as the winner.

These two fights had lasted less than the previous two of the second round, but this wasn’t due to a noticeable difference between the participants' skills. In both of these last two fights, two of the fighters opted for an explosive offensive to immediately end the fight. Only, the two got different results.

William tried to block Feng Chen's versatility with a continuous onslaught of quick attacks but without success. Feng Chen had proved to be too powerful and cunning and had achieved victory. He Fen instead bet everything in a single attack; he put all his spirit power into this offensive, eventually managing to win.

Therefore, the winners were Feng Chen and He Fen, both from families with bloodlines of the Fire Law. In addition to that, both bloodlines came from two divine beast birds. As a result, their confrontation would surely be a fiery battle, and only the fiercest flames would win.