Chapter 51: Take That Back!

The very next day, the group went to visit the arena. Unlike yesterday, there were considerably less people watching the arena. The VIP seats were also removed and only the regular viewing seats were available.

Teo, Windle and Lia sat at the front row and waited for Tordin, Gina and Rowen’s turn to fight.

They were slightly worried since they knew that there was a chance of their seniors to be maimed or killed.

“Look over there, it’s that twerp!”

A familiar voice sounded off very loudly, Teo and Windle recognized this voice. It was Kristofer from the elementalist class. Zachery and his group was there as well as other members of the Rizon faction from the academy.

“Hmph! If they are here that kid’s sister might be here as well”, Erin said.

“Hmm the second ranked among the 8th year student, it might be interesting to watch”, Ash declared

“Although that woman is strong, outside the academy she is as common as the cloud. She’ll probably lose pitifully”, Zachery said.

He held a grudge against Teo so his voice was very loud, enough for Teo and the others to hear. Ridiculing Teo’s sister was a way for him to vent his anger.

When Teo heard this, his face harden and his hands formed two fists tightly held as if it was about to explode. Ridiculing him, he did not care much about, but when others insulted people he cared about his fuse was surprisingly short.

Seeing Teo, Windle and Lia grabbed both Teo’s arms.

“Teo, calm down, there are a lot of them here and they out number us. Don’t do anything reckless”, Windle whispered

“That’s right, forget about them Teo”, Lia urged

“Look, it’s senior Rowen!”, Lia said as she looked at the next fighter to come on stage.

Rowen’s light armor was equipped, and her opponent was standing 10 meters away from her.

The stage was large but only two fighters were allowed at the time. These many fighters in the arena to gain experience and fame, but the majority of them would place bets on their fights. The bets would be pooled together and the winner would take the total amount.

Rowen had place a bet on her match and was matched up with an opponent of similar level of strength. Her opponent was also a class 4 fighter who looked to be around 40 years old. Experienced fighters would often come to the arena to make money and in this fight, they each placed 1 gold coin as a bet for the match.

Seeing the fight about to start, Teo calmed his anger and concentrated on the fight.

Rowen’s opponent held a spear on his hands and a sword at his waist. His left arm was protected by a shoulder armor while his right shoulder was exposed. He wore a chainmail and bracers which indicated that he was mostly one who was well balanced in fights. His armor was not light but it was not heavy.

“Ready! Fight!”

When the match begun Rowen quickly closed the gap between them, Rowen’s range was mid to close range while her opponent would have an advantage in mid to long range fights.

She used her speed to try to close in, but her opponent was tough and would not easily let her get close. Her only advantage was her speed over her opponents, unfortunately her opponent with his vast experience and technique was able to cope with his slower speed.

She was slowly being overwhelmed, so she quickly open the small pouch on her waist and released the metal shavings. The metal shavings formed a chain that encircled her forming a barrier. They quickly rotated at high speed similar to a drill.

The expenditure of this technique was great so she did not have much time. She controlled this chain to enclosed her opponent but her opponent used his Qi to disrupt her control. The spear clashed on the chain and the control was cut off.

Rowen concentrated her control and thicken her chains entrapping the spear but as soon as she was concentrating on the spear, her opponent unsheathed the sword on his waist and slashed at her. She blocked with her bracers but it ran through the edge and injured her left upper arm.

She quickly shouted

“I concede!”

With that the fight was over. Her wound was light as she practiced body tempering as well. Healing it was not a problem, but losing meant she lost her one gold.

Although she lost, a smile was on her face. This fight was very useful for her and she learned many techniques of her veteran opponent. Although she could learn them by watching the fights, she would better understand it by experiencing it first hand.

Within the stands, a group of people laughed at the sight of the battle.

“HA HA HA, That bitch lost too hard”

“How pathetic, if it was me I would have wiped the floor with that old man”

Teo’s ears twitched. Each ridicule to his sister stabbed the pride for his sister. His fury rose and stood up and walked towards the Rizon faction members who were making fun of his sister.

Seeing Teo walking towards them, their laughs paused but a smirk on their faces revealed disdain and ridicule.

“What does this trash’s brother want?”, Kristofer stood forward blocking Teo’s way

“YOU BASTARDS TAKE IT BACK! MY SISTER IS NO TRASH!”

Teo’s eyes burned with anger and fury. He drew everyone’s attention by shouting. Even Rowen who was stepping out of the stage with her hand on her wound heard Teo’s shout.

A smirk was on Zachery’s face. He was enjoying the sight of Teo being enraged.

“We’ll take back shit. What trash is trash, are we wrong? Didn’t she lose miserably? HA HA HA”, Kristofer laughed

“Brother you are too much, you should not care too much about trash”, Erin said

“Ignore this trash, since his sister is trash, he must be trash as well”, Ash continued

They all laughed and continued to mock and taunted Teo.

Teo’s anger swelled well past his limits. His fingernails dug into his flesh as his fist was tightly clenched.

Instead of shouting at the top of his lungs, he calmly roared in a loud voice.

“If you really think I’m trash, then come fight me in the arena!”

Zachery smiled, laughed and said

“Why do we have to fight you? What’s trash is trash, even without a fight this cannot be changed!”

“What are you guys scared?!”, Teo taunted, he had never wanted to beat someone so badly before.

Teo had some history against this group before, but he ignored it. Now that his sister was being insulted by the same group of people, the buried enmity quickly resurfaced.

They all laughed and looked at Teo as if they were looking at an idiot.

“Do you think your taunts would get us to humor your futile request?”, Zachery laughed

Lia and Windle from behind were apprehensive because of the size of the opposite group, but were also a little angry. They a great relationship with Rowen and Teo was their friend, but this place was not their place to fight. Outside the academy was a place where they could get killed if they offended someone who had power.

They slowly approached Teo from behind, hoping to pull him away and stop him from his foolish vendetta.

“Teo, let’s go. We shouldn’t piss them off outside the academy, we can challenge them in the academy instead”, Windle whispered as he grabbed Teo’s arm but before he could get a tight grip Teo moved forward and escaped his grasp.

“Fine, you think I don’t have anything to offer? I bet 10 gold coins to fight anyone of you! We’ll see who the real trash is or are you gonna make up another excuse!?”, Teo announced

He had placed the bet of 10 gold coins as a public challenge. Teo had a little over 13 gold and was ready to place 10 gold in a bet to teach these vile people a lesson. He was confident with combat abilities because of his intense training and sparring from the past few months.

Several people who were watching became shocked at the large sum of money being betted. The bets within the arena would usually peak at 2 gold coins the most, but this time a kid who was no older than 11 years old was betting 10 gold coins. A hint of greed flashed across their eyes but they did not believe that this ordinary kid would have that much money on him.

The faces of the Rizon faction first grew ugly. This village kid dared to disrespect them, but after realizing it, it was the perfect chance to get some money. Zachery who was acting leader’s eyes flashed with a hint of greed. It was the perfect opportunity to get some of his money back and of course, since they were being challenged in public with a large reward, they could not decline.

“Fine, since you are want to throw your money away, we will oblige”, Zachery said with a sinister smile. It was acting as if he had already won 10 gold.

“Hmph! I’m not giving them away, you have to bet 10 gold as well. Can you even afford it?”, Teo mocked as he gained momentum.

Zachery’s face stiffened.

He realized what Teo was trying to do. 10 gold was a lot of money and if they, the Rizon faction, could not even bring out enough money, then in the eyes of everyone watching, they would be the real trash.

Zachery was in a dilemma. He did not know how much money his members had. If they pooled in all the money they had right now, would they have 10 gold? He was unsure, but he had already accepted Teo’s challenge

“Ha ha ha, these young ones want to try out the arena”

A voice below the arena sounded in a loud and clear voice. It was the judge who controlled who was to fight next and stopped the match once one side surrendered.

“Since the stakes are high, we can let you squeeze in the next match. What do you say?”, the man grinned as he asked them

Teo looked at the man and said “I’m fine with that”, then looked over at Zachery.

Zachery stalled his answer and whispered to his posse

“How much money do you guys have? Let’s pool our money together and double them in this fight”

Zachery gathered money from everyone but could only come up with a little over 8 gold. His face darkened as he realized that they did not have enough.

“What are you stalling for? What can’t even afford it? Now we can really see who is trash!”, Teo taunted.

A smile was on his face, seeing the troubled look on the group’s face. He learned a lot from Gina’s taunting techniques as they spent time together. His tongue was sharp but was still incomparable to Gina’s.

Some of the members’ faces turned red. One part from embarrassment, the other from anger, but none of them said anything back. Only Zachery spoke.

“Hmph! Just because we did not bring enough money today, doesn’t mean we cannot afford it!”, Zachery retorted as he took a silver ring off his finger.

“This ring cost 5 gold, we’ll use it as collateral! We’ll agree to fight right away!”, Zachery announced

The judge smiled and quickly arranged it, but as he did Teo laughed in a loud voice.

“HA HA HA! I am no expert at jewelry but you expect me to believe that this is worth 5 gold?”

Teo then picked up a rock on the ground and held it high

“Then this stone is worth 10 gold, I guarantee it!”, he taunted.

Teo knew that this ring was somewhat valuable but he could not ascertain its price. So Teo had a clever idea as he saw another ring on Zachery’s finger.

“You dare doubt our Rizon faction?!”, Kristofer yelled.

“Yes, I’ve never heard of this faction before!”, Teo announced loudly

Everyone knew he was full of shit. Who could go to the nearby academy and not know about this faction’s fame?

Teo then continued

“At most, I’ll give that an evaluation of 1 gold”, Teo smiled a sinister smile.

Erin then interjected “But then we won’t have enough”

“That’s right, you are just doing this to avoid fighting with us!”, Ash declared

Teo was unfazed by their reasoning, and replied as he pointed at Zachery

“You have two rings don’t you? If you bet both rings with your remaining gold I’ll consider it all to be worth 10 gold”

Zachery’s face turned ugly. His other ring alone was worth 10 gold coins that was given to him by his grandfather. He was going to speak out and reject Teo’s proposal but Teo quickly interrupted and said

“Or are you not confident with your abilities at all?”, Teo smiled and mocked the group. A little bit of his anger quelled a bit as he insulted them.

“Fine! We’ll accept this terms!”, He took off the second ring and held 8 gold coins and two rings.

The faces of the Rizon faction members gave a smile. They were enraged by this kid’s taunting and was almost embarrassed in front of the public. If they ever meet Teo alone in a dark alley, they would surely attack him without care, but out in the open they had to care for their face. If they ganged up on Teo then they would shame their branch family and perhaps heads might roll.

Teo smiled. Although he taunted them with his act, he was still enraged from their insults to his sister. He had to prove them wrong!

“We’ll then, who will fight me?”, Teo asked