215 Big News

"F*ck, Yezi, I think this is going to be bad." Faced with the opponents that were getting ready again on the field, Charles was a bit panicked. He said quietly, "They probably have another lowly and evil trick! You have to be careful."

Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes. "You think they can be lowlier and more evil than us?"

"Oh, that makes sense!"

"…" Ye Qingxuan did not want to bother with him anymore. He glanced at Bench Guy, who sneakily made a hand gesture to show that he was ready.

On the other side, Cullen was stunned. The history department’s formation had changed. This time, the guy with the headgear had run to the front. Ye Qingxuan played center and they gathered their strength in the back for defense.

Cullen sank into deep thought. He actually did not care about Charles, Bai Xi, and Old Phil. Charles had his own limits, Bai Xi was already exhausted and sitting beside the goal, and Old Phil…Even the most powerful dog was still a dog and was nothing.

Ye Qingxuan had many tricks up his sleeves and was both evil and lowly. But if Cullen fought fairly against him, he would win naturally. Ye Qingxuan was just a bit annoying—he could not make up for the difference in skill, unless he pulled out a magical weapon now and turned the tide. But if he really did have a magical weapon, he could even fight all the way to the palace…if he had this power, why was he still playing soccer?

Therefore, the only trouble that remained was this headgear guy who had never revealed any clues or weaknesses. The man who Ye Qingxuan called "Bench Guy," had not shown his face even once. They could not even tell which school he was from. A mystery, a mystery.

Even Cullen, who had been the secretary of the student council for so many years and had seen many geniuses, had a thorny feeling when facing this guy. "Be careful of this guy later." He glared at the headgear guy and pulled out his instrument, playing a faint melody when he moved—it was a rarely seen organ.

Specifically created for musicians, this organ had forgone most of the pieces. After the makeover, it turned into geometric crystals that hovered around him. The silver crystals reflected weak light and manipulated the air pressure. Vibrating the springs of the instrument, it created a light and ethereal sound. It sounded as if a young boy was singing gently of God’s glory.

After the spirit of the music score was awoken, it let out the echo of a hymn on its own accord. As the song spread, rays of light fell on the spectators. Their spirits instantly began recovering.

There seemed to be incense burning in the air, bringing with it an ineffably mysterious and distant smell. It made one feel as if he was in a temple.

In the Academy, Cullen was one of the few who chose to study the School of Choir. His family had close connections with the Westminster Chapel. He had been a choir apprentice as a child and learned about temperament and music theory from the hymn singers. Thus, he learned the most classic mass from the School of Choir.

The serial code of this mass was Op. 35. Its name was nothing special and had no holy characteristics. It was very easy too, but became widespread due to its ability to help others recover their spirits. Used here, it was perfect. It energized everyone, helping them quickly recover from fatigue.

His teammates cracked their knuckles and stared at the history department across the midline. Anyone could see that these guys had finally stopped underestimating their opponents’ strategy and had grown serious.

"This is going to be interesting." In the stands, the principal whistled. No one knew why he was excited.

In stark contrast to him was Ingmar, in the faculty seats. His face had been gloomy this entire time. He said nothing and just stared at the players on the field. The only thing in his eye was the reflection of the student with the headgear. He murmured something quietly.

"Start!" The referee blew the whistle, creating a sharp sound.

As if they had prepared beforehand, Bench Guy instantly stepped back. Walls and shields shot up in front of him. Colored lights followed immediately, shooting across the air. The shields broke continuously in the resonance. It was the instantaneous attack made by the student council. It was so aggressive and explosively fast that everyone was astonished.

Just behind the midline, Bench Guy had no time to steal the ball. The shields around him rose and crumbled continuously, suppressed immediately. He could only defend passively.

The suddenly activated attack caught Bench Guy by surprise too. It was difficult to handle at the moment. But in the midfield, Ye Qingxuan just stood in his spot. He gazed at Bench Guy, who had been surrounded, and muttered something. He waved his hand and light fell down into the dirt under his feet, forming a shapeless bump. Instantly, hundreds of light spots scattered in all directions under Ye Qingxuan’s murmur.

One must admit that Ye Qingxuan was highly skilled at music note variations. Note variation application was only a slight increase of difficulty for students, but rarely was anyone able to create so many variations in such a short period. There was barely any pause between each note, and each was perfect.

Hundreds of notes became touch-activated traps after modification. They created "ditches" all over midfield. Even if the opponent was well-prepared, they would be in trouble once they stepped onto one. At that time, the opponent’s formation would be thrown into disarray and Ye Qingxuan’s team would find an opening.

Off field, not even the strictest professor could help but nod. It was as expected from an Abstinence teacher’s student. His music theory foundation was firmer than regular students, but unfortunately, his teacher could only help him this much.

In the midfield, the light spots in Ye Qingxuan’s hands flowed out like a faucet and scattered in all directions. The speed was incredible. The energy usage was large, but the effects were fast as well. Within ten minutes, the entire field was covered in traps. The touch-activated music notes connected with each other, creating a mind-numbing formation.

Under the student council’s full-out attack, Bench Guy finally showed signs of breaking down. He began retreating and dodging those students’ forceful music. After all, he would be forced off the field if he was not careful…

Finally, as the student council began closing in, Bench Guy sighed helplessly. He retreated and no longer blocked their attacks. If he continued, he would probably cut his lifespan in half.

Seeing that he moved to the side so easily, the spectators suddenly felt a pity for him, but he had already worked hard enough to face them alone for so long. No one thought that he was slacking off.

Seeing that Bench Guy had given up on stealing the ball and had given them a free pass, Cullen ignored him and went straight for midfield. If he kept dragging things on, there might be more problems. Who knew what tricks the Eastern kid had?

The student council finally released their crushing power and recovered their aggressive attitude. Their fans in the audience instantly began cheering, but when they saw the dense traps, they grew hesitant. The notes were all single-use notes and were not very powerful, but would be troublesome once activated.

The white-haired kid was also especially crafty with the formation. They were basically all connected in a domino effect with no blind spots. Stepping on one would cause a whole area to explode. It was as if nails had been strewn all over the field, but Cullen did not have the time to worry about them. It would take forever to undo the notes one by one.

Cullen glanced back at his teammates. The student who had already undergone Deva sensing and was a formal musician moved past Banner, who had the ball, and ran to the front. He charged straight into the traps! Explosions sounded instantly.

But before that, a melody wrapped around his body and played abruptly. Under the passionate music, the student’s skin turned into a metallic rock color. His height instantly shot up and transformed into the rock giant Gigalith. The melody intensified again as he roared. A shapeless burst of air spread from his body.

Boom! The explosion of air swept through, instantly activating all the traps. Frost rays, air, fire, erosion, ice, explosions…Hundreds of music notes were set off instantly. The power from the explosion converged under the guide of the chain reaction. It was comparable to a regular music score.

But had the musician really chosen to forcefully absorb the shock? The string of explosions and light instantly swallowed him. When he rushed past the danger zone, his body was covered in wounds. His melody had been interrupted too, and the backlash of the music theory made him dizzy. He stumbled and could not move after a few steps; he sat down and panted in exhaustion.

He had not cared about any restraints, targeting or dodging. He had just charged forcefully. No wonder he was from the School of Modifications! He had taken everything in stride.

The trap zone had been devastated too and completely emptied. On the field, Egor nodded lightly. He was not angered by the practically mindless tactic, but sighed as he looked at the exhausted musician. "What a determined child."

As an important figure in the team, sacrificing oneself when needed was one of a musician’s responsibilities. Cullen had made the decision in an instant to use his main force here in order to destroy the history department as fast as possible. Clearly, the student council was very determined.

Seeing their ferocity as each rushed over with almost suicidal determination, even Ye Qingxuan with his tricks felt a headache coming.

"Yezi, what should we do?" Charles asked.

The youth thought for a moment and sighed. "Seems like I underestimated them." Soon, the white-haired youth moved away from the student council. He did not block them at all and just let them charge forward. "Senior, move away. Let them have this goal." Having witnessed the student council’s determination, he gave up on the pointless defense and sighed. He had grown naïve after the recent success and thought that everything would work as he had planned. But once his opponent took things seriously, he did not know what to do. Whatever! He would just see it as treating them to dinner. He gritted his teeth and thought, "Welcome and come play!"

Confused noises sounded in the spectator stands. No one had thought that Ye Qingxuan would just move aside like this! But then a piercing roar sounded behind them, giving them no time to marvel over anything.

The beastly roar sounded out of thin air. Then, with a rumble, something soared toward the white-haired youth’s back, which was completely unguarded and open in the attack! Instantly, everything fell silent. Everyone looked toward midfield in shock. It was Banner, who had completely transformed into a beast.

What…was this?

The moment the beastly roar had sounded, Cullen’s scalp went numb and he knew that things had gone wrong. When he saw that Banner, who was at the front for offense, had rushed toward Ye Qingxuan, he knew that it was too late. It was over.

His vision went dark and he felt heavy remorse. Banner had not planned on listening to any commands since the beginning. He had sunk too deeply into hatred and could not see anything else. And so, he had used the taboo technique of "beast fusion!"

Under the crazed and disorderly melody, the manticore roared and transformed into a writhing black shadow. It slammed into Banner’s body and Banner’s eyes instantly turned red as he roared like a beast. The thin youth had instantly transformed into a giant demon with fiery wings and black fur!

This was "beast fusion"—a technique that musicians had taken from werewolves. The Romulus people had wandered across the world after their country had been destroyed by a natural catastrophe and were known as the wolf people. Because they were cursed by the natural catastrophe and lived in eternal pain, their bodies contained hundred times the beastly nature than the average man.

The beastly nature would awake once per month and turn them into crazed werewolves, unable to resist their thirst for blood and death. After dissecting and analyzing many werewolves, Summoning musicians extracted the technique from them and modified it for themselves.

By forcefully fusing themselves together with their phantom beasts, they could instantly receive the beastly strength and transform into a killing machine. But the beastly nature was too powerful, and one could easily fall into darkness and turn into a dark musician. Thus, this technique soon became forbidden, but many Summoning musicians would learn it secretly and use it at the most critical point or…just in case.

But no matter what, it was a taboo and something Summoning musicians should never be allowed to touch. No one had imagined that Banner would know this technique and use it in broad daylight just so…just so he could rip the youth before him into shreds!

Cullen had thought that he was reasonable and that Banner would listen to him, but he had forgotten that Banner was not his follower—Banner was Gavin’s brother. This guy had never cared about Cullen’s warnings…There was no time to be angry. He tried to stop Banner, but it was too late.

Too late.

Too late.

It was already too late.

He saw Ye Qingxuan turn around, his pupil reflecting the beast that was Banner. The large shadow swallowed Ye Qingxuan before he could even struggle…

There was a fulmination and the wild waves of aether transformed into a hurricane, lifting the broken grass from the ground. The fire that shot out of Banner’s mouth blinded everyone’s eyes. They could only hear the continuous roars from the beast, and the cracking sounds that followed.

An explosion, and an explosion, and an explosion, and another explosion.

There was the fanatic music score, the piercing melody and finally, the youth’s hoarse roar.

The audience’s faces paled instantly. Some girls already started screaming in fright. In the stands, Egor jumped up subconsciously. The power of the four elements wind, water, fire, and earth shone and spun in his hands, forming a faint black hole. Dazzling light brewed in the darkness of the hole. He disliked the history department’s ways, but he could not allow a student to be killed in such a cruel way in front of him.

Ludwig’s eyes shone with the light of a beast as well. He growled and summoned a dragon eagle out of thin air. It flew down to force them apart.

Ingmar did not move. There was no joy in his eyes, but rather more and more…anger? "A joke." He stood and left with flapping robe sleeves.

The principal did not move either. He sat in his chair without any movement. In fact, he even forcefully stopped the two coaches’ interferences.

Egor looked at him in shock. "Mr. Principal?!"

"Don’t worry." The principal chuckled. "Something interesting is going to happen."

-

On the field, there was an instantaneous boom and dust rolled. Fire, light, and the beastly roars shot out continuously. The fierce single-sided killing at centerfield finally ended. A scorched figure rolled out of it all.

Everyone yelped in surprise as they stared at the wounded figure. Soon, there was uproar. No matter if it was coaches or the spectators, everyone yelled in shock. The one who was scorched and covered in wounds was…Banner!

He rolled pathetically on the ground, as if some terrifying power had tossed him out. He crashed and practically rolled off field. The manticore jumped out of his body and the beastly fusion was forced to an end. The phantom beast disappeared soon after, dissipating in the air.

He raised his head in anger and roared, staring at the rolling smoke. When he looked at the figure walking out of it, his eyes were filled with terror and confusion, rather than hate. "You aren’t Ye Qingxuan!" he growled hoarsely as he glared at the figure slowly walking out. "Who…are you…"

The man walked out of the thick fog without any hurry. His clothes had been burnt and he coughed because of the smoke. "Who am I?" The figure walked out of the dust and revealed his white hair. "Aren’t I the unlucky b*stard that you want to kill?"

The wounded youth shone under the sun, revealing the shadow hidden behind him. With a flash, the face and white hair grew blurry, as if it was behind a blurry lens. With another flash, the illusion broke down completely.

Finally, the man under the disguise showed himself. Under the sun, the burnt concrete block around his head showed signs of cracking and crumbling.

The crowd cheered and booed.

It was Bench Guy!