502 Chapter 502: Four Heavenly Kings

"Reinforcements?" I repeated incredulously. Craig grinned as he glanced back at me, straightening up from his earlier stance and resting his spear on his shoulder.

"Yeah. And I'm not the only one."

The Black Swordsman lunged forward, seeing that the new opponent had seemingly lowered his guard. However, he didn't manage to get far. Lightning flashed and a burly figure descended from above. The Black Swordsman barely evaded it, whirling to the side, but his new assailant twisted around and whacked him with his thunder hammer. Even though the Black Swordsman successfully parried the massive weapon, there was a loud crack of thunder. Golden electricity exploded between them, throwing the Black Swordsman back.

"Theodore!" I yelled, recognizing my senior.

"Yo." Theodore Hammond hefted his thunder hammer up before slamming it against the ground. Sparks flew, lancing toward the stumbling Black Swordsman who had only recently regained his balance. He blocked the huge spark, but smoke billowed from his obsidian blade.

Incredibly, he was unfazed from the lethal electricities. He was already lowering his sword down to point it at Theodore, kicking off the ground to charge. Theodore brought his hammer up, ready to swing it down to meet him.

He didn't have to.

A torrent of divine flames erupted and engulfed the Black Swordsman, hurling him back. His armor smoldering and almost turning red from the sheer heat, the Grimaldus expert dove out of the flames, coughing incessantly. He rolled up to his feet, only to get a flaming kick in the head from his latest assailant. Even as his head snapped back, an ugly burn materializing over his cheek, he didn't hesitate to swing his obsidian sword.

"Whoa!"

Dong Fang Yue Chu jumped out of the sword's range, flames wreathing him protectively. Hee clamped both of his hands together and unleashed another stream of superheated flames that washed over the Black Swordsman and immolated him, but as usual the formidable warrior just cleaved the inferno apart with a single slash.

The four of us managed to regroup, while the Black Swordsman dropped to a kneeling posture to catch his breath. As Dong Fang Yue Chu landed next to us, he waved.

"Been a while, hasn't it, Richie?"

"It has indeed," I agreed as I took a deep breath to stabilize myself. "Man, am I glad to see you guys! How…?"

"We were the nearest unit that received the distress signal coming from here," Theodore explained as he swung his hammer to unleash another bolt of lightning, which the Black Swordsman swatted away with his sword. "So we came here as fast as we could."

"Yeah, we were visiting Flandor City anyway, to check out your new students, since it's the summer vacaction and all." Dong Fang Yue Chu chuckled. "But we didn't expect to meet up with you so soon!"

"Eh?" I pushed my glasses up as I stared at them. "You didn't tell me?"

"We wanted it to be a surprise," Dong Fang Yue Chu explained sheepishly as he let loose another jet of flames at the kneeling Black Swordsman, who cut the fiery projectile down. "Didn't expect you to be working in a middle school camp."

"Well, seems like you've gotten yourself into trouble, as always!" Craig chuckled as he charged forward with his spear thrust forward. "Let's show this sucker the strength of the Four Heavenly Kings of Jing Tian!"

"Wait, what?" I was joining him, flanking the Black Swordsman and striking him from the side. The Black Swordsman somehow managed to fend off both Craig and me, but his movements and precision had visibly dulled. "What Four Heavenly Kings?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Dong Fang Yue Chu sniggered. "That's what our schoolmates have been calling us, ever since the tournament."

"Pay them no heed," Theodore grunted as he swung his thunder hammer at the back of the Black Swordsman, who blocked his heavy strike, only to be blown back by an explosive clap of thunder. "You know how students love gossip."

He was a student himself, though…well, he was going to graduate this year.

For now, I focused on the Black Swordsman ahead of me. Craig and I executed a pincer attack, attempting to overwhelm his defenses, but our formidable foe spun about like a whirlwind, somehow parrying all of our brutal strikes in an elegant fashion. He charged up black mana in his obisidian blade, trying to unleash another of those massive attacks of his to nuke the field, but Dong Fang Yue Chu engulfed his blade in purifying flames.

"!!!"

The Black Swordsman's eyes widened briefly when he saw the crimson flames swallow up the black mana that had coalesced around his obsidian blade, only for his spell to be nullified before he could cast it. With a growl, he swung his sword to knock us back, but Craig, Theodore and I relentlessly struck, with at least two of us moving in to attack whenever our opponent's attention was focused on one of us.

We traded over a thousand blows, our weapons clashing and sparks flying. Occasionally the Black Swordsman would try to unleash one of his big spells, but Dong Fang Yue Chu would purify them. Of course, Yue Chu's purifying flames were not omnipotent, and the Black Swordsman was still able to pull off smaller blasts, battering us aside or injuring us with violent shockwaves, but at least we could prevent him from nuking us.

So far, anyway.

"You brats!" the Black Swordsman stormed at us, his frustration getting more evident as he swung about and missed Craig, only for Theodore to hammer him from behind. When he turned to face the burly third year student, I snuck in and slashed him, drawing rivulets of blood and actually scoring several rents on his armor. "Swaming over me like a bunch of insects!"

"What do you expect?" Craig asked with a sneer. "The only way for us bugs to win is by making us of our superior numbers!"

"One against one, none of us will be a match for you," Dong Fang Yue Chu agreed. "But we can't afford to fight you honorably, not when you're threatening the lives of kids!"

"Who I kill has nothing to do with any of you!" the Black Swordsman bellowed, swinging his sword and unleashing another huge blast of black mana that threw me, Craig and Theodore aside. When he tried to close in on Theodore, Dong Fang Yue Chu engulfed him in his flames. The guy twisted around and cut through the divine fire, only for Craig to stab him in the back with his demonic spear. The cursed weapon, capable of piercing any armor, easily went hrough the protective sheet of metal and punched right through muscle and bones.

Roaring in pain, the Black Swordsman swung his blade about and almost took Craig's head off. The spearman backed off, and the Black Swordsman pursued him, only for Theodore to clobber him in the head. Lightning danced about his weapon and smashed into the Grimaldus warrior, causing him to howl.

"On the contrary,�� Theodore panted. "It is very much our business if you attack a bunch of innocent kids."

"That's right!" I snapped as I slashed the Black Swordsman from behind while he was intent on retaliating against Theodore for his attack. "It's our duty to protect the innocent!"

"Shut up!" a reader shouted from above the crater. "I only want ruthless MCs! I'm sick and tired of peace-loving and heroic idiots who always think about other people instead of caring only for themselves! I hate kind and nice main characters! Why can't I get my evil, overpowered MC who does whatever he wants and doesn't give a fuck? This story sucks!"

The Black Swordsman obliterated the moron with a single blast from his sword, his expression dripping with contempt and disgust. He then turned to look at us wryly.

"These are the bastards you are trying to protect?" he mocked. "Ungrateful, self-entitled trash who only know how to insult other people when they don't get what they want, and insulting other people for being selfless and kind? You might as well be evil and kill everybody like me. That way, you don't have to put up with their nonsense."

"Those hypocrites only know how to insult writers and demand for evil MCs, and complain when the protagonist doesn't kill anyone for no reason, but that's because they have never been a victim. When they end up being targeted for murder or genocide, I can tell you that they will start blaming other people for not saving them, and saying stuff like villains deserve death. It's okay if the main character does it, but it's not okay if it's a mob character or an antagonist. Double standards and all that." Craig shook his head. "If they want to read a story about an evil main character, then look for a story that is about an evil main character! Why jump into other stories that feature heroic protagonists and then start complaining and insulting the writer for not writing what you want? That's like complaining about science fiction stories having space marines and spaceships insead of magic. Go read a fantasy story if you want magic! These readers are so entitled – we are not here to pander to their personal tastes and fetishes! Why can't they get that through their heads?!"

"Welcome to Webnovel," I told him. "Are you new here?" Then I turned to the other readers. "As an aside, if you're reading this story on anywhere else other than the official webnovel website – yes, it's literally webnovel dot com – you have been ripped off. I don't know why the scrapper sites bother stealing my story, but if you are against piracy, you're more than welcome to come here to Webnovel, where you can read for free. Just create an account and sign in daily for three passes and all that."

"Why are you doing an advertisement right in the middle of a duel?" Dong Fang Yue Chu demanded as he cast another fire spell at the Black Swordsman, who had resumed attacking us now that he had gotten rid of the edgelord reader. He ducked under the counterattack – the obsidian sword swinging at his head, and was relived when Theodore stepped in to hammer the armored swordsman and force him back.

"Because piracy is a real problem," I replied as I deflected the Black Swordsman's blade and stepped in to slash him. The enemy spun about, parrying my blade while simultaneously dodging Craig's spear. He kicked out, forcing me back, and then struck at Craig, who parried his obsidian sword with the thick shaft of his spear. "There is no other way to inform the readers on scrapper sites unless I actually talk about this in the story itself."

"Not in the middle of battle!" Craig grunted as he twirled his spear, exchanging a couple of blows with the Black Swordsman. Theodore and I closed in, hoping to score a hit on the armored warrior's back, but the ace of Grimaldus whirled around, his sword flashing out. Theodore's hammer met the blade in a ferocious howl, while I spun away from the heavy boot that had lashed out in a desperate kick. While I retreated, I left a couple of nicks in his once polished greaves, damaging his armor further.

Slowly but surely we were pushing him back. As formidable as he was, he was still only one person. He wouldn't be able to survive an onslaught from the four of us, especially with his injuries accumulating at an unsustainable rate.

Aware of this, the Black Swordsman cast another quick spell, his blade erupting with black mana to fling us back. I crashed against the ground, managing to leap back to my feet. Even so, I felt bruised. Beside me, Craig fared similarly, but he was nimbler than I was and was already preparing a charge with his demonic spear.

"He still has so much strength left!" Theodore was slower than the both of us, but he managed to roll back to his feet. His eyes widening, he quickly slammed his hammer against the ground to send a spark toward the Black Swordsman.

"Damn it, so this was his plan!"

Above, Dong Fang Yue Chu had also been battered by the blast, his purifying flames not quick enough to counteract the faster spell of the Black Swordsman. He saw that the Black Swordsman had blasted us back so that he could finish casting his massive spell once more. He launched another wave of purifying flames at the formidable warrior, who was gathering a lot of black mana into his sword.

However, the Black Swordsman merely flung out a single gauntlet and caught the flames, dispersing it. The powerful spell scorched the gauntlet, leaving charred marks across the black armor and turning it red, but it didn't reach the enemy's sword. The Black Swordsman grimaced in agony – Yue Chu's spell definitely had a devastating effect and burned the hand underneath the gauntlet, but it was far from enough. Rather than stopping the Black Swordsman, it only served to enrage him further.

"Stupid bugs!" he roared. "I'll wipe you all out!"

The black mana around his sword reached a climax and he swung it down, obliterating the entire field again.

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