573 Chapter 573: Toward Two Hundred

"Ugh!"

Earth spikes impaled a few students and left them dangling in the air in a precarious posture. Outside, Zhang winced before he used his telekinesis spells to levitate them away from the stuff. Blood splattered onto the ground as they were lifted from the deadly earth spikes and out of the cage where Yi Ya and her team of healers were waiting.

Upon seeing the casualties, Yi Ya groaned in exasperation and buried her face in her palm.

"Not again…"

"Next group," Zhang said tiredly, waving in the next group. As the other students debated among themselves about who should go next, I glanced up at the huge holographic screen.

"Whoa!"

I couldn't believe my eyes. I had already defeated 103 people so far. That brought the total tally for summoning students defeated by summoning students up to 150. From out of nowhere, I had almost doubled my score. That last group must have been fifteen, which was why my score jmped from 88 to 103. That was faster than I expected.

Above, in the VIP seat, one of the professors turned to the bald dean with an amused expression.

"Dean Xiao, the summoning department has already defeated a total of 150 students so far. If they really do manage to hit 200, are we really going to give them all the resources from the other departments?"

"Heh…" Dean Xiao could only chuckle mysteriously.

"Of course," Director Henry Porter declared behind them, shocking the poor professor. Uncle Li turned to look at the director, who had just exchanged a glance with his granddaughter. "We gave our word. How can we back out now? Who's going to trust us in future if we backtrack on what we said? Also, how is it fair to the summoning students that we can take their resources and distribute it to the other departments if they fail to meet the target, but if they meet double their target, we do an about face and deny them the rewards they worked so hard to obtain?"

"You're right," Li admitted. "I can't imagine that the other departments will be happy about this, though."

"Besides," Henry Porter continued with a grin. "He has only defeated hundred and three, and even with his classmates' scores, it's still only a total of 150. He has fifty more opponents to defeat if he wants the prize. He might make it, he might not…but let's not count his chickens before they hatch, eh?"

"You're right," Li agreed as he glanced down, at the arena. "Look at Richard…he's already so exhausted. I don't know if he'll be able to hold up for another fifty opponents."

Yet I still had fifty more students to defeat. Damn it.

While I was taking the chance to rest, the guy from earlier was glaring at me, a vein popping in his temple.

"To think that some no-name bumpkin refuses to acknowledge his place," he growled. "Does he not know that this is the territory of one of the ten Great Families?"

His friend, the person he asked to intervene earlier before I could get to a hundred, merely chuckled.

"This is the Porter's territory, not ours," he reminded his lackey. "So don't get carried away. Also, you called him a no-name bumpkin and complained about him not knowing his place…yet do you have the confidence to defeat him? Do you think you'll be able to defeat him if you go down there and challenge him?"

"Uh…no…"

"Then what's all this about not knowing his place? He has achieved his status through a demonstration of overwhelming strength. I'd say he has earned his place. However…"

He adjusted his jacket and stood up. His lackey perked up, delighted.

"Bro! Are you finally going to take action and challenge him yourself?"

"That's right," the handsome guy replied with a smirk. "I'm going down to teach him a lesson. I'll have him understand that the ten Great Families are not people he can challenge so easily. Perhaps he will need to witness the strength of the Hei family before he finally understands his true position."

At the bottom, there was a group of students milling about and discussing amongst themselves on how they had no chance against me or something.

"Against someone like him and all those Soul Beasts, we're just cannon fodder! We don't stand a chance against him!"

"Our spells are useless against monsters of such power!"

"There's no way we can win!"

"Damn it…! Will the summoning students really get all our resources?"

"Let me through," someone spoke up behind them and they all automatically parted to allow him to walk past them. When they caught sight of who the person was, their jaws dropped in amazement.

"Hei…Hei Cang Feng!?"

"You're going in alone?" Zhang asked, loitering near the cage entrance impatiently. Hei Cang Feng nodded.

"Yes. I'll be enough on my own."

"All right!" the other students cheered. "It's someone from the Hei family!"

"We're saved!"

Above, in the VIP box, next to Dean Xiao and in front of Henry Porter, one of the middle-aged women sighed and ran her fingers through the strands of her hair.

"So that nephew of mine has finally decided to take action, huh?"

"Oh, boy…" Li was shaking his head as cold sweat formed on his brow. "Even the Hei family is stepping in now. I guess this mess will finally be over…"

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I watched as Hei Cang Feng took up his position in front of me, one of his hands stuck in his pocket and his other hand arrogantly held up.

"Richard Huang, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"I have to admit, you're definitely one of the strongest students that Vermillion University has recruited this year. I did hear that Director Porter scouted you out himself. I'm impressed by what I have seen so far…you really have displayed remarkable abilities throughout the last few matches."

"Uh, okay?" I said, not sure where he was going with this.

"You're surely superior to the majority of students here in Vermillion University. You have proven that with your excellent performance. However…don't get carried away. You have yet to face the cream of the crop yet."

"Are you perhaps referring to yourself?" I asked dryly. Then I mentally instructed my Celestial Guardians to back off. While they did, I raised a hand, which was crackling with azure mana. The next instance, everything was frozen solid, even as I murmured an incantation. "Absolute Zero."

"Shit!" Hei Cang Feng cursed. "He was actually casting a spell this powerful while hiding behind his Soul Beasts?!"

"!!"

Zhang and the professors in the VIP box jolted up, reacting to my spell. But they were too late. In an instant, the entire arena was frozen solid. Ice clung to the wire meshing of the battle cage, sealing the holes with frost. The coliseum had been transformed into a tundra.

"Whoa!"

The students screamed and shrieked, ducking in reflex as the ice expanded toward them, only to encroach the edges of the spectator seats. Above, Hei Cang Feng's aunt turned pale, perspiration running down her face when she saw her nephew get hit.

"Damn it, of all the freaking spells to use…�� Zhang cursed, throwing out a hand.

"No…!" Hei Cang Feng cried out before everything vanished in an azure explosion.

A thick fog billowed across the entire place, and the poor guy was frozen solid. His aunt, who was sitting above, watched him worriedly.

"The boundary field is still in place, right?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Zhang called out from below, already using his telekinesis spells to break Hei Cang Feng's body out of the ice and sent him to a nearby stretcher. "He's still alive."

"I'll heal him right away," Yi Ya said.

"Ugh!"

Hei Cang Feng was coughing violently as he was broken out of the ice, shivering. Sitting up on the stretcher, he conjured a wind spell as he glared at me, the hurricane buffeting Yi Ya and causing her to stagger.

"I'm going to kill you!" he hollered.

"That's enough." With a swing of his hand, Zhang smashed the wind spell to its constituent mana with his telekinesis. He stepped between Hei Cang Feng and the cage. "You've already lost."

"How?!" Zhang demanded. "I have defensive equipment here. Even if you hadn't broken me out of the ice, I would have broken free eventually!"

"Do you think your opponent will dally around and do nothing while waiting for you to break free?" Zhang countered coldly. "Don't forget, he has five Soul Beasts waiting for his orders. He could have instantly pulverized you while you were still stuck inside the ice."

"Not to mention, you're suffering from severe frostbite and hypothermia," Yi Ya added as she made her way back toward the shivering guy. He glanced down and saw that his extremities had indeed turned black, and his face turned even paler than currently.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't stop himself from shivering. Even so, Hei Cang Feng remained defiant.

"Nonsense! These injuries are nothing! I can…"

"Enough is enough," Zhang snarled, his eyes flashing. Hei Cang Feng immediately fell silent, cold dread stabbing his heart. He realized that Zhang was even more terrifying than I was, and he fell back onto the stretcher, allowing Yi Ya to treat his injuries. The professor in the white coat glanced at the healing mage and jerked his thumb toward the infirmary. "Get him out of here."

"I would have done so even if you didn't tell me," she replied primly. At her gesture, a couple of medics hurried over and carried the stretcher bearing Hei Cang Feng away. She then glanced at me and shook her head with a sigh. "Please go easy on your opponents."

"Sorry," I replied, but I wasn't paying much attention to her. Instead, I was glancing up at the huge holographic board above. My score was now 104, and the total tally for all summoning students had reached 151.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I rested for a bit while waiting for the next batch of opponents. As if he had read my mind, Zhang was yelling for them.

"Next group!"

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself for the next group. Around me, my Celestial Guardians gathered, their huge forms casting a colossal shadow over me and giving the spectators some sort of ominous premonition.

That was right…I was the lord of darkness, the grim reaper…death incarnate. I was the Summoner Sovereign.