63 Chapter 63: Glacial Battle

When Jie Bing glanced at the holographic image of Teacher Fielding, I also turned to look, only to catch sight of a familiar figure at the corner of my eye.

To my astonishment, Alicia Violet was present, along with a crowd of spectators. For some reason she had joined Harvey and the other members from Ultimate Outcast Society to watch my match. She smiled when our eyes met, and waved at me. I blinked, and then turned my head away, feeling embarrassed.

"Ahem…" Teacher Fielding coughed, bringing me back to reality. "Student Richard, are you ready?"

"Oh…yeah. I am."

I was still wondering why Alicia was here, but I guess it didn't matter. I could ask her later. For now I should focus on the match.

"Ready…fight!"

Teacher Fielding swung his hand down, and began the match. Jie Bing was regarding me from a distance, and he politely signaled me with a hand.

"Please," he said. I tilted my head to the side, and smiled, before reciprocating the inviting gesture. After all, I was a summoner. I had no business launching the first attack. Besides, the more time I could buy for myself, the more advantageous it was for me. Especially since I would be able to summon my soul beasts soon.

However, Jie Bing wasted no time. When he saw that I had no intention of attacking, he launched himself forward, kicking off the ground with a thunderous noise. His explosive dash almost took me by surprise, his ferocious momentum carrying him forward and allowing him to cross the relatively huge distance between us in a single bound.

"Whoa!"

I dodged Jie Bing's first punch, spinning to the side and avoiding his fist. However, Jie Bing displayed surprising dexterity by flipping himself over my head, twisting around and smashing his other hand down toward the top of my head.

"…what?!"

No, that was not from me, Jie Bing or the spectators. That was a cry of shock from the existences beyond the fourth wall. You guys seemed taken aback that I started the duel between Jie Bing and me so soon.

What? Did you really think I was going to spend three whole chapters on needless exposition, listening to annoying comments and remarks from the "crowd" about my low chances of beating Jie Bing, give cameos to various beautiful girls who had thus far nothing to do with the story, make fun of their jealous male subordinates who were trying to trick their beautiful captains into going on dates with them, as well as drop a gigantic info dump upon the readers detailing the big clans, the duel system politics, boundary field technology or a dossier about how talented my opponent was and how he was going to force his way into Jing Tian Academy's team of representatives?

Fuck all that. I wasn't Skeleton Wizard, and there was no point dragging out exposition and throwing loads of info dump for the sake of it. People claimed it was "world-building" but honestly did you need three whole chapters of exposition, explanations, and crowd reactions before you finally started the actual duel?

In any case, I wasn't stupid enough to stand around and block the attack. Instead, I slid to the side, jerking my head away before his hand could land on my skull. Jie Bing landed and rammed his elbow upward, almost cracking my jaw, but like Dad did the other day against Troy, I deflected his strike by hitting the inside of his arm and altering the trajectory of his attack. We broke apart, but Jie Bing was not done yet.

Whirling around, he sent a roundhouse kick toward my chest.

"!"

I managed to cross my arms and parry the kick, but the force behind his attack send me skidding backward a few meters. Heaving, I lowered my trembling arms to study my opponent.

Amazing…and he hasn't used any magic or spells yet…

This was exactly the kind of training and results my Dad had emphasized. To master martial arts before magic, so that you would have a solid foundation for combat instead of relying too much on magic. This was simple martial arts, and right now Jie Bing was overwhelming through basic techniques alone.

"Hu…"

I exhaled and shook my shaking arms before reasserting my stance. Tilting my left hand so that my palm faced upward, I gestured him to come at me again.

Jie Bing wasted no time charging rapidly at me. He punched at me again, but this time I stood my ground. Deflecting his fist to the side, I then hammered a few sharp, rapid blows into his chest while moving my assault up to his face. Jie Bing staggered, but he managed to shield his face. Twisting to the side, he lashed out with a kick, but I blocked his foot with my leg before he could complete his attack, and then forced him backward, causing him to stumble.

While he was off balance, I seized the opportunity to ram a fist into his midriff, causing him to double over. Jie Bing gritted his teeth and countered with a right book, but I managed to parry it with my forearm. Deflecting his next punch, I then struck, my hand moving like a serpent and weaving through his defenses to flick his head.

"Gah!"

Jie Bing blinked as his vision exploded. But as he fell, his leg shot up in a powerful kick that forced me to retreat. I twisted to the side to avoid his foot, and then rammed my knee against his falling body, causing him to hurtle several meters away. Jie Bing hit the ground, but he immediately rolled back up to his feet and restored his stance.

"…"

Now it was Jie Bing's turn to take a deep breath. Shaking his head, he sighed.

"You really are similar to me, aren't you?"

"I knew you were a master of close combat techniques, but I didn't expect you to have mastered martial arts too." I was amazed. First Troy, and now Jie Bing. It seemed that the mages who bought into my Dad's philosophy weren't all that rare after all.

Jie Bing narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything anymore. There was nothing more to be said. He would rather fight than talk. You know the old adage – let our fists do the talking. That was the type of mentality that Jie Bing embraced.

Therefore, he lunged at me again.

This time, I was more prepared, I dodged his tackle and then slammed my elbow into his back, dropping him. Jie Bing reacted by throwing his hands to the ground and springing himself back up, throwing his leg up for a kick. I stepped back, his feet almost grazing my chin, and then kicked him. Jie Bing crossed his arms to block my foot and was blown away, but he cartwheeled and landed on his feet. Before I knew what was going on, he launched a barrage of punches that forced me into the defensive. While I deflected his punches, he suddenly dropped to a crouch and kicked me in the chest.

"…!"

Skidding backward, I lowered my hands defensively. Jie Bing got back to his feet, watching me warily for a counterattack, but I merely maintained my defensive stance. Snorting, the ice mage than propelled himself forward again.

"?!"

He had been expecting Wing Chun, but this time, I allowed him to get past him, and using an aikido technique that my Dad taught me, I used his momentum against him, grabbing the back of his uniform and tripping him before sending him sprawling headfirst on the ground, dazed. Before he could recover, I kicked him in the face, causing him to almost black out.

"!!!"

Before I could finish him off, my instincts screamed a warning. Icy magical energy was surging from Jie Bing's body and freezing the entire arena. I quickly jumped away from reflex before I could get captured by the ice, almost slipping and falling as the ground beneath my feet was frozen over.

"…so the rumors were true. You really did learn martial arts." Jie Bing was rising to his feet with a cold smile. "Interesting."

"You're welcome to my Dad's dojo anytime," I replied. Jie Bing shrugged nonchalantly, seeming uninterested of which dojo I attended. All he cared about was having a good fight. Now that I studied him, I could see that he was actually enjoying himself.

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"It's time to get serious," he muttered as he stretched out his right hand. Silver-blue light coalesced into his palm and took the shape of an ice sword.

At that moment, all the spectators fell silent. To be honest, I wasn't even paying attention to them, so I barely noticed, but the silence after the background chatter died down was pretty palpable. For an elementalist to reach the stage of materialization spoke volumes of his potential.

Of course, weapons materialized using one's magical energy would be inferior to actual Divine Devices, but they held one advantage. They were a far more superior conduit for magical energy than Divine Devices. They might be more fragile, less durable and could not contain as much power as actual Divine Devices, but they suited the user completely.

Jie Bing swung his sword, unleashing a howling wind of snow toward me. I merely stood there, allowing the frost to pelt me, knowing that he was merely showing off and not actually attacking. I wasn't going to allow him to intimidate me with such a display of power. Even as I watched him, Jie Bing's body was gradually being wreathed in an icy aura. Faint traces of azure magical energy enveloped his figure, its glacial quality emanating a freezing effect that almost caused me to stop cold.

Whoosh!

I wasn't given any time to snap out of my chilled stupor. Jie Bing had suddenly advanced, charging at me with his sword. Watching him, I suddenly recalled what he told me before the match. His reason for challenging me.

My magic was similar to his? Indeed it was.

"Gemini."

Muttering the word under my breath, I cast my spell and my twin swords materialized in my hands. Crossing them, I parried Jie Bing's attack. His ice sword clashed against my Gemini twin swords, the azure blade sparkling against a conglomeration of black and white. Jie Bing then withdrew his sword before he slashed repeatedly at me. I parried him blow by blow, first deflecting his ice sword with Castor and countering with Pollux. But Jie Bing managed to draw his sword back to defend before he retaliated with a swift stroke.

Not just a single swift stroke. His thrust that slammed into Castor turned into a barrage, with him executing almost a hundred strikes under a minute. His hands blurred, and his azure ice sword turned into a streak of azure. I was almost unable to follow his movements with my eyes and could only rely completely on instincts to block each and every blow.

Spinning around, Jie Bing's movements almost mimicked an elegant waltz, his movements precise and flawless. Each strike aimed at my weak point – my neck, my heart, and my head. At the same time, I was slowly growing used to how predictable they were. If I knew where Jie Bing was aiming for, then it was but a simple matter for me to block them.

Even so, he was overwhelming me with the sheer speed and brutality of his attacks. Whirling like an ice tornado, Jie Bing was suppressing my every movements and pushing me to a corner. Even though we were both armed with swords, it was clear that Jie Bing's swordsmanship was superior. Against his icy maelstrom of attacks, I could only defend. I was slowly losing my chance to counter.

Not only that, Jie Bing's icy aura was sapping my strength, slowing my movements and causing my responses to be sluggish. More than once I had experienced a close shave where his sword sliced just millimeters away from my neck because his blade slipped through my clumsy defenses.

Despite holding the advantage, Jie Bing for some reason was growing more frustrated, his expression darkening with each second.

Apparently he thought he would be able to finish me off within two minutes. But three minutes had passed and he found my defenses impenetrable. He had come agonizing close to delivering a lethal strike, but somehow I just barely managed to stay a single step ahead of him, avoiding a fatal blow.

Just how was I doing it?

Glowering at me, Jie Bing intensified his attacks, sending a flurry of sword strikes that took me by surprise and almost overwhelmed me.