Ion’s hatred for Zilan was at its peak, it was to the point that he could no longer think straight. He could feel all of the thousands of gazes on him, making it impossible to hide his shame.
“Because of YOU!”
He pointed at the relaxed Zilan and disregarding Judge’s warning, he threw himself at the force field.
*PAP*
Before he could even take two steps, Ion felt the right side of his body go numb and in the next moment he was flying through the air, unable to control his actions.
“Hmph!” snorted Judge as he didn’t waste a second more of his time on someone like Ion. If you’ve already been humiliated, why stay and suffer more. In fact, Judge had slightly broken the rules by ending the match. Normally, one would have to be beaten down to submission or thrown off the stage to actually lose however, foreseeing the long amount of time Ion would be subjected to hacking at that force field, Judge took pity on him and gave a helping hand.
‘Instead of using this experience as motivation for the future….’
Judge then passed his now ice cold gaze through Zilan but did not rebuke him at all. The crowd on the other hand, that was a whole different matter.
“Is this what Half Breeds do?” cursed one of the spectators.
“As expected of someone who doesn’t care about the values of our Association. First, he releases students because of a mere threat and now he disrespects our tournaments. He is purposefully degrading our traditions.”
“By doing this, don’t think that you’ll leave this place in one piece Half Breed!” shouted another.
“Ha! These are the consequences of bringing riff raff from the streets into the Association. Just kick him out already, we don’t want him!”
Killing intent flared across the coliseum. The Beasts in attendance were extremely angered as well as ashamed but if one were to ask them the reason as to why they felt this shame, no one would be able to answer.
Surprisingly though, in a certain part of the spectators area was a girl who was laughing her heart out. The people around her were stunned not because of how beautiful her laughter was but because seeing this young lady smile let alone unrestrainedly laugh was considered harder than ascending the heavens.
‘He’s even more interesting than I thought.’
“Why isn’t that Judge or whatever taking action? Is he working together with that Half Breed?” questioned an angry Beast.
“Yea, what’s going on?”
Seeing that the audience was now turning on Judge, Zilan couldn’t help but shake his head.
‘Everything I’m doing is in accordance with the rules. As for why this is possible?’
The reason a scene like the one playing out today had never happened before in the history of the Rookie Ranking tournament was due to a few reasons that apply solely to Zilan.
For one, there had never been a normal rookie who possessed as much wealth as he currently did therefore, it facilitated him being able to purchase items like the force field. Needless to say, this did not mean that wealthy rookies didn’t exist. Take Fujo for example, what meritorious deed did he do for the Association? He still had a lot of Mystic grains though, enough to easily buy items like the force field.
However, do not forget, Fujo is not normal. His uncle is the disciple of one of the powerhouses of the Association making him a young Master of the Association.
He has his own pride just like others in a similar position to his do, thus doing something like Zilan did on stage today against Ion was completely out of the question for him. His image, his family’s image and Elder Wazimu’s image would be tarnished if he pulled the same kind of stunt.
Zilan on the other hand, was very low on the totem pole. This naturally came along with the title of Half Breed therefore, doing something like this did not affect him much in the grand scheme of things.
The second reason why he did something like this was that, for him to complete his plan in time, Zilan would have to become extremely well known in the Association, to the point that Elders, members, people of the outside world knew his name. Only that way, did he think he could get the attention of the Chairman and attain what he desired.
Thinking this way, it didn’t matter how he rose to fame as long as he became famous. Changing his image could then be done with strength, as was the way of the cultivation world. Might is right! One can be a drunkard, a joker, boring and uneventful, dubbed a coward or even a bad omen however, as long as that person possesses unquestionable strength, he would be worshiped, all his bad points ignored while all the things that made him great were highlighted and spread for the world to know.
Think about it, in what legendary tale was the hero’s bad points talked about in detail? Yes, he was strong and handsome but was how many people he’d slayed to hone his skills ever mentioned? Was his temper or inner arrogance ever mentioned? Was the fact that he would be ridding children of their fathers and mothers, ever talked about? None of this was ever narrated in those legendary tales and in Zilan’s tale, the same would happen.
They would say that in his earlier days, he was hated by the Beasts for having the blood of humans run through his veins but they would specifically leave out how he was the one who brought this hate onto himself at times. Why? Because of power.
Of course, Zilan wasn’t going to use this shaming tactic for the rest of the competition nor did he think they would let him even if he wanted to. For now though, he could face the remaining eight opponents, angering them as well as the crowd of spectators to death.
“If you can break this field, I’ll fight you.” He said in a care-free manner.
*Clang, Clang*
“Oh, you’re giving up? That’s a shame, I really thought you had a chance.” Said Zilan, shaking his head in disappointment. “Next please.”
“Hahaha, that’s the spirit, give it your all. Ah! Is that a spark I saw? A couple billion more tries and I think you’ll have a shot at breaking this field.”
“No wait, you also can’t give up. Just try a little more, you never know, you might just hit the core of this spirit tool and the field will instantly crumble. I believe in your luck, you should too.” Continued Zilan.
One by one, his opponents were defeated and humiliated at the same time, Zilan ‘encouraging’ them from within the field.
“You coward, if you have any semblance of a back bone, why don’t you beat me down. Follow the rules of the tournament, go on then, be a man.” Roared an enraged opponent who’d failed to break open the force field.
“As you wish.”
Zilan then proceeded to take out not one, not two, not three, not four but ten high grade sword spirit tools ranging from a price range of about one thousand to five thousand Mystic grains.
He nonchalantly commanded the swords which were radiating a dangerous light to surround his opponent.
“Should I really beat you down? That is what you want right?”
He had been shouting earlier but now being surrounded by swords, all of which he could never dream of affording, the rage in his heart quickly died down as a fear of pain and death creeped its way into his mind.
“I..I give up.”
*Swoosh*
The swords instantly returned into Zilan’s voidless sack.
The audience had been stunned into silence once more by the Half Breed’s methods, but there was one amongst them who was shocked for different reasons.
‘Those are the things we bought that day when I accompanied him. He said it was in preparation for the Ranking tournament, I never would have thought that he…actually meant it. He had this crazy intention in his head from the very beginning and I actually accompanied him to buy the tools he needed to pull it off.’ Fujo just now came to realise that this was his brother’s plan all along. ‘Hahaha, you never cease to surprise me Zilan!’
Fujo thus carried on smiling as he watched the good show on stage.
“Your ninth and final opponent, Nyoka.” Declared Judge.
Unlike the others, who approached Zilan with hostility, she instead faintly giggled.
“Are you also going to bully me?”
