(IHPM) Chapter 178: One with Sword

'HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!'

Inside his head, he was laughing like a madman.

'Years of training and cultivation, huh? Don't make me laugh...' he thought even as his mind thoroughly memorized the feeling. 

In an instant, his trigger got activated and in the next instant, a pure Gold glow, much more intense and thicker than Yang Wei appeared on his free hand which he had hidden behind his back.

'Mission Accomplished,' thought Chris as he instantly deactivated the Qi before anyone could see it. He hadn't spent his time with these two in vain. 

Although Chris had suffered no damage, Fleur didn't know that. She could only remember the African guy with burnt marks lying unconscious on the stage. 


Thus, she took his hand in her hands and blew on his finger. Still worried that it must be burning, she took his finger in her mouth and licked it to cool it down. 


While Chris was celebrating adding one more powerful weapon to his dangerous arsenal, he suddenly felt a soft and wet sensation around his finger. 


Looking up, his soul almost left his body when he saw Fleur sucking on his… finger.


"What the—" he quickly retracted his hand, still reeling in shock. 


Fleur also suddenly realized that her actions just now were a little inappropriate. A blush spread over her face all the way to the tip of her ears. She suddenly wanted to find a hole to hide in. 


Chris, on the other hand, recovered from his shock quickly. He realized that Fleur was just overly worried and now she'd gotten embarrassed. 


"Hey look!" He said, showing his finger. "Look, my finger is all better now," 


Everyone looked at his burnt finger to find that there were indeed no signs of any burns. 


"Looks like your mouth has magic," said Chris with a raised eyebrow. 


Fleur swatted his shoulder,

"Liar. You weren't hurt in the first place. Don't scare me like that again." she said with a small pout. But inwardly she was quite grateful to him as it help her feel less awkward. 


She took out her wand and cleansed his finger. She was once again grateful that he didn't show any disgust or repulsion in consideration of her. Any other person would have either wiped their finger clean, or worse, licked it. 


"Thanks. For worrying," he said after they had both sat down to watch the next round.


"As someone said, we're family,"

She said, quoting him which caused him to smile.


The next few matches were also quite intriguing as well. Like the one with another House of Life participant. (The Egyptian organization which specializes in Runes or hieroglyphs.)


This was a bulky dude and his body was also covered in bandages too. 

As soon as the match started, the guy sent out just one spell. 


*BOOM*


It landed right in front of his opponent. It had demolished a huge chunk of the stage while throwing his poor opponent straight out of the ring. 


'Damn… one specialized in speed while the other specialized in power,' Chris was impressed. It seems that the researchers there weren't just smoking weed all these years.


Then he saw one beautiful girl with blue hair and long ears come onto the stage. 


"Woah! It Seems Like Atlantis Will Be Participating as well! WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS YEAR?!"


When her opponent attacked, all the spells were blocked by a wall of ice. Then sharp spikes were sent out while the opponent had his feet frozen.

*CHEERS*

"Oooooh! I think that's what you call 'COLD TREATMENT'! We couldn't even see much before it was over! That cold beauty is surely not playing around!"

"The competition is tough this time. And you've still not told me what you're going to do about your opponent," said Fleur in worry.

"Don't overthink, Fleur. Just enjoy. This is just a family trip. We'll duel because It's fun, not because we need to win," he said relaxedly before he looked back at the matching board.

Because right now, there was another important match. 


"Wu Mei! Teach that guy a lesson! He dared to the Shaolin Temple! Show him the immensity of heaven!" Said Yang Wei with his fists clenched.


Yep, it was Wu Mei v/s Ivan Alyykrov


Wu Mei got up with a focused look on her veiled face.


Chris and Fleur wished her luck as well to which she nodded. Chris had already warned her about that guy, so there was nothing more he could do.


"Oh, And The Next Contestant is Ivan Allykrov from Koldovstoretz, Russia. He Is The Younger Brother Of Our Chief Guest Anastasia Alyykrov, the World Champion and a certified genius! Let's See How He Performs!"


"And His Opponent, Another Student With No Information From the Shaolin Temple, Wu Mei!  It Seems That We're In For Another Great Show!" 


Fleur looked surprised,

"He's Anastasia Allykrov's younger brother?" 


Chris nodded. Yang Wei had already told him about it in the locker room.

"Why are you surprised? Do you know about that woman?" He asked.


Fleur face-palmed, 

"Chris, have you been living in a cave for all these years? You've never heard of the Crimson Fairy? That woman's been in so many kinds of Newspapers, magazines, and even books!" 


She hadn't expected him to not know. Especially if he was a male. That woman is also called Alyy Feya, the Crimson Fairy. And most boys, especially those who have any interest in Dueling are simps for her. 


Chris nodded in recollection, 

"Oh, so it's that chick, huh? I've heard my friends talking about her, but I don't know much," said Chris. He had always been a person who paid very little attention to worldly affairs in both of his lives. 


Now, a very beautiful and powerful duelist would have been an exception but Magical Britain doesn't even have the color photos. Is he supposed to admire a picture with no color? 


Fleur felt somewhat happy that Chris wasn't that scarlet woman's fan. 

"Well, just know that if that guy is even half as talented as his sister, he'll be a troublesome opponent."


Chris whistled,

"Damn," 

How hateful it is when cocky and arrogant bullies have got everything—money, background, talent, and looks.


'Wait, there's someone else who fits the description much much better…'


Chris realized how hateful he must seem to his enemies. But of course, this guy was just a mob in front of him. 


"START!"


The duel had started!


Wu Mei took out a beautiful Tai Chi sword from her storage tool. Now, even though the Tai Chi swords may have the most appeal and seem the easiest to learn, in reality, it is the most difficult of all the weapons to master.


The sword form is beautiful to look at, and just like any performance, the movements require dexterity, balance, and precision to be flawless while appearing effortless to the observer.


Chris knew all this because he has been researching swords for a while. 


On the other hand, Ivan had a blood-red crystalline stick in his hand with an ornate leather grip.


Wu Mei didn't stand on ceremony. As soon as the match had started, a golden Qi oozed out of her sword, covering it. And she slashed out the sword in beautiful arcs. 


"A Sword beam?!" Exclaimed Chris. He had already tried this shit. His attack though… it was an exaggerated amount of power copied from the cutting hex. A cutting hex uses only 3% of the amount of power he'd put in his sword beam. And...It was further enhanced by the sword's cutting power. 


The results... let's just say he wouldn't want to use that on a human being unless he wants them dead.


Wu Mei's sword beams seemed much tamer in comparison. She was holding back in case she accidentally killed the guy. 


Ivan, on the other hand, looked toward his older sister before he put on a somewhat serious face. He chanted a spell and the attacks were blocked by a Shield that looked quite sturdy. 


Normal people would have thought that it was Ivan's power, but not Chris.

He clicked his tongue. Sure enough, as long as people had money, they could get a powerful wand crafted too. Chris is not the only one. Though, of course, his newly crafted wand which is made of Chrystanium… It would be an insult to even compare that thing with the Elder Wand, let alone the toy in this guy's hand.

 
Ivan grinned cockily and taunted Wu Mei by saying something. When he finally attacked, Chris clicked his tongue in annoyance once again. 


Because the magic of this guy turned out to be quite dense. At this age, it's only possible if you know some cheat way to increase the density, or—natural talent.


The Wu Mei, however, didn't back down. She sent out sword energies which actually intercepted the spells, creating loud explosions and some even heading for Ivan.


While Ivan blocked the beams, Wu Mei's sword let out a bright glow. 


Chris's eyes popped out of their sockets when he saw her next move.


"Bro… she's trippin'." He muttered. The energy contained in that sword was more than enough to kill the guy.


When she slashed, a sharp whip-like extension came out of her sword, heading straight for Ivan who was clearly not prepared.


Ivan also clearly didn't expect this girl to go from level 2 to level 10 in an instant!

In haste, he tried to block it, but it cut straight through his defenses, making him close his eyes.

But surprisingly, it didn't cut him. It stopped in mid-air as if a video had been paused. 


This time, even Yang Wei's jaw dropped. He had never seen Wu Mei fight. She was the Grandmaster's granddaughter, always training away in seclusion. She didn't even have to go through any trials to get the opportunity to come like he did. 


But this control… it's the perfect mastery stage, Being One with Weapon!


"Do you give up?" Asked Wu Mei, with her attack stopped right in front of Ivan.


Ivan glared viciously at Wu Mei, not looking the least bit intimidated. His big sister was sitting right here. But, he did toss his wand in away, as if giving up.


Wu Mei, thinking that the match was over, relaxed her guard and withdrew her sword. 


But at this moment, a bright red flame came out of nowhere, already very close to her. She quickly used her defensive techniques to defend, but the flames seemed to have a mind of their own as they swerved around to attack her from the back and side. 


Turns out, when Ivan had made a show of tossing away the custom-made precious wand he had drawn another wand, the one for his daily use, to sneakily attack Wu Mei while all eyes had turned to his wand flying in the air. He's technically never given up. 


Since she'd not expected this, Wu Mei was inevitably engulfed in flames. She didn't know there were such shameless people out there!


"Wu Mei!" 


Yang Wei, Chris, and Fleur stood up in worry. 


But at this moment, an old man suddenly appeared on stage and the flames around Wu Mei were blown away revealing Wu Mei covered in her own Qi. 


She was burnt in several places but she was still standing. 


"Meimei, you can withdraw now," said the old man gently to Wu Mei in Chinese.


Wu Mei shook her head, looking frustrated,

"Grandpa, No! Not like this! I can still fight,"


The old man sighed, 

"No, you can not. This is no ordinary flame, my child. You still have a lot to learn," he said before he disappeared along with Wu Mei.


In the VIP section, Anastasia shook her head. This boy still used those powers in the end. Now she'll have to clean up after him. 


Yes, there wasn't only one Exalted in their family. There were two. With two different powers.


This was an extremely rare occurrence and thus, even those who knew about her being an exalted never suspected that her brother would be one too.


…


'Those flames...' thought Chris, ignoring the commentator who was currently busy screaming his lungs out about what just happened. 


Those flames were much more powerful than your average flames. Heck, that didn't even look like a spell since there was no chant nor any focus. 


'And the change in direction…' that was something else. The guy didn't even move his wand or used his hand to direct them. It's like he was able to do it with just his mind.


Chris didn't think this guy was so talented naturally. Or that he trained himself to such a degree. 


Then an absurd thought came to his mind.

'No way, right?'

But at this moment, he had to pay attention to something else first.

Chris Martin V/S Mordax Sigríðurjóna.

Yep, it was our champ's duel next.

***

A.N.: Well... these are difficult to write.