"Not necessarily."
Arthur thought it over. "Depends on how things go. I've got something to take care of first. If I'm lucky, I should make it in time."
Shen Yi pursed her lips, clearly not satisfied with that answer, but she also knew she had no way of changing Arthur's mind, so she could only wave a hand. "Fine, fine."
She paused, then turned to look at the students who stood ready to depart, raising her voice. "You bunch of little troublemakers, you'd better rein yourselves in once we get to the Sun and Moon Academy! This is supposed to be a friendly exchange match, understand?"
The air went still. No one answered.
"Ahem." Shen Yi spoke up again. "I'm talking to you! Understood?"
"Understood!"
The unified roar exploded through the air at once, the fighting spirit in their eyes nearly overflowing.
This left Shen Yi somewhat taken aback. Which one of them was actually the teacher here?
Soon, they arrived at the doors of the Sun and Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.
Arthur was speaking with a middle-aged man.
"You call this a friendly exchange match?" The middle-aged man glanced at the crowd bristling with battle intent.
"Just tell me, are we fighting or not?"
"Fighting what?" The middle-aged man shook his head, looking amused. He knew Arthur far too well.
Years ago, Arthur had shattered Shrek's unbeaten legend, and had even defeated a Rank-One Battle Armor Master. Their entire school had celebrated the victory back then.
He knew exactly what Arthur was capable of.
There was no winning against him.
Arthur frowned slightly and glanced back at Gu Yue. "What if I don't step onto the field myself?"
The middle-aged man followed Arthur's gaze to Gu Yue in the crowd, then swept his eyes over the fiercely determined Shrek students, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes.
He'd looked into Gu Yue before. Sure, the boy had beaten Arthur once, but there'd clearly been some give in that fight. Anyone could tell it was just young lovers toying with each other.
And this group of first-year students, sharp and eager as they looked, were still just kids who hadn't been through much real trial.
"You're sure?" The middle-aged man rubbed his chin, his tone loosening a notch.
He'd only said that for show a moment ago; there was no way he could actually refuse. Their academy had a feud with Shrek, and now that the other side had come to challenge them directly, backing down simply wasn't an option.
Even if Arthur did step onto the field, they'd still have had to grit their teeth and fight regardless.
"Of course." Arthur said with certainty. "And regardless of age, you can send students up to five ranks higher in soul power than my students."
"One-on-one or an all-out brawl, your call."
Rough words indeed, one-on-one or brawl.
The middle-aged man shook his head. "No need. You're first-years, right? We won't send anyone over fifteen either."
"One-on-one, no wait, both individual matches and team battles, we'll do both."
Arthur nodded.
"Work out the rest with our teacher here." He turned to leave. "Something's come up, I need to go."
Having handed the remaining arrangements to Shen Yi, Arthur turned and walked away.
Word of the match had already begun spreading through every street and alley of the capital.
There was no stopping it.
Even if the Sun and Moon Royal Soul Master Academy had never intended to publicize it, it wouldn't have mattered.
After all, with Arthur not fighting, the other side still had seven students ranked on the Young Talents list. Their odds looked slim, so naturally they had no interest in advertising it.
But news of the clash between the two academies simply couldn't be contained.
The higher-ups at the Sun and Moon Academy watched grimly through the soul-guided device feeds showing the buzz in the streets, faces darkening, and had no choice but to grit their teeth and pull in extra staff to prepare the arena.
They had wanted to keep this low-key. Now, with things spiraling out of their control, all they could do was hope their students would put up a decent fight and not lose too badly.
"Good luck to you all."
Watching the massive street screens showing Gu Yue and Na'er leading the group at the front of the procession, Arthur lowered his head slightly.
"And good luck to me too."
Then he turned and walked into a narrow alley.
Somewhere in a corner of the city.
"Don't you think this bunch of kids is a little too ruthless? They're trying to wipe us all out."
Inside a dimly lit bar, a man wrapped in a black robe spoke, his voice trembling.
The bartender slowly lifted his eyes, his voice hoarse and cold. "Ruthless? A bunch of brats who haven't even finished growing, and they dare talk about being ruthless?"
"But sir," the black-robed man said urgently, "Skyfight, Skyspirit... all those outposts have been wiped out! Those kids coordinated far too well.
"And especially the one leading them, the one called Arthur, he's practically a monster!"
"They're calling him the Evil Soul Master Killing Machine out there!"
"Just a few minor outposts." The bartender wiped the wine glass in his hand unhurriedly, his blood-red gaze cutting through the glass to land on the man before him, his tone dripping with disdain. "Don't bother reporting trivial things like this from now on. Get out."
The black-robed man felt a chill run through his entire body under that crimson stare.
He didn't dare linger any longer. Hunched over, he scurried out the door, and in a blink, vanished into the street outside.
The bartender watched him go, the hand wiping the glass slowly coming to a stop.
A raspy voice sounded from behind him. "This whole matter is strange. Could Shrek Academy have discovered something?"
"Using these students to probe around?"
The bartender didn't turn around, his tone giving away neither anger nor pleasure. "Probe? If those old dogs at Shrek had actually discovered something, they'd have gone berserk already. They wouldn't bother with probing."
His fingers tapped lightly against the rim of the glass, a flicker of malice crossing his eyes. "Arthur... heh, genius or not, he still needs time to grow into his strength. The Organization can't be bothered dealing with him, but I happen to have the time for it."
"If he doesn't learn to rein himself in, this would be the perfect chance to settle new grudges alongside the old."
"Old grudges? Have we met before?"
An abrupt voice cut through the air.
The bartender's motion froze instantly. The raspy voice behind him also cut off at once.
The air in the bar seemed to solidify in a single moment, even the lights seeming to dim a notch.
The bartender slowly turned his head, his crimson gaze locking onto the golden-haired youth sitting there, though no one had seen him arrive.
Arthur seemed completely unaware of the delicate tension in the air. "I'm still underage, can't drink alcohol. I'll take a milk tea instead."
"We don't sell milk tea here." The bartender's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oh, never mind then."
Arthur leaned back against his chair.
"You still haven't answered me though. What old grudge do we have? I've never seen you before."
The bartender said nothing. From the shadows behind him, the raspy voice rang out again.
"So alike, so alike."
"You look so much like that couple back then."
"Arthur..."
Arthur stood up and walked right up to the bartender.
At this moment, the two of them stood very close, separated only by the bar counter.
"So that's how it is. So this is the old grudge."
Arthur's voice was very soft.
The bartender's throat bobbed once, a flicker of wariness passing through his crimson pupils. Arthur had no shortage of powerful backers, and he had the feeling he might already be surrounded.
Still, he forced out a cold smile and probed carefully. "Good that you know. When your parents died back then, I was there too. And now that you've fallen into my hands today, I suppose this counts as..."
"That's wonderful." Arthur asked. "Then can you tell me who exactly was there at the time?"
"Of course..." The bartender grinned, venom pooling beneath his eyes, drawing the word out long.
"Of course... not!"
The instant the last words fell, he struck without warning, black soul power surging straight at Arthur's face!
The raspy voice in the shadows roared along with it: "Kill him!"
(End of Chapter)