Child of Destiny

...…

"The academy would like the four of you to fight each other," said Professor Michael, making sure that Shin and the others heard him clearly.

Meanwhile, the four crown emblem bearers were silent for a few moments as they were trying to consider the offer that the academy proposed to them.

But they were still not fully convinced and had some doubts in mind. And to voice out their thoughts, Diel opened his mouth and asked. "We are expecting to have some compensation for these sudden adjustments, aren't we?"

Professor Michael slightly raised his eyebrows when he heard the sudden question but he still nodded his head in response. "Of course, you all will receive some compensation from us even if you win or lose in this battle."

"Can we hear what are compensations first before deciding whether we are going to accept the proposition or not?" asked Jean Camus while crossing his arms in front of him.

Professor Michael was silent for a moment before answering. "We are going to give 200 points each regardless of the result as well as a first-class cultivation resource that will assist you on your progress in your respective disciplines."

"Quite a tempting offer but I wonder what it is exchanged for? I doubt that it is just us partaking in this royal rumble," commented Dylan while wearing a slight frown. Even if he was not saying it to the professor directly, it was pretty obvious why he was saying those words.

Given that, Professor Michael smiled at them quite stiffly before responding. "There is nothing much, we just want you to show us a good battle where we could at least gauge the majority of your battle capabilities."

"Asking us to give our best shot in exchange for those rewards? I think it is still not enough to convince us to work that hard, so I wonder what will be the rewards if we somehow win in the end," said Shin while stroking his chin. And just like Dylan, he made those words sound like him mumbling to himself but it was pretty obvious that it was actually directed to the professor.

At this point in time, Professor Michael couldn't help but wear a weird look on his face while looking at these kids who were ganging upon him. 'This is the reason why I don't want to talk to these four. They are too smart to negotiate with.'

Given that, he turned his head towards the direction where the academy principal sat, asking for his approval. And when he saw the latter nod his head, he immediately released a sigh of relief before turning his attention back to the four kids.

He was silent for a moment before saying. "We are going to give another 300 points for the winner alongside the right to train on a certain facility of the academy for a whole month. And that is more than enough for you to fully digest all of the energy of the first-class resource that you will get later."

Hearing that, Shin and the others seemed to be fully convinced and nodded their heads.

"That is quite generous of the academy, how can we reject them if they are showing us such sincerity?" said Jean Camus while looking at the other three.

Dylan nodded his head repeatedly as he seconded the idea. "I agree, we can't just ignore their generosity."

"Then I guess we now have our decision," commented Shin while sweeping his gaze at the others.

"If that is the case, then let's get this over already," said Diel as he quickly turned around and walked away from the group, planning to create some space between them.

But he just took a single step when Jean suddenly stopped him by saying. "Hey, where are you going? Isn't it more exciting if we start this free-for-all battle when we are close together?"

Hearing that, Diel couldn't help but come into a sudden halt and slightly turned at Jean before wearing a deep frown. But when he swept his gaze at Shin and Dylan who seemed to agree with the suggestion.

Diel stared at them for a couple of moments before smirking. "Heh! Then what are we waiting for? Let's start this already."

Boom!

Right after those words left his mouth, their powerful auras were released from their bodies which created an unexpected explosion.

Seeing that, Professor Michael couldn't help but shake his head a little as he stared at these kids who seemed to have forgotten about him.

Given that, he distanced himself away from the four young men as Professor Bullen and Professor Valor created a triangle formation alongside him. They surrounded the four in three different directions, increasing the security for this particular battle.

After all, they were not sure how this match was going to end, so it was better to be prepared about everything now rather than regretting it later when accidents really happen.

Meanwhile, all of the other future students of the academy were quite confused about what was happening since they didn't hear about the adjustments that were made just now. But after seeing the four not showing any intention of leaving the battle arena, it was pretty clear that this particular battle was going to be different compared to the previous battles that just took place earlier.

In the meantime, Shin and the others started getting ready for battle as they held their weapons while closely observing their opponents.

Shin put his hands on the hilts of his sheathed katanas beside his waist while Dylan was doing the same with the longsword hanging on his back. Jean also took out a long glaive from his dimensional device as Diel summoned a couple of talismans in the air out of nowhere.

But despite being in a battle-ready stance Shin and the other four still refused to do any sudden moves as they cast their gazes at Professor Michael who seemed to be waiting for them to start.

Seeing the looks on their faces that were practically saying "Can we start now, Sir?", the professor couldn't help but have an urge to remind these young men that he was still a professor of this academy. "Why are these kids looking down on me so much? Do I really look like a pushover in their eyes?"

Regardless, he still raised his right hand in the air and swung in it downwards immediately after. "Start!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

And right after getting the signal, the four quickly made their moves at the same time.

Dylan quickly pulled his sword and swung it at Shin who was standing beside him but it was immediately blocked by the latter's katana.

Clang!

Clang!

And alongside it, there was also another attack coming from Shin's other side which was why he pulled his other katana in reversed grip and used the surface of its blade to block the tip of Jean's glaive.

Swoosh!

And on top of that, there was also an energy wave that flew towards Shin, seemingly perfectly timed to catch him off-guard and carefully controlled to head towards his face.

Bang!

Unfortunately, it was blocked by an invisible barrier that materialized in front of Shin to protect himself.

"Hey, hey! I'm starting to notice that you three are ganging up on me since the time we are having that written exam. Do you guys think that I am the easiest one to be taken down?" said Shin with a frown.

"Do you really think that way? Are you sure that it is not because we are thinking that you are the greatest threat that we have?" asked Jean as he tried to push his glaive a little.

"Is that so?" asked Shin back while raising his eyebrows. And quickly after that, he put a lot of strength on both of his arms before forcefully swinging his katanas to push Dylan and Jean's weapons away from him before spinning around.

"Then how about those guys?" he said before swinging his katanas once again to send a pair of crescent waves towards Diel.

At the same time, Jean and Dylan seemed to coordinate with his attacks and followed closely behind the mental energy wave that he sent.

Meanwhile, Diel controlled the talismans floating around him and positioned them in front of him to create a hexagonal formation which also expanded to form a very formidable barrier that blocked the consecutive waves that were flying toward him.

Bang!

On the other hand, Jean appeared on his right side while swinging his glaive powerfully. And while he saw doing that, Dylan also appeared on the other side while also doing a similar move with his sword.

Seeing that, Diel quickly put his palms together to gather some of his Mental Energy on them while waiting for the two attacks to reach his optimal range. And when then did, his arms seemed to disappear as he moved them in opposite circular motions.

Clang!

And with that move, he managed to change the trajectories of the two weapons and let them clash against each other before they could even get near him.

But at that very moment, Shin was able to hack down the hexagonal barrier and was about to throw another attack at Diel immediately after.

Though, at the same time, Diel was still wearing a calm look on his face just like before as a pair of daggers appeared on each of his hands.

Clang!

And right after Diel fended off the sword strike from Shin, the four of them noticed that they were now pointing their weapons at each other.

They looked at each other for a moment before Shin opened his mouth and talked. "This is more entertaining compared to what I've expected. So, how about we raise the level a little?"

...…