562 Chapter 562: Interview Duel (1/2)
”Not exactly,” I muttered. ”But let's just do this.”
”Ha ha ha!” Xing Er Song laughed. ”So are you ready to lose?”
”No I'm ready to sing a song.”
”You…!” Xing Er Song snarled, but Dean Xiao stopped him by clearing his throat. He gestured for the both of us to get onto the stage.
”All right, let's begin,” he said.
”I've been waiting for this!” Xing Er Song exclaimed with relish. He held both of his hands up the moment we both got onto stage and began gathering mana into them. A few seconds later, earth spikes burst from the ground to impale me.
Fortunately, we were allowed to use other types of magic and weapons without necessarily being restricted to the magical element we were supposed to major in. I had remembered to ask the question earlier, and the invigilators confirmed that it wouldn't be a problem. Xing Er Song had seemed to be all right with this, so I suspected that he had another element in hand.
So did I, so I wasn't worried.
I wasn't going to draw Hei Yue and Bai Ri against a foe like him, though. They would be wasted on an opponent of such caliber. Not that I underestimated him, but my real swords were for killing, not for a duel. I didn't want to accidentally kill anyone during a sparring session.
Instead, I summoned my swords.
”Gemini.”
The black and white short swords materialized in my hands and I cleaved through the earth spikes with consummate skill. Twirling them in my hands, I spun through the barrage of earth spikes and cut through them without suffering a single injury.
”This…!”
Xing Er Song looked furious when he saw that I had managed to evade his spells, unscathed. He threw out his hands and summoned a pair of colossal serpents that writhed and twisted before slamming down on my position. Too big for me to cut through, I was forced to dodge.
Leaping on one of the broken earth spikes, I kicked off and launched myself into the air. One of the colossal earth serpents struck at me, but I twisted my body in midair before landing on its rocky hide. Before it could crush me against the ground, I was already jumping up and propelling myself upward, scaling its immense body.
Its comrade then dove straight at me, but I was ready, leaping away and landing on its head. Running along its neck and then the length of its body, I dove off before it could collide with its comrade. There was a huge crack as the enormous earth serpent slammed into its brethren, and I was falling. Tucking my legs into my chest, I spun about to right myself upward and then altered my trajectory.
Dismissing Gemini, I then summoned Sagittarius. Pulling back a flaming arrow, I unleashed it upon the two colossal earth serpents and engulfed them in a massive inferno.
”What?!”
Xing Er Song's jaw dropped when he saw the destruction I had wrought. He weaved his hands to erect an earth barrier to counter my second arrow – indeed, that was why I didn't bother firing at him the first time. I already knew that he had countermeasures set up. Furthermore, I could see a glowing amulet hanging from his chest.
The rich, chubby kid had defensive magical tools of his own. He would have neutralized my arrow with the combination of his defenses and earth barrier, while his earth serpents pulverized me to the ground. Fortunately, I had chosen to destroy the latter so I didn't have to worry about the threat of being crushed by those rock spells.
”Now it's my turn to summon,” I said jokingly. Those earth serpents weren't real soul beasts or summoned monsters, by the way. They were jut rock that took the shape of serpents, without any real intelligence, features, sensory organs or anything that made them ”creatures” in any sense of the word. They couldn't even be counted as golems.
”As if I will let you!”
Lowering his barrier, Xing Er Song hurled several boulders at me. I dove downward, swapping my Sagittarius for Gemini and cleaved through the boulders. As I descended, I completed my casting spell.
”Capricorn!”
The sea goat materialized below me and I landed on his back. With a bray, he smashed through the barrier with his horns and charged at Xing Er Song. The chubby fella threw himself to the side, conjuring another earth barrier. Simultaneously, he launched a barrage of earth spikes from the ground, but being an agile Constellation spirit, Capricorn deftly evaded all of them.
Jumping nimbly from side to side to avoid the earth spikes, Capricorn cleared the thorny patch of lances before landing right in front of Xing Er Song's earth barrier. This time, he failed to smash through it, probably because he didn't use the gravity to increase his momentum this time.
Not that he needed to. Stomping on the ground, he raised a wall of earth from beneath Xing Er Song's feet and sending the chubby guy off balance.
”What the hell?! This is an…earth spell too?!”
Throwing a hand out, he flung an earth lance at us while simultaneously shoving his other hand down to forcibly take control of the earth below him.
Capricorn smashed the earth lance into smithereens with his horn while Xing Er Song steadied himself. Huffing, he pressed both of his palms onto the ground.
”Whoa!”
The floor beneath Capricorn's feet suddenly softened and caved in, turning into some sort of crater. Capricorn brayed when his feet sank into the soft earth, which ravenously attempted to swallow him. Despite kicking out and struggling to get free, Capricorn failed to find his footing.
”Ha ha ha!” Xing Er Song laughed triumphantly. ”Let's see how you'll get out of my quicksand! You'll be swallowed whole along with your soul beast!”
”Did you forget that he can manipulate earth too?” I asked dryly. I cocked my head at Capricorn, who nodded at my mental command and stopped panicking. He calmly remained still and the quicksand no longer dragged him down.
”What…what?!”
Even as Xing Er Song spluttered, Capricorn summoned a torrent of earth that erupted from the sea of quicksand and allowed him to jump free. He landed on the ground near my chubby opponent, who backed away, flustered. His hands rose and he conjured a barrier between himself and Capricorn before my Constellation spirit could strike him.