From childhood to now, countless friends around Kaka ultimately chose the more outstanding Victor.
Although Kaka was easygoing and optimistic, he still felt hurt at times.
But under his parents’ guidance, he understood that those who could easily abandon their friendship weren’t true friends, so there was no need to feel sad over them.
But Su Xing and the others were different!
Gentle and caring, Quinn often nagged him to study but always patiently tutored him.
Tough on the outside but soft at heart, Ivencel would scold him while standing firmly in front to protect him.
Smooth and resourceful, though greedy and trouble-averse, Su Xing always indulged him and cleaned up his messes.
Having gone through so much together, he really, truly, really didn’t want to lose these few good friends!
Lost in thought, Kaka accidentally tripped hard and fell to the ground.
From the stands, Quinn’s face went pale. He closed his eyes unwillingly but forced himself to open them again. He knew what Kaka needed was definitely not sympathy.
Ivencel rushed to the front of the stands and shouted angrily, “Kaka! Is this all you’ve got?”
Su Xing calmly watched everything on the stage and murmured softly, “Don’t disappoint me. At least show your potential.”
Teammates.
Potential as teammates.
Hearing Ivencel’s shout, Kaka trembled all over.
He opened his sweat-drenched eyes wide and turned his head to look at the three standing on the stage.
In their eyes were trust, determination, and something obscure and unfathomable.
But the one thing not there was disdain.
Suddenly, Kaka felt a surge of strength throughout his body, a power drawn from his friends: “They—would—not—give up!”
“Besides,” he stood up, lifted his head, and locked eyes with Victor, a dazzling light shining in his gaze so bright it even made Victor flinch.
“We will move forward side by side!”
Kaka declared firmly.
At the same time, the blue porcupine that had appeared in the middle of the arena suddenly erupted with radiant light, blue spines shooting out in all directions from it.
Victor was startled and dodged quickly.
However, the spines that landed on him caused no harm.
Little Blue had never been able to hurt humans or Phantom Spirits.
Victor suddenly realized something and leapt up, trying to escape.
But it was already too late.
The next moment, stone pillars collapsed from all sides, trapping Victor and the Dragon Scale Tiger tightly inside.
Kaka let out a breath of relief, his mouth stretched into a wide grin as he looked toward Su Xing and the others.
In unison, the three gave him thumbs up, then suddenly their faces turned to horror as they pointed behind him.
Kaka reacted quickly, leaping aside to avoid the attack and glanced behind.
There, several Dragon Scales were crawling out from the cracks of the stone pillar prison.
Victor’s voice came from inside, muffled but filled with unwavering determination: “Don’t think you’ve won. Even trapped here, I can keep fighting!”
Even Su Xing and the others had to admire Victor’s resilience this time.
Though arrogant and tactless, Victor’s pursuit of honor and protection was undeniably real.
Avril quickly wiped the tears streaming from her eyes and said proudly, “I knew Victor was strong!”
“Of course…”
She hesitated, unsure whom she was speaking to.
“That Kaka guy isn’t that bad either.”
The audience in the stands buzzed with discussion over this dramatic, twist-filled match.
The familiar A-kun spoke up again: “Are these really people my age? No way, they must be seniors in third or fourth grade who repeated a year.”
Seeing A-kun slowly losing it, his friend sighed: “Stop dreaming. This is just the unevenness of the world. Face reality sooner.”
A-kun shook his head desperately: “I don’t get it! How can someone learn new skills in the arena? And how can someone not give up at this point?”
Friend: “No need to understand, you don’t get the world of geniuses.”
“No, Victor’s one thing, but that other guy is Kaka—we all thought he was useless!”
A-kun struggled to accept it.
His friend patted his shoulder: “Now it’s confirmed he’s no pushover.”
After a while, A-kun calmed down and brought up a familiar topic: “So how’s this going to end? I bet on Victor to win! Don’t tell me Kaka’s gonna win?”
His friend glanced at him disdainfully: “Don’t you find that question a bit familiar?”
A-kun awkwardly coughed: “Cough, so who do you think will win? The situation is stuck, right? Victor’s trapped and can’t be seen, and Kaka’s position is unknown too, but he can’t harm Victor and is facing a full barrage from the Dragon Scales.”
His friend shook his head: “No idea. Maybe it’ll be a draw!”
“Judging by the current situation, it should be a draw.” Ivencel said flatly.
Seeing that Kaka had made a breakthrough, he no longer cared about the fight.
Leaning back with closed eyes, he half-heartedly joined the discussion between Su Xing and the others.
Su Xing nodded: “Unless Victor can break free from the pillars, it should be a draw.”
“That possibility is only one in ten thousand.”
Quinn pushed his glasses up.
“Promotion matches in the arena are once-in-a-thousand-years rare. Kaka made it because of everything he’s been through before, plus the pressure he’s facing now. All combined to create this one-in-a-million chance.”
With his rational mind restored, Quinn, the academic type, quickly analyzed the reasons behind Kaka’s breakthrough.
“A draw, huh…”
“A draw is impossible. Let me out, and we’ll settle this with hand-to-hand combat!”
Victor’s voice came angrily from inside the stone pillar cage.
At the same time, the scales flying around the arena suddenly stopped.
Kaka paused, looking like he was thinking about something.
Victor thought he didn’t believe him and promised, “I swear on my identity, I won’t use Phantom Spirits if you free me.”
Kaka immediately shook his head: “No, I do believe you. I’m just thinking about how to get you out of there.”
“I’ll help you!”
Suddenly, Principal Tang’s youthful voice rang out across the arena.
Then, the broken stone pillars that had trapped Victor tightly suddenly reversed their flow and quickly restored to their original state.
“Principal! When did you get here?”
Andrew backstage was exasperated.
“Why are you causing trouble with them too?”
Principal Tang walked beside him, stroking his beard with a chuckle: “Don’t you find this interesting? Besides, physical training is part of the Phantom Spirit Master exam!”
Victor was freed, recalled his Phantom Spirit Dragon Scale Tiger, and took a fighting stance.
Kaka, looking eager, was equally ready.
Attack.
Victor suddenly asked, “You ran so long just now—do you still have the energy to fight me?”
Though the words sounded caring, they came out sounding like a provocation.
Kaka grinned widely: “Of course! Besides, you’ve been controlling your Phantom Spirit this whole time, you must be mentally exhausted, right?”
His words were full of concern, but to Victor’s ears, it was pure provocation.
Victor sneered, “Hmph, I’m stronger than you anyway!”
After speaking, he charged like a lion.
Kaka met him head-on at the same moment.
Throughout the entire first year, aside from the two overachievers Su Xing and Ivencel, Victor and Kaka were absolutely in the top tier of hand-to-hand combat, both in skill and strength.
This fierce attack, full of powerful beauty, stirred the crowd in the stands, who cheered enthusiastically for the two on the stage.
Their punches really landed—at first, they consciously used academy-taught techniques, but as time went on, it turned into pure children’s brawling.
Backstage, Andrew was in a state of soul departure, muttering nonstop: “Crazy! Crazy! Phantom Spirit Masters fighting this roughly—you’re all crazy!”
Except for him, the other teachers watched with delight.
Teacher Meini cupped her face, pink bubbles rising around her: “Ah! Muscles! Sweat! This is youth! Back in the day, I was won over by Norman’s unyielding eyes when I beat him up, and that’s why we got together.”
The other teachers glanced sideways.
Meanwhile, Victor and Kaka were still entangled, or rather, fighting purely for the sake of fighting.
Punch after punch, soon their faces were bruised and battered beyond recognition.
No technique, no grace, and by the end, both were exhausted, fighting purely by willpower with slow-motion-like punches that looked somewhat comical.
After ten minutes, the bell rang. Kaka and Victor, as if having completed some mission, simultaneously collapsed.
Thanks to Principal Tang’s power, their wounds healed rapidly, restoring them to their pre-fight state.
But no one got up. Both had long since passed out from sheer physical and mental exhaustion.
Their two teams rushed onto the stage in unison.
Su Xing looked at Kaka and Victor sleeping closely side by side and couldn’t help but laugh.
She signaled everyone to stay put and quickly ran to Teacher Norman’s side.
Soon, Su Xing returned with a Memory Stone in hand, her face radiant with a brilliant smile as she winked at Quinn and the others.
At the sight of the Memory Stone, Quinn and Ivencel immediately understood Su Xing’s intent.
Their eyes lit up, and they tacitly chose not to stop her, quietly enjoying the show.
Su Xing’s move was obvious, and Avril and the others naturally understood as well.
Rilder secretly bumped Avril, winking at her when she turned her head.
Kaka and Victor, cuddled up together—such a once-in-a-millennium scene! Don’t you want it?
Avril caught the hint, coughed, and threw caution to the wind: “Cough, Su Xing, don’t forget to give us a copy of the Memory Stone—we’ll pay.”
Su Xing immediately flashed an OK sign and happily took several photos of the two unconscious boys from every angle.
“But now that I think about it…”
Sitting in the infirmary chair, watching Kaka and Victor lying side by side on two beds, Su Xing suddenly said, “It really ended in a draw! So they basically fought for nothing?”