Chapter 37: The Conclusion

The rule of the class evaluation said that duels were won under three conditions, but the match could also be stopped prematurely in the event of fatal injuries.

The first condition was to knock an opponent unconscious while the second was to cause your opponent to yield voluntarily.

The last condition was to knock an opponent out of bounds as each dome had white lines that formed the shape of a rectangle where the competitors would fight inside.

Leona stared intensely at the disappearing figure of her opponent and an expression of shock surfaced on her face.

Wasn’t Sophie’s cultivation level merely the initial stages of qi body??

A sense of danger appeared behind her and she quickly jumped backwards to avoid the snake-like strike of the whip. She quickly placed one palm towards Sophie and fired off a wave of qi energy towards her last visible location.

Moonlight Palm Strike!

This was an upper level wave technique that could launch a long-range attack of moonlight from her palms and deal severe internal damage to her enemies.

It consumed very little qi, so Leona began to fire beams constantly towards the figure darting around the battlefield.

“Tsk” Sophie muttered with a frown.

The constant ducking and weaving out of the beams of light was beginning get on her nerves. Leona could not fight blindly like Sophie, so she simply resorted to firing out attacks in random directions which made approaching her quite difficult.

This should have been an easy fight for Sophie but yet whenever she tried to attack Leona…it was like a hidden weight was pressing down on her body which prevented her from using the full strength of her whip.

She knew that compared to the members of the prestigious class who had years of training, it was obvious that she had a lack of cultivation techniques in comparison.

There was only the Cloud Treading Dragon movement technique.

A small smile appeared on Sophie’s face as she remembered some words of advice from Katarina…

If you cannot fight fair…. fight dirty!

“Hey Leona,” she loudly called out.

“Did you know that after my transformation…my cultivation talent is also grade A!”

Shocked gasps of surprise came from the students spectating the match as this shocking reveal caused even some of the teachers to murmur among themselves. It was not uncommon for hybrids to display enhanced abilities after a transformation, but their cultivation talent would only increase slightly if at all.

No one had heard of such a rapid increase in talent from grade F to grade A. This was clearly ascending the heavens in one step!

Leona faltered and she stumbled back in shock with Sophie’s words echoing in her ears.

She was the same cultivation grade as her? How could that be?

This was the opening Sophie was waiting for!

Sophie wasted no time and soon closed the distance with a massive leap and cracked the whip fiercely against Leona’s back.

Bam!

Leona let out a painful shriek and flew forward until she crashed against the sandy ground of the dome near the disqualification line. Sophie had unleashed her full strength in that strike and Leona realised that her cultivation base was equal to hers.

Fury and confusion crept up in her heart.

With flashing lights still dancing across her eyes, she staggered to her feet to yell at her shameless opponent,

“What a cheap shot! Do you have no sense of honour?”

Sophie just replied with a grin and dashed towards her for another attack. The whip in her hand seemed like a living snake which twisted and curled with a deadly air.

But what unsettled Leona the most was her eyes.

Those golden eyes looked at her as nothing more than prey.

Ice Forge Armour!

The whip came crashing down a second time, but Leona remained standing as ice covered up her body to form the shape of a crystalline armour. This was a body fortification technique, but it was very taxing to maintain before she reached the qi spirit level.

Ice crept up the ends of the whip and Sophie quickly jerked backwards but not fast enough to avoid the punch which landed straight on her stomach.

Blood spewed from her mouth as she fought to urge to kneel down and vomit.

A sense of chill enveloped her organs and Sophie felt her body begin to slow down. She tried to get out of range and strike back viciously but a voice shrieked out in her mind,

“Please don’t hurt her!”

Sophie froze in place for half a moment, but it was enough to allow Leona to press forward and land punch after punch on her body.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

There was no hesitation to be seen in her eyes and Sophie was battered relentlessly until a crater formed in the ground.

Two minutes passed….

Five minutes passed….

Ten minutes passed….

No matter how injured Sophie got…. she refused to yield or fall unconscious.

The spectators were deadly silent as the only sounds echoing throughout the arena were the furious attacks of Leona and the muted grunts of pain from Sophie.

“Why won’t you yield!” Leona spoke finally with an exhausted tone.

Her ice armour was long gone as it had broken apart after her qi reserves had been fully consumed.

Sophie reached out with a gentle hand and stroked the sides of Leona’s cheeks with a complicated expression on her face.

“I wanted to show off my new skills…but it appears that I still can’t bear to hurt you.”

Leona hung her head in shame and the past events of her misdeeds flashed across her mind when she gazed upon the battered face of her former friend.

“Sophie…I…”

The words died in her throat as Sophie suddenly twisted out from beneath her and shoved her harshly towards a certain direction.

“What the hell was that?!” Leona roared.

A terrible thought struck her mind and she gazed down at her feet to discover that she was now out of bounds and had lost the match.

“I win….” Sophie muttered before succumbing to her injuries and falling unconscious.

The last thing she saw was the dumbfounded look of Leona still in shock over the apparent loss.