CHAPTER 125: FIRST BATTLE, FUKUSHIMA’ NOA VS MANHATTAN’S NUMBER THREE

A few days after the announcement, every student in Manhattan watched with excitement as two coach buses, one for New London High and the other for New Fukushima Summoner’s High, drove into the school, parking before Manhattan’s arena.

The arena was a large space, and it was currently filled with students. Outside the arena was a vast field with walkways, and several hundred feet away were the school buildings.

The buses opened, and the foreign students stepped out. Fukushima students wore gray jackets, while London students wore black jackets.

Under the awe-filled eyes of the masses, they walked up to the platform where the top Manhattan students stood.

As they ascended the staircase, a black-haired girl with pale skin in a black jacket nudged an eighteen-year-old golden-haired boy with crimson eyes beside her.

"Arlo."

Arlo gazed at Ivy from the corner of his eye.

"What is it?"

"That’s her. Isolde. I was pretty sure my dragon was stronger than hers, but now we’ve both eaten mana fruits and our summons have evolved... things are a bit uncertain," Ivy said.

A scoff came from Ren, a student from Fukushima. His hands were tucked into his gray jacket, and he wore a black mask with gloves.

"She’s a Tri summoner. It’s best if you set your eyes on the others."

Arlo shot a glance at Ren and smiled. "There’s nothing wrong in testing your limits or trying to surpass a great wall. Besides, Isolde might be a Tri summoner, but when it comes to mastery over a dragon, Ivy should have the advantage. After all... they’re both Pendragons."

"That aside, there are nine of them. Where’s the tenth?" Noa, a blue-haired Fukushima senior in the same year as Ren, asked.

"Nine of them are already a problem. None of them are weak, not even the sophomores or the juniors. It’s already an advantage that one of them is missing," Ren replied.

When they reached the middle of the platform, they began to lightly greet themselves. Arlo shook Damien’s hand, ex-King to ex-King.

"This is our last opportunity to offer aid to our school before leaving," Arlo said with a cool smile.

"Indeed. Next time we meet, it will be as Agents, and our goals will be taking down dungeons."

"Hey, cousin." Ivy waved her fingers at Isolde, who rolled her eyes.

"You won’t win," Isolde said flatly.

A vein nearly popped on Ivy’s forehead, forcing her to clench her teeth. "At least my dragon grew more horns while yours became hornless!"

Isolde scoffed. "It’s still better than an ugly black dragon. Who knows, you might grow as ugly as it is the older you get."

Ivy opened her mouth wide, her eyes almost spitting flames. "Well, soon enough you’ll gain the eyes of your dragonfly. I bet you’ll look really good with such massive glassy eyes stuck into your skull. I bet that boy you always draw will die just from seeing your face!"

Almost everyone turned to the girls. Wasn’t this supposed to be a light greeting? They were supposed to do the fighting with their beasts, not their mouths!

"He’s watching," Percival whispered, looking in a particular direction.

Isolde bit her lower lip when she saw Godfrey sitting on the rooftop of one of the buildings several hundred feet away, with Isaac beside him.

Everyone eventually left the platform, leaving Noa, the blue-haired girl from Fukushima and a senior, facing off against Percival, a third-year student who also had blue hair but wore a face mask.

Noa summoned a Blue Scaled Hydra, an eight-headed dragon-like creature. It towered almost sixteen feet.

"Blue Scaled Hydra. Lord tier 9.0!" the referee announced.

Percival’s eyes gleamed, and a portal appeared behind him, facing upward. A horned, thick-scaled, serpentine beast soared upward as spirals of water manifested the higher it rose.

"Blue Horned Leviathan! 9.2!"

The referee’s announcement made Noa’s eyes narrow while Manhattan students rose in excitement.

"Man! Percival is always silent, but look at the cheers he gets. Looking good is a huge perk." Isaac clicked his tongue enviously.

Godfrey slammed a water bottle against his head, and the freshman shrugged it off with a chuckle.

"Why aren’t you even there? I bet your summon is the coolest. Have you felt the aura your knights have? It’s on a whole other level. Beasts cause fear and intimidation, but your knights feel majestic," Isaac said while squatting on the edge of the rooftop. This part of the school was deserted, with almost everyone being at the arena.

"I’ve told you before. Some people lost their summons to humanoid summons during the Great Vanishing, and unless I get my brain rearranged, they won’t feel safe around me," Godfrey sighed.

"That’s a bunch of rubbish. I’ve been sleeping next to your room for almost eight months now, and people further away are scared. Shouldn’t I be the first?" Isaac retorted.

"It’s like snakes. Most of them are not even dangerous, but once you see a snake, you’d feel threatened or probably frightened. They’d probably run from you too—"

"Look! The girl has made the first move!" Isaac interrupted Godfrey, directing his attention back to the arena.

The Hydra roared from all eight heads and began to breathe out blue gas, a lethal poison.

The gas came in waves; a whiff of it was enough to bring down higher-tiered summons with little resistance. Percival swiftly wrapped himself in water, and his Leviathan covered itself in water and swooped down, coiling around the Hydra.

Knowing her beast wouldn’t be able to resist the Leviathan, Noa used Exchange, switching places with the Hydra.

In comparison to her beast, she was tiny and found herself in free space. She quickly darted out of the Leviathan’s lock zone, cutting her forearm, and blood spurted out.

It instantly shot outward, heading for Percival.

’Even if you block it, you’ve lost,’ Noa said inwardly. Watching as the blood reached Percival, she felt a rush of delight when he stretched out his hand to grab it.

"Do you think Percival will lose?" Isaac asked Godfrey, who blinked.

"I highly doubt that. He’s like Isolde; the full extent of his strength remains a mystery... and no one knows about his other summon."

Just as Godfrey gave his verdict, the blood and Percival’s hand made contact, but in that less-than-a-second moment, water manifested from nowhere, and he navigated the blood, moving it through the water.

He spun backward, and as he faced forward once more, he launched the blood with the water, with greater speed, right at Noa.

It splashed onto her face, shocking the Fukushima senior.

’I’m immune to my poison! Did you think I won’t?!’ Noa said inwardly, but her pupils narrowed when the water that was supposed to have splattered to the ground instead formed tiny balls and gathered back at her face, forming a water mask.

She grabbed it, clawing with all her might, but her fingers just moved through the water, doing nothing. She covered her nose and darted her eyes toward her Hydra, still in intense combat with the Leviathan.

With a thought, she fused with her Hydra, and it released a thick poison cloud. With enough poison, even Percival’s water barrier wouldn’t protect him.

That was an effective plan that never had the chance to shine, as Percival’s summon slapped its tail into the Hydra, smashing it into the platform.

Dust rose up, and as it cleared, everyone witnessed the Hydra lying in a crater with a huge gash across its abdomen.

"This is the Number Three? His summon cut through the scale of a Hydra, those scales are as hard as a dragon’s!" Ren gasped, almost horrified at Percival’s strength.

"He doesn’t look exhausted either. Manhattan, as usual, keeps producing monsters," Arlo said solemnly.

...

A/N: Thank you everyone for reading so far. I’ve officially missed a day. I literally begged time to slow and I’ve never seen a minute pass by so fast.

It hurts to be honest. I’m out of some privileges which I’ve already calculated for my income. I even vomited and was dying of cold yesterday but uploaded before deadline. Today, I was strangely blank.

Not to talk about this headache that seems to be making my head empty. Been working on dry outline.

Thanks everyone! At least we were top 1 in New Win-win for almost twenty days straight with good gap too!!