Chapter 15: The Duel - A Fracture in the Stage
The Spirit Battle Arena hummed with a different energy today. This wasn't a regulated examination match; it was a grudge duel, sanctioned by the academy as a means to "resolve conflicts between talented youths." The air was thick with partisan tension. Dai Huabin's supporters, mostly from noble cliques, filled one side, their chatter confident and dismissive. On the other, a smaller but fervent group, including Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya, stood in tense solidarity.
Ayush stood alone in the center of the arena, his posture the very picture of focused determination. Inside, he was a symphony of controlled systems. His Spirit Power circulated calmly, a visible, familiar gold light shimmering around him. Deeper, hidden beneath layers of spiritual obfuscation taught by Electrolux, the Dou Qi vortex spun faster, a contained star of volatile potential.
Dai Huabin entered with a roar from his faction. He didn't walk; he stalked. His White Tiger spirit manifested not as a phantom, but as a rippling aura of bestial might that distorted the air around him. His eyes, fixed on Ayush, held pure, unadulterated malice.
"No cheap tricks from your teammates this time, trash," Dai Huabin sneered, his voice amplified by spirit power. "Just you and me. Let's see how long your luck lasts."
The presiding elder, a stern-faced Soul Douluo, gave the signal. "Begin!"
Dai Huabin was a bolt of white lightning. He didn't test or probe; he unleashed a full-force assault, his first and second spirit rings flashing simultaneously. White Tiger's Fury enhanced his physical attributes to terrifying levels, while White Tiger's Light Wave launched a crescent of destructive energy ahead of him, sealing off escape routes.
Ayush's Spirit Eyes glowed. Spiritual Detection mapped the attack vectors in perfect, slowing detail. He moved, not with Dou Qi-enhanced speed, but with the efficient, predictive footwork of a control system master. He slid past the edge of the Light Wave, feeling its heat sear his robes. The crowd gasped.
But avoidance was only a temporary tactic. Dai Huabin was upon him, claws raking the air with sounds like tearing canvas. Ayush parried with spirit-energy reinforced arms, the impacts shuddering up his bones. He let himself be driven back, each block calculated to look desperate, each dodge appearing narrowly missed. He took a glancing blow on his shoulder, spinning with the force to minimize damage, a cry of pain torn from his lips—part performance, part very real shock from the concussive force.
"Run, rabbit! Run!" Dai Huabin taunted, a predator playing with prey.
The Black Book fed calm data into Ayush's mind.
OPPONENT PATTERN: LINEAR, OVER-RELIANT ON SUPERIOR STRENGTH. OPENING FREQUENCY: HIGH DURING COMMITMENT TO HEAVY STRIKES.
PHYSICAL INTEGRITY: 87%. MINOR BRUISING ACCEPTABLE FOR NARRATIVE.
RECOMMENDATION: ENDURE FOR 170 SECONDS. ALLOW FATIGUE TO BECOME VISIBLE. THEN, INITIATE CATALYST SEQUENCE.
Ayush obeyed. He became a shadow in a storm of white fury. He used low-tier Tang Sect techniques—Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track—to blur his movements, not with supernatural speed, but with misdirection. He was battered, thrown, and grazed. His breathing became labored, his spiritual light flickering. To everyone watching, he was a breath away from collapse, surviving only on sheer grit and cleverness.
Wang Dong's knuckles were white on the railing. "Come on, Yuhao…" he whispered, his own spirit power unconsciously flaring.
"His endurance is unnatural," Bei Bei muttered, his sharp eyes missing little. "He's taking hits that should have broken his guard."
At the 165-second mark, Dai Huabin, enraged by his inability to finish the "weakling," overextended. He committed to a colossal, two-handed smash, his spirit power flaring brightly, leaving his core momentarily unguarded.
Now.
The command was internal,a tri-partite agreement between Ayush, the Black Book, and the waiting Heavenly Dream Iceworm.
Ayush "stumbled," falling back directly into the path of the smash. He threw his arms up in a "last-ditch" defense, his Spirit Eyes blazing with a sudden, desperate intensity.
'Dream! The mask, now! Cold and light, everything you have!'
'Teacher Electrolux,veil the core!'
A psychic command to the Iceworm, a silent plea to the Necromancer.
To the outside world, a miracle erupted. A dome of brilliant, white-gold light, threaded with crystalline veins of profound cold, exploded from Ayush's body. It wasn't an attack, but a defensive burst of unprecedented scale for a Spirit Elder. It met Dai Huabin's descending strike.
The collision was deafening. Light and frost shrapnel filled the arena. The crowd roared.
Inside the dome, Ayush moved. While the Iceworm's power provided the dazzling cover, he allowed a tightly focused thread of Dou Qi—no more than a 5-Star Dou Disciple's worth—to flood his right arm. Not to form a skill, but to reinforce. To empower. The Dou Qi, volatile and explosive, merged with the last of his visible spirit power in his fist.
As the defensive dome shattered under Dai Huabin's bewildered assault, Ayush was already surging forward from the epicenter, not away. He didn't use a spirit skill. He used the most basic Tang Sect strike—Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon—but propelled by a hybrid engine.
His fist, glowing with a complex, swirling light of gold and an almost imperceptible fiery undertone, drove into Dai Huabin's momentarily exposed midsection.
There was no flashy explosion. Just a dreadful, percussive thud that echoed in the sudden silence. Dai Huabin's eyes bulged. All the air left his lungs in a choked gasp. The terrifying force of his own charge was met, reversed, and multiplied. He lifted off his feet, sailing backward in a limp arc before crashing to the stone, skidding to a stop at the arena's edge, unmoving.
Silence.
Then, pandemonium.
Ayush stood, swaying. His right arm hung limp, not from injury, but from the carefully staged recoil of his "breakthrough." His spiritual aura was a chaotic, swirling mess of icy-gold light—exactly what a unstable, post-breakthrough surge should look like. He panted, the picture of exhausted, miraculous triumph.
The elder rushed to Dai Huabin, then signaled. "Victory to Huo Yuhao!"
Wang Dong was over the barrier in an instant, catching Ayush as he "stagged." "You insane, brilliant idiot!" he breathed, his voice trembling with relief. "What was that?!"
"Brother Tianmeng…" Ayush mumbled, leaning heavily on him. "The pressure… he woke up something… I don't know…" He let his eyes flutter closed, selling the collapse.
The Black Book scrolled victory logs, but Ayush focused on its deeper analysis.
CATALYST SEQUENCE: SUCCESSFUL.
PUBLIC PERCEPTION: 'DESPERATE BREAKTHROUGH' CONFIRMED. SPIRIT POWER REGISTERED AS SURGING TO LEVEL 22.
DOU QI USAGE: SUCCESSFULLY MASKED. SIGNATURE DISPERSED AS 'SPIRITUAL ORIGIN FEEDBACK.'
PHYSICAL SIDE EFFECTS INITIATED: DOU QI REINFORCEMENT HAS INITIATED 'INADVERTENT BODY TEMPERING.' MUSCLE DENSITY INCREASED BY 9%. SKIN/ BONE RESILIENCE ENHANCED. RECOVERY RATE ACCELERATED.
ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 7.1%. HUNGER TEMPORARILY SATIATED.
NEW DATA: GRAVITATIONAL/TRAUMA-BASED BODY FORGING CONFIRMED AS VIABLE PATH. VAULT OF SHATTERED EARTH COMPATIBILITY INCREASED.
As he was half-carried away by Wang Dong and Bei Bei, he caught a piercing look from Teacher Zhou Yi in the crowd. Her eyes weren't just impressed; they were analytical, probing. She had seen something in the energy signature, a dissonance her vast experience couldn't quite place.
And high above, in the God Realm, Tang San's brow furrowed. The boy's breakthrough was dramatic, but within the bounds of a mutant spirit beast symbiosis. The victory furthered the underdog narrative. Yet, the efficiency of the final strike… the way the boy's body seemed to momentarily resonate with a force that was not purely spiritual… it itched at his divine senses like a phantom thread.
He decided to increase the sensitivity of the monitoring arrays around Shrek Academy. Something was… fermenting.
Back in the infirmary, as a healing-type teacher fussed over him, Ayush lay still. His body hummed with new strength, a strength born of another world's power. The duel was won. The first step toward the Vault was legitimized.
But Zhou Yi's gaze and Tang San's heightened scrutiny were new variables. The stage was set, but the spotlights were growing hotter.
He had fractured the script's expectation for this scene. Now he had to ensure the cracks didn't spread too visibly, before he was ready to bring the whole stage down.
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In the aftermath, Ayush's rapid physical recovery raises eyebrows. Zhou Yi calls him for a private "evaluation," probing his "breakthrough." To divert her, Ayush shares carefully edited "visions" from the "Heavenly Dream Iceworm" about the "wound in the world" – the Vault of Shattered Earth. Intrigued, Zhou Yi sees it as a potential extreme training ground. She proposes a supervised, small-team expedition for top freshmen, ostensibly to gather rare minerals. The mission is approved, putting Ayush on the direct path to the Black Book's next meal. Meanwhile, the assimilation progress unlocks a glimpse into the Martial Universe realm: the foundational concept of "Body Like Treasure, Refined Through Tribulation."