418 Chapter 418: Absorption

One of the flowers drifted over to me and I picked it up, sniffing it a little. I could feel the throbbing mana inside flowing into me, restoring my strength considerably.

I was right. Miura had a tremendous amount of mana, despite having expended a significant amount of it during our battle. It was more than enough to replenish my own exhausted reserves and last me for another couple of rounds.

\"Thanks, I really appreciate it.\"

I watched as the flower faded away atop my palm, slowly disappearing into the night, and closed my eyes briefly.

\"This isn't fair…\"

I glanced at my fallen opponent. Miura was lying on the ground, sprawled on all fours. She was looking up at me, perspiration pouring down her ghastly white face. Her long, black hair was soaked in sweat.

\"It isn't fair…to think that you were hiding something this amazing…\"

Uh…why did this dialogue sound so familiar?

\"Let me guess…that's your ultimate technique…Bankai, was it?\"

\"Are you mixing reality up with a certain manga?\" I asked, annoyed. Miura giggled a little at that, and then used her scythe to right herself up. Frowning, I placed a hand on the hilt of Hei Yue, but she shook her head and raised a hand of her own.

\"I'm done. I surrender. I can't fight any longer – you've sucked me dry. I don't have any mana left.\"

That was the point of my ultimate wood technique, Hundred-Colored Flowers, so I wasn't surprised that she had been drained entirely of energy. So I just nodded and glanced up at the commentator.

\"Match…match over! Incredible! The winner is Richard Huang of Jing Tian Academy!\"

His announcement was drowned out by a lot of voices. I glanced up and around the arena, taking heart from the cheering spectators. Harvey, Adrian and Melina in particular were jumping up and down in joy, yelling and celebrating with their friends. I nodded in their direction, and then glanced at my team. As I expected, Harrison and the rest had also erupted in delight, hugging each other or exchanging high fives.

I smiled wearily, but before I trudged over, I strode over and offered the sprawled Miura a hand. She accepted it without hesitation and allowed me to pull her to her feet while she dismissed her scythe.

\"You're such a gentleman,\" she teased.  I shrugged, and after ensuring that she could wallk on her own, turned away to approach my teammates.

\"Good job!\" Harrison congratulated me enthusiastically, slapping my shoulder in excitement. \"You have really surpassed everyone's expectations!\"

\"You did it! You maniac! You suicidal maniac! You actually pulled it off!\" Craig was howling in laughter, more from sheer delight than amusement. He still looked as if he couldn't believe what he ha just watched.

\"Hah! I always knew you could do it! I've always believed in you!\" For some reason, Dong Fang Yue Chu sounded pretty smug. I shrugged somewhat helplessly. Honestly, I found it incredibly difficult for me to believe in myself. I really didn't expect to beat Miura. That Hundred-Colored Flower technique was a move I pulled out desperately, and there was no guarantee that I would be able to suck her mana dry before her curse destroyed me.

Thankfully, it all turned out fine in the end, otherwise I would be in one hell of a pinch.

Even so, I was still exhausted from the consecutive fighting. Fortunately, there was an intermission between matches, often to allow the team captains to regroup and make their decisions. It was sort of like half-time in a soccer match, where the manager decided on substitutions, briefed his team on what to expect based on what he had seen so far, and for the participants to take a short break. I knew I could definitely use one. Harrison Reed, as usual, made use of the time to analyze the match.

\"All right…now that you've eliminated three of their core members, I believe Captain Kureha will either send out Rossetti Picket, who is their Dancer, or Kufa Van Peer, who their Samurai. If we somehow beat them, then Kureha will take to the field herself…\"

\"If we beat either of them,\" Theodore Hammond muttered darkly. He glanced at Harrison. \"What do you reckon our chances of victory are?\"

\"Not very high,\" Harrison admitted. He glanced at Craig. \"Both Rossetti and Kufa are speed-based users, so I'm thinking of sending you out to face them, since you're the fastest on our team.\"

\"Leave it to me,\" Craig said smoothly, but I shook my head and raised my hand.

\"Begging your pardon, but do you mind allowing me to go for another round? I would like to at last tire them out before Craig comes in.\"

\"Oh.\" Harrison noticed that I was still on the stage. I had decided to stay put instead of stepping down, so that Green Dragon could maintain his chibi form and hover around. I doubted I had the mana left to turn him into his giant form, despite having absorbed quite a bit from Miura. However, Harrison narrowed his eyes, concerned. \"Are you really sure you're up to it?\"

\"Yeah, don't force yourself,\" Pearl advised worriedly. I grinned.

\"Don't worry. I just absorbed quite a bit of mana from Miura, so I actually have more energy than I look. Against such powerful opponents, it's best to use our members sparingly and allow me to tire them out as much as possible. Also, don't you want Craig in the team match? It might be too risky to send him out right now.\"

\"You think I'll lose?\" Craig snorted. I shook my head.

\"Nah. But there is the possibility, and if I do tire whoever they send out first, you'll have a higher chance of winning in the final individual round, eliminating him or her, and then you can continue on to the team match without having spent more mana han necessary.\"

\"Richard has a point,\" Harrison conceded with a nod. \"That's quite the sound strategy, especially since we've agreed that he will not be participating in the team match…whereas we all know Saint Teresa Academy relies heavily on their core members for the team match, so the more of them we eliminate, the better.\"

\"Well, if you put it that way, then I have no objections.\" Craig leaned back and shrugged nonchalantly.

\"Are you trying to do a kill-team here in the national tournaments?\" Dong Fang Yue Chu joked. Then he snickered. \"Knowing you, Richie, you just might actually pull it off.\"

\"Oh yeah, I still remember how Richard team-killed Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy all those months ago.\" Lily was getting excited. \"Maybe he'll replicate a miracle right here, right now!\"

\"One match at a time,\" I told her before she could get too carried away. \"Before we talk about team-killing or whatever, at least allow me to get through this match. I might be able to exhaust their fourth member, but I definitely can't guarantee that I can win.\"

\"Agreed.\" Harrison nodded again. \"One match at a time. Focus on the next opponent, and we'll see where that takes us. Otherwise Craig will step in for the fifth round. But…\" he placed a hand on my shoulder. \"Don't push yourself. We still need you for the next round. Don't destroy yourself to ensure we get through to the next round, only for you to be unavailable for the semifinals against Pendragon Academy.\"

\"Ha ha, Captain, you're talking as if we're already assured passage into the next round!\" Craig chuckled. \"I like your confidence.\"

\"Actually…if we're talking about progressing to the next round…\" This time, it was Bu Fan who stepped in. \"If Richard does fall in the fourth round, send me out for the fifth round instead of Craig.\" He nodded in Craig's direction. \"Since you need him for the team match, it might be a better idea if I do the last individual match instead. That way, even if I somehow lose, you'll still have all the core members for the team match intact.\"

\"Good point,\" Harrison agreed. \"We'll do that then.\" He then turned to me. \"Good luck, Richard. Let's see if you can gift us a miracle.\"

\"I'll do my best.\" Taking a deep breath, I sat down on the devastated stage and closed my eyes to take a breather. Right now, every second was precious, and I needed to recoup as much mana as possible. Luckily, I had absorbed a great amount of mana from Miura, so I was able to recover a lot faster than I would have normally.

Over at Saint Teresa Academy's side, Kureha and her team were in turmoil.

\"How is this possible?!\"

\"We lost three individual matches in a row!? To the same person?!\"

\"What's going on?!\"

\"Just who is that guy?!\"

\"…I should have known.\" Kureha Franklin bit back her frustration as she listened to her teammates bitch and whine. \"I told you not to underestimate him. Didn't I tell you that I've fought alongside him before? And this isn't even his true power. I teamed up with him and Troy King once to fight against a dragon, and I remember telling you guys how he nuked an entire mountain range with a single spell?\"

\"Yes, and he still hasn't summoned that black dragon you showed us.\" Miura mused, her fingers on her lips. Then she smiled mischievously. \"Is it true that he rejected Cecilia Stuart? And she has decided not to pursue him?\"

\"Yeah,\" Kureha replied distractedly, not sure what this had to do with anything.

\"You don't feel anything for him, Captain?\"

\"Feel anything?\" Kureha frowned, puzzled. \"I feel that he's quite the dangerous opponent. As I said, I fought alongside him before, and I know how strong he is.\" She scowled. \"This is why I told you guys not to underestimate him! Just because he's from a B ranked school like Jing Tian Academy doesn't mean he's weak!\"

\"No, that's not what I meant…but I'm sort of relieved.\" Miura giggled. \"If neither you nor Captain Cecilia wants him, then I might just take him for myself.\"

\"That's assuming he doesn't already have a girlfriend,\" Lute Dragoon replied. Then he glowered at her. \"You're supposed to be in my harem!\"

\"You already have over a hundred girls fawning and spoiling you.\" Miura tried not to roll her eyes, especially when she felt the intense glare from Lute's harem, which included his mother, his stepmother, his half-sister, his childhood friend, a princess, and a hundred other girls that he met throughout his life and fell for him by virtue of him being a harem protagonist written by an Indonesian writer who loved harem manga, light novels and anime (you could tell that he was a gigantic fan of High School DxD). \"And let me guess, even if does have, you'll just steal her from him anyway.\"

\"I can't help it! I was created to be the ultimate Alpha Male, completely irresistible to all beautiful girls in the world! There is no girl who won't fall in love with me! Gotta catch 'em all!\"

His fellow team members regarded him with disgust…well, mostly. Eliza was too taken with her cousin, Melina, to have any interest in guys. Honestly, Kureha did find herself somewhat attracted to Lute, despite his obnoxious personality, and Rossetti found him cute. Miura admitted that he was definitely handsome, but she did find his contrived density and poorly conceptualized \"innocence\" and \"naivety\" disgusting. Not to mention, his creator would leak out at some times and display his true arrogance. The guys definitely didn't like him that much.

\"Whatever. I just like to keep my options open. He's my kind of guy, and that wood magic he used? He didn't just absorb my mana. He sort of captured my heart.\" Miura laughed. \"Jokes aside, he's very similar to me. It's too bad I haven't reached the point where I can summon a demon with my black magic, otherwise I might have stood a chance.\"

\"He smashed through your Garden of Black Roses, which nobody except our captain had done so before.\" Eliza looked glum. \"I made the stupid mistake of underestimating him…I should have known he was a formidable foe.\"

\"Richard didn't actually smash through my Garden, to be fair.\" Miura stroked several silky strands of her hair. \"He sucked my mana dry, which caused me to be unable to maintain my Garden of Black Roses. A very different approach, one that relies on more insidious, scheming methods instead of the usual brute force and raw strength tactics that you guys are so found of.\" She chuckled. \"Like I said, he's my type.\"

\"Anyway…\" Kureha glanced at Rossetti and Kufa. \"Are either of you confident of winning against him?\"

She had seen me remaining on stage and she guessed correctly that I was staying for the fourth round.

\"Uh, well…he has quite the troublesome magic…\" Rossetti began timidly. On the other hand, Kufa stepped forward and bowed.

\"Captain, if you don't mind, I would like to face him.\"

\"Oh? Kufa, you think you can win?\"

\"Who knows?\" the dark-haired Samurai shrugged. \"But I would very much like to test my blade against his. He's the same class as me…in a fashion. But therein lies his weakness…his sword skills are not as polished as mine, mainly because he focused on sharpening his summoning abilities instead. If that's the case, I think I can exploit his lack of swordsmanship and prevail.\"

\"All right then.\" Kureha nodded without any hesitation. \"I'll be counting on you.\"