211 Chapter 211: Engagemen

The next morning, Shun Yin was strolling down the corridor toward his classroom when a couple of people stood in his way. He glanced up at the redhead who towered over him – the guy must be over six feet tall – and the surprisingly diminutive girl who accompanied him.

"Huang Shun Yin, right?"

"That's right." Shun Yin looked a little puzzled. He didn't recognize either of the duo at all. "Can I help you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I'm wondering what Angelica sees in you."

"!!!"

The punch came, almost out of nowhere. Shun Yin dodged it on reflex, stepping to the side and avoiding the redhead's fist totally. His assailant scowled and threw another hook, but Shun Yin deflected his arm to the side before punching the guy in the gut.

Or tried to, but the redhead caught his fist. Sensing danger, especially when the redhead attempted to yank him close, Shun Yin bent his arm while delivering an elbow strike to his opponent's neck. The other party quickly let go of his fist to block the sharp attack, and retreated, his forearm stinging from the blow.

"Not bad…"

The redhead closed in once again, beginning with a frontal kick, and then followed up with a vicious hook to the side of Shun Yin's head. The latter merely spun away from the kick, and then blocked the punch before retaliating with a series of rapid blows to his chest and face. The redhead grunted, but managed to shield his face despite taking a few hits to his chest. He tried to retaliate, but Shun Yin preemptively kicked him in the knee to force him back, disrupting his rhythm.

"You…" the redhead growled.

Shun Yin didn't waste any words on him and approached him, ready to finish him off, but the petite, blond girl who had been accompanying the redhead suddenly sprang into action.

"!!"

Shun Yin was almost caught off guard by her speed. He twisted to the side to avoid her kick, and then knocked away her jab. While he was busily dealing with her, the redhead came from the side, punching him in the ribs and throwing him off.

"Ugh!"

Hitting the ground, Shun Yin rolled to soften the blow, but was forced to cross his arms to block a kick from the redhead. While distracted by his attack, the girl stomped on his leg, causing him to clutch it and howl.

"It's over."

The redhead was about to smash Shun Yin's face to the ground when someone else grabbed hold of his arm.

"What a pathetic sight, Charles. Do you really need to team up with Mathilda to beat up a single person?"

"You…!"

The redhead shook his arm free from Glen's grasp.

"This is none of your business, Glen!"

"Who are you to decide what's my business and what's not?" Glen retorted. "The person you're beating up is my friend."

"Your friend?" Charles snorted. "Don't make me laugh."

"Classmate, then. If you don't believe me, you can check my class roster." Glen shrugged, not caring. "And besides, it's quite the blemish on the Porter family if other people see you ganging up on a single victim like a common thug. I don't want other people thinking the Porter family is full of nothing but bullies. My dad worked so hard to dispel that image, after all."

Charles held Glen's gaze for a moment, and then looked away. "You exaggerate. We're not bullying anybody. I just wanted to see what the fuss is about…why Angelica was so taken with this guy."

"He was kicking your ass before you decided to double-team him with Mathilda, so I hope you got your answer."

"Who kicked my ass?" Charles roared. "The fight wasn't decided yet! I was just…"

"We can continue if you're still not convinced," Glen cut him off with a polite suggestion. "If you insist of having Mathilda join in, then perhaps I should participate as well, to even the numbers."

Charles's glare hardened, but he didn't respond. Instead, he turned away with a huff.

"Let's go, Mathilda."

"Yes, Master Charles."

The petite blonde made to follow him, but the redhead suddenly stopped to throw a parting smirk at Shun Yin, who was slowly rising to his feet.

"Ah…forgive my lack of manners. I don't believe I have introduced myself yet." His sneer deepened. "I am Charles Porter…adopted into the main Porter family. I am also Angelica's fiancé."

With that, he disappeared down the corridor with Mathilda in tow, leaving a trail of laughter behind him.

Shun Yin watched him go, his expression unreadable. Glen cleared his throat and offered a hand, which Shun Yin ignored.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"No, it's just that…uh…" Glen looked away uneasily. "Even I've heard about the rumors regarding you and Angie."

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"They are just that. Rumors." Shun Yin shook his head and began heading to class. "Excuse me. Lessons are about to begin, so I suggest we hurry to class."

*

Ten days since school had officially started, and nothing of note occurred other than Ying Bu Si's invitation and the "bullying". Even the research students didn't progress very much with their attempts to forge a spiritual connection with the other dimension. Shun Yin also didn't experience much harassment or bullying thanks to his "friendship" with Glen.

Apparently people were smart enough to realize that if they messed with Shun Yin, they messed with the principal's son. For his part, Shun Yin was aware that Glen probably had some ulterior motive for "befriending" him, and held him in suspicion. After all, Glen was a practical person, and not at all idealistic like his father. He wouldn't make friends with someone like Shun Yin unless there was some sort of benefit.

What sort of benefit, Shun Yin had no idea. He was sure he would figure it out, though.

"Let's go, Shun Yin!"

Glen was grinning broadly today for some reason as he jumped up from his desk the moment math lesson ended. Shun Yin could probably guess the reason for his good mood. They were going to have a practical combat lesson.

Shun Yin honestly didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, he appreciated the opportunity for sparring and training, but on the other hand he realized that these lessons were no more than glorified sessions to show off the strength of the Porter family. The matches were often so lopsided in the favor of the Porter family member that it couldn't even be considered sparring. Simply put, the other students existed solely for the Porter family members to humiliate and beat them up in front of everyone else.

…in order to prove their superiority to everyone.

However, Shun Yin couldn't care less about the family or clan politics that pervaded these sessions. He was going to do his best, and if his opponent turned out to be from the Porter clan, then all the better. He was going to prove that the non-Porter mages were just as good, if not better than the Porter mages.

That didn't seem to be a sentiment Glen shared. The handsome blond lightning mage was probably looking forward to showing off his abilities in front of a crowd, in order to raise his status and increase his influence.

The sparring session started simply enough, with Shun Yin defeating a couple of his classmates. Even though they were from some minor family affiliated with the Porter clan, they weren't very powerful or significant enough to kick up a fuss, and merely accepted their loss disgruntledly.

"These guys aren't much of a challenge, are they?" Glen asked as he approached Shun Yin. He grinned. "What do you say to a duel with me?"

"I'll be honored to." Shun Yin lowered his head somewhat humbly.

"Excellent!" Glen rubbed his hands gleefully. "I've always wanted to duel against you. Let's go all out! Don't hold back!"

"I could say the same to you."

There was a soft silence over the field as most of their classmates stopped or paused in the middle of the sparring session to watch. Glen and Shun Yin were recognized as the two strongest students in their class, and for good reason.

Nobody had been able to beat either of them.

However, the two of them rarely clashed, and the first time they exchanged blows outside the main hall on the first day of school ended in a stalemate. Everyone was curious to see how a full match between the two would play out.

Lightning crackled around Glen as he faced Shun Yin, the blond mage dropping into an aggressive stance. Shun Yin drew his sword and ignited his blade, facing down his opponent from a distance.

"Not going to use a weapon?" he asked.

"Never needed one. My own body is my weapon. So is my magic."

Now where did I hear that before? Shun Yin wondered cynically. That whole "my own body is a weapon" thing was becoming such a cliché.

Nonetheless, he recognized Glen as a powerful opponent.

The two of them studied each other for what seemed like long seconds. All around them, their classmates held their breaths, not daring to blink for fear of missing something.

They still missed the second the both of them moved.

"?!"

Both Shun Yin and Glen seemed to disappear almost entirely, leaving empty space in the field. The next thing they knew, fire and lightning collided right in the middle of the field, exploding violently. Flames scattered across the courtyard, burning and razing grass while electricity spread across the air in a deadly web.

Shun Yin's sword almost sliced through the lethal lightning that wreathed Glen's arms, engulfing the latter in flames. Glen didn't falter and instead unleashed bolts of lightning that forced Shun Yin to dodge. As lightning bolts forked and crisscrossed the air, Shun Yin tirelessly weaved through them, evading the deadly webs of electricity as best as he could, spinning, jumping and cartwheeling. Even so, Glen continued to bombard him with a lightning storm, undaunted by his lack of success thus far.

However, Glen wasn't the only one who could attack.

As Shun Yin ducked under a stream of lightning, he swung his sword and unleashed a torrent of flames that washed over the golden maelstrom of electricity. Glen was forced to recall a significant portion of his spell to erect an electrical barrier, which held strong against the crimson tide of fire.

However, Shun Yin was far from done. Raising his sword high up, he leaped over the dancing web of electricity before descending upon Glen's position. With a single stroke, he cleaved Glen's electric barrier in half and blew him away with powerful flames.

Coughing and spluttering, Glen hit the ground and rolled, his body smoldering. He scrambled to his feet, avoiding another flaming strike from Shun Yin, and desperately threw a lightning bolt that the latter deflected with his sword.

"I've to admit," Glen confessed as he was forced into the defensive. His sleeves were beginning to burn away despite the enchanted fabric of the Vermillion High uniform supposedly possessing a high amount of magical resistance. "You're among the strongest opponent I've ever faced."

"You're not doing so bad yourself," Shun Yin told his opponent before bathing him in another ferocious blast of flames.

"Ha ha ha…don't try and flatter me. It's been so one-sided so far. You've completely overwhelmed me." His body and uniform fuming, Glen stumbled out of the inferno, his skin burned and covered in soot. He coughed a little and stumbled back, trying to cast a new lightning spell to defend himself from Shun Yin's next strike.

"I have yet to defeat you."

"That's right. You're smart enough to acknowledge that, at least."

Glen beamed. At that moment, Shun Yin's instincts screamed.

"?!"

A powerful surge of lightning erupted from Glen's body, knocking him away. Shun Yin effortlessly avoided the deadly electricity and jumped to a safe distance, still holding his sword up cautiously as he kept his eye on his opponent. Glen, for his part, wiped the soot and ash off his burned face.

"You're probably the only one in our generation who forced me to use this spell."

Shun Yin's eyes widened when he caught sight of a gigantic tiger manifesting behind Glen, its form composed completely of lightning.

"White Tiger, one of the four Celestial Sovereigns." Glen shrugged with a smile. "I'm sure you've heard of him before."

"I have." Taking a deep breath, Shun Yin ignited his sword more fiercely than ever, enveloping his body in a raging inferno. He recognized the summoned tiger as a real threat, one of the most powerful foes he had ever faced.

So this was a Soul Beast…a crystallization of a summoning mage's imagination given real form and taking shape in physical space.

However, Shun Yin had fought monsters before. How different could Glen's White Tiger be from the monsters he had defeated in the past? They were just another creature he could slay with his fire magic and his sword.

As such, Shun Yin was not at all intimidated. He kicked off the ground and slashed at the roaring White Tiger.

"?!"

He never saw the hit coming. The White Tiger's claw swatted him to the side, slapping him with several million volts of electricity. White-hot pain exploded in his body, his vision winking out, followed by a paralyzing numbness that shorted out all the nervous signals that ran through his dendrites.

Blood spurting from his mouth, Shun Yin crashed to the ground…

…and his consciousness sank into total darkness.