Coward

Roar*

Dazzling rays of golden lights blinded everyone in the stadium as the awakening of Ye Qin's dragon made even the heavens and earth tremble. After transforming, the golden dragon turned from the golden koi floated in the air with its huge body as it's aura now suppressed all three opposing monsters at once.

"A.. A… A.."

"Dragon!!!"

"Hey don't take my line!"

"Shut it! Stop stuttering!"

"Stop arguing, every single time! It's always you two!"

"Just look at that dragon! It's huge, strong, and even good looking!"

"How can a being such as a dragon appear here today!" many shouted as they dropped on their knees like flies.

Mo Qiu in the stands thought to herself "What? It can transform? I as his homeroom teacher had no knowledge of this... I must reflect..."

Suddenly, recruiters from every single academy all shouted at once. "Join us!" "No join us!" and the likes such as they did for Sun Zan except Ye Qin caused an even larger ruckus amongst the crowd this year.

"Quiet! The match is still in session!" the referee shouted through his mic shutting up everyone instantly.

…

Just by being on the field, Ye Qin's opponent seeing a majestic golden dragon before him fell backward as he instantly became a coward and said "I'm out!" before running and standing far away from the battle with his monster returned inside the Monster Sea.

"Man he gave up after it only just transformed… If people were to know that I have another six monsters would they just find a place to hang themselves?" Ye Qin thought.

After his opponent gave up, Ye Qin returned his dragon into the Monster Sea as he along with Wang Tao watched the battle between Tang Yaling and Gu Lexian unfold.

Naturally, when Ye Qin's koi transformed it had affected Gu Lexian too, as she had already engaged the Phantasm Peacock in battle for a while, her monster had run out of some stamina. Once the dragon came out, her monster instantly felt weaker as the power in its moves became soft and its speed decreased by a notch.

Though, even without Ye Qin and Wang Tao's oppressive auras, Gu Lexian still had a hard time against Tang Yaling. The entire time, her monster had only done some surface damage to Tang Yaling's which should be an achievement since not many are able to discover it inside its dark attribute mist. The only reason she managed to land a few hits was that they are both of the same element.

Tang Yaling took advantage of her opponent's weakness and used its illusion skill to create dozens of itself before shooting out an endless torrent of pitch-black feathers at its foe. Gu Lexian's gull was attacked from all sides making it hard to tell which attacks were real and which were just mere illusions. However, in its weakened state, even attacks from the illusions seemed to be real.

Floosh! Floosh!

As it failed to break through the Phantasm Peacock's attacks, the Gull cried as the endless attacks cut through its flesh leaving trails of blood behind. Gu Lexian suddenly had an idea as her monster's beak became darker and darker in color until it smashed through a single point that broke the peacock's attack as it charged towards the Phantasm Peacock's surrounding it.

Floosh! Floosh!

The Phantasm Peacock's clones dispersed as the gull flew around in the air. Meanwhile, the real Peacock spread out its wings and tail to its largest span as black and purple element energy became infused into its feathers.

Once Gu Lexian's monster aimed directly at it, Tang Yaling's peacock unleashed another barrage of more powerful feathers that are reinforced by its own energy. The gull's attack came closer and closer to reaching the peacock, however, once it went past the halfway point, Tang Yaling's peacock's eyes shone with dark light as its attacks became fiercer as the energy became stronger and stronger forcing the opponent backward.

Floosh! Floosh!

Tang Yaling's power pushed back Gu Lexian as her gull became engulfed in dark feathers before being sent flying outside the field.

"Winner, Ye Qin's team!" the referee shouted through his mic.

"..."

"..."

"Whao!!!!"

"Overwhelming!"

"I thought Tang Yaling was going to lose, then suddenly her attacks became so powerful that it completely crushed Gu Lexian!"

The main recruiter from the War God Academy thought to himself "This year's participants are indeed powerful. They are much greater than their peers even starting from a decade or two ago! With children like Ye Qin, Chen Jingyi, Wang Tao, Sun Zan, and more, looks like humanity will have some great leaders in this generation!"

"However, even amongst them, it seems like Ye Qin and Chen Jingyi have the most potential. I didn't think I'd live to see the day to see creatures told in legends. Though that girl… she's an exception…" he continued thinking.

"Ye Qin!"

"Ye Qin!"

"Ye Qin!"

After their overwhelming win, the crowd cheered for Ye Qin and friends. Previously, Ye Qin's koi was already more powerful than most of the students here, to begin with. Now that it revealed it's true form, it was guaranteed that Ye Qin and his friends would be invited to the top 3 academies!

…

As the match came to a close, Ye Qin and friends returned to their rooms as they are congratulated by all those around them. Even Mo Qiu, couldn't contain her pride as Ye Qin's homeroom teacher.

The following day will be the match between Ye Qin's party and Chen Jingyi's. This match up brought about excitement for the entire night as people began discussing on who they think will win.

That night, Ye Qin ventured inside his Monster Sea and bonded with his seven dragons for hours instead of sleeping. As for Wang Tao, he slept like a log on his bed all night without a single worry.

The next morning, the two brothers met up with Tang Yaling and Sun Zan for breakfast. In the midst of breakfast, Ye Qin linked his mind with Wang Tao's through the Great Sage who he had called over last night and thought "Hey fatty, today you will be taking the stage." which entered the mind of Wang Tao.

"Huh? Why?" Wang Tao replied inside his mind with a puzzled expression. "Well, there's still the one on one battles the day after tomorrow. Unless you want me to beat Chen Jingyi today and you beat her on your own next time?" Ye Qin asked.

"Hmm…"

"Let's go with the latter." Wang Tao thought after a while.

"Alright." Ye Qin replied.

After the two finished their conversation, Sun Zan looked around before whispering to the two brothers whilst Tang Yaling was away for a bit "Hey Ye Qin, why does your armband have the presence of a monster?"

"!" the two thought at the same time.

"Hahahaha! What.. are you talking about? Hahaha?" Wang Tao laughed.

"C'mon don't try to trick me, I can sense the aura of an ape on your arm!" Sun Zan said.

"..."

"Could he have become more sensitive thanks to the orb?" Ye Qin thought.

"You're right, though, let's keep it a secret until we at least get into one of the top five academies." the latter whispered.

…

As Tang Yaling returned to the table, the four of them ate silently before returning all the utensils to the cafeteria. Once it was time for the finals to begin, the four of them made their way down to the stadium where Sun Zan sat down in the crowd whilst the other three headed directly into the spotlight.

As both teams gathered on both sides, the referee looked at both teams and nodded slightly before facing forwards and announcing into his mic "The final match of the group battles between Ye Qin and Chen Jingyi's party begins!"

"Both teams ready? Begin!" he continued.

"Ye Qin! Ye Qin! Ye Qin!"

"Chen Jingyi!"

Amidst the crowd, there were two sides who cheered, just like the two sides of a single coin. Chen Jingyi's team members sent out their monsters first which Tang Yaling and Wang Tao did also.

[Monster: Old Vine Tree]

[Grade: Common]

[Level: 14]

[Type: Plant]

[Element: Wood]

[Monster: Frost Lily]

[Grade: Uncommon]

[Level: 14]

[Type: Plant]

[Element: Ice]

Tang Yaling stayed back to be the support whilst Wang Tao took on both monsters head-on. "Heh, two crowd control monsters, wanting to beat me in a battle of ice element? Hah!" Wang Tao laughed.

Roar!

The Blackgold Python Tiger took flight as it zipped towards the two opposing monsters. The Old Vine Tree and Frost Lily were prepared for his attack as the tree sent out vines that stretched out towards the tiger whilst the lily sent out small flakes of tiny lilies in the gaps between the vines.

Roar!

The Blackgold Python Tiger saw openings in between the vines and cut through them like tofu just by flying through using its sharp wings whilst gold and ice element energy fused together in its claws as it suddenly appeared like a bolt of lightning in between the two monsters and swiped down at them.

Whee! Whee!

A single attack from Wang Tao rendered both monsters unable to battle and forcibly returned them into the opponent's Monster Sea. Wang Tao and Tang Yaling then returned their monsters as well before standing back and let Ye Qin stand in the spotlight.

"Whao!! Wang Tao took out two monsters with a single attack! He even managed to fuse two elements together so fluidly!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Yea! Tang Yaling didn't even need to do anything!"

…

After the crowd became silent, Ye Qin called out his golden koi to the field whilst Chen Jingyi similarity called her demon out. Ye Qin's koi didn't transform like everyone thought it would as the two monsters seemed to move as if they teleported.

Bang!

The two monsters appeared at random places and hit each other with physical attacks of equal force creating shockwaves that blew dust around. After a dozen rounds of clashing, Ye Qin used some gold element that was coated around the koi like armor whilst the demon's dark pink energy covered its two hands as they continued clashing like before.

Tremble! Tremble!

"Boo!"

"We don't wanna see this!"

"Haven't we seen this enough already?"

"Show us something more exciting!!!"

The crowd grew tired of watching the same kind of fighting as they begin creating noise once again. Just like the crowd wanted, Ye Qin's koi teleported away as it shot out repetitive beams of energy whilst Chen Jingyi's demon teleported in closer as it shot out balls of demon energy to cancel out the golden beams.

Not only that, but both monsters also combined both physical attacks and elemental attacks. Even after minutes of fighting, both monsters didn't take any real damage as most attacks were either dodged or countered and deflected.

Chen Jingyi's demon laughed the entire fight as it brought its two hands together and threw a large ball of demon element energy at the koi. Ye Qin's koi waited for the attack before twisting its body and used its tail to grab hold of the demonic ball and threw it back with added in the gold element.

His counter-attack didn't end there, the golden koi disappeared from the field, just as he asked, the golden koi reappeared once more and dived around as it disappeared into thin air whilst reappearing in random places. Last night whilst Ye Qin was in his monster sea, he realized that he finally tapped into the power of time which is his koi's primary element.

By briefly stopping time for a few seconds, it can reappear in different places it likes or attacks an opponent. This powerful ability enabled it to do almost anything! From attacking to defending! Using this power, Ye Qin tested it out in battle for the first time without attacking to get used to it.