But Keith Preston found it utterly intolerable.
What he found especially intolerable was that Marcus Monroe hadn’t come, sending only Paige Summers in his place.
He didn’t think much of Paige Summers.
’Although he’d heard of her reputation, he figured that since Female Superpower Users were so rare, people were bound to exaggerate their abilities. If she were really that powerful, how could she have been abducted from her own base?’
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became, which only made him dislike Paige Summers even more.
His attitude was so obvious that it infuriated Evan Carter and Norman Ross, who were standing by Paige Summers’ side.
The two men had always deeply admired Paige Summers, and on this trip, they were serving as the captain and vice-captain of The Guard. Seeing Keith Preston’s behavior, they both thought the man was an absolute fool.
But since Paige Summers gave no orders, they didn’t dare act on their own.
Just as they were wondering how to find an opportunity to teach Keith Preston a lesson, the man himself served it to them on a platter!
Keith Preston had convinced Maisie Joyce to hold a martial arts exhibition, ostensibly to welcome Paige Summers. The plan was to first have the Southreach Power Corps put on a demonstration, followed by ten "friendly" matches for a mutual exchange of skills. In reality, he just wanted to flaunt the strength of his major base and intimidate Paige Summers.
Paige Summers found it rather amusing.
’It’s been a while since anyone tried to test me with brute force,’ she thought. ’Sometimes, I really do miss the old days in Central City...’
So, she agreed without the slightest hesitation.
She had brought thirty team members with her. Ben was a given, but the rest were all elite veterans, none with a superpower below the Sixth Rank.
Marcus Monroe wouldn’t have been at ease otherwise.
’With a lineup like this, it would be hard to lose even if we tried.’
As for choosing the combatants, she gave full authority to Evan Carter and Norman Ross, letting them handle all the arrangements.
The weather on the day of the exhibition was poor; the sky was heavy and overcast.
However, on the training grounds of the Southern Army’s camp, everyone was still in high spirits.
As for the Southern Army, both their first and second divisions had been far more proactive in training and killing Zombies lately. They felt they had made great progress and were brimming with confidence.
The team from Bloodfall Base, on the other hand, remained outwardly reserved, but inwardly, their fighting spirit was raging.
Whether they were the ones who had come south with Paige Summers during the base purges, those who had previously followed Mason Hayes in Southreach, or those who had arrived later from Central City, every last one of them was a battle-hardened veteran. Moreover, they had all undergone multiple sessions of Marcus Monroe’s intensive, closed-door training. They were conditioned for combat; the moment a fight began, they would give it their all.
It got to the point where Paige Summers had to warn them, "Injuring them is fine, but try not to kill anyone. Of course," she added, "if your opponent is actively courting death, then don’t hold back!"
As scheduled, the event began with a demonstration match from the Southern Army.
Paige Summers, for her part, couldn’t muster much interest in it.
’These are superpowers, not magic tricks.’
’What’s the point of fighting back and forth if you’re not going for real? The whole thing is probably choreographed. It’s meaningless.’
Still, it was a "gesture of goodwill," so she forced herself to pay attention.
Only when the demonstration match ended and it was time for the "friendly" matches did she finally sit up straight.
Keith Preston had been watching her reaction the whole time. He found her arrogant and it left him fuming. ’During the friendly matches,’ he thought, ’I’ll be sure to teach her a lesson.’
Keith Preston had taken great pains in selecting his combatants.
He had picked the ten most skilled and ferocious fighters in the army, matched according to their ranks.
In the first match, Southreach sent out a Fire Ability User, while Bloodfall sent out an Earth Ability User. Most people thought of Earth Ability Users as primarily defensive fighters with secondary offensive capabilities, but that wasn’t the case for Bloodfall. Their fighter, Mason Chandler, was a huge fan of Ben. As a Zombie, Ben rarely bothered with defense, a lesson Mason Chandler had taken to heart—defense was unnecessary. While Ben relied on his incredibly resilient body, Mason had trained for extreme speed. He dodged his opponent’s attacks and countered with an overwhelming barrage of earth spikes that left no room for escape, sending the Fire Ability User scrambling across the arena. Regardless of the outcome, the member of The Power Corps already looked utterly wretched. In the end, it took less than ten exchanges for the Southreach fighter to suffer an injury to his thigh and withdraw in a miserable defeat.
The second match, the third... all the way to the fifth, Bloodfall remained undefeated.
Keith Preston’s expression couldn’t have been uglier. Even Maisie Joyce, Colin Koenig, and the others felt utterly humiliated.
’At least don’t let the losses be so pathetic!’ This was the silent plea from everyone in Southreach.
By the sixth match, Keith Preston couldn’t take it anymore.
Bloodfall sent out Shaun Woods, a Wood Element Superpower User. In response, Southreach changed their planned Earth Element fighter and sent out a Gold Element opponent instead.
Elementally speaking, Gold counters Wood.
In fact, Wood Element Superpower Users did tend to lose more often than not against Gold Ability Users. But for Keith Preston to change his fighter at the last minute just to secure a win was a rather shameful move.
Paige Summers, however, just smiled.
"Shaun, you’re the one lucking out here," she said. "We have so few Gold Ability Users at our base, it’s not easy finding a sparring partner for you. This time, you can really let loose and test yourself."
At Bloodfall, every team member had to learn how to face different superpowers. But they didn’t have a single Gold Element Superpower User who was also a Seventh Rank, like Shaun Woods.
That was why Paige Summers had said what she did.
Shaun Woods grinned as well.
He had recently felt his Cultivation hit a bottleneck. The next step up was the Eighth Rank, but that threshold was proving incredibly difficult to cross.
’This is the perfect opportunity!’
Down on the field, Shaun Woods and his opponent were soon locked in a lively, back-and-forth battle.
Paige Summers watched with rapt attention.
But just then, the sky high above the southernmost part of Southreach began to change.
The sky suddenly grew even more oppressive. Gray masses—it was hard to tell if they were clouds or fog—tumbled through the air, growing steadily thicker and darker until they were nearly black.
These black, cloud-like masses were not static. They began to rotate in a small area, spinning faster and faster until they formed a vortex about a meter square.
As the people below watched in bewilderment, the vortex began to expand at a terrifying rate!
By the time it was three or four meters wide, the vortex began to generate a powerful suction!
The wind on the ground whipped up, growing even stronger!
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