"Yes. We hope to earn the honor of facing Shrek Academy, and I believe my students are strong enough to stand on the competition stage."
Although Wu Zhangkong had no idea what was going on, as someone who had come from Shrek Academy, he would never let himself lose face here.
To face Shrek Academy head-on at the opening ceremony of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition was worth it for Class Zero and Wu Zhangkong, even when they considered the pain of being beaten until they were injured and the time it would cost them.
Lan Kai, however, found the whole thing a little... strange, and oddly familiar.
Thinking it over, wasn't this scene almost exactly like when Aihara Ryu had encouraged the little Mebius to challenge Ultraman Leo to a one-on-one fight?
Setting aside Lan Kai's strength and Gu Yue and Tang Wulin's bizarre Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the gap between Class Zero and the team Shrek Academy had sent was even greater than the difference in strength between Ultraman Mebius and Ultraman Leo.
Besides, aside from failing to anticipate that the iron-headed little Mebius would dare to take his Leo Kick head-on, Leo had seemed fierce throughout the fight, but he hadn't been trying to seriously injure him.
But Shrek Academy's people had no idea what it meant to hold back. Even if everyone in Class Zero except Lan Kai defended with all their might, they'd probably still end up with grievous injuries on the level of a shattered Martial Soul, wouldn't they?
From what had happened ten thousand years ago, when Xiao Xiao's Martial Soul had been smashed but she'd woken up in less than half a month, a shattered Martial Soul didn't seem as terrifying as Lao Huo had made it sound...
What was more, after seeing the little Mebius knocked flat by Leo, Aihara Ryu had actually dared to point a gun at Leo. He'd even gotten so angry at how harshly Leo scolded the little Mebius that he'd wanted to fight Leo, who excelled at hand-to-hand combat. No wonder he'd later been qualified to transform into Ultraman Hikari.
As for Wu Zhangkong, surely he wouldn't go so far as to beat up Shrek Academy's teachers for the sake of Class Zero's students?
Although the teacher leading the team was only his junior sister, given Wu Zhangkong's attitude toward Shrek Academy, he might not be about to shout, "Why wouldn't I dare?" and then explode against his junior sister—or that Silver Moon Dog Donkey from Shrek Academy's outer court.
As for why Juggler had gone behind everyone's back to do this, without even telling Lan Kai...
Perhaps it was because Juggler had set out again half a month ago to confront the Evil Soul Masters, and had probably obtained some information that Lan Kai didn't know about yet.
Since he'd already planned to cause Shrek Academy trouble, he'd simply chosen a method that was even more Shrek-like—and even more direct.
Was this what they meant by using a devil to deal with a devil?
Faced with Wu Zhangkong's answer, the few officials from Skysea City clearly looked troubled.
If this matter hadn't originally been proposed by His Excellency Snake Heart, a Spirit Envoy stationed in the eastern region, and if Teacher Wu Zhangkong hadn't had a connection to Shrek Academy, they probably wouldn't even have considered it.
Still, they evidently had their own difficulties. Looking troubled, one of them said:
"Since you're so confident in your academy's students, and they have His Excellency Snake Heart's recommendation, then according to the rules, it's naturally no problem to use a real match to decide who will face Shrek Academy's honored guests in the exhibition match.
"However, there's the matter of publicity. If the spectators who come from far and wide and Shrek Academy's honored guests don't agree, Skysea City will suffer a considerable loss.
"After all, your academy's students haven't yet earned public recognition for their strength, and Shrek Academy's honored guests have very high standards. Even if your academy's students defeat the previous youth division champions, they may still fail to win over the spectators and the honored guests..."
Wu Zhangkong froze. He truly hadn't considered the problem could be so complicated. In the past, he'd only needed to fight, and he realized, to his surprise, that the way he'd handled things before was completely useless in a situation like this.
After all, he'd once been a member of Shrek Academy, with the prestigious status of a Shrek student to back him up. He'd only needed to provoke people without thinking. Now, there were a lot more things to consider.
At that moment, Lan Kai suddenly stepped forward and said something so confident it stunned everyone present:
"Then how about using this as our publicity line? We can also present it as a declaration from our side:
"**I'll use only ten percent of my Soul Power!
"If I can't defeat the champions within fifteen minutes, I'll leave my head behind!"
"...If you're willing to bear the consequences of losing that bet, it certainly makes for a good publicity stunt. But are you really willing to swear that you'll keep this declaration? And..."
The few officials from Skysea City thought it over, and their eyes lit up.
A wager this sensational would certainly generate plenty of buzz and draw a lot of attention from spectators.
Besides, if Lan Kai and the others really did defeat the previous youth division champions under such unfavorable conditions, then even if Shrek Academy's honored guests refused to fight them, Lan Kai could simply repeat his declaration and use public opinion to pressure them into accepting the challenge.
Of course, that depended on Lan Kai and the others having someone more reliable to guarantee the wager. Eastsea Academy alone didn't carry enough weight.
"No problem. Besides, I'm Teacher Juggler's disciple. Since my teacher is willing to back me on this, I have no reason to back down or go back on my word."
Lan Kai immediately invoked Juggler's name. The gloom on the Skysea City officials' faces then vanished, and they said their goodbyes to Wu Zhangkong and the others before leaving to handle the arrangements.
The next moment, everyone in Class Zero and Wu Zhangkong—and even Long Hengxu, the director of discipline at Eastsea Academy—crowded around Lan Kai, staring intently into his eyes.
Lan Kai's declaration was simply too shocking. Even the world's number-one Shrek Academy had never had anyone make such an arrogant declaration.
"Lan Kai, are you really confident? You can defeat the previous youth division champions of the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition with only ten percent of your Soul Power?" Wu Zhangkong asked urgently.
The fact that even the usually aloof Wu Zhangkong had become anxious showed just how much impact Lan Kai's words had made.
Lan Kai still looked completely confident. The smile on his face even grew a little brighter.
"Don't worry, I'm still holding something back. When the time comes, I'll be the only one who actually fights. The others just need to make a show of passing half of their Soul Power to me. And we won't even need fifteen minutes. If they last half a minute, I'll hand over my head."
"Will His Excellency Snake Heart agree to let you do that?" Long Hengxu immediately asked.
"Don't worry. My teacher will only impose even stricter limits on me. That's because I'm strong enough to defeat Shrek Academy's 'honored guests' as well."
Although it was strange for Lan Kai, a Warrior of Light, to make a declaration with such a distinctly dark-tactics flavor, as long as he wasn't planning to play some "Young Master Offers His Head" game, it should be fine.
Before you continue