On arena eight, the opponent facing Kou Ying introduced himself in a conventional manner.
"Li Er, Poliland Club, the Americas."
"Kou Ying, Hold Up the Heavens Team, Great Xia."
Li Er looked taken aback. "I thought you would introduce yourself as the president of Nini Home. It seems you prefer your team to the organization you founded yourself."
The black shadow beneath Kou Ying's feet melted as he waited quietly.
A hint of softness surfaced in his pitch-black eyes.
"That's right. I prefer my team."
The referee extended a hand, cutting across their lines of sight.
"Contestant Number Six, Kou Ying, and Contestant Number One Hundred Thirty-Two, Li Er. Begin!"
Li Er pressed his palms together. As his lips moved, waves of Buddhist chanting transformed into flowing characters that lashed toward Kou Ying like ropes.
Kou Ying stood where he was, his mind momentarily dazed. It felt as though three Fahais had been stuffed into his head, chattering incessantly and chanting until his head hurt.
"Got him!"
Before Li Er's excited expression could fully form, it froze on his face.
The ropes formed from chanting had struck no solid substance, only a black shadow.
The Kou Ying before him turned into a mass of black shadow and silently vanished. Li Er's heart sank. A shadow?
Then where was the real Kou Ying?
He focused intently on sensing the energy around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he sharply caught sight of a dagger thrusting toward him from behind. He jerked his head aside and reacted swiftly, grabbing the person behind him. Muttering an incantation, he sent the chanting ropes along his arm to loop around the figure that had appeared behind him.
But what followed was a black shadow bursting apart before his eyes.
"Another shadow?"
*A shadow-wait,