Battle Frenzy

It was understandable for the girls to not pay much attention to the Ball Queen, but when Ma Dong saw that both Wang Zhong and Barran wore similar expressions of curiosity, he could no longer keep his calm. He had assumed that they would become as overwhelmed with emotions as him when they heard Sharmie’s name and would immediately accompany him on his endeavor to introduce himself to his new relative. Yet, that expression of disinterest on their faces was like a slap to his face.

“Don’t tell me you two don’t recognize Sharmie?”

Wang Zhong blanked for a bit. “Could it be Flame City’s Sharmie?” Barran, on the other hand, did not recognize the name at all.

“Yes, that Sharmie!” Ma Dong exclaimed excitedly. “She’s the mighty Ball Queen!”

Barran scratched his head and carefully asked, “Is it basketball? Or some other kind of ball?”

“I…” Ma Dong was about to spurt out a mouthful of blood. How can there be such a lifeform like this in the same dimension as me? Asking whether it was about basketball… his ignorance will be the death of me!

“Alright, alright. Ma Dong Dong, hurry up and say what you want to say.” Still feeling extremely discontent at this disruption, Emily interrupted the conversation as she watched President Ma’s expression twist into one filled with heartbroken grief and indignation. She knew about Sharmie, but Sharmie’s arrival had nothing to do with her! “I want to continue my training!”

“…” Ma Dong felt truly dumbfounded. The two of them were simply cousins, but look how close Sharmie was with Milami. Why was there such a huge disparity on his side?

“Enough! You guys can stop asking about it!” Ma Dong waved his hands. It seemed that Sharmie’s fame and reputation couldn’t be used to suppress these guys. Time to change tactics and use an incomparably firm expression. “The southeastern regional champions for the CHF, the Flame Artillery Squadron, has come to our academy. They’re right next door. As president of the Prodigy Society, I decided that we need to know and understand our future opponents.”

The regional champions, Flame Artillery Squadron, was just next door?

Upon hearing this information, even Emily’s eyes lit up. She had previously heard the violent chanting downstairs and had assumed that they were just replaying an OP video of her on the big screen. Did she actually come here?

☀

Inside Black Rose’s great hall, Scarlet and Milami were giving a tour of the place to the members of the Flame Artillery Squadron.

The Flame Artillery Squadron had been preparing to head to the northern region in order to engage in head-on training with another academy. To take advantage of the trip, they stopped at Tianjing City as a transit point. Sharmie had wanted to pay her older female cousin a visit and had, in turn, brought the entire squadron to Milami’s place.

It was originally supposed to be a private and simple meeting between the two of them, but when Mario and the others heard that Black Rose was a society that was dominated by women of grace and beauty, they pestered Sharmie relentlessly to bring them along for the meeting. In the end, the meeting turned into a friendly exchange between the two societies.

While on the surface this was an exchange between the two societies, it was actually just a gathering for members of both societies to know each other better. There wasn’t anything like a mutual comparison of notes between them—the disparity between both groups was far too large.

What was Flame City? It was a frequent gathering point for the powerhouses in the CHF. In the past couple of competitions, a few of the most excellent performances originated from the Flame City. As a whole they were very strong, and it was especially so two years back when Sharmie and Mario first joined the Flame City. There was no need to further talk about Ball Queen as she was without a doubt the queen of ranged firepower.

Mario Nagut was a rarely seen talent who possessed two distinct special abilities. Regardless of whether it were the hard, solid earth system barrier or his mastery of darkness transmission, his ability to alternate easily between these two forms of defence made him more versatile as compared to a heavy soldier. He made a name for himself as the Black Magic Defender and teamed up with Sharmie to enter the regional competition the previous year.

The two had swept past every single competitor and there was no surprise that the both of them had clinched the title of regional champions. This made Flame Artillery Squadron rise from a simple top-grade squadron to one that transcended the rankings.

When they coordinated with the other squadmates that were all at the elite division grade, the Flame Artillery Squadron became one of the CHF’s super-squadrons and were most likely to reach the Top 16 ranks in this year’s CHF.

In comparison, the entire Tianjing Academy, including the Black Rose, possessed no such qualifications. Up until now, it had only been Reeves who reached the elite division grade. Furthermore, he was just a wily old fox and was not well-known among the elite division. He often had more losses than wins and would repeatedly be on the edges of demotion. When placed before the Flame Artillery Squadron, he wouldn’t be able to hold his own against their core lineup.

Another person to be mentioned was Black Rose’s president, Scarlet. Although she was talented, she was still at the level of a heroic division soldier. She was just a second-year student after all.

Comparing this against the Flame Artillery Squadron?

Truth be told, it wasn’t that they were looking down on them, but that there was no basis of comparison between them in the first place.

It was a surprising that Mario and the others were still very humble and modest, always refined and courteous to members of the Black Rose despite the huge disparity. One reason for that was due to the relationship between Milami and Sharmie. The other was because the Black Rose was composed of beauties. When faced with such situation, it was required for men to adopt the demeanor of a gentleman.

Scarlet and Sharmie got along very well. Every descendant of a large family were taught the importance of establishing their own set of connections since young as they would be beneficial for their future. Regardless of their fighting abilities, both Scarlet and Sharmie came from similar family backgrounds. While there was still a difference in strength and fame between them, the connection forged today would be very helpful once they stepped outside the Academy and into the Federation world.

With Milami acting as a go-between figure, coupled with Sharmie’s fiery and unrestrained character, the two of them quickly became close.

While the members of the Flame Artillery Squadron were all gentlemen, it was hard to conceal their powerful aura. The opportunities where they got to see their captain smile were few and far between. There wasn’t even a need to talk about Scarlet. While she wasn’t as voluptuous as their captain, she was still delicate and exquisite. Her face was also on par with beauties of the highest tier. When she sat beside their captain, it was akin to watching the incarnation of an angel and a devil.

Then there was their captain’s older female cousin. Fuck, what exactly was this family made of!? Why were their genes so good!?

Mario and the others were so amazed that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Though this intelligent elder sister was lacking in reputation, she definitely possessed the qualifications to acquire some and would put up a decent fight against their captain. Others would try to accentuate their assets as much as possible, but these sisters were actually trying to hide it. What a waste of such heavenly treasures! Luckily, genuine goods could never be concealed!

Being able to see such beautiful assets of women without worrying about their safety and being surrounded by an ocean of flowers, Mario and the guys felt pretty blissful. After all, their captain would always care about her image when they went out and wouldn’t turn on them. She even smiled faintly from time to time and gave gentle replies when questions were posed by the junior sisters of Black Rose. As for the squadron, they enjoyed the looks of adoration coming from them… but never would they have imagined all of this would be so quickly ruined by a few individuals.

“President Scarlet, Mi Mi.” Ma Dong brought along his three-man Prodigy Society squadron and enthusiastically said, “Aiya, why didn’t you inform us that you had visitors. We’re all neighbors, yet you made us look so discourteous!”

Dumbfounded expressions appeared on the faces of Mario and the others. Who was this? Wasn’t this a beauty-filled society? Why was there a couple of fools in this place of beauty?