Tempest of the Battlefield

Wang Tong shrugged as he scanned the three opponents. His attention was drawn immediately by three prominent features: two big bosoms, a bold shiny head, and a fearsome Afro.

"Hey kiddo, are you ready?"

The three were slightly disappointed after seeing how young their opponent was, as they doubted that the boy would be as powerful as they thought.

Wang Tong stared at the skinhead curiously, as if he were trying to refrain from asking him a question. After a brief pause, Wang Tong broke the silence, "Your head is so... bright and ...shiny! How did you do it?"

The skinhead was not impressed by Wang Tong\'s question, and he took it as a taunt. "Captain, let me go first. I want to teach him some respect."

Seeing Liva nod, Skin Head cranked up his soul energy and drew out the GN force. Judging by the soul energy, Wang Tong could tell that the Skin Head was a fifth level fighter.

The Bloody Bats\' over-the-top behavior was hinged on their superior abilities. Unlike the age of power suites when dark horses constantly challenged the positions of their higher tire counterparts, the METAL suits ushered in an era of absolute dominance of a few geniuses. The relative stability had lent conceit to the powerful, and encouraged ostentatious behavior.

Although Skin Head looked like he was only in his early twenties, he had already reached a high level of soul energy. Furthermore, his real-life combat experience ought to make him deadlier than any academy graduate. He threw himself at Wang Tong with abandon, bashing his opponent with his bold and shiny head. The heavy weight of his body made him look like a charging tank.

Wang Tong side-stepped swiftly and the skinhead, carried by his momentum, was about to crash straight into the wall. However, right before Skin Head was about to kiss the wall, he suddenly changed his pace, and as if by magic, he walked onto the wall and then to the ceiling. In a blink of eyes, Skin Head was already right above Wang Tong\'s head, boring his fist down onto Wang Tong as he fell.

Wang Tong watched as Skin Head finished the entire sequence in one go, and realized that his opponent had archived this stunt by altering the gravity around him using his GN force.

As Skin Head thought he was about to finish off his opponent with a deadly punch, Wang Tong suddenly yanked his right arm up and unleashed a wave of unseen force that sent the descending Skin Head back up to the ceiling. The impact created many cracks "under" Skin Head\'s body, on the ceiling.

A faint smile hung on Wang Tong\'s face. He had seen this trick before, and had countered it many times while fighting against the Pirate King Zackery. So difficult was the fight in the crystal against Mr. Wannabe\'s imagined persona that Wang Tong had seen and exhausted all the tricks one could perform with the GN force and soul energy. Therefore, when he saw Skin Head\'s iteration of the trick which Wang Tong had already learned by rote, Wang Tong merely acted out of instinct and resolved the attack in an instant.

Being pinned upside down on the ceiling, Skin Head wiggled his body, trying to break free from his opponent\'s GN force. However, regardless of how hard he had tried, his body remained on the ceiling as if he were glued to it.

Seeing his teammate in trouble, Green Afro jumped into the fight and punched at Wang Tong with a fist imbued with explosive GN force.

Sensing the incoming danger on his side, Wang Tong threw a glance at the attacker and hurled a fist to greet him.

The two fists collided with a loud blast. Green Afro was sent flying backward by the force of Wang Tong\'s punch, as a flurry of plasters and dust fell from the cracked ceiling. Before the dust settled onto the ground, Wang Tong registered Liva attacking him with a stream of soul energy from the corner of his eyes. As an expert at using soul energy, Liva had many methods to turn the soul energy into a lethal weapon at her disposal. This time, she had chosen a technique called "pinpoint explosion." The purpose of the pinpoint explosion technique was to disrupt Wang Tong\'s movements by applying soul energy at pivotal joins on Wang Tong\'s body, where movements were hinged upon. The disruption to Wang Tong\'s movement would give the Bloody Bats some time to join forces. Then, they might have a chance of winning this fight.

A sharp thread of soul energy darted across the air and reached its destination on Wang Tong\'s body. However, Liva watched in surprise as her victim smiled at her, seemingly unaffected by her attack.

Green Afro finally picked himself up, but his defeat still disheveled him. His explosive GN force had been invincible until now. The force in his opponent\'s punch had made him realize that his power was mere child\'s play compared to that of Wang Tong.

Wang Tong turned his head over towards the two instructors on the other side of the giant glass pane and then asked, "Are you two going to join us or not?"

"Haha! You were right! These youngsters are no match for Wang Tong." Gansus smiled wryly. He really liked Wang Tong, and if not because he knew what was best for Wang Tong, he too would recruit Wang Tong into TNN as Massa suggested. After many years of service at the school, Gansus had changed his view on many things, and was no longer the brutal and merciless Tiger that he used to be. The positive change in him came with a hefty price—his leg.

Massa shook his head and smiled, "We got too caught up with his young age."

"This lad is going to grow up to be one of the toughest son of a gun in the Confederation. We should count ourselves lucky to be able to witness his growth."

"Among the three major factions, the Earthlings need the fresh blood like him the most."

"Earth is the origin of all humans in the known universe. It should also be where the new legend is born."

Massa threw away his jacket and heaved open the door to the training room. "You three are done here. Get out now."

Skin Head thudded back on to the ground after Wang Tong released him, and Liva also managed to gather herself after Wang Tong untangled her soul energy from his.

Dumbfounded, the Bloody Bats walked out of the training room while they were still trying to come to terms with their defeat.

Gansus waved at them to join him in watching the fight.

Liva plodded towards Gansus. The defeat had taken the wind out of her sail. She could sense that the opponent was much stronger than the three of them combined.

"Sir, may I ask who that boy is?" Liva asked curiously. The catastrophic defeat still shook her voice.

As Gansus smiled away the question, Liva suddenly felt the ground trembling underneath her feet. She knew right away that Wang Tong and Massa had started fighting.

The two hurled fist at each other and both were staggered back a few steps by the impact.

Skin Head rubbed his light bulb-like head and watched incredulously as Wang Tong managed to hold his ground against Massa.

"Well done lad! I have never thought that you could achieve such great power so quickly. I will no longer hold back my soul energy, so be careful!" Massa announced. He was exceedingly pleased to see how powerful Wang Tong had gotten.

"We shall see!" Wang Tong shouted. He had been waiting for this fight for too long; all his previous opponents were either overpowered or too weak.

The two fighters exchanged a few rounds of attacks. The impact of their GN forces filled the room with blaring noises like the drumbeat on the battlefield. Seeing that Massa had improved his ability in his absence, Gansus nodded approvingly.

As Gansus nodded again and again following Massa\'s every excellent execution, the three teenagers were shocked by the power at display.

Although Massa had subconsciously cranked up his soul energy until it reached level six, Wang Tong did not even flinch as he fended off the attack with only a level five soul energy. This had really impressed his audiences.

The two combatants were thoroughly engrossed in the visceral combat, and had forgotten that they were in the training room. Massa seemed to have gained an edge in terms of skill and magnitude of soul energy, but Wang Tong\'s quick reflexes and efficient movements made him look like a battle-hardened warrior. He was able to prevent his stronger opponent from gaining any tangible advantages.

Gansus was well aware of Massa\'s strength, and he registered that Massa didn\'t go all out in the fight. Most TNN\'s top fighters, including Massa, excelled at extremely deadly attacks. But Gansus could tell that Massa\'s moves were far from posing any real danger to Wang Tong, since he had used only seventy percent of his power. Despite that, Gansus was surprised to find out that Wang Tong appeared to be able to fend off Massa\'s attack with ease.

Gansus knew that Wang Tong would be a force to be reckoned with the first time he saw him. But after a year, Gansus conceded that he had underestimated this boy after all.

Green Afro\'s jaw almost dropped to the floor as he watched the two\'s fight incredulously. He would have never thought that anyone under twenty would be able to stand against Massa. Green Afro was not alone in his surprise, as all his teammates were in awe towards Wang Tong\'s incredible power at such a young age, and conceded that the fight was a real eye-opener. They had finally learned what was required to take on the S class missions.

As the audiences were steeped in awe with Wang Tong\'s power, the fight carried out without any clear winner for a while, until the two finally decided to give up, fearing that the reckless force would destroy the training room if they continued.

Exhausted but pleased, Wang Tong sat down on the floor. This fight had offered him a precious opportunity for self-evaluation.

On the other hand, Massa conceded that he had to re-evaluate his training plan, since he doubted that he would be able to efficiently train Wang Tong after seeing how powerful he had gotten. Only a half year ago, Massa was still confident in taking on the role of Wang Tong\'s coach. However, right then, he was not so sure any longer.

"Lad, your special training has finished. While you wait for your friends, do you mind hanging around here at TNN?" Massa said as he picked up Wang Tong to his feet.

"Yes, Sir!"

"No need to call me sir anymore, call me Old Ma. Gansus was against the idea of recruiting you into TNN as a formal member. He said it would limit your future, and I agree with him. That being said, I think it would be helpful for you to gain some understanding of TNN. " Massa said earnestly. He had already treated Wang Tong as one of his close friends, after the young boy had reminded him so much of his youth.

"No problem. I\'m sure I would like it here."