A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1579 - 1061: Asking for Trouble

Chapter 1579: Chapter 1061: Asking for Trouble

"Teach, teacher, please accept this!"

"Hmm?"

Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow in confusion as he looked at Huang’zen Kumiko, whose face was flushed, presenting him with an envelope.

"What’s this?"

Taking the envelope handed by Huang’zen Kumiko, Duanmu Huai curiously glanced at it. If this was a love letter, it’s way too thick. Plus, this is the office; even though there’s no one else here, handing a love letter in this place... Hahaha, overthinking it.

Curiously, Duanmu Huai opened the envelope and saw postcards inside, with writings like "Thank you for your guidance, Teacher! We’ll work even harder!" "We will definitely win the national championship!" and similar...

"What is this?"

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai was thoroughly puzzled.

"Uh... this is everyone’s gratitude towards you, Teacher..."

Huang’zen Kumiko awkwardly explained.

"If it weren’t for you, Teacher, we might not have even made it past the Kansai competition. Everyone felt they needed to thank you in some way, but it was hard to say, so they wrote it down like this..."

"I didn’t think it was necessary to be so exaggerated..."

Duanmu Huai scratched his head. To be honest, he was just doing his job and didn’t expect these young girls to have such thoughts.

"But thank you all, of course. Even so, I won’t go easy on you. Winning the national championship isn’t easy; you’ll just have to grit your teeth and endure."

"Ah hahaha..."

"Well then..."

Just as Duanmu Huai was about to chat a bit more with Huang’zen Kumiko, he suddenly heard a commotion outside the window. Curious, he stood up and walked over to take a look. Outside the school’s gate, a green-haired man in a suit was conversing with a blonde girl.

The blonde girl was Isia, and the green-haired man was...

"Oh, it’s him again."

Huang’zen Kumiko also came over, watching the scene and speaking.

"Hmm? You’ve seen him before?"

"Yes, he’s a foreign gentleman who appears at school every day after class, giving Isia lots of gifts and flowers. We’ve seen him a few times..."

"Spring must be coming."

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai snorted coldly, his gaze towards the green-haired man growing even colder.

Can’t believe this guy comes every day? Not afraid of dying, huh.

"Knock knock knock."

Just then, someone knocked on the office door. The two turned to look, and saw Tower City Kitten walking in.

"Teacher, the President needs to see you."

At this, Tower City Kitten glanced at Huang’zen Kumiko.

"It’s about the club activities, wants to consult you."

"Alright, I got it."

Duanmu Huai naturally understood what Tower City Kitten meant. Right now, Liliath’s club activity was solely the ranking tournament, given that it wasn’t convenient to discuss with Huang’zen Kumiko around, leading to this kind of phrasing.

"Then... I’ll be off, Teacher."

Seeing Tower City Kitten’s arrival, Huang’zen Kumiko quickly said goodbye and left, while Duanmu Huai greeted her before following Tower City Kitten towards the Mystical Science Research Society.

"So, who are we up against next?"

"The next match opponent is confirmed—it’s Diadola."

"The eternal flamboyant peacock? Did you notice that guy acting all springy at the school gate?"

"..."

Tower City Kitten nodded silently, whereas Duanmu Huai was stroking his chin.

"How about I deal with him here, then we’ll win the next match without fighting... What do you say?"

"I have no objections."

Though it’s uncertain if Liliath would have any.

Soon, everyone gathered at the Mystical Science Research Society, and upon knowing the next opponent, everyone had an odd expression.

"Isn’t this all too coincidental? Diadola is our next opponent, and now he’s even pursuing Miss Isia?"

Mary was the first to raise a question.

"It’s just coincidence, right?"

Naruse Mio voiced a differing opinion.

"According to Senior Liliath, the knockout matches were against the winners. We’re in the first match, only against the winner of the second match. Could Diadola really be so sure he’d win the second ranking match?"

"That’s uncertain."

Unexpectedly, it was Liliath herself who denied this time. She looked serious, picking up a disk.

"I have the second match’s recording here. Once you see it, you’ll understand."

Speaking, Liliath played the second match’s recording, and as they watched the footage, everyone was quite surprised. Diadola was up against another Superior Demon heir from the Devil World, a very powerful individual. This match wasn’t like Liliath’s first match, which required strategy and confrontation. To put it bluntly, Diadola, as the King, was a one-man musou against the opponents, whereas his followers were just providing cover from behind.

"...Feels kind of like Mr. Duanmu’s fighting style."

"How is it like mine? I’m not as soft as that pretty boy."

Upon hearing Mary’s exclamation, Duanmu Huai was immediately displeased. How could someone as indomitable as himself be compared to that ever-springing green peacock?

"But there’s something very strange, which is Diadola, according to reason, shouldn’t possess such powerful strength... At least he never showed it before."

Liliath finished the video and then spoke, while Akeno Ushima frowned.

"But even so, what does his proposal to Miss Aisia mean? Miss Aisia represents the Fallen Angel Faction, she’s not one of our Gimonri followers! Even if Miss Aisia is willing to marry him, it has no impact on us at all..."

"Perhaps he’s eyeing Miss Aisia’s Divine Artifact? After all, the ability to heal the Demon Clan is very rare, and if he could acquire it, the strength of the faction itself would increase..."

"Ling’Nu is back,

Just as everyone was scratching their heads, Ling’Nu suddenly descended from the sky, landing behind Duanmu Huai, startling everyone.

"What’s the matter, Ling’Nu? Did something happen?"

Duanmu Huai turned to look at Ling’Nu kneeling before him, who cheerfully made a cat paw gesture.

"It’s not something particularly important, it’s just a reminder that the demon named Diadola just took Miss Aisia away, meow."

"......... took away?"

"Strictly speaking... kidnapped? He said he wanted to show her something very important, then took her to a deserted place and knocked her out to take her away. That’s kidnapping, right? meow(〃’▽’〃)."

"......... uh..........."

Upon hearing Ling’Nu’s answer, everyone present was speechless.

"What exactly is Diadola thinking? The tournament is about to start soon?"

Liliath was also baffled, unable to figure out what was going on.

"It has nothing to do with us."

However, Duanmu Huai was completely unconcerned.

"But is it really okay, Mr. Duanmu?"

"She saved him herself, it’s her own dealings, her own responsibility."

Duanmu Huai sneered at this.

"Besides, isn’t the tournament about to start soon? Whatever that green peacock wants, we’ll know once the tournament starts, right?"

Duanmu Huai truly didn’t care about Aisia’s situation, as he said, it was Aisia herself who saved that demon, so whatever happens is her own responsibility. If she hadn’t saved that demon back then, there wouldn’t be so many issues... Of course, Duanmu Huai felt that overly kind girls with the Saint Attribute are hard to reason with; they need to experience the harsh reality themselves.

"Okay, let’s get ready for the tournament."

Meanwhile, the Teleportation Array appeared at the center of the Mystical Science Research Society, and seeing this, everyone had to put aside their inner doubts and step into the Teleportation Array.

Unlike before, this time the map for the ranking match was a temple. After arriving at the battle space through the Teleportation Array, Duanmu Huai and the others prepared to start the battle.

However, unlike before, this time they waited for a long time but didn’t hear any notification to start the battle.

"What’s going on? Nearly ten minutes have passed, right?"

Duanmu Huai looked at his watch, and everyone else showed puzzled expressions. After all, there was no host announcing the start of the match and no rules explained... Is this really a ranking match?

"————————!"

Just as everyone was puzzled and confused, suddenly, numerous Teleportation Arrays unfolded around them, and then demons emerged from them, tightly surrounding the group.

"Who are you...!"

Seeing these demons, Liliath immediately became tense.

"What’s the matter?"

"They are nobles loyal to the Old Demon King Faction! Why are they here?"

Old Demon King Faction... Oh, come to think of it, there was such a thing.

Duanmu Huai suddenly remembered that Michael and the others had mentioned that within the Three Factions, there were those who followed the old factions that had already died or disappeared. Apparently, this Old Demon King Faction was one of them too?

Sure enough, at this moment, someone who looked like a leader roared loudly.

"Hateful fake Demon King kin, Gimonri, you shall meet your fate here! And Tribunal, we will avenge Belfigo and stop you from hunting the Non-compliant Gods! The return of gods and Demon King is inevitable! Foolish humans, pay the price for your actions!"

Although the opponent shouted loudly, to Duanmu Huai, it was just...

"Belfigo?"

Duanmu Huai scratched his head, full of questions, while Banriya coughed awkwardly.

"Lord Duanmu, have you forgotten, it’s the time when Lord Mio and I returned to the Devil World, and an attack happened in the Welbet region..."

"Oh, come to think of it, there was something like that, I completely forgot because I didn’t care."

"Shut up! You butcher!"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s utterly indifferent attitude, the demon became even more furious.

"You slaughtered all the people in the Belfigo region, I will avenge my family! Die!!"

Before the words fell, the demons rushed towards the group!

And then – a whistling sound rang out!

"Boom!!"

The sweeping War Hammer brought forth a hurricane-like wave and lightning, mercilessly shredding the demons who dared to charge forward, tearing them to pieces. Blood and flesh spilled everywhere, and from amidst them came the heavily armored Duanmu Huai, who lifted his head, red light radiating from the helmet.

"So this time, it’s finally not a children’s play tournament? To be honest, I’m a bit fed up too, but this is good enough..."

Duanmu Huai grinned maliciously and raised the War Hammer, swinging it forward.

"Scream, howl, repent your foolishness before the wrath and strength of the Tribunal, then painfully die!!"