Douluo Dalu 3 | Divine Destruction

"You know, I never thought a glorious empress like myself would be relegated to tasks like cleaning a plaza." Scoffing haughtily, Yuena created a fine mist of water full of soup that traveled around the Spirit Ice Plaza. With her abilities, it would take an hour or so to clean the plaza.

"But you're enjoying it, aren't you?" Smirking playfully, Wulin lightly tapped his knee as he watched his partner work. She may act pridefully and as though this was beneath her but she rather enjoyed taking on new things like this.

"That's beside the point." Turning away and returning to her work, the Silver Dragon Emperor finished cleaning the plaza faster than anyone in history. It had been only a few days since the travesty of a tournament had ended and though they had put their best effort in, it was hard to say that the former members of Class 0 were liked. Well, there was one exception…

"...I wonder if I should ask Xu Xiaoyan for help again." Frowning at the sight of a few students turning around at the sight of them, Wulin was tempted. Somehow or another Xu Xiaoyan had managed to weasel her way into the hearts of a vast majority of the student body's hearts while the rest all struggled to not be feared.

"Didn't she already say it wouldn't work? You may be handsome but your aura screams delinquent." Rolling her eyes playfully Yuena took his hand and lifted him to his feet. They had a place to be and they were running late.

"I'm not a delinquent." Pursing his lips, Wulin the Golden Dragon Emperor seemed to resemble a kicked puppy in his partner's eyes. He had always had a hard to approach aura but now that he fully merged with the Golden Dragon King's blood, that had taken a step further. Add on the fact that they were already feared and nobody would even look at him.

"Yes, yes. You're so very sweet and loveable. Now hurry up, we don't have all day." Merging their blood just a tad, Yuena relied on their martial soul fusion to split space. It was embarrassing to be weakened to such an extent but spatial manipulation was a precise activity and she couldn't be precise when flinching every five seconds. 

"I knew you loved me." Chuckling even as she elbowed him in the side, Wulin allowed himself to be pulled through space to arrive at their destination. Four people waited for them at the other side, each somebody that had stood beside the two for years.

"You two are late." Frowning deeply, Wu Zhangkong stood before them with his arms crossed as always. It was almost like they had returned to their days at Eastsea Academy and though Wulin would never regret growing up, that did make him feel very nostalgic.

"We overslept." Shrugging her shoulders carelessly, Yuena didn't feel the need to sugar coat anything with their teacher. Though he was technically far younger than her, he was the closest thing to a parent. The Dragon God didn't really count after all.

"...Rein it in next time." Sighing heavily, Wu Zhangkong couldn't possibly get angry at the two of them when he knew just how much they had on their plates. Wulin was struggling with the rebuilding of FUG and Yuena was negotiating with the Spirit Pagoda who desire her to drop out after the recent tournament. All this and more was while they were still injured.

"We'll try our best." Smiling wryly, Wulin could only chuckle at Xie Xie's look of annoyance. The Jade Shadow understood that not everything was as it seemed with his two longest friends but the difference in treatment was absurd!

"How do you all do?" Taking the moment to speak to his peers, Wulin was unsurprised to see their expressions fall in an instant. While he and Yuena spent the morning cleaning the Spirit Ice Plaza, the rest of them tried and failed to restore their reputation.

"Not well. I could hardly talk to anyone let alone show them my good side." Kicking a pebble to vent his frustrations, Xie Xie was obviously unsuccessful. Nodding her head Mu Xi was in the same boat, unfortunately.

"I made a few friends but it'll take time for anything more to happen and I didn't even participate so…" Awkwardly looking away Xu Xiaoyan didn't like being the one to bear bad news. The fact was, if she wasn't even seen with them but still avoided well… how could they possibly make up for it?

"Let's stop here. It's clear that trying to push that we are friendly isn't working." Sighing for the millionth time, Wulin continued. "We can worry about making a positive reputation later. For now, let's just prove that we are to be trusted as the shield of Shrek."

Nodding their heads with a frown, class 0 wasn't enthused with the idea. They couldn't be when they were personally relegating themselves to an unapproachable status. It was practically throwing away any chance of a normal school life. Luckily, none of them had many expectations for that anyway.

"You can focus on that later. For now, we're starting our first lesson." Wearing the ghost of a smile on his face, Wu Zhangkong was proud of their decision. Their power would always instill fear in the world and though he didn't expect the events that caused it, he wasn't surprised. In his mind, that was for the better anyway.

When you were strong, you had to be distant from the rest of the world. It wasn't a choice, it was an obligation. To be amicable and friendly was a curse and it called forth the worst danger of them all. Greed.

Humans were greedy. If they couldn't become strong themselves, they would use the strong to their benefit. Not everyone was like this of course however those who were greedy would tether geniuses down and drag them down to the abyss. To be amicable was to be taken advantage of for the strong.

"It's clear you've all grown stronger but that's not enough. Over the last three years, you all have barely fought as a team." Looking over all of them in turn, Wu Zhangkong couldn't help but be glad he was demoted to the teacher of class 5 all those years ago. "You have ten minutes. After that, you'll be fighting me."

Looking at the excited expression on his children's faces even in the face of him, Wu Zhangkong knew that he was blessed with great students.

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Hey there, hope you liked the chapter.

Merry Christmas for all who celebrate it! I have now been writing this book for so long that two Christmas days have gone by which is strange to think about. Some of us may have been reading this whole time, Azathoth2 is the first to come to mind, but many of us may have joined along the way. It's amazing to see just how many people have read this mess of a story I've written and I'm excited for you all to accompany me on the rest of this journey!

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