They've fought before, but in such a formal setting, having a self-combat duel truly is a novel experience.
And the Transcendent has also re-edited the broadcasting system. So, when Arrogant threw the umbrella into the sky again, although the audience still saw a spreading darkness, it was as if they had put on night vision goggles; they could clearly see the situation within that darkness.
Before seeing it, everyone speculated a lot, thinking there must be something like a mountain of blades and a sea of flames inside, or all sorts of terrifying illusions created by Nya. Or else, how could Magneto's team silently lose, causing two administrators to start quarreling?
However, the scene presented to everyone was extraordinarily calm. It was just a spacious open area, with a table and a chair in the middle, completely empty around. Arrogant stood at a certain distance, not far from the table.
Greed appeared in this space, looking bewildered. He was ready for battle, assuming Nya had conjured some illusion, creating those Cthulhu-element monsters, followed by a series of spiritual attacks, defeating Magneto. But what was this?
Just as he thought of this, a sheet of paper appeared on the table. He looked down and saw it read, "Please briefly outline Jung's contributions to the development of classical psychoanalysis and its principles."
A question mark popped up over Greed's head.
Wait, they're dueling, right? Why is there an exam now???
Then he looked up and saw a countdown, roughly 10 minutes. Beside the timer were two health bars, one for him and one for Arrogant. That meant if he could answer, Arrogant's health would be deducted; if he couldn't, his own health would be deducted.
It's very obvious, this deduction is based on percentage, meaning no matter how thick the health bar is, both sides are being deducted equally.
At this point, the broadcast point of view also showed the paper on Greed's table. Bruce shuddered at the sight of it. Selina, who was slightly more awake, laughed heartily.
"I said we had to hold out to the end! By the way, how's this question? Is it hard? Can you answer it?"
"This question isn't difficult," Bruce said, pursing his lips, "but surely harder ones will come after. Oh my god, good thing I didn't win, or I'd be doomed!"
"I kind of want to see you go up and answer questions," Selina, always one for chaos, said. "The harder questions will surely give a long time, so I could watch you scratch your head for an hour and submit a blank answer sheet."
"Stop joking, I would never submit a blank paper. Even if I had to analyze behavior, I'd fill up the page. Otherwise, Professor Shearer would not spare me. It's not just about losing health; there'd be scolding too."
Natasha frowned, saying, "Does this really make sense? They are one person, sharing the same memories, so whatever Arrogant knows, Greed must also know."
Indeed, Greed at the table began writing furiously. He finished in two or three minutes, well under the ten-minute time limit. Though the handwriting wasn't especially neat, the content was spot on, even an outsider could see it was substantial.
But then the next question got harder, involving theories of child psychology and educational psychology. Greed was not very familiar with these areas, as he was neither a teacher nor did he interact much with children. However, since it was purely theoretical, he could still manage to answer some parts, barely passing.
At this point, Greed grew curious. Magneto might not understand these, but Charles definitely would. Even a younger Charles had genuine knowledge of psychology. How could he lose?
Arrogant merely smiled slightly and presented another question. This one was very challenging. On the spectators' side, Steve seriously counted; he recognized only two words from the question stem: "of" and "in." Stark, the highly educated scientist, did somewhat better, deducing through affixes that one word resembled "comprehensive," and another "syndrome."
This was a comprehensive question combining pathology and psychoanalysis, requiring simultaneous pathological and spiritual analysis. But the question did come with ample time—half an hour.
Greed truly pondered for quite some time before writing, though writing didn't take long, finishing just within the thirty-minute limit. Arrogant glanced at it, counted it as a pass.
Greed breathed a sigh of relief. Although both were skilled in psychoanalysis methods, Greed leaned towards application, while Arrogant leaned more towards theory. These purely theoretical questions were difficult to answer. Just those heaps of specialized terminologies were enough to make one's head hurt.
The subsequent questions escalated further, gradually shifting towards a hybrid of metaphysics and philosophy. Each question was allotted 40 minutes, and Greed wrote furiously, almost unable to finish.
This process was rather dull, because by this point, most people couldn't even understand the question stems. Not only was the vocabulary unfamiliar, but even the syntax was baffling. A great number of nested "in," "of," "from," "at" clauses intertwined, subordinate clauses embedded within one another, the subject-predicate-object almost invisible, all modifiers and complements scattered everywhere. Sometimes it was impossible to distinguish nouns from adjectives, with a bunch of Latin thrown in the mix, making people dizzy.
"See, it's not my fault," the Transcendent picked up the microphone and said, "I said the Latin word meant 'stagnant,' but Lucifer argued that what the Romans originally intended to express when they invented the word was 'babbling brook.' Although the final judgment was based on modern Latin standards, Lucifer wouldn't accept it, what can I do?"
The spectators suddenly understood. There was a disagreement during evaluation, each side sticking to their views, and Lucifer was unsatisfied with the final judgment, prompting the argument.
Indeed, the quiz process was quite boring; many spectators dozed off. Greed was also sleepy, his head filled with various academic terms, his hands aching from writing.
If with such exam questions, even Charles might find it truly difficult to cope. Although he was a mind power user, this psychoanalysis stuff wasn't effectively used simply by having mind reading skills. Unable to answer was entirely normal.
Greed glanced at the health bar; Arrogant's health was at its end. Just one more correct answer, and he would win the finals. Greed stretched lazily, already beginning to think about his acceptance speech after the award.
And just then, the final question appeared on the paper. The stem was very short, just one sentence:
"What did you delete after all?"
Greed squinted, chuckling softly, so this was where it caught up with him. If it were his past self, for the final victory, he would rack his brain and may unwittingly reveal something. Unfortunately, the brakes weren't completely failing now.
He showed Arrogant a smug smile:
"I admit defeat."