- Michael -

As all the students began leaving the cafeteria, the three of us walked among them. We headed briskly toward our destination while I was lost in thought.

“Are you sure about this Michael?” Julia walked behind me as we went to Aidin’s class. “This could be dangerous.”

While he is a brat, this Aidin kid is definitely powerful. I’ll have to observe his fighting style and behavior in this session.

“I think It’ll be fine.” Emi chimed in. I was surprised considering her relative silence in the cafeteria. Her opinion was strangely reassuring.

“Don’t worry. I’m going there to watch, not pick a fight.”

Julia was still uncertain but she rested her case.

After a few short minutes of walking, we reached his class. The sign on the side of the door read ‘Sparring Hall 3.’ From the name of the class, I could already tell that there was going to be trouble. Opening the door, we stepped into the room and approached the sitting area. Besides a few looks, most of the students were seated, focused on the two people facing each other on the platform placed in the center of the room. The room looked similar to the Practical Application Halls, but instead with a closed roof and stone floor.

We found a spot for the three of us to sit and settled in. “Let’s just watch their class from here. We only came to observe after all.” I said this partially to reassure Julia, but mostly to keep myself grounded. I let my emotions get to me earlier but I shouldn’t act too rashly.

One of the two on the stage, a well built girl holding an oversized battle hammer, vehemently charged at the boy standing across from her. Seeing this, the boy bent down hastily and touched the floor, cracks branching out from the area he touched. Once the cracks reached the girl, the ground beneath her feet crumbled and collapsed, forcing her to jump out of the way. As the ground continued to collapse under her, she created trampoline-like vector barriers under her feet to bounce and maneuver on. As she quickly closed in on the boy, he made a last ditch effort, lifting up the shattered ground with vector magic and launching it at the girl. Facing the barrage head on, the girl formed another trampoline-like barrier, but this time it was on the edge of her hammer. She swung with all her force, sending the debris back at the boy. After barely managing to conjure a vector barrier in front of himself, the barrier shattered on impact, launching him out of the arena.

“Match over! The winner is Felicity Cromwell!” A tall brunette woman stepped onto the stage wearing a long black robe embroidered with gold lining and the crest of the academy. She held her staff high in the air, and strings of Essence spread around the battle area. The scattered pieces were lifted by the strings and the stage slowly reverted to its original state.

The blonde girl wearing light armor that we learned is named Felicity, stepped down from the platform. She brandished her hammer over her shoulder, sitting down with a triumph grin. She was surrounded by what looked to be her usual posse, singing her praises gleefully.

On the other hand, the boy with mossy green hair stood up slowly with the help of another boy. They returned to the stands and his friends started consoling him.

That boy was by no means weaker than that girl. It was just a bad matchup in terms of fighting style. While the boy did have a seemingly docile fighting style, his potential to control the battlefield and break enemy footing and coordination was not to be underestimated.

The girl on the other hand sported a duelist fighting style. Against a large amount of people, she wouldn’t pose a significant threat to the group as a whole. It was no wonder that she was the queen of this class that encouraged strength in quick one on one combat.

“That idiot Ethan seriously tried to fight Lady Felicity. He’s lucky to have been let off with minor injuries.”

“Of course. If Lady Felicity had tried, forget injuries, that brat might have lost his life.”

The usual mob characters continued with their babbling until the instructor called for silence.

“Next up, we have Arthur Belrick versus Aidin Wilford! Please take your gear and come up to the stage!”

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A tall boy with brown hair stood up beside us and lifted a large kite shield, as well as a rather long arming sword. I recognized him as the high-minded student in my Magic Principles class. As he stepped up onto the platform, I noticed a boy with cardinal red hair rise up from the other side. He sauntered nonchalantly towards his square, wearing a bored expression practically screaming contempt.

“So that’s Aidin huh? He looks a lot more boring than I expected.”

The two boys faced each other, waiting for the signal to start.

“Remember the rules. This is a friendly match to test your skills in combat. Lethal attacks when the enemy is unable to fight are prohibited. Do you understand?”

Arthur nodded while Aidin simply waited for the match to begin. The instructor took a deep breath. “First to incapacitate or knock the other off wins! Let the match begin!”

At the signal, Arthur simply stood at his ready, with his shield raised in front of him and his body braced. He seemed to be observing Aidin to see what he would do. Aidin on the other hand simply stared at him for a second before laughing. “Why did I expect anything else from a weakling?”

Aidin pulled his left hand out from his pocket and to Arthur’s surprise, he wasn’t using a Relic Arm. Relic Arms were used to boost and help one control their Magic. Even those who fought without a weapon still used a staff or gloves with imbued artifacts installed.

Arthur softened his grip on his shield. “Are you sure you want to fight without a Relic Arm? I don’t want to hurt you.”

To this statement, Aidin responded with a sneer. “Before worrying about me, you should try to keep yourself from dying.”

Aidin condensed raw Essence into his outstretched hand, a feat that required an absurdly high amount of Essence. In a matter of seconds, the clump of energy the size of a fist began condensing at an astonishing speed. The hairs on the back of Arthur’s neck rose, warning him of the rapidly rising power and he reinforced his defenses accordingly. With a bright flash of light, a violent torrent of energy catapulted from Aidin’s hand at a speed barely perceivable to the naked eye, and struck the center of Arthur’s shield. The residual force, even after being dispersed, was enough to push Arthur back several meters and crack the ground under his feet.

Aidin smirked “Good job defending against it. No one’s ever successfully received my attack.”

What he was saying wasn’t mere arrogance. At the moment of impact, Arthur created a controlled wave of essence on the surface of his shield, dispersing the force of Aidin’s blast by a good sixty percent. He then absorbed the remaining force of the attack by constructing a full-body aura of polygon-shaped barriers to absorb the force of the blast and anchor his body with the ground. If it wasn’t for him using these advanced techniques, his arm would’ve shattered from the force of the attack and he would have been launched off the stage.

The room went silent as everyone stared in awe at the baffling display of power. Even the skill of the Belrick heir was outshined by Aidin’s show of strength. Suddenly, whispers began breaking out from the spectators, slowly turning into an uproar.

“Did you see that attack!”

“I’ve never seen someone use Magic like that before!”

“Can Arthur beat a monster like that!”

The crowd buzzed as the smoke cleared on the stage. Arthur was standing, slowly recovering from the blast.

“Oh, so you can still stand?”

Arthur wiped the sweat from his forehead and shrugged the debris off his shoulders. “What a powerful attack. Looks like I’ll have to change my approach.”

Arthur dropped his shield and gripped his arming sword with both arms. He channeled essence into his sword and the blade extended at his command. Without warning, he dashed towards Aidin, keeping his sword tight against his shoulder. Aidin once again condensed an orb of Essence in his palm, and launched it at him. Time seemed to slow as the colossal cluster of energy accelerated forward.

But the instant the attack reached him, vectors bursted outward from Arthur’s sword as he raised the blade high. Lifting his leg forward, he stomped in unison with his swing, bringing the sword down with tremendous force. The orb split in half and the scattered essence went flying off in various directions before dissipating.

Arthur grinned before lifting his sword back up with ease. “Your attacks are definitely powerful, but with such lacking technique that power is meaningless.”

Just from that one downward cut, It was clear to everyone that Arthur’s power was refined through relentless practice and training. When he dropped his shield, he wasn’t changing fighting styles; He simply decided to start trying.

Aidin’s usual smug demeanor was nowhere to be seen. “Meaningless…” His anger subsided and surprisingly, he began to laugh. “It seems I went a little too easy on you.” He lifted his hand above his head with his palm facing upward. “If it’s so meaningless, try defending against this.”

For the third time, unstructured Essence began to gather in his palm. The only difference this time being that instead of a fist-sized orb, the projectile expanded to the size of two elephants. It towered 6 meters over Arthur’s head and all he could do was stare in utter disbelief.

“Hard work? Allies? Those are the tools of weaklings.”

The teacher ran to stop him, but she wouldn’t make it in time.

“This is as far as effort will get you.”

The immense ball of energy was launched, shredding the floor in its path. As he raised his sword to block, the attack hit its mark and a deafening explosion enveloped the stage.