The two students took the stage; Zeke was solemn-faced and didn’t look particularly excited, as opposed to the seemingly frustrated Veronica.

There was a hint of animosity in her eyes as she stared at him, though her anger was to be expected after he had stolen the shipment from her team.

Azmer did say that the Ivory Oak Order wanted to have a word with him, but even if they threatened him, Zeke wasn’t going to return Angel to them.

The child was mentally and physically scarred and she was suffering from a serious medical condition.

“Get ready, both of you.”

They stood 20 meters away from each other and patiently waited for Nayro to signal the beginning of the fight.

The Zyth’s beady eyeballs were fixated on Zeke, eager to see more of his ability. It wasn’t just him, Solas and the other teachers were interested too.

“Go easy on me, okay?”

Veronica playfully winked at him as snakes slithered from her clothes and hissed menacingly.

The second the fight started, deafening azure lightning burst from Zeke’s body, crackling deafeningly as it swirled before shooting at the girl.

Seeing the multiple thunderbolts, Veronica sacrificed her snakes to protect herself, but she failed to notice Zeke’s silhouette blurring before it appeared next to her.

She snorted as a hazy purple fog came out of a tiny snake on her shoulder, but Zeke ignored it and swept his leg upwards.

The kick connected and Veronica was sent flying away like a kite. Although she hastily got back to her feet, she was genuinely surprised.

She had expected Zeke to avoid the poison or attempt to block it, but he didn’t do anything.

Things got even crazier when he rushed at her again while throwing a buzzing spear of voltage.

The projectile whistled before cascading on the girl. A large human-sized snake appeared out of thin air curled around Veronica, successfully blocking ‘Voltage Arrow’.

Then it bared its open mouth at the incoming youth and hissed as a purple liquid was spat.

Zeke used his damaged left arm to protect himself, though some of the poison splattered on his clothes and melted them.

His charred and bandaged arm was dominated by numbness as the acidic poison invaded his body.

He felt a wave of dizziness, but he gritted his teeth and bit his tongue. The tinge of pain sobered him up and allowed him to retaliate against the large snake slithering toward him at a remarkable fast speed.

He used ‘Fists of Fury’, imbuing his hands with voltage as they glowed with a subtle orange glow.

The punches clashed with the snakes’ scales, shattering them before piercing through its skin and causing blood to gush out.

Veronica’s face distorted from the pain, but she didn’t stop her attack. The snake’s head dove straight as it crashed into Zeke, making him stagger.

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Before he could recover, the snake curled around his body, attempting to crush it.

Alas, two seconds later, a blue glow pierced through the snake’s thick body and riddled its body with countless holes.

‘Spark’ did its job wonderfully, but Zeke ended up covered in the snake’s blood. Just as used ‘One-star Side-kick’ to blow it away, dozens of finger-sized snakes crawled on the ground and bound his feet before climbing upwards.

He snorted in annoyance and pointed his hands downwards, shooting bursts of voltage which pulverised the tiny magical creatures.

Just then, to his surprise, Veronica transformed into a red snake which shot at him and wrapped around his neck.

It lifted him mid-air and tried to suffocate him, which made the overseer, Nayro, frown and prepare himself to intervene.

Veronica approached Zeke, a soft smile plastered on her slightly pale face. Unfortunately, she had severely under-estimed Zeke’s ability as a brilliant radiance emitted from the strange rune on his right hand.

By the next second, a massive and destructive wave of lightning was unleashed, forcing Veronica to retract her arm and retreat.

Sadly for her, it was too late as her body was cornered by the unstoppable storm of lightning. She tried using her snakes to protect himself but they were pulverised instantly.

Zeke’s lightning suddenly was extinguished as Nayro appeared between the two of them.

“Victory goes to Zeke Orland.”

He sounded enthusiastically as he focused on the subtle lightning currents still lingering in the air. He had used his magic to stop Zeke, but the voltage wasn’t completely erased, much to his pleasant surprise.

Veronica signed gloomily as she returned to her seat. She wasn’t aiming for the prize, but she didn want to show Zeke that she was strong, thus making him think twice about tricking her and her friends.

What made her angrier was that she knew he was capable of much more. After all, she had seen him transform into something sinister and demonic back in that facility.

He had fought against all those Special Agents alone, therefore making it clear that she was holding back.

“Next up is Fylard Yak against Raul Jackob. Step inside the arena.”

The slim Fylard’s eyes narrowed as he clenched his fists and stepped forward. Unlike him, Raul, who was muscular and tall, seemed relaxed.

Fylard, albeit being a dark horse and stronger than normal students, still couldn’t compare to the 4th-ranked student.

Raul Jackob was a studious youth with short light blond hair, a handsome face, and an impressingly well-built body.

He looked older than 17, especially with the small beard and moustache.

“I won’t be going easy on you.” Declared Raul as he smashed his fists together and changed his stance.

His skin, which turned metallic, glistened under the sun-rays piercing through the transparent roof.

Soon, the fight started and Raul charged like an unstoppable bull. His speed was mediocre, but even when Fylard activated his ability and let out invisible Wind Blades and strong gusts of wind, they didn’t do anything.

With a worried face, Fylard tried to roll out of the way but he wasn’t fast enough, thus receiving a direct hit and flying to the back.

He had a frail, non-trained body, so a single hit from Raul, dubbed ‘Metal Man’, was enough to break his ribs and make him cough blood.

“I’m built different than the rest. Wind Magic, especially, doesn’t work on me.”

While spitting the last bit of blood forming in his mouth, Fylard stood up and retorted,

“We shall see about that!”

He extended both hands and channelled his Aether, which resulted in a screeching gust of wind that took Raul by surprise.

He felt the air compress around him before a clean but pitifully small cut appeared on his collarbone.

For the first time, the muscular youth was surprised. He stomped on the ground, inclined his knee forward, then rushed like a bullet.

Fylard, however, used his ability to rise into the air and avoid sustaining any more damage.

He seemed to be trying his best as the air compressed around Raul again, cracking the ground and slicing the rectangular white tiles.

With his arms crossed and protecting his vitals, Raul was motionless. He had trouble breathing and couldn’t get out of Fylard’s ability, thus receiving several minor and inconsequential injuries.

After a minute, Fylard’s face was dangerously pale and his arms dropped from fatigue and lack of Aether.

He was confident that his ability was strong enough to even damage Julia. However, Raul was truly his worst match. His direct counter.

Wind Magic was strong against Ice, Darkness, or even Fire in some cases, but it was practically useless when pitted against metal.

‘No… I can cut him. I will.’

“Is this allowed?”

Raul looked at Nayro, hoping for him to interfere but the latter ignored him.

Fylard was keeping himself in the air and Raul didn’t have any way to reach him, much less attack. The battle had reached a stalemate and there wasn’t any clashes happening.