“Good morning everyone! I’m sure you’re all excited for today’s battles, so shall we begin?”
Nayro was exceptionally good at riling up the crowd of youngsters. His orotund and loud voice reverberated across the arena as the 11 remaining participants stood next to each other.
Whether it was Azmer or the others who got injured yesterday, they were back to full health today.
There were a bunch of Second Year and Third Year students present too. The latter were only able to come and watch after finishing their own ‘Exam’, which explained their few numbers.
To be precise, only Celestia Black, Maxine Orland, Vanessa, Harold Grimes, and Beatrice were there.
The President of the Student Council seemed to be in a bad mood as he kept his distance from Celestia and sometimes glared at Zeke.
He was still of the thought that a trouble-maker like Zeke should be expelled, however, his incessant complaints were all ignored by the teachers and Solas.
{Julia Lopmore Vs Sarah Girm}
{Zeke Orland Vs Raul Jackob}
{Azmer Lorson Vs Zack Bornie}
{Harold Volcun Vs Fakih Knight}
{Harry Nost Vs Francois Chivaux}
As there were only 11 participants, Katlyn Jan was lucky enough to directly pass to the next round.
“The first two… to the stage.”
The two girls, Sarah Girm and Julia Lopmore stepped into the arena.
Julia was as energetic as ever, cracking her knuckles and stretching her legs while giggling.
On the other hand, Sarah was cool-headed and had a serious expression. She was a tall girl with long black hair tied into a pony-tail, a pair of sky-blue eyes, a round face and glistening black skin that made her look breath-taking.
Sarah Girm was holding a slightly curved longsword and wearing a traditional long robe that many thought would hinder her movements.
She performed a strange salute as Nayro signaled the beginning of the fight.
The two students shot at each other, and when they physically clashed, there was a deafening sound followed by Aetherical fluctuation around them.
Julia’s ability to manipulate her speed at will granted her an absolute advantage in attacking. She moved with a ridiculously fast speed and struck Sarah from all directions, however, the latter was moving her sword rapidly, blocking the dangerous attacks and willingly getting hit by the weaker ones.
From the eyes of the inexperienced students, it looked like a one-sided fight, but it wasn’t actually the case. Sarah might be overwhelmed, but she was able to properly defend and not get blown away by Julia’s outrageous physical prowess.
At one point, Sarah thrust her sword toward the opponent who approached her flank, causing a milky-white spiralling aura to burst forth.
Surprised, Julia tried to pull back and successfully evaded the attack, but it was then that Sarah appeared behind her and slashed diagonally, causing a rumbling and a majestic roar of a translucent beast that hovered above her.
A translucent silver dragon curled in the air before diving at the defenseless Julia. It crashed into her with full-force, but even that wasn’t enough to defeat her.
She staggered a few steps then hastily somersaulted to the back, dodging a sword thrust from Sarah.
“You’re pretty good!” Remarked Julia, but Sarah was as silent as ever.
Even from a distance of twenty meters, Julia performed a rapid punch that sent a booming wave of energy straight at Sarah, who raised her weapon and retaliated by stabbing it forward.
The destructive wave of energy unleashed by Julia clashed against Sarah’s suppressed and razor sharp milky-white aura, resulting in a flashy explosion that split the arena and caused light tremors.
Right after that, Julia continued her relentless onslaught while Sarah switched back to the defensive.
For two minutes or so, the status quo remained and Sarah was sustaining more and more damage. Her heavy breathing and sweating forehead indicated that she was reaching her limit.
On the other hand, Julia was still bursting with energy and in a very good mood as she kicked and punched anything that came at her.
“What a gorilla. Hah!”
Francesca, who was standing next to Azmer and Zeke, snorted in annoyance.
Seeing the two young men glance at her, she shrugged and added,
“What? I’m right, aren’t I? Just look at her! She doesn’t tire and seems to have an unlimited reservoir of Aether. It’s unfair.”
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“She deserves to be the strongest amongst us.” Exclaimed Azmer while deeply sighing.
Only Zeke remained silent, his eyes glued to Sarah rather than Julia. He was genuinely impressed by the girl’s swordsmanship, which resembled a beautiful and elaborate dance.
In contrast, Julia was like a mad dog that attacked non-stop and didn’t care to efficiently defend or think of a tactic.
Five minutes into the fight, Sarah’s movements became sluggish and her unique aura became noticeably thinner and weaker. As for Julia, she sustained a couple of minor wounds, all of which were inconsequential.
“You’re stronger than Harold, you know.”
Julia stopped her attacks and joyfully stated, but Sarah still didn’t respond.
The tall girl tightened her grasp over the sword and closed her eyes.
“One final big attack? I’m up for it.”
Julia did the same as a heavy pressure exploded from her body.
One second, two seconds… after ten seconds, the two were ready; Julia rushed forward like an unstoppable cannonball whilst Sarah, with her eyes still closed, just performed a simple and seemingly slow sword slash.
Julia’s punch was about to connect only for her pupils to constrict. She urgently retracted her hand and crossed her arms, but it was too late.
She sensed imminent danger the second Sarah had swung her sword, but the result was beyond everyone’s expectations.
There was no flashiness or loud rumbling, there was only a deafening and eerie silence as a nasty and bloody slash wound appeared on Julia’s arms and a bit on her chest.
For the first time ever, she was blown dozens of meters away until her body crashed into the arena’s barrier.
She was bleeding profusely and in shock, nevertheless, she slowly got to her feet.
“I forfeit.”
Upon seeing her opponent non-incapactiated, Sarah immediately surrendered. She had spent all of her power. What she, and no one else expected, however, was that Julia took two steps before falling unconscious.
It was Solas who appeared next to the wounded girl and applied emergency healing. When he saw the deep cuts that pierced through her tough skin and even cracked her bones, the Principal glanced at the sweating Sarah walking out of the arena.
“What was that?”
Zeke was dumbfounded by the girl’s attack, but when he turned his head and asked Azmer and Francesca, the two looked even more shocked.
It was apparent that no one, including the Principal, knew what technique Sarah had utilised.
‘If I remember correctly, there is a small province led by a Sword Saint South of the Serey Zhan Empire. Is she from there?’
Zeke’s strongest attacks were ‘Over-Drive’ and ‘The Baleful Gallows’ both which had a high probability of fatally injuring even someone like Julia. However, from his perspective, both those skills felt inferior to that subtle and strange sword strike of Sarah Girm.
“Impressive display! Impressive!” Nayro clapped his slimy hands as he cackled outloud.
“Zeke Orland and Raul Jackob. You two are next.”
“Since you beat Azmer then Raul shouldn't be much of a problem, right?” Muttered Francesca as she winked at Zeke and motioned for him to walk to the arena.
Soon enough, the two students were facing each other. Raul was solemn and looking especially wary of Zeke, whom he had many things about.
Zeke’s blue lightning was notorious in Erys and his previous fights clearly displayed how strong it was.
Seeing the black-haired youth take an odd stance with his fists clenched and arms raised, Raul frowned but didn’t comment. His skin turned metal as he impatiently waited for the Zyth Professor to signal the start of the fight.
When the battle officially started, Zeke didn’t rely on voltage. He had tried his new skills yesterday night, but there was nothing better than an actual fight to measure his improvements.
He activated ‘Champion of Strength Mode’ and ‘Sreyzhanian Arts’ before running at Raul.
Without ‘Life Motus’, Zeke’s speed paled in comparison to Julia, nevertheless, he quickly reached his opponent and struck out his glowing fist.
Raul too, punched back with his metal-covered fist, but as the clash happened, he felt a bit of pain and even staggered back.
Much to everyone’s surprise, Zeke’s punch overpowered Raul and even pushed him back. However, that was only the beginning as ‘Fists of Fury’ were unleashed on the Metal Man.
Even with a hardened skin and a remarkable defense, Raul was literally subjected to a one-sided beating as he kept staggering step by step. In the end, Zeke pulled back ever-so-slightly then swept his leg upwards, striking the enemy’s head and slamming his body to the ground.
Raul, although startled and feeling acute pain in the areas he was struck at, hastily extended his arms and caught Zeke’s leg, which was about to hit his chest.
Unfortunately, Zeke’s strength was way superior and if Raul didn’t realise that faster, his wrists would have been broken.
In the end, Raul was kicked a second time and he was body rolled on the ground. Zeke mounted the muscular blond youth and delivered one last powerful punch, which knocked his opponent unconscious.
Just like that, in less than a minute, the fight came to an end. Zeke stood up and walked out of the arena, inwardly feeling satisfied with ‘The Champion of Strength Mode’.
Although it looked easy in the eyes of the spectators, Zeke felt differently. He had caught Raul off-guard and used that opportunity to relentlessly attack, but the truth was that Raul’s skin was extremely tough.
It would have been particularly difficult to inflict incapacitating injuries with only physical attacks.
Zeke being adept at Martial Arts wasn’t a secret in Erys, after all, they had seen him use strong kicks and punches, but what he had done was outrageous.
Only those who knew about the System weren’t surprised, the rest were speechless as they kept looking at the expressionless youth.
“Now I want you even more!” Declared Francesca as she boldly linked her arms with his and seductively winked.
“That was… something else.” Said Azmer as he faked a cough and averted his eyes.
“Ignore him!” Francesca grimaced at Azmer then leaned closer to Zeke, who looked bothered by her.
“Join my circle and I promise you’ll never have to worry about anything. My mother will want to recruit you to the family! Speaking of which… I’ve yet to find a suitor!”
“No, thank you.”
Zeke awkwardly slipped his arm away and walked to the other side of Azmer. Fortunately, when Francesca tried to cling to him again, Azmer was witty enough to stop her, which only resulted in an argument.
…
“So it’s him? Quite the freak, if you ask me.”
A middle-aged woman with short deep orange hair and naturally narrowed eyes looked at Zeke while muttering in a voice filled with displeasure and disapproval. She was one of the teachers, one in charge of the Second Year Students; Teresa Zigg.
“Please mind your words, Miss Zigg.” Retorted Erva, who sat next to Teresa.
“Mind my words? I find it ludicrous that the Principal agreed to let someone like him into our prestigious institute. The boy needs to be put down or sent to the Department of Defense.”
“That is not for you to decide.” Rebuked Christopher, who, despite his strict nature, was quite fond of the hard-working Zeke.
“Hah! There will be a Board Meeting next week. I’m sure this matter will be discussed at length then.”
Erva bit her lips, wanting to lash out, but she refrained from escalating things, instead choosing to keep her counsel.
…
Somewhere in the Sunken Metropolis, a short and serious-looking brown-haired woman wearing casual clothes was muttering to herself as she tried to navigate the countless maze-like streets.
She was the 5-star Witch Jennifer Savbra, who couldn’t wait for things to calm down and impatiently rushed here. She left Freya to take care of things at the outpost while she came to the Nezulian Republic to see her biological son, Zeke Orland.