'Levy's opponent, Zane Agate. An ex-S-rank adventurer who quit adventuring in pursuit of a peaceful life. He never joined another party ever since a huge accident which costed his whole party's life occurred in a dungeon dive. He was the only one able to get out. Even though he's a demon, he has no desire for more knowledge. The reason why he became a teacher was because he was scouted by Merlin and was given huge compensation in order to teach. The price? Enough to live for 300 years. There are 2 reasons as to why he was specifically and personally scouted by Merlin herself. One, his control over magic. And the second, is the fact that he is one of the strongest S-rankers in history.'

Kuro shivered as he read Rai's report about Zane. It wasn't of fear, but of excitement.

'Well, as exciting as it is, it's impossible to fully fight him due to his limiters...' Dejected, he looks to Levy and her opponent.

Levy held her daggers tightly as she glared fiercely at Zane, who was sheepishly holding his twin scythes. Though he was timid, he held his guard perfectly, without any gaps in his defense, mainly due to his wind abilities.

They stood there patiently, Levy observes his shivering while Zane observes her blades. As time passed by with seconds that seemed like minutes, time kept moving forward.

Suddenly, Levy charged herself up with lightning. Zane prepared himself and stood his ground, that's when Levy fully charged herself and dashed full speed ahead. Zane then threw his scythe in panic, to which Levy had deflected.

*KLANG*

"-?!"

Immediately after she bounced it off, it burst into a wind sphere and knocked Levy back a bit. Though it was just a bit, it was enough to give Zane enough time to react and counterattack. He immediately directed the scythe to strike down at her, to which she evades. Suddenly, he appears right in front of her and strikes down with his other scythe. As he struck down at her, she disappeared once more.

"Tch, I'll have to finish this quickly." Levy says as she charges up once more.

Zane, without trying to give her more time to charge up, dashes right at her by pulling himself with the scythe's chain. However, he pulled himself in too fast, letting him not have any time to pull himself together. With that, Levy took the chance and struck him with her dagger as swiftly as she could. However, she felt something as she got closer, even Kuro knew about it at first glance. As her dagger was getting closer and closer, she felt as if she was getting slower and slower.

Suddenly, Zane was able to dodge her attack.

"Tch, you're quick for a kid- Ngh!"

Zane held his chest tightly as he felt an immense pain coming from within. With that, Levy dashed to him, yet there it was again. The sluggish feeling she felt before gave Zane the opportunity to evade and counterattack by swiftly kicking her back torso.

Out of all the battles the teachers saw, this was the most exciting one so far since she could actually match against an S-ranker, though weakened. As they were filled with awe, Kuro was filled with suspicions.

'... Why did he change? And why did he feel pain?'

Though he questioned it, after reminiscing the games he played in the past, he already theorized as to why.

Going back, Levy was slowly being filled with fatigue.

"Urrgghhh... STOP IT!"

Stolen novel; please report.

"-?!"

A burst of wind immediately blew out of Zane and caught Levy off-guard. As Levy tried to regain her vision, Zane immediately dashed on to her.

'Fast!'

Levy ducked, but parts of her bangs were sheared just because of the sheer wind pressure of his scythes. Everyone in the arena noticed it, his speed drastically increased.

Levy kicked him in the gut and pushed herself back, but he blocked her kick with his other scythe and was also pushed back. Levy, for a brief second, saw his eyes. At first, it was just the color of agate. But now, he was heterochronic with black and agate. His eyes had also become more serious, and he no longer shivered.

'Now I REALLY need to finish this.'

Levy charged herself up of mana in order to release her unique magic, but Zane was also charging up. Wind gathered at his scythes, covering it up completely and even bringing dust with it, yet Zane was unfazed. He was smiling creepily as he stared at Levy charging herself up. The ground shook while the teachers' awe and excitement were growing. However, there were some who were worried whether it was okay to continue it, including Merlin. She looks to Rai who was very calm.

"Are you sure this is okay?"

"Merlin, take a look at him."

Rai then points to Kuro. She was curious as to why he said that until she saw Kuro's expression, dead serious as he watches them, as if he was a predator lying in wait.

"As if he would allow them to get seriously injured."

Rai laughs at his statement as Merlin's worries still continue to grow.

Going back, by the time Levy had finished charging with her body covered in lightning, wind scythes immediately came flying to her, yet they were slower than her and perfectly evaded by jumping over it. Suddenly, Zane was under her and held his scythe as if he were to slash upwards. Levy knew this and created a platform on her legs and dashed off, yet Zane was too quick and her left leg was injured. The searing pain became even worse as it was forced to open up by the wind. The bleeding was serious to the point that Levy couldn't land right.

Her unique magic consisted of her speeding up her blood and heartbeat in order to push her body and speed it up, while enchanting her brain with lightning magic in order to react a lot quicker. However, this had backfired as she was bleeding majorly from her injury due to speeding her blood up.

As she attempts to seal it up, Zane was in front of her, with both of his eyes now fully black. He raises his scythe, definitely planning to kill her. She couldn't move, else she would bleed a lot more than her current situation. If she were to disperse her unique magic, it would take her too much time. And then, a small ember had lit up in between them and Kuro's left fist appeared from it. Zane became surprised and had taken the hit. He was pushed back by a lot. He looked up and saw Kuro treating Levy.

'How...?'

He looked around and saw that the barrier was broken once again. Even the teachers were surprised to see Kuro breakthrough the barrier, but everyone excluding Rai were curious as to how he teleported when teleportation magic wasn't invented yet.

"Levy, bite onto this towel and latch onto me. This'll hurt, okay?"

Levy nods as she bit on the towel hard. Kuro then released white flames on his hand and started burning Levy's injury.

"MMMGGHHH!! MMMGHHHGGHH!! MGGGMMMMHHHHH!!"

The searing pain made Levy's muffles even more painful to hear. Her claws were digging deep into Kuro's back, but he was unfazed. The fire seared her skin, boiling her blood. Her tears started falling as she salivated on Kuro's towel. The only reason why Gran didn't feel much pain was because he lost conscience shortly after starting, but Levy's pride wouldn't allow that. The pain she was experiencing made her pee to which Kuro had repeatedly used 'Clean' on. Her claws kept digging deeper and deeper into Kuro's back, even reaching to his shoulder bones, yet Kuro had an expressionless face.

'SHIIIIITTTTTT IT HURTS! IT HURTS SO DAMN MUCH! But I need to show that I'm strong... AHHHH IT HURTS TOO MUCH!'

It turns out, his skill, Guide, was the one in control of his body as Kuro yelled as hard as he can from within.

In the end, Levy finally fully heals, but is heavily weakened. She pants hard as she cried on Kuro's shoulders.

"Oy, did anyone tell you to interrupt our match?"

"Did anyone tell you to kill? Or even release killing intent?"

Zane, who was behind Kuro, had an expression that shows he was very pissed off. It was truly a 180 considering his personality before.

"Zane... No, who are you?"

"Hah? What do you mean? I'm still Za-"

"No. You're not Zane. I can see your mana cores, there's 2 in there. Zane's is inactive, your eyes are different and your personality says otherwise. Now, you're looking at me as if you've found a toy you can play with. So before I get really pissed, tell me, who are you?"

After a brief silence, Zane(?) started laughing maniacally.

"Amazing... AMAZING! You came in at a speed that even caught me off guard, pushed me back by a lot, and even healed that girl! You really are interesting! Alright, I'll tell you who I am. I am Azure, Agate's Alter."

"Azure... Let's fight."