Chapter 039:

Mark Kingsly was a broad-shouldered young man with a square jaw and hawk-like eyes. His copper-colored skin gave him a healthy glow and his dirty blonde hair was just a shade darker than that of Timothy’s. He was pleasing to look at.

Like her brother, Rebecca was also pleasing to look at. She had dark brown eyes and long flowing hair the same shade as her brother’s. She was the same height as him too, making her taller than Timothy. Alexander liked this.

“So who am I to be talking to? Who’s the boss?” Mark asked with a lop-sided grin. He had no weapon on him at the moment, but Alexander knew that that could change in a second.

In response to his question, both he and Ed had the same to say.

Mark snorted after seeing the two young men pointing at the other as if shifting blame.

“Funny fuckers ain't ye” He opened his hand and reached toward his sister, looking like a child asking for allowance.

Rebecca rolled her eyes but acquiesced. A blinding white light shone and an orb of white rotated above her head.

Her actions drew the attention of the surrounding students and all who saw, stopped to gawk at the rare white Wisker.

Alexander ignored all of this and merely stared at Mark’s once empty hand where a shield now rested.

‘Fast, but not instant,’ He concluded.

“You, big fucker,” He pointed at Ed while strapping the shield onto his arm.

“Name’s Ed,”

“Mark,” The brash young man introduced himself back, “You were cool yesterday when you fended Moore off with the shield,”

“Thanks?” Ed seemed confused.

“What are you waiting for? Strap your shield up let’s go!”

Finally realizing that the brat was picking a fight, Ed clicked his tongue and reached for the shield strapped to his back. The experience yesterday had given him a taste of what shield combat was like and he liked it fine enough. “Wait, why are we doi-” But before he could complete the question, he was forced to take a step back to avoid his face being caved in by Mark’s shield.

The sound of thick, solid metal shields colliding against each other rang out as Big Ed finally began retaliating.

………………………………………………..

Rebecca Kingsly’s Point of View:

Rebecca watched her brother duke it out with a wry smile on her face.

‘He could have asked for the axe. He’d be done sooner,’ She thought.

While watching the fight, she suddenly heard someone faking a cough, forcing her attention to shift toward the good-looking young man named Timothy.

Rebecca was sure that this was not the first time she had met Timothy but it sure as hell did feel that way. ‘It’s like he’s a different person…’

“H-hi! I’m Rebecca” The young woman introduced herself.

“I’m Timothy,”

“...”

“...” After a bout of awkward silence passed, Rebecca opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“Can you conjure a spear?” Timothy asked with a disinterested expression on his face.

Rebecca was surprised by the abrupt question before furrowing her brows, wondering whether to answer.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” Timothy finally said before shrugging. He seemed to grow bored by the conversation and began walking away, toward the center of the platform.

“Ah, please wait!” Rebecca shouted after noticing him actually begin walking away.

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t we supposed to fight?” According to the headmaster’s opening speech, only a few students would be making the cut which meant that her chances would improve if she got rid of him here and now. ‘It would be pretty easy, I’m sure I am stronger than him, though he might be faster,’

At first, Timothy seemed surprised by her question before his expression twisted into a wry smile. “Yeah, no thanks, I am not a fan of fighting one-sided battles,”

Rebecca blinked at his honesty, ‘Hey, shouldn’t you be more confident in yourself!?’ She then grew more flustered after seeing him walk away. She was about to call him back before a notion struck her. ‘What if he made it through to the tournament? He wasn’t so weak as to lose to some random student so he would be effective in eliminating the weaker ones,’ She nodded, agreeing with herself, ‘And when he does make it to the tournament, I’ll just eliminate him then, easy,’ She nodded once more before turning her back to Timothy.

‘I’ll just deal with him later,’

………………………………………………..

Alexander wasn’t delusional. In raw strength alone, both the Kingslys had him beat.

But when one considered his experience and skill, then taking care of them both would be a cakewalk.

That being said, he was still trying to be less aggressive so what was the point?

‘Maybe I was too harsh with her though, hopefully, she doesn’t take my remark to heart,’ He wondered.

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Around him, the fighting became more intense as the ring grew smaller.

So it was only a matter of time before he too got targeted.

Moments later, he watched with disinterest as a fist passed centimeters in front of his face.

The student whose attack just whiffed grew wide-eyed but before he had more time to process, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder and a foot press on his shoe. He couldn’t help but stumble down after being pushed; though the force behind the attack was negligible, the foot pinning down his own had destabilized him enough for the push to matter.

Now on the ground, he looked up in bewilderment over what just happened.

Alexander did not spare him a glance as he was already busy dealing with the student’s friend who was trying to smash his face in with a wild haymaker.

‘Should I block or dodge?’ His bored face seemed to be wondering.

Deciding on the latter, he gently grasped the wrist of the attacking fist and redirected it. He then planted his leg such that it was in front of the boy’s own pair. With minimal force he pulled on the still grasped wrist and tossed the boy over his back, making sure to break his fall so that it wouldn’t hurt too much.

Done with the first two, Alexander took a breath before reaching his hand out and grabbing the sword swung from behind.

“That’s not very nice of you, brother,” He spoke casually, staring at the boy behind him. Like the others, his copper-colored skin made his origin clear.

“I-I…” The youth blabbered as he tried to pull the sword out of Timothy’s grasp. Unfortunately, the weapon would not budge. In his mind, the boy suddenly had the mental image of his sword being stuck into an immovable boulder.

He was about to protest when he noticed something, a feeling of impending doom. The boulder he had stuck his sword into began moving; and as it turned its head his way, the boy realized that the boulder was, in fact, a demonic beast of gigantic proportions.

His legs gave out and he fell on his ass, scooting several feet away and abandoning his sword.

Even the other two boys who were about to get up, sat back down after feeling the killing intent penetrate their bones.

“Now, now, boys,” Timothy said as he spun the sword in his hand. “We don’t have to fight now, do we?” He asked before handing the sword back, hilt first.

The boy who had his sword taken looked at the weapon for a moment before looking back at Timothy. “What happens if we say no?”

Timothy chuckled.

The three boys agreed to his offer.

………………………………………………..

Zackery Moore’s Point of View:

Zackery clenched his teeth after the sword pierced his forearm.

“Wh-what is wrong with you?” His foe asked, horrified by how willingly Zackery gave his arm to the sword.

Unfortunately, the student would not get an answer as Moore had sidestepped away from him to allow the {Earth Bullet} passage.

The spell struck the student hard, pushing him off bounds.

Moore nodded while removing the sword from his arm.

“As expected, this is more efficient,” Mike’s grating voice sounded in his newly healed ears.

After tossing the out-of-bounds student his sword back, Moore, Mike, and the latter’s goons resumed their march toward the center.

Mike, who had been watching with disgust as the black goo filled Zackery’s wound in before pinching it close, held back the urge to retch, “It seems the rate with which you heal has increased,”

“Yes,” Zackery answered. He understood the youth’s disgust, even he himself felt that way.

It looked like Mike was about to say more but before he could, Billy, one of his goons, brought his attention to the front.

Moore looked that way as well but soon he froze.

Standing in the absolute center of the arena was one student. He looked like he had been standing there since the beginning and when one thought about it, it made sense. Who would be mad enough to challenge him?

Cold blue eyes scanned the group.

“It’s you,” Alec Moroe said calmly, focusing on Moore.

Mike clicked his tongue after noticing the fact that he was being ignored. “Who are you?” He asked while looking down on the newcomer.

Moore was inwardly shocked by this, but after thinking a bit, it made sense. Back then, Mike was the first student he took down so he wouldn’t have seen Alec’s strength.

“I will give you the chance to eliminate yourself safely,” Moroe continued stoically.

“Oi, are you ignoring me?” Mike asked again.

Moore clenched his fists hard but he made no movements.

“You understand better than anyone else, you are a danger to the academy, your very presence endangers its existence,” The red-headed magician continued.

‘He’s right,’ Moore admitted, lowering his head. Memories of the previous day came to him then. He couldn’t recall much but there was one thing that rose above the rest, a fire unlike anything he had felt before.

“That’s it!” Mike finally exploded, unleashing an {Earthen Bullet}.

“I am having a conversation, it is rude to interrupt,” Alec advised before outstretching his hand and chanting: “{Fire Bomb}”

Though he had cast after Mike, his spell still overpowered the other’s.

A small explosion emanated from the magical circle resting on Alec’s palm, blasting the projectile made from rock away.

Not one to give up so easily, Mike fought back: “{Wind Arrow}” He chanted before an arrow materialized.

The spell easily tore through Alec’s flames and threatened to pierce his head.

“Wielding dual elements at our age is impressive,” Alec noted. “{Fire Bomb}” He chanted once more and the arrow was ripped apart by the explosion.

Mike was about to issue another spell when he noticed something odd, the magical circle that Alec used to summon the fire bomb did not fade, rather its characters shifted in order to form another spell.

‘Multicasting?!?’ Mike thought incredulously.

“{Fuego}” Alec whispered as a gigantic plume of fire suddenly materialized, threatening to incinerate Mike who stood in place, shocked.

‘I need to do something!’ Moore’s desperate thoughts nudged him loose from the fear paralyzing him and he leaped toward Mike.

Boom!

The deafening explosion startled nearby students but when they saw Alec, they all turned back to what they were doing.

When the dust settled, the sight of Moore’s charred back came into view. By this point, all of Mike’s goons had run away, some jumping down the arena’s ledge.

“Moore…” Mike muttered, noticing he was unharmed.

“R-run, we can’t beat him!” Zackery urged. Numbly he could feel his back start to heal itself.

“Admirable, especially so of a beast,” Alec’s emotionless voice continued. The magical circle resting on his palm had yet to dissipate and it was obvious that he was casting another spell.

Moore’s ragged breathing grew deeper and it became clear he was trying to suppress his anger.

‘I think I can take another hit without turning. I just need to hold out I just need to remain calm. One breath, one step at a time,’

“{Fueg-” Alec had just begun to chant when something caught him off guard.

“That’s enough,” A whisper startled him but before he could respond, he was forced to dodge back as a sword slashed at his head, thankfully, it took a chunk off his hoodie instead, exposing his flowing red hair.

“You are faster than before, Your Highness,” The red-headed magician spoke once more after regaining his composure.

“Still bullying the weak, Alec?” Clive asked with a light smile on his face, above his head his Wisker shone in a brilliant verdant glow.