Kai's provocation worked as many people from the crowd roared with rage at his words.

They even forgot how one of the Seven Prodigies: Mad Bull had been beaten in an instant.

"If one's not enough, send two, if two's not enough, send four. If even that's not enough, all of you come at me."

His calm voice resonated throughout the arena, his absolute confidence, or in the crowd's eyes, arrogance, had enraged even more people. Until one person couldn't take it and stepped forward.

"Hooh. Come up."

Kai said as he stood up.

"I'll wipe that arrogant attitude of your face, brat!"

The opponent charged forward without letting Kai make a stance. Though he was a bit slower than Mad Bull, his speed was still enough to hit the five second mark.

The opponent leaped towards Kai with a fist positioned behind him.

"HAA!"

The fist was heading straight for Kai's face.

Kai sneered.

Kai's feet moved into a stance. His right foot moved backwards with his knees bending slightly.

Kai's right hand shot out.

"Gah!"

Kai's fist directly hit the man's abdomen.

The opponent's eyes were devoid of color as he was forced to cough out his saliva.

The opponent's head was positioned nearer to Kai than the rest of his body.

The corner of Kai's mouth curved into a smile.

CRACK

His right knee hit the man's jaw, dislocating it with a terrifying crack.

The man spun in the air multiple times before landing a few meters before Kai.

"Next!"

"Challenger: two! Challenged: zero!"

The announcer's voice rang out right after Kai.

Yet, no noise followed afterwards. The whole arena was silent.

 ...

Kanako's room

Kanako let out a heavy sigh.

"I can finally rest properly.. That training hadn't taken much of my physical stamina since it was restored each time, but my mind is exhausted!"

Kanako closed her eyes as she laid down on her bed.

She didn't sleep and just continued thinking about their sparring sessions.

"I think I could achieve a new level on my [Redirection Arts] with this.."

...

Combat Area

 "So, who's next?"

Nobody answered. Kai was getting tired of this. They were too intimidated.

"I said you can go in with more than one person."

Kai reminded them.

The crowd started whispering to each other and nodding.

From one area to the next, the whole arena was filled with murmuring.

After that, two people stepped up the stage.

"Alright, let's go."

Kai took a stance.

"It's bad manners to not introduce yourself before a battle."

The man on the right said.

"Alright, you first."

The man nodded.

"I'm Kail."

"I'm his younger brother, Hal."

"Kai."

The two adopted a stance.

"Come!"

The two ran.

Kail jumped with magic. Hal ran faster.

Easy tactic, Kail charges at me from above, Hal slides down. The sliding attack forces me to jump, Kail's attack will hit me, on the chance that it doesn't hit me, Hal will leap and attack.

Kai said as he glanced at the two.

"I'll play with you."

Kai said in a voice nobody else could hear.

Hal was the first to arrive as he slid down with increasing speed.

Kai jumped as Hal was nearing.

"[Eagle's Strike]!"

Kail yelled as an eagle twice the size of Kail appeared behind him.

"Hooh.."

When a move is mastered, it changes. The might of a mastered move and a regular move is the difference between Heaven and Earth. A mastered move has increased strength, increased speed, and even the eagle behind Kail also happens when a move is mastered to a certain point.

Though he did master the move, it isn't fully-mastered yet. Although the gap between mastered and fully-mastered sound small, the truth is that the gap for it is even bigger than a regular move and a mastered move.

Kai kicked the air slightly, enough so that nobody could notice.

"HAA!"

Kail's hand met nothing as Kai's position moved from his previous position.

"Wha-!?"

Kail said as he looked to the right where Kai's hand grabbed his wrist.

CRACK

"GAH!"

Kail's wrist was immediately dislocated.

"Brother!"

Hal shouted as he stopped sliding and leaped upwards.

"[Battle Burst]!"

Hal's whole body and aura seemed to change.

"He has such a strong battle skill."

Kai was surprised.

[Battle Burst], like the name implies, gives a burst of energy. It heightens physical and mental prowess for a few seconds. It turns around the tide of battle really fast. If magic was gonna hit the user at the last second, he could cast [Battle Burst] and easily dodge to the side. It triples a user's power for only an instant.

Though there are different levels to [Battle Burst], for every level, the time lessens, but the amount of power you receive is higher. Of course, a move that heightens physical prowess like this will have a price. Since the power you use is stronger than what your body can take, it leaves the body in a vulnerable state for a few seconds and lessens overall battle power until recovery. It's basically a double-edged sword designed for ending a battle.

Kai kicked the air below him and positioned himself above Kail.

"Let's see if you can hit me with your brother on the line!"

Kai yelled at Hal, making Kai seem scared of Hal's move in the eyes of everyone else.

Unbeknownst to Kai, Kail's face was that of excitement.

The crowd knew the source of his excitement.

"As expected of the shinobi brothers."

(A/N: I called them 'shinobi' instead of 'ninja' cause it sounds way better. Ninja brothers, shinobi brothers.)

"Yeah, this match is done for sure."

The crowd murmured.

Kai was watching Hal's every move and was surprised cause it looked like he had no intention to stop.

Then his brows furrowed.

"Come on!"

Kai provoked him again.

"Don't do it brother!"

Kail shouted trying to mask the excitement in his voice. But he cannot hide from Kai's ears.

They're up to something, especially with that kunai on the floor that Kail dropped as he jumped. Kai said as he observed.

(A/N: Kunai is a Japanese dagger associated with the ninja, a.k.a. shinobi. I don't think I need to say what a shinobi/ninja is.)

"[Substitute]!"

Kail disappeared from below Kai as Hal was only a foot away from Kail's previous position.

The sudden disappearance of the person below him caused him to be unbalanced.

"Wai-!"

Thud

"Eh?"

Hal's fist that had a metal glove hit Kai's abdomen but was met with a dull sound.

Ding

"Armor!?"

Hal yelled out.

The corner of Kai's mouth curved.

"Are you so naïve to think that?"

Kai said as he positioned his leg above Hal's head.

CRACK

Kai's foot hit the top of Hal's skull with a loud cracking sound.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

BOOM

Hal's body fell with a force equal to being bombed as the arena took damage with cracks appearing everywhere. A crater was left behind along with Hal's body.

"Brother!"

Kail yelled as he saw his brother's current state.

"I'll destroy you!"

He glared at Kai as his aura and mana surged.

"Then get over here."

Kai said as he landed on the floor next to Hal with light steps.

Kail reached into the bag on his waist and took a kunai that looked exactly the same as the one Hal dropped.

The corner of Kai's mouth curved into a smile.

"He has armor on his body, not rare but even my brother using [Battle Burst] couldn't break it. That armor must be a real treasure."

Kail glanced all over Kai's body as he threw the kunai with force.

Kai took something from behind him and placed it in front of him.

"[Substitute]!"

Kail yelled but before he froze.

He was teleported right in front of Kai.

"I knew it."

Kai grinned.

Kail was filled with fear the moment that happened. He looked once at Kai when he brought out something and used his move. To think it was his brother's kunai.

"So your [Substitute] requires you to look at your target."

Kai figured this out when Kail was so intently focusing on his kunai and only looked at Kai at the last second.

 Impossible! He figured that out in just two exchanges?!

Kail's eyes were filled with disbelief.

"I wanna fight more people, you two really gave me a chance to get new skills. So right now.."

Kail was trembling with fear as Kai's hand grasped his neck.

Sooner or later, he was gonna admit defeat. The only thing stopping him was his brother's efforts.

As Kai's words faded, he gulped. Everyone in the audience was looking with a mix of fear and anticipation.

Fear, because a little kid is this strong, enough to take down very strong opponents that could defeat most people here. Anticipation, because they want to know what this kid who has might that can shake the world, would do.

"...I'm gonna end this."

Kai raised the hand choking Kail and gave a smile.

BOOM

Kai slammed his hand down along with Kail. The back of Kail's head went first and left his head inside a hole.

The area around them had a crater cause of the sheer force of Kai's slam.

Wind scattered rendering the audience unable to see.

Once the wind stopped running wild, the announcer and everyone was frozen stiff.

When Kai slammed down, all they saw was Kail crashing down and the crater being formed, rocks cracking, and breaking apart.

But when they saw the scene afterwards, all of them were shaking in fear.

"Next."

Kai's calm voice resonated.

"C-challenger: four, Challenged: zero.."

The announcer's voice soon followed; stuttering.

Nobody murmured, nobody moved, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

"Anyone?"

Kai's voice woke them up from their state.

"S-strong..."

That one voice made everyone feel as if talking was allowed; not like it was forbidden in the first place.

 "He even has such strong armor..."

"Paired with that strength, isn't he unstoppable..?"

Many comments like these were spreading out.

 "I think you people are misunderstanding something."

Kai faced the crowd.

"It's true, I'm strong. Stronger than any of you-"

The crowd's eyes twitched and veins appeared on their temples.

"-but, I'm not using any heaven-defying armor."

Nobody talked, they didn't believe him a single bit.

"Looks like none of you believe me."

Kai glanced at the crowd's expression.

Kai took off his shirt and showed his body to the crowd.

Everyone was shocked or more like disturbed. A kid had a frighteningly robust body. It was like he was trained ever since he went out of his mother's womb.

Though, if they knew that Kai was actually a Mage and only recently practiced close combat, they would question him on how his body looked like it was being trained non-stop vigorously for years.

The truth was that, Kai's technique [Mana Surge] also trains the body by fortifying it with mana, as long as he uses it, his body will always feel like it is being trained every second; or more like tortured.

It felt like having [Battle Surge] on threefold every second. But, Kai had already grown accustomed to this as he doesn't even flinch when it activates. The strain on himself being filled with mana that would normally be above his regular capacity would obviously put enormous pressure on his body.

Kai returned his top as he glanced at the crowd's expression with a satisfied face.

"So, have any of you seen my armor?"

The whole crowd was silent.

"Oi, didn't we hear a 'ding' when one of them punched his abdomen?"

"Y-yeah.."

People were murmuring; speculating about what they heard.

Until one voice stopped their thoughts.

"Don't tell me.. The 'ding' we heard was.. his body?!"

"..!"

Many people were alarmed. Cause if his body itself was heaven-defying armor, then how could they even hope to defeat him? Their chances were slim but when they found out this truth, their chance dropped to zero.

Kai rolled his eyes.

"You people are annoying.. I just said come at me, didn't I?"

The crowd started to discuss something.

After a few minutes when everyone was informed, they all nodded at each other.

Four people stepped up first.

Three men and a woman. In the back of their formation, the woman held a staff with a red orb attached to the end; the staff was made of wood. The one who was in front of the three was a man who wore really heavy armor and a greatsword, it looked like he was the leader. On his right was a man with regular armor and a longsword, and right in front of the woman was a man holding a large rectangular shield that covered his whole body, the armor he wore was thick yet easy to move in.

Kai raised his brows, he was impressed.

Good formation. Kai thought inwardly to himself.

The man who looked to be the Vanguard charged forward with his greatsword and heavy armor. He should've been slow but his speed was being manipulated by the heavy armor and the greatsword, like he couldn't stop even if he wanted to.

The Knight with the longsword charged right behind the Vanguard. The Shielder was in a leaping position in front of the Mage.

The Vanguard leaped forward when he was within the greatsword's striking range. Kai held out his right hand in attempt to catch the greatsword.

Kai took the edge of the greatsword and held it firmly. He pulled but was knocked out of balance instead.

"Eh?"

Kai looked at the greatsword's edge in his hands dumbly.

The Knight's hand pulled the Vanguard by his back. But Kai was staring at him cause the Knight didn't look like he had that much power to pull the Vanguard.

But when Kai's gaze landed on his arm that was bulging he was dumbstruck.

"[Battle Burst].."

Kai said in a low voice as he identified what he used.

But how..?! [Battle Burst] normally affects the entire body equally so Kai was surprised when he saw that [Battle Burst] affected his entire body but was more focused on his arm. Because of that, Kai was surprised.

"Close."

The Knight heard his murmurs as the Knight was at attacking range.

The Knight swung out his sword horizontally and hit Kai. No sounds of dull metal resounded nor even a slashing sound but he was confident that he had slashed Kai when he felt impact.

Kai was flung backwards and landed on the floor.

"It's my own specialized skill originating from the original [Battle Burst], I call it [Battle Burst: First form]."

The Knight began to explain. 

"It enhances my whole body, not as much as [Battle Burst] but it enhances a certain part of my body more, I can choose anything so I chose my arm and pulled him. Even though it was weakened, [Battle Burst] is still [Battle Burst], so it still enhanced my body giving me enough power to charge forward at you. Leading me to a slash."

The Knight's mouth curved into a smile.

"Ah, I get it now. Thanks for the explanation."

A calm voice sounded out from Kai's body who laid down on the floor as he stood up.

"I just wanted to know so I let myself get hit."

Kai said as he grinned.

"I-Impossible!"

The Knight was trembling, that was his full power added with [Battle Burst: First Form], and it directly hit his abdomen! How could Kai stand up like it was nothing!?

"Well, I'll give you  a little explanation. Though even if it struck me directly, it would do me no damage, I thought about showing off a bit."

He went to his previous position, five steps away from the Knight.

"When the edge of your sword had reached me, I move my left hand forward and made your sword touch my palm, giving you the feeling of you hitting me. So that it felt like a slash, I moved my hand at the same pace as your sword so that it felt like you were slashing something. You should've felt something wrong like per say, no sounds of my blood spilling out or anything."

Kai took a step forward.

"So, do you want to continue?"

Kai said in a relaxed tone.

"TAKE THIS!"

The man who had a greatsword before charged forward again, his hand was empty but was formed like it was holding a greatsword.

"[Equip: Greatsword]!"

A greatsword that was shaped and looked exactly the same as his greatsword that was taken by Kai formed.

"[Equip]? You people are really proficient."

[Equip] is a type of skill that allows on to temporarily wield a weapon, anything is possible and in any form. Though the power itself would depend on the person. So if the person using it was weak and had little control, their weapon would become incomparably weak and shaped oddly compared to the actual thing.

But this person completely perfected his weapon to look like his original greatsword. He must've been holding that greatsword for years and has studied it closely. But it looks like, he studied it for this specific technique.

"[Holy Vanguard's Heavenly Strike]!"

His greatsword's silhouette became ten, twenty, thirty, fifty times larger! Until the greatsword itself increased in size and matched the silhouette, but the man looked like he had no trouble holding it.

"Dodge it!"

The Knight stopped hesitating and leaped to the side.

"HAAA!"

The Vanguard's greatsword raised up and slashed down with might that could shock the heavens.

"Hooh?"

Kai looked towards the giant greatsword slashing down on him that came with boundless pressure.

The greatsword finally sliced down and a blinding light along with a giant slash formed in the air.

The slash was piercing the air around it as it was reaching Kai. The slash was at least a dozens of feet tall and two to three meters thick.

Kai punched forward and a shockwave passed from his hand.

"Destroy."

Kai's punch immediately destroyed the slash.

BOOOMMM

The air around it exploded and launched a huge shockwave making everything around it feel a massive wind pressure trying to make them fly away.

The Vanguard's large greatsword already disappeared after that slash.

Without a weapon in hand, the Vanguard stomped his foot so hard that it left cracks on the nearly destroyed stage. He put his arms forward in attempt to block the oncoming wind.

"Gah!"

The Vanguard grit his teeth.

But the wind that was created from his own move was too strong for him as he was being pushed back slowly until he couldn't take it anymore.

His feet finally left the ground as the last of his power ran out.

"DAMN IT!"

The Vanguard flew in the direction of the Shielder and the Mage. The Knight who was right beside Kai when it happened had long since been flung away without any resistance since he was caught off guard.

 The Shielder who wasn't moving this whole time finally sprang into action. He jumped in the direction that the Vanguard was being flung and he caught him with his shield.

BANG

"T-thanks.."

The Vanguard said as he landed along with the Shielder before fainting into unconsciousness.

Because the shield caught him, his injuries lessened a bit from the impact, if he flew farther and crashed into somewhere, that would've been worse. The Shielder used some magic to lessen the impact of his shield.

Kai glanced at the Shielder.

He has the highest talent out of all of them. Kai made a mental note.

Kai began to step towards the Shielder and the Mage behind him chanting a spell.

"[...From the Master of Fire, the one who grants fire to all, grant me a tiny bit of your power to let me unleash this spell..], I'm nearly done! Hold him back for a few more seconds!"

That's quite a long [Chant], it must be a spell above her capacity. Kai deduced.

[Chants] have two uses, for someone who has no capacity to use a spell has to borrow power from something using [Chants]. [Chants] also provide stronger magic. [Chants] need to be chanted at a slower pace to ensure success, a single mistake in the words could ultimately cause the [Chant] to fail.

The Shielder nodded at the Mage.

"[Absolute Defense]."

[Absolute Defense] is a really useful spell, when used alone it protects the user's whole body at all angles, but when used with a weapon that uses defense like the shield, the effect multiplies and changes. Using it with a large rectangular shield would ultimately cause the shield's aura to expand and close the area. An aura would appear around the shield and expand, though the shield only covers the front, the back is ultimately vulnerable to attacks, but in an arena this small, it would be quite easy to close the area where they were standing. The only way for Kai to reach them is to break this shield aura or go around which would cause him to go down the floor. The top is too far to jump over and is too flat to climb.

But of course, for Kai, a jump that takes about fifteen meters is no problem.

But why would Kai do that?

Kai stepped forward and touched the barrier.

"Excellent aura! You must've taken years to master this.. It also looks like it's been tempered for years, you're being trained by someone especially strong aren't you?"

The Shielder's eye twitched.

What's with this guy? He's being faced with my shield aura and is still calm enough to observe me?! Not to mention the Mage behind me who's chanting a particulary high-level spell!

"I don't wanna crush your confidence but I have no choice."

Kai retracted his right fist and punched the barrier.

BANG

A crack appeared in the place Kai had punched. It spread slowly and reached the end of the whole barrier.

"Impossible!"

The Shielder yelled out in disbelief.

The barrier shattered leaving the shield with cracks.

"My Imperial Shield!"

"Ah."

Now that he mentions it, there is a symbol of a lion on that shield.

"Kane?"

The Shielder's eye twitched again.

"Right on the money."

Kai's voice immediately followed when he saw the Shielder's eye twitch.

"Let me tell you a secret.."

Kai went close to his ear.

"I defeated him just recently, though that would be news to anyone since it was kept a secret. I suggest you do the sam-"

"It's done!"

Kai's voice was interrupted when the Mage behind them yelled.

"Got it!"

The Shielder immediately took his shield and rammed Kai.

Kai retreated five steps to avoid him.

"[Grand Fireball]!"

The Shielder immediately jumped to the edge of the arena.

A small ball of flame appeared from the edge of the red crystal.

"A fire Mage?"

Kai raised one of his brows.

"That crystal looks quite pricy."

Kai glanced at the Mage seemingly unaware of danger.

"It multiplies my magic power by a whole one and twenty five. And it also lessens my consumption by an eighth!"

"It must've cost quite the fortune."

The small ball of flame on the crystal expanded slowly.

"TAKE THIS!"

The Mage shouted.

The flame expanded immediately into tens of meters.

Kai whistled once.

"That's quite the large spell, you must be out of mana by now."

The Mage knelt on one knee with both hands on the floor.

"You got it.. But that's enough to take you down, it has more than thrice the attack power of [Holy Vanguard's Heavenly Strike]!"

"I see."

Kai looked down.

The Mage was confident this would take him down.

"Since you're so proud of it.."

Kai dragged his words.

"..then I'll show you something better."

Kai made a palm and faced it towards the giant ball of flame.

"[Water Cyclone]."

Kai said in a low voice.

Water shot out of his hands and surrounded the whole [Grand Fireball].

"Impossible! Such a high-level spell in an instant and he didn't even use a chant! Your magic capacity is that frighteningly high!?"

The water began to spin around on the floor at a high speed.

It covered the fireball as it was travelling. The water shot up and formed a huge tornado of water.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The [Grand Fireball] burnt out. It was removed in an instant.

""...""

Everyone was silent.

"Level thirty spell?!"

When those words were out from the Mage's mouth, the crowd gasped.

"He's level thirty?!"

"Impossible! He's so small and yet..!"

"He's that frighteningly strong!?"

Kai smiled wryly. People misunderstood his spell as the level thirty spell [Tornado of the Depths].

Even though that spell couldn't hold a candle to his [Water Cyclone] which was made by a level one hundred, himself.

"Sorry, but I wanna end this quick."

Kai once again made a palm.

"[Gale]."

A large gale of wind appeared on Kai's hand and sweeped the whole arena. It didn't just face the direction of his palm, it shot out in all directions and made everyone on the arena fly away.

"Kyaa!"

"Ahhh!"

The Shielder and Mage both yelled. The Vanguard who was on the floor was rolling down the arena at a fast speed and would undoubtedly crash on the floor when he drops, though he can't feel it since he's unconscious right now.. when he wakes up that would add some pain to his already exhausted body.

"Next."

Kai didn't even bother to look twice at the Shielder and Mage as he said those words.

"Challenger: eight. Challenged: zero!"