“Now, show me what you got, Ian.”

Eliana edged as she took up her usual natural stance. As a long-range fighter, she didn’t need a fancy stance to prepare for battle. Just a comfortable stance that gave her a natural feel of the mana around her was enough to prepare. She was unlike me, who reached for the sword on my hip and unsheathed it. Though my authority had nothing to do with swords, it would be impossible to fight without one. What was important in my case was multi-casting.

First, I activated [Time Perception] in my mind, and the world around me started to slow down. Since I had adjusted it to suit my mana reserves, it wasn’t as slowed down as one might have thought. With that, I kicked the ground and marched forward in a straight and predictable path toward Eliana. At the same time, I activated [Future Sight] and focused on the swords hovering above her. As I got closer, an afterimage suddenly appeared, and one of the swords stopped a few inches away from my throat.

So far so good, but will my body be able to keep up?

I prepared to stop as I simultaneously deactivated [Time Perception] and [Future Sight] while activating [Recall] right afterward. A clear image of the sword’s path was memorized in my head. With this, I finally took my gamble and activated [Object Perception] on my hand and directed it forward with the right timing.

Kwang~!

The sound of steel against steel reverberated as a shockwave was produced on impact with Eliana’s sword clashing with my own and pushing me a step back. But I stood firm and glanced toward Eliana. Her eyes and mouth widened in surprise. It was funny because I had taken advantage of the fact that she would try to stop it at my throat and only countered when the momentum of her sword had dropped significantly. The result was the illusion of me blocking her surprise attack.

I didn’t wait for a reaction and quickly cast [Object Perception] on her flying sword, making it almost freeze in mid-air. I then kicked the ground and rushed toward her once more while activating [Time Perception] to slow the world down. In this state, I quickly reached a new conclusion. This won’t do.

I switched tactics right afterward and instead of continuing forward, I channeled a large amount of mana into my body and sword, then jumped and twisted mid-air. I then used the momentum to throw the sword toward Eliana, using [Object Perception] to accelerate it as fast as my mana could go.

Kwang~!

The plan worked a little too well. The four swords above her head moved quickly and blocked the sword, but as if nothing was there, my sword went right through them and pierced her shoulder. Funnily enough, it wasn’t what I was aiming for. In my book, Eliana was an absolute monster, which was why the attack I threw was aimed directly at her heart, but this monster actually avoided it.

Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not like I am trying to kill her or anything.

Using [Time Perception], I was able to catch what happened right before impact. A small shield had materialized just next to her chest, with the goal not of blocking but deflecting the sword away from any vitals. It was too calculated to be called a reaction from Eliana, so it was likely the work of one of her unique skills.

The result was the scene in front of me. A bloody Eliana stared at me with widened eyes, as if her brain couldn’t understand what was happening. I got goosebumps all over my body when our eyes met, and a very bad feeling came over me. It was then that I started to hear the voices around me.

“He… he won!?”

“What the hell was that!?”

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The crowd was also in a daze as surprised shouts resounded from the audience. My heart started to beat faster.

Maybe this was a bad idea? Such thoughts started to reach my mind as I subconsciously started to take a few steps back.

Why, you ask?

A countless number of weapons had materialized in the air above Eliana’s head. A dangerous red hue surrounded each of them as they all pointed in one direction. Spears, swords, knives, any and every weapon with a sharp point hovered above her head as they all pointed toward me. A scary expression replaced her shocked face as veins popped on her head.

Shit!? This bitch!!

Without my own input, a sudden image of the future entered my eyes. Multiple weapons went right through me. My head, chest, legs, hands, and every other part of my body would be impaled in the next second. My mind went completely blank as a curse escaped my mouth.

“Fuck!”

I tripped over my legs and fell on my butt as I looked at the ensuing onslaught.

Boom~!

The cracking sound of multiple objects breaking the sound barrier reverberated as my vision blurred while my body shut down completely.

***

A few seconds ago.

Kwang~!

The students turned their heads in surprise as a lone student stood face to face with one of the professors, the Scarlet Arsenal no less. However, what unfolded in front of them questioned their whole beliefs. All of the students had already fought her, so they were well aware of how strong she was, which was why the scene they were looking at was incomprehensible.

Blood dripped to the ground from the sword that had impaled the professor’s shoulder, and on the other side, the ordinary-looking student with messy, black hair and green eyes looked toward the professor with a frown. Some of the stronger students sensed it earlier, but the ordinary students who were unfamiliar with the strange chills they were feeling started to look at each other with confused gazes.

“Haah… Haah.”

”S-shit!”

As for the more skilled students, a chilling bloodlust grabbed onto their hearts, and as if the air in the atmosphere had suddenly disappeared, they began to pant heavily as adrenaline pumped into their bodies. Even with all that, they still couldn’t move. Everyone sat in their seats as they watched the unfolding scene in a daze. One second, hundreds of menacing weapons appeared above the Scarlet Arsenal’s head, and in the next second, a deafening sound of air cracking followed by a huge boom reverberated throughout the whole coliseum.

BOOM~!

A cloud of dust emerged from where the boy was standing and debris from the floor flew in all directions. Thankfully, the students were far enough for the debris to reach them, but at that moment, a sudden realization hit them. That guy is dead. They swallowed hard as they waited for the smoke and dust to clear and began to think of the brutal state the student’s body would be in.

However, a more confusing scene reached their eyes. As the smoke cleared, bits and pieces of the weapons could be seen to have penetrated deep into the earth, and the area around was mostly destroyed, but when the smoke and dust fully cleared, another figure was standing there. Not the student from before, but a man with light blue hair and blue eyes that complemented it. However, upon closer inspection, the student from earlier could be seen perched on the man’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The man wasn’t one of the eight professors they’d seen just a few hours ago, but a completely different man who also wore a similar outfit — a blue suit and a blue overcoat. Despite this, everyone in the coliseum knew exactly who he was.

“Headmaster!?”

“It’s Headmaster Lloyd!”

As if the air from earlier completely disappeared, the students suddenly felt relieved and started to shout in joy that the rampage had stopped. It took them a moment to also realize the amazing scene unfolding next to the headmaster. A few hundred weapons that hadn’t touched the ground—no, that hadn’t been allowed to touch the ground—hovered in the air as if they had hit invisible barriers.

Even from a single glance, it didn’t feel like a single barrier was stopping them as some of them were stopped much closer while others stopped a few meters away. Even the Scarlet Arsenal was now staring at the scene in absolute shock. It didn’t take long for the shock to turn into fear the moment the man’s blue eyes landed on her. Her body trembled violently as a tiny voice escaped her mouth,

“I-it.. was j-just a prank?”

The headmaster sighed at her incredible answer and shook his head in disapproval. Unbeknownst to anyone present, a devious voice escaped the headmaster’s mouth right afterward as he looked at the brat passed out on his shoulder.

“Mmh. Who’s this little monster…”

The sleeping Ian hadn’t heard the man’s comment, but because of what he had just done, the future he had sought to change was already changing at this very moment. The ripple of his actions would be felt throughout the whole world for a few years to come.