Kean was out. He hurried out of the training ground and stood next to Vincent. From the stands, they observed the fight.

Felix struck the ground again with his spear. The roar again echoed through the arena. Some coped through it while others, were on their knees covering their ears.

Felix rushed towards the students near him and touched them with his spear. Just like this, without the others landing a single attack on him, he managed to eliminate ten students.

Felix’s art was different from what they imagined. Most of them were ready to deal with wind and earth elements, which were the main focus of the Valerius Art, but what he was using wasn’t either of them.

It seemed to involve sound and they had no idea how to counter it. Sound was an element but not often used. Nobody was born with the talent to use it and learning it was difficult. Seeing how well, Felix used it, made them admire him, but also fear him a lot more.

Grian, acting as a leader for this fight, realised his plan wasn’t going to work. The lower-ranking students were about to be wiped out without doing anything.

“Change in plans. If you can withstand the sound then attack. Don’t wait.”

Grian shouted. The roar again rang in his ears and it rattled his brain. So much so that he and others started to nosebleed.

Wiping the blood on his nose, he gripped his dagger and rushed towards Felix. Others around him also got hold of themselves. Some were chanting for long-range spells, while others were attacking up front.

Despite all of these, Felix didn’t move and stood motionless. He looked around and hopped. Next thing, Grain knew, Felix was in front of him.

“Huh?”

Grian quickly blocked the spear coming from the right. He was flung to the side as he rolled on the ground barely inside the arena.

“Arghh.”

He groaned in pain and tried to stand up. But gravity seemed to weigh him down. Every fibre of his body rattled.

Felix now could easily touch him but he didn’t. Instead, Felix changed targets. Grian slowly stood up, but the strength and mana in his body had vanished.

And it made no sense. Getting flung like this might have caused some injuries, which made moving a bit hard. But he had not used much of its mana.

Felix’s art had something to do with this, and the more Grian thought, the less chance he saw of winning. As the battle unfolded, he realised how big of a difference between him and Felix was.

Every step he took, had meaning. Every swing was precise, just with the perfect angle and strength behind it to pierce everyone’s defence.

Except for Grian, no one managed to block his attacks. And just like this, striking the ground, stunning the students and using his pace, within fifteen minutes Felix eliminated 56 of the students.

Only Grian was left. He was at the edge of the arena. Petrified, he watched Felix walk towards him, swinging his spear. His eyes were even colder than before.

Grian gulped. He was scared and also frustrated for being so weak. He knew the gap between them and Felix was big, but not to this level.

The fight was already decided when it started. And Vincent must have known about this too.

“So this is the power of the Star.”

Grian ego had taken a tumble, beyond the point where trying to win seemed the most impossible thing to do. He was about to surrender when Felix rushed towards him.

“Wait.”

Grian said, but Felix didn’t.

With the back of the spear, he struck Grian’s stomach.

“Arghh.”

Grian let out a painful grunt. The vibration of the attack shook his whole body and gave him a hell of a pain. He held his stomach and spat blood on the floor.

“Why?”

For the whole duel, Felix only touched his opponents. The attack was speed and strength but he would lessen it not to hurt anyone.

But for Grian he didn’t. He was angry. What had he done to Felix to get this shivering pain, wriggling inside his body, that increased every time he breathed? Every breath was a spike poking his organs as if telling him not to breathe and just die.

He looked up at Felix. The rage boiling in him sizzled out by Felix’s cold eyes. If the duel wasn’t over with just a touch then, Grian knew he was in for something even worse.

Felix got down and looked at Grian, with a smirk.

“I can relate to you now”

“Relate to me?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Grian said confused about what he was talking about.

“The satisfaction of trampling someone weaker than you as you push them down on their knees. It’s exhilarating isn’t it.”

Felix's words made him shiver more. Grian understood what he meant. What he did to Kean before though less painful, was soul-crushing and Felix was letting him a taste of his own medicine. Without Felix saying anything, Grian knew not to mess with Kean or anyone.

After that, all he saw was two staff running towards him with a stretcher before he lost consciousness.

*******

Vincent watched the staffs take away Grian. He suffered more internal damage than external. If Felix had used more strength than that Vincent would have stopped the fight.

Vincent knew Felix would win the fight However, he didn’t expect the fight to end in this manner, to the point it seemed more like a practice session than a duel

“With this, the duel is over.”

As he said that the line of students stood beside him, went back to the ground and stood in a line.

Vincent folded his arms and looked at everyone.

“I don’t think I have to say who the winner is.”

Like Felix, everyone looked to the ground, for different reasons that is. They were embarrassed and had to be.

“From the next day, your training regime will be harsh, and I won’t hear any complaints. Next time we do this, I want all of you able to land a punch on him.”

As Vincent said that everyone nodded, while Felix frowned. After all, everyone was going to train to knock his teeth out.

“Make sure to do your assignments and train. Now leave for your last class, except for Felix. Since you weren’t in the first class, I must brief you about the assignment.”

It was weird for him to inform Felix. He could have ordered any other student for it, but they didn’t say anything. It’s not like they were eager to talk with Felix.

Once they left, Felix walked towards Vincent. He had a poker face but Vincent knew Felix wasn’t happy. He wouldn’t be either

The fight served no purpose to him, except gain some experience and a lot more fear from his classmates. He wasn’t a dictator to find comfort in other’s fear.

“I apologise for making you do this.”

Vincent knew how much ruckus this duel would make. Felix wasn’t a big fan of attention and this was making it worse for him. Vincent didn’t say why he did so and Felix didn’t bother to ask

Felix only nodded, waiting for the assignment. Vicent found it odd, how Felix most of the time seemed to look at the ground. Maybe it was because he knew how fearsome his gaze was.

“You don’t have to do the assignments of today.”

It was a small reward for Felix’s effort and also cause he enjoyed the duel. As he said that, a smile crept on Felix’s face which he was quick to hide.

“And I have a proposal for you.”

He added at the end. Felix stared at Vincent, waiting for the proposal.

The Professor unconsciously took one step back. He had seen many horrible things. Skinned corpses, people being eaten alive or stretched as every fibre in their muscle tore apart. All of them had one thing in common. None of their eyes had a hint of a spark to live. For Felix, it seemed something worse than that. He dared ask what had happened for him to have such merciless eyes.

Getting his thoughts back on track, he looked at Felix.

“Be my disciple. If you do, I will teach you a new art, that doesn’t require any element.”

Vincent and any other professor in the academy were allowed to have only two disciples. They could be of any year. For the past fifteen years of teaching, he only had taken two students as his disciples. Not cause they were incapable of learning.

Something was missing in them. He couldn’t figure out what it was, but he knew Felix was the perfect disciple he could ask for along with the other student he had in mind.

“I don’t want to“

Felix said and again looked to the ground. Vincent could only nod. He had guessed this to happen. Felix was without an element and to most could seem desperate to learn elementless Art but that wasn’t the case.

But the way he answered it seemed Felix didn’t need to consider this even for a second and was fine without it.

“Is that all, professor?”

Felix wanted to leave. There was no point in staying here anymore.

“That is all from me. But the headmaster wants you and your friend, Lim at his office after the classes finish. The Holzbergs are here and they want to reward you.”

After that, Felix left the arena. Vincent watched him and shook his head.

He was a bit disappointed, that Felix rejected him.

“He was the perfect successor I could have asked for.”

However, he couldn’t force things. All he could do was hope Felix would change his mind in the future.

*******

“You’re ten minutes late.”

Felix looked at Lim, breathing heavily. He was late and Felix had been waiting for him outside the headmaster's office.

Felix could have gone in himself, but the idea of having a conversation with the headmaster wasn’t the best for him. It’s not like he didn’t like the headmaster. Conversation with anyone was a literal headache to him.

“Some stuff happened. I will tell you later on.”

Lim fixed his attire, wiped the sweat on his forehead and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

It was the deep and relaxing voice of headmaster Sebastian.

They walked in and the mixture of the smell of lavender and a hint of wood welcomed them. Felix took a quick look around the room.

There were four people in the room. Two were sat on the chair, while the other stood behind them. Ahead of them was a large table with tens of cake stands, each with different coloured pastries in them.

Sebastian was on the right wearing his usual attire, the white suit, with black shoes, and a cane in his right hand.

Behind Sebastian was his assistant, the woman who escorted them to the investigation room.

There was another man next to him, that Felix had never seen. His black hair was slicked back, and his brown eyes glimmered as he looked at the two. He also wore a suit and a picture of a casino wheel embedded in the coat’s pocket. He wore a gold ring on each of his fingers and the rings had heads of different animals made on them.

‘They must be grateful to send someone from the main family to reward us.’

Though Felix had no idea who it was.

Behind that man was his knight, wearing a set of silver armour, his head covered with a white scarf only leaving room for his eyes.

.

“Good evening to the both of you”

Sebastian got up from his chair. Felix looked at him and bowed a little. He turned to Lim, and could him drooling looking at the tower of cakes.

He elbowed Lim and whispered,

“Control yourself.”

Lim wiped the drool and bowed too.

“Good evening headmaster and-”

Lim turned to the man and he introduced himself.

“I am Theo Holzberg. It is a pleasure of mine to meet my brother’s saviours.”

This was new information to Felix. He didn’t know much about the Holzbergs except the business they ran.

‘The reward must be big if the heir himself is here.’

“Please take a seat.”

Sebastian pointed at the two chairs ahead. They sat on their chair and the headmaster’s assistant poured them a cup of tea.

“Don’t hold yourself back.”

Sebastian said as he looked at Lim. And he didn’t hesitate to grab three pastries and start digging in. As for Felix, he didn’t have much of a sweet tooth.

Theo snapped his fingers and the knight behind him handed him two scrolls tied with a neat red ribbon.

“ This is rude of me to get straight to the point. If possible I wanted to have a nice chat and meal with you, I and my family owe you a lot and want to show our appreciation for your bravery but time isn’t on my side today.”

“Your presence is enough appreciation for us, Sir Theo. We know how busy an heir of a family is.”

Felix said and the most surprised was Lim. He had never heard him this formal.

Theo gave them the scrolls and shook their hands.

“Thank you for understanding. You can open the scrolls.”

Felix opened it, and read everything written on it. He turned towards Lim, his lips smeared with cream. He didn’t say anything or make any gestures but knew Lim like him was trying to hide the widest grin they could make.