CHAPTER 123: IF YOU ASK HER
Alexey faced an archer.
Unlike the first half of the year, his water spells were more versatile and powerful.
His barrier was quite strong, and the archer had difficulty breaking through it, even though he was doing his best.
They were both B-rank, but the archer was a student with average experience.
“Pretty good, I have to admit,” Edward commented, nodding as he watched the combat.
Aurora, who was next to him, also nodded.
“Unfortunately, the archer got too nervous, letting Alexey lead the fight.” Aurora pointed out, shaking her head.
They were both in the office to watch some of the first bouts of the academic tournament.
As the other students had to prepare for the next bouts and Cithrel wanted to give them encouragement, Aurora accepted Edward’s invitation to watch the matches.
Edward was to make sure the students didn’t cheat and everything was in order.
Aurora paid attention to the end of the fight.
Arrows were fired in succession towards Alexey, and he raised a thick barrier of water.
The arrows lost strength in contact with the water and missed completely.
However, Alexey didn’t wait for his enemy to react and muttered a spell, getting spheres of water shot at the archer from the wall.
“Ugh...”
In the end, the archer received the attack and was hit hard.
Thanks to the barriers, the attacks of the tournament were not fatal and also did not cause injuries, although they did cause pain.
“Wonderful. Using the water wall to reduce the cost of his next spell and cast it faster. He is quite a remarkable student,” Edward analyzed, nodding encouragingly.
“Yes, he improved a lot from half a year ago,” Aurora replied, who had seen him battle.
Mid-year practice sometimes helped to awaken students’ potential and other times, they weren’t so helpful.
However, Alexey had apparently taken full advantage of it.
“They have given us an exciting battle!” Said a student, as a projection appeared in the center of the arena.
The academy did not hold the tournament in training rooms, rather, it was in an arena that had space for the public.
They could also use projections that could be broadcast in different parts of the academy, such as this office.
“Now. We will have our next bout... A rank-A match!” announced the student host.
“Frank is getting carried away...” Edward muttered with a smile.
Aurora recognized that student, as he was one who took part in the academy’s initiation test.
Precisely the psionic who received Clémentine’s mental attack.
The students who were in that arena watching the combat directly clapped cheered loudly.
“From the right corner, we have someone who likes food, feared by those who were beaten by her, and someone who shouldn’t be bothered easily. Let’s welcome Alice Campbell!” Frank announced in an excited tone, clapping his hands.
To lighten the mood also the tournament helpers added music in the style of a boxer entering the ring.
Unfortunately, from the right appeared Alice, eating her chips with an indifferent, almost lazy expression.
There was applause from the first-year students.
Alice and Clémentine were their pride... Aurora sighed in relief at not having taken part in the tournament.
The three of them were the only A-ranks in the first year.
That meant that they had a great ‘responsibility’ to prove to their superiors their ability... Or so Aurora had heard.
The truth was that they approached only Clementine for encouragement and, as for Alice; she was hard to approach if they didn’t know the way.
“Are you okay with this?” Edward asked in a slightly complicated tone and, meeting her gaze, he murmured. “Well, she... She’s not fit to be here."
His tone trembled as if he was remembering things from the past and simultaneously not wishing to bring it to light.
Aurora smiled at those words.
It was true, Alice was not ‘fit’ to take part in a tournament with students.
However...
“She already agreed to work for food. Do you think you can change her mind? Aurora asked in a serious tone, looked at Alice, who was eating her chips, and muttered. “If you want, you can try.”
“No, I’d better let others take care of it. It’s not my fault they didn’t assess her properly,” Edward replied instantly, as if his earlier concern disappeared.
A simple and clear answer from someone who knew that with Alice’s food, he shouldn’t mess.
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Aurora gave a smile and watched Alice walk into the training camp.
Actually, being at the academy was boring, and while Alice wasn’t someone who cared about the place as long as she had food, taking part in these events was a way to have fun.
Besides, it wasn’t so bad...
“From the left side, we have a student who is known to no one and ignored by all. Please welcome Niels Hedman!” Frank announced with a strange introduction.
The melancholy music resounded and running at a high speed, a young man appeared, jumping into the center of the arena.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
To the applause, the young man saluted as if he were a famous hero.
Edward let out a long sigh of regret as he watched this young man perform.
Aurora did not know this student and, for such a reason, curiously checked the profile that could be projected at any moment.
“A second-year student versus a first-year student. Who will be the winner?” Frank asked, arousing the sense of rivalry between the classes and looking around the arena he ordered. “Let the combat begin!”
“We’ll never finish if he keeps delaying it,” Edward muttered, shaking his head with his gaze fixed on the battlefield.
The combat had not begun, and they both looked at each other.
Niels pulled out two daggers as he looked at Alice, who was eating the chips.
The young man seemed to want to bring tension to the combat and to his regret, his opponent broke that tension with ease.
Aurora’s expression quivered.
Two eccentrics were pitted against each other in the same arena.
“Hey, you make me feel insignificant... Can you pay more attention?” Niels asked in a strange tone.
Alice looked at him for a moment and then glanced at her finished bag of chips, calmly pulling out another one before her opponents’ eyes.
Niels, as soon as Alice looked away, moved quickly, seeming as if to disappear before the inexperienced eyes.
However, Aurora could see how Niels sped up, charging towards Alice without hesitation.
In only an instant, he reached Alice’s front, but immediately turned in mid-air and sped backwards.
Where he had been stood, four black arms that had wanted to grab him.
“His reflexes and senses are exceptional, not to mention his body control,” Aurora murmured, nodding rather impressed.
Edward gave only a smile and muttered. “That’s not good enough...”
They turned their gaze to Alice and, just as Edward said, it wasn’t so.
As she opened a bag of chips, black arms were reaching towards Niels, who was trying to make a quick escape.
The young man had wanted to start a conversation to distract his opponent, and Alice had used a similar tactic.
She had only seemed distracted by her chips.
Black arms were hitting the floor or wall and Niels dodged, straining to avoid any blows.
“Oh, he’ll try that...” Edward muttered, nodding at Niels’ movement.
Surrounding Alice, realizing that the arms took physical shapes, he tried to make them tangle with each other.
They were not mere shadows; they were physical black arms coming out of the shadow behind Alice’s back.
That he thought he could make them tangle together was normal.
Unfortunately, Aurora knew not that simple.
Just as arms could be divided, they could also be linked.
Arms were one of the many ways Alice gave her [Domain of Darkness].
Even though the mercenary guild wasn’t sure what its limits and possibilities were, for it to receive such a dominating name, it made it clear what overall ability it had.
It was a true dominance that could turn the shadow on the back into something tangible, like that black mass Alice formed the arms from.
Just as Aurora expected, the arms instead of tangling together, they linked.
“Oh, shit,” Niels muttered as he increased his speed to run away from that black arm that had increased in size.
That ‘mass’ was shaped like an arm and was strange enough that it could move in every direction, preventing Niels from escaping.
“Alice is pushing his speed. Does she want to see how far he can go?” Edward hesitated as he watched the combat.
Another black arm was being added to the chasing group and Niels slowly was cornered.
To the point where he had to increase speed, making many of the students without high reflexes have trouble realizing what was going on.
The young man’s speed impressed Aurora, and although she admitted that he was fast, she understood that if he kept running away, his stamina would eventually run out.
“He’s getting ready,” Edward muttered, paying attention.
Niels’ speed slowed as he escaped from those arms.
He was dodging around fifteen arms that were now anticipating his movements.
Most likely, inexperienced students would assume he was getting tired, and unlike those students, Aurora perceived the flaws in Niels’ performance.
They were minuscule changes in his movement, which made it clear that he was not tiring.
Alice kept attacking without even turning around to look at her opponent.
It was the moment Niels reached Alice’s back that he moved.
His presence decreased by a considerable margin and his speed increased explosively in a sudden acceleration.
It was to the point that Aurora saw him use the black arms to move to Alice’s back.
Unfortunately, it attacked the back.
From the dark shadow that was on Alice’s back and from which the arms were coming out, five extra arms came out.
The hands swooped down, trying to catch his opponent, and Niels, without stopping at any moment, cut the arms, breaking through that defense net.
Being only two meters away from his opponent, surrounded by the black arms that prevented him from retreating, Niels smiled prematurely when the dagger aura was released.
As powerful as sword auras are, that A-ranked aura was released and Niel swung his dagger, performing a slash straight at the black shadow.
Alice, in response, dodged to the side, pushed by an arm.
The slash ended up hitting one of the black arms attached to her back, and Niel was already surrounded.
“Just because I haven’t moved so far doesn’t mean I can’t,” Alice pointed out as the severed arms stuck to others, making them bigger.
Niels was now surrounded by the black arms he left behind and Alice turned to face her opponent as the arms moved with her.
From in front, other black arms appeared, and from behind the others turned, while along the arm a subtle trembling began, making it clear that something could come out at any moment.
If Niels made believe that he was tired, to execute his attack, Alice, by standing still, made him understand that she could not move.
While there were videos of Alice’s fights, to assume that her shortcomings were the inability to move was just a joke.
Just like thinking she couldn’t attack without seeing her opponent.
“This is too much for an A-Rank,” muttered Edward with an odd tone.
“Is it? I think if you ask her she’ll tell you it’s an A-Rank,” Aurora replied with an amused tone.
“Yes... Officially,” Edward replied, shaking his head.
Aurora smiled and watched as Niels gave up on being surrounded.
Everyone could see that those arms weren’t that strong, at least in strength they seemed to fall short of the punches of an A-Rank fighter.
However, people only focused on their numbers, believing that was the advantage of that powerful, innate ability.
They took the reports they received and the official records seriously, forgetting that people could regulate their strength.
As for the official records... The media that were generally used would only see what Alice wished them to see.
“I have to go. Thank you for inviting me.” Aurora said, as she received a message on her holographic watch.
“Come over anytime. It’s boring being here alone,” Edward replied, saying goodbye simply.
Aurora gave a smile and left the office.
When she stepped outside, she checked her holographic watch and Andrés’ summary.
In Africa, she had Liam to help with extra jobs, but here she had hired Andrés.
While he wasn’t on Liam’s level, for her current requests, he was sufficient.
The topic at hand was the favor Vanessa had asked of her.
“Let’s finish it now before it becomes problematic,” Aurora muttered, looking at the summary.
She sent a message to Alice and the group telling them she had something to do and headed for the exit.
The students’ first group fight was about to follow and while it was a shame to miss it, she didn’t want to delay helping Vanessa.
As she reached the entrance to the academy, the space near her twisted, and Cithrel appeared.
“I heard you had something to do. May I join you?” Cithrel asked with curiosity and a pleading look.
“Sure,” Aurora replied without giving her too much thought.
It wasn’t because of her pleading eyes that made her look like a little puppy begging for her ‘master’ not to abandon her.
Yes, she didn’t feel moved... At all.