CHAPTER 137: NOT ENOUGH
Oliver looked at the projection of the fight, nodding at Nicole’s battle.
Fast movements, heavy and decisive punches.
The way Nicole changed her style was unexpected and accurate, giving her fists enormous strength and, among so many good qualities, what stood out was her attitude.
The young woman who at the beginning of the academy was nervous when facing an opponent and failed because of nervousness, at this moment, she was facing her opponent with everything, receiving and throwing punches.
A determined fighter with no fear of her opponent or pain.
She was facing a swordsman, and while the sword was a training sword and had no aura of training, the cuts were no joke.
Still, Nicole bolstered her body with magical energy and used her fists to parry the sword in a way that reduced the damage.
While she received light cuts on her arm, as a fighter, Nicole had a powerful body and could withstand the attacks thanks to reinforcing her body with magical energy.
“Impressive, don’t you think?” Oliver asked his partner.
“She’s too terrifying. Even though I’m a third-year student, it scares me,” Jordan replied using a bitter and serious tone.
He was a third-year student, but he had failed to rise to Rank A for a while.
Despite his experience and ability, he knew Nicole was dangerous with that attitude with which she took to combat.
“Everyone changed too much in their practices. That’s scary,” added Niels, who stood in the corner with a rather low presence and when they looked at him in surprise, he shrugged and commented. “I know Leslie. Well, I guess you could say we’re acquaintances from before the academy, so I understand from the change she’s been through.”
Oliver nodded and watched as the bout ended with Nicole as the winner.
That serious attitude as she faced her foe was gone in an instant and she, with a smile, walked over to help the swordsman up.
Friendly and with a touch of shyness when she received the swordsman’s congratulations, she left the arena.
“They are not participating to win the tournament,” Oliver murmured, nodding in understanding.
He had watched the participants surrounding the ‘monster’ Alice and had noticed how seriously they were taking their match.
They were trying to get as much feedback as possible from each bout to improve in every way they could.
Very different from many students who took the tournament as just that... A tournament to show who was the strongest.
Niels was a prime example of the situation.
He gave up when he found himself surrounded by Alice’s black arms instead of giving his all to fight to the end.
“Only the students, since she seems to just play...” Jordan muttered, pointing at the next combatant.
With a nonchalant look on her face and wearing comfortable clothes, Alice entered the arena to the music played by Frank and when she reached the center of the arena, she opened a bag of chips.
To say she was calm was just a joke, as she gave the impression of completing a menial task.
“I hear they’ve been veterans for several years in Africa. It’s normal to have that attitude,” Niels said and when they looked at him, he shrugged and detailed. “We fight creatures or monsters in the cities, but she is in Africa.”
Warlords, militiamen, poachers, magical beasts, and a high number of dangers surrounded Africa when one thought of that continent.
Was she looking down on it, or was her level of experience different?
No matter if they said they were trainees, the experience they could get as students were at a different level.
As far as Oliver could remember, he had never taken a life-threatening mission and where he was enrolled, his superiors always prepared everything.
As a hero, his duties and obligations differed from a mercenary.
“Ha, what else could one expect from the person who defeated me?” Niels asked with a touch of pride.
His companions just averted their gaze, ignoring him, and looked at the next opponent.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Here we are officially in the fight that will mark the halfway point of the clashes!” Frank exclaimed as host, and looking at the incoming student, added. “The favorites of this round and the bout you’ve all been waiting for... Gregorio Bellucci and Alice Campbell!”
Those spectators watching from the arena applauded, again and again, being the first-year students praising and exclaiming at the person representing them.
The bouts had been going quickly and in this round, the bout that was drawing attention was this one, which was left at the end.
That student who led the test at the beginning of the academy and terrorized several freshmen, against the one who terrorized several second and third-year students.
“Gregorio has a high chance of winning. His sword aura and artistry are splendid,” Jordan murmured, nodding softly.
“Bah, I had sword aura too and lost...” Niels muttered and, ignoring the duo’s strange look, he added. “Though I have to admit that he is the one who is closest to becoming S-Rank to match Edward.”
As a third-year student, many set their eyes on Gregorio, who had a high chance of moving up the ranks.
The other individual was Oliver.
“I didn’t expect there to be so many strong first-year students. I’m surprised,” murmured Gregorio, who stood on the stage, unsheathing his long sword.
Thanks to the technology installed for the tournament, they in this room could hear each other’s voices.
Gregorio appeared to be calm with his smiling look, but his stance and movements gave evidence that he was being serious.
Still, Oliver knew.
“Not good enough,” He muttered, watching the fight as he projected more screens to see each side of the battle.
Gregorio was serious, and it was a good thing. However, it was necessary for him to go all out if he wanted to take on that glutton.
Alice, instead of responding, pulled several black arms from behind her back.
“Let the battle begin!” Frank announced.
As soon as he finished the announcement, Gregorio charged straight at the young woman without holding back.
Alice sent the black arms out to stop him and even though Frank was running, he just swung his sword swinging between those arms, cutting them all down.
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His sword aura surrounded his sword and just like Niels, he could cut the arms.
Other black arms were coming as he left severed arms on the road, filling the arena with those rare black arms.
“Doesn’t it hurt?” Jordan asked, and instead of answering, Oliver continued to stare.
His gaze was on Alice, who ate her chips unfazed by her approaching opponent and unperturbed by the severed arms.
Gregorio’s agility and his sword helped him free a path to his target, and then when he reached Alice, he performed a powerful slash towards her.
Dozens of arms surrounded Alice, creating a cocoon to protect herself, and Gregorio’s sword, instead of piercing that cocoon, only went through several centimeters.
“¡!”
An alarmed expression appeared on Gregorio’s face as the sword was surrounded by that black mass and got stuck in it.
The next instant, a protuberance burst out at high speed to stab Gregorio, who could only dodge slightly.
A slashing wound could be seen in Gregorio’s stomach, and he used all his strength to pull the sword out and retreated, gritting his teeth in pain.
“Truly a monster,” Jordan muttered with a stunned expression.
The students had analyzed Alice on the academy network and had assumed that Alice’s weakness was her true body and, once she was injured, it would all be over.
Now that they were watching the fight against another opponent, they realized that trying to hurt Alice would not be easy at all.
However, Oliver was attentive to another issue.
“Did she spare him?” he muttered doubtfully as he saw that only one spike sprouted to attack Gregorio.
If there were several, then Gregorio would be defeated when the barrier activated to protect his life from danger.
The cocoon opened and revealed Alice looking at Gregorio, who had a strange expression.
“That hurts... I guess it’s my fault for getting carried away,” Gregorio muttered.
Oliver could understand.
Gregorio when he slashed the black arms so easily thought he could break through Alice’s defenses when he got close.
It was no wonder he was confident, and more so when a powerful cut could cut through a fighter’s flesh, even when he reinforced his body with magical energy.
“This time it will be my turn,” Alice muttered, and Gregorio, instead of waiting and watching, charged forward.
That was the best decision to prevent Alice from taking control of the situation, however, what came out of the back was not an arm, but black spears.
In just an instant and at a faster speed, Alice shot the spears at Gregorio, who swung his sword to cut them again.
However, this time it was different.
“What the hell?!” Jordan exclaimed as he saw the sword clash with that black spear.
With sharp edges, that black mass that emerged from the darkness of the woman’s back could stop a sword surrounded by the sword aura of a swordsman.
Without giving her opponent time to think, Alice used four arms to move and sent six black spears at her opponent.
Simple slashes combined with thrusts were the ways the black spears were used, but that meant nothing.
No matter how much Gregorio would try to cut it or try hard to do it, sometimes he would cut a bit of that spear, only to have it regenerate the next moment.
Gregorio was pressured and cornered enough so that he could only focus on defense, trying to resist his enemy’s attack.
He was waiting for an opportunity to turn the battle in his favor and, to his regret, Alice didn’t give it to him.
The severed arms from before that were still on the ground everywhere transformed into a black liquid and it moved back to Alice.
“It’s a monster,” Niels muttered as he saw that scene.
A black liquid that gave the impression of being alive writhed, passing from solid and liquid, as if that wasn’t enough it crawled on its own, sticking to other arms or returning to Alice’s black arms.
It was extremely frightening, and it was worse for Gregorio, who was in the middle of the arena and could do nothing to stop it.
The spears became thicker and faster, putting even more pressure on Gregorio.
“It’s a Rank A, isn’t it?” Jordan asked in surprise.
His question was a joke that showed his surprise at the situation.
Alice had stamina high enough to withstand slashes from an A-Rank swordsman, control, and versatility that allowed her to shape-shift out of darkness, and shocking strength.
“Yes, it is,” Oliver muttered, giving a serious expression.
Every level of strength Alice showed was within the A-Rank.
She had many advantages, however, none of them were in a higher rank and each of them was something that a normal person who put in the effort could achieve.
There was no doubt that Alice’s innate ability was dominant.
However, it was undeniable that the control of that glutton was perfect and terrifying.
Oliver, who had such thoughts in his mind, watched as he realized that the situation in the arena changed.
When Alice sent her black spears to pierce Gregorio, the latter, instead of repelling it, deflected the attack sideways, getting the spears through the earth.
However, Gregorio did not have time to charge towards his opponent, as Alice waved her hand.
Her first move caused spikes to spread from the black spears everywhere.
Because Gregorio was in the middle of them, he tried to dodge some of them, and the next moment, he was surrounded.
Alice did not run him through, but locked him in a prison of spikes.
“Are you telling me it was a lousy move to deflect it without moving?” Gregorio asked with a strange expression as he stood motionless, surrounded by the spikes.
Was it possible for more spikes to grow?
That was a question Gregorio didn’t want to answer with his body.
Practically, those spikes were inches away and when he couldn’t dodge them all, they moved to other sides to enclose him instead of hurting him.
Showing that he had just been spared, Alice simply watched in amusement.
Oliver couldn’t deny that the difference in combat experience was high.
Strong, versatile skill and, as if that wasn’t enough, a high combat ability and experience, which allowed Alice to take the fights in total calm.
Carrying all the advantages, Alice, in the eyes of the students, seemed to have no disadvantage.
“I surrender,” said Gregorio, sighing.
The spikes retracted and returned to the black arms, then these black arms retreated and hid behind Alice’s back.
The whole fight lasted as long as it took her to finish a small-sized bag of chips.
Watching the retreating figures, Oliver’s eyes glowed with great strength and conviction.
When he faced her... He would give everything to push her.
That was the only way to prove his seriousness to this seemingly invincible opponent.
******
Andrés sighed exhaustedly and dropped back in his seat.
“You found nothing?” His technology classmate asked.
Andrés received a few looks from his other companions, and he responded. “It’s not that. I’m exhausted.”
Since he had returned from that week, he had to do extra work, which was exhausting.
Then, when he arrived at the academy, he had to be in charge of looking up information on the students who would participate in the international tournament.
Although it was a simple job, it was certainly exhausting when combined with working on the information network.
“It’s hard to find information, and besides, we’re not the only ones doing something similar. Our students’ news has caught the attention of other academies,” said another young man, letting out a sigh.
Andrés nodded.
They weren’t the only ones preparing and seeking information from students from other academies.
That meant that ‘outsiders’ were approaching their peers to ask questions or following them around the networks to see if they posted anything.
Many heroes liked to maintain social networks to make themselves known or interact with their ‘fans’.
And as young adults, it was common for them to have their own social networks to interact with the world and their peers.
Although the academy’s network was private, the information could be transmitted.
“Our teammates are taking the international tournament seriously. Their competitiveness is high,” Andrés said, shaking his head with a sigh.
They were only Wednesday away this week, and the bouts were unfolding at a high speed, which made it difficult for one to see them all.
At this point, there were even B-Rank students struggling to reduce their numbers even further.
That section was the principal focus because of its high number of clashes, but also drawing attention were the A-Rank clashes and the final group clash.
Marc, with his team that had two A-Rankers, would face Clémentine’s team, that included Alice.
For the individual Rank A match, there were five students left with Clémentine, Alice, and Oliver being the favorites.
The group match was still choosing the third place in the tournament and although some did not give it so much importance and saw it for entertainment.
This week was going by faster than Andrés expected, as it was more hectic than usual with so many bouts.
He himself was having trouble looking at everyone when he had so many classes to attend and then so much work to do.
Just then, Professor Morgan from the technology class walked into the computer lab, casually greeting and looking at Andrés.
“So you want to participate in the international tournament as a class representative?” asked Professor Morgan.
This class had quite a few students, some with technology-focused talents specializing in security and others focused on search or other areas, but Andrés had the most versatile talent of all.
His [Computer Control] gave him a significant advantage in either controlling electronic devices or simply infiltrating security networks.
It could also control his drones and supercharge them.
He was an ‘all-rounder’ in the computer area.
It was for such a reason that when they were alerted that the computer science students could participate in the international tournament with some special tournament for them; it was Andrés that everyone looked to for participation.
The computer science class was small and close-knit, which meant that no one had any complaints and it was a unanimous decision in the voting to elect him.
However, Andrés had not yet accepted.
“The tournament will be in November. There is only this week and the next. The academy will pay for the hotel and the trip to South America. We expect the tournament to last one or two weeks, maybe a little longer depending on the main events,” explained Professor Morgan without getting too deep into the subject, and with a smile, she added. “They say they want to broadcast the various events to the world, so surely many will see your performance.”
The gazes of all his classmates turned to him, and Andrés could only sigh.
“Okay, I’ll participate,” Andrés replied without hiding his sigh.
He had to ask for some time off work to see if he could get the assignments when he was on the road, but it wouldn’t be a big deal since he knew his boss was approachable.
And if he helped her win some games, her accessibility would increase.