Chapter 18
After half an hour of walking, they both arrived at the underground arena where the princ.i.p.al, Zephir, and Mary were waiting for them, actually, the princ.i.p.al didn"t want the fight to be known to anyone, not even the council member, only Zephir was present because he was her most trusted subordinate .
The arena was quite big, a rectangle shape with some kind of runes in the edges, when Arthur saw the runes he guessed it must be some sort of magic to hold off the fight inside the arena and protect those who watch it .
Mary was very excited as she couldn"t sleep yesterday night, she let her emotions got the better of her and even though it was the fault of the beastman nonetheless she held a grudge against Arthur, h.e.l.l she didn"t even care about what happened to Lucy . When she saw Arthur coming entering she couldn"t help but snicker
"Finally here? i thought you would run with your tail between your legs but i guess you are at least courageous for coming, hmpf!" as she said that she jumped to the arena while waiting for him to come up too, to be honest she was confident in herself, of course she didn"t dare underestimate him because she knew he was powerful but she believed herself to be stronger and the reason she couldn"t injure him yesterady was because she didn"t use her weapons or any skills and simply judged him to have a strong defense that"s all .
Arthur didn"t waste time replying to her and advanced slowly towards the arena but he could feel Lucy"s hand hold his sleeve so he turned towards her and saw her worried face .
"Silly girl, no need to be that worried, do you not trust my abilities . "
Hearing his rea.s.suring voice, Lucy let go of him after mumbling softly:
"Good luck . "
The princ.i.p.al was also curious and couldn"t wait any longer, she knew Mary was strong but she didn"t dare a.s.sume it would be an easy win for Mary for she knew Arthur was just too mysterious especially his magic, she even had suspicion about him teleporting because yesterday she couldn"t even see him run to the stage to save Lucy, she gazed at him with suspicious eyes while he was making his way towards the arena .
Finally, Arthur and Mary were facing each other, they were separated 50meters or so, no one talked and they just gazed at each other, rage and anger filled Mary"s eyes while Arthur"s seemed relaxed .
He knew how strong he is and he more or less has guessed her strength, even if she used skills or weapons that wouldn"t change the fact that he could easily win, with his Dark Magic and Ancient Fire he had absolute confidence .
The princ.i.p.al sensing that both of them are ready spoke with a serious tone
"Since you too are ready, there is just one rule, no killing! If your opponent gives up or falls unconscious then it is considered the win of the still standing person . "
"B-but big sister!! you said I could do whatever I want with him and I want to KILL HIM!"
Sonia smiled towards the nagging beastman and responded:
"You can request anything if you win . . . "
Mary hearing this didn"t reply and just turned her head towards Arthur while taking the big axe from her back, she didn"t just charge recklessly like yesterday, she will go all out on this man before her . She didn"t even wait for him to take his weapon and just charged at him with incredible speed .
When he saw her come at him, Arthur just smiled but didn"t attack her or even tried to defend, he first wanted to enjoy the fight and teach the difference between her and him . Just as she was going to strike him with her ax .
He used [faster than death] and teleported a couple of meters behind her . Obviously, his action astonished everyone present including the princ.i.p.al for teleportation is not that simple and even there is someone who can use it, it takes time to teleport and not instantly .
She previously had a guess he could teleport but not this fast, as for Mary, who missed her attack and noticed his disappearance, she sensed him behind her and indeed he was a couple of meters behind her, with a smug smile on his face .
"What"s wrong? Can"t hit me?"
Arthur mocked as if he was playing with her, though she was surprised by his teleportation she nonetheless rushed at him again but this time you can see flames appear on her axe and the air around her become much hotter .
She was going to use a skill and it seemed really powerful but like last time when she was going to hit him, he just teleported away again . It would be lying to say she wasn"t angered, quite the opposite, in fact, Mary was boiling with rage, the fact that she had the chance to kill him but couldn"t even touch him angered her to no end . After all, no matter how fast someone is they can"t surpa.s.s teleportation unless they can stop time which pretty much impossible . Like this, Arthur continued to teleport away every single time he was going to be hit, and after 5 minutes the female beastman finally at him and shouted
"What do you keep running away with your cheap trick? Are you perhaps afraid of fighting me head on?"
Although she said that, she couldn"t help but feel a bit fearful of this man, he could teleport away with ease and he doesn"t seem to be the least tired after 5 minutes of teleportation so she guessed that prolonging the fight would only make her tired, that"s why she called out to him and told him to stop running, otherwise it would be a fight of who would be exhausted first and obviously, she would as he didn"t move and only teleported .
Hearing this, Arthur just shrugged it off but he judged it was time to stop this play and finish this "fight", though the princ.i.p.al said no killing that didn"t mean he can"t injure her so he decided to do so, after all, he hated her who just hated him killing some savage beastman and the excuse of her wanting his life is just because he killed her kin brutally even though he deserved it .
Mary was in a dilemma as what to do, but she finally came back to her sense and backed away, she held her axe firmly and suddenly, her body seemed to grow a little, her muscles looked more robust and her fur changed red, she appeared more savage, her eyes were burning with fury and she emitted a bit of pressure around her .
Actually what happened now was a special skill all beastman had it was [berserker mode], every beastman with high enough level would acquire this skill automatically, this particular skill would double the stats of the person using it for a couple of minutes but it has some side effects, after the effect wears off the user would have his stats halved for an hour, so it was only used by beastmen in case of emergencies only, the cooldown for it was supposedly 10 days so it can"t be used every day .
Arthur noticed the change in Mary but he merely frowned that"s all, he did read about the [berserker mode] skill but never saw it with his own eyes and truthfully he wanted to have that skill as welll so he hoped someday he would be able to possess a high leveled beastmen to get the skill .
The female beastman didn"t waste any second and charged at her opponent with insane speed and when Arthur saw her coming he too was surprised but nonetheless he wasn"t worried, apparently her speed was almost his if not slightly weaker, so in place of teleporting away he stayed there and awaited for her to struck him, she lifted her axe and used the same skill with the fire attribute then she struck down at Arthur with earth-shaking strength and in response for that Arthur just crossed his arms to defend .
"BOOM"
the impact sound was very loud and a small crater was formed under Arthur"s legs and he was pushed back a little, he couldn"t help but be astonished, her strength was more than his when she is in her [berserker mode], he could feel a little numbness in his arms but his health didn"t decrease, this attack of hers made him want the [berserker mode] skill even more and he was excited for the day he would acquire it .
When Mary saw Arthur not willing to teleport away, she was delighted for she knew he couldn"t handle her next attack and expected to injure if not kill him with that attack of hers, after all, she was in her [berserker mode] and only a handful of people can withstand her when she is in her current state and when she saw that her attack didn"t even injure him and he was only pushed back a little she didn"t dare belive her eyes, h.e.l.l even his arms were in good shape, Mary remembred he moment when her axe landed on his arms, she felt like she had struck a mountain and not mere arms, "th-this defense in unearthly . . . "
Zephir who was standing next to the princ.i.p.al, had also watched the whole fight and was in disbelief for he didn"t expect this "man" to be able to teleport non-stop and the more the fight continued the more surprised he became, he knew that this individual was by no means weak, he was even toying with Mary a member of the council, even though she was not fromt he strongest ones, her strength was decent and to be able to just play with her like that is not doable by just anyone .
Truthfully he just thought the fight would continue forever because Arthur just teleported to dodge every attack from Mary, but when he finally didn"t, Zephir thought it was the end of "him" despite having enough defense to resist Mary"s punch, it was a world"s difference between a punch and an attack buffed with a skill and adding that the Berserker mode, which further boosted the attack .
Nonetheless, such thoughts never crossed Arthur"s mind as he just crossed his arms and successfully defended her attack while only being pushed a couple of meters so Zephir couldn"t help but wonder "why a mysterious figure like this would come here? What are his motives?" simply coming here to be a student is meaningless to him when he is this strong so Zephir turned his head towards Lucy who wasn"t far away and became dazed as if he was thinking about something . .
After receiving her head on attack, Arthur just teleported away and thought it was time to finish this nonsense, she is indeed strong and her strength is admirable, and he knew if he fought her in close-combat he would surely lose or just prolong the fight but he had magic and strong one at that so why doesn"t he use it? but if he did, he didn"t know what the consequences would be, because dark magic or the ancient flames are extremely strong and something like the ancient flames can annihilate humans completely so he looked at the beastman and spoke
"Now that we have played a little, you should know you are no match for me, so how about we finish and we consider my sin otherwise i can"t guarantee you will end up uninjured"
His tone contained some threat and a warning as if she didn"t back out now, he would show no mercy, but Mary didn"t seem affected by that and simply rushed at him again .
Her time in [berserker mode] was limited so every second counted . Seeing her act like this, Arthur just sighed and teleported away one last time before creating a small ball of ancient fire, it was a dark red ball of fire but it contained some grey here and there, the pressure it emitted was extraordinary and could be felt from some distance, even the princ.i.p.al frowned, normally the arena was supported by a strong barrier to protect the spectators and even if sound of impact could be heard, no after effects of a skill would affect it, so when she noticed this strange fire appear above Arthur hand, she felt a strong pressure followed by some heat . Albeit being was quite some distance away from it and the presence of the barrier, she could feel that this "thing" is dangerous . . . very dangerous .
Arthur didn"t waste time, and threw the ball of ancient fire which was smaller than a man"s first at the female beastman standing not to far from him, the speed of the fireball was lightning fast, even faster than Arthur speed, so Mary who was already surprised by the sudden turn of events and the appearance of this strange fire couldn"t react in time to defend against it and could only stand there .
Sonia who sensed the danger and saw Arthur about to throw his small fireball quickly rushed at the arena why retrieving her chain and chanting a skill with fast speed, she didn"t care about the fight anymore and she knew this was no normal fireball and if it hits Mary it"s for sure she will most likely die if not be seriously injured .
Before the fire ball could hit the 2 women, a huge barrier made of ice was formed it was very thick and extremly cold, once the dark red fire ball hit the ice barrier, an ear-breaking sound came from the impact, the whole underground arena shook and some of the walls started chattering, as for the ice barrier it held out until the dark red ball almost extinguished before breaking, nevertheless, a small 5 inch flame still remained and headed toward the femalebeastman who was still astonished and couldn"t react in time .
Sonia who was beside her quickly pushed her and crossed her arms in reflex as the small flame was extremly close and she didn"t have time to even form a small mana barrier to reduce the attack intensity .
The flames. .h.i.t her left arm and it totally burned her robe and some of her skin, great pain soon filled her, even though it was a small burn and she was wearing quite an amount of items which protected her, nonetheless she was injured and couldn"t help but be astonished and hold some fear towards this flame, for her ice barrier which was perfected and almost unbreakable to just be demolished by a fist-sized fireball, this was unheard of!
Arthur wasn"t surprised by the damage made by his ancient flame as he already tested it when he was in that forest, but what surprised him is the princ.i.p.al interfering and protecting the female beastman, he also saw her ice barrier and guessed she too was someone with a special attribute like Lucy but none of that matters to him, he even saw her left arm slightly burned but he didn"t intend to apologize as this was a fight and it was already against the rules for her to interfere .
Mary who was pushed by the princ.i.p.al, fell on her b.u.t.t and was still in a daze as if she couldn"t comprehend what just happened, she already returned to her normal appearance and the effects of [berserker mode] already ended, her mouth was wide open and her eyes filled with disbelief, a couple of seconds pa.s.sed before she came back to her senses and rushed at Sonia while speaking to her with shaky voice
"B-big ss-ister Sonia!! Are you okk?"
She still couldn"t understand what happened, she only remembered Arthur making a strange fireball than throwing it at her and then her mind went blank and a loud sound struck her ears but she could distinguish Sonia her big sister rus.h.i.+ng at her and pus.h.i.+ng her to the side to protect her and in return getting injured in her left arm .
The princ.i.p.al retrieved a potion of some kind from what appeared to be her storage ring and quickly consumed it, she breathed a sigh of relief and responded to Mary who was already beside her
"No worries, I"m fine!"
After speaking she turned her head and stared at Arthur but you could see some anger and caution in her eyes
"Did you want to kill her? If I didn"t interfere she would really have died if not seriously injured!"
Arthur hearing this, shrugged his shoulder seemingly not caring and replied nonchalantly
"We were fighting so was I supposed to hold back? I don"t think she did hold back anything, so why would I? Plus, you interfered with the fight which is against your own rules and you"re still blaming me? Pathetic ! You can"t even accept the fact that I won . Moreover, I already warned her but she was persistent and didn"t heed my warning, she was basically asking for it . "
The princ.i.p.al couldn"t even reply to him as she knew she broke her own rules and interfered but it couldn"t be helped because if she didn"t her friend would probably have died . Still, she dared not underestimate his powers and knew he is not someone to mess with . She sighed and said with an apologetic tone
"It was indeed my fault, it"s your win and she will no longer bother you . "
As she finished speaking she looked at Mary and waited for her to declare her defeat, the female beastman was ashamed but had to admit she lost and couldn"t even withstand a single attack of his, if not for her big sister she could"ve died because of that small fire ball . At last, she had a chance to take revenge but she wasn"t able to and also her big sister got injured because of her, she felt guilty but she had to give up her reckless revenge for a stupid cause, she sought revenge for a death of someone she didn"t know, plus this person was shameful nonetheless he was the same race as her and it is known that all beastmen share a great bond between them and all like one big family . Mary clenched her fists while saying
"It"s your w-win . . " she dropped her head after speaking as if feeling guilty and remorse .
"Truly like "the frog in the well", even with my warnings you are still naive, now then I should excuse myself . "
Arthur snickered at Mary then turned around and left with Lucy as if nothing happened and all the fight earlier was just a play . When the princ.i.p.al saw his nonchalant att.i.tude she was sure he was confident of his win from the very beginning and all of this was just entertainment .
It would be a lie to say she didn"t hold a grudge against him for he almost killed Mary when he could have beaten her with just a weak attack since he was that powerful, but he didn"t, and just threw that terrifying fireball which injured even her, bypa.s.sing all her protective items and burning her skin .
The injury had yet to heal even with the help of the potion, though the recovery was slow it was happening nonetheless so the wound would be sooner or later healed but Sonia was fearful, to have a man like him for an enemy is really no good so she to warn everyone from the council about him and not to provoke him or even she couldn"t protect them if he attacked them .
Yes, she was strong but if he were to attack someone of Mary"s strength when she was not present, that person would surely die if he doesn"t have any counter to that fireball . In fact the president was really a wizard but the ice attribute was her strongest and to that small fireball to break her ice barrier just like that made her anxious but she didn"t know that the ancient flames would have 400% increase in damage against any ice or water attribute .
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Edward Omond"s butler finally arrived at Nemia academy, he has been instructed by his "master" to deliver a letter personally to one of the 9 council members, it was a human called Frederic, he was one of the 9 council members Arthur had appraised and his level was 162, it was quite high compared to the others, the butler who was named James was at Alex"s office handing him the letter .
"Lord Frederic, my master told me to deliver this letter personally to you as he couldn"t trust anyone . "
As he finished speaking he gave the letter to Frederic, who was sitting on his desk, he was a blonde middle-aged man with blue eyes, he is also the newest member of the council members and only joined it for 2 years, though the reason he managed to do so is that of Edward .
Edward was Frederic"s benefactor and helped him when they once met, Frederic was seriously injured and was saved by Edward who happened to pa.s.s by . Since then they became like blood-brothers and vowed to help each other if they encountered an enemy or a problem occurred .
Frederic quickly read the contents of the letter which explained what happened to Feylord and how Edward wants revenge, of course, Edward changed some facts and exaggerated things .
He even made Arthur seem more evil and ruthless, when he finished reading the letter Frederic knew that this person Edward was talking about was the same one as the black-robed man from yesterday who caused that commotion .
He saw that this black-robed man was mysterious but he didn"t judge him to be strong and even with the princ.i.p.al"s warning not to disturb him, he thought the others were overestimating this guy . Actually Frederic was obviously stronger than Mary, and he didn"t even place her in his eyes, in fact, he hated all other races and his belief was that humans are superior, though he was on a council with other races, he felt disgusted when he talked with them but he bore with it, so when he saw Arthur block Mary"s punch he only thought of her being weak and not him being strong and never pay it any heed .
"Go back and tell Edward I will think of a way to deal with this guy . "
James thanked Frederic and quickly left the room after respectfully bowing . Frederic was a usually cautious but he didn"t deem Arthur to be dangerous or a threat so killing him would be just a piece of cake but the letter from Edward told him to capture Arthur alive because Edward wanted to personally kill him, so even though it"s more troublesome Frederic didn"t think much of it and started planning how he is going to do it . . .