Chapter 4: It Will Explode
The slim and long Bone Spears broke at every single inch, but they weren’t reduced to dust. Instead, they dissipated to form dozens of bone fangs that soared to the sky, circling around Sigmar and Arnold. On every single brilliantly white bone fang was a dark curse and it was difficult to deal with.
Arnold and Sigmar began fighting each other while the students used wooden blades to spar with one another. The insane duo was the only ones who used the true blades of a Mage without any restraints.
Nolan Continent was currently in a golden era where its magic was developing rapidly. All kinds of Mage-related tools and techniques had to be discussed over stringently and approved… Only when all of those stringent requirements were met did they create a Mage Blade that was suited for the usage of Mages. The defining trait about it was its affinity with the Elements. Mages could easily infuse all kinds of Power of Elements on the blade and manipulate it easily. Even if they were to say ‘This is a dagger smeared completely with lethal poison’ and lick the blade, they wouldn’t have to worry about being poisoned to death by their own poison.
Sigmar’s Mage Blade was enchanted with a layer of Power of Frost. Every single strike of his would inflict the Power of Frost onto the body of the other party: Due to the differing physical strength and his inferior martial arts skill, he could only accentuate his advantage to cover up his weakness. The Mage Blade in his hand played the role of defending him and slowing the opponent down whereas the random magic that his other hand was shooting out was the true offense.
Arnold was indeed a good teacher. He abandoned magic as a whole and a.s.sumed the role of a pure a.s.sa.s.sin. After executing a series of storm-like rapid a.s.saults, he managed to suppress Sigmar to the point of interfering with his momentum.——Everyone in Atlas Academy had come to a common agreement, that was that even if Instructor Arnold had not become a Necromancer, he would be an outstanding Warrior. There wasn’t a lack of talents in this world. Even though he focused more of Mental Energy and spellcasting skills after becoming a Necromancer, Arnold’s superb talent as a Warrior didn’t go to waste. The Mage Self-defense Martial Arts, the 4th Staff Technique, and the Freestyle Fighting Technique had been revised and improved by Arnold numerous times.
“The essence of Self-defence Martial Arts is in unlimited possibility. By pairing a physical movement with different kinds of magic spells, several hundred types of offense could be created. After making a swift judgement on one’s own surroundings and the condition of the opponent, one would come up with the most suited spell and from the most suited angle, start a most suited attack on the opponent.——I am not exaggerating. The core of this movement lies in swift calculation rather than one’s physical abilities. You must know that a Mage’s memorization and calculation ability had always been their strength.” Finding a flaw in Sigmar’s defense, Arnold’s weapon twisted and turned. Sigmar felt pain in his wrist and the Mage Blade in his hands flew out.
However, it wasn’t over yet. Another Bone Spear appeared in Sigmar’s hands instantaneously and grabbing it in his hands, he charged forth towards Arnold to stab it into him.
“Well done. Even though it’s termed as Mage’s Self-defense Martial Arts, it is actually emergency measures for Mages to execute upon an opponent getting into proximity with them. By no means, it isn’t something for the Mages to rely on in close combat. After an opponent closes in on you, you should be thinking about how you should pull apart the distance from your opponent while protecting yourself so as to gain the advantage a Mage possesses in battle rather than going with the flow and suppressing your enemy via close combat techniques.” Arnold’s dagger slanted and followed the Bone Spear towards Sigmar’s fingers. “However, nothing could be said with certainty in the world and you are indeed a genius. When a life and death situation occurs, you might as well listen to your own intuition instead.”
“Even geniuses have to put in hard work!” Sigmar released the Bone Spear and retreated. The Power of Frost hidden within the Bone Spear abruptly exploded. At the same moment, the dozen of bone fangs which had fleeting around the air for a long time, as though a falcon that had decided to launch its attack, surged downwards from the air. “Especially a difficult student like me who has a lot of problems!”
“I have heard a lot of your affairs.” Arnold shook his hands casually. Regardless of whether it was that Frost Star or the curses on the bone fangs, they were all no different from a drizzle to him. After breaking through Sigmar’s trap easily, he charged forward once more. “The old fogeys dote on you a lot, reluctant to even beat you.”
“Don’t try to confound me, I am not a fool.” Sigmar picked up the Mage Blade on the floor. Twisting the blade in a rotation around his hands, he swapped the Power of Frost enchanted on it to the Power of Curse. The two blade clashed against one another once more, and sparks flew about. “I am not obedient and I often cause trouble. If it was any other students, perhaps even ashes of them wouldn’t be left behind. There are probably two reasons behind why the old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were willing to tolerate me and even fool around me.”
“Firstly!” Sigmar drew a circle with his blade to push away Arnold’s arm while his left arm cast a Mind Burst. “A genius who doesn’t mature is meaningless. However, my talent in Necromancy is indeed something that they have never seen before in their lives, to the extent that they entrusted me with countless expectations subconsciously!”
“You sure are thick-skinned!” Arnold tilted his head to dodge the Mind Burst. At the same time, his feet turned ten degrees and he exerted strength against the earth. His shoulder abruptly rammed into Sigmar’s chest. “But it is a pity that there is nothing perfect in the world. Your problem of fearing ghost is something that really leaves one at a loss of whether they should laugh or cry.”
“If I had a choice, I rather not have talents in that aspect.” Sigmar’s left hand inconspicuously pointed downwards and an ice surface instantaneously formed beneath Arnold’s feet. Several sharp bone spikes shot out from the ground. “However, my talents is of secondary importance. What is the most important of it all is that despite my fear and resistance towards Undead which resulted in my unwillingness to learn many types of spells and knowledge, my rate of growth still exceeded the expectations and plans they had for me. I believe that this is the main reason why they are lenient towards me, even compromising so!”
Arnold broke through the traps Sigmar created without any difficulty. He chuckled, “Your a.n.a.lysis is not bad, but it isn’t complete. There isn’t a lack of geniuses in Nolan Continent, and even more so, dead geniuses. The reason for the downfall for geniuses could be attributed to two main phrases, envy and complacency. The former is a result of ill intentions from external factors whereas the latter is the swelling of one’s pride. I don’t know whether you will be killed by those who envy and fear you, but from your doings throughout this years, even though you don’t possess the slightest bit of shame and bad blood pumps through your body, to the point that you could be considered as demented, everyone says that the more demented you grow, the less worried they are whether your mentality will be warped by power. However, no matter how I think about it, I find myself unable to a.s.sociate how being demented have a positive correlation with rationality…”
“So that’s the case…” Sigmar mused over it for a moment and his eyelids twitched. “I am extremely resistant towards those twisted knowledge and magic of Necromancy and will very much rather proceed steadily ahead. In a way, this resulted in an innate suppression of the corruption and effects the Power of Death would have on my soul, causing me to not have much interest in the secrets of death and its powers. On the other hand, the more demented and excited I am in exacting vengeance against society, the more my level of decency will fall, which then erodes my sense of shame. Ultimately, it would make me nonchalant to the so-called pride. That means, even if I were to be challenged and insulted, I wouldn’t lash out easily and settle everything with violence. Rather, I will use demented and completely indecent methods to exact vengeance on them… If such, the problem of me getting arrogant and complacent is roughly gone, I would just have to worry about my mental state…”
“Your a.n.a.lysis is impressive.” Arnold praised. “However, you are going to lose.”
Making of Sigmar’s negligence during his conversation, Arnold suddenly launched an attack. He easily stripped Sigmar of his weapon and placed the sharp Mage Blade on the neck of the student who was completely devoid of decency. “No matter when it is, don’t be negligent.”
“The same for you as well, instructor.” Sigmar smiled faintly and looked downwards. At the same time, Arnold followed his gaze. Sigmar’s hanging left hand was grabbing a Bone Spear and it was in between Arnold’s legs, right below his little companion. The rascal who was known by the entire academy as a walking calamity smiled mischievously and lifted the Bone Spear slightly. “It will explode, instructor.”
“The heck, you sure are cunning.” Arnold cursed as he retrieved his dagger. “Again?”
“No need.” Sigmar withdrew his Bone Spear and softly heaved a sigh of relief. “Instructor is too strong as a sparring partner. Normally, it would be okay, but there is an Aerial Battle cla.s.s later this afternoon. Instructor Hartman’s cla.s.s will test on the Rattlesnake Maneuver and the Harrier-style Rotation evasion maneuvers. If I want to do them well, I will have to keep my physical condition in good form so I will have to stop here.”