With a flippant attitude, Ranger stepped on the platform while Yule examining him carefully, cautious about his opponent's move.
"Shall we start then?" Ranger asked while his eyes remained on Yule.
"The battle will end once Yule landed a hit on Ranger, or if Yule conceded. Begin!"
Waiting for the cue, Yule quickly charged on Ranger. He won't give Ranger a chance to prepare his attack on him.
But Ranger just chuckled on his charging opponent. When the spear was about to make contact on Ranger's body, he immediately lowered his ground and rolled on his right side.
Surprised by the last-minute dodge of Ranger, Yule could no longer stop his momentum and stumbled on his feet when he missed his target.
"Smart. But your movements are already predictable, Yule." Ranger said while patting his white coat for some dirt and dust when he rolled to avoid the attack of Yule.
Triggered by Ranger's taunt, Yule clenched tightly his spear, preparing for his next move.
"The rule is to land any hit on Ranger right?" He asked the professor which he nodded in reply to Yule.
"Hope this will count."
Summoning all his energy, Yule leaped in the air and swung his spear.
"First form! Crescent Light!"
A crescent-shaped light was headed towards Ranger. This made him erased his smile.
Ranger suddenly jumped on his side, narrowly avoided the hit from Yule.
"Oy, be careful with that thing! It almost slash off my arm!" Ranger landed on the platform, unscathed.
This made Yule clicked his tongue, frustrated that Ranger dodge his second attack again. Ranger's right, Yule thought. He could definitely read his moves.
"I guess, it's about time to get serious now and make you concede," Ranger placed his right arm on his chest then closed his eyes.
"I summon you!"
A white light came out from his chest and flew above him. It slowly expanded its shape horizontally and vertically. The light stretched more until it almost covered the whole ceiling of the arena.
Sanna whistled when she looked above her, while Yule gulped at the size of this mysterious creature. He started preparing himself for an all-out attack from Ranger.
"Thunderbird!"
The white light dissipated, and a huge yellow bird came out of it.
Everyone was looking at the giant avian creature when it released a deafening howl in the arena.
They immediately covered their ears, while Ranger just laughed at the creature.
The thunderbird roamed his yellow slated eyes below and spotted its target - Ranger. The creature started flapping his two giant wings and electric currents crawling around its body.
"I know. I know. I should let you roam around every once and awhile." Ranger apologized to his partner.
The thunderbird howled again, but this time not in a deafening tone range. As if it was communicating with Ranger.
"Let's put aside temporarily your rants, Thunderbird. We're going to stretch your wings."
It flapped its wings again, unleashing a gust of wind inside the arena. Dust and pebbles flew around the area.
"Thunderbird! Weaponize!" Ranger shouted.
The thunderbird howled in the air again and transformed back to a huge ball of light. It flew straight to Ranger and enveloping him with blinding white light.
The light faded out and Ranger was floating in the air.
He was holding two yellow blade swords on his hands with electric currents surrounding the blades. Behind him, eight yellow blade swords were hovering in the air and forming like wings on his back.
Yule was astonished by the new form of Ranger, making him more like an overpowered fighter in front of a newbie opponent.
"Shall we start again?" Ranger said while looking below at Yule. Then the swords behind his back started moving and formed a circular shape behind him, all pointing to Yule.
The swords released lines of power surge straight to Yule. He quickly launched his Crescent Light spell where it clashed mid-air from Ranger's attack. The clash caused a wave of explosion, throwing Yule from his footing.
He crashed to a nearby bleacher again, near from where was Sanna seating.
She approached him and checked if he was still conscious to continue the fight. Upon confirming that Yule was still conscious and grunting in pain, she tapped him on his shoulder.
Yule tilted his head to Sanna, touched that she was showing concern to him.
"Wanna know why Professor Fields only ask you to just land a hit on Ranger?"
He tried to nod his head at her, confused about her question.
"In this academy, there are six students who attained Saint-level class in this academy. And among those six Saint-level students is," she paused and turned her face to the platform.
The dust from the explosion started to disperse and hovering in the air like an ominous presence was Ranger who remained unscathed.
"Ranger Yellowlake is the third rank seat from the six Saint Level class," Sanna continued.
Absorbing the revelation that Ranger, his classmate, the same Ranger who had this laid back attitude was one of the top rank students in this academy left him astounded.
"Oy, t-this is a suicide mission!" He shouted. "R-Ranger is the kind of last boss type in a RPG game!"
Professor Fields heard Yule's shout and chuckled at him. "So is that the cue that you're conceding?"
While trying to stand, Yule looked back again at his overpowered opponent. Ranger was wearing a smile, ready from another attack.
This made Yule remembered the time he reached the last boss in one of the RPG games he played. He had to redo that level five times because the last boss was so powerful. But on his sixth try, he able to defeat the boss since he grinded more level just to defeat him.
But this time, this was no longer a game. This was his reality now. He was too tired getting his ass kicked by the people around him: from Sanna now to Ranger.
He had to level up now.
Yule charged back again on the platform and faced Ranger with determination on his eyes now.
"Wow, I like your look now. Shall we give it a try again?"
This time, Yule made no reply and curled his body to an attacking stance.
Sanna approached the professor, standing alongside him. Both were eager to see what will be the next move of Yule.