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Liam's next match would be against Axel. The person who was considered the second rank in the entire school. When it came down the fighting or even just magic alone, Axel was superior to Liam without much thought needed. Axel grew up training with swords and training his body every day. And after he got a system of his own, he only grew stronger. Axel came from a strict family of swordsmen, so for him, something like fighting was not difficult. His family was not very wealthy per-say, but they were well off. However, Axel never got much from his family, whether it is money or attention outside of his training. When he received the system, He didn't think much of it really, other than simply another step to becoming stronger, so that he could one day live his own life happily. His childhood, like others who underwent similar circumstances, led to him becoming distant to many people and reserved.
Liam and Axel both entered the arena and stared each other down as everyone else before them in the arena had. They both knew generally what the outcome would be of this match. But they both would still have to try just in case. Liam more so then Axel.
Axel looked over to Liam and sighed. "Alright. Let's get this over and done with..."
Liam flinched at those words. Why did axel look so down on him? No, he knew why...But still, Is he that much weaker then Axel. No, He refused to believe the gap could be the great. Gritting his teeth he activated the wind to cover his dagger. A Green aura coated the blade of the dagger lightly. Liam could feel the coolness of the wind against his skin. It was calming to him. Although he felt doubt in himself, he refused to give up right now.
Axel rested one hand on his swords handle, while it was sheathed while the other stayed by his side. "Ok, common then. Let's see how much you've grown since last time." Liam ran towards Axel slashing his dagger down which left a trail of wind moving at Axel in the same line as his blade. As the wind blade came near his body, Axel looked at it before he raised his hand and a wall of water appeared stopping the wind before it could touch him. Steam shot out from the area from the force of the impact. The water fell to the ground after a few seconds making a puddle around Axel. Liam kept slashing at Axel, however, it just repeated the same processes with the puddle increasing in size slowly each time. The puddle at this point was around a meter in diameter. Liam saw this was clearly not working. So instead he ran up close and tried to use the blade directly against him, while keeping the wind still on the blade. Axel in response kept jumping back or to the side in order to dodge it.
"Your wind has without a doubt gotten stronger, however, you're still lacking in your self if your gonna try to fight me."
"Shut up! I'll definitely beat you this time! I've put so much effort into training again! I will WIN!"
"If you say so..." Sighing once again Axel got some distance between them again. He ended up near the opposite edge of the puddle of water, from where Liam was. Axel stared at Liam with curiosity. Axel knew that Liam couldn't beat him, and he was sure Liam should be able to see this as well. But he won't give up...Why? Why won't he just accept that he's not strong enough right now? He's not weak, but he's not the strongest. Isn't he able to be happy with all the progress he's already made? What a pain...
Axel stared Liam in the face once again. "Liam. Are you really this displeased with your current power."
"Yes. You're still stronger than me. And I refuse to accept that!" Liam was visibly pissed off by this. But Axel didn't seem to sympathize at all with Liam. How could he? It was as if Liam was just a child, who was mad he couldn't have everything the way he wants. Before the system was given, Liam was like this as well. However, it was more directed to sports and whatnot. After the whole thing happened and people started to get stronger, he would challenge Axel over and over. But even to this point in time, Liam never beat Axel. Early on he would come close, but as time went on the gap would just increase.
The top five in the school were generally aligned like this. Luis(ranked fifth), Liam(who was fourth), and Logan(who was third) were friends on a decent level. Axel(second) didn't really have any attachment to them. Mostly they would like to just challenge him to test themselves. Axel and Levina(The number one in the school) on the other hand, were good friends. She was probably the only person he would really care much about on an emotional level. Some people at the school liked to think he had a crush on her, but that wasn't really the case. He simply saw her as a sister like figure. The school often looked at the five as if it was a dysfunctional group of siblings. Which is a funny way to look at it.
Anyways, Axel stopped thinking about this and looked at Liam. "Well, I guess I should end this now,"
Liam got pissed off and used his wind magic to boost his speed slightly and dashed at him. "Damn it! I refuse!"
The moment Liam stood in the puddle of water though, the match had been practically over. Axel raised his fingers slightly and the water spiked out like blades towards Liam. The "blades" of water shot towards Liam slamming him to the ground and leaving a lot of small cuts all over his body. Liam upon hitting the ground coughed out a lot of blood and felt pain shriek throughout his body. He didn't get up after a few seconds and Axel was called the winner of the match. Liam on the other hand was taken to have his wounds cared for. Axel sighed as he wished Liam would have just given up sooner, so he wouldn't have had to get hurt so badly. 'Well, I guess that's just how he is. I can't expect that of him of all people. But that was still a waste of time. Whatever.'
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