Melodi watched eagerly as the as the duel began, Ardere ran one direction and Kenji ran another. Ian seemed more focused on Ardere while his summon sped off towards Kenji.
Melodi was worried about how Kenji would be able to deal with a Summon since they were much more adept at. fighting one another than fighting Demons, but the moment the Black Wolf tried to pounce on Kenji he stopped dead in his tracks and the Wolf overshot the jump.
Kenji used this time to jump on the Wolfs back and held onto its coat for hus life as the massive Summon reached with its jaws, trying to take a bite out of Kenji.
Melodi wondered why Kenji didn't fight the same way he did while they were training, then she realized.
Martial Arts don't work against beasts. they arent like Demons, they keep fighting through pain without slowing down and they take hits in order to go for a killing blow. The Summon wouldn't care if Kenji had hit it a few times, he wouldn't be able to hit it hard enough to keep it down.
Kenji still held onto the coat of the Beast as it fell to the floor and reached with its hind legs gashing Kenji's side and his leg with its fierce claws.
Melodi winced as she saw the blood seep from the wounds, as did Kenji.
Most of the student weren't watching the fight with Kenji and the Summon and those that were, were making jokes and mocking Kenji.
"Look at him, he's hanging on for his life!"
"This guys crazy to think he could ever take a Summon on like that. I figured he would have used Magic by this point."
"Maybe he's a lower Demon and can't use any useful magic."
"What a disgrace to our academy."
Melodi was beginning to get annoyed at the remarks the other students were making and just as she was about to say something an explosion went off and drew everyone's attention even kenji's.
Ardere had drawn out a large spell and was on one knee trying to stay up and Ian was burnt. The crowed of students erupted into a roar as things were finally getting exciting.
Melodi looked back to Kenji as everyone focused on Ardere.
Kenji had noticed Ardere was in trouble and grabbed the Wolfs tail and broke it with a loud snap.
The wolf growled in pain and shook Kenji off ass it focused on its tail that was at an impossible angle.
Kenji took this time to grab a rock from the ground and threw it at Ian. The rock was only the size of a coin so when it hit it wasn't enough to hurt Ian, but it did make his clothes flash red.
Ian and Kenji made eye contact for a second before Kenji jumped back and dodged the wolf.
Kenji couldn't outrun the wolf and couldn't find a way to fight it either, the best he could manage was keeping it away from Ardere and Melodi began to worry.
If Kenji had magic he could have held his own better against the wolf, but right now all he could do was avoid its jaws and sharp claws.
Kenji moved every which way he could to avoid getting mortally wounded by the wolf. Jumping out of the way before rolling just in the knick of time and twisting his body to avoid getting pinned by the wolf.
With each attack he dodged he got slower and slower, until the winds changed and it drew everyone's attention to Ardere and Ian.
Ian had revealed his item and everyone knew Ardere wouldn't last much longer.
Melodi's heart sank as she saw the wind bow he used and how hopeless Ardere seemed against it, but she still had hope that Kenji could assist her and just as she turned her attention to Kenji's fight, he had turned the battle.
Kenji had also noticed the wind bow, though he didn't know the significance of it; he knew that Ardere didn't have the strength to win on her own, so Kenji doged the wolf one last time before running in the opposite direction of Ardere and stopped.
The wolf wasn't far behind and when it pounced at Kenji he didn't make a move.
Just as the wolf was about to land on him he stepped back and the ground gave out underneath the wolf revealing a sink hole.
The hole wasn't that deep, only about three meters with a two meter diameter and when the wolf fell through the ground it hit its jaw on the edge of the hole and yelped.
The yelp drew a few peoples attention, but most surprisingly it drew Ian's attention.
The hole wasn't deep enough to keep the wolf out of the fight but because of how narrow the hole was it did have trouble getting out and by then Kenji was already closer to Ian and Ardere waiting for the wolf.
The wolf was more cautious this time and circled around to attack Kenji, but once again fell into another hole, this time at Kenji's side.
Ian had finally figured out why Ardere was so drained at the moment. she had dug those holes using earth magic everytime she touched the ground.
Ian looked to Ardere and she had a smile on her face. This was the final straw for Ian as he aimed his bow at Ardere, but before he could let the wind arrow loose he was knocked to the ground.
With his face throbbing he looked up and Kenji was standing over him and Ardere was standing over a hole, before jumping in.
"Looks like its just you and me." Kenji said as he cracked his knuckles and Ian's clothes flashed red.
Ian got up and sent another wind slash at Kenji and Kenji moved out of the way grabbing Ian's hand and tossing him over his shoulder and onto his back knocking out his air.
Ian's clothes flashed red again as he rolled over and tried to crawl away as he struggled to get his breath.
"You know it's times like these that people will start to beg for mercy."
Ian felt a pain in his ribs as he was knocked to the side and his clothes flashed red again.
"I've heard it all before. "Please don't i was just messing around." "I wasn't really gonna hurt you." "Look you don't have to do this." But those are people who just don't want to accept their punishment."
Ian had managed to stand up, his hair was full of dirt and messy and his clothes were covered in burns.
Ian had finally caught his breath and looked up at Kenji, and the chill that went through his body when he made eye contact was enough for him to realize what kind of situation he was in.
"I..."
Before Ian could finish his sentence Kenji had struck Ians throat causing him to choke and fall to the ground.
Kenji slowly walked up to him as he tried shuffling away and kicked him in the face and Ians nose began to bleed. Kenji then went to kicked him in the chest and his ribs broke and then when Ian tried to stand up to run Kenji pulled him by his hair and kneed him in his face.
Ians eyes were full of tears and he couldn't see; he could taste the blood from his lips and nose and the swelling from his face made him feel hot.
Kenji didn't stop there though and kept beating Ian, as he spat out blood and his bones cracked from the impact and with each hit more and more students began looking away.
The teacher on standby knew the rules of the fight and could only be stopped if they forfeit or their clothes went into recovery mode, but for some reason every attack that Kenji threw wasn't recognized, abd he just kept beating Ian.
Kenji took his time while Ian was on the ground and at some point Ian finally had the concentration to put up his wind barrier and it pushed Kenji back, but the barrier waned enough for Kenji to get back within range and when he got back to Ian he broke his arm.
Kenji was being ruthless to Ian as he beat him and everytime Ian took damage his clothes flashed red.everything seemed to be at a standstill as students watched in horror and all you could hear was hit after hit and cry after cry.
Finally Kenji stopped and all that was left of Ian was a bruised and busted up man, too weak to defend himself and too helpless to run.
Kenji lifted him by his hair and brought his head up to him as he whispered in his ear.
"Next time you talk about my mother you wont survive."
When he let go of his hair his head fell to the floor and before walking away Kenji kicked Ian in the face one last time in the face and his teeth shattered.
Ians clothes didn't glow red that time as his clothes finally registered that he was in a life threatening situation and began to glow green, indicating he was in recovery mode and had lost the duel.
All was silent as Kenji walked to the hole where Ardere jumped in and when he peered down into the hole he could see she was pale and shivering as she was waist high in ice along with the wolf.
When Ardere saw Kenji she turned the ice back into water and the wolf jumped out and went strait for Ian as Kenji helped Ardere out of the hole.
Ardere was about to look back at Ian before Kenji stopped her.
"You don't want to look at him, not unless you want to feel sorry for him."
In all honesty Ardere did want to feel sorry for Ian as she had never expected for Kenji to be able to do so much damage to him for so long. She had heard the cries and bones break from the hole while she kept the wolf frozen in place with her, but she had had enough of him over the last few years that she had known him
Despite the fact that he didn't remember her, she remembered him from their childhood and this wasn't the first time he had bullied her into submission, so he finally got what he deserved.
When Ardere looked towards the teacher she finally felt the exhaustion from all the running around and fighting and went limp in Kenji's arms and he held her upright while he stared at the teacher who went to check on Ian.
The teacher felt Kenji's eyes on her before she stood up and ruled the winner.
"Ardere and her summon win the duel."
There was no cheers or applause, there never was when Kenji fought, just silence and disbelief.
No one wanted to believe someone could be so cruel, no one wanted to believe that Kenji could win in a fight against a noble without using magic and no one wanted to believe that he was the summon to one of the weakest noble houses in all of the 12 territories.
As Kenji and Ardere began to walk away Melodi joined them and all three of them left the field.
....
The next day Kenji woke up to knocking on his door and when he went to answer it Ardere was standing there with an annoyed expression.
"Can you please put a shirt on and why are you still in your pajamas you should be getting ready we have class soon."
Kenji walked back into the room and left the door open for Ardere to come in and when she did she went strait for the tub and drained it.
"Since when did i have to go to class?" Kenji yelled back at Ardere as he began putting his clothes on.
"Since you were officially named a student and given a rank yesterday."
After the duel with Ian Ms.Black had shown up and given them a rank. They both received rank 12, one rank above everyone who first receives a rank since they both went up against someone stronger then them.
The ranking system consisted of 13 ranks with the 13th being the lowest. While everyone started off at rank 13 only those who win several duels can move to rank 12, but in order to move up past the higher ranks, one would need to stand out to be promoted.
Kenji and Ardere had proved their strength by beating an item class mage with little magic and a huge disadvantage; so they proved themselves worthy of rank 12.
Since Kenji was officially ranked he now had to attend classes since becoming a ranked also came with certain privileges.
Ardere came back out of the bathroom and Kenji was fully dressed.
"What's our first class then?" Kenji asked.
"Our first class is Mathematics."