Chapter 11 - Arena

Rex was rooted on his spot with wide eyes,

He's looking at Adhara in shock before the shock turns into a frown, 'Why is my emotional aura so red she asked? Is it because I'm a half-Werewolf now?'

Feeling a bit confused, Rex decided to ask, 'System, Why is my emotional aura red?'

A notification appeared in front of Rex's vision instantly after he asks that,

Rex nodded in affirmation as his suspicion is true, 'Just as I thought'

While Rex is reading the notification from the system, silence covers both him and Adhara.

Finally, Adhara interrupted Rex from reading the notification, "I only saw that kind of red aura from a man that has his family slaughtered or...a Supernatural", she said while squinting her eyes.

Under Adhara's gaze, Rex started to sweat.

But just as Rex's heart started to beat faster, the squint turned into a smile, "Well you probably have a reason to be that angry, don't mind me", after saying that, she walks to the nearest weapon log leaving Rex alone.

After she left, Rex was finally able to breathe easily, "She seems to know everything, Scary!"

Unknown to Rex, Adhara walks away while looking down on the ground in thought, 'He's not normal, grieving people can be that angry but there are no people that can emit such a negative aura'

While Rex is rubbing his chin in thought, Adhara looks back at him with a troubled look.

'There's something about him that I can't understand, maybe it's better to not get too close with him. I don't know what is wrong with him'

In a moment, all of the students finally arrived at the training hall.

After every student gathers inside the training hall, Mr. Joseph walks to the front of the students before telling the students to pick their preferred weapon.

The training hall is as big as a soccer stadium which is massive, hard sand covered the entire ground of the training hall except for concrete at the edges. Only a couple of windows can be seen inside the training hall providing subtle fresh air for the insides. All types of weapons decorate every nook of the walls, some even emit a faint sharp aura.

In the middle of the hall lies an Arena made for sparring, and a translucent barrier can be seen covering the whole hall's wall.

People in this time have figured out to enhance weapons by merging them with Elemental properties, the higher the Awakened ranks, the more powerful their weapons become. Although some materials will make a weapon tougher, the Elemental properties of the wielder of the weapon will still be the most affecting factor.

All kinds of weapons can be seen around the training hall, not only traditional weapons such as swords, sabers, and bows but there are also modern weapons such as rifles, shotguns, and machine guns.

Out of all the weapons inside the training hall, Rex stays away from long-range weapons.

The preferred weapon that he really wants is a full-blown brawl such as a brass knuckle or even battle gloves in general, so he started to go around the training hall to search for these kinds of weapons.

While going around the hall, Rex's eyes suddenly landed on Laura who is picking a katana.

The katana looks exquisite and sharp from a glance, and Rex decided to approach her to ease the distance between them, "It's a suitable weapon for you, you should pick that"

"It doesn't worth anything coming from your mouth", she replied before walking away.

Rex was completely stunned and speechless at the same time hearing the cold tone, he then scowled while looking at Adhara's back, 'Fine! I won't bother you anymore!'

He then resumes back his hunting.

With so many weapons inside the training hall to choose from, Rex started to get dizzy just from looking at them. He wanted battle gloves or a brass knuckle but didn't find any.

After going around the hall for a couple more minutes, Rex's eyes caught something.

There seem to be battle gloves but it's located on the top of the weapon log and are too high to reach, maybe that is why it looks a little bit dusted compared to the others.

It's weird but it seems the gloves are calling to him.

'That battle gloves must be special then, besides, I considered myself a lucky man', Rex thought before he musters his strength to his legs and jump towards the battle gloves. The battle gloves are roughly 25 or 30 feet high but nevertheless, Rex reaches them. He was even surprised by his feat as well.

Seeing someone jump very high, the students look in Rex's direction.

Upon realizing that the student that jumped was Rex, the other students started to look at him with doubt, "Didn't he say that he's not an Awakened?"

"How can he jump so high? I certainly don't feel any elemental properties coming from him"

"Even I probably can't jump that high"

Rex heard the doubtful whispers of the other students and curse himself, 'I should've been more low-key, why did I attract needless attention? I should've known'

But after cursing himself and looking at the battle gloves, Rex instantly loves them!

The battle gloves look ordinary but it's probably because of the dust, they are black in color, and it is made of a smooth and sturdy material. It has a whitish-grey plate on the back of the hand to block objects but the best feature that Rex likes the most is the steel covering its whole knuckle!

It's a combination of a brass knuckle and battle gloves, two weapons that Rex really likes!

Rex instantly tries to wear them and thankfully they fit perfectly in his hands, he's in love with this weapon so he can't help but rub it in delight.

While feeling the weapon, he then thought, 'Why is it so light?'

Feeling curious about the whitish-grey plate on the back of the weapon, Rex tries touching it to feel the materially but then suddenly,

Just after the notification, Rex instantly feels weaker while still holding the whitish-grey plate, 'Eh? Why did I suddenly feel weaker?', he thought in confusion.

But while looking at the whitish-grey plate, Rex realized something, 'Is this... Silver?'

Since he had his fair share of weapons during the military, Rex realized that this plate is certainly silver but covered by another material, 'This plate is made of silver but is covered by stainless steel, shit I'm a werewolf now. That explains why I feel weaker',

Remembering that he's a Werewolf now, Rex slumps his shoulders sadly.

Although he already accepted the fact that he was a Werewolf, he was still not used to no longer being human, 'I really turned into a Werewolf didn't I?', he thought with a wry smile.

Rex shakes his head before he lets go of the silver state and instantly feels normal again.

Silver is the bane of the Supernatural, everybody knows that as it's just common knowledge, especially to Werewolf. Silver is humanity's best weapon against the Supernatural but the Supernatural knew this so two years ago they raid most of humanity's silver mines which make silver scarce.

But although it's the bane of Supernatural, some high-ranking Supernatural has silver immunity.

After snapping out of his daze, Rex looks around and noticed that almost all of the weapons are made of silver but the outer part of every weapon is covered by stainless steel.

Not long after, the students already finished picking their chosen weapons.

Mr. Joseph scans the group of students with aggravating smile, "Now, after picking your handpicked weapon you guys will be tested. Let's go to the arena, there you all will fight against each other to assess your skills in using your weapon of choice"

Hearing this, the students doesn't seem to be surprised as they already expected this.

All of the students nodded their heads before circling around the arena in an orderly manner, Mr. Joseph then said after the students has finished circling the arena, "I will pick two students at random, the ones that are called step inside the ring"

While saying this, Mr. Joseph creates a seat made of rock to sit on it.

Rex saw this from the side, 'So Mr. Joseph is an Earth Elementalist, he also looks strong', he thought after seeing Mr. Joseph's skill.

After sitting on the seat, Mr. Joseph then suddenly added, "Oh yeah, no magic is allowed"

"You can only use your weapon, refrain from using any spells"

Upon hearing the sudden restriction from Mr. Joseph, all of the students are displeased, Rex didn't blame them since they are Awakened after all.

Looking at the student's expression, Mr. Joseph smiles while shaking his head.

"Kids these days are shallow", he mutters.

The students didn't hear what Mr. Joseph said but Rex heard it, Mr. Joseph then looks at the students and said, "You can't use magic but you can imbue your elements into your weapon"

Hearing this, the student's face becomes better although they are still displeased.

"Benjamin and Poru, You're up", Mr. Joseph called.

After he called the two students, a skinny guy holding a bow with black undercut hair walks into the arena followed by a bald well-built guy bringing a heavy sword that is almost the same size as him.

Both of them stood in front of each other with flat expressions.

Poru pulls an arrow from its quiver getting ready for the fight while Benjamin holds his heavy sword in front of him while imbuing a reddish aura into the heavy sword.

Seeing that both of them are already in their battle stance, Mr. Joseph then shouted.

"BEGIN!"

In a flash, Benjamin appears in front of Poru holding the heavy sword imbued with a red aura. His movement is very offensive showing his confident side.

"Suck on this!", he shouted before he slash down with a heavy arc.

Poru didn't sit still, his body slowly emit a green hue before he dodge the attack by rolling to his right evading it perfectly.

BAM!

The heavy sword missed and hits the ground, its momentum creates a crater followed by a splash of sand that explode because of the impact.

While still rolling to the right, Poru unleashes a rain of arrows on Benjamin.

Each of the arrows he sent is very fast compared to normal, Poru uses the wind to amplify the arrow's swift trajectory increasing their speed by twofold.

Swoosh!!

Benjamin was shocked, but he had enough time to raise his heavy sword to block the arrows.

But while blocking the arrows sent by Poru, one of the arrows slightly moved from its straight trajectory piercing Benjamin's left chest, "ARGH!"

With the arrow stabbing his left chest, Benjamin shouted as blood burst from his chest.

Not intending to lose this fight, Benjamin gritted his teeth before he saw another volley of arrows coming toward him. He deflects the arrows by slashing them with his heavy sword, and he then immediately lunges forward.

Benjamin's speed is increased thanks to the red aura surrounding his body, he then attacks Poru with his heavy sword but Poru is like an eel that slipped through each of his attacks.

A wide swing sent the heavy sword crashing to the ground, 

Poru manages to evade the wide swing and takes an arrow from his quiver, he then stabbed the arrow into Benjamin's defenseless abdomen.

Stab!

Blood spurted from Benjamin's guts, he falls on his knee as his vision becomes hazy.

Seeing this, Poru stands in front of Benjamin with a mocking smile before he puts his feet on Benjamin's head, "Just give up already", he said with a cocky smile.

Upon seeing this, Mr. Joseph stands up and announces Poru as the winner of the fight.

Poru is smiling in victory raising his bow to the ceiling as the other students clapped, while Benjamin on the other side is taken to the infirmary to be healed.

While this is all happening, Rex is sitting on the side in shock.

'An Awakened fight is truly out of this world but will Benjamin be okay? That arrow pierced through his entire abdomen, what if Benjamin suddenly died?', he thought inside his head.

Just as he thought of that, Benjamin already got back before the next fight even begins.

There is no sign of injuries on his left chest and abdomen, it's as if he's not been in a fight before. The only proof that he just fought and was heavily injured is his heavy breath.

But Rex then face-slaps himself, Of course, there is an Awakened with healing abilities'

'Although the last time I saw an Awakened fight it's like a blur, now I can somehow follow their movements. In fact,  they're moving rather slow for me which is weird'

While Rex is thinking, the fight continues on and on without stopping.

Mr. Joseph keeps calling students' names repeatedly until suddenly, Rex was snap out of his daze when he heard his name being called, "Laura and Rex, you two are up!"

Upon hearing this, Rex unconsciously looks at Laura.

Laura raised her eyebrows in surprise hearing her name is paired with Rex, she too looked toward Rex in reflex before her surprise turns into a frown.

"Mr. Joseph, Rex is not an Awakened. How can you pair him with me?", she complained.

In this class, Laura is one of the strongest. She's a Water Elementalist in the third rank realm, from the others' perspective this is certainly an unfair fight.

But Mr. Joseph smiles mischievously, "

Mr. Joseph smiles mischievously, "Just get onto the arena and fight. If you think it's going to be easy, then try beating Rex swiftly", he said tauntingly.

Hearing this, Rex looks at Mr. Joseph in doubt.

'How can he tell that I'm capable of doing that? Is it just intuition? or Is he the same as Adhara?', Rex thought trying to figure out the meaning behind Mr. Joseph's mischievous smile.

But then, Mr. Joseph looks at him.

Mr. Joseph then cracks another smile but this smile is different than the mischievous smile from before, his brown eyes stare at Rex as if he can see through him.

'He's planning something!'