The reason that the academy allowed for another method of winning was to allow students to show their individualistic powers and use strategies to avoid brute force. This was an art of war that was far more efficient than using brute force.
[Any Lightning Class student that continues fighting will be expelled.]
As the announcement rang, the lightning heir ran up the monolith and jumped in front of Nikolai. His face was cold but there were no traces of the rage that he showed earlier.
"What's your name?" The youth with unusual clothing asked, intrigued. "I've never met you before."
"My name is Nikolai Yaran." He held his hands behind his back. "A pleasure to meet you, at last, Zhong Xin."
"You know my name." Zhong Xin smiled. "I don't think it's as much of a pleasure for me." He glanced at the key in Nikolai's hand.
"What is a rival but a friend?" Nikolai grinned. He knew this person's character so he wasn't worried about being targeted by him. This person would prefer to lose than use underhanded methods, and it was the same in his past life. That was the reason he didn't rise through the ranks later on.
"Hahaha!" Zhong Xin laughed and turned to leave. "I've lost today, but that doesn't mean you can be my rival just yet. Nonetheless, well played." He jumped from the monolith and left with his downcast class.
Nikolai looked at his departing back and smiled. This maniac was powerful and wealthy, but he was a good person. It was rare given that most of the heirs were arrogant.
'On the other hand,' Nikolai turned to look at Julian. He was looking at Nikolai with bloodshot eyes. 'The one I need to be wary of is in my own class.'
"We... won?" One of his class's students muttered. "We won!" He shouted in disbelief. He was one of the victims of the first attack who only managed to pick himself up just now. He never thought they would win after the Lightning Heir descended from the sky.
"We defeated the Lightning Class!" Another student shouted and cheers soon followed. Almost all of the students were happy about the outcome, regardless of the method.
These students included some who looked down on Nikolai, but they didn't seem to care that he was the one to save them at the last moment. All they cared about was their rank being raised through this exam, granting them more training resources and an actual chance of entering The Lost Garden.
"Shut up!" Julian roared toward his classmates and the cheering ceased. It was replaced with fear as all the students looked at the fury breathing maniac.
Nikolai met Julian's eyes and he saw humiliation. He would have never understood why if it was before Sira told him. Julian sought Valkyrie's approval, probably aiming for the party that she was organizing.
However, even in Nikolai's past life, Julian didn't manage to enter the party. It seems he always blamed Nikolai's existence since it was easier than admitting his incompetence.
"You... dare disobey me?" Julian walked toward Nikolai with his face turning into an ugly frown. He gritted his teeth in anger until they began squeaking. "I'm your Class's Leader and I gave you an order!" He roared and the forest was deathly quiet.
"You were never my leader," Nikolai said with a stoic expression. "You are only a bully that pretends to be civil. How many of these students bowed to you not out of respect, but fear?"
"You've grown a tongue, bastard." Julian's eyes were terrifyingly cold. "This time, I'll make sure to severe it so that it never dares speak up to me again." Julian's mana exploded as he stomped on the ground.
An arrow landed in front of Julian and stopped him in his tracks. Sira took a few steps with Marcus and stood in front of Julian.
"No, you won't," Sira said with a frown. "You've acted too childishly today; you're unfit to be our leader," Sira said coldly. "You should be praising him for saving your ass but you choose to act this way."
"Childishly?" Julian laughed as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I can act however the fuck I want because of a single reason, I'm the strongest!" He roared and sprinted toward Sira and Marcus.
"Impudent." Marcus stepped in front of Sira and crossed his arms in front of his body. A shield of light appeared in front of him, making Nikolai's eyes grow wide.
'A skill?' It was rather rare for someone as weak as them to have a skill. First of all, only those with elemental mana could use skills. Another reason being that Skills used a considerable amount of mana.
Even if a person could learn a skill before the F-rank, it was unwise because of the strain his body would suffer. Marcus's face on the other hand was unfazed and stoic, making Nikolai hypothesize that it was an inherited skill.
Julian didn't stop even at the appearance of the shield and punched instead. The collision made a resounding boom that made the hearts of everyone shiver.
"Cough," Marcus coughed as a wide crack appeared on the shield. Julian was about to strike again when someone jumped out of the trees behind them.
"Julian!" The student shouted in a panicked voice. "The Wind Class has taken over one of the monoliths of the Water Class! They're advancing toward our monolith to conquer it as well!"
It was one of the scouts that Julian had left behind. His words made everyone's faces go pale as this would mean they would lose all the progress they made until now.
"The Wind Class?" Julian stopped attacking and frowned. "Are you retarded? They're the weakest of all classes."
'Ah, it's happening again.' Nikolai smiled as he remembered how the Wind Class shocked everyone in their year at the class battle. Julian said the same thing before. 'Those three oddballs have shown themselves.'
Nikolai turned to see how would Julian react now. Would he choose to attack Nikolai or would he be sensible and retreat? Julian turned to glare at him as well before pointing a finger at him.
"When I catch you, I'll kill you myself." Julian spat before turning toward the students. "The weaker third stays here to fend off any attacks! The rest will follow after me to fend off those weaklings."
It seems Julian still had some sense left and ordered a retreat. He turned toward Nikolai and added before he left.
"As for you, if you move from there, I'll break your legs!" He said before disappearing. Nikolai shrugged and turned to the Skyward Falcon.
"Can you give me another lift? It's time that I step in as well." Nikolai took out his gun with a smile.