BECOMING NUMBER ONE
"See the cheater is ranked tenth with those pathetic results"
"Yeah, I wonder which family's bastard son he is"
"Don't worry he would drop his rank to last in a week"
Before the Headmaster finished his speech a student ran up the podium to challenge me.
"I would like to challenge Orion the tenth-ranked student"
The headmaster was surprised that a student would offer a challenge even before school started but this was the tradition of the school. However, before the headmaster would ask for an adjournment, the person involved spoke.
"I would accept this student's challenge but", I told everyone gathered in the orientation, before I added, "you would have to wait until I defeated the first ranked, Ivor Burgess.
The students in school wanted to challenge me to steal my ranking which was at ten, thinking that I was a pushover. However, their opportunistic plans were thwarted when I challenged the first ranking on the board before they could challenge me.
Ivor Burgess was the competitor that I defeated when I won the Young Mages Competition.
Although Ivor Burgess was already almost eighteen years of age, he was still in his first year because the Antenne School of Magic only accepts admission every four years.
This was the practice of the school that accepted new students only after the old students completely graduated or failed, so this was the first admission in four years. Due to this practice, even older students could enroll in the school at the same time as fresh students.
"What is he thinking? Challenging Ivor the top-ranked who is Mercury Level 7 and scion of the Burgess noble family"
"He's looking for death"
"Yeah, see how his face get flattened"
"Ivor is ferocious to his enemies, serve that cheater right"
It seemed like in the previous matches I found few fans and supporters besides my friends who rooted for me. Few people remembered that I defeated Ivor before in the Young Mages competition.
"Way to go Orion", Minna cheered for me.
Headmaster Biggs initially didn't want the first day of orientation to be marred by a fight but the whole school was aroused by my challenge to Ivor, so he agreed to our friendly fight.
"What about you Ivor do you accept the challenge by the tenth-ranked Orion?" Biggs asked Ivor Burgess.
"Gladly, I wanted this rematch for a very long time", Ivor told the headmaster.
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A temporary battle arena was prepared and marked in the courtyard for our fight.
"The rules are simple, any side who drops on the floor to a count of ten loses or if he fell out of the marked arena and no lethal weapons are allowed although armors and utility equipment are permitted", Headmaster Biggs announced the rules of the duel.
Ivor wasn't idle for the past year, and he advanced to Mercury tier Level 7 which was the highest among all the new student entrants. He also came prepared with much good stuff on him including gauntlets, boots, armor and even conjuring items.
"Duel begins"
The Arena wasn't particularly large so there wasn't much room to run around and dodge but that wasn't my intention at all.
"Earthquake Punch"
Ivor launched a powerful punch to my chest. The punch was infused with power from his gauntlet that was added to his own strength and power which would K.O. even a Venus-tiered opponent.
But as the punch touched my chest, I could feel the stars in the Constitution sector of my templar sky lighting up. Even the vest I wore emitted an aura of protective magic.
"What happened? he just stood there to take the punch"
"Impossible how can a Level 1 take Ivor's punch standing"
"What kind of armor is he wearing, Ivor's punch is at least a +15 Power"
"Does he have a Mercury tiered armor, how can a student have such a thing as that?"
"Is he a royal bastard from the Capital?"
The audience was stunned including the headmaster and all the teachers. They would never expect a Mercury Level 1 student to absorb Ivor's punch without any sign of stress at all.
My Angel Affinity gave me enormous Constitution templar magic, a +12 to be exact and my bald-Eagle leather vest gave me another +15 of equivalent strength on top of my Constitution magic, so Ivor was powerless against me.
"Earthquake Strike Punch"
Ivor punched at me again but before his punch reached me, I'd already stepped to the sides. Besides my strong armor, my dexterity was equally effective.There was no way Ivor could match the number of stars in my templar Momentum sky.
"He's toying with Ivor, how is it possible?"
"Unbelievable, how can a Level 1 be so quick? Is he a Momentum based templar?"
"He must have a speed boosting artifact, damn that cheater"
"Yeah, he's a cheat"
The students weren't too supportive of me at this juncture even though I don't even know them. But their opinion meant little to me because I was going to win anyway.
Ivor Burgess was definitely not my match.
"I would not lose to you again", Ivor swore at me but there really wasn't much that he could do besides swearing.
"I'm sure you wouldn't lose a shouting match, Ivor", I replied to him which enraged him.
"I'm going to kill you", Ivor swore to himself as he charged toward me impulsively.
"I declare Ivor Burgess the winner with the biggest mouth", I told the school as Ivor was about to reach me.
However, Ivor missed me at the last moment because I moved away in the nick of time.
Actually, Ivor wasn't weak at all, and he was equipped with the best armor that money could buy. He was also quite talented himself, so it was quite a chore to breach through his defense to defeat him.
But winning a school duel doesn't require a fight to the death.
After Ivor missed hitting me a few more times, I decided to end the battle because it was getting boring, so I grabbed his hand as he was lunging at me and flung him out of the arena.
"Emm..Orion wins", the headmaster announced the result which rather stunned him.