The central area of the New Year Festival.
A beautiful and calm river water moves slowly from the mountain behind the academy and then out to the city, passing through this famous sightseeing spot.
Every year, thousands of people visit this place during the new year. There's an amazing firework's show during the night and a lively and heartwarming atmosphere during the day.
Just like every year, today a huge crowd has appeared again to witness the beauty of this place and enjoy the firework's show.
As it's already around evening, people have started to gather around the edge of the river and have started to prepare for the oncoming show.
But what they didn't know was the fact that several disguised individuals have set up a death show for them today.
...
Unaware of the oncoming disaster, people are still busy with their routine.
One such group is the group of a young boy and a girl.
The boy has dark red hair and dark red eyes. Even his aura is so dense that's particularly screaming that this guy is dangerous.
The passersby were subconsciously avoiding the person.
The guy is wearing clothes with golden linings on them, depicting that they are really expensive.
And any fashion expert who knows even a little bit about clothes can see that these are the limited-edition clothes well known for their extreme defensive capabilities made from the skin of S-rank monsters.
And right beside the young man is a girl with short white hair and white pupils.
She is also wearing an expensive dress colored in light blue and has an excited expression on her face.
Coupled with her beauty, she has the charm of a lively and cute girl.
"See! I told you we should visit the festival; its so lively around here. What do you think, Link?"
"Hmm, yeah, its really lively around here... I guess I should thank you for inviting me then, Riya..."
Link looked around and found the place really annoying, but he still did not show his dissatisfaction, although she's much weaker than him; he doesn't dare to bully her as she has a special identity.
He walked along with Riya without speaking much. But as if representing his direct opposite personality. Riya was speaking continuously; she is literally a huge chatterbox.
"See! That fish there! It looks so cute!"
"See! There're so many people dancing there! What are they doing?"
"Oh! What's that Link? Hey! Link, you heard me? There that huge tower. Should we see it up close?"
Hearing the question Link shook his head, his expression remained calm and cold all along.
"That's the machine that will be used for the fireworks show. It's dangerous to go around it; only someone at Rank-B or above can use it safely."
"Eh! Then what is that person doing around there!?"
Link looked towards the person Riya was pointing at; the person was wearing a worker's uniform and was doing something with the firework's machine.
"Maybe he is doing some maintenance work..."
"oh! Is that so!"
Although Link did say that to satisfy Riya's curiosity, he still became a bit suspicious.
After all, the maintenance work is always done before the day of the show, which means there's no reason for someone to do something with the firework on the day of the show.
But as Link had not come with his guards today, he decided to let this matter slide for now.
After all, these fireworks and shows are simply boring for him.
The only thing worth mentioning is that Riya is accompanying him today. He didn't want to destroy this day due to just boredom.
Instead, the lively behavior of Riya is more entertaining to him.
'If only I was able to torture that guy Fade freely, it would have been even better... It's a shame that father has restricted me from doing anything that damage reputation.'
'But those guys I sent to beat Fade were all useless. Maybe I will have to beat him myself later, sigh~'
Just as Link was busy in his fantasies, Riya's voice woke him to his senses again:
"Oh! Look! The show is starting, Link!"
"Yeah, I am looking; don't be so impatient; sigh... you are always so clumsy..."
As the show was about to start, the crowd around them also started cheering loudly; the atmosphere was filled with the cheers and shouts of the people looking forward to their deaths.
Thousands of people cheering for their oncoming deaths—it's ironic, isn't it?
Just as the first firework was launched in the air, it directly rushed towards the crowd. The cheers suddenly died down seeing the fire mass coming towards the people.
Before anyone could have responded, the bomb touched the ground and exploded, directly killing around twenty people in the surrounding area.
Link suddenly sensed that something was very wrong here. He immediately decided to leave this place. But just before he could do so.
The second bomb make its way directly towards their location.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse by every second. Link took the situation in his hands, if something happened to Riya, his father would beat the sh*t out of him today.
He stomped the ground, and the ground cracked from his sheer strength, then he launched into the air like a cannonball.
[Dragon Arts: Rising Dragon Roar!]
*BOOM!*
As if the bomb was as frail as an egg, Link burst right through it with a single punch. The bomb burst apart in the air, causing no damage to civilians.
Link lightly landed down on the ground. Looking around, he found that Riya was nowhere to be seen.
He jumped in the air again and landed at a higher position to confirm Riya's location. She appeared to be struggling to move as the terrified crowd led her towards the edge of the area.
Just as Link was figuring out the way towards Riya, he found that several more of the bombs were fired.
But before the bombs could land, several of the bombs were sliced into half by someone, and as the other party's speed was too fast, Link failed to see the other party properly.
This lowered the burden on Link.
'Maybe someone is trying to help the civilians escape.'
Link jumped towards the bombs and burst them one by one in mid-air.
After solving this problem, he then landed near Riya.
Seeing him appear suddenly in front of her, Riya was surprised but also relaxed a bit.
Link directly carried her in his arms and jumped out of the people's range towards a rather uncrowded area.
"You okay, Riya?"
"Yeah, I am okay, but you should help out the people since you are so strong."
Link knew that this girl is rather immature and have a great sense of justice in her. She always thinks more about others safety than herself. But only hesitates in carrying out her justice-filled actions when it involves Link.
'Well, this much is to expected of a healer; worrying over the lives of others is in their instinct...'
"You sure, you will be safe here?"
"Yeah! I am very strong! I can protect myself!"
Riya clenched her small fists and tried to look intimidating, but that only made her look cuter.
'She looks cute when pretending…'
Link suppressed himself from smiling and shook his head and moved towards the oncoming bombs. He was getting curious: who was the one destroying so many bombs?
After all, with his perception, he is not able to sense anyone else higher or similar in rank right now.
But the matter of the fireworks takes the initiative. He immediately looked towards the firework machine.
With his amazing senses, he can see several individuals in black clothing standing around the machine.
He immediately sensed that these individuals were all at least B-rank. But he didn't care.
He has fought an SS-ranker before, these small fries can't intimidate him at all, they are too insignificant in front of his father.
[Dragon Arts: Draconic charge!]
*BOOM!*
The ground cracked, and a massive crater was formed as Link kicked the ground to rush forward with a calm look on his face.
He directly jumped right in the center of those unknown people, ignoring the oncoming attacks he starting a one-sided slaughter.
Normally when Mana-bombs of this much power hits a C-ranker, it's impossible to withstand the their power, but Link was unfazed even after destroying so many mana bombs with his bare hands.
Not a single scratch had appeared on his body. His skin alone seemed harder than magically enhanced military-grade armor that can tank missiles and bombs easily.
He can literally destroy and resist a bomb with his body alone; this is the horror of the person with the potential to be a future SSS rank.
His body defense is alone so strong that even three high-grade bombs which are capable of killing peak B-rankers instantly are ineffective on him. He's a literal walking meat shield in human form!
[Dragon Arts: Draconic flames!]
A dense blue flame appeared on Link's both hands, and with a punch, a huge fire explosion occurred, destroying the machine, and he stopped the continuous bombing.
The power of that attack was so strong that the B-rankers standing around it flew away like bowling pins and nearly all of them were injured.
Seeing that their plan has failed, the people in black became extremely angry, and all eight of them launched towards Link together.
But Link didn't care about them, he took his stance, his expression as cold as always.
[Dragon Arts: Consecutive advanced punches!]
A rain of punch began and the heads started to explode instantly.
The brain matter of the shattered brains splattered all over the ground and a look of horror and fear appeared on the face of the enemies.
Seeing this, the people in black clothes started to panic and decided to flee the scene.
After all, the academy's authorities must be on their way by now, they must leave early.
"Who allowed you to run!"
[Dragon Arts: Enhanced speed!]
Immediately, Link's speed increased significantly, and he started to rain punches and kicks even faster with increased lethality.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!*
The ground was shattered, massive craters were created, and blood painted the ground scarlet red, Broken limbs and organs flew everywhere, and the flying debris lowered visibility in the area.
The fight continued for about three minutes, and all the individuals were killed, leaving only Link and one more person standing among a huge number of corpses.
Link wiped the blood covering his face with his right hand and looked at the corpses around him with a calm expression on his face.
All of the blood belonged to his enemies, of course; he didn't receive a single wound up until now.
Just as Link was going to blast the head of the only surviving enemy, he suddenly sensed a powerful individual coming towards him:
"Stop, don't kill him; otherwise, I will kill this girl, a gruesome death!"
"Link! Don't worry about me!"
Link glanced behind him and found that an individual in the same black clothes has caught Riya, and a dagger is pointed around her neck.
The other party was asking Link to let go of that last surviving person.
It is sure that she will die if nothing is done at this time.
The individual is stronger than the previous ones. Even Link is not certain if he can win this one.
'This guy is definitely a peak A-ranker. I can't deal with this alone... sh*t!'
A B-rank and an A-rank have a huge difference in combat power. Not to mention a Peak A-rank individual has a huge vitality.
Link is sure to escape safely, but he can't defeat him; saving Riya will be even more of a difficult task.
"Okay, I will let him go; you leave her too."
"That won't do, boy; you have to ask for forgiveness on your knees! You have killed so many of my men afterall."
"No! Link, don't do that; don't worry about me!"
"Do that and I may leave this fragile girl alive, hahahaha…hahaha…"