Ludo's remarks had prompted Asher to make this bunch the scapegoat. Asher continued walking, he could tell that the group was further enraged by his magnanimity. After catching on to them, he smiled at them.
"Pray to the Gods we don't meet during demonstrations today at the ceremony," Asher said as he picked up his pace.
For some time, the words Asher uttered stuck in the minds of the group. It was the first time they had seen Asher act in such a manner. Today he had publicly declared his intention to fight, unlike his usual behavior. Before Ludo broke the silence, the group had been silent for some time.
"That arrogant brat thinks he can talk big to us today," Ludo said in annoyance.
"Hmph. He is doing this because there would be people watching the demonstrations, and we can't go too far" Ludo continued.
After hearing that, Boliva couldn't help but agree. After all, Asher was the weakest person in their class. He lacked any talent for cultivating. The last time they measured the level of natural energy, which was about three months ago, Asher was dead last in the beginning stages of level 2.
"Even if we go too far, we can always blame his injuries on the fact that he was too weak," Boliva said with a mischievous look on his face.
The group continued walking as the merrily chatted along the way. Asher encountered several more of his classmates, but they were not as overbearing as the earlier group. All they could do was idle gossip while staring at him. Asher having noticed all this was not the least bit surprised. After all, all of this was going to change today. He was planning to put on a spectacle that the village had never ever seen before. Having his memories of his life as the God of destruction, Brabus, Asher had transformed from a shy and cowardly state of mind to an extremely cold and violent one. Only no one in the entire mortal world knew of this. Even when he was a god, he was still cold and violent, and now that he was surrounded by mere mortals, all he had was a condescending view of the world before him.
The graduation ceremony went on, as usual, all the participants of the different vocations were present at the village square. All the rights and processions took place as usual, and the final stage of the ceremony had come, the demonstration part. The various pupils displayed what they had learned so as to fetch an interest from the various masters present. The smithing students displayed their finest works and everyone inspected it. The Magic practitioners showed all of their marvelous spells and incantation. Some had even dwelled others and showed their proficiency in battle.
It was finally the turn of the warriors. The teacher of this year's graduating class was a peak stage level 6 warrior, by the name of Oliva. He had instructed the class for the past three years and had gotten to know the students. He was on stage greeting the spectators and introducing his students to them. Oliva was particularly proud because his class had produced a prodigy by the village's standards, and that was Boliva. Boliva at the tender age of 19 had already cultivated to the beginning stages of level 5.
"I will like to demonstrate first," Asher said loudly.
This statement surprised Oliva heavily. He had never seen Asher this bold, and forthcoming. Not only is he participating, but he is trying to be the opener.
"I will also like to challenge any and all who have the ability to challenge me," Asher said boldly.
Everyone immediately started gossiping. What Asher had said caused everyone to bicker back and forth. "Isn't that supposed to biggest failure among the warrior class?" Some people asked.
"He must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed today" Others concluded.
Oliva immediately started calming the crowd down. He was irritated that the one who caused all this fuss, was the biggest failure, Asher. Although he had produced an outstanding genius, Boliva, he had also produced an outstanding failure, Asher. A hint of anger could be seen all over Oliva's face as he stared at Asher.
"This must be my lucky day. This brat will get the beating of his life today" Ludo thought to himself.
"I would like to volunteer as his first opponent" Ludo immediately said.
"Also, this is a fair match between equals. So no one should blame anyone for any injuries caused due to this fight." Ludo took the opportunity to absolve all blame from himself.
Oliva hearing this could pretty much guess what Ludo had in mind. He was also angry at Asher's audacity, and as such gave a blind eye to Ludo's action.
"That idiot needs to be put in his place." Oliva thought to himself.
Soon after, the stage was set for the two to battle each other. In the crowd, Peach was staring with a look of anxiety and perplexion. She wasn't sure what her son was thinking, and from the sounds of things he was the underdog. Asher noticed his mother was worried about him and was touched. Before his reincarnation, he had always been alone and had no relative to care for, but now he had actual people that were special to him.
"You may choose your weapons now," Oliva said while pointing to the weapon rack. There were a lot of weapons on display, from conventional weapons like the sword to the spear and the less conventional ones like the spiked club. For practice purposes, the weapons were mostly blunt and made to be as harmless as possible.
Ludo chose a short sword and waited for Asher to pick his weapon. Asher stared at everyone's expectant gaze.
"I don't need a weapon. " Asher said in response to Ludo and Oliva's stare.
To the bewilderment of everyone, Asher had declared he intended to fight without the use of any weapons, and this further enraged Ludo. From his chubby face, one could tell he intended to thoroughly tear Asher apart. Soon after the fight began, Ludo dashed towards Asher with the fastest speed he could muster. Within a couple of seconds, he had arrived right in front of Asher. Ludo slashed his sword across Asher's right shoulder, but to his surprise, he escaped by an inch. Ludo furiously continued to slash at Asher, but to his continuous surprise, he barely missed every time.
"Stop moving around like a mouse and fight me," Asher said while panting.
Asher stood still, and without a second notice dashed towards Ludo. That sudden movement caught everyone by surprise, more so than others was Ludo. It only took Asher about a second to appear right in front of Ludo. Oliva seeing Asher's movement was completely sure he had mastered a new out of this world skill.
"Where did that kid learn this from?" Oliva questioned.
The Red River village was a small village, and with villages of that size, they usually do not have any martial arts it trained its descendants in. Seeing Asher perform an exquisite movement skill made Oliva look at him in a different light.
Ludo seeing Asher suddenly appear before him was shocked, but after a short while, he caught himself and directly tried to strike him. Asher caught Ludo's sword wielding hand in its motion to strike him. While holding Ludo's hand Asher stared deep into his eyes, like lovers, but instead of love Asher hard the polar opposite emotion towards him. Anyone seeing this could tell who the victor of this duel would be.
While holding Ludo's hand, Asher started barraging his face with punches. He had done that with the uttermost intent to completely knock him out. After a couple of seconds, was out cold. The crowd was silent, they were stunned at what they had just witnessed.