"Hahaha! What's your problem, Franz? Don't be such a crybaby!" said Justin, coming out of the crowd.
He was a good looking, brown haired guy with a confident smile and a lopping gait. He wore a simple grey armor and held a sword.
Franz glared at him with unconcealed malice.
If staring was a weapon, Justin would be dead hundred times over!
Franz clenched his hand around his spear and gritted his teeth in anger.
Ever since he had gone out on a mission to retrieve some plants for the school's research center, Justin would show up and steal his plants from right under his nose.
Justin had been profiting off his hard work!
Finding those plants weren't easy. That was why it was a mass mission which wasn't restricted by the number of people doing it.
What Justin did was to trail Franz while he searched for the flowers and the moment he found them, Justin would sneak attack him and make off of with the plants!
Not only had Justin cost him a lot of CP, he had also made him spend a couple of days in the hospital, days which he could have used to train!
He had to settle this grievance and beat Justin up so badly that he would think twice about stealing from under his nose again!
"What's the story behind this Franz and Justin guy?" Brianna asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
As if on cue, the betting notification sounded on their comms alongside a description of the conflict between Justin and Franz!
"Aw. Poor Franz!" Brianna commented as she read the notification.
"Imagine someone just benefiting from your hard work. No wonder he's so pissed off," Mindy added.
"Appearances are so deceptive. Who knew such a handsome guy would be such a scumbag?" said Brianna.
"Well, you can never judge from appearances," Mindy chimed.
Franz was short, dark haired, and pale skinned. His sunken eyes looked like that of zombie. He held a normal looking spear and wore black armor.
It was plain as day that he hadn't been sleeping well.
Damien took a glance at the notification.
As he had thought earlier, things at the Imperial Institute was far from what he had imagined. Petty theft, bullying and attacking students barely drew the attention of the authorities.
It was an everyone for himself situation.
With what was going on between Justin and Franz, Damien knew he had to be very careful when he went out on missions.
He could be attacked by bandits or fellow students, robbed, and all sort of unsavory things.
The only way to prevent such situations was to have absolute strength such that people thought twice about messing with him.
The way to prove that strength was going to be through the ranking battles.
The desire in Damien's heart to be the first ranked person on the list grew even more intense. With the position of the first ranker, many would think twice about attacking him.
The instructor stated the rules to the fighters and checked both of them.
Satisfied, he gave the command to start!
Franz and Justin faced each other like mortal enemies.
Both were body path awakened which meant that the fight was going to be mainly melee.
"I have waited for this day for so long! I will beat you up for every single plant you stole from me," Franz growled as he twirled his spear.
"Stop being such a sore loser. You can take it as a learning experience and be more careful next time," Justin smirked.
"There will be no next time, Justin. This shit ends now!" Franz roared as he thrust his spear forward!
Justin jumped back, narrowly evading the spear.
Franz didn't give him the chance to regain his bearings as his spear kept stabbing out at Justin like a snake!
Justin kept evading skillfully, sometimes parrying the spear away.
Franz jumped high in the air and used his spear as a club. Justin rolled out of the way even as the spear slammed into the ground, causing dust to rise!
Cracks appeared on the ground from that strike, causing everyone's eyes to widen.
Franz was going for the kill and not holding back at all!
Justin quickly stood to his feet and charged at Franz. Using Franz's spear which was still lodged in the ground as a walkway, Justin rapidly closed the distance!
Upon reaching Franz, he swung his sword widely but Franz jumped high, evading the swing. He landed on his spear and kicked Justin off it before picking it up.
His spear which had formally been six feet extended to eight feet in length.
Twirling it behind him, he struck at Justin again.
Justin jumped back and vanished!
"Huh? Where did he go?" Silas asked.
Everyone's gaze was focused on the arena as they tried to find where Justin had vanished to.
"That's Justin's power. It's called Phantom swordsman! It allows him to temporarily vanish and hide his presence," someone explained.
Franz furrowed his brows and tightened his grip around his spear. This move was what Justin had used to rob him so many times and he was extremely familiar with it.
He closed his eyes and stabilized his breathing before taking a crouched stance, holding his spear in front of him.
A minute passed and he was still as motionless as a boulder and Justin hadn't yet reappeared.
Suddenly, a sword became visible as it struck out at the back of Franz!
As if he had eyes at the back of his head, Franz twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the sword before grabbing into the nothingness.
Well so it seemed to everyone until they heard Justin's voice.
"Let go of me!" he cried but he was locked in a viselike grip by Franz who had long dropped his spear while turning and was holding on tightly to Justin's invisible sword hand.
To the spectators, it was like Franz was wrestling with the air!
Franz roared and pulled Justin out of his invisible hiding place and used the momentum to knee Justin in the face!
Out of pain, Justin let go of his weapon but Franz capitalized on his still firm grip on Justin's hand to put him in a Heimlich maneuver.
Justin's face scrunched up in pain as Franz kept twisting his hand. Desperately, he swung his left hand back, hoping to catch Franz off guard with a glancing blow but Franz ducked.
Using the change in his center of gravity, Franz hoisted Justin up even as his left hand encircled Justin's abdomen and slammed him into the ground!
Justin's eyes dilated in pain from the impact as Franz switched his grip and rested all his weight on the back of Justin while pulling Justin's head back with his hands.
Franz had locked Justin in a cobra clutch!
Justin let out a silent scream even as his hands flailed on the knees of Franz as pressure mounted on his neck and back.
Malice shown in the eyes of Franz as he leaned back, increasing the pressure on the back and neck of Justin.
If he had his way, he'd rip off Justin's head!
He leaned back again and used his momentum to pull Justin with him into a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu rear naked choke.
Justin's face turned blue from lack of oxygen even as Franz cut off the oxygen supply to his brain.
Justin held out incredibly long but eventually his body went limp.
Still, Franz kept on holding him in his steel grip, refusing to let go.
"Let your opponent go! He's faded out!" the instructor warned as he rushed over to Franz. Reluctantly, Franz let go of Justin's limp body and kicked it away.
"Franz wins!" the instructor declared.
Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, Franz picked up his spear and after a pause, walked over to where Justin's sword lay and picked it up too.
Coldly, he left the arena.
Justin wheezed for breath even as he came to. His vision was blurry and the world seemed as if it was spinning around him.
"What happened?"
The instructor popped a pill into his mouth and helped him up. "You lost your fight."
Justin's eyes went wide in shock. He'd lost?
Still stunned, he looked around groggily for his sword but it wasn't there.
"Huh? Where the fuck is my sword?" he asked in shock.
The instructor paid him no heed though. "Get your ass out of the arena. We have a new fight coming," he said, delivering a swift kick to the bottom of Justin.
With a sorry howl, Justin was sent flying out of the arena.
Everyone laughed at his misfortune.
It wasn't surprising.
After all, no one liked people who profited off the hard work and sweat of others.