Silence.
Total silence reigned among the 2 roommates as they walked under the breeze and orange glow of the evening sunset. After walking more than 100 meters away from their room, they suddenly stopped and faced each other.
"Punch me". Ramon said.
Aegon looked straight at his roommates' eyes, then…
BAM!
He unleashed a swift punch straight at Ramon's right cheek.
Ramon twisted his lips after absolving the impact, then he spat the blood residuals on his lips out before turning back to look at Aegon. "How do you feel?"
Aegon looked away. "I feel much better, thank you".
"Thank you too for not using your discs," Ramon said casually. "If the both of you ended up damaging the room, I don't think I'll be able to forgive you".
"Haha," Aegon laughed. "Why did you speak up for him?"
Ramon looked forward. "Everyone has their reasons for doing things, Elmas also has his reasons for being a neat freak, let's respect it".
Aegon looked at him. "Hmmm, why do you sound so different?"
"Huh?"
Aegon grimaced in his mind. 'Why does he sound so more matured than I am all of a sudden? But mom said I am more mature than my peers'.
"You sound like a fool most times that we interact, but for some reason, you sound so wise now saying this".
Ramon scratched his head and laughed. "Everyone has their reasons for doing things, I saw it on a poster in the library and randomly quoted it".
He grinned. "I felt it would be appropriate for the moment".
"…" Aegon was speechless.
Aegon could easily tell that Ramon probably knew something about his 2nd roommate that he didn't know of, he didn't press about it though.
He instead asked. "Are you serious about going to the combat arena?"
"Yes!" Ramon replied, his voice full of excitement.
"Unlike our freshers combat arena that was for only freshers, from 2nd year upwards, we fight and train in a unified combat arena for all senior years".
"There, we'll meet our seniors from 3rd year and above".
"I want to test my strength against them!" Ramon's eyes gleamed.
Aegon's face turned weird. "You really are a freak," He chuckled. "But I'm in, I want to see if they're truly stronger than us".
And off the 2 roommates went to the combat arena.
Today, they would stir up a great commotion.
…
"Oh! More newly promoted freshers". A masculine voice said teasingly, attracting a lot of attention in this combat arena.
"Ray, do you want to show them their place again or should I?"
Ray, the 3rd year student who was called grinned maliciously. Half of his face was wrinkled with half of his red hair gone, probably residuals of a fire accident.
Ray stood up, grinning while groping a female student's ass along the way. "I'll do it," He licked his saber.
"Hehe, bullying promoted freshers is what I was born for".
"Wow! So big!" Ramon's eyes were literally showing starlight as he admired the gigantic combat arena.
Compared to the combat arena for freshers, this was almost 3 times bigger.
Aegon was not as excited though as he watched this combat arena with narrowed eyes. "Ramon," He whispered. "They're powerful!"
"I know!" Ramon jumped excitedly.
Annoyed at his roommate's reaction, Aegon gave up on him and observed alone. Most of the astral warriors here were mid to peak tier Legionnaire Stage Warriors, yet Aegon still detected about a dozen unfathomable astral energies.
His eyes narrowed into slits. 'Knight Stage Students!'
Aegon also noticed other second years here. Almost all of them stood behind seniors, showing scared and frightful expressions on their faces.
Only one of the second years here ahead of them did not bow her head to a senior, it was a familiar face, Freya Atreus.
Seated at a corner of this arena, she sharpened her arrows.
Aegon frowned. 'What's happening here?'
Their arrival attracted a lot of attention, perhaps due to a lot of reasons but it didn't matter as a slim student with a weird face and hairstyle stood before them.
As soon as he stood before them, the combat arena quietened down with interested looks on the seniors' faces like they were about to watch a show.
Ramon was surprised on seeing him. "Hey! What happened to your hair?"
"A rat ate it?"
Silence.
"Muahahaha…!" Majority of the students in the combat arena burst out laughing the next moment as this slim student's face twitched.
"You've got some nerves huh, kid?"
"Bow before your senior!"
Bam!
Green astral energy erupted so fast, engulfing Ray's leg as he kicked at the little boy's head. His kick was the fastest that Ramon had ever seen before now from an astral warrior fighting against himself but he was still able to react.
From a mile away, Ramon could already tell that he was a mid-tier Legionnaire Stage Warrior like him.
Whoosh!
Dodging by ducking, Ramon looked up at this senior of his with narrowed eyes. "I don't fight outside the ring, I only fight inside the ring…, after staking a bet".
Ray was shocked. 'H-he dodged my attack? How?'
'It's just fluke! Surely, it's a fluke!'
"Bow before your senior kid! It's the combat arena's freshers' initiation ritual!" He roared on the face of the 10-year-old.
Ramon did not flinch. "Like I said, I only fight in the ring".
Ray hesitated; his instincts were already telling him that he made the wrong decision here but feeling all the gazes on him, he could not back down.
'It's just a fresher brat!'
'What's there to be scared of?'
'I'll just teach him a lesson like usual'.
Ray grinned maliciously. "Let me warn you out of goodwill. This combat arena is unlike the freshers combat arena, once you enter the ring, you are placing your body on the line like a senior to be injured".
"In here, we can injure and decapacitate, only killing is prohibited".
"Is that all? Thanks". Ramon grinned.
Ray felt something off even more. 'This boy…'
2 minutes later, after betting all their contribution points, with almost all the attention in this combat arena attracted to 1 of the 8 rings, Ramon the fresher brat and Ray stood on opposite sides of the ring as a student gave the signal to start.
Ray was right, the rules in here were much loose.
Instructors don't interfere in fights, not even if a student is to be killed. If a student is killed, so be it, this is the astral world.
The repercussion for killing though is being expelled from the academy.
"Start!"
"Movement Astral Technique: Treading Steps!"
Bzzz!
Ray made the first move and Ramon easily identified his astral path.
Like him, Ray was an Evolver, one who majored on speed. As soon as Ray used his movement technique, his legs seemed to leave afterimages behind as he stepped front and back, and sideways rapidly like a prime Muhammad Ali.
Ramon's eyes narrowed as he honed his focus to the maximum.
Viewing this opponent's rapid steps, for some reason, Ramon saw him akin to a beast as a certain lecture came back to his head.
Mr. Patrick's first lecture last year.
'If you meet an astral beast with good speed, the best strategy is to target either their legs for land beasts or wings for aerial beasts'.
'Remember, the goal is to use your advantages to weaken their advantages'.
"I'm coming!" Ray yelled arrogantly and went on the attack.
Ramon's eyes narrowed into slits as he focused on his speedy opponent.
Then, Ray suddenly rushed to the right.
As Ramon was about to react, the Ray at the right shuddered, dissipating into light particles as Ray suddenly appeared from his left.
"Sorry, that was a feint!" Ray announced haughtily.
To his surprise though, the boy didn't panic, he instead grinned. "I know!"
Compared to Mr. Patrick's feints, these were like beans to Ramon.
For a brief moment, Ray felt his heart skip a beat, he was fast enough to retreat. His gut instinct told him to retreat but his pride did not let him.
'Retreat before a fresher brat? Unacceptable!'
He regretted it.
Ramon's eyes gleamed. "Sword Technique: Quick Draw!"
Whoosh!
Silence.
Shock rippled through this combat arena, then sound finally came.
"Waaaah…!" Ray wailed in agony.
One perfectly timed draw of his sword was all Ramon needed to cut off his opponent's right leg, destabilizing him. He was still hesitant about killing but Ramon had no qualms about decapacitating his opponents.
Afterall, this was the astral world, it could be healed.
"Winner, Ramon Brenden!" The student acting as the mediator announced, shock evident in his voice.
"I challenge you!" A voice came the next moment, it was the boy that pushed Ray to go bully the freshers, his voice was filled with anger.
Ramon turned to look at Aegon. "Don't you want to duel too?"
Aegon nodded, then randomly picking a senior, he challenged. "I challenge you!"
Again, pride struck, the senior could not bear rejecting a junior's challenge.
"Start!"
The duel lasted less than 3 minutes despite Ray's friend going all out this time, Ramon won his 2nd consecutive duel, winning even more contribution points.
Looking at the other ring, Aegon grinned at him, he won too.
Aegon's fears were already gone. "Let's do a competition".
"How many seniors we can defeat today".
"Let's go!" Ramon was hyped.
More duels started in quick succession.
"Winner, Ramon Brenden".
"Winner, Aegon Winsmoke".
A lot of attention was attracted towards the 2 combat rings as the 2 freshers won 7 consecutive times against seniors, a shocking feat.
The scary fact was that for their 7th battle each, they each fought against high-tier Legionnaire Stage opponents and still won.
"Who else?" Aegon demanded, his tone filled with arrogance.
"Hahaha, we're unbeatable!" He taunted.
"I challenge you". A soft voice said the next moment.
All the attention was drawn towards the challenger, it was another high-tier Legionnaire Stage Warrior but the knowing seniors widened their eyes.
It was a beautiful slim frail looking individual with long blonde hair, it was almost impossible to tell if he was a boy or a girl.
"Hey, what are you? Boy or a girl?" Ramon demanded.
He ignored Ramon's words. "My only requirement is to bet all our contribution points, and the loser is not to come back to the combat arena for 4 months as a period of mourning your disgrace".
"Huh? What type of stupid conditions is that?" Ramon scratched his head.
"Don't worry, 2 of you can come at me at the same time".
The normal clear-headed Aegon would have been alarmed by the conditions and most especially this last sentence, but his 7 consecutive victories already got to his head as with a wide grin on his face, he accepted.
"2 on 1, haha, Ramon, the heavens are on our side!"
"I'm already imagining how many astral techniques I can get with so many contribution points, I can't wait".
The stage was set, and the student acting as the mediator yelled.
"Start!"
Whoosh!
The mediator barely finished his sentence when the frail looking individual disappeared. As soon as he disappeared, Aegon came back to his senses.
'So fast!' He was shocked. 'Who is this boy?!'
He felt his danger instincts tingle and without hesitation, he reacted.
"Mage Technique: Manipulation!"
"Mage Technique: Rush Throw Attack!"
Aegon, filled with adrenaline, went on the attack as engulfed by his brown astral energy, his sickles were manipulated, rapidly accelerating from his waist for a rush attack yet this was when the frail looking boy's astral energy triggered.
It was a silky-looking gentle energy, it was milky white.
As soon as his astral energy triggered, Aegon became even more shocked. 'He's not an Evolver but still so fast?!'
'How is a manipulator so fast?!
As soon as it triggered, Aegon saw the boy's eyes briefly appear before his vision. They were not normal eyes.
A pattern of a red rose appeared in the boy's eyes.
Aegon only had a millisecond to react. 'A specialist?!'
Dodging his rush attack by the tiniest of margins where an inch deviation would be fatal, the frail looking boy finally slashed with his sword.
Whoosh!
Silence, for a brief moment, then...
"Ugh…!" Aegon groaned loudly in pain.
He just lost a leg, the same right leg that Ramon took from a 3rd year student.
"Aegon!" Ramon finally reacted, rushing to attack since everything happened so fast and he could not react immediately but he was next.
Whoosh!
The frail looking boy disappeared again.
Ramon felt goosebumps as all his hair stood on end, Storm Breaker vibrated madly, and his instincts took over.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Ramon swung his sword rapidly as he clashed against the rapid swordsman.
The spectators were amazed. "Impressive, the boy managed to survive Hazard's first attack, and he's keeping up".
Ramon swung his sword purely out of instinct, his eyes could not follow the rapid movements of his opponent.
At this moment, Ramon cursed his eyes for being useless.
Then he took a drastic decision, Ramon closed his eyes.
He relied only on his instincts and senses.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Ramon tried but he could barely keep up, not only was this boy stronger by a tier, he also had significantly more combat experience than Ramon.
The boy's eyes narrowed. 'How is he lasting so long?'
In the end, Ramon only lasted.
"Battojutsu Sword Technique: Silent Slash!"
Whoosh!
As soon as the boy's sword swung again, Ramon's instincts told him it would be a fatal blow. He would lose his right leg just like Aegon!
'No…!' Ramon roared in his mind; adrenaline flooded his brain!
Nothing came to mind, so he followed his instincts.
"Kenjutsu Sword Technique: Mountain Block!"
BOOM!
A loud sound reverberated round the combat arena following the mighty eruption of golden astral energy. Ramon survived unscathed.
Since today, after getting the technique, Ramon never seemed to grasp the Immovable Mountain Swordman's special energy movement pattern but pushed to the wall in the heat of battle, he learned it instinctively.
This was the only reason he survived the deadly attack.
Whoosh!
The boy rushed to finish the job but Ramon reacted fast.
"I forfeit!"
These words came out of Ramon's mouth like food coming out of a glutton's mouth, it was like an irreparable wound digging deep into his skin. He gritted his teeth even as he shook in rage.
Shing!
The frail looking boy sheathed his sword and appeared beside him. "Juniors should know their place; this is a little lesson from me to you".
"Never disrespect your seniors again, they're your seniors for a reason".
"Don't ever forget my face and my name, I'm Hazard Tempest".
Ramon looked up at his strange eyes with blood-shot eyes even as he clenched his fists, he said nothing.