Slash be slashed.
Cut be cut.
Give pain, receive pain.
Roran and Zaroth were locked in combat. Sometimes, Zaroth fell down, overwhelmed by the increasing amount of weapons Roran made to levitate and shoot towards him.
Sometimes Roran fell by the increasingly better coordination between Zaroth and his beast, which later Roran learned was named Silverfang.
It was strangely peaceful, usually in combat, you have to protect yourself with the fear of not being injured… but here?
You can forget all about it. All the pain is meaningless if the wounds you receive heal immediately after the short exchange of blows.
So, the participants of the duel could focus on getting stronger, forgetting everything else.
"Try me!" Roran screamed. The next moment, Zaroth was running towards him for the countless time. He was about to be pierced by the dagger that Roran was controlling until…
He spun his body and grabbed it by the wooden handle, effectively making it his own weapon. Without hesitation, he threw it at Roran with dazzling speed, without stopping his charge at full speed.
Roran blocked the dagger but saw Zaroth's sword, which he had already raised, ready to strike.
Left with no other option, Roran used his arm as a shield. The sword cut through his arm but stopped at the bone. Trying to ignore the pain, he immediately thrust his sword into Zaroth's stomach.
Only to feel Silverfang on his back the next second, trying to bite off his neck
At the end, both of them fell to the ground, blood spraying from them like a fountain. This time, the duel was even
After enduring the agonizing pain for a few minutes, the room healed them, and they stood up.
"Let's see..." Roran said with a smile, as if they hadn't just tried their best to kill each other. "I have 22 wins, you have 14 wins, and there's 1 even?"
Zaroth furrowed his eyebrows. "No, it's 21 wins for you, 14 wins for me, and there are 2 evens."
"So you call that one even?" Roran asked with a smile.
"Of course it was even!" Zaroth spat back, irritated.
"Hey," a voice interrupted their conversation, it was Lily's. "Let's switch."
"Switch?" Zaroth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes," she said, pointing at Zack, who was lying on the ground. His face was burned, so he had to wait to be healed.
"I've pretty much grasped the extent of his strength, so that leaves only you," said Lily, turning to Zaroth.
'Should I feel flattered or offended?' Zaroth wondered, "It will be my pleasure."
"No… the pleasure is all mine," said Lily, grinning.
The next second, there was a fireball a meter before reaching Zaroth's face.
"Wow, already?" he muttered under his breath as he dug his foot into the floor and ran toward her location, Silverfang not far behind.
'She's using some kind of spells… so she should be weak against close attacks!' With that thought, he approached her, raising his sword, ready to deliver a vertical strike.
Only for her to dodge it by sidestepping and following it with a punch to his stomach. Zaroth had fought against Roran for an hour already and had even had his stomach pierced once by a sword… so he thought he had become somewhat accustomed to pain.
But now, as he took Lily's hit, he coughed up blood and was sent back.
Lily immediately turned, forming some kind of ice sculpture with a sharp tip, which she sent toward the charging Silverfang, effectively stopping his charge.
"How the fuck?! Does she also have a high-tier blessing? Or is she just that experienced?" he grunted as he stood up. "Whatever the case, I'm not going down without a fight!"
*****
"Disappointing…" Roderic muttered under his breath as he walked slowly down the hallway.
"I've already checked the situation with this year's students… and it's not good…" he cursed silently.
"No one, even in A-class, showed promise or fighting spirit today… All of the students were too cautious of one another and too afraid to get scratched by their opponents… At this rate, we might really lose our status as the most prestigious academy…"
Looking at the time, he saw that it was 17:10, 10 minutes after the end of the lesson.
"Now that I think about it, wasn't there one more group?"
There was one group he had yet to check up on, but considering that it included the three fools who had disrespected the emperor, he didn't have high hopes for them.
"Well, better check on them… though I won't be surprised if they've already left."
Walking toward their assigned room, he stopped in pleasant surprise, as he could still hear the sounds of combat from the other side.
"So they still haven't left yet… that's good."
Placing both of his hands on his chest, he spoke,
"In the name of the god who bestowed power upon me, I hereby declare that any information I learn here and now shall never be shared, neither with a foe nor an ally."
It was a stupid formality to swear an oath, but the noble families required it, so he had little choice.
With a sigh, he opened the door. Immediately, the smell of blood reached his nostrils.
"Is that all you've got?!" spat a woman whose golden hair and eyes gave her an appearance similar to a princess.
"You're the one bleeding from your wrist, Lily! Not me!" shouted a white-haired man with green, cat-like eyes.
In response, the woman sent a fireball, hitting him in the face. The man, ignoring the pain as he felt his face burn, grinned and charged toward the woman with a giant wolf at his side.
"What is that ability?" shouted a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. It looked like there were multiple floating weapons around him, most likely using them as shields.
"You're the one to talk!" spat back a man with raven-black hair and white eyes. He had received multiple wounds, and yet he didn't seem to bleed. What's more, he was holding a sword that seemed to be made out of blood.
Watching the fight before him, Roderic couldn't help but smile in awe. "This! We might have some students that have what it takes to make it after all!"
Not wishing to disrupt the focused students, he sat in an empty chair, observing the brutal fight before him.
With a smile, he said softly, trying not to disturb them, "Let's see how long they last."