1-A (2)

"Rank 1, Leon Holden!"

"Rank 2, Ralph Howard!"

"Rank 3, Juliet Walter!"

"Rank 4, Isabelle Clark!"

...

"Rank 67..."

....

"Rank 600..."

...

"Rank 2154, Theodore Miller!"

"Alright! Now everyone, listen up! Choose someone you want to fight. There can be at most 100 rank difference between the person you choose and yourself. You have 5 minute to find a partner, those who are still alone after 5 minutes will be paired randomly."

I looked around to find where Leon was. There was a crowd circling two students. I made my way through the crowd and reached the front. One of them was Leon. He was talking to someone who had dark-red hair. I instantly realized who was that dark-red haired boy.

'Ralph Howard'

The second son of Albert Howard. He was the first villain of the novel, from whom I had stolen his martial art, Shadow Blade.

'Well it isn't stealing if he doesn't know the existence of the marital art in the first place...'

If I am not mistaken he should have gotten his hands on the Shadow Blade by now if I hadn't before him. This meant that his strength is and will be far less than the novel. I was uneasy about the fact that my actions could affect the plot drastically. But I didn't regret. I knew I had no better chance than seizing the martial art from him.

The reason, however, I was kind of okay to take the martial art from him was that Ralph didn't really have a role in the plot where he needed power. He was that villain who would bother Leon and make his life hard. But he never succeeded in doing so. So he was destined to fail even if he had the martial art.

He had little to no impact on the plot after the first year anyway. After the end of the first year, his father, Albert Howard would take him out of the school. That's when he will get into illegal businesses.

At least that was my reasoning. Of course there will be some alterations in the plot. But I expected it to be trivial.

"Hey!"

Ralph's shout brought me back to my senses. I observed him from some distance.

His dark-red hair was accompanied with red eyes. He was handsome. But when compared to Leon, it could be said he looked ordinary.

He despised commoners. He thought of them as lowly beings whose blood was inferior to noble bloodline. Therefore, when he learned the first place was taken by a commoner, he was enraged.

He tried to trouble Leon and other heroines to take 'revenge'. However, he did nothing but always bringing disgrace and shame on himself and his family name in the end of the day.

"Hey! You lowly commoner!"

"Hmm. What do you want?"

"Hah! He asked me what I wanted from him, like I would need something from a peasant like you!"

A vein bulged on Leon's forehead as he was insulted for no apparent reason whatsoever. As I watched a novel event playing out before my eyes, I found it quite funny seeing how Leon was getting annoyed. I guess I was turning into a sadist.

"Are you upset that I took the first place from you?"

"Hmph! It's obvious that you used some kind of trick during the enrollment examination."

"Hoo... If you are so sure that I cheated on the enrollment examination, how about we make a duel!"

"Sure! I will give you-"

"pfft∼"

All of a sudden, everyone snapped their heads towards a boy with black hair. It was dead silent. Meeting the questioning gazes of the students, I realized I had to make an explanation.

*Cough*

I forced a cough and spoke in a calm manner.

"Pardon me. I couldn't refrain myself. The performance was just too good."

Taking a moment to perceive what I meant, Ralph boiled with anger.

"How da-"

"Time is up! Those who have chosen a partner, step forward."

However, he was once again interrupted as Ember announced the time was up. By the time she stopped talking, I was already gone. Realizing I was no longer in sight, Ralph turned his attention back towards Leon and said with an irritating tone.

"I will give you a good beating to let you remember where you belong to."

"You can try."

---------------------------------------------------

Loud cheers of students were heard as Leon and Ralph stood on opposite sides of the arena. The arena was a 10x10 meter area. There were only two rules.

The first rule is that killing or heavily injuring your opponent is forbidden and the second one is that if you step outside the arena boundary, you are eliminated.

Both of them took their stances and grabbed their respective weapons which were given by the academy. Leon was using a sword and Ralph was using a pair of daggers. While Leon was close to breaking through (E+)-rank, Ralph had only broken through (E)-rank recently.

"Begin!"

The moment that word fell upon the arena, both of them dashed into each other. They instantly met in the middle of the arena as their blades clashed against one another, sending tiny sparks into the air.

Their speeds were no joke.

An awakener's strength grows exponentially. So the rank difference is very essential in a fight. Of course, there are still many factors that determine the outcome of the fight. For example, experience, martial art, profession, attributes, intelligence etc.

Leon swung his sword towards Ralph's left leg. Ralph paired it with his daggers, but his face showed hints of shock because Leon's strikes had more power than he thought. Although it was nothing surprising that an assassin was disadvantageous against a swordsman in an open 1v1, it was still humiliating to be unable to counterattack.

Ralph retreated a couple of steps and channeled mana into his body. Black mana enveloped his whole body. Ralph had 2 attributes: Dark and Wind. He was using a spell called <Body Enhancement> and supported the spell with dark element.

Although an awakener's constitution is much better than a normal human, in order to increase the body's strength and defense further, people coat their whole bodies with mana.

Seeing the duel was getting serious, Leon did the same. However, his body was covered in white instead of black. I had to block my eyes with my arm because of how shiny it was. Leon had 4 attributes: Earth, Wind, Fire and Light. Right now, he was applying light attribute.

Some elements are superior to some other elements. Just like how water beats fire, light beats dark. So the fight was only getting more unfair as the time passed

They attacked each other once again. This time, both of them were faster. Their clashes became louder. Their manas were trying to repress one another. Slowly Leon's light element began overpowering Ralph's dark element.

*Clang... Clang...*

Leon stamped his foot, following this, chunks of little to medium size rocks flew to the air from the ground. He immediately kicked them towards Ralph. He was using his earth attribute.

Ralph sliced the rocks into two with his mana-coated daggers. However, he soon realized he had fallen into Leon's trap.

While Ralph was distracted by the shooting rocks, Leon had already replaced the light element that was enveloping his body with the wind element. Wind element allowed Leon to move more swiftly. He quickly got behind Ralph and thrusted his sword towards Ralph's neck before Ralph could react.

However, the blade came to a halt only a few centimeters away from Ralph's neck. Everyone held their breaths as the duel had become too intense. After a few seconds, Ember shouted, declaring the winner of the duel.

"The winner of the first duel is Leon Holden!"

As Leon left the arena, Ralph slumped on the ground. Never did he once feel this close to death. He was scared. But then fear gradually turned into anger. He didn't want to believe he was defeated and humiliated in front of the whole class.

He gritted his teeth and left the arena without making a single noise. He was sure he would take his revenge sooner or later.

"Okay! We will proceed with the second duel. Isabelle Clark and Juliet Walter, please come to the stage!"