16 The Culprit (4)
CLANG!
THUD!
"The winner is Class B!" Lilian's voice rang out, marking the end of a grueling battle between the two classes.
It took a lot of time... after all, the hot head in Class C was quite strong and took half of Class B alone, but the other students in his class were quite weak, so...
They ended up losing anyway.
"And now... it's time for the final showdown to determine the competition's champion! Class B versus Class F!"
"And since this is the last bout, we'll switch things up and have a team-versus-team battle instead of one-on-one matchups."
"All students from each class will enter the arena, and the last team standing will be declared the winner!"
"Now, please make your way to the arena."
Upon hearing Lilian's instructions, students from both Class B and Class F headed towards the arena.
However, Matthew was quite annoyed at this. Ninety percent of his power was sealed due to James, and he couldn't do anything about it.
And now, Lilian wanted to do a team-versus-team battle.
"Roxanne, you'll take care of this for me, won't you?" Matthew spoke.
"Mhm? I don't know what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"Ah~, alright. I'll take care of Class B. However, you must go on a date with me after the Class Awakening Ceremony."
"..."
"What? I think it's a pretty reasonable condition." Roxanne pouted.
"I'll take care of Class B myself." Matthew fastened his steps.
"H-huh!? Why would you say that!?"
Reaching the arena, Matthew stretched his arms before his eyes landed on his opponents.
"Oh, it seems that I'm the bait here." He exclaimed.
Matthew could tell that everyone's eyes were right on his body.
'Did James tell his students to focus on me? Probably...' Matthew's eyes narrowed as they landed on James.
'He's talking with Lilian...?' Matthew tilted his head.
What could James possibly be talking with Lilian about?
"Hey, why can't you simply go on a date with me?" Roxanne tapped his shoulder and asked, crossing her arms.
"Why would I go on a date with you?"
"Cause why not?"
"..."
RING!
Suddenly, the ring that supposingly starts the initiation of each battle rang out, and Matthew's posture immediately changed upon hearing it.
"Focus on Matthew!" a student from Class B commanded.
Without hesitation, they closed in around Matthew, disregarding the other students, including Roxanne.
"Magic Array, activate!" they chanted in unison.
Suddenly, Matthew sensed a shift beneath him and swiftly leaped into the air, swinging his sword in a diagonal arc.
Splurt!
"ARGHHH!" A pained cry erupted from a student as Matthew's blade sliced through their chest.
Apparently, this magic array granted invisibility for the students of Class B, but that wouldn't work on Matthew.
The instant the Magic Array appeared in front of Matthew...
The trait [Mana Genius] has been activated...
Magic Array successfully analyzed!
Invisible Array—2 Star Array; Follow the magic particles, and you'll easily see your opponents.
His trait was immediately activated to the maximum, so Matthew can easily perceive where his opponents are.
"Seriously? Did you guys think that a 2-star array would be enough against me?" Matthew started walking towards the weak point of the array.
"T-that's impossible! Even if you knew what kind of array it is, you couldn't so easily see your enemies." Someone stammered, and his voice was filled with fear.
Hearing his words, Matthew smiled.
"This won't lie to me." He pointed to his eyes, which had a red spade symbol, and at that single moment, the symbol turned pitch black.
ZOOM!
Suddenly, every student from Class B who was invisible turned normal; however, Matthew himself turned invisible.
"!!!"
At that single moment, James stood up from his seat.
"T-that...! He overwrote the entire array in such a short time!?" He loudly exclaimed, attracting the attention of the entire audience.
Lilian simply smiled and spoke to James.
"I warned you~" Her lips curled into a seductive smile as her eyes remained on Matthew's figure, which was invisible.
However, his figure obviously wouldn't escape the eyes of someone as powerful as her.
Freeze...!
And if that wasn't enough, everyone from Class B turned into frozen statues as a chilling cold covered the entire arena.
Then Matthew stepped on the ground, and the array he had taken control of had been destroyed.
In the middle of the frozen statues, Matthew stood with a faint smile on his lips, looking directly at James.
He turned his thumb upside down as he exclaimed.
"Weak!"
His words directly reached James, who was clenching his fists tightly, and in that single moment, he disappeared from the crowd.
Matthew simply sighed at his actions.
Crack...!
He snapped his finger, and the frozen statues came back to normal, but all the students that were frozen had passed out.
"Healers!" Lilian called out, and immediately a bunch of people wearing green robes appeared out of nowhere.
They immediately used healing magic on them.
"AHHHH!" One of the students woke up with a loud scream.
And he wasn't the only one...
"NOOOOOOOO!!"
There were a few more students who were now completely scared of Matthew, and they probably wouldn't dare to challenge him again.
"Yikes... Did I use too much strength?" Matthew wondered, looking at the students from Class B.
'Tsk... I'm on my fucking limit again. Because of that bitchy professor, I almost got out of control for using [Spades]...'
"You didn't; they're just weak." A familiar voice reached out to his ears.
Instantly, he felt sweat forming on his forehead, and his movements had completely stopped.
"Professor Lilian." He turned around with a faint smile.
Seeing the woman in front of him, Matthew only smiled. He was pretty sure that Lilian had been wanting to talk to him for a long time.
"Do you need something?" asked Matthew.
"Yes, so come to my office after the Class Awakening Ceremony." Lilian didn't spare a single second and went straight to the point.
"A-ah... about that, I'm quite busy. So, could it be arrang—"
"No. It needs to be after the Class Awakening Ceremony." She interrupted him directly.
Hearing her words, Matthew sighed.
"Can I refuse?"
"If you dare to... but... there are going to be a few consequences....!"
"Like what? You're not my professor anymore."
"And so what? My authority here at the school is actually pretty high. Oh, I know... How about this..."
"What?"
"If you come to my office later, I'll bring you back to Class A—"
"—Deal." Matthew instantly agreed.
He took a step forward and shook her hands with a big smile.
"Glad doing business with you!" He smiled like an angel; there were a few stars shining around him and everything.
'This brat...' Lilian's smile twitched.
With that, Matthew immediately left on the direction of his professor. Now they were going to be taken to the Class Awakening Ceremony after all.
.
.
.
.
.
After a few minutes, they finally reached the place...
Matthew and the other students stepped into a vast, majestic hall, enveloped in an ethereal glow.
The ceiling soared high above them, adorned with enormous and magnificent chandeliers that cast a radiant light in every direction.
In the center of the hall, a striking illustration of a beautiful woman with angelic wings holding a crystal ball captivated their attention, its intricate details shimmering in the ambient light.
"Welcome everyone! The Class Awakening Ceremony will be starting! Each student will be assigned a number, and they will then wait for their number to be called."
"So, please be patient!"
An old man dressed in priestly clothes spoke with a gentle smile.
Tap!
In that instant, a paper appeared in front of each student with a single number on it.
'666... quite the unlucky number, heh.' Matthew smiled to himself.
"W-wait! Is he a High-Level Priest!?"
"A-ah, really!? Isn't it very difficult to make a demand for them? After all, those who have a Priest Class are very rare and highly valued!!"
"Yeah... even a Low-Level Priest would be quite rare."
Some of the students started whispering to themselves; after all, a Low-Level Priest can even be compared to a Viscount.
'Is it really that rare...?' Matthew wondered.
He didn't know much about the novel, since now he's reaching the last chapter that he read, which was the awakening of Stacy.
'I didn't read it because I was already pissed off about the male leads all saying good luck to Stacy in the most 'romantic' way...'
'Stacy... must have awakened a holy-related class... Whatever, I'll just wait and see the results.'
'On the contrary... I'm more excited about my class...!'
