13 Who Said I Was A Liar?

The class went silent.

They all stared at Arata who was standing perfectly calm within the circle, yet everyone could see there was fire in his eyes, even Akari knew that it wasn't his facade and he wasn't putting on an act.

He was pissed off.

His vicious gaze moved across the room. No one was willing to speak up under his terrifying and piercing stare. He grunted impatiently. He pointed at one of the students.

"You. Name."

The student that was being pointed at froze. His eyes widened in shock. All those around him stared at him in fear, inching themselves away like he had some sort of contagious disease. He stammered in response.

"I-I am M-Ma....I'm Matoki."

Arata lowered his arm.

"You said that I won by a fluke. Please come down and let me prove your statement wrong. Or stay seated and prove yourself weak."

Matoki frowned at the provocation. Everyone in the class was hailed as young monsters, so he naturally wouldn't take just take these taunts without retaliating. Although Arata's gaze was indeed terrifying, Matoki wasn't in Class 7 for nothing. He wasn't going to let some new kid push him around. He stood up and walked down. He looked over at Teacher Takuma and Akari. Teacher Takuma nodded while Akari just sat down and looked up at Arata.

Matoki walked up on stage. He bowed. Arata just stood there, coldly looking Matoki. Matoki got angrier. As did the class.

"He's too disrespectful!"

"Teach him a lesson Matoki!"

"Smash the cocky punk!"

Matoki lowered himself to the ground and began chanting. His body slowly began to morph and change. Dragon scales began to form over his arms and body. Arata raised his eyebrow slightly.

"The Lightning Dragon bloodline. Not bad. Let me see what you got."

As Matoki prepared to pounce, Arata stayed still, not moving an inch. Then he closed his eyes. Matoki leaped forward, raising his right hand, which was now a golden claw, he slashed at Arata's body. Just before he made contact with Arata, Arata opened his eyes.

Matoki was slightly scared as time seemingly slowed and he was horrified by what he saw. It looked as if Arata's eyes were hollow. More than that, it was just black. Darkness. He felt like if he kept staring at it he would be lost in it forever. Fear rose in his heart. His instincts were screaming at him that he was in danger.

The next thing he knew he was on the other side of Arata, like he had passed right through him. The class were confused; they were confused as to what just happened. They had all seen Matoki about to strike Arata, but then he was suddenly behind Arata. They didn't know how he moved so quickly or what happened.

Even Teacher Takuma was confused. She was an extremely powerful warrior with well trained eyes, yet even she couldn't catch what had happened. The whole room was completely stunned by what they had just witnessed.

All except Akari. As everyone was trying to recover and Matoki stood there confused as to what had happened, Arata stared into Akari's eyes. She understood that that move was for her. He knew that she would've seen his father at some point, just as he had seen her father. He knew that anyone who had seen his father battle would know this move.

The First Sempiternal Art: Dark Time.

One of the hardest Sempiternal Art's to master and use, it involves absorbing the time within a certain area, essentially making all that happens within that area appear to have stopped or, if the user chooses, to have never happened before, completely erasing the portion of time from reality. Currently, the furthest Arata can go with this is 1cm around his body, slightly more if he concentrates on a certain point. But if he had a higher Mastery like his Father, this area could cover a wide area, making the user essentially the master of time within his area of influence. The instant Matoki entered his field of range, he was able to push his time forward to where he had already past him, completely skipping having ever struck or hit Arata.

It was the strongest move Arata could currently use, but it was a huge risk as it consumed a lot of energy. As well as the major backlash if it was done incorrectly. But he had enough control to know that he could use it here. With his grasp on his opponent's Physical Enhancements and his posture, in addition to the fact that Arata wasn't allowed to move from the circle, Arata quickly determined the speed and timing for when Matoki would be in range.

Arata turned around to where Matoki, who was still confused and affected by the sense of dread he had felt, was just standing there stunned. Arata placed his hand on his shoulder, still not leaving the circle. Matoki felt his energy leaving his body through his shoulder. He fell to the floor like rock. With Matoki's energy, Arata had replenished a bit of his power. At least enough to continue fighting.

Everyone stared in shock at Matoki who had just collapsed on the floor. Arata looked at Akari. She looked back stunned. She could tell what he was trying to say.

"Is this enough to prove who I am?"

Akari knew that the Sempiternal Art: Dark Time not only took a lot of Energy to use, but the level of control and depending on one's Mastery would dictate the size of the area. Clearly, Arata didn't have an extremely high Mastery of it, but he still used such a risky move that required impeccable timing and precision. But he used this risky method to prove his words true to her. She gave him a look of understanding. Akari looked at one of the students and made a small gesture; the student shakily nodded, went on stage and dragged Matoki off. Arata then looked back at the stunned students.

"Who said I was a liar?"

The room went cold. Even Akari felt a chill from how Arata spoke. There was a cold hate that was evident in his voice. There were a few students who had called him a liar. They were all looking at each other nervously. Akari inwardly giggled to herself.

'So you proved yourself to me, let's see you prove yourself to the rest of the class.'

Arata smirked.

"No problem if you don't want to come here alone. You may all come at once. Who said I was a liar? Step forward."

Arata spoke very evenly, but everyone could feel the icy tone attach to their spines. One student stood up from the back. He had long red hair tied up in a ponytail. He seemed to have ripped the sleeves off of his uniform giving him a rugged, delinquent look. He had the face and demeanour to match.

"He's just one person. We can beat him."

The students looked at each other and nodded. They would do this together.

"He can't take us all on."

"We'll regain our honor."

"Let's smash him as one."

7 students, the students who called him a liar, came down to the stage. They stood in a circle around Arata. Arata smiled. He knew that this wouldn't be easy, these were top students. However, he wasn't ordinary either. He got into the stance he had used back in the dorm and began circulating his energy.

The Third Sempiternal Art: Vitality Bestowal.

Akari visibly shook. She remembered this stance. Just like her father had helped train Arata, his father had helped train her. She spent three weeks attacking Azrail, the Angel of Death, while he just stood there in that same stance. And every move she threw was redirected back to her. No matter how she approached, she couldn't gain an upper hand. Every angle she struck from was thwarted by this stance.

She laughed as she realized that Arata had gone easy on her in their fight. If he used this move from the beginning, she would have been defeated in an instant.

Teacher Takuma noticed Akari's behaviour. Does she really believe that this is the son of the Angel of Death? It would make sense that she would know of the moves that he is using if he truly is from the Sato Clan. The Sato and the Ise Clan were not only the strongest Clan's, but they were also the closest as the heads of the Clan's were brothers in combat and close friends.

The students around Arata were ready to begin. The red haired student eyed up Arata. There was a gleam in his eyes that told Arata that he wasn't normal. The red haired student seemed to be thinking thoroughly about something as he looked at Arata. He looked at the other students and nodded.

"Charge!"

The students charged at him. Two of the seven were clearly speed based as they were the first to reach Arata. One swept low with a kick while the other leaped in for a high attack. Arata began to move, catching the kick first. His hand hit the student's leg and the students force and momentum stopped dead in its tracks.

Arata felt that this student had a metallic energy and he was extremely solid and powerful. The perfect energy for Vitality Bestowal.

Arata directed the energy through him and kept it in his core. As he did this, the other student came from the side with a punch. The students fist seemed to glow with a purple energy. Darkness.

Arata caught his fist, causing the student to stop in mid air. Arata stole his energy as well, inwardly sighing at how impure the Dark energy was. It was really weak to him considering who his father was.

The three were frozen in time for a millisecond. During that time, Arata took all the energy and force from the two students and used Vitality Bestowal to make them both his own. He then redirected the energy from the student who kicked him into the student with the dark energy and vice versa.

The student mid air was flung upwards violently; the metallic energy had a lot of force behind it. The other student was forced back and into the stage as an explosion of Dark energy burst out of Arata's hand.

The other students were still charging in towards him except for the red haired student who frowned at how things were going. His gaze curious.

'Can this kid really be his son?'