Chapter 7 - 3x3.

(Luke's POV)

I left Sophia behind and headed for the arena the teacher had indicated. The reason we came here is that we're going to have combat training. According to the teacher, the groups will be formed by three students. The room is composed of a total of 30 students, divided into groups of 3, totaling 10 groups.

The groups were formed by the teacher himself, he was pointing to the students and forming. The most powerful group was Arthur's group. The teacher placed him, Serina and Carina in the same group, forming a group of heroes. The reason is quite simple, he wants to make these three gain experience fighting together. Only Angelica was left out.

Angelica was left out of the hero group, but to my surprise, she was placed in my group, along with Mary. Sophia, who arrived later, was placed with a group of girls she knew in the room. After the formation of all the groups, the professor informed that this group will be permanent until the end of the year, in addition to carrying out the tests together.

The teacher informed that the class will be simulated battles with wooden weapons and low-grade spells, that is, 3x3. The duels were organized according to the power of each group, the strongest against the strongest and the weakest against the weakest. For this reason, my group will face the hero group. The professor must believe that Mary and I, receiving support from Angelica, possess a power that rivals the group of heroes.

Leaving six people in the arena, the other students and I went to the stands to watch the duel that was about to begin. Mary and Angelica stayed by my side. Mary was in the middle of me and Angelica, separating us.

"I'm glad to be in the same group as you. Now we can get even stronger together." said Mary.

"Honestly, I was relieved to hear your name put in the same group as mine. It would be hard to be in a group with unknown people, especially knowing that most of them must not like me."

"Do you think we can win?"

"I don't think you're inferior to Serina when it comes to spells, and I don't fall behind Arthur in swordplay. The only problem is Carina."

"She is very strong physically."

"I'd say she's a stronger hero now. She's a knight who fights with a shield and a spear."

Carina uses her shield to defend against physical and magical attacks, and uses a spear to pierce the opponent. In the group of heroes, the hardest work is hers. She is like a barrier that defends and at the same time attacks. To be honest, the group of heroes is well-balanced. They have Arthur, who can fight at close range with a sword, Serina, a sorceress who launches a long-range attack, Carina, a knight who is like a barrier, and Angelica, who can use healing magic.

"Angelica." I called her.

"Y-yes?"

"What are the spells Serine can use. I need to confirm."

"She can use spells related to sunlight."

That's what I thought, the sun. I knew she was capable of using light-related spells, but which light? Sunlight. Now it makes sense for the church symbol of the God of light to be a sun. It's complicated magic that will cause difficulties for Mary, who is a mage who uses ice magic.

"I see. Mary, the first thing we must do is protect Angelica."

"I thought about that too."

"Protect?"

"Yes. You are the one who will guarantee us an equal fight against them using your healing and support magic."

I thought of a strategy that could give us an advantage over them, but for it to work, I need Angelica's cooperation.

[Eyes of the lord.]

Name: Angelica

Age: 18

Profession: Holy of light

Magic Power: Rank -A.

Her magic power is in the beginning stage of Rank A, while mine is in the middle stage of Rank B. I looked at the place where the group of heroes was.

[Eyes of the Lord]

Name: Arthur

Age: 18

Profession: Sword Hero.

Magic Power: Rank A+

Name: Serina

Age: 18

Profession: Sorceress/Mage of Light.

Magic Power: One Rank

Name: Carina

Age: 18

Profession: Knight of Light.

Magic Power: Rank A.

Looking at the information, Arthur's magic power is the strongest of heroes, just as you can imagine. However, magic power is not everything in a fight. A person may have reached the sss level of magic power, but it's no use if he doesn't have experience. Magic power aligned with battle experience are the things that shape a warrior's foundation.

"Angelica, I know it must be hard for you to fight your teammates, but do it for them. The harder the challenge, the stronger they become. Think about it."

"Right."

After a while, it was finally our turn. I went towards the place where the wooden weapons are and took a sword, beside me, I saw Cerina carrying a spear and a shield, along with Arthur.

"I'm looking forward to the fight. Finally, a strong opponent who is not from the hero group appeared in the room." said Carina.

"I'm looking forward to it, too. I want to see your strength in person." said Arthur.

"Right."

I turned my back and walked towards Mary and Angelica. On the other side were Arthur, Serina, and Carina in formation.

"All ready?" the teacher asked.

After confirming.

"Begin!."

....

(POV Teacher.)

This is the fight I was looking forward to seeing. On one side, the group of heroes, which had Carina holding her shield and spear, Arthur and Serina in formation. They were in a triangle shape, with Carina in the front, Arthur and Serina in the back. And on the other side, also in the shape of a triangle, was Luke and Mary in the front, while Angelica was in the back.

Carina intends to act as a Tank, taking the first critical hits and countering with her spear, protecting the other two and giving them spaces to attack. It's a powerful formation when they move in sync.

"Begin!"

I started the fight. Wasting no time, Angelica casts a spell on Luke, increasing his strength and speed. At the same time, Mary casts an ice spell towards enemies. Sensing danger approaching from the ground, Carina raises her shield and applies magic power to it in order to defend against magic.

Unlike everyone's expectations, the ice magic doesn't hit Carina, but expands to form a wall of ice in front of the three of them. With a smile on her face, Serina casts a spell of light to break the barrier. When the spell collided with the wall, it broke and several pieces of ice boulders flew away.

[Hydra God Footsteps]

As soon as the wall was broken, Luke used magic on himself and moved at an incredible speed towards Carina, who, seeing Luke approaching, tried to hit him using her spear point. However, to everyone's surprise, Luke dodged it and with an incredible momentum he went for Serina.

In short, he pretended he was going to attack Carina, so the other two would let their guard down. In the end, it worked. As he approached Serina, he moved the wooden sword horizontally and hit Serina's side, who didn't have time to react. Upon receiving the impact, Serina's body flew across the arena and crashed into the wall, then passed out.

It was a brilliant move and well executed. Mary used the ice wall to block the three opponents' view, while Angelica used magic to increase Luke's strength and speed. When Serina broke through the barrier, Luke used [Hydra God's Footsteps] to increase her speed even more and catch opponents off guard. Everything happened very quickly.

Arthur, who couldn't react and saw his mate get hit, finally swung into action and went for Luke. Mary, who saw Carina destroyed, launched ice arrows in her direction. Sensing the arrows approaching, Carina used her shield to defend, while Luke parried Arthur's attack with his sword.

Arthur was swinging his sword gracefully and powerfully, but Luke never lagged behind him. What caught my attention was the way Luke fights, he looks like an experienced warrior who has lived through several battles. He can analyze Arthur's every move and defend without taking any damage. Their fight feels like a veteran wrestling with a rookie taking up a sword for the first time in his life.

On the other side, Mary is pressing Carina with ice spells, she launches one attack after another, preventing Carina from countering. Defending this amount takes a lot of strain on Carina, however, casting too many spells in a row also generates some fatigue. Mary was supposed to be out of breath, however, Angelica was using her magic to minimize all Mary's tiredness.

Suddenly, Carina leapt to the side, deflecting the magic, and dropped her shield, leaving only her spear. Again, Mary cast spells in Carina's direction, who used her spear to defend. Moving the spear at incredible speed, Carina was destroying all of Mary's spells and moving towards her.

On Luke's side, he decided to attack Arthur. With quick, powerful movements that Arthur could barely defend, Luke swung his sword. Jumping back, Arthur, feeling pain through his body, tried to inject magic power into his sword in order to use an ability. However, Luke approached him quickly, seeing the sword cut diagonally, Arthur moved his to try to defend. However, it was a feint.

Luke kicked Arthur in the knee, making him kneel, then punched him in the face, sending blood flying. On the other hand, Carina's physical exhaustion began to affect her defense even more. The ice spells Mary cast cut through Carina's body, causing blood to flow from the wounds.

This situation was only possible due to the initial movement. The group of heroes has four pillars, if one of those pillars breaks, the group collapses. Luke broke one of these pillars early on when he knocked out Serina. If she was awake, her magic would nullify Mary's, preventing Carina from going through this situation. Not only that, if she was awake, she could attack Angelica, preventing her from using magic on Luke and Mary.

I don't know who thought of this strategy, but it was brilliant. Victory is almost guaranteed. But to my surprise, I see Serina slowly getting up. Upon realizing the situation she finds herself in by analyzing the surrounding situation, she quickly tried to do something. Gathering magical power, she casts a powerful spell in Luke's direction.

Feeling the spell approaching, Luke took a step back, dodging. However, the spell went towards Angelica, who froze as she saw the magic approaching. Luke, using magic [hydra God footsteps], ran towards Angelica and pushed her. As a result, the magic hit Luke, causing him to pass out.

"Stop fighting." .

It's better to stop now. There are four students with serious injuries.

.....

(Luke's POV)

A pleasant sensation coursed through my body, a pleasant, comforting warmth. Slowly, I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was a blonde girl, it was Angelica.

"Where am I?"

"Oh, you woke up. We're in the infirmary."

I remember that when I saw the magic heading towards Angelica, I saw an opportunity. She sees me with eyes of fear, so I had to change that about her to get closer. Also, the mood in our group would not be good. So I forgot about the fight and decided to save Angelica.

"How long did I sleep?"

"About 40 minutes. After you got hurt, the teacher brought you to the infirmary and came back to finish class. Only after class was over, was I able to help you."

"I understand, thank you."

"No.. I have you to thank. You saved me, if there's anything I can do."

[Angelica has changed the way she thinks about you.]

My plan worked. This is a great achievement, in one day I made her look at me with different eyes.

"Don't worry about it. Healing me is enough."

"No, I owe you a debt."

"Right."

"Now, you should rest. I have something to do, so I'm going."

Angelica turned and left, leaving me alone. Obviously, I wasn't going to rest. I have training with Elizabeth today at the palace and I can't miss the first day. Also, Angelina's healing magic has healed my wounds, and I am brand new. I got up and opened the door to the infirmary, to my surprise, I found myself with Mary.

"Oh, are you awake? Where are you going?"

"I have an appointment now."

"Really? I wanted to have lunch with you."

"Well, maybe I have time for lunch. Shall we?"

"Yes."

I started walking towards the cafeteria with Mary smiling at my side. In the cafeteria, we had lunch together and said goodbye at the end. After lunch, I went to the imperial palace, using my magical powers quickly I arrived. Using magic powers to move is much faster than using a carriage.

I went to the imperial palace training arena, yesterday when I came, Elizabeth informed me where I should meet her. The arena is a closed place with walls, but it is open in the ceiling. As I arrived, I saw a beautiful woman with a sword, sitting in a chair in front of a table, in which was the Empress Margaret.

Inside this training place, it has a covered area that prevents the entry of the sun. There, there was a table and chair made for the empress. When I see her, I bow respectfully.

"I greet your empress."

"Right. You're punctual, you arrived just in time."

"Let's stop chit-chatting. Show me what you're capable of." said Elizabeth.

"What?"

"During your fight at the entrance ceremony you didn't use your all. I want you to show me, so let's begin our training."

[Mission: Survive 5 minutes against Elizabeth.

Reward: Evolution of [Eyes of the Lord]

I received a very interesting mission. Smiling, I pick up the same sword I used for the entrance ceremony for my storage ring.

"Get ready, I'm coming."

....

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