Strain

A thousand meters in the air, Oliver whistled as he witnessed Noah's transformation. "This kid is really full of surprises." Even while so far, he could glance at every feature of Noah's body with a clear picture. "These Body type Battle arts that he's shown are very splendidly efficient, not much of his Blood Essence is wasted. I wonder which hidden House possesses such arts in their arsenal."

"I'm more surprised that someone at his level could resist a hallucination cast by an Adept Stage Dream Druid." Emilia glanced at the beast that had now found itself on the ground. "Even if his mind is powerful, no boy 12 years of age would be able to resist a druid of that level, maybe I would still believe it if it were a peak Intermediate Stage beast but it is not."

Oliver's brows finally creased for the first time, he wasn't stupid he could understand what his sister was implying by saying that. "You think he is someone who was able to reincarnate?"

She nodded before responding. "I mean it would explain his use of such efficient Battle arts and his rich battle experience."

"But even if he truly reincarnated, it would mean no harm to the academy." Oliver smiled as he thought of the possible implications. "Hell, he would even be considered a genius. At the very least, he is not a Devilsoul master, if not it would be revealed to us immediately he summoned his Battlesouls. But just in case, I'll put him in your class once he is admitted."

Emilia could only sigh at her brother's lackadaisical attitude and nod her head. "Sure, you're the boss."

Oliver laughed, listening to her aggrieved voice. "I am, aren't I?"

Down below, multiple people had also began talking about Noah's brilliant feats. It couldn't be helped, compared to the normal geniuses who had only had to defeat peak Intermediate Stage beasts, as a group of more than 10 no less, Noah had instead defeated a peak Intermediate Stage beast with a group of only 4 and was able to fight toe to toe with an Adept Stage beast.

An Adept Stage Beast! Although there was only one level between a peak Intermediate Stage and Adept Stage, it was still an immensely deep abyss to cross. And yet, Noah a Level 5 Intermediate Stage Battlesoul master was battling a beast of that superior level.

With their gaze on the screen before them, multiple House representatives who had come for the show to scout talented outsiders revealed sparkling eyes. The boy within that screen could be considered a genius among geniuses. Yes, they felt he was strong because of his multiple Body type Battle arts that he had utilized but one had to be a genius to execute those multiple arts and without wasting much of his Essence no less. In their minds, they had already decided to try their hardest at recruiting the youngster before them.

Even the representatives in the other three VIP rooms, representing the 3 of the 4 Great Houses, revealed cunning gazes as they stared at Noah.

And in the fourth room, the man with golden hair creased his brows as he glared at the figure beside him. The figure removed its cloak to reveal a woman with a beautiful face and dark hair with a well-endowed body, a body that now had most of her skin meeting the air due to her clothes that barely made any attempt to cover her beautiful body and then knelt before the man. "Representative! I am sorry for my mistakes! I had no idea that the boy in question was so powerful." As she begged and sobbed, her body shook repeatedly making her large and barely covered breasts to shake sensually.

The man glanced at the large breasts that dangled blow him with a slight flicker flashing across his eyes. "This is not your fault, we couldn't have predicted that he would have such arts in his arsenal. This would also mean that the two mercenaries we hired aren't missing but instead dead, with their trash like Battle arts they'd of course lose to a genius like this. I hope you have disposed of the student who released the Dream Druid."

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Now..." Staring directly at her brown colored eyes with his golden ones, he spoke. "What will you offer me for sparing you of committing such a mistake?"

A relieved smile immediately appeared on the scantily dressed woman as she heard this. "I offer my everything to you, Master! Even my body!"

The man's indifferent face finally melted to reveal a smile. "Your everything?"

"Yes!" With a confident shout, the woman had already began undressing her body. 'Indeed, all men are such slaves to their lust. At least this will guarantee my safety for n…'

"That's fantastic." The representative cut through her thoughts as he rose his hand and made a clenching gesture, rousing his Essence to create multiple blade like golden lights that surrounded the frozen woman. "Unfortunately, this matter has to be kept under wraps. So I'll take your life."

"No s..." A look of panic appeared on the woman's face as she tried to scream out but a blade was quick to cut through her throat. The attack had been extremely precise, only cutting off her vocal cords.

With a condescending gaze, he looked down at her as her expression became one of excruciating agony as she tried and failed to scream out in pain. "I truly hate women who think you can control men with your bodies." A smile appeared on his face as the golden blades descended slowly and easily pierced through her body, they seemed to be extremely hot too as the area around the cuts became to form blisters. "I'm going to enjoy this silent agony of yours, truly another work of art."

With another wave of his hand, more blades appeared before they all sunk into the woman's skin slowly, one inch every second. An expression of pure horror and agony made her face twist while her eyes turned bloodshot. This lasted a full minute, a minute which felt like an eternity of pain to her before she finally died.

Staring at her dead body, the man's smile slowly faded before he looked back at the screen and contemplated his next move.

***

Noah stared at the fallen beast with a gaze so intense, the druid felt the fear that had taken place in its conscience spike. With a snarl, the beast roused its Essence and increased the speed of its regeneration at the cost of its energy.

The moment its ankle healed enough, it pushed itself onto its feet and retreated to the other end of the cave.

Of course Noah would never allow that happen, so he quickly leaned forward before accelerating and catching up with the beast. "Vertical Cleave." Raising and slicing his sword downwards, he was able to mark out a scar on the druid's chest, on running all the way to its abdomen. "Drill Thrust." And with its execution, the beast could only watched as its other hand fell off its body.

Noah smiled, knowing that the battle was nearing its end, an end where he would be the winner. Yet his smile froze as he felt his body stiffen. A sense of weakness then engulfed him as his height reduced and a mind shattering pain assaulted him. He knew what had just happened.

His body could no longer handle the strain of Limit Breaker and had cancelled it subconsciously. Noah's overwhelming advantage had disappeared.