90 Chapter 79 - The Phoenix Emerges

The crowd of students started to run around. Basic etiquette meant nothing to them anymore. They were slamming into others, but they didn't care at all. All that mattered was to find their duo partner during these 5 minutes.

The weaker students fell onto the dirt, getting trampled by the strong. It was a disgusting sight. This scene made Griff question himself on why the hell he even came to this place, what was there to gain from a hell hole like this where social disparity was so evident... oh yeah, he was forced to, kinda.

He didn't have time to help anyone who was struggling amongst the crowd, for he didn't have a lot of time in the first place as well. 23, he had to find the other person, and he had to fast. As far as he could tell his partner was no where near him, so that meant he'd have to run straight into the chaos unfolding in front of him.

"One minute has passed."

No more hesitation! Griff grit his teeth and without looking back at the shocked expression of his classmates and friends he dived straight in.

"49, 13, 75... nope... not him either, or her."

He kept pushing people who tried to run past him or ran into him.

"22... damn so close."

"2 minutes have passed! Come on you brats! I don't got all day."

It seemed that the instructor was getting annoyed.

'Yeah you and me both buddy... I got to wipe your annoying smirk off your face someday.'

A kid tan straight into Griff, knocking him down while he was thinking.

"Watch it you commoner!"

The boy shouted at him before standing up and running away to try to find his partner.

Griff, however, didn't have time to lose. He forcibly got up, and kept pushing.

"...35...23!"

He saw the glowing numbers of 23. They were glowing across the entire chaos. Whoever his partner was he/she had stood away from the chaos.

"Four minutes have passed."

Griff made his way out of the madness, and ran towards the glowing number. He was out of breath from the shoving and pushing so he stood kneeling, catching his breath.

"Time's up! Stop your charade this instant."

The chaos instantly stopped, and students started to fix up their attire as if the previous scene had never happened.

"Alright let me see your hands. Who didn't find their partners."

A few seconds later, about a dozen arms were raised in shame. Griff sighed in relief that none of them were his friends.

"Okay, start packing your things. You're expelled."

The students who were just expelled simply stood there in shock. No one had expected to see 12 students expelled so fast in a single day...

"ARE YOU DEAF? GET OUT OF HERE!"

The students started to slowly walk away, whimpering like kicked puppies.

Griff's eyes slowly cracked into anger, but he quickly composed himself. It was what it was here, a brutal world.

He looked to his left to finally look at his partner. He came face to face with a long, blue haired girl wearing the uniform of the Gilded Kings. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she looked pretty inexpressive to say the least.

"A Phoenix, huh? This is a waste of my time... let's just get this over with."

She dismissively said as she waved her hand nonchalantly.

Griff's eye twitched but he wasn't going to let his temper get the better of him.

"Yeah nice to meet you too. Giving a fuck about what you think really doesn't go with my outfit."

Suddenly there was silence around Griff, and a few mutterings. The girl simply looked at him in shock for a second with her eyes twitching furiously, but she held it in, and with a not so pleasant smile she spoke up.

"Yeah scratch that, I guess you won't be that much of a waste of time for me as a good sandbag."

Griff simply clicked his tongue and turned away. He didn't care anymore, he wouldn't hide his true thoughts. He would always be honest with himself.

"Alright brats, spread out! The courtyard is big enough for all of you. Let there be at least 10 meters between you and others and you and your opponent. Start when I give the signal."

The students started to spread out. A couple seconds later Griff was facing the blue haired girl, both looking at each other as if they were each others mortal enemy. Griff put on his gloves, and the lacrima lit up. He cracked his fist and neck. He was definitely more muscular than he used to be.

His opponent, however, simply kept her eyes locked to him with hatred and concentration.

"ALL OF YOU! BEGIN YOUR DUELS!"

And that... that was the signal alright...

The blue haired girl opened her mouth and breathed... as she exhaled the air around her seemed to get... colder?

"Blizzard Magic: Glacier."

And in an instant... A 20 meter tall glacier sprouted. The water vapor around Griff had instantaneously condensed to form a thick glacier of ice, and he was encased inside it!

"Woah... kinda overkill for a Phoenix."

"Didn't you hear man? The guy insulted her."

"Is he mad? Insulting a Duke's daughter?!"

"Seems like it..."

About 50 of the students around them had stopped their duels to examine what had suddenly transpired, most feeling pity for the poor Phoenix who had lost so easily, some thinking this was a funny sight.

The girl sighed, and turned around, waving her hand towards where the Professors were, getting mostly approving nods from them except for Julius who was at the back, looking at Griff with sadness.

'That kid... he just had to anger HER of all people... Anastasia Volkarov... the Duchess of Frost.'

However, no one had noticed what was going on with the glacier. It was turning into a reddish color.

Somebody had luckily noticed it.

"Um... hey! The glacier, something's happening to it!"

Anastasia turned back to come face to face with a scene that would go on to shock her for weeks... something she had never expected to see.

Griff was walking inside the glacier towards her, and the ice around him was melting at improbable rates. The shocking thing was... he hadn't used explosive power to achieve this. He was...

'He coated his entire body with fire...'

Griff's grin could now be seen behind the ice. He was only a meter to breaking through now...

He gave a devilish grin as his face made contact with the outer most area of the glacier, and in a few seconds he stepped out of the glacier, unscathed.

"Well well well, now that was a new experience. It's not everyday that I get to be stuck inside a glacier."

This scene had drawn the Professors attention... for no one that had faced Anastasia had broken free of her ice while encased.

Julius was the most shocked of them all, yet he felt his blood pumping.

'He emerged out of sub zero temperatures using fire, like he was reborn... heh...'

A few seconds later Julius's chuckling could be heard.

"Oi Julius! What's so funny?"

"Well... I might have just seen a Phoenix reborn in front of me..."