Chapter 19 I Would Have Won

"A test for the subject happened, that's when we found out Jadel was a failed subject, and in that test his personality completely changed."

"So you're sharing confidential information?" Lucy asked.

"Well, it's not really that confidential. Even if it gets out, no one can do anything about it." Aiden told.

Their conversation trailed off as they shifted their focus to the confrontation between Aaron and Jadel. Jadel just stood there with a poker face, ignoring Aaron's taunts and instead eyeing Jadel with an unsettling intensity.

"Are you ignoring me?" Aaron asked, irritation creeping into his voice.

"No, I'm just accessing who is stronger. And indeed it's you." Jadel replied, a maniac smile spreading across his face. He gripped his dagger tightly, ready for the fight. "You have asked who would have won back then, right? I would have won if the battle continued. And you will die here."

"We will see about that." Aaron said, his tone calm.

"Then shall we start it?" To his answer, Aaron nodded.

Without another word, they launched themselves at each other with a speed that left the other struggling to keep up.

Clang! Swoosh!

Their weapons clashed, fast and relentless. Upon each clash, fierce shockwaves spread throughout the air that left the participants speechless.

'What the– are they going all out from the start?'

The onlookers thought, but little did they know Jadel and Aaron were testing each other's strength.

Clank! Clank! Clank-clank-clank!

Jadel's movement was erratic, unpredictable, yet Aaron matched it all. Stepping backwards, Aaron retreated the spear. Channeling mana, he thrusted the spear at Jadel.

"That's pathetic." Jadel smiled, his smile widening. "But you're better than these weaklings; I will give you that."

In a swift motion, Jadel touches the middle of the spear gently and pushes downward powerfully, causing the spear's trajectory to change and hit the ground.

Boom!

The ground cracked upon the impact, leaving a large crater. Without wasting any time, Jadel slashed his hand.

「Buff Buffet: Speed Boost 3x」

But it missed as Aaron's figure blurred from Jadel's vision, dodging Jadel's slash.

Swoosh! Bam!

"Gahh!" Suddenly, Aaron's kick landed on Jadel's abdomen, causing him to cough blood and send his body flying.

「Buff Buffet: Strength Boost 3x」

「Krieger Style: Luminus Thrust」

Arriving in front of Jadel, he thursted again. "Hahah, that's more like it." With those words, a powerful aura erupted from Jadel, the red veins on his body becoming even darker shades and bulging fiercely. In the midair, he kicked the spear, changing its trajectory again.

BOOM! SWOOSH!

The main cast looked at the fight with wide eyes, trying to comprehend the scale of the fight unfolding before them.

"H-his power level... reached the level of an D+ ranker almost to C-," Lucy said, her voice shaking as her eyes glowed gold, analyzing every move.

"He didn't even go this far when fighting with me." Asher muttered his voice, lacing with disappointment.

To his reply, Lucy spoke, the surprise in her voice growing even more. "Yes, you're weak, Asher." She spoke. "Do you think you can withstand his attack unscathed?"

Asher lowered his head, muttering. "No"

"You can see, Jadel, he took it and still is unscathed. Impossible." Lucy said, her disbelief evident.

"Hahahah! Aaron! You're so good, so extremely good that I'm really craving your blood."

"But can you keep fighting Jadel?" Aaron suddenly asked, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Your body is crumbling."

"True." Lucy agreed. "His body is crumbling. Mana is running wildly through his mana veins. And the weird skill is making it even more powerful that he will have limitless stamina, ever growing strength and speed, but at the cost of destroying his body."

While saying this, her eyes shone brightly. With the skill of her eyes, she could see the berserk mana running wildly inside his body and the unknown skill making it even more powerful.

"Hmm, you're right." Jadel said, rubbing his non-bearded face. "Let's end this fight quickly; I'm sure you're reaching your limits too."

"Then let's begin round two."

「Innate skill: Emperor of the Ocean」

Jadel extended both his arms forward, his hands suspended in the air. His palms faced each other, hovering just inches apart, as if cradling between unseen in them. The air seemed to tremble with the weight of the invincible power gathering in the space between his hands.

With a slow, deliberate motion, he began to twist his wrists, rotating his hands in the opposite directions, as though unlocking the lid of a massive, invisible jar. The moment his movements began, the atmosphere thickened with almost palpable tension.

Argh- Arghaaa!

Then, the first agonizing scream pierced the air, quickly followed by another and another. The crowd of participants, who had been watching in tense and anticipation, suddenly cunvelsed as if struck by an unseen force. Their cries grew louder, more desperate, echoing in the enclosed space as they withered in agony.

It became horrifyingly clear what was happening—Jadel was extracting the very water from their bodies. The pain was unbearable, and their screams filled the room, a cacophony of suffering that drowned out all their sounds, leaving only the horrifying spectacle of bodies contorted and desiccated, skin clinging to bones as if they had been drained of all life.

「Siphon Desiccation」

Everyone around his range of 900 meters were his targets—humans, elves, monsters, everyone included.

'Argh! What the heck is that skill?' Asher thought, trying to endure it but he couldn't do it. Even at a distance of 130 meters, the suction is powerful.

'Are others okay?' He looked at his friends, and they were worse than him. Lucy, Aiden, and Shreya fell on the ground, their bodies slowly withering; the only one who is slightly better than them is Marcus.

'B-but is Aaron okay? Argh! Let's just cast a powerful barrier first. Azu, you can come into the VR world, right? Create a barrier.'

[Request denied. I only help in real world matters, sorry.]

'Shit!'

"G-guys let's t-try to ca-st a b-arrier" Asher spoke, his voice dry. Gathering his mana, he cast a barrier protecting him and his friends, but the barrier's power isn't enough. Mustering the strength, Marcus also created a barrier, followed by Aiden, Shreya, and Lucy. But Jadel's skill is so powerful that even after creating a barrier by these four combining their life force, it still sucked out of it, but still its lower, only 4/10 though.

"Fuck n-ow w-e h…ave to fi-ght…with h-im huh!" Marcus spat in anger, trying his best to not fall down.

"No, No-t yet. Aaron… is still standing."

"What!" This revelation made them surprised; after all, who wouldn't? Even from staying away from Jadel, they couldn't escape his skill, but Aaron, who is close to him, survived; that's really surprising and unbelievable.

Aaron stood there, his poker face changing slightly into a pained expression, but that's all.

"Ha, haha, you're best, Aaron! Truly surprising!" Jadel said, his smile widening in excitement. With his pleasure filled eyes, he looked at Aaron; every time he sucked water out of Aaron's body, his body would instantly regenerate, leaving nothing but a perfect body.

「Innate Skill: Infinite Regeneration」

Jadel made the suction force even stronger. The bodies started to fall and turn into particles, and the absorbed water hovered above his head, taking the form of daggers.

「Innate Skill: Gyrokinesis」

「Combined Skill: Hydro Graviton Dagger」

"The fight's end is nearing, huh." Aaron gripped his spear tightly.

「Buff Buffet: Strength Boost 9x」

「Buff Buffet: Speed Boost 9x」

「Buff Buffet: Agility Boost 9x」

「Buff Buffet: Endurance Boost 9x」

Aaron's body expanded, his muscles and veins bulging all over his body, causing blood to drip from his nostrils as he was enduring more power than he could handle.

"A-Aaron's powe-r… It's e-quivalent to a B- rank." Lucy said, not believing her eyes. "Bu-t he is destr-oying his b-ody."

Jadel extended his hands towards Aaron. "Let's end it." With those words, he sent the hundreds of daggers flying towards Aaron, gravity enforcing its speed and power.

「Krieger Style: Infinite Spear Thrust」

Boom! Boom! Bang!

The air exploded with a series of booms as Aaron's spear clashed against the barrage of daggers. Each thrust met with a dagger head on, shattering it into fragments of water that dissipated into mist.

The ground vibrated, and the trees shook the sheer force of their clashes. Jadel watched, his eyes glinting with maniac delight as he controlled the daggers with deft flicks of his wrist, sending them spiraling towards Aaron from all directions.

"Is this all you got? pathetic Jadel." Aaron growled through gritted teeth, his voice straining against the overwhelming pressure.

His body broke, and blood spilled out from his wounds under the overwhelming pressure Aaron put himself under with his skill, but all of his wounds instantly regenerated without a single scratch, a perfect match for his buff skill, making him overpowered among his peers.

"You're underestimating me, Aaron. From the start, I was never a long-range fighter or a mage." Bloodlust oozed out of his body uncontrollably to the level that the 100 meter radius around him slowly turned to a hue of red. His body also started to turn red, blood falling out of his nostrils and his body expanding.

With a sudden explosive speed, he appeared in front of Aaron, surprising the latter.

Grabbing one of the hovering daggers, he attacked Aaron, aiming to his chest. Before Aaron could block the attack, the dagger turned into mist in front of his face, obstructing his vision.

Using the distraction, Jadel grabbed another dagger, drilling into Aaron's chest.

Kacha! Slick! Slick! Slick!

As the dagger pierced his body, Jadel turned its form into spikes, causing Aaron's chest to look like a porcupine.

Arghaa!

"Muhahah" With Aaron's pained cry, Jadel's pleased laughter resonated. And this laughter continued as Jadel kept on changing its form.

Gritting his teeth, Aaron pulled out the spikes, causing his chest to rip out, and show his damaged lungs that fell to the ground, the broken bones that pierced his lungs. Aaron's legs wobbled, but within seconds, new lungs started to form, and bone and skin started to regenerate.

Keeping the insane smile, Jadel grabbed another dagger, but.

Explode!

As he grabbed his palm, it exploded. "Huh!?" Jadel looked at his right hand, where the palm is missing. Soon his right leg exploded, and he fell to the ground.

Thud!

Aaron didn't attack him but only observed with mixed emotions. "Guess the fight ended, haha," Jadel said.

"Its f-finally over." Lucy said her eyes dimmed slowly. "Jad-el f-inally reached his limit w-with the last boos-t in power."

'It's good that his mana veins got damaged; if we had offended him and this version came out...' Lucy didn't complete her thoughts and just looked at Jadel.

"B-ut why is Aa-ron fight h-him and… re-veal his skil-ls" Lucy looked at Aiden for explanation, but he ignored her and gave a healing potion to Shreya.

"He has hi-s reason." Aiden said.

"What a waste." Aaron said in frustration. "All these efforts are for nothing."

"What are you frustrated about? Because you couldn't see the end?" Jadel asked, his eyes glinting maliciously, as he looked at Aaron's figure, who was touching his chest with a complicated expression.

"What a shit family you have, huh? Just like m–" Before he could speak further, his body exploded into pieces.

"You're right… We indeed have a shit family." He said, rubbing his chest. "And the outcome of the fight, If there were no prying eyes, I could have gone all out." Turning around, he started walking to the main cast. "So could you. What a waste."

***

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In the conference room, the instructors from the Elfilial Academy and vice principal looked at the scene with surprised faces. A single student from the Supreme Royal Academy, their 90 percent students, got wiped out. And the student who subdued him also came from the Supreme Royal Academy.

Vice principal Sebastian didn't pay them any attention; all he was focused on was the student named Jadel Wayner. He looked through Jadel's information and sighed in disappointment.

"How unfortunate for a great talent, truly a waste." Sebastian muttered, looking at Jadel's picture. "But you do have a chance in the future, only if you survive and obtain it."

***

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***

In the VR facility ground, one capsule lit in red with a beep sound, alerting the nearby instructor who is on the watch. Upon noticing it, he rushed to the capsule and opened it.

Szee!

The capsule door opened, pushing the air inside and revealing the figure of a white haired boy; he was unconscious, while blood flooded out of his nose and ears. Seeing this, the instructor quickly took him out and used a skill on his head to ease the mental tension that increased because of the overuse of the VR capsule.

"Medics, there is a student who surpassed the maximum synchronization level." Hearing his call through the smart watch, the medics rushed in and observed his condition quickly.

"Hmm, strange; he has such high mental pressure that a high synchronization level could not cause; we need to quickly move him to the infirmary and calm his mental nerves," the medic said. The instructor nodded and took Jadel and disappeared from his spot.