The Academy's Competition (VI)

"So, you're the moonlight swordsman, huh?"

As soon as I stepped into the center of the arena, the huge tiger murmured as he scrutinized me from head to toe, his piercing gaze landing on my eyes.

He let out a small chuckle and extended a giant hand towards me.

"I'm Agnar, it's a pleasure to meet you."

My gaze briefly met his hand before switching to his eyes.

With a small smile, I also extended my hand and shook his.

Clench...!

"Haa..."

At that moment, his lips curved into a wide smirk as his pupils enlarged, and then, a crushing force started smashing my hand.

But to his surprise...

"Muscle-brained animals are really easy to predict."

I laughed before my expression turned cold.

A faint layer of mana enveloped my entire hand and then, it was my time to squeeze his hand back.

Even with two A-rank attributes—strength and vitality—what good are they when your mana level is only D-rank?

Pure strength alone is one of the worst investments in a fight.

"Haagh!"

A cry of pain reached my ears as his face contorted in pain, trying to shake my hand off his.

"What did you expect?"

I asked him as I increased my strength.

"Did you really think you could win against me with only pure strength?"

His face twisted in anger and a vein bulged on his forehead as he swung a massive fist at me, immediately, I twisted my body, dodging his punch, and used his momentum against him.

With a sharp pivot, I threw him over my shoulder.

Thud!

Agnar's massive body slammed against the ground, dust, and debris scattering on impact.

"Student Aestrea... the match hasn't begun yet."

A loud voice reached us, and it was unmistakably the headmistress of the Eternum Royal Academy.

She flew above the protective barrier on her magic broom, her long purple hair swaying in the wind, topped with her signature witch hat.

Her name was Eleonora, and she was the current strongest mage as well as the headmistress of the Eternum Royal Academy.

My information about her was very limited, but I knew that she could easily cast 9th-level spells which could be considered calamity spells since they could potentially destroy an entire country alone.

However, she never appeared in her academy, even to help fight against the demons which was quite weird.

"Alright, alright..."

 I held my hands up in the air, to which I received an even colder stare from her.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, but she kind of hates me.

Well, Aestrea or I rejected to be her disciple over three times already, leaving her completely mad over that matter.

"Hmmph."

She scoffed before disappearing from my view.

It was at that time that the announcer's voice finally rang out, breaking the silence of the arena, and officially starting our fight.

"Let the first round... begin!"

Swoop!

The moment the words left the announcer's mouth, Agnar dashed toward me.

His claws extended, glinting like steel, as he swung a powerful strike at my chest.

I immediately brought out my sword, and parried his claws, creating faint sparks that flew as his claws clashed against the blade, the sheer force driving me back slightly.

Of course, I was being pushed back by him, his strength is thoroughly superior.

But none of those mattered when it came to mana.

So, it was almost impossible for him to win.

Zooom!

A layer of mana covered my sword, causing him to step back cautiously. Then, he dropped to all fours and dashed towards me again.

Clang!

Clang!

He began to leap and attack, creating distance between us before swinging his claws at me and then jumping away to strike again.

He repeated this tactic for a few seconds until I finally...

"Caught it."

Grabbed his tail without any hesitation.

With a firm grip, I swung him down toward the ground. 

"GRRR!" 

Thud!

He let out a growl as his face slammed against the earth.

But it wasn't over; still holding onto his tail, I started swinging him around, making his face hit the ground multiple times.

Thud!

Bam!

However, he then escaped my hands.

"C'mon, kitty."

I let out a small smile, stepping closer to him.

"This is getting boring for me."

But this time, I was surprised by his actions.

Instead of him getting irritated, Agnar's furious expression melted into a wide, unnerving grin.

"Seal!"

He declared, and suddenly a bright magic pattern appeared beneath me.

I felt the flow of my mana in my body stop.

"Sealing my mana power, huh?"

I glanced at the glowing circle and nodded, almost impressed.

"Smart."

He likely understood that he couldn't win against me if I used mana, and despite having low-level mana, he still possessed enough quantity to cast this sealing spell.

"Hahah~, now, do you think you can win?"

His eyes turned murderous, and he looked at me like I was some kind of prey.

"Actually... I've been holding back my power, and you're the only strong enough opponent for me to use this form..."

"You should be honored!" he declared loudly with a crazy smile.

In that instant, his fur began to shift to a brighter shade of white, and his height increased by more than fifty centimeters.

His claws became sharper as a deep white layer of mana enveloped his body.

The Divine White Tiger's bloodline.

I couldn't believe that I had met his bearer.

This was indeed going to be a problem.

...

Everyone was watching Aestrea's battle from their respective station, and one could easily notice that things now had been complicated for him.

He had his mana sealed, and his opponent was revealed to be the bearer of the Divine White Tiger's bloodline, one of the four mythical beasts.

Amongst them, was Ella, whose face changed repeatedly as Aestrea was about to be in danger but then dodged the tiger's attack.

"Come on, Aestrea..."

Her heart was beating faster, but inside, she prayed that Aestrea would still win, well not really, if he was her opponent in the future, she doubted her chances of winning.

Only if she used her ultimate move, might she have a chance.

"Things got rough for Aestrea..."

Beside her, Lucas muttered, his eyes narrowing as he watched the battle.

He was also very interested in Aestrea, viewing him as a potential battle partner due to his strength; training with him would definitely enhance his combat skills.

At that moment, the white tiger launched his body towards Aestrea, opening his mouth widely, and showing his sharp teeth.

But, Aestrea quickly slid beneath him before using a cleaning spell.

"Huh?"

"What?"

This moment made everyone confused.

Why was he using a cleaning spell during the middle of a fight?

And that's when something hit them.

"Did... he just use magic?"

"Isn't his mana supposed to be sealed?"

Gasps spread like wildfire.

The white tiger skidded to a halt, his claws digging into the dirt as he whipped his head around to glare at Aestrea.

"What... the hell?"

He growled, with disbelief splattered on his face.

"What? Did you really think such a weak seal could contain my mana?"

Aestrea casually said, arranging the sleeves of his leader's suit.

"While it may be difficult to break by simply locating its weak point, it can easily be destroyed if its mana sealing capacity is compromised due to an overload of mana."

The tiger's eyes widened in shock, his mouth slightly agape.

"Y-you..."

He gulped down hard.

And just after he analyzed Aestrea's body, he took a step back cautiously, before shouting in an annoyed tone.

"How fast does your mana recover?!"

What kind of monster is this?

Even the crowd went crazy upon hearing Aestrea's casual remark and the white tiger's loud yet shaky words.

Seeing this expression on his face, Aestrea smiled lightly, taking a step forward.

"Enough talk, kitty. Ready for the fight you were so desperate for?"

Aestrea casually dropped his sword to the ground and raised his fists, adopting a hand-to-hand stance.

Seeing this, a huge vein popped in the white tiger's forehead and his eyes burned red with rage.

"YOU DAMNED BASTAARRDD!"

He dashed towards Aetrea like a lightning bolt.

"HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT ME LIKE THIS?"

His claws extended even larger than before he horizontally swung them at Aestrea's chest.

Whoosh!

Aestrea ducked low, evading the strike by a hair's breadth.

And before the tiger could recover, Aestrea planted his feet and delivered a sharp uppercut to his chin.

CRACK!

"Gaaahk!"

The tiger's head snapped back, saliva and blood spraying from his mouth as he staggered.

Not giving him a moment to recover, Aestrea surged forward, aiming a punch at his solar plexus, but the white tiger quickly crossed his arms in an 'X' form, protecting himself from the blow.

Unfortunately, it was a fake.

He stopped in his tracks just before his punch cold land and pivoted on his heel, twisting his body like a coiled spring before delivering a spinning kick infused with mana.

WHAM!

The kick landed squarely on the tiger's face, sending him tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud.....

He finally came to a stop, blood pouring from his nose, his once-pristine white fur now colored in dust and crimson.

"Ouch..."

Even the crowd couldn't help but exclaim seeing how he practically cleaned the dust off the ground.

Then, Aestrea approached him.

"Hey... what did you think of our battle?"

"Did it go as you expected it to go?"

Aestrea kept a small smile on his lips.

The white tiger's face twisted in rage, blood dripping from his mouth as he glared up at Aestrea and parted his lips.

"Motherfu—"

BAAM!

Before he could finish, Aestrea's fist smashed into his jaw, sending him flying across the arena.

CRASH!

He slammed into the protective barrier with a sickening thud before crumpling to the ground, unmoving, blood pooling beneath him.

The arena went silent for a moment before the announcer's voice boomed.

"T-the winner is the Silverleaf's leader, AESTREA!!!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, the stands shaking with excitement.

Aestrea turned to face them, brushing off his sleeves as if the fight had been nothing more than a warm-up.

However...

'Damn it.'

'I think I reached my limit for today.'

He wasn't invincible.