Chapter 9: Sneak attack!

Sensing Oswald's intention to end things, Ernest slashed down fiercely at him, but Oswald had long been prepared for this.

With the constant wearing down from Oswald, Ernest's attack that would have previously caused him some serious issues could be easily avoided. The moment the sword slashed down at him Oswald's eyes seemed to light up as he kept charging forward, seemingly ignoring the sword that was slashing down on him, but at the last minute, when Ernest's sword was only a few millimetres away from Oswald's face, his body suddenly twisted, narrowly avoiding the blade's edge and arriving right in front of Ernest.

Sensing his bad situation, Ernest desperately tried to back off, but it was already too late.

Oswald's leg instantly swept out, knocking Ernest off his feet and sending him stumbling onto the floor.

Before Ernest could get up, he suddenly froze as a cold, metallic sensation was pressed against his neck.

Looking up, Ernest saw a pair of disdainful green eyes looking down on him.

"Surrender." said Oswald coldly.

Hearing the voice that had constantly plagued him for the last three years, Ernest was raging internally but he could do nothing but grit his teeth as a set of unwilling words escaped his lips

"I surrender."

As Oswald heard Ernest's words, he just snorted as he sheathed his sword and turned around, not even bothering to speak to his defeated opponent again.

Such a situation was common in Oswald's memory and the previous owner had always acted like this, not giving Ernest the pleasure of annoying him and treating him like a pile of trash, or at most, a fly to be swatted.

Oswald started walking back towards the classroom when his world seemed to slow down.

In that instant, Oswald's instincts started to scream at him as he felt a terrifying, inexplicable threat!

Oswald didn't even think and just followed his instincts and desperately dived out of the way

"Boom!"

The moment Oswald dived out of the way; a loud sound went off as a small cluster of flames exploded.

Looking back to where he just was, a small crater could be seen on the floor that had a red glow showing the temperature of the previous attack.

Magic.

The instant Oswald realised what had happened, a furious, demonic red glow burst forth from his eyes as he locked onto the culprit behind all this.

'Using magic in a sneak attack! That bastard was really trying to take his life!'

As Oswald looked towards Ernest, he could see a disdainful smirk on his lips as he stretched forth his hand.

Before Oswald could even curse, he desperately dodged to the side.

"Boom!"

Ignoring the explosion behind him, Oswald got up once again.

If he was facing a proper Mage apprentice who had mastered some Metamagics like Jude or even Isabella, Oswald would have no option other than to admit defeat, but in front of a trash like Ernest who hadn't even mastered Instant cast, there was still hope of victory!

As Oswald looked up, he could see Ernest murmuring as he prepared to cast another spell.

Oswald just sneered as he kicked a nearby rock directly at Ernest, interrupting his cast.

Taking his chance, Oswald charged at Ernest at full speed. But even with Oswald's full efforts, he was still just a mortal. For someone with mental power like Ernest, it was still enough for him to cast a spell.

He raised his arm as he muttered a string of words, causing a red hue to start forming around his fingertips.

For a normal mortal, it would be impossible to reactively dodge a spell from this distance.

But Oswald didn't have this fear. He may be a cripple now, but before He used to be a peak Mage apprentice. His knowledge of the spells probably exceeded that of Ernest, who was going to cast it. In addition to that, Oswald had fought against Ernest many times and completely knew his temperament.

'That arrogant bastard will aim for the head' thought Oswald.

With that thought in mind, the second Oswald saw the red glow, he instantly calculated the speed to cast and instantly ducked his head.

The second his head dropped, he could feel a warm burst of air scrape against his neck and as he looked back up, he could see Ernest look back at him in sheer disbelief. The instant he realised he missed; Ernest desperately murmured the chants of a defensive spell as he quickly tried to create some distance.

But now that Ernest was within his reach, how could Oswald let him go?

The second Oswald dodged Ernest's last attack, he threw out his sword like a javelin, lodging it deep into Ernest's leg.

"Arrgh!"

Ernest's roar of pain erupted throughout the training ground as the spell he was preparing to cast instantly collapsed.

Before Ernest could catch a break, he felt a powerful force hit his chest as he was sent skidding across the floor.

Ernest suddenly felt the sword in his leg pulled out, and as he looked up, his heart froze.

Ernest had fought against Oswald countless times and lost, and each time he'd seen the look in Oswald's eyes.

All those times Oswald's eyes had always been filled with either utter disdain or disgust, but this time it was different. This time, as Ernest looked into his eyes, he could see nothing.

No disgust, no disdain, not even any rage.

Ernest just saw a pair of emotionless, green eyes surrounded by a cruel, red glow.

It was at that moment that a sickening sensation hit Ernest.

'He's going to kill me!'

That was the last thought Ernest saw before a flash of silver slashed down on his neck.

"Clang!"

But unlike Ernest had expected, the cold sensation of being beheaded never occurred on his neck.

Stunned, Ernest looked up to see Oswald coldly staring down at a man nearly two heads taller than him.

"So the Raudorth Academy still has instructors," said Oswald

"I'm just curious. Why did you only decide to interfere now?"

Oswald's chilling voice sounded out as he stared fearlessly at the armour-clad giant.

The man seemed to have no reaction to Oswald's chilling tone as he calmly spoke.

"There are rules. No lives will be lost on campus grounds. I only act when my life is in danger."

Hearing this, Oswald's eyes narrowed as he asked.

"So what about the sneak attack from earlier?"

As Oswald spoke, his eyes seemed to flash as the demonic red glow around them seemed to be getting more and more intense. But the man had no reaction and emotionlessly replied to Oswald.

"I only act when my life is in danger."

As Oswald heard this, his rage almost exploded! It even got so bad that he moved his hand towards his sword, but before he could make a move, he quickly realised something was wrong.

Was his head broken?

He had actually considered fighting an instructor!

Each instructor of the academy was at least a fully-fledged Transcendent! Was he asking for death?!

As Oswald realised his strange state, he quickly calmed down and the red glow in his eyes quickly faded as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Hahaha!" Laughed Oswald

"Of course, of course! I knew the Academy rules in the first place. That's why I was a little vicious in my last attack." Stated Oswald as he walked towards Ernest.

"We're all classmates here. Do you really think that I'll be so bloodthirsty as to take your life?"

As Oswald looked towards Ernest, a sneer appeared on his lips as he patted Ernest on the shoulder.

"You clearly didn't believe in my character. Look, you're leaking."

With Oswald's words, the crowd all looks towards Ernest's trousers to see a dark patch surrounding his groin.

In an instant, a burst of muttering and chuckling sounded throughout the entire crowd.

Hearing this, Ernest grit his teeth as he glared hatefully at Oswald.

But as he looked towards Oswald, he could see the same pair of emotionless green eyes looking back at him.

In an instant, Ernest felt like he was plunged into a pool of cold water.

Others might believe Oswald's nonsense, but he knew better than anyone. Back in the moment, Oswald was really going to kill him! If Oswald was given another chance, then he might truly lose his life.

With that near death experience freshly burned into Ernest's mind, he didn't dare to meet Oswald's gaze again.

Knowing there was no point in remaining anymore, Oswald just nodded respectfully to the instructor and took his leave.

But instead of the joy any victor of a fight would normally have, Oswald was filled with an inexplicable worry.

Back then, Oswald was really prepared to kill Ernest!

The only problem was although he was furious, neither the previous Oswald nor the current him right now were murderous enough to kill a person just like that. And to make matters worse, back then, he had almost fought a fully-fledged Transcendent! Oswald didn't know what caused that strange mystery state back then, but if he couldn't solve it, then there would be a serious problem on his hands.

As Oswald was thinking of how to handle the new problem that had been added to his already overwhelming list, he suddenly felt an arm wrap around his shoulders.

"Oswald, you damn monster! What the hell happened to you in these past few days?!" Exclaimed Jude.

"Back then you'd always beaten Ernest, but this time you even made the bastard piss himself."

As Jude spoke, he kept breaking out into a constant fit of laughter.

It seemed like Oswald wasn't the only one that enjoyed seeing Ernest suffer a little.

"Well, over the last few days I've been thinking that if I can't become a Mage to protect my family, then I can only become so ruthless that no one dares to try anything."

In response to Jude's question, Oswald quickly gave a halfhearted response.

But the moment Jude heard Oswald's words, he suddenly paused as he looked towards Oswald with a serious gaze.

"Oswald. I know I can't imagine what you're going through. But Just know, if you ever need help, you can always come to me."

Hearing this, Oswald was left stunned.

He didn't expect that his half-hearted response would get such a serious response from Jude.

For a second Oswald paused to look at the one friend that had stood beside the previous owner when even his own lover wouldn't.

A complicated expression appeared on Oswald's face before he eventually smiled.

"Of course!" Laughed Oswald

"If I Don't call you, who else am I supposed to call?"

Seeing this a smile eventually burst onto his face before he slapped Oswald on the back.

"That's enough with the soppy emotional talk. Have you seen that girl Merisa from class C?"

As soon as Oswald heard his best friend's words, he just rolled his eyes. This guy was truly a hopeless playboy. But even knowing this, he couldn't help but perk up his ears and listen. Although he was a playboy, from his memories he could tell for certain that these guys' stories were always quite amusing.

…..

"And that's how I did it. Two dates in one day." Said Jude proudly.

"Impossible!" sneered Oswald

"I can't believe they didn't notice anything. I mean, they're sisters for crying out loud!"

But even after hearing Oswald's dismissal, Jude didn't argue and just chuckled.

"There's still much for you to learn, young Oswald. Maybe when you get your head out of those books and finally take an interest in women, I'll teach you a thing or two."

Hearing Jude's words, Oswald just scoffed as he went to take his seat.

Just after Oswald sat down, an old man in a long blue Mage robe walked inside of the classroom.

"Good morning class," said the old man

"Good morning Mr Verec." replied the class