Brutal Arrogance

Zeke's blood-curdling shrieks blared into everyone's eardrum, causing chills to course down some student's spines. He was sent soaring backward, akin to a bloody broken leaf in the wind.

Blood and tiny pieces of skin flesh painted the metallic stage in a haunting matter as Zeke's left arm was entirely ruptured! In just one move, Hayato rendered Zeke's arm completely useless without even a second thought.

Numerous students inhaled a sharp cold breath.

"So….so ruthless."

For the more young and naive awakened Spirit Tier students, they weren't accustomed to this level of cruelty.

Most duels that were to occur would usually be on an equal level, meaning there wouldn't be many brutal, serious injuries. Even when the savage Kane Gang fight on stage, they would take more enjoyment over mocking and dominating their enemies than ruthlessly cutting them down.

But Hayato's first attack made many naive students realize a critical fact.

Such intense violence and cruelty would be par for the course with them. Even as Zeke's arm got destroyed to mangle flesh, no Professors were coming to stop the fight.

And even before, when Asher fought with Zara, he too was quite brutal in his attacks, almost cracking her forehead wide open.

Just with that duel, students didn't see Zara's horrifying state as she was quickly taken away by a staff member.

However, even as insane as Hayato's prowess was, Zeke suddenly reacted, shocking many students that he could still move.

Zeke showed why he's on the Ranking Genius List as he abruptly flipped himself in midair, landed on the stage, and expertly gained back his footing.

His expression turned utterly savage; immense hatred swelled inside his chest.

In just one move, his damn arm was destroyed! Genuine Killing Intent gave birth in Zeke's mind, and he forcefully pushed down the tremendous pain rushing through his entire body.

"You-you will....PAY!!"

Feral enragement roared out of Zeke's mouth, sending frill chills up students' spines. This was pure unadulterated rage that discharged out from Zeke as if he was a savage Mana monster.

And along with his tremendous rage, his power instantly shot up to unfathomable degrees! His purple flaming Spirit Aura raged like an inferno from hell, spiking up a few feet in the air.

"Ahh!! Zeke's going to use his Battle Skill!"

Nearly all students were in absolute awe seeing Zeke's flames burning in a brilliant intensity. His Battle Skill power swept through the whole field like a flaming tornado.

The newly awakened Spirit Tier students felt their breathings hitched; they could just feel that if they were to approach anywhere near that stage, their bodies would be lit up in a searing blaze.

There never was such a high intense duel like this before, and it was quite the fantastical sight for newly awakened students.

Even at the Ranking Genius section, they all had a slight appraisal in seeing Zeke's Battle Skill power.

Chase, Leon, Daisy, Anton, and Dane were entirely indifferent to the brutality of their battle. From where they hail from, such acts were taught to them to be the expected norm. But, they were also impressed that Hayato managed to force Zeke to this point.

Alas, they all thought it was also a bit pitiful.

Feasibly there should be no way for Hayato to counteract such an attack, less he had the strength to simply overpower it. The only person they saw doing that was Asher, and Hayato couldn't possibly be that similar to him.

At least, that's what the Ranking Genius students tried to convince themselves with.

However, expectations would soon be quickly proven wrong.

Hayato merely knitted his eyebrows at the face of Zeke's surging power. A considerable pressure crushed down on his body, making his breathing stall a bit and causing him to feel mildly sluggish.

But, even against these overwhelming odds, the confidence and arrogance filling Hayato's stature never left him.

In just a couple of seconds, Zeke's powers climbed to their absolute limits. He strutted his palm forward, and upon it, a blazing purple fire Lance was swiftly forming.

An icy glint burst within Zeke's eyes as his Battle Skill was nearly complete.

At this moment, he was too much filled with rage, hatred, pain, and resentment to even care about the consequences of his brutal actions. No matter if this would kill Hayato, he didn't care in the slightest.

He is a Ranking Genius student that will go on to live a life of high lavish!

His mindset was already forged long ago. He knows that he'll need to stain his hands with blood numerous times to grow stronger. And for a common whelp like Hayato, he would just be another stepping stone on his path to the top!

With his Killing Intent spiking once again, Zeke unleashed a mighty battle cry,

"Blasting Lance!!"

In that instance, his blazing purple fire Lance finished forming in his only good arm. The temperature erupted to a searing degree, causing the whole field to feel like it was dropped near a boiling volcano!

Beads of sweat fell down on the student's faces, barely able to resist this kind of unfathomable heat.

At this point, they all couldn't help but wonder, is Hayato about to die at this very moment?!

But right then, an equally high power surge spiked throughout the entire field. Eyes landed on Hayato as his gray Sword Qi Spirit Aura became more defined and gained sharp piercing edges.

Hayato had his eyes narrowed, treating this fight as one of the greatest in his life. Without holding back anymore, he erupted his Spirit Aura power to its maximum state!

Hayato's very presence became incredibly sharp; with just one glance at him, it was like staring into a dangerous sword.

This release of immense power even got Zeke to stall from unleashing his Battle Skill. His pupils were heavily dilated, disbelief roamed his mind, and slight fear crept up his spine.

'No….his power! How?!?' Zeke was thrown into an utter mess; he wanted to believe this situation was a simple nightmare.

Yet, his Aura Sense couldn't lie to him. Somehow, in some magical way, Hayato's current prowess was equally matching his Battle Skill!

A technique that he took months to have a basic grasp over was now getting content with just someone's full power Spirit Aura!

If Zeke had any shred of little pride left, it was now utterly decimated at this very moment.

Hayato's lips curled up into a disdainful smirk. He took absolute glee in the horror shock encompassing Zeke's face. A part of him simply felt influenced by his superiority complex. And another part of him knew this would undoubtedly cement his position as no less behind and even slightly better than Asher!

Not wanting to give Zeke a chance to slip out of his trance, Hayato quickly raised his palm and formed a long Gray energy Sword.

Gripping down on this energy sword made Hayato feel his prowess had slightly grown again. And then, all in one smooth motion, he blasted his energy sword straight toward Zeke.

The immense power soaring at him instantly snapped Zeke out of his trance. His reaction was instantaneous as he had then launched his Blaster Lance right towards Hayato's energy sword!

The distance between them was crossed in just a mere couple of seconds, both attacks becoming an untraceable blur in the wind.

And right then, their attacks chaotically clashed against each other like two wild tsunamis!

'Bang!'

Intense sparks of blazing purple flames and piercing Sword Qi frantically sprayed out over the whole metallic stage. Zeke's searing purple Fire Lance fought for dominance against Hayato's gray energy sword.

And for a second, both sides seemed completely evenly matched.

The mix of purple flames and gray sword Qi was a sight to behold. Their attacks fiercely clashing against each other pumped up every student's bloodstreams.

Even Elsa and Asher, who was the calmest throughout the duel, couldn't help but feel their own fighting Wills ignite while watching this grand spectacle.

At Zeke's side, he was fiercely gritting his teeth to the point blood flow, and some of his teeth cracked apart. Rows of sweat dribbled down his face as he frantically poured his heart out into this attack.

But no matter how much he pushed in, no matter how low his energy reserves were dropping, he simply couldn't overpower Hayato!

And after a few seconds of experiencing the same difficulty himself, Hayato decided it was time to end things.

Some of his own sweat pooled down his face as he began to gather another tiny stream of energy within his veins.

This was his own Spirit Mana energy!

The Spirit Mana Hayato had was far less control, less potent, and overall massively weaker than what Asher could pull off.

However, to simply beat Zeke, it was more than enough. A mild painful strain course through Hayato's arm as he pushed forth all of the Spirit Mana in his veins into his gray energy sword!

Zeke's eyes began to widen in horrifying disbelief. In just a manner of seconds, he was starting to feel pushback!

His power was dwarfing Hayato's until it couldn't hold out any longer.

'Chi!'

In an overwhelming fashion, Hayato's gray energy sword tore right through Zeke's Blaster Lance, destroying it into mere tiny wisps of purple flames.

Zeke felt a sharp pain run through his body from getting his Battle Skill destroyed. But his mind was in a complete daze; he stared unblinkingly at Hayato's gray energy sword soaring straight at him, unable to move his body anymore.

A sickening impact blared in everyone's eardrums as Hayato's gray energy sword crashed onto Zeke and sent him careening out of the stage.

Zeke was sent crashing onto the ground, already passed out before even hitting it. And instantly, a staff member had appeared to pick up Zeke and take him to deal with his critical injuries.

However, nobody even paid attention to Zeke after he got sent flying.

Nearly everyone became slacked jaws while staring at Hayato. In a split second, their wits return to them, and a tremendous uproar explodes throughout the whole field!

"Woaa!!"

"He has a prowess similar to, no, greater than Asher!!"

No matter what ensuring battle happened, students were sure they wouldn't forget this surprisingly grand duel.

And Hayato stood tall with a graceful presence, basking under the glorious limelight of his strength. His eyes took a glance over to Asher, expecting to see a reaction that would fuel his sense of superiority even more.

But when his eyes landed on Asher, his mood was instantly brought down as annoyance flashed on his face.