Chapter 121 - Battle Royale (1)

After the Core Class students took their seats

"Dear ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our Lyceum. I'm Samuel Balthos Dai Manota, director of the Inner Section of the Lyceum. Today we'll have our trimestral Inner Class Ranking. As you're all aware, most of the time this test is not open to the public, however, we're making an exception today since there have been some changes made to the test in order to choose the likely candidates to represent the Lyceum and Ansem in the coming All Youth Continental Grand Tournament. Therefore, with your presence, we hope that you'll be reassured that the election will be done in a fair manner.

Most of you are already aware of the rules, so I won't waste your time talking about them. Since we'll be doing the tests for the third, second and first-year students who are eligible for the Tournament. We'll begin with the first part of the Ranking. All of the students from the Inner Class Third year enter the main arena."

Samuel's stern and deep voice reverberated in the Arena and sounded as if he was right next to each of the persons seated in the arena, even though he had not spoken loudly. His control over his Qi was superb, and this small feat showed his prowess.

The thirty Third Year students entered the arena accompanied by their respective teachers. At some point in time, Anastasia had left the special box and had appeared at the very centre of the arena. Her kind appearance and voluptuous figure made some of the young male teens lower their faces in shame and blush. They were after all 14 and 15 years old boys, very prone to be led by their hormones. However, Anastasia simply smiled and acted as if she had noticed nothing. Some of the female seniors couldn't help but compare themselves to Anastasia, and many muttered quietly between clenched teeth the word 'Vixen'.

"Hello, my dear students. In order to ensure your safety during the fight, I'll be the judge for this part of the exam if all of you are in agreement. My name is Anastasia Karenin Dai Lulusia and I'm the head teacher and tutor of the members of the Core Class."

As Anastasia said these words many of the students wore expressions of surprise and admiration. Most had never seen her before, as she usually made herself scarce at the Academy. They quickly understood that this woman named Anastasia must be one of the most powerful and talented people in the entire Lyceum, as she was in charge of training the members of the core class, and at the very least at the same level as director Samuel.

"Take your positions," said Anastasia.

All of the third-year students then got apart from each other. Hernani and Julieth were among them but they were still close together. Although this Battle Royale was supposed to be individual, several students had made pacts to fight together at the beginning. Roman was also there impassive next to the usual slim, tall-looking lady that was constantly near him.

"BEGIN!" said Anastasia.

Most of the students as if they had stood on springs quickly vanished and started fighting wildly against each other. Fists and Kicks filled with Qi and several showy techniques lit up the air. The first casualty was quick to appear since three students from group 3-B joined forces and attacked one of the pupils of the top-ranked classroom, group 3-C. Even though the latter was stronger than his three rivals, after being ganged upon by three students, there was nothing he could do before a powerful fist hit him straight in the chest and threw him off the arena.

Three students also tried to attack Hernani and Julieth, however, the former was more powerful and skilled than the one that had lost already and used a powerful defensive technique that summoned a small whirlwind and made his attackers backtrack while he put his left knee to the ground. Julieth took this chance to jump to Hernani's shoulders and used it to jump even higher into the air while moving her arms in a certain rhythm. To the surprise of many of the onlookers, Julieth managed to stay in the air.

"Βόλτα στον ουρανό" - / Vólta ston ouranó/ *

"Interesting. Ουρανός - /Ouranós/ Celestial gate, isn't it? That's quite rare to say the least. Even in Lutzomya, I think only some members of one of the side branches of the Carolus Clan had shown a predisposition for it," said Karel while looking towards the battle. That being said, his face had been impassive so far. Even though the audience was very animated and happy watching the demonstration amongst the students, it was clear that Karel wasn't particularly impressed.

Nerun's mood improved for the better as he watched the battle. "I'll be damned, ugly girl can fly in the sky. So cool!" said Nerun with joy. Karles and Reina were also enjoying the battle and taking notice of their seniors' moves. All of them were high-level praetorians and several of them were very close to becoming Centurions. Their techniques and might were stronger than theirs, after all, they had received two more years of martial education.

While Hernani was holding back his rivals with some difficulty, Julieth proceeded to clasp her hands together and then she pointed with both palms open towards the ground:

"Η οργή του ουρανού" - /I orgí tou ouranoú/**

Hernani's three attackers suddenly lost control and floated several meters into the air while being surrounded by compressed air that held them together for a second, and afterwards exploded outwards, throwing them with great strength out of the arena in a powerful blast of energy akin to starlight.

The Celestial Gates and Core Meridians normally came in two forms called the Principal and the Alternative. Once a Gate or Core was set to one type or the other, it could not be changed back. Both classes were deeply interrelated and none was truly superior to the other. However, it was the belief of most people that the Alternative Gates / Meridians were more esoteric and their power greater. Karel for reasons yet to disclose would probably call such ideas foolish and ignorant.

The Ουρανός - /Ouranós/ Celestial Gate was the counterpart to the αέρας - /aéras/ Celestial Gate. As its name implied, it allowed most of its users to soar towards the heavens and it was one of its signature moves. The spells it could create were unpredictable and difficult to defend against, very powerful against groups of enemies, however, they also cost a lot more Mana than other spells.

After using the Magick Spell, Julieth found herself a bit short of breath and had to slow down her attack, however, she managed to stay floating in the air far from most of her rivals' techniques. She started to send low-level spells towards the nearby students that were attacking Hernani, and they managed to keep them occupied for a long-enough time so that Hernani could defeat them with ease.

At the other end of the arena, things looked different. Roman was standing there like some king and the other students had not dared to attack him yet. After all, he was the recognized top-ranked student of the third year, and that fame was not unwarranted. The lady standing by his side had not been attacked either, not because people did not want to do so, but because she was close to Roman, and the rest of the students were somewhat scared to catch his ire.

Such a performance was very noticeable and the pride in Vega's eyes was telling of how satisfied he was with his brother's performance. Such was the demeanour of one meant to be above others, and such was the motto of the Alaria Family.

As more and more of the students were getting disqualified, the students that were still in the fight were more powerful and skilful, and thus the fight was at its most dangerous. There were only less than 15 students left on the field.

Roman was of the mind to pass the Test without moving a finger. He believed that such was his right, for his might should be uncontested. This would make the Headmaster and the Elders notice him more, and therefore choose him for the Special Course. After all, it wasn't certain that the winner of the Inner Class Ranking would be definitely chosen for the course. Perhaps the elders would make the selection based on different criteria, criteria that were currently unknown. Even though he was sure he would be given his position as the top-ranked student among those from the third year in the Inner Class, it was his disposition to always be above others. Previously in his first and second years, he had a powerful rival. That was the current member of the Core Class, Hansel Severus. The latter was the ultimate victor of the two and managed to become a Core member of the Lyceum before him, and such was a mark of shame for him, but there wasn't much he could do. Hansel Severus was after all a monster among monsters.

However, things did not happen according to his wish. The three students remaining from the lower-ranked group joined forces together and went to attack the lady right next to Roman. After all, this was their chance to shine in front of the Headmaster. Roman was powerful, very powerful, but not enough for the rest of the students to feel despondent and hopeless.

The three students surrounded by three whitish snakes of Qi used techniques that caused energy beams to leave their fists. This was a powerful combination attack that mimicked the attack power of a centurion.

"You dare?" asked the lady next to Roman, while clenching her fists in anger. She felt insulted at the fact these students dared attack her, especially when people knew that she was Roman's aide.

However, although she was angry, she did nothing to defend herself. That's because Roman's eyes turned scarily cold right then and there, and clenching his fist he simply punched towards them.

"<Conqueror's Fist>"

Three very pure and almost real white snakes of mist gathered next to his punch and blasted back both the attack and the three students out of the arena, its might unparalleled among the third-year students.

"It seems that people forget their station. Perhaps I should remind them," muttered Roman. Thereupon, he appeared next to a pair of students that were fighting each other. Another punch sent the student flying. A broken bone could be seen on the latter since Roman had not held anything back. So far, although several of the pupils had lost, very few had long-lasting injuries, since most of the students had not truly wanted to harm their companions, so after making sure that they were victorious, they stopped their attack to avoid causing further harm.

Such was not the case for Roman. This caused a frown to appear on Anastasia's beautiful face, and she quickly appeared next to the hurt student, and in the blink of an eye she set the fracture and powerful Qi mended the student, and she sent him towards the healing staff that was out of the arena waiting to treat the injured.

Some of the spectating audience did not like Roman's brutality. However, others, like Vega, and even Elijah were nonchalant about it. After all, fists and kicks had no eyes, and in a true life-or-death scenario, one needed to use their full power. That was something that many of the students currently fighting clearly lacked. Then again, this battle royale was merely a test among companions, so one could argue that such actions were akin to unnecessary cruelty. Who was in the right?

As Roman approached the other student who was currently shivering in fear from head to toe, the former attacked ferociously with cold and unfeeling eyes, with a powerful Qi-filled fist that went right for the face of the student. The paralyzed student had not managed to muster any kind of defence and was about to be seriously harmed or even die. He closed his eyes waiting for the tragic outcome, however, the pain he was expecting never arrived, since a gentle force took him out of the arena. When he opened his eyes, he could see that Professor Anastasia had pushed him away, while stopping Roman's attack with a single finger.

"Mmmmh. He is starting to manifest his own will. The other student was overwhelmed by it and couldn't defend himself at all. Very good. That means that not long from now he will become a Centurion. Congratulations General Vega, your brother is a true genius" said Cynthia while looking at Vega with infatuation.

"It's nothing. My brother recently had an epiphany and managed to understand a bit his own will, it's barely passable." Vega tried to sound humble, however, he was clearly trying to flaunt his brother's prowess.

In the meantime, the girl that always stayed next to Vega didn't stay still the whole time. She raised her hand and pointed towards another part of the Arena and started mumbling something. The Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth started moving relentlessly and started condensing into water droplets that joined together and made the form of a water horse.

"Ιππόκαμπος" - /Ippókampos/

The horse started galloping around the arena, and a couple of students were too slow to defend themselves from the attack, losing consciousness almost immediately. One of the things warriors needed to take care of when fighting adepts, was never allowing them time to cast their spells. After all, the mighty spell of a Scholar was usually much more damaging than the techniques of Praetorians and getting hit by one was usually enough to determine the result of a fight. However, Mana Users tended to be weaker when in a close-ranged confrontation, so they usually tended to have a powerful fighter next to them to defend them while they took care of the long-range.

Roman and his companion had thus taken care of 7 rivals in a short moment. Only 8 were left. The next 3 persons to lose would mark the ending of the first part of the testing for the third-year students.

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Βόλτα στον ουρανό - / Vólta ston ouranó/ : Ride in the Sky

Η οργή του ουρανού - /I orgí tou ouranoú/: The wrath of heaven

Ιππόκαμπος - /Ippókampos/: Sea Horse