Chapter 40: Torrent city[11]

As the dust cleared up, a massive individual could be noticed pushing a large slab of rubble off of his body.

"Ha..ha..ha." 

His breath was ragged as blood seeped from various crevices in his body. He was covered in scratches and bruises resulting from the barrage of attacks as well as the ceilings sudden collapse. Though only the layer before the supporting magical reinforcements, the ceiling had fallen apart to result in a rain of rocks and debris which more or less buried the wo individuals underneath.

Following his rise, a blue haired mage that looked to be in an even worse physical state pushed aside the heavy rubble and arose from the ground.

Despite his very wobbly legs, he managed to stand up straight. A commendable feat by itself, considering the abysmal state of his physical body.

Alvin's legs struggled to hold his weight as they shook tremendously to the extent that his knees where clacking against each other, his arms dangled around him like lifeless ornaments as his eyes shook in an attempt to regain their focus. In all, he looked like even a mild push would topple him.

His clothes were burnt and melted as the surface of his skin revealed by the melted clothing was swollen and had a purple hue, courtesy of Lark's attacks before the sudden minor cave in as white steam even seemed to be emanating from his burnt skin.

The excruciating pain which resulted from that was supposed to be assaulting Alvin's mind right now, yet he somehow withheld himself from screaming and shouting in pain as any normal mage of his power level would do.

A good portion of this could be attributed to his unwavering determination to serve count Raymond, but this of course was not some child's fantasy novel. Simply determination and spirit would never be enough to overcome the urges of one of the five main sense organs.

He was actually using ice fusion to try and nullify the heating effects of Lark's earlier attack. By coating his skin with a layer of ice Mana, he was able to cool down the tremendous heat of the after math, it was also the cause of the white steam which rose up from his body as the Mana factor worked in his favour this time.

The pain from the attack was reducing, but ice fusion could do nothing about the swelling of his skin. His fatigue had also accumulated alongside the other cuts and bruises that could not be healed with the deviant ice magic.

"Haha..." Lark began laughing as he saw the sorry state of his opponent. 

"Hahahahahaha!" His maniacal laughter continued on for some time, before dramatically and suddenly dieing out.

*Bzzt*

A sharp scrambling noise was heard as Lark seemingly disappeared from where he formerly stood. It was apparent to an experienced individual like Alvin that the other did not actually disappear, he was just moving at impossible speeds.

Understanding the situation, Alvin immediately cast a low tier ice barrier spell. He knew that such a low level spell would never be able to block Lark's attacks, but after pumping quite a bit of Mana into it, he hoped that it would at least slow down his momentum.

But his efforts were in vain.

*Crash*

A noise synonymous to the breakingof glass was heard as Lark had practically bulldozed through the story excuse of a barrier. He had not even registered it's existence before destroying it as was far too irrelevant in the face of his power.

*BAM*

A crunching sound was heard as Lark's powerful fist made contact with the bridge of Alvin's nose instantly destroying it and pushing him a few steps backwards all the while seemingly ignoring the fact that Alvin still had fusion magic on. 

"Aaaagh." Alvin could not resist the urge to groan in pain this time as blood flowed from his broken nose. He caressed his destroyed nose to no avail, and proceeded to shoot a contemptuous glare at the noble.

Lark ignored the glare and pushed his dominant leg ahead of him, advancing forward in a swift and fluid motion.

Lark stretched out his hand in an attempt to deliver a left cross, Alvin caught his motion from the corner of his eye and threw his head downwards to dodge the attack. But it was a feint.

*BAM* 

Alvin's stomach churned as a powerful knee was driven into his sternum.

"Puah!" Alvin spat before falling to his knees in pain. Coughing and wheezing as the wind had seemingly been knocked out if his sails. He could not even raise his head in scorn as he was too gripped by the pain.

Suddenly, he felt something hold on to his hair and begin to drag him up. He continued getting lifted up by the hair until he reached eye level with the monster in human flesh known as Lark Volden.

As his pained eyes met Lark's, the latter beemed a very sadistic and toothy grin that reflected the amount of pleasure he was deriving from all this and his eyes radiated a dubious thirst for more suffering.

At this juncture, one would be forced to ask, why he was doing all of this? Just what did Alvin do to Lark in the past to garner so much of his malice like so?

It could not have merely been a case of obligation because if Lark really wanted to simply defeat the ice mage, then he would have long since put him out of his misery and ended all this, but he did not. He had even purposely allowed Alvin to continuously hit him so as to instill the ice mage some semblance of hope, only to utterly crush that hope and plunge him into great despair afterwards.

"Hehehe. It's funny, don't you think?" Lark said. His unusual words conjured a very confused expression on Alvin's face. How was this funny? Alvin was determined to find out.

"H-how?" Alvin managed to utter. It was the best he could do, at least right now.

At Alvin's response, an awkward silence befell the two as Lark did not speak for some time. He just looked at Alvin quizzically, as if he was trying to determine something before seemingly coming to a conclusion and opening his mouth to speak.

"You....you really don't remember huh?" Lark asked a rhetorical question after the brief silence as he bent his neck slightly, allowing his hair bangs to cast a shadow over his eyes.

From the question, Alvin could more or less determine the situation. Apparently, this person was someone whom he had encountered before. Someone whom he had done some very unspeakable things to for him to keep such malice. It was then, that Lark's evil aura began to once again seep from his body.

Alvin racked his brain, in an attempt to determine just where and how he knew this person. He thought hard on all his past encounters with nobles. It was very difficult because he had spent a lot of time with noble men back when he was a royal knight, and even now, but it did not seem to matter how much he tried.

Between the immense pain that he was feeling, and the sheer malevolence of Lark's aura, he had a hard time placing his finger on it.

'c'mon Alvin! C'mon, remember!' he urged himself on as he struggled to do that one thing. He struggled to remember.

'who is this guy? Where do you know him from? Think Alvin, think!' Alvin started feeling the pressure as Lark's aura intensified. After all, if left unchecked, one's emotions could be reflected in their aura.

"I see you are having a hard time remembering, allow me to jog your memory a bit." Lark said with a relatively calm voice, but the underlying meaning of his words were far too evil to miss.

Alvin was a bit scared of what was going to happen, but his fears proved themselves to be wrong when Lark abruptly dragged his Alvin closer to himself and whispered something into his ear.

At that moment, it all came back.

'of course..why did I not remember...' Alvin queried himself inwardly as a quick replay of what happened that day flashed though his mind. The day he first fought with the intention to kill, his first encounter with Lark Volden.

——–

At the back of a large four story building which boasted numerous of windows for ventilation as well as a very mature and educational vibe, a number of students were gathered round in a circle.

Students had a tendency to gather like this for a horde of reasons, but considering the location and the orange color of the sun which told that it was high noon, there was a really only one obvious reason for students to gather like so. They had come to watch the big fight.

In the middle of the circle, a few meters a way from where the crowd actually gathered were two individuals. Boys, to be more precise, who looked no older than fifteen and indeed they weren't.

One of the two boys had blue hair and wore large spectacles which gave off that loser and nerdy vibe, the light rays from the sun beamed on the glass of his spectacles, hiding his eyes while the other one had a wavy blonde hair and beautiful green eyes to complement his handsome face.

The green haired one had a confident expression, but he seemed to be looking around for someone as the fight was yet to begin, while the blue haired one waited with what seemed like a boundless patience. Of course, it would only seem like that outwardly, because he was actually bubbling with anger inwardly.

What other emotion was he supposed to feel? After all, he had just been minding his own buisness and eating lunch like any normal person would before the kid who currently stood across from him started trouble by driving his face into his meal before publicly insulting him and then challenging very this duel which was yet to begin.

'come on, where is she?' the blonde thought.

Why did he do this you ask? Simple. It was all because of a freaking girl! A girl whom Alvin had refused to share his text boom with, causing her to get punished as she had lost her's. In response to this, she did precisely what every proud, beautiful and spoilt noble brat that felt like she had been wronged would do. 

She told her boyfriend. it was not hard to guess what had happened after wards.

"H-hey look. It's Laura, she actually came!" A random voice shouted from the crowd and all necks turned to behold the beauty known as Laura.

'she is here.'

Standing at the front of the crowd was a girl with pink haired girl with blue irises. Her figure was hard to miss as even though she was severely lacking behind, her bust more than made up for it.

She folded her arm under her chest to hold up those breasts which seemed to defy the llaws of gravity. She looked like a very powerful and popular person, similar to a potential homecoming queen as her entourage stood a little distance behind her and her face donned a very mischievous grin.

Seeing her, the blue haired boy's face contorted into one of contempt as he stared at the two who seemed to be flirting with their eyes. It was unbelievably annoying from Alvin's perspective, yet he said nothing, just glared.

After what seemed like an entire day to Alvin, but was actually a few seconds, Lark turned to face the former with a predatorial look in his eye.

Cracking his fingers threateningly he said, "ok. Let's begin." The confident grin not leaving his face even then.

'finally.' Alvin thought.

Signs of Mana usage became evident around Lark as he chanted a spell. Spell chants were still English, but memorising every single spell chant for a particular affinity as well as mastering them to the point of flawless execution would most definitely prove to be near impossible so mages tended to focus on just a few spells which they liked and felt more inclined towards.

"Watch everyone, as I teach this foolish commoner brat how to respect his elders." Lark ran his mouth off, completely oblivious to what the future had in store for him. He finished his unnecessary words and was about to finalize the spell's activation, when another voice interrupted him.

"Ice spear." Alvin said and two Spears made of ice appeared beside him. At the time, it was his limit.

*Fwoosh*

The first ice spear was sent flying, to which Lark managed to dodge albeit narrowly. At his achieving the mildly impressing feat, Lark decided to momentarily relish the pleasure derived from his accomplish and failed to realize the second ice spear on time.

When he did though, it was already too late.

*Stab*

"Aargh!!" Lark yelled as he was utterly unable to follow the attack that had just stabbed into his arm. He groaned even more as he took a knee while holding his arm, the ice spear still stuck in it as he was too afraid to pull it out.

With this, he was more or less defeated, but Alvin would not let him off that easily. He still had more in store for him. This fact became evident when he began uttering another spell's chant.

Mana fluctuated around him as he stretched out his arm and cast a spell. It was actually his first actual fight so he had settled on the very basic tactic of spamming your opponent with powerful spells and hoping for the best.

"Frost hawk barrage." Alvin said, completing the chant. Immediately afterwards, about a dozen small figures made of ice manifested behind him. The ice figures seemed to be modelled after diving hawks as their wings were retracted and their beaks protruded. 

With a single gesture, he sent the ice hawks forward at considerably high speeds.

*Fwoosh*

The dozen or so figures soared through the air like actual hawks and assaulted the defenseless Alvin, puncturing and tearing into his skin ruthlessly.

"Aaargh!"

His relatively untrained fourteen years old body would not take any more damage as all the strength left his body and he collapsed to the ground. Blood seeped from the small wounds and openings in his body as he was assaulted by the pain, as well as.....fear?

'sh*t! Get up! Get up Lark! She is watching!' Lark urged himself as he caught sight of Laura's irritated expression from where he was on the floor. 

'remember what mother said. If I do not succed in getting married to a powerful noble, then I would live a life of poverty due to my lack of talent. I came to this low level school thinking that there would not be any competition for me, making me the strongest and the top of every school girls' list so I can not afford to lose. Not here, or at least, not like this!' Lark thought as a distressed expression replaced his confident facade.

  He moaned and groaned continuously as he lay on the floor while also desperately trying to stand back up, but his embarrassment could not matter less to his insentient physical body. In just a few moments, he had been totally defeated.

But Alvin could not be a hundred percent sure due to the venomous expression that was still present on his face. And he responded by doing what every inexperienced mage who felt slightly threatened and craved revenge would do, spam even more spells.

*Boom*

*Bang*

*Crash*

Many more noises resonated as the students watched the unfolding scene with horror filled surprise.

'w-was he always this strong?!' They thought as they witnessed Lark's pathetic state.

He looked bruised and battered as blood now flowed from his mouth and most of his skin had either been cut or swollen. He looked pitiful in every sense of the word as his previous expression had completely vanished into a more.... submissive one.

"P-p-p-please....i-i...I beg you." Lark begged. 

In front of the numerous students to whom he had showed off to, he begged for his life. His shame and embarrassment had reached unfathomable heights as even Laura gave him a disdainful look.

After a long condescending and cold stare, Alvin decided to let him go. And as he turned to leave, he would not fail to leave behind a message.

"Brats like you need to learn to never bite off more than you can chew." He said then walked away. He did not even bother turning his back as Lark could barely even move right now. Also, the fear which had been instilled in him should prevent him from trying something stupid for a few years at the very least.

Lark reported to his parents, who were still mere barons then, but try as they might they could not get Alvin expelled or harm his family. The school had already recognized him as a star student so they went to great lengths to keep him safe and sound.

A/N:

Special thanks to my loyal supporters ifeoma_nora and halis_eren_balabn once again, thanks guys!