Chapter 9

'Why. . .just why? Why is she the one! '

I am screwed in my first class. Let's calm down, this is just a mock battle, it's not necessary to win. On the contrary if I do win, then it will be troublesome.

"Haaa~ah" letting a sigh out I made my decision.

I'll just fight her with all I got and at the end I will just lose like I should have.

Just like that the given 10 minutes were over and Miss Adrienne took us too the arena. There were ten huge rings for battles.

"Everyone, the rules for the mock battle is simple. The student who goes out of the ring or cannot fight anymore or he surrenders himself will be eliminated. And the students who won will proceed to go further like a tournament style fashion.

Since you are fighting against your own classmates, No serious injuries are allowed. Once your opponent surrender you cannot harm him further. If any of these rules are broken, you will suffer severe punishment.

Now without wasting any further time let's start with the battles. The first ten groups come forward and take your spot in your respective rings."

After saying that she displayed the first ten groups list. Unfortunately, My group was also in the list.

Shaking my head nervously I arrived at ring no. 6 where my opponent was already waiting.

Juhie Sen. The Paladin.

'Common Juhie! beat him!'

'You can do it, My goddess!!'

'Paladin!!'

The fight isn't even started and there is a large crowd surrounding us already. It was quite a frightening popularity for a 16 year old girl. And it looks like I am not even existing in their eyes. They are just treating me as air.

Cooling my head off, I unsheathed my sword and pointed towards Juhie and said,

"Rey Hilde."

"Juhie Sen." She replied in a soft voice.

She lifted her Great Sword in one hand and a golden energy started surrounding her sword. After finishing she sprang forward in my direction with a full power swing. She wanted to overpower me with a single strike, as her strength stat is probably the highest in the class.

Expecting her forwardness, I took my stance to defend the upcoming strike. And to surprise her I also had a spell ready.

Just when our Swords were about to collide,I casted my spell -

{ Debuff Transfer : Property change : Power loss } + { Meteor Shower Essence Sword Art : Star Shield}

And our swords collided with a big explosion of Essence.

"Kuaaagh. . . ha. .ha. . "

I was pushed all the way back near the end of the ring. But my combination spell worked and I was still standing. Juhie had a look of surprise on her face.

Taking advantage of the opening I started counter attacking.

{ Meteor Shower Essence Sword Art : Endless Meteor Shower } + { Buff : Power double, Endless Durability }

Pouring all the remaining Essence into my last attack, I quickly shortened the distance between us and Attacked her one after the other.

Her Sword was still under my Debuff, so her power was reduced to half of her original.

Even then showcasing her brilliant technique, she kited and deflected my every attack with just a little effort.

Endless Meteor Shower attack comprises of many irregular attack patterns which helps in hiding a single clean strike on the opponent.

'I cannot delay the final strike anymore. Her light attribute will cancel my debuff any moment now.I have to hurry!!'

Without realizing, I was so into the fight that I forgot my initial goal for the match.

Finally the space opened up for my final strike.

I slashed my sword towards her right shoulder, it was fast and swift strike hidden within countless strikes.

But with her ultra superior battle sense she turned to left instinctively.

Already taking a note of this possibility I casted my last spell draining my last bits of Essence.

{ Metal Spike }

"Haah!"

A huge metal spike erupted from the ground stopping Juhie from dodging my attack for a second.

This was more than enough time for my attack to hit her.

" Aarrghhh !!! "

My blade left a clean cut on the back of her right shoulder.

Juhie's expression which was emotionless from the start, it had now a hint of shock and anger.

I poured all my power into that one attack but alas!! It was all for nothing.

{ Instant Heal }

Her wound on the shoulder disappeared without a trace within seconds. And her sword was now once again covered in the golden light.

"Hmm."

She looked at me in aggressive manner as if wanting to say ' let's have another round '. She was quite excited.

Looking at the turn of events from my side, I realized the fight is already decided and accepted my defeat.

" I surrender. "

Saying that I put my sword in the sheath and walked down the ring.

The crowd which was very active before the match had became quite after I defended Juhie's first strike. As I walked down, the crowd started shouting again.

'I knew you could do it!! '

'It was inevitable.'

'That guy Rey, wasn't bad either. He lasted whole 2 minutes before the Paladin!!'

'You are right, the rest of the matches didn't last more than 30 seconds.'

As I heard the students, indeed there were 9 more fights going on at the same time. They all were between the top rankers against the middle rankers.

Unlike my fight where I fought until the end, the others were simply bullied by the top rankers and were defeated within less than a minute.

After that settled in far corner and started using my Mana-Essence Heart Breathing technique to fill up my essence.

After 40 or so minutes later, all the matches were completed.

Miss Adrienne who was watching all the matches from the teacher's room, came forward and announced,

" All of you did really well. After having a match against a stronger or equally strong opponent will give you a ton of things to learn. Learn from all your mistakes and try to rectify it.

Now, since today is your very first day, you won't have any theory lectures today. All you have to do is keep your individual training going on in this grounds and you may go to your dorms once you are finished.

I want no one to slack in their training. I'll be watching over you so keep that in mind. You may start now!"

After making the announcement, she went in the teacher's room once again.

'She is a slacker isn't she.' I thought.

As soon as the teacher left, An unexpected thing happened.

A couple of students came towards me and rained me with their appreciation.

" Wow Rey ! How did you last for so long in front of Paladin? "

" Your last attack was Super cool!! If not your opponent being one of the five stars, you would have definitely won "

Looking at the male and female pair around me and listening to their praises, I felt that giving my all in the match gave me some praises at least.

Natalie and Kate were a couple. They both passed the entrance exam barely and were in the bottom of our class. These two were also unfortunate to be placed against Somia and Garrett.

The result was obvious. Since we all were placed under similar situations and our rank was not much different in class, We quickly became friends.

After talking to them I came to know that just like me, Kale was also a Swordsman while Natalie was a Trapster.

As we were talking about some miscellaneous stuff, Kale asked me with a quite serious tone

"Rey! can you please let both of us train with you. Please!!"

"Yes Rey! , Pretty please. . . . "

For a second I thought it would be some serious matter but they were just asking to train together.

' Since they are my first friends. . . .'

"Of course. It would be fun." I replied immediately.

They both became very happy and without wasting any more time, I gave them the training course for today.

At first they were happy about training together but after listening to my instructions they turned 180°.

To be honest, Ever since I woke up in the white room, I was always alone. Although Shiorra and Jerry were there with me but it always felt somewhat lacking.

Looking at Natalie and Kale making excuses about not training was quite fun.

'I made two new friends on my first day!!'

As I was forcing both of them to train, I felt a gaze on me. When I looked at the source, It was my previous opponent Juhie. When our eyes met she shook her head in the opposite direction instantly.

I don't know why but there was a look of disappointment in her eyes.

'Well. . . whatever.'

I dragged the two fools before me and gave them a hellish training.