First Battle

Going down, No.70 found himself together with another contestant, one pretty normal, no interesting feature, an easy win for him, or that was what he thought.

'Hmm… why is he looking at my eyes so strangely, did he never see red eyes?'

"Ewww, what are you, some weird?"

"Prepare!"

Looking at he's opponent, No.70 saw him just standing there looking at him.

'Arrogant or stupid, I wonder which?'

"Engage!"

With a gigantic propulsion, he appeared before Lucien and using his right fist, he aimed at Lucien's head. Seeing how he dodged it, No.70 used his remaining fist to hit Lucien in the stomach. Missing again, he saw Lucien rising his hand and creating a card.

"Sh*t! He is an Architect!"

Enveloping he's arm in cursed energy, No.70 tried to escape from the card's trajectory, but it still succeed to cut him.

'It's not so grave but if I wouldn't protect my arm, it would probably cut until at bone, if not even more'

Looking after Lucien, he saw him standing at one of the walls with multiple cards in hand.

'Damn it! I let him get away!'

Not wanting to end in an awkward situation, No.70 start approaching Lucien with full speed. With no surprise, Lucien trowed a card towards him, and as expected, he dodged it with ease, but what he didn't expect, was that the card exploded.

'WTF ?! Is he not afraid of the backslash!'

Another card flayed towards him, and learning he's lesson, No.70 run from is trajectory as fast as he could. Shifting he's direction again, he started moving towards Lucien, and be targeted by another card. Again and again it happened, it was like he's opponent had unlimited energy, what is he, a monster?

From time to time, No.70 tried to approach him too closely, and in return, he was welcomed by two or three explosive cards. The time was thinking, already three out of the five minutes were gone, and Lucien was unscathed, he needed to do something fast!

…

"Boo!"

Lucien appeared before him out of the blue, and before he even knew, a scream of pain exited his mouth.

"Argh…"

Punches after punches hit his body like a tornado, breaking he's energetic protection and beat up he's entire body. Finally, he found a moment of peace, but it didn't last long, cuz he found himself being thrown to the battle area's wall.

*Crack*

A little blackout happened in No.70's mind, when he made contact with the wall, and before he could know, his spine, skull and ribs were completely shattered.

"Argh…"

"Shhh, you'll be fine, you don't need to scream!"

While "consoling" him, Lucien was staying before him, and looked at him with a terrifying grim.

"Argh…"

"I really HATE when you scream!"

"Argh…"

*Crack*

I just some couple of seconds, Lucien's hands start crushing No.70's head with no mercy.

He's already fractured skull start cracking in more places, and mutilating No.70's face, his nose was completely flat, the ears were integrated in his head, the jaw was shattered and disconnected from the rest of the skull and his eyes were almost removed from orbits. At the end, when Lucien stopped, No.70 couldn't hear anything and was almost blind.

"Argh…"

"Argh…"

Screams after screams covered the entire coliseum, making the students to have the same reaction as the Edmund's battle, if not even worse. Even the other remaining battle stopped, everyone was shaken, Lucien was a monster, he enjoyed the suffering he inflicted!

"Argh…"

Lucien pressed he's foot three times on No.70's arm, and in less than a second he felt how he's arm didn't respond anymore, and as well how all the bones in he's arm were shattered and scattered through his entire arm.

"Argh…"

Again the pain engulfed his mind and he fell in a blackout, just to woke up by the same pain two more times. No.70 couldn't take it anymore, his stomach just revolted against him and start trowing up, and not just that but as well the blood from his accumulated internal injuries. While the majority of residues and blood didn't reach Lucien, a little part of them stained his shoes.

"Ewww, now I need to clean them!"

Moving he's leg with an extremely fast speed, Lucien was almost to decapitate No.70, but in the last second, the announcer spoked:

"The time expired!"

"No.73 won!"

"The battle between No.69 and No.76 ended in a draw!"

'So this is a "saved by the bell" moment?'

Looking back at No.70, Lucien saw how he disappeared with no trace.

'It is an ability of someone… no, just because of the female soldier, I may get a wrong idea that abilities exists in this world. Maybe is just an ultra-advanced technology or yet unknown application of the cursed energy.'

…

The next battles were relatively normal ending without any major injuries, it was a little boring for Lucien to watch them, but it wasn't fruitless. From he's observation and the discussion he heard, even though the majority of the students tried to avoid him, Lucien found three things. Firstly, the beginners of energy usage, are divided in three classes, the first one being Bodybuilders like the Edmund's opponent, and No.67, the second one is Speedster, where a person is more concentrated on speed and agility, and the last one, Architect, as you can deduct from the name, with substantial amount of energy you can create anything, like cards in Lucien's case. Secondly, the time subject was finally resolved. At the age of sixteen, everyone awakens their powers, and so they are required to go to the academy in the next school year. So depending on what date you are born, you have a batter gasp over your energy, but of course, the question is why couldn't they be born right after the beginning of the school year, was illegal or something. And finally the third one, even though it was verified yet, it appears that the reason the school didn't interfere with the battle where a cursed energy user is beaten to death was Berserk Form, a power bust activated when a cursed energy user is at a critical state in exchange for a temporary intelligence debuff.

"For your safety, please proceed to the battle area"

'Huh? Did something happen?'

*Whoosh*

As soon Lucien ended he's thought, he saw how the walls of the walls that divided the battle area withdrew, and three persons appeared out of the blue.