Chapter CXXVIII - The First Event (part 2)

Hearing that the two sides were ready, the referee quickly wiped away his sweat and shouted.

"Ready!? Begin!!!"

VWOOOSHHH!!!!

Jericho wasted no time and quickly dashed forward. A wind ball with sharp blades at the sides spun at high speed on her palms. She threw the wind ball at Arfius, but he simply knocked the wind ball away with his baton, like a baseball.

The wind ball exploded at the ground next to the spectators, causing quite the panic there.

Following Jericho, everyone else also started shooting their ranged attacks. Firebombs, giant boulders, water bullets and light lasers are now flying towards Arfius.

But, Arfius still looked calm.

VWOOOOOSSSHHH!!!!!!!!

He simply waves his hand and an incredibly powerful gust of wind throws the magic attacks away from him. The explosions occurred as the magic attacks collided with the floors and the walls, completely saving him from any attacks.

His wind magic control was able to deflect magic attacks… that's a technique I have not seen before.

"Tch!"

Jericho is already close to him, and she immediately goes crazy with her attacks. 

Wind balls, wind slashes, and wind blades one after another are making their way towards Arfius at high speed.

But, Arfius is much faster.

FWOOOOOSSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Every single one of Jericho's attacks was bunted away using his lightning baton, and when Jericho was busy preparing another attack, Arfius dashed forward and closed the distance in a second.

"Horyah!!-"

Jericho quickly swipes her hand forward at Arfius with her wind magic on, but it merely destroys the ground and not hitting Arfius at all.

Because he already leaped to his right and stood next to Jericho.

"Wha-"

BAAAAKK!!!

BAAAARRRR!!!!!!

With a single punch enchanted with lightning and wind magic, Jericho was thrown far away to the walls. When the dust cleared, it showed everyone her state.

She is still sticking on the walls, with a large bruise on her left shoulder. Her wind armor is nowhere to be seen, and she can barely stay conscious.

She is… out of bounds.

"Jericho!!"

Manda shouted as she moved forward. Eight firebombs quickly formed above her head and shot towards Arfius.

But, Arfius held his baton with both of his hands, and the baton suddenly became longer, turning into a long pole. He swung the pole like an acrobat, bunting away the firebombs as if playing baseball. 

The firebombs exploded massively when it collided with the walls and the ground.

BAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!

Everyone in the building was heavily affected by this, but they were okay. As a result, there is something insanely absurd that I can't help but notice.

Arfius… He didn't punch those firebombs randomly.

He purposely deflected them towards a certain spot, places that can never damage the audience.

He is… sharp.

Even when an opponent is right in front of him, he can still care about his surroundings.

Jericho… Manda… the others… They never stood a chance.

While Manda tried to step back, Arfius already dashed very quickly at her. By the time she realized, their faces were only thirty centimeters away.

"Those fireballs were very powerful… How did you make it?"

"Y-You!!-"

VWOOM!!!

Manda tried to throw a punch augmented with her fire magic, but Arfius disappeared from his position and reappeared on her left.

BAARRR!!!

A brilliant blue lightning explosion occurred next to Manda, throwing her back quite further and crashing with one of her allies, the light mage guy.

The two students, the earthen guy and the third female student quickly moved up to face Arfius at close range, but Arfius' eyes were already glowing blue. He lifted both of his hands up and ice came out of nowhere from his feet.

ZRIINGGGG!!!!!!

The ice magic quickly froze the other two students' feet all the way to the thigh, rendering them unable to move.

But, their hands can still move, so they fired some ranged attacks.

VWOOSHH!!!!

Arfius simply dodged the flying rocks and water bullets, and he arrived right next to them in no time at all. With a single punch each enchanted with magic energy, he knocked both of them out easily.

PRAAANGGG!!!!!

The ice mountain that was holding the two students from class E was destroyed in an instant, while the students themselves flew away out of the arena.

Manda and the light magician already got up from their slumber, but Manda is too damaged to move. 

Her left abdomen is bleeding slightly, and her left hand is burned.

"God damn it!!!"

ZINGG!!!!!

The light magician enchanted his whole body and moved like the light, but Arfius is just as fast. 

The two of them went into a contest of speed as they fought like lightning and light itself. 

The outcome… was quite expected.

"Ghahakk!!"

Suddenly, the two stopped moving. 

Arfius stood in the middle of the arena, and his hands were choking his unconscious opponent. He then threw him towards the healer outside the arena, so that he would be healed immediately.

The poor guy landed right next to the healer, where he got immediately treated.

Arfius turned his cold and tired gaze towards Manda, and slowly made his way. Manda, who was heavily wounded, is still burning with courage and spirit.

This makes Arfius more interested.

"There you go... That's more like it. But, can you really do it?"

He lifted one hand, and a lightning burst started to clad on his palms. A small tornado formed on his left hand while ice slowly covered the ground as he walked. As a tri-magician who can use Knight tier on all of his magic… he is insane.

That ice magic… It was too weak to be ice magic. I saw Hod's ice magic, and it's definitely more powerful than this. 

That ice magic was only at an Intermediate rank. Which means his third magic was never water magic. It was ice magic, an extremely rare derivative of water magic.

God damn it… This guy's talent is truly bad news...

Manda… don't be stupid…

Manda slowly forced herself to stand up, and she quickly created a stone lance from the ground. She picked up the stone lance and cladded her whole body in wind armor again. Her eyes say that she is not giving up, no matter what.

"I see... Then I hope you don't mind."

God damn it…

ZRIIIIIIINNNNGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arfius then quickly moved like the thunder, faster than a normal eye can see.

But, Manda is not that terrible.

She threw the lance with insane speed and reflex, and the lance pierced the air thanks to its supersonic speed. 

But Arfius dodged it like it was nothing thanks to his lightning fast movement, and kept moving towards Manda.

He finally arrived next to Manda, with his fist augmented by lightning magic.

With all his might, he threw the punch.

This is annoying...

BAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another brilliant blue lightning magic explosion occurred in the arena, with the same amount of power as it was before.

But… something is odd.

Everyone watched the cloud of smokes with the same thought.

Where is Manda…? And why is she not getting thrown out of the arena?

When the dust cleared, every single person in the arena could see the answer being the scene happening at the arena right now. 

Manda, slowly opening her gaze forward, immediately turned wide-eyed.

VWOOOMM!!!!

Right in front of her is a beautifully swaying red hair, as well as me who is holding Arfius's lightning enchanted fist with nothing but my left hand.

CSSS!!!!

My left hand looked quite heavily burned from the punch, and it shook immensely as I held Arfius's powerful fist thanks to his muscles and magic enhancements.

Everyone turned wide eyed. Arfius looked very shocked, too shocked to say anything. Manda as well, is completely frozen.

"Riz--"

"She is… already done."

I ignored Manda and spoke to Arfius coldly, but the glare in his eyes says that he is pissed thanks to me stopping his attack.

But if I don't, Manda could get hurt badly. Even with healing magic, she might never get through the pain and trauma on her mind.

"Tch."

Realizing what my reasoning is, Arfius quickly pulled his fist from my hand. 

"I recognize you… Rize Violet. One day… the time will come for you and I... And we shall prove who is the strongest."

I simply listened without replying. But deep down, I'm feeling the same way.

He then silently turned around and walked away, leaving the arena. He did a single glance at the referee as he walked, and the referee quickly snapped out of his daze and announced the winner.

"W-Winner… class A!"