A Life-Threatening Attack (2)

Iraspisit's POV:

I was sitting cross-legged on top of the dome that was the school. It wasn't where I was supposed to be, but I preferred it over that silent cave Igmor told me to practice at. Of course, I didn't tell him this or he would get on my case about it. I just preferred to be around the hustle and bustle, it helped me concentrate. In fact, I ignored a lot of stuff that Igmor told me to do because of how unnecessary it felt. For example, he thinks that getting angry is something a fool would do. But why shouldn't I get angry when someone angers me?

That's how people get pushed around, just look at Onvima. I have rarely seen him get angry and he constantly gets pushed around by that devil, and now Igmor. In my opinion, that was weakness. I'm strong enough and have a high enough position to follow how I feel without consequence. If I'm angry then I'll show it, if I'm happy then I'll show it, I don't care what others think about me because it doesn't matter. I placed at the 45th spot in the last 1st Half Coal Class competition last year! I'm indispensable. So I can do what I want.

While that was true though, I understand that Igmor's job is to make me stronger than I already am, so I have listened to him in some aspects. I have made sure to go through the exercises he gave to me, which included lots of reading, and even though I despise reading, I still did it. And to be honest, I don't regret it. I believe I have gotten stronger over the past couple of months, not physically, but mentally. That's the only reason I haven't left yet to get back to my daily routine. That and my desire to get back at Igmor for humiliating me in front of an audience.

Just the thought sent shivers of anger through my body, but I was able to keep myself from kicking the floor in. I've been keeping up on the meditation exercises Igmor showed me, and it has mellowed me out more. But, once again, if I do get angry enough, I won't hold back. There's no reason not to.

I sighed as I stared into the cloudy sky, and as the raindrops poured onto my back. Maybe it was the weather for the past months, but even with this self-improvement, I was growing bored. Before, when I was bored I would go find a wine shop to solicit at and bother the employees, or anger one of my friends. But that wasn't much of an option now.

I sighed again. I wish there was some sort of stimulus that would break me out of this monotonous pattern. But I couldn't even go to that big speech Convir and that devil were putting on, she didn't even consider inviting me. It left a sour taste in my mouth, but I understood her thought pattern. She wants me and the others to grow stronger so that she can control us and use us. Yeah right. After I'm done with Igmor, I think I'll finish her off. Then the wine I drink inside of her house will taste even better-

BOOM!!!

ROARRR!!!!

These two loud sounds landed in my ear like a wet sponge hitting a brick wall, causing me to turn around immediately. It didn't take long for me to identify the source of the sound. The incredulous sight of the large fence falling over into a cloud of smoke entered my eyes, causing me to be dumbfounded.

It was one of those moments when you really couldn't accept the reality of a situation. There have been many times when I've imagined scenarios where I'm riding down a road in a carriage and armed robbers try to take my stuff before I beat them all up. But, I know best that when something like that actually happens, the reality is crushing. I used to imagine what I would say and what I would do if someone tried to harm someone close to me. Oh, I would reason with them, or, I would sneak behind them and kick them in the nards. But... that's just not how it works.

Seeing the fence falling over and the surrounding fence following suit gave me that same feeling of fantasy, that what was happening couldn't be real, but having gone through a similar situation I had some resistance, so I was able to quickly come to terms with what was happening. It was a Wild Beat attack. Again. But... this time I won't let tragedy befall the people I actually like. I'm stronger than before, not only in my Class but in my psyche as well. This is something I'm sure I can do.

I jumped off of the school and, breaking my fall by using the tall trees, ran to the location of the roar. It wasn't very hard, as the beast kept roaring over and over, as though it was extremely angry. I got closer and closer, and as I did, the roars grew in volume, rumbling the ground and shaking the surrounding leaves. My body shook with each step it took. To do that, it had to be huge. And judging by how it was able to make it this far, it had to be Coal Class. It couldn't be higher than that because if it was, I wouldn't be running at the thing.

After a couple more seconds of running, more than just the rumbling and tremors could be heard. I could also hear the yells of people along with the sounds of collision. If you were Stone Class, your first reaction would be to run away when something this big happened, and if you were Coal Class, you would be at the speech that was going on currently, too far to even hear the boom of the fence falling. Which meant if people were fighting right now, it had to be Culdia and the others. With them here as well, there was no way we couldn't beat this thing.

Of course, that was my thought until I actually saw the thing. I wasn't able to get a look at it because of the fog from before, but now that it was right in front of me, my confidence took a dip. The thing was massive, taller than ten of me stacked up on each other and wider than a hundred of me put side to side. It has an outer casing of green bamboo, as though it was wearing plate armor, and sticking through the pieces of the "armor" were strands of midnight black fur. Though the black fur looked more like blades than something you could make a blanket out of. Its eyes were the same emerald green as its bamboo skin, and one of its two front teeth would be big enough to skewer me through the tip of my head to the sole of my foot. It was a Wild Beat. Specifically the Bamboo Bear.

This was a well-known monster, mostly because it was a resource that was the property of the Fortune Nine Sect. It is also known to be a fairly well-mannered Wild Beast that doesn't like to leave its Bamboo Vine Tree. This now reeked of suspicion, but that could all be figured out later. Right now I had to help the others, and this was also my chance to get rid of the embarrassment I received in the coliseum.

The first step in combat, as decreed by his royal highness Igmor, is to survey the situation beforehand, but if you can't, then survey it in every moment of free time you have. Right now would be that time. So I looked around. It seemed like all five of them were here, six if you included the unconscious Paxium. I knew all of their fighting styles well. Fragitus and Onvima should be working together, where Onvima baits the bear to attack him before dodging and Fragitus then bombs the thing. But Onvima was obviously too scared to do such a thing, and Fragitus was much too bloodthirsty to think about others before attacking. Vernam should be using her speedy attacks and speedy legs to support Fragitus and Onvima, but she was just rushing in with her Lightning Armor like a fool. The only one doing the correct thing was Culdia, who was using her swords to support everyone else so they could do what they needed without dying.

These idiots will kill themselves if they continue like this... I have to do something, I can't let this end like last time!... Huh? That's weird... Do I actually like these people? I mean, the only reason I tagged along with them was so that I could have some friends to exploit, so why would I put myself in danger for them? They should be expendable. They should be a tool that I use... Damn it. I really let these people rub off on me. Screw it. For now, I'll just say I'm doing it so that my reputation turns for the better, and if I save some friends in the process, then so be it.

I ran into the field and activated my Fire Armor Magic Art before sending a fireball at the bear's face, getting its attention, along with everyone else, "Listen up you guys!! If you keep going on like this, then you'll all end up dead! So I need you all to listen to my instructions carefully! ESPECIALLY YOU FRAGITUS!! Just think of it as a more effective way to fight!"

I was most afraid of Fragitus messing everything up, but luckily she also mellowed out a little due to Igmor, so she was at the very least willing to listen to my "more efficient way of fighting". Once I made sure everyone was focused on me, I sent another fireball at the bear's face to keep its attention on me and dodged its attacks while giving out orders.

"ALRIGHT! Onvima! I know this may be scary for you, but is a 50% chance of death or a 100% chance of death along with thousands of others scarier to you!? So listen well! I'm going to need you to bait out the bear's attacks, similar to what I'm doing right now. And then when you do, Fragitus is going to use it to get a heavy attack on the thing! Vernam, you need to support both of them! Culdia, you stay on the backlines and use your swords to support the others' mistakes like you have been doing! I'll use my Fire Walls to restrict its movements! I'm not sure how this thing will attack or react, so if you deem it necessary to change something, then do it! But don't be stupid! We only need to delay this thing until a Grand Elder or the Sect Leader gets here, so don't beat yourself up over killing it! YOU ALL GOT THAT?!!"

I heard an uneven harmony of different kinds of confirmation, and then we enacted to plan I brewed. It actually felt really cool to be leading others like this. And once a Grand Elder gets here and sees my immaculate performance, my name will once again be on the tip of everyone's tongue. It was perfect!

___________________________________________________________________________

Around five minutes passed after I entered the fray, and things were looking up. Some things did change due to the bear exposing some of its Wood Branch Magic Arts, but it mostly kept to my original plan.

As the bear lifted its paw, I yelled out, "Everyone! Get behind Culdia!!"

Everyone rushed behind Culdia in their own ways, and once everyone was behind her, her Tree Shields went up. As the bear's paw hit the ground, sharpened bamboo stalks broke out of the ground and turned 90 degrees before shooting at the shield. The first shield broke after a couple of seconds, and the second one soon after, but the third one stood true.

Once the barrage was over, everyone went back to their places and the battle recommenced. Five minutes of constant fighting was hard on your Genesis Liquid reserves, so we would constantly have someone recharging, creating a system where there was always someone distracting the bear. Like this, it was only a matter of time until a Grand Elder made a move.

Suddenly, the rhythm of attack and defense was broken as the bear took on a position different than anything it had done before. In this situation, it was best to fall behind the person with the strongest defense, Culdia. I yelled out at everyone to get behind her, and we all ran over to her. But before I was able to do that, my vision centered in on the trees behind them all. I could see a figure hiding behind layers of greenery. At first, I thought it was one of the Grand Elders, which brought relief to my heart, but then I saw the pigment of their skin. It was fading, but it still had darkness to it. It wasn't a Grand Elder at all, it was Igmor.

I wasn't sure why, but in this situation, I felt even more uneasy. It wasn't until I identified that twisted smile on his face that I realized the true danger of this situation. Why was he sneaking around in the bushes watching us fight the bear? Wouldn't it be more effective to just come out and help us fight the bear off? With his strength, it would become a lot easier.

All of a sudden, memories of one of the many lessons he gave us flooded my thoughts. It seemed like a normal lesson back then, but now it was all I could think about, "You were all high public figures at one time or another, but all of you, besides Iraspisit, faded out of the minds of the people. Why is that? It's because you all haven't been desperately trying to attract attention as you should. Iraspisit may have a bad reputation, but at least he constantly renews that reputation with his dramatic, actor-like actions. To gain people's attention you should be dramatic, you should act like an actor on stage playing in front of a crowd, and everyone should hear you. That starts with dramatic entrances and exits to make a lasting impression on people's minds..." "... Most importantly. Don't let anyone else upstage you, at any costs."

And if there was anyone who practiced what they preached, it would be Igmor.

I could feel my heart pump with adrenalin as the shade of death fell onto me. It was now that I took notice of the strange events taking place. Why was a bear here during the rainy season when they should be hibernating? How come it came on the only day where the Grand Elders were as far as could be? And how come the first person to react to this wasn't Igmor? It was obvious to me now.

I was upstaging the master. I was planning on outshining him. I had eyes on his downfall. I was too indiscreet with my wants. So now he wanted me dead.

Suddenly I felt a rush of wind push on my ankles and due to my Fire Armor being inactive for Genesis Liquid preservation and the already slightly muddy ground, I fell. Fear grappled its hands around my heart as I hit the muddy ground. The sense of death only grew more pungent and my outcome was becoming more clear. I was going to die here.

The cold sensation of a powerful suction pulling onto me overtook my body. I was ripped from the safe embrace of the mud and was thrown aggressively through the air. My head then knocked against something hard and sharp. The suction stopped and instead, I felt a sharp prong against the tip of my head and the sole of my foot. It didn't take long for me to figure out what it was, just as it didn't take long for the teeth to rip through my head and foot before they met in the middle of my stomach.

They say that when you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes.

To that, I just have to say...

Bullshit.