Chapter CXXVIII - The First Event (part 1)

Just like any academy, our Monday started with a ceremony.

The ceremony was done mostly to talk about the past week's exams and this week's event... The Autumn Event.

The vice headmaster talks very slowly how the autumn event has been an important event for all of us to cheer upon, and that makes my stomach hungry.

After the vice headmaster spoke, the head of the student council, Milly, stepped forward and spoke to the speaker. She told everyone to do their best on the event, and that the council has done their best to make the most out of their time.

Then she went back down and the ceremony ended.

The first game will start at eight, which is the tournament form battles. It will be held in the gymnasium, where every battle basically happens.

The first batch of battles is to find the champion of the first years, so the first years will play on the arena first.

And looks like Class E is the first to play.

"Good luck, Jericho... Manda. You two are awesome, so go show them what we can do."

I said to the two as they left for the arena. The two gave me a thumbs up while showing their mean faces.

Upon entering the arena, the crowd shouted like crazy. They are booing class E, calling us cheaters and stuff.

I guess that makes sense. It's because they don't know yet. They had no idea that class E had evolved.

Today, we will engrave it into their brains.

The five challengers from class D appear, and every single one of them is a male. Meanwhile in our batch, there's three females and two males. The masculine level is definitely different.

But, don't underestimate someone just because they don't have a stick between their thighs.

"Ready!?"

The referee who stood right next to the arena shouted while glaring at the two sides.

Both sides are looking fearsome. Neither of them wanted to lose, but the outcome was already obvious…

For us class E students, anyway.

"Begin!!"

The referee shouted and the match began. Class D started the battle with them attacking first. Every single one of them launched an attack of their own, and the magics exploded when it flew towards the class E students.

But, they never really touched them.

Manda and one other earth magician student had formed a stone wall right in front of them to protect from the attacks. And with Manda's stone creation magic and the earth magic to fortify the stone wall, it made the wall strong enough to withstand that many attacks.

"W-What?"

"A wall so powerful??"

Class D students looked quite confused. 

Manda drops down the wall, showing what is standing behind the wall. Jericho and the other two students are ready for a counter attack. This time, class D won't be able to defend it.

Because it's too powerful.

"Eat this!!"

VWOOOSH!!!!

Jericho shouted as she threw her wind ball magic at her opponents. The other two also shot away their most powerful magic. 

This is… merciless.

VWOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the class D students are either knocked down or out of bounds. The game has ended.

"End!! Winner, class E!!"

The referee announced the winner, but no one cheered except for the class E students watching. Everyone else was silenced and confused about what just happened, but it was pretty clear...

Class E students are strong.

The next battle went on, and it's class C against class B. It's obvious that class B is better than them on any term, so class B won fairly.

The next game is between class E and class B, then the winner will challenge class A.

Jericho and everyone else stood in the arena. But before the battle starts, a trash talk is a regular thing to happen.

"Hey, class E... Would you kindly tone down your cheats? I kind of want to play fair here."

A long green haired boy from class B called out to Jericho and the others. But Jericho simply chuckled.

"Cheats? What a laugh. You can't accept the fact that we are stronger than you? Or would you like me to go easy on you?"

"Tch! Cocky end class!"

Jericho succeeded in pissing off her opponents. 

"Phew…"

In the spectators seat, I whistled, startling quite a few classmates around me.

What do you know… she has become better at talking rather than punching them out of the blue.

Her magic wasn't the only thing that has evolved...

"Begin!!"

The referee shouted, and the class B students dashed forward. After watching class E and their strong stone walls, they decided a close range battle was the best choice.

But, that was never the answer.

BAK!!

BAAKK!!!

BRAKK!!

Jericho moved forward and tackled down three students in a blink of the eye, including the green haired guy.

"W-What the…"

BRUKK!!

While he tries to get back up, another two of his teammates are on the ground, beaten down by the other members of class E.

And now he is standing alone, with bruises on his face.

"Cheaterr!!!"

VWOOOSSHHH!!!!!

The long green haired guy quickly turns insane and activates all of his magic. His body is cladded in wind armor as a giant sword formed on both of his hands.

"Now, I will take you all down myself!"

"Wind magic? That's cute."

VWOOSH!!

In less than a second, Jericho closed the gap between her and the green guy.

"Then, have a taste of my… wind magic."

She said as she placed the wind ball on his chest. 

"HUAAA!!!--"

VWOOOOOSHHHH!!!!!

BAAARRR!!!

The green haired guy can only watch and scream while the wind ball swirls bigger into a tornado and throws him off the arena into the walls.

He crashed to the walls, forming a crater, and is now stuck on it. He is unconscious.

"Winner, class E!"

"""WOOOO!!!!!!"""

The only one shouting is class E again, while everyone else is even more confused. 

Did that guy just get thrown away? How did he get thrown? What kind of cheats are class E using?

The spectators are not believing their eyes, but the class E students have definitely become powerful…

Powerful enough... to challenge class A.

"Okay, you all have done well in conserving energy. Now, you can start massacring class A since today will be your last battle."

I said to the five, and they all nodded.

Since I am their trainer, I might as well give them a couple words and lay down some plans for them. The plan was to conserve as much energy as possible until the time comes to fight class A.

Even though we probably won't be needing much of a plan against class D and B, class A might be… impossible.

Because… they will be fighting him.

"Go Arfius! Beat down the class E students!!"

"Yeah!! Go Arfius!!"

"Arfiuss!!! Whooo!!!!"

…

We… lost the bet.

We didn't know what Class A's lineups were going to be, and we had some strong feelings that the guy would go for the battle royale event since he is so strong and egoistic…

So everyone agreed to assign me to the battle royale event, just so I can be the one to face Arfius.

But, our bet was wrong.

Arfius… was assigned to the 5v5 event.

Right now, I'm not sure anyone in class E can beat Arfius in a battle, since I myself have never seen him in battle. But if the rumors about him being at the same level as the headmaster is true, then class E will surely have some problems.

No one in class E, not even Jericho and Maneil combined, is at that level.

"Remember the plans. You need to go all out for this."

I told everyone with a firm tone, and they all nodded seriously. This might be their hardest battle ever, because their opponent is the genius amongst genius… Arfius Polaris.

The five then went to the arena after being called by the referee, and the five from class A also went up the arena.

But, something absurd happened.

BLAAAAARRRR!!!!!!!!

And just when everyone was glaring at each other, a blast came from the class A group.

"What?"

"W-What happened?"

A blue lightning strike came from behind the class A group and knocked everyone down. When the smoke cleared out, only a single person was standing in that area.

It's… Arfius… 

He attacked his own teammates…

"Now, you have four obstacles down, class E… and only myself alone. Will this satisfy you?"

Arfius said calmly at the class E group, as if he had no remorse at all. His ego is really abnormal… but they aren't exactly baseless.

Class E members can only bite their lips of anger. And not only the class E, everyone watching also got pissed seeing Arfius's sudden betrayal to his teammates.

"Why the hell did you attack your teammates?!"

Jericho barked a question at Arfius, but he simply shook his head and answered.

"I think they might be a hindrance to you, and you won't be able to fight me to the fullest, and I don't want that. In fact, they might be a hindrance to me too, so the only logical thing to do is to just get them out of the way.

I want you all… to fight me with all you got."

VWOOOMMM!!!!

Arfius took a firm stance, and the pressure around him turned insanely heavy. The air turned stiff and everyone within his five meters radius couldn't breath.

This pressure… He is indeed at Veneo's level...

Some of the spectators that can move quickly jumped into the arena and grabbed the downed teammates away. Otherwise, they will be caught in his deadly attacks.

"And now it's only me… so make this entertaining."

Arfius taunted everyone in the class E group, and they all glared at him with their insane hatred.

Seeing his act, a mad grin formed on my face.

This guy… is really interesting.

If I wasn't friends with Jericho and the others… if I were in his position, I would have done the exact same thing he did…

Our ego… was similar after all.

VWOOOMM!!!

Jericho's hair slowly lifted up as her hatred was leaking out. 

The pressure around her became insanely powerful as her whole body is cladded in white light and wind armor. The four wings on her back are slowly forming and her face is covered by the white face mask, conjured using the wind magic.

This is her ultimate form that she used against me. She is being very serious.

Everyone else too. All the students from class E selected to fight in the battle tournament are able to augment their whole body and form an armor. And after preparing up, everyone is now shining with their elemental armor, including Manda with her wind and fire combination armor.

"W-Woah… Class E students are insane…"

"Y-Yeah… but can they beat Arfius??"

Everyone is starting to accept class E's strength, but they still doubt they can win against Arfius. Meanwhile, Arfius is doing minimal preparation and forms a baton out of lightning as his only weapon, and his body is being lifted up by the powerful wind around him.

He took a stance while floating in the air, and then he spoke.

"Ready."

"So are we..."