Chapter 109 Combat [ 2 ]

-Oriana Mengral's point of view.

Oriana looked at Asher's incredible performance.

How does he have so much endurance and strength?

Since when is he this physically strong?

While it is true that Asher has a talent for magic, Oriana never really thought he would have the talent to be this physically strong.

In a sense, most mages are physically weak. However, some are the opposite and their bodies are very strong, not to Oriana's level, but quite sturdy.

If they use mana to power their muscles, bones and organs, then they have incredibly high strength. However, no mage, no matter how much mana they have, can compare to the few knights who possess immense strength like Oriana.

Among them is also her brother, the second knight with the rank of "Minarch of the Sword", someone who at the moment is better in aspects of skill control.

However, he cannot compare with Oriana's strength; she is definitely, in simple words, one of the strongest in the physical aspect.

The moment Asher dropped the bucket of icy iron, Oriana had thought that she no longer had any strength. However...

"He's not even tired."

She looked at his back, but Asher didn't look tired at all. In fact, his gaze was somewhat lost and somber, as if he was immersed in thought.

Oriana found this odd.

"Could it be that his mentality is getting to him at the moment?".

With nothing more to think about, she approached him.

She stood in front of him and then bent down to look at his face, which was turned towards the ground.

He was much shorter than her, so after crouching down, Oriana frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

Though he sounded normal as usual, Oriana noticed an expression and tone of voice as if Asher was bored with something.

Although she didn't know exactly what was wrong with him, she didn't ask.

But, of course, she began to worry.

"On the surface he looks normal, but...".

She stopped and stared at him.

"It's like he's starting to see things differently."

Oriana meant that Asher was slowly realizing that everything he did was too easy for him.

This is a common occurrence among those magicians with incredible talent.

They begin to see the world around them in a dull and meaningless way.

It's as if they realize that everything is easy just by reflecting a little and noticing that nothing is difficult for them.

Oriana went through the same thing.

However, for her to see the world as boring, she had to undergo something that was really hard for her to understand, overcome or achieve. It's like a challenge for those with talent to begin to see the world differently.

"If that's why, then I'll make you feel like overcoming me is hard."

She decided.

She will make Asher feel that there really is something hard to overcome. Only then will she get him to see the world in a new way again, where there are still things that challenge his ability.

***

-Scene change.

After half an hour of organization, finally the cadets had their partners.

Each cadet has a partner with whom they will fight. For example, Grey and Freddy were selected as a pair, which means that between the two of them they will fight and one of them will be the winner.

Depending on who wins, they will have a higher score, which will be the final score of the second stage of the evaluation.

Each cadet was with his partner, with whom he would fight in a match.

And as expected, Oriana and Asher were also selected as a combat partner. Between the two of them they would fight and one would be the winner.

Although all the cadets knew who would win.

Oriana, of course. Every cadet thought the same thing.

There is no way Asher would win against Professor Oriana.

Those were the thoughts of all the cadets, including Asher's friends.

Honestly, it seemed pretty obvious who would win. Even though they knew Oriana would use the least bit of her strength, it was still inevitable that she would win this match.

The match between Oriana and Asher would be the last one.

This was decided by orders from Professor Lucas.

This was an opportunity to see one of the strongest people in combat. Although her opponent was a mere cadet, this was the strongest first year, being one step away from the third circle.

Of course, the cadets were excited to see this match, and quickly each began to fight their assigned partner.

It was an extended bout, with several cadets fighting each other. The most relevant fight was between Luna and Julian, although other cadets also stood out, and many fights were over in less than ten minutes.

However, the last to finish were Luna vs. Julian and Grey vs. Freddy, who were quite evenly matched. Emilia and Gloriana were also facing each other, with Gloriana about to win.

Meanwhile, the other cadets were finishing their bouts.

The air was filled with spells and mana of different affinities flying everywhere. It was an impressive sight for all present.

However, everyone's attention was on the expected fight between Oriana and Asher, undoubtedly the most anticipated.

Although, of course, they were also watching the current fights closely, especially that of Luna and Julian.

***

-Scene change.

-Luna Hazard's point of view.

It was impossible.

"How come he's so strong?"

They were pretty evenly matched before, but Julian had surpassed Luna. Even though they were almost evenly matched at the moment, it was very hard to beat him.

Did this guy really become so strong so fast?

of all, they were both close to the second circle, although Luna was as well.

However, the difference in power between the two was not huge, but enough for Julian to suppress Luna.

Although Luna's affinities were ice, air and water, for now she was not using the water affinity.

It was, in fact, the affinity she had not yet trained, so she discarded it in this fight.

Meanwhile, Julian, with his lightning and air affinities, was handling them as if he was completely used to them.

"Tsk."

Luna clicked her tongue as Julian dodged a wave of ice.

Lightning affinity had several applications, including increasing speed using electricity. Its destructive power was among the strongest of the normal elements.

Luna then moved.

She reached out and fired hundreds of ice shards at high speed, powered by her air affinity.

She also used air affinity to move faster. While not as effective on the ground, it allowed him to move better in the air, but he still didn't have the ability to fly.

Still, he moved quickly, skidding over the ground and chasing after Julian.

At this rate, he would not manage to land a single attack on him.

Crunch.

Lightning fluttered through the air heading towards her, but Luna lifted a sheet of ice just in time, avoiding the attack.

She waved her hand in Julian's direction, casting a freeze spell. His feet were caught as the ground froze, and spears of ice shot toward him.

Luna had managed to corner Julian, but he placed his hand on the ground and....

Burst.

An electric blast shattered the ice, allowing Julian to move again at great speed and appear at Luna's side.

Instinctively, he raised his hand, covering himself with a layer of ice as he pushed back with the wind at his back.

However, Julian's electric fist impacted Luna's arm, and an electric current engulfed her.

She quickly backed up several steps, looking down at her hand, which was burned from the attack.

"Even though I used protection, it still penetrated all the way through to the skin."

It was really annoying to deal with someone with the lightning affinity.

Despite that, he was undeterred. A flare of ice shot out of his hands, heading towards Julian.

The size of the ice flare was considerable, taking up a large space. Julian was trapped and covered himself with both hands.

But that was a mistake, as his body began to freeze. Luna seized the moment and fired several ice arrows.

The arrows streaked through the air, heading towards Julian.

In an attempt to block them, he erected an electric wall.

Baam!!!

The arrows shattered, but Luna didn't stop. A wave of mana that froze everything in its path shot out like an arrow from the palm of her hand.

Julian instinctively ran, trying to evade the attack, but Luna moved her hand, following his trail.

Although he was quite a distance away, Luna's attack hit Julian's back, causing him to fall to the ground.

However, he placed his hand on the ground as he saw the entire frozen area reach Luna's feet.

Crunch.

Sparks emerged and quickly made their way along the icy path on the ground.

"Uh..."

Luna reacted late as she realized Julian's attack.

His whole body filled with electricity as he fell backwards. His eyes were wide open, but he remained calm even though his whole body ached. Still, he looked up.

"I lost."

He couldn't move in that instant.

The attack was quite fast and with greater force than the previous ones.

No matter how, Julian was a bit stronger than her.

Still, she wasn't disappointed in their fight.

"If Julian is this strong, being on par with Grey and Freddy? What would it be like to fight Asher?"

She thought about it for a moment.

Certainly, Asher was the strongest among them, and they were both in a totally different league of power.

It was obvious that Asher would win in a few seconds against Luna; however, she wanted to test his strength by facing him. She wanted to see how much of a difference there was between the strongest and the sixth strongest first year.

She was the sixth strongest, above her was Gloriana and below her, Emilia.

Freddy was the third strongest, and Julian seemed to be second, although it was not yet confirmed.

As far as Luna understood, in each year there was a ranking between the strongest and the weakest. There was also the overall ranking, which included all the cadets from all the years, and whoever was in first place was the strongest in the entire academy.

Asher was the first place freshman, the strongest sophomore was a sophomore cadet, of course, and so on up to fifth year.

"Are you okay?"

Julian then walked up to Luna and held out his hand at that instant.

"You're pretty strong."

Luna admitted.

He was stronger than her, and that was not to be denied.

"Hehe, it's not that big of a deal. My goal is to surpass Asher while we're at the academy."

"Then we have the same goals."

She also wanted to surpass Asher while they were in the academy.

Once they finish the academy, each cadet will have to take one last test, which consists of adventuring all over the world, finding ways to push their limits and trying to be as strong as possible within two years.

When you finish fifth year, this last exam is applied to everyone. Therefore, Luna wanted to be at least stronger than Asher within the academy.

If she didn't make it, then she would never make it, because she knew Asher would be too strong once they met again after the last exam.

"All cadets are done."

Professor Lucas' voice reached everyone's ears.

"Now the last combat begins."

Finally, Luna stood up and watched Asher and Oriana, who were standing in the center, looking at each other at the same time.

Finally, the most awaited bout began....