454 Show Off!
One could tell from a glance that this room was made specifically for explosive battles. There were no flowery decorations to make it look pleasing to the eye nor was there a design to give a sense of comfort, aside from the safety compartment.
A dull grey shade was what made up the entire room, its entirety made with refined rough cast in order to not waste resources on giving it touches of beauty.
Forty eight bulbs on the ceiling produced vibrant bursts of light that made sure every nook and cranny of this place was untarnished by darkness, completing the indoor battlefield.
Skullius and Stephin stood at the centre of the room while Alaris and Lemorine stood at the edge.
This first bout would start only after Alaris declared so.
The evaluation officer had felt something about Skullius. Something vague that he wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.
The fact that he was blind was already something he deemed to foretell that this man had his secrets and was probably unique as a fighter in his own right.
‘Let’s see if Silrat picked up something worth noting this time,’ Alaris as he got ready to announce for the battle to begin.
Silrat had his hand over his mouth, breathing nervously as he watched the two figures of the combatants.
He was burdened by the thought that maybe he had been too desperate.
Maybe he was risking all this for nothing…
Maybe Skullius would lose terribly and be deemed nothing special, his gamble not paying off at all…
There were some outrageous talents out there after all. Damn it!
The anxiety was thick.
‘I was banking on the fact that even if Skullius loses, if he shows his talent as Mage, with his unusual abilities, he might be considered for something else!’ Silrat thought. ‘But now…’
He wasn’t sure.
Damn it!
Again! He was feeling stiff again just like… last time.
All he could do was watch.
“Hmph! How is someone blind supposed to fight people like this? Won’t he just get pummelled silly without doing anything? Mister Silrat, your Festo- whatever will probably get beaten up and you won’t be able to free load at our house,” Terese said with mischievous smile.
Silrat ignored as he huffed in air.
Damn brat!
If he had enough status, he would bash her head in!
This wasn’t the time to yank the strings that kept his cool online.
As the tension had begun to grow, Alaris’ voice finally came.
“BEGIN!”
…
Skullius and Stephin remained rooted in their positions, a gap of nine meters between them.
Stephin’s body started to ooze of condensed mana that rose in swirls above him, like smoke. His eyes looked relaxed as he gazed at the figure of Skullius that also paid close attention to him.
Stephin smiled inwardly.
People often mistook him for an Assassin because of his body but he wasn’t.
He was the owner of an Advanced martial Class.
The Configured Warrior!
‘I’m sure this man can sense my presence very well despite being blind. Hmph! That could be a heavy disadvantage if he assumes me to be an assassin and focuses on where I might scurry to for an attack from behind. Heh! I prefer confrontation!’ Stephin said as his body bellowed with frightening waves of mana that caused a turbulence in the air!
His slim body started to grow muscular, his arms and legs growing to be twice their size while his mana exploded out all the more!
Who cared about hiding his strength so that his examinee could slowly figure it out?
That was boring!
Stephin’s neck grew thick with veins bobbing from it, the spiky hair on his head rustling upwards as if blown by a rising draft!
FWOOOOOOM!
A halo of protective mana clearly displayed itself over him, a thick body with muscles stacked upon muscles dripping with sweat and might twitching under it!
FWOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A ring of misty mana caused a rough thrum through the room, blowing Skullius’ clothing and hair back.
This show of strength was incredible!
This was the Configured Warrior Class on display, the boons provided by this man’s Stage yet to even be used as for now, to test what this blind man could do, it was enough.
His Class allowed his body to trade physical points for others – extreme speed, extreme strength or a balanced fit!
This bulky size with mana flooding from it was enough to frighten most, the endurance packed into it being even more so.
“You better not be intimidated. I’m just getting started. I want to see where that confidence of yours is com—”
Suddenly…
Like a wave of overwhelming cold suppressing the persistent heat and light from a flame…
Like an avalanche burying an entire nation under its cascading descent…
…!
Everyone’s hair stood on end.
Everyone’s eyes almost leapt out of their sockets!
A terrible suction draw in everything for a brief moment, then came an atrocious pressure!
It manifested as a mere vague feeling at first but then became a soft breeze, along with a deafening noise that normal people like Terese and Daggs mistook for thunder!
BWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A heavy blast against the solid material that made up the room caused the non-combatants present to scream as their bodies involuntarily left the ground for a moment!
Something had crashed into the wall at a speed so fast that even Alaris couldn’t quite follow. It wasn’t that it was impossible for him to have seen it if he really tried, but the sequence of events had been so unexpected that he hadn’t been able to keep up!
Dust jutted from the wall where someone was imbedded in, crumbs of the rough surface hitting the floor.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Blood trickled from this figure… pooling on the ground.
It was Skullius… who had given a one shot punishment to this man, Stephin, who was lodged rooted to the wall, unconscious.
His body which had bulked up was still as so, but the layer of mana that had protectively hugged his figure was all but gone.
Right below his twitching chest pads, was a deep depression the shape of a fist, the skin around it having been bruised to a blackish-purple shade, its surface broken to leak blood.
Stephin’s mouth was the major source of the pouring blood however and his eyes were rolled back in a shiver-inducing manner.
“…Ah…” Daggs was the first to make a sound, his voice cracking as he almost stumbled to the ground in horror, buckets of sweat leaking from his brow.
Dear Quintess…
Terese shook like a leaf.
Her eyes were bulged ridiculously and she could barely breathe, her face turned pale from fright.
She reached out to grasp one of the guards for reassurance, this guard who quickly tried to retain his composure as he sweated, gulping up a load of saliva.
The little girl stared blankly at the figure of Skullius that now stood where Stephin had been standing, his body oozing softly of condensed white mana.
He seemed to be gazing at his own hand, thinking about something, but just this visual creeped out Terese.
“Well I’ll be Boros’cousin…” Silrat who was also shocked beyond belief said while plastering his hands on the glass before him, his eyes alternating between Skullius and Stephin.
BWOOF!
The wall crumbled a bit, Stephin’s body falling to the floor.
As it did, the stifling air in the room finally seemed to vanish.
“Hmmm… remarkable…” Alaris’ voice rang as he walked towards the unconscious Stephin, picking him up. “Simply remarkable…”
This was remarkable indeed.
Stephin was an expert in reinforcing his body, adjusting it for extreme strength and durability or ridiculous speed and agility.
He was also at the Master Stage, nearly at its middle phase, meaning his body had started to approach the REFINEMENT.
Yet… he was beaten in a single punch?
By a Mage for that matter?
The fist shaped depression on Stephin told Alaris a lot.
He was right.
Skullius was anything but ordinary.
Alaris turned to the Hybrid Luman who also turned to him.
‘He’s sharp and so is his mana. His control over it is incredible, as expected of a Mage, but… he lacks the presence of one at the same time,’ Alaris thought.
On the other hand Skullius was assessing his attack just now.
‘So that’s my limit for now, huh? Maybe I can push a bit more but that’s probably as far as I can go,’ he thought.
The limit he was referring to was the amount of weight he could muster with his mana’s special property, the effect he had used just now, along with a few skills to break through Stephin’s defences!
At the moment, It seemed that something like 30,000 tonnes was his limit!
As for how he speed blitzed Stephin..
Hehe.
Skullius refocused on the task at hand.
He wanted to speed run through this thing so he could get to raiding a few Clusters before the Premium Age Royale began.
“Let’s begin the next one,” Skullius said, much to no one’s surprise. There wasn’t the arrogance one would expect though, but urgency instead. “You.”
Skullius pointed to Lemorine.
Alaris put Stephin against the wall before sighing and turning to Lemorine.
The woman had a bit of an apprehensive look on her face but she walked up to face Skullius immediately.
“You have me feeling a bit nervous here,” she said with a friendly smile as she got into stance. “Mind taking it easy on me?”
Unlike Stephin, Lemorine did not have a habit of looking down on people. She had already intended to fight Skullius while giving her all and showing that she was doing so.
Skullius smiled at her words and brought both his hands in front of him in a casual fighting stance.
The moment his fist landed on Stephin, he had surmised that this man was above the Advancement Stage as he was incredibly sturdy.
With that reasoning, Lemorine and Alaris were probably at the Master Stage too.
“Begin!” Alaris called, signalling for the second bout to begin.
Immediately after he said so, Lemorine’s body exploded with mana, her eyes turning sharp as she fixed them on Skullius, her right hand rising quickly as on its palm, a bright golden orb emerged!
…!
Skullius drew back a bit.
This woman was going all out from the beginning and from how the texture of her mana felt – less brutish and raw – Skullius imagined she was definitely…
VWOOOOOSH!
A burst of golden flame hissed from the golden orb on Lemorine’s palm, from within the fire, a giant lizard emerging!
…An Energy Former!
The massive creature just now appearing, rushed behind Lemorine and hugged her torso with its front legs before turning its head to Skullius and producing a vicious hiss!
Following this, Lemorine pointed at Skullius with her other hand, from her palm a larger orb of gold appearing as it glowed brightly as with another burst of flame, a towering figure emerged!
Its one step into this room caused a loud shudder, a suffocating presence burning from its body as it bore down on Skullius!
The Hybrid Luman smiled at this.
Now this was a challenge!