Chapter 103 - Neal Vs Barton's Top Three Students
Chapter 103 – Neal Vs Barton’s Top Three Students
Gravity Room, Training grounds-1;
"Hah!" Barbara threw a punch towards Azzy's chest. However, Azzy dodged with ease and grabbed her arm before throwing her to the ground over his shoulder.
Just then, the Sabertooth tiger leaped towards him from behind. But, the ambush was also failed as Azzy quickly side-stepped and then, gave a roundhouse kick to its belly.
It crashed onto the wall, although not injured much.
Shaking off its dizziness, the sabertooth looked at Azzy and growled. It became angry after failing over and over again.
"Stop." Barbara ordered it to stand down and looked at Azzy, "you win." She then just lies on the floor while panting heavily.
"You have a long way to go, Barbara." He commented, giving her a hand.
As she stood up on her feet, she puffed her cheeks and complained, "You are too fast even in this 3x gravity. On other hand, my movements are too slow. Not fair…"
"Not that I was born with this speed. I trained for 3 years at the stairs of the Violet Pavilion to improve my physical constitution to limit. And the next year, I spent at the Pavilion where the gravity is 44 times that of normal. It's obvious that this gravity can't restrict my speed." Azzy shrugged his shoulders as if it isn't a big deal. He then proceeded to walk to the corner to reset the gravity to normal.
Barbara snorted, "I already know that. You don't need to brag about it. Once I return, I'll also train at the Violet Pavilion. Now that I'm rank-5, I'm qualified to step in, either way…"
"I already told you that your soul power and the Arcana spirit might revert to their previous state, right?" Azzy reminded her about the consequences of time travel once again.
"So what… I can just force my grandpa to send me there. It isn't a big deal, anyway. The battle experience I gain here will be a lot helpful, later."
Listening to their conversation, The Reaper can't help but only sigh for an unknown reason.
***
Meanwhile at Arena-2, Claire, Leo, and Zona arrived together.
An hour ago, their peaceful sleep was disturbed by the warden of their respective dormitories.
All of them were informed that the Principal summoned them to his office. Complying with the orders, they left their dorms by 5 A.M. and went to the administration building.
They weren't told any additional details except that they will battle a rank-7 expert, right away. He even gave a revival card to Zona to revive her slime even though she has one.
Along with that, he presented a few rank-5 skill cards for them to use in the upcoming duel. In return, he asked them to conscious in the battle for five minutes.
The three of them assumed that this expert might be a scout from some powerful organization and was intending to scout them.
However, none of them are willing to be scouted.
Leo intended to go far away and settle somewhere in the countryside.
Claire had already decided to finish her schooling and enter Sun Academy where her sister is working.
Meanwhile, Zona earlier received the invitation from Abel Tower. After checking its authenticity, she decided to join this top faction from Arcana world.
And yet, the three of them still agreed to the duel for the sake of Principal. Zona felt it's also a kind of opportunity for her to experience the power of rank-7. After all, it's not every day she would able to duel against such a higher rank expert.
Moreover, who knows what kind of background he will have. If it is someone from a top faction, she might get an additional option to choose her future path.
The three of them waited for a while until, all of a sudden, the stadium lights were switched on and they found a handsome young Neal standing before them.
"Hello, my name is Neal. Nice to meet you… I'm also alumnus of this academy, by the way. " Neal introduced himself while feeling bitter inside. He didn't expect the old man would still cover Azzy even when the school's prestige is at risk.
However, at the same time, he wasn't that much dissatisfied about his ex-master's selection.
One seems to have extraordinary physical strength, reflexes, and speed. The second one seems like a powerful light user with extraordinary healing ability and the third one is the owner of the slime with mimic ability.
They were already the best ones in the academy if one excludes Azzy who was feared by even upperclassmen, according to his investigations.
"Hello, senior." As the three of them returned the greetings, they heard the principal's voice from their behind, "Stop wasting time…"
The three of them turned their heads and found the Principal was standing, a few meters behind them.
Principal Barton continued, "As I said before, the time limit will be 5 minutes. If even one of you fell unconscious, then you lose. If not, then, you win. Understand?"
The three of them nodded and Barton raised the watch, "Make your preparations."
"Zona, you had any wind or Earth attribute beasts in your collection?" Leo asked her, all of a sudden.
"Eh?" She was taken aback. Initially, she thought of going with Claire's Divine sword as it left a heavy impression on her, especially the last soul skill she used.
But, upon hearing Leo's question, she immediately realized what he implied. The opponent is a rank-7. It's useless to attack. As the time limit is only 5 minutes, all she needs is either speed or sturdy defense.
Zona immediately thought of a beast and thanked Leo for the reminder. Meanwhile, Claire immediately took out an exquisite armor with runes carved on it and wore it over the upper body.
It appeared big at first but upon wearing it, the armor somehow adjusted itself to her size.
This was the armor that she had chosen from the prize of the winner of the group battles.
As for the other items from the prize, the five million credits were split evenly between Calder and Snivy. The gold-grade flying card was taken by Gideon and the gold-grade storage card was taken by Mia.
On the other hand, Zona, who was in the hospital until midnight, missed the reward ceremony and didn't get the time to choose from the runner-up prize.
She can't help but look at Claire's armor enviously as she was only a runner up where the Armor wasn't rewarded.
Looking at Zona, Leo, who won all the above items from the single battle category, took out the Armor from the storage card and handed it to her as he thinks it is useless.
Zona thought he was only lending it to her temporarily and didn't hesitate to take it and equip it.
Claire summoned the divine sword and Zona summoned the blue slime. Leo just stood straight.
"Student Leonard," Barton called out his name.
"Yes, Mr. Principal?" Leo turned his head.
"Your opponent is a rank-7. Summon your Arcana spirit and remove the suppression." Barton frowned as he reminded him.
"It's alright, Mr. Principal. I assure you that I won't be unconscious for five minutes." Leo appeared confident. However, in the eyes of others, he appeared rather careless and overconfident.
"Are you ready?" Neal stood straight with his hands on the back.
The three of them nodded.
"Go…" Barton started the timer.
As usual, Claire charged forward to attack this rank-7 expert despite knowing she doesn't have the slightest chance to defeat him.
Meanwhile, Zona's slime transformed into a green Drake, which isn't that powerful but has the high dodging capability and speed-related soul skills.
As for Leo, he took out a couple of skill cards that he received from the Principal and applied one of them to boost his speed temporarily so that he can match Neal's speed.
***
Barbara and Azzy were returning after finishing their early morning practice. As everyone else is sleeping, the whole compound looked peaceful and silent.
Suddenly, they saw a huge amount of flames in the sky above the Arena-2. As its floodlights are switched on, both of them wondered whether someone is in a battle and a beast has gone wild.
Both of them looked at each other and nodded, "Let's go…"
Not wasting any time, Azzy and Barbara rushed towards the second training grounds.
A couple of minutes later, they reached the entrance of the Arena and entered the field.
Azzy saw a ten-meter big red salamander with flames dancing on its tail. And a familiar man is sitting on it. He can't help but stare at this powerful platinum grade beast.
Just then, Barbara tapped his shoulder. As he looked at her, she pointed at the three unconscious students and the old man who was checking at their vitals.
Neal then spoke, "your students have lost."