Miko walked off the field with Sora over his shoulder and entered the waiting area.

“Miko, How is he?”

Hina quickly approached.

“Well, he’s conscious and there don’t seem to be any broken bones. There might be some internal bleeding though. All in all, I think it’s better that he drops out of the tournament.”

“I think so too.”

Hina agreed. Miko looked at her and saw that her injuries against Luka were healing pretty quickly, and had to admit that she had superior regenerative abilities.

“I don’t think that he’ll drop out though.”

Ace said.

“As long as we’re still in the tournament he will continue to fight as well. He likes to keep up the image of a big brother. If he drops out before us it will greatly hurt his pride.”

“But these injuries are nothing to laugh at.”

Luka said.

“Don’t worry. Sora’s tougher than he looks. He isn’t just a pretty boy who can sing, he’s a warrior at heart.”

“….Shut…up….”

Sora mumbled.

“See? He’ll be just fine after a good night sleep.”

Ace patted his back and ignored Sora’s painful groans.

“Well, I’ll take him to the infirmary. Ace your block is second to last so you have sometime to prepare. Use it wisely.”

After saying that, Miko left with Sora and Hina who was accompanying them.

“Don’t worry about me.”

Ace looked over at Kaido who was approaching.

“I would like to apologize.”

“Don’t. It will only make sora look bad.”

Ace replied.

“In the end, you still didn’t use anything more than brute strength. You’ve barely used any dragon abilities either.”

“I have my reasons.”

“I guess you do.”

Kaido turned and looked at Zora and Klaus who were both looking in their direction.

“You have a tough fight against you. After seeing my fight those two definitely won’t underestimate you. They’ve definitely acknowledged that Miko’s apostles are worthy opponents.”

“Ace.”

“Huh?”

Kaido looked back.

“My name’s Ace and I’m more than just someone’s Apostle.”

Ace pushed past Kaido and walked away.

“Today I’ll beat that in all you arrogant dragons’ heads.”

Miko carried Sora to the infirmary and then came back to waiting area to watch the remaining blocks.

(How’s Sora?)

Tia’s voice echoed in his head.

“He’s tough so he’ll be fine. However, there’s something he said that bothers me.”

(What’s that?)

“He said that I should keep an eye on Ace and don’t allow him to go too far.”

(What does he mean by that?)

“I have no clue.”

Miko saw Ace watching the preliminaries by himself. He didn’t seem any different from his usual self so Miko decided to leave him alone for the time being.

It didn’t take long before two more blocks had decided their final 8. It was time for the block that everyone was waiting for. It was the only block that had 2 dragon stars, but that wasn’t it. It also had Ace whose comrades have shown the world that they all had what it takes to stand at the top of this empire.

“I guess I’m up.”

Ace made his way on the field and received cheers from the crowd. Everyone was at the edge of their seats, waiting in anticipation.

“Without further ado, begin!”

The announcer’s voice signaled the start of the block.

“Hm?”

Ace noticed that all the students were looking directly at him.

“What’s this? Did you all finally realize how beautiful I am?”

Ace said with a laugh.

“This is the end of the line for you, Ace.”

The student closest to him spoke.

“This block will serve as a public execution to send a message.”

“Don’t oppose the dragon stars.”

Ace looked around and saw that everyone was watching his every move.

“Hah~.”

He sighed and placed his hands in his pocket.

“I don’t understand. What do you get from following orders so blindly? You’ve given up your identities just to follow someone, for what?”

“Stop with the talking and prepare yourself!”

All the students prepared to pounce at Ace and attack him.

“This is the reason why I hate people.”

All the students charged at Ace at the same time and a battle with 1 vs 100 started.

“Klaus, what’s the meaning of this?”

Zora asked Klaus, who had a smile on his face.

“This was originally a tournament for the four of us. No, this was a place just for the four us and then these strangers came out of nowhere and messed everything up.”

Klaus looked at Zora with a furious gaze.

“They must be punished.”

“You…Do you really see this place as your kingdom?”

“It is my kingdom. It’s the place that we’ve made our home. The thought that others have invaded it sickens me to my stomach.”

Klaus had a disgusted expression on his face.

“This is an academy, not the Night Continent. It’s a place we’ve come to become stronger. It’s a place that will help us achieve our dream. How can we say that we want to surpass Kylian if we’re running away from people who are strong?”

“I’m not running. If he can make his way to us then I’ll take him on.”

“Tsk!”

Zora clicked his tongue with a dissatisfied expression on his face. Even so, he went along with what Klaus said.

*Bam!*

Meanwhile Ace was fending off over 100 students, who were all aiming for his head.

He ducked under a slash of a sword made from water, leaped to the side to avoid a dark beam, blocked an iron clad kick with his bare hands and was finally hit with a punch to the back of the head which made him fall to the ground. He quickly rolled out of the way of a stomp and got to his feet and avoided a flying kick.

“This is bad, this is really bad.”

Luka looked at Miko.

“Ace was placed in the hardest block that’s filled with high ranking students. There’s a lot of them that have entered the 20 or even top 10 before. There isn’t a weak student in there.”

“And now they’re all going after Ace.”

Miko frowned.

“I don’t get it. Why was Ace placed in this block?”

“Say, Tiana Draxler.”

Tia spoke to Tiana who was cheering loudly.

“What is it?”

“You said that your goal was to create an entertaining tournament right? If that’s true why did you place Ace in the hardest block where everyone will be going after him? You must have some other ulterior motive right?”

“I do.”

Tiana admitted pretty easily.

“There’s something I want to see.”

“Regarding Ace?”

Momo asked.

Tiana nodded.

“I heard that it’s something very intriguing.”

*Bam!*

Ace leaped to the side and avoided a lightning attack. His body was covered by a brown glow. This was him using his Beastly Vita. He gathered his Vita at his hand and transform it into a claw. He shot forward and swung his claws.

*Bam!*

He swat away a couple opponents leaving large cuts on them but he wasn’t able to take them out.

*Roar!*

A giant bull-like monster made of earth rushed towards him from the side. Ace faced it and destroyed it with a punch. However, he failed to react to the students who used the dust as a smoke screen to attack him.

“Ugh!”

He was cut across the chest and legs by blades that were made of magic.

“I should’ve really trained my Vita more like Aeon said. It’s biting me in the ass right now!”

His arms and legs turned into bears limbs which he used to slammed a student’s head in to the ground. He saw that he was being covered by a shadow and looked up.

*Bam!*

A student mercilessly slammed an iceberg on top of him. The iceberg shattered after he released his Vita some more but he was hit in the back with two fireballs immediately after.

No matter how many attacks he fend off there were still a lot more coming at him. For most of the time, he was forced to dodge.

“What character should I use in a situation like this? Magician?”

He dodged a werewolf’s claws and then smashed his nose with a knee attack.

“No, Magician has low durability and physical strength. What if they’re able to neutralize my magic attacks and get close to me? It’s over.”

*Bam!*

He was attacked by a group of golems created by several earth users. He destroyed them quickly but was left wide open to a laser to the gut. He fell on the ground.

“Full Body Boost!”

His body became a bit muscular and his overall physical strength increased. He then entered a melee with several Beastmen students.

“Then what about Archer? No, it’s good against multiple opponents and fast too but it won’t work against this number. Also it’s attacks are too light unless it’s a finisher. If I continuously use finishers I’ll be drain of all of my strength and won’t be able to take on Zora and Klaus afterwards.”

He was suddenly pulled into a twister where dozens of bird-folk Beastmen were waiting to ambush him. He was hit by lightning fast attacks that he couldn’t properly defend against because of the wind currents twisting him around.

Cuts started appearing all over his body and face. He tried to heal them with Vita but his regeneration couldn’t keep up with the speed of the attacks.

“Dammit all!”

He roared. His body started glowing with a blue light.

“Character Change: Gunner!”

His appearance completely changed. His body became a bit more muscular, his skin darkened like he got a tan, his hair grew wild, and tattoos of twin revolvers appeared on his shoulders. He was wearing a military style uniform with ammo strung up across his chest in the shape of a X, combat boots, and guards.

He stretched his hand out and a chain gun appeared in his hand.

“Eat lead!”

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Bullets started ripping through the twister chasing off everyone around him. The twister disappeared and Ace landed on the ground. He pulled the trigger of his gun and rained down bullets at his opponents. They scattered in the face of the metal, fire spitting monster. They then switched to using long range attacks.

“Leg Boost!”

*Bam!*

Ace leaped into the sky and changed his weapon into a bazooka.

“Special Move: Hell Bazooka!”

*BAM*

A powerful blast of flames devoured the field and caused a massive explosion.

“Whew~! Talk about fire power.”

Said Zora.

“But he’s only wasting his strength.”

*Bam!*

To Ace’s surprise dozens of students emerged from the explosion and aimed powerful attacks at him. He had to switch his gun to fight them all, and that caused a delay that cost him.

*Bam!*

He was hit by dozens of attacks from all angles.

“Guh?!”

He clenched his teeth in pain and aimed two assault rifles at his opponents.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

This weapon took out some opponents but there were still too many for him to stop, especially since all of his opponents were fairly skilled in battle.

He was sniped by an archer who fired an ice arrow into his back. A freezing sensation spread through his body caused his muscles to tense up.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

He then started taking more hits than he was giving.

“Ace is in trouble!”

Hina moved towards the field but was stopped by Miko.

“Wait, didn’t you learn from Sora’s match?”

He smiled.

“Your brothers aren’t weak.”

(Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! It hurts goddamn it!)

Ace screamed in his head.

(It’s easier to list where I’m not getting attacked than where I’m not!)

His body was completely covered in wounds and his own blood.

(Why the hell am I in such a shitty situation, being ganged up by these mindless slaves anyway?!)

Attacks mercilessly fell upon him as his opponents showed no signs of letting up.

(Who the hell put me in this situation?! Who is it that’s making me experience this hell?! WHO?!)

He opened his eyes and scanned through his surroundings. He looked past those attacking him and caught a glimpse of two people watching everything from a far.

His pupils contracted when he saw Klaus and Zora.

(I see.)

“Hm?”

“Hey, did you say something?”

“No, I thought you did.”

People in the audience started looking confused because they suddenly heard a voice in their heads.

(So it was you two?)

The voice was filled with rage that was as deep as an abyss.

“This is…”

“Ace’s voice?”

Miko and others were hearing it as well.

(It’s your fault that I’m feeling this much pain and humiliation.)

“Klaus.”

“Yeah.”

Even Klaus and Zora became serious.

“You’ll pay for this!”

*BAM!*

A overwhelming power rushed out of Ace’s body and blew away all who were close to him. Everyone saw him standing in the center of a pillar of bloody red light.

“Character Change:…!”

Ace’s figure was quickly devoured by the light. It then imploded and disappeared. Everyone saw the figure that was left in its place.

It was a man covered in bleeding wounds of all shapes and size. He had long sticky scarlet hair that looked like it was wet with blood. He had a long and rugged katana in his hands. He was topless, was wearing red torn up pants, and was barefoot.

Everything about him screamed “Savage”.

The man, Ace, looked at all of his enemies with a pair of beastly red eyes.

“Swordsman (Manslayer).”