Chapter 11:

The Mock Battle (3)

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. A martial art movement technique that was a class above that Ian had used during his battle with Vinci. A High-tier Art. This technique allows it user to, as the name implies, instantly cover a large area of ground with a single step, hence the singular word “step” as compared to the plural “steps” in . It was also an extremely difficult skill to learn, even more so than , as it required an incredible amount of SP and talent. Therefore, there are very few people able to use this technique.

Yet, as Batomi watched Vinci easily crushing his two underlings and using that High-tier art with relative ease, he couldn’t help but shudder.

“How is this possible?? I thought he was suppose to be a No Rank...so how come could he use martial art techniques that require SP? DAMMIT, WASN’T HE JUST A NERD???!”

Batomi could only scream in his head as his body was frozen from witnessing Ian and Angus having their bones shattered by the ruthless being before him. Suddenly, the said being disappeared.

“Huh? Where did he g--”

As Batomi became startled by having lost Vinci even when he was right before, a sudden blow came from his back.

*BOOM!*

“Ah?!”

Batomi’s fantastic three hundred pounds body of meat easily flew a few meters to the front as he laid sprawled on the ground with his stomach kissing the earth. He felt an intense throbbing pain from his back area where a blow was directly landed.

Just as Batomi tried to get up, he felt an incredible force pressuring him down. When he peeked behind, Batomi saw Vinci’s foot firmly pressed down on his back. Instantly, he froze.

As Batomi had traced the foot up towards Vinci’s face, he quickly noticed the boy’s cold, dark eyes. He felt as if he was being sucked into the black void. It was a frightening and unpleasant feeling.

“P-please don’t kill me! I-I was in the w-wrong!...p-please spare me!”

Batomi did not hesitate and began to plead for his life. Having attended the academy since Class 4, he knew when to bow down before those with overpowering dominance. It was one of the ways the weaks are able to survived in Arena Academy after all.

But his pleas failed to penetrate Vinci’s mind.

The black-haired boy’s eyes hardened as he raised left arm in an act as if he was holding something.

“...«Zeus’ Thunderbolt»”

Instantly a stream of lightning appeared in his left hand. The lightning quickly condensed and formed the shape of a short spear as incredible amount of lighting were discharged from it.

At the same time, the students that were witnessing the scene before them were bewildered.

“N-no way...did he say Zeus’ Thunderbolt?!”

“...oi oi...if I’m not wrong...i-isn’t that a High-tier spell..the one where it’s in the upper tier in terms of high destructive power…”

“W-wait..if he uses that...wouldn’t Batomi die!?”

Fortunately, due to the commotion caused the students and the fact that no one was practicing so they could see the match of the No Rank versus the three Novice Ranks, a few teachers came to ascertain the situation.

When the teachers saw the lightning spear Vinci was holding in his left hand, they instantly became alert upon realizing what it was. More so, because the student he was trampling on seemed like he did not have any defensive spells to protect him, then if it were to be a direct hit...it would most likely cause death.

Immediately, the teachers shouted for the other students to get back.

“Stop! Stop the match right now!”

One of the teachers, a female one, had shouted for Vinci to cease his attack, but similar with Batomi’s case, the cries were calmly ignored. Seeing this, the teacher quickly shouted out a defensive spell,

“Protect him, «Expecto Aegis»!!”

A silvery, pentagonal light appeared below Vinci as it fully shield Batomi’s entire body. But Vinci, with his foot still perched on Batomi’s back, remained forever still.

The teacher frantically continued to yell towards Vinci

“Give up! This is one of the top defensive High-tier spells. Your attack won’t go through it. Now step away from the boy and we can talk this out carefully in the school office…”

Before the teacher could get close, Vinci suddenly remembered an old phrase he had learned from Earth’s past history. A phrase that debuted in the year 2012 to express one’s desire to not bother with other’s problems or to declare that one do not care for what others are saying. Thinking about the latter meaning, Vinci quietly muttered under his breath,

“....nobody got time for that.”

Then, without a hint of hesitation, he plunged the lightning spear down towards Batomi...