Chapter 29:

Skirmish On The Rooftop

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*Boom!*

*Zzt!*

*Bing!*

Explosions rang out on the School’s front yard as Headmaster Ember fought against the nine elders. Ice beams and fiery magmas shot everywhere as the ten figures clashed against each other.

By now, the entire school body has been attracted to the sound of battle. Many of the students and teachers were gathered around the school’s windows, watching the magical fight that was happening right outside their school.

The three princes and their followers were also all looking on with anticipation from the sideline. To be able to witness a battle between high class rankers were a event that seldom occurred. Thus, for them to see one with their own eyes could be said to be an invaluable learning experience for them all. None of their eyes left the fighting scene.

Suddenly, Dullan noticed something in the distance. Raising his head, Dullan’s furrowed his eyebrows when he saw a boy wearing all black, standing on the school rooftop. How long has he been there?

Being the most perceptive out of the three princes present, Dullan often pride himself in his ability to notice the subtlest things and his strong battle prowess. Because of that, he was also the most arrogant out of all the princes.

“A lowly student dares to watch this battle between experts…” Dullan growled under his breath as he started to move around the battlefield, heading towards the school’s direction.

While they were unable to touch the students inside the school building due to a protective barrier, they would be able to deal with anyone who was still outside. And as of now, only Vinci was still outside. Even the students who were originally practicing in the Training Grounds have returned back inside the school to watch the battle from the windows. This was why Dullan targeted Vinci, as the latter was only target out there!

Mero and Virsha, who had followed Dullan’s line of sight, had also discovered Vinci standing on the rooftop. A malicious intent glimmered in their eyes as they followed after Dullan.

After going around the yard, the three princes activated their own flying magic and leaped upwards, landing on the rooftop.

Staring at the back of Vinci, Dullan sneered as he called out arrogantly: “Hey, you! To dare secretly watch a fight between experts, you are looking to die! Right now, I’ll give you two choices: you can either jump off the roof right now as atonement, or otherwise let us beat you to death.”

The two princes beside Dullan wore a likewise mocking smile as they stared at Vinci’s back. They were waiting for the poor bastard to choose a way to die, after all with all three of their SP being at the Duke Rank, they did not feel threatened by a mere student at the academy. Even if a Class 8 student were to come, they would powerless before the three as the academy would often only produce Grandmaster ranked graduates. As for Duke ranked graduates, there has seldom been any.

Only with their fathers’ generous use of resources and request of great rankers to teach them, that the three princes were able to step into a rank that was higher than many of their peers.

To put it into an overall perspective, most Class 8 students were around 17 years old, but only at the Grandmaster rank, while three princes were of the same age but at a rank higher: Duke Rank.

Vinci, who was still observing the battle that was going on below him, did not spare any attention to the three princes behind him. He had already noticing them coming towards his direction long ago, but did not bother with them. They were no threats to him. As such, even with the three Duke Rankers behind him, Vinci did not mind them at all.

Seeing that Vinci did not reply after a long time, or even bother turning around, Dullan was enraged as he shouted:

“Damn, kid! What’s your name? To think you’re not even paying respect to a royalty!”

“Why ask for his name? We don’t need to care about a dead man's name.” Mero spoke up this time as he glared at Vinci’s back. The latter’s attitude had also infuriated Mero, who was originally arrogant as a prince to begin with, though not as self-centered as Dullan.

Vinci continued to ignore them as he observed the event below him. Suddenly, a large lightning dragon appeared behind Vinci as it shot towards his back.

But before it could hit him, the lightning dragon dispersed upon impact on a invisible wall that was guarding Vinci.

“What? He set up a barrier? But how could it have withstood my attack..” Dullan said as he looked in shock. He was surprised that a common student was able to block an attack from himself, who was a great royal prince.

“Let me try!” Virsha shouted, stepping in as he fired off six large fireballs towards Vinci. “«Magma Balls»!”

“I want to see how long his barrier will last. «Hail Shards»!” Mero joined in as a large blue crest appeared in the air above him, firing off several blue shards at Vinci’s back.

Dullan gritted his teeth as held both of his palms out, facing Vinci’s back.

A red sphere began to condense in front of his palms as energy swirled around it, increasing its size. Once the size of a soccer ball was formed, Dullan directed the red sphere towards Vinci once again.

“«Dragon Beam»!”

*Boom!*

This time, the protective barrier did not appear as the three attacks struck home. A large cloud of dust was blown up from the impact.

“Hahaha, I guess that was as strong as his barrier could get” Dullan smirked as stared at the billows of smoke in front of him.

“It’s only to be expected from an attack from all three of us.” Mero said as he arrogantly smiled.

Down below the school, several students were disturbed the ruckus above and wanted to see what was happening. Could a battle be going on at the rooftop as well? Some people were dying of curiosity but no one dared to go up and check. That was just be suicidal if they were accidentally caught in openfire.

The ten people, who were still clashing against each other, did not seem to be aware of the explosion coming from the rooftop. They were too immersed in their battle, as even the slightest distraction could lead to their loss. None of them could spare to care about anyone outside the battle right now, unless something truly shaking happened.

The three princes looked towards the smoke as it cleared, expecting to see the mutilated body of the student who had “disrespected” them. But unexpectedly, they saw that there was nothing in the area where the student once stood.

“Did he got hit and fall down?” Dullan said as he narrowed his eyes.

But right after his comment, Dullan felt a hand firmly clasp his right shoulder. Immediately, he felt as if he was drained of all his energy; he was unable to move in the slightly.

“Wh-who?!” Dullan barely shouted out in panic at his unknown attacker.

Virsha and Mero who was besides him wanted to move back as well, but before they could they felt something binding them down. All three princes were unable to turn around to see their attacker, much less move.

“Man, you guys were so annoying. I could barely observe in peace. Since you guys wanted to die so badly, I’ll grant your wish. You’re each from a Major Clan anyways...so it would be shame if something, let’s say, the Clan Master lost their son…” A voice came from behind the princes said, in an almost lazy manner. “Since your Clans doesn’t seem amiable, completely destroying them is the only option.”

“Wh-what?! You dare slander our Golden Phoenix Clan?!” Virsha shouted angrily as he strained to turn around to see who the culprit was.

“Audacious! You think a single person can shake my Crimson Dragon Clan’s foundation?! Even if you’re a part of some organization, you’ll still be no match for my Clan!” Dullan furiously spat, having lost his fear in the moment of anger.

Only Mero did not say anything, his eyes dart around rapidly in fear. He was only one who able to stay barely calm under the circumstance, as he felt that the person behind was not an easy opponent. To be able to restrain three Duke Rankers at once...perhaps even a Monarch Ranker may not be able to do that single-handedly. And here, someone was able to, showing that this person’s Soul Force must be even higher than a Monarch Rank’s…

“Oh, really? I don’t really care if you guys believe me or not -- after all, I wouldn’t care for dead men’s belief.” Vinci said as his voice turned cold.

Raising his free right palm towards the sky, a medium sized crest appeared above him as it hovered above the four figures beneath. Noticing this, Mero quickly cried out:

“W-wait! Honor sir, you cannot kill us! I am a prince of the Rossia Clan, and the two besides me are princes of the Golden Phoenix Clan and Crimson Dragon Clan! If you kill us, then you will definitely be hunted down later on!”

“*Sigh*...did you not listen to what I just said? Regardless if you want to hunt me down or not, I will have to personally hunt you all down later anyways. And didn’t you three try to kill me a few moments ago? Although I was not injured, do you guys take me for a punching bag or something?” Vinci said from behind them.

The three princes face changed drastically when they head Vinci’s words. Tried to kill him a moment ago? Then...Then...the one behind us is…

The image of the boy’s back appeared in the three princes mind as they were suddenly filled with immense regret. Never could they have imagined that a student whom they had initially regarded would actually turn out to be a fearsome monster…

But regret was regret. Before any of the three princes could speak again, Vinci’s cold voice rang out:

“«Sky Pillar»”

A blinding blue light suddenly shot from the crest as it enveloped the four figures within. Screams of agony resonated from the within the light before they were cut off a second later...

*Booooom!*

The ten figures who were fighting below suddenly felt the ground slightly tremble as their face suddenly changed.