[Fuck…]

A wall.

A wall out of projectiles.

Balls made out of flame cover most of the sky.

Earth spikes and spinning water whips fill most gaps with a couple of Wind blades filling the rest.

It was a lot.

A fucking lot!

So much that I didn’t know what to do. I can’t create millions of projectiles at once.

Damnit!

The only idea I got is to get somewhere else! But is that asshole so enraged to only target me or does he just want to wreak havoc!

Taking the girl into the building may have been a bad idea.

But if he goes out like that, it means he is really desperate.

[Hey, lieutenant Tristan! Lieutenant Baumgartner! Able to lend a hand?]

“No can do! These two guards would try to break free if we tried to help. We are already out of cuffs!”

Shit! Without cuffs that could suppress Will usage, making an Awakened unable to use their ability. This meant they had no choice but to hold those two down.

[Not even any shield artefacts?]

“Sorry but no! The central district has been attacked by a greater group, making the Association prioritise there.”

So it’s really wasn’t him alone. If that’s so then I can’t just run off and hope he will only target me. He may be hotheaded but even he should understand that it will drive me to a corner.

And I know for a fact that Gramps does not put anything helpful inside my ring. There was only the little hut, some potions, the books and booklets he left me to read and…

That’s it!

I’m not sure if I can pull what I’m thinking off.

I have never done this. And if I fail, it’s all over.

I’ll most likely hurt myself in the process.

But there is no other option.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! I GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO BE A HERO AND NOT PULL ANYONE INTO OUR FIGHT BUT YOU WANTED THIS!!!”

I waited.

I waited while my ring shone nonstop behind my back, releasing its contents one after another.

And I accumulated all of my Will. all of it. With no ending to it, I moved my Will as much as I could.

I could see Walter, taking the high ground with flattened earth spikes from the ground. And he looked at me with a devilish smile before raising his hand high.

[You are reeeeaaally getting on my nerves, arrogant piece of shit!]

I screamed at him while using my left hand to change Diana’s bullets from water type to wind type. I couldn’t even read that much of [Theory of Elemental Combat] but I guess I could disperse them with wind bullets while going at the spikes with normal bullets with Disparo.

Everything laid on the ground, filled with my Will. so I waited.

For that hand to fall down, raining all these projectiles onto the building.

"EAT THIS FUCKER!"

[HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!]

Screaming, I moved all my Will forward, shooting tens of weapons towards the falling projectiles while shooting those that I couldn’t hit with my weapons.

I had almost 200 weapons inside the ring, all of which I made throughout the time I was with Gramps. Those Will-filled weapons were moved from one projectile to another, making it look like it was raining weapons onto the wall of elements.

My brain hurt as my body started to damage itself but I can’t stop. Not with all these shots still falling down from the sky.

It was too taxing on my brain to control almost 200 weapons in the sky all while figuring out which ones I couldn’t destroy with weapons and shoot them with the two guns in my hand.

I didn’t even have any free mind to enjoy the crumbling expression of Walter as more and more projectiles were aimed at the building, some even hitting it.

I couldn’t destroy them all and especially those wind blades gave me more trouble than I wished for but I could do nothing about it.

I’m no god.

Nor a saint that could create miracles with the snap of a finger.

But I had a job to do. And I will not let anyone die because of me.

As more and more projectiles were destroyed, I made my next move.

As much as I had to concentrate on this, Walter must have to concentrate on his attacks as well. Meaning that he would not be able to concentrate on his shots while fighting with me.

So I moved forward.

Each step meant ten more projectiles getting destroyed by the weapons I controlled with my Will.

Each shot getting destroyed meant that I used more and more of my Will to move each weapon.

And with each time I used more Will, I could feel my whole body getting damaged as it was taxing for it to do more than it could. Blood started to drip from my nostril but I didn’t care.

Because I had to stop the source of this fight.

So I started with small, slow steps.

I started to walk normally.

And eventually, I was dashing toward him with no care for my health.

I had one target in my mind. That fucker that was currently bombarding my school with no regard to human life.

And in a matter of seconds, I was almost in front of him. And just when I was about to reach him…

“FUCK!!!”

A rushed attack came towards me. A stone spike. But something felt off…

Yet I still shot at it with Disparo.

But before I could get past that destroyed spike, I could see my intuition being true.

Because the next thing I saw was a flame appearing right out of the spike. Walter was smart enough to hide fire inside his spike, making me shoot with the wrong gun and get hit by the flame to the chest.

"AHAHAHAHA! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET, PIECE OF SHIT! NOW! LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT REAL MIGHT IS!"

BAMM

Fuck!

And the next thing I knew was that the flame exploded, throwing me back as I felt my organs damaged by the impact. But just before I was hitting the ground, aiming right at that motherfucker…

BANG

“FUCK!!”

I shot his shoulder and the next thing I saw was the wall of elements slowly fading away.

I was so grateful. It may have been really close but any more and I would have needed to stop controlling the weapons from far.

How the hell does he do that much yet still look fine? There shouldn’t be any potions that could regenerate Will. unlike Mana, which is the energy of the universe, Will can not be regenerated with potions as it is the energy of one's own Will Power which stays dormant between the soul and the body until someone awakens, making them be able to use that Will.

Yet he fought like he has the reserve of five awakened by creating more and more shots. All I did was control my Will, never deplete it as much as him but that was already taxing.

Yet thankfully, he must be…

Looking at Walter now, my thoughts stopped. He was now wearing enchanted leather armour and accessories with a sword in his right hand as his left was rendered useless by the shot to the shoulder.

[Ugh… Son of a bitch!]

I slowly got up, holding my chest with my left hand. It fucking hurts! I was too blinded by my own greed. I wanted to hit this fucker so badly that I forgot to listen to my gut feeling.

But, I got a shot right on his shoulder. That’s great.

But as I got up, I could see the outlines of Will filling his blade more and more. Changing the setting of Disparo, I shot with as much Will as I could muster at him, but the concentrated Will got disrupted by the fluctuating flow of his own.

Whatever he took, it was working wonders.

Which is fucking bad for me.

I couldn’t get through that veil of Will with just a shot. I had to get through myself.

So I called my pistols away.

No use in doing something useless again. But this didn’t mean that I gave up.

[Orage!]

I called out Orage, my spear, intending to finally end this battle. I couldn’t use Keyser as it was the only weapon I could not call out of my soul and with dimensional rings being a thing, calling weapons out of my soul can be disguised.

So I took a stance with the spear in my hands.

Ready to run forward with every bit of power as the tip of my spear was pointing downwards.

And without me realising it, I was already smiling like a true madman. I only realised now that I felt something during this fight.

Fun.

The fun of fighting to your heart's content. The fun of getting back at that bastard for humiliating me.

The fun of letting loose.

I would bet that Alyssa was jealous of me playing hero but I had to say, although I was angered and annoyed, I couldn’t help but enjoy every bit of it.

As my Will surged through every fibre of my body, I felt every part of it getting stronger and stronger. My runes shone as bright as they could, even being noticeable under the armour and the colour of my Will was slowly enveloping me like a raging flame.

The spear in my head slowly burned with all of my Will, getting covered everywhere by the colour of my Will.

I could see the blade of Walter gaining the attributes of all four elements he could control as it was filled by his Will.

He was a level 2, no doubt. But the amount of Will was almost shocking, turning the blade in his hand shining white while emitting such Will that anyone could tell that it could cut more than just flesh.

But I felt no fear as I closed my eyes.

Feel the spear.

Feel Orage.

From the butt cap to the shaft and the socket all the way to the tip of the spearhead.

Every rune. From the smallest detail to even the little scars the wood had as I was carving into it.

And the more I tried to feel my weapon, the more Will it pulled out of my body, making the Will covering my spear denser and denser.

And the moment I opened my eyes, I could see my spear changing colour. My weapon turned pitch black as golden, dark green and violet lighting surrounded it like a thunderstorm.

And with each ripple of lighting, the space around it distorted slightly.

I felt ready.

Besides the current movement of our Will, the whole place was silent. I could feel the stares of people. I could feel how they had expectations. They wanted me to win. No.

They needed me to win.

And as these thoughts appeared one after another, my anxiety started to show up. The hell? Why now?

But it was obvious why.

I needed to win.

There was no other option.

So what happens if I fail?

Will I be the only one to die? Will any other human get killed because I couldn’t be enough?

My thoughts were clouded as I forgot the most important aspect of this fight. I had to protect these people. I didn’t want to be a hero but there was really no other option. Any death that is going to happen will be on me. And it brought me to hesitate.

Hesitate to even take a step while that bastard was still preparing.

Hesitate to finish this once and for all.

But right as I felt this feeling eating me from the inside, I heard something from behind me.

“You can do it! I believe in you!”

I could recognise that voice anywhere as it was the voice of someone that annoyed me for 200 days straight.

As I took a quick peek, I could see her cheering me on from the hole I made. A tear was threatening to fall but a proud smile was all that I could focus on.

“Kick his ass already!”

“We believe in you! So end it already!”

“Please! You can do it!”

And as if the trigger was pulled, more and more people came forward, shouting out as they most likely felt fear. I can tell that they were desperate but they believed in me.

Even if it was the only thing they could do, they believed in me.

Thank you.

[Guess I can’t let them down… HAH!!]

And I screamed out, pushing the ground as hard as I could with my spear screaming in my hand. And before I knew it, I felt the world around me go black with nothing but Walter in my sight.

Walter dashed forward as well with his blade shining pure white. A white that could be only described as blank. Nothing is on it and nothing will be on it.

BOOM

And in the next moment, we were already in front of each other, swinging our weapons in sync.

And they both pushed forward, reaching each other in a moment and swinging their weapon the next moment.

"HAAAAAAH!"

[HAAAAAAAH!]

CLANG

Our screams may be the only thing audible that could be heard before it was drowned by the sound of our weapons clashing. Metal meeting metal as sparks flew everywhere.

Shockwaves were created due to the sole physical strength of the two of us.

The ground broke.

The air was pushed around.

But all I could truly see was him with anger written all around his face.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO BE MY EQUAL!"

Walter’s eyes glowed as the energy around his body surged more and more while the only thing I did was push more and more Will into Orage. I was not bursting it out like him.

I was compressing everything I got to the limit.

CLANG

And our blades met again, creating more sparks.

CLANG

And our blades met again, breaking the ground more and more.

CLANG

And our blades met again, making only one thing clear.

I was better than him at fighting. My swings, my stance, my balance, my skill and my foresight.

Everything was better and with each strike, I understood his swordsmanship more.

With each hit, I could understand more of the strong points of his Martial Art.

With each hit, I could understand more of the weak points of his Martial Art.

And with each hit, I could tell that besides the basics, he never really tried. His swordsmanship was good but it felt dishonest. He never trained more than he was asked for. He never made the effort to have better swordsmanship than he has now.

And that was exactly the reason why slowly but surely, Walter was pushed back by me. Each time he swung his sword, I saw an opening. Each time he moved his feet, I could cut his body with minimal effort.

We may have been equal at the beginning but your abnormal amount of Will can only bring you so far.

You, who never made the effort to train more than expected of him, could never win against me, who killed an army of monsters in his dreams and trained countless hours with no end in sight.

I, who lived on a battlefield almost every time with the training of Gramps, would never lose to a halfassed brat like you.

And the more I received his strikes while delivering my own, the more lighting I could see around my weapon.

And the more he got desperate.

CLANG

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS!"

CLANG

"HOW CAN YOU INFERIOR…"

CLANG

"PUSH ME BACK!"

Walter swung down his sword but his movements were too crude, making it possible to bury the tip of his sword with my spear while delivering a spinning kick towards his head.

He reacted fast and moved his sword to block my kick but lowering my waist, I delivered that kick right to his rips.

Ah… the sweet taste of revenge!

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Walter screamed out as his movements became worse and worse. And before I knew it, he was now only swinging his sword like a monkey. No form. No defence. No faints.

Just swinging it like a little kid.

But even little kids wouldn’t make such a mistake.

The mistake of making such a big vertical downward swing while releasing all of his compressed Will in the blade would be the last he would do today.

Because the moment I saw that sword almost at my head, I could see a path.

As if time was flowing as slow as possible, I could already see myself ending the fight.

This is it!

I sidestepped to the left, lowered my waist and swung with my aim not at the unstoppable swing downwards that was filled with all his Will but…

SLICE

A beautiful arch made out of blood was created that I’d love to have seen as a painting.

An arch out of blood that was only followed by the thunders of my spears as it almost cut space with it.

And with that arch of blood, a hand with a sword in its grasp flew through the air, following the path of blood it created before falling to the ground.

DING

I turned around to end my move with a swing aimed for the neck, only stopping right before cutting too deeply, making blood drip out of the small cut I made.

I was almost going to pull back my spear entirely.

Because the pain of losing his hand most likely took over the fear of death, making Walter scream out like a Banshee.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!"

“Young master!”

“Master Walter!”

“You two, shut up!”

SMACK

I could hear the cries of his guards as they had to witness this scene, only to be silenced by the lieutenants that held them back all along.

Despair filled Walter’s eyes as he looked at his arm that no longer had his hand anymore. But he couldn’t do anything now that I held a spear on his neck. His eyes were looking everywhere, most likely trying to find a way out but I could already tell.

He had no Will left. Whatever he had, it was gone. I only had a small proportion of it left but I could call back the Will inside my spear, giving me back about a twentieth of my full reserve.

But before he thought about doing anything funny, I started to talk again.

[Leave! Don't come back again! Cause if you do, I'll make sure it's not going to be your hand that's going to roll on the floor.]

I could see the slight confusion in his eyes. I was going to let him go after doing all this. I couldn’t do any more since the moment he was going to get imprisoned, the families would only fight it out more as they now have a reason to fight more and more with the Association.

And if what they planned is what I think it is then the Association will get into deep shit.

So there was really nothing else to do but to show mercy. Even if I wanted him gone behind bars, he is a child of the Peltro. So there is no other way…

But thanks to the mask, even if he wanted to get revenge, he would most likely not know that it was me. He may have seen my face when I took of Stalker for a moment but if he truly did, he would have called me out immediately.

So I guess I got what I wanted.

"… Fine … I'll retreat."

His voice was bleak and his steps were small as he was making his way towards his hand and sword. I still had my guards up, not letting the spear lose its thunders, but inwardly knew that he was already a goner.

Standing in front of the gate, he turned around and looked me dead in the eye as fury was filled in his gaze. I was ready to move out at any time, waiting for the next attack.

"I'll be back! And I'll destroy you and this stupid school!"

"Oh, I don't think so."

"!!!"

Oh, what a blessing!

I instantly let my Will return to me while calling Orage back into my soul as I saw a man appear right behind Walter. And the moment Walter heard his voice, I could swear he was this close to pissing his pants.

Who wouldn’t? If you were the one that tried to kill every student of the school of one of the strongest humans alive, you’d piss your pants if that person found out.

A man with dark red hair and hazel eyes.

A man with muscles that could rip the suit on his body any minute yet never did.

A man that was known as one of the three only [Caelestia] realm humans.

Alexander Lenkov. The Lone hero of humanity.

And the current principal of this school.

It was the first time that I saw him stand up. He looks taller than he actually is. Although he is ‘only’ 198 centimetres tall, he looked more than two metres tall.

This man was responsible for the evil faction not having any [Caelestia] realm awakened as he would kill anyone that approached that stage mercilessly. So now that a brat who was not even past [Illustratus] realm behaved like he wanted to in front of his own yard, the principal surely was pissed.

The principal appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the shoulder of Walter as he glared at the backside of his head with his shining hazel eyes.

"This school is under my protection and I'd like it to stand at least until 'the Break'. If I wasn’t occupied by all the other troublemakers out there, I’d have already made you regret your choice. But… I’m not the one who beat you so you are free to go by the choice of this man. But remember…"

The moment the principal paused, letting silence creep into the heart of everyone present, pressure descended on the area around here, making me understand just why this man was really the strongest. Just the pressure alone was enough to make the ground quake.

"…if you even dare to lay a finger on my school in any way possible and I mean in any way possible then be prepared because I will not hold my anger back like just that. Because I’ll make you and your family regret this day for all eternity. Now go.”

"Y-yes, sir!"

Walter vanished from the scene as he ran away from the principal with his life being spared just like that.

This day was most likely become a worldwide problem, making most national and international leaders lose their trust in the Association as well as creating a ripple effect inside the human society.

I’m damn sure that this fight was recorded as well, making it to the news.

I’m so thankful for my 8th grader brain to think about making a mask that can change my voice.

'school will continue just like before. Go to my office after you cleared your alibi. And take all your weapons before leaving.'

Oh! Telepathy? Or was it that he vibrated the air around my ears in a way to hear his voice?

I wasn’t sure but after hearing what the principal said, I turned around and controlled all the weapons on the ground to get back inside the ring on my right index finger.

I wanted to thank the principal and the agents but all five, including the guards, vanished just like that.

Welp, can’t really argue with that.

So, I took flight as I flash stepped from one place to another before finding a small window for the man’s toilet before entering it and running into one of the toilets, closing the door behind me and sitting on the toilet seat for a moment after changing back to my regular clothes.

I… have to heal first.

All my body was currently hurt like shit and I could feel that If I didn’t use at least a mid-grade potion, I’d cough blood the next few lessons.

So I unscrewed a bottle and drank it as fast as I could, trying not to even smell it.

GULP GULP GULP

It tasted awful but that only meant that it was good.

Running out of the toilet, I made my way to the classroom to only see almost everyone talking about the fight while still standing at the windows next to the hole. Nice! I got my ‘Alibi’. Hope that no one noticed that I was gone. And if so, I could just say that I was hiding inside the toilets after seeing someone using superpowers.

As I entered the classroom, a certain girl stood out from the rest. She had already been treated as it seems but she will most likely not walk normally for a week.

But I finally found my seat next to Alyssa. I sat down, hiding my flushed face between my arms as I was remembering every moment of the fight.

Alyssa slightly snuggled up to me, making me question her actions.

"Weren't you going to pretend we are not that close? Why the sudden change of mind?"

I turned my head towards her, looking her right in the face as I could see her cheeks slightly red. What the fuck is wrong with her? Does she get turned on by an almost dying man?

"I can't help it! It's just you are very attractive when you got that smile on your face!"

Oh…

Seems that the excitement from that battle still remained as my madman smile most likely never left my face.

I buried my face again, hoping that no one else saw my expression.

But I have to say, I feel so much better.

And thinking about the exciting parts made me chuckle for just a little bit.

Just like an old bastard I knew.

"Hehehe~…"