Chapter 145: Colzen Academy Makes A Statement
The interest of quite a sizeable crowd was piqued after seeing the representatives of Colzen Academy, the mediocre academy that dared partake in the "two deans" tradition, walk out of their academy station for their first match.
"Oh? Look! Colzen is up, let's see what they got!"
"Their first match is against Edenson Academy huh? A decent academy…If Colzen is as strong as they claim to be, then beating Edenson Academy should be easy for them…"
Under the curious and mocking gazes of around 8,000 people, including the 700 who bet their entire fortune on Colzen, Shye and the others sat down on their designated seats on the ringside.
Across them were the sneering faces of Edenson representatives who simply don't believe that they have what it takes to be a top 8 academy.
That said, the Edenson representatives weren't taking them lightly at all.
In their minds, the current Colzen representatives should be stronger than their past representatives and that's why they dared to claim that they would claim one of the top 8 spots.
"Who's fighting first?" Shye looked at the other representatives and asked.
Naturally, the battle maniac, Siegfried, was the first person to volunteer. Without even checking whether somebody else wanted to fight in the first match, he enthusiastically jumped up the stage.
As for Edenson Academy, a bald scout student volunteered and jumped up the stage.
"Aaron Gonzalez, fourth-year scout student from Edenson Academy"
"Siegfried Lionheart."
Hearing the lackluster and somewhat lazy introduction from Siegfried, Aaron was immediately pissed off, vowing to teach the arrogant guy a lesson.
Siegfried sensed Aaron's anger but he couldn't care less.
After a disappointing first day which lacked thrilling battles, Siegfried couldn't bring himself to be enthusiastic in the early rounds of the competition anymore.
"Begin!"
Fortunately, the referee didn't let Aaron wait for too long and announced the start of the match just a few seconds after their introduction.
*FWOOSH*
Contrary to Siegfried's expectations, Aaron didn't use [Blink Strike] at the start of the match, instead, Aaron valiantly dashed forward and closed in on Siegfried.
His flashy actions gained the respect of Edenson Academy's companion students, prompting them to erupt into cheers.
*BANG*
However, just before their cheers could even gain momentum, a bald guy was sent flying out of the stage, clearly unconscious.
"Wha–?"
"Senior Aaron!!"
Worried and furious exclamations could be heard from Edenson Academy's side as Siegfried turned around and walked back to his seat.
'Tch, how stupid…You, a scout course student, dare to fight me head-on? Clearly, you've become a little too delusional.' Siegfried thought to himself as he lazily sat back down.
Meanwhile, the other representatives from Edenson Academy clenched their fists and gnashed their teeth in fury while watching Aaron get treated by the medical staff.
Fortunately, Siegfried didn't strike him too hard so one greater health potion was enough to restore the guy to full health.
Still, the Edenson Academy representatives didn't appreciate his actions and instead, they even thought that he was simply an arrogant bastard.
Thus, they immediately sent out their best representative, a mage student named Zel, to avenge Aaron in the next match.
Unfortunately for them, the system points chaser, Shye Crowley, was up next.
This time, Zel didn't introduce himself which meant that this match was personal.
He wanted to teach these arrogant bastards from Colzen Academy a lesson so with an ice-cold expression on his face, he gracefully jumped up the stage, staring daggers at his opponent who was slowly walking up the stage with an indifferent expression
Shye already used [Appraisal Lv.2] on the guy earlier and he knew that this was just another clown show so the fierce expression on Zel's face simply looked hilarious to him.
"Wait! I know this representative from Edenson Academy, I saw him kill a (D) ranked Diamondback Ape alone in the Loretta intermediate adventurer zone near Edenson City around four months ago! This guy from Colzen Academy is finished!"
Upon hearing the words of the random guy in the crowd, Zel's mood improved slightly as he felt the gazes of admiration coming from the audience.
Meanwhile, Shye almost failed to suppress his urge to laugh.
"Begin!"
Finally, after an unusually long entrance from both fighters, the referee announced the start of the match.
"Die!!" Zel exclaimed as he decided to immediately use his finisher combo, [Mana Bind Lv.2] and [Fireball Lv.4] to end his opponent as quickly as Siegfried did to Aaron.
Just as Shye was about to move, mana vines appeared from the ground and grabbed tightly onto his feet, not allowing him to move a single inch.
'Oh? This guy's [Fireball] is actually decent…' Shye thought, impressed by Zel's fireball.
Unfortunately for Zel, his [Mana Bind Lv.2] was just too weak, allowing Shye to simply rip off the mana vines using his bare hands.
After removing the mana vines, Shye easily dodged the enormous fireball before using [Dash Lv.3] to close the gap.
Naturally, Zel, the best representative of Edenson Academy, was quite skilled as well.
Before Shye could slash Zel with his sword, the guy suddenly disappeared and reappeared a few meters away using [Blink Lv.2]
Zel having some repositioning skills was within Shye's expectations though so he quickly followed him using [Lunge Pierce Lv.2].
"NO!!"
*BANG*
Shye was disappointed as Zel's frail body flew through the air, unconscious.
After making himself look so tough, Zel disappointingly panicked after Shye followed up with another gap-closer skill, forgetting that he still had a barrier he could use to protect himself.
It seems like this guy wasn't too experienced in duels, or, maybe he was just too used to one-shotting his opponent with his killer combination, making him way too dependent on the combo.
[Congratulations! You've earned 3,500 points!]
Either way, Shye was pretty happy to earn such a huge sum of points in an easy fight.
Meanwhile, the Colzen companion students erupted into cheers as Shye easily destroyed the so-called strongest representative of Edenson Academy, once again bringing pride to the hearts of the Colzen Academy students.
In contrast, Edenson Academy was silent, their students, representative or not, felt depressed after two straight losses with even their strongest representative losing so easily.
Naturally, after a heartbreaking loss, Edenson Academy's morale plummeted, thus, Ian and Kiin easily took the two-on-two battle ending the match with an easy 3-0.
A resounding statement from a defiant mediocre academy!