Valerian, The Legendary

214 Bluffed.

Valerian led the man to the life and death battle platform and a lot of people saw them. The news spread across the academy like a wild fire, and crowd began to gather. The imperial academy was filled with the princes and princesses along with all sorts of nobles and children of rich households.

These were the people belonging to powerful households and these households were all aware of the invisible tension in the continent. Recently, the children were informed about a news that the Valkyrians have attacked Sapientia and they have surrounded the most important gateway city of the kingdom.

No matter how unruly the berserkers were, they still followed the rules of the battle, until they won. For example, they always attacked one location at a time, pincer attacks were also strategized, the civilian torture would only come into play when they have killed the entire army and the civilians are defenseless.

Valerian was well aware of it, but it did not matter to him as he has grown up in a place where people often practiced the way of mercy and believe in goddess vita. They arrived at the life and death battle arena and found a grandmaster teacher guarding there.

The man raised his head lazily and when he saw Valerian smiling at him, his eyes opened wide and he asked, “You are here again, who has a death wish this time?”

Valerian shrugged his shoulders and pointed at the Valkyrian grandmaster as he said, “This guy came from Valkyria and attacked me outside the academy, then he came to the battlemage tower and said a few insulting things because I killed thousand soldiers of their incompetent army. To think those who set little children on fire if they are sick, will have the guts to come over and seek revenge.”

Then he looked at the teacher and said, “My name is Valerian Verus and I am here to accept the life and death battle challenge of this visitor.”

The teacher then turned to look at the man behind Valerian and asked, “State your Identity if you wish to challenge a student in the academy.”

The Berserk man clicked his tongue and said, “Tut.”

.....

The teacher nodded and asked, “What level Warrior are you?”

The man replied, “Grandmaster.”

The teacher was surprised but the battle aura radiated by the man confirmed his claim. This made the teaching staff hesitate and he said, “You need to inform your teacher, only with his authorization will you be allowed to hold this battle.”

Valerian sighed and said, “Such a pain, where do I find that old man.”

Just as his words fell a sharp old voice sounded, “Is this how you greet your teacher?”

Valerian looked at the source of this voice and said, “I was not expecting you to be in the academy, after all, you have basically left the battlemage tower and made a love nest with teacher Lilia.”

Fallax shook his head and said, “I deserved this, anyway, I authorize his battle.”

Lilia was behind Fallax and said, “What are you doing? Why are you allowing him to go on ahead with it? Did you not say that you will stop him from fighting?”

Fallax patted her shoulder gently and said, “He is strong enough.”

Then he turned his head to look at Valerian and said, “Do your best.”

Valerian shrugged his shoulders and said, “Did you even had to tell me that? Go sit down.”

Then the boy waved with a smile to Lilia and climbed the platform. The Valkyrian grandmaster saw an old Fallax and he stopped thinking if this old man will have any strength to interfere in the battle and climbed the stage with an arrogant expression on his face. This guy was six feet and six inches tall while Valerian was only five feet tall.

The match up looked odd and so did the expressions on the faces of the people. Valerian stood calmly while the other party was flaring his nostrils. The teacher standing on the referee position said, “No hidden weapons and no cheap shots. Fight with honor and live with pride.”

The two people nodded and the battle started, the grandmaster looked arrogant but that was just a set up, he invoked his battle aura as soon as the battle started and condensed into an armor over his body as he moved forward.

The speed of this man was not too fast bit every step he took, the ground channeled ripples and cracks formed on the floor. Valerian was surprised but he guessed that this person had a tougher body, blessed with greater strength and greater defense. He was thinking about what method he should use, and stood his grounds.

The people thought that he was shocked by the strength of the grandmaster in front of him. However, just as the grandmaster was about to reach him with a big fist, Valerian cast shadow displacement, and vanished from his spot.

He appeared behind the grandmaster using his shadow as a place to travel, and then with a swift motion he took out his sword from the magic pouch and said, “Be careful.”

The grandmaster reacted instantly and tightened his back muscles. However, the awaited attack did not come, instead he sensed a tinge in his legs. Valerian had taken out the Achilles tendon with a swift cut. Tendons are the most vulnerable parts, regardless of how much you strengthen them, they do not have an ounce of muscle covering over them.

The tendons were hurt and the movement had ceased. Some people gasped and many of them asked, “How did he manage to cut through that battle aura armor?”

The students did not know the answer and they began to look at each other when the teachers that had come to watch the battle suddenly said, “Sire Fallax, care to enlighten them.”

Fallax chuckled and said, “If you ask me so nicely, then why not?”

He stood up from his seat and said, “Battlemages can merge their mana and battle aura. Since Valerian is yet to achieve the stage of the Grandmaster, he channeled the mana with his faint channeling battle aura, and used the dual power to cut through the armor of his enemy.”

The people were enlightened and they saw the Grandmaster on the stage turned around and the battle aura condensed into a sword and slashed at Valerian’s head. The attack was so fast that Valerian did not even have the time to chant the spell and cast it silently. He vanished with a flash of light.

The surrounding people did not realize much until the Archmage from the Light Tower asked, “Your student is already an Archmage?”

Fallax sighed and nodded, as he said, “Yes. He is an Archmage, a newly promoted one.”

Valerian gained unfathomable fame due to the bluff at this moment, and this fame just increased his troubles by a lot.