Chapter 55: Pull something off?
"I'm getting better," Severin wiped the sweat from his face.
His progress was painfully slow, but it was progress. When he started training, he had lost his sword each time he used the Stigma, but now he could hold it well when fighting.
"Good. Now let's try my other fighting method."
More projections appeared, but this time they were monsters at the same stage as him and at E-rank, but he'd made their senses and perception to be as high as A-rank—even higher.
The wolf-like monsters appeared and immediately began to growl, sniffing the air. They were made in direct replica of his monsters' behaviors.
Severin took a step towards them, and the monsters turned towards him, and yet they didn't attack.
He must have looked like a tree being blown by wind because he appeared as nothing to their sensing. It must be as if he was a stick wearing clothes.
Severin then readied his sword. He took a step forward and then he jumped forward lightly, but immediately his shoes pushed him forward at an incredible speed.
In an instant, he was in the midst of the monsters, and his sword came down, cleaving through one of them in the next. It was then that the whole group labeled him as danger.
They couldn't sense him, but they knew it was danger.
As one, they showed their teeth and then flew at him.
Severin simply straightened, and then he hopped. Something propelled him upward in a thrust.
His shoes, using acceleration.
Woosh!
Once he was in the air, his left hand wiped down.
Bang! Bang!
Something flew out of his hand with the sound of a bullet and shattered the head of one monster projection.
And then another before he reached down.
He was holding small metal balls and used his Stigma to shoot them. His problem was that it wasn't advisable in a long fight or once the enemy knew.
He could only shoot one at a time, after all.
He shot one more out before he touched ground, and the monster came at him, tearing into him.
Darkness rushed over.
And loss.
The Stigma: Acceleration that gives time to non-living things.
The effect was pretty powerful because it gives more time to things, speeding up time around it.
The problem was that it was only on something that's already in motion.
Severin had tried it on things that are at rest, but his Stigma wouldn't work on them. They need to be in motion, no matter how small.
He sat down on the ground and was breathing hard.
His shoulder and legs hurt badly.
Giving things in motion more speed means it'll gain more strength, and it's higher than Severin could handle. "I'll just have to make my body get used to it."
He picked himself up and dragged his feet outside.
He wasn't surprised to find that it was already evening—training that he started in the morning before the sun was up.
His time at the Timeless Immortal Saint domain had carved into his body the patience to train. He could go on and on, even with a ruined body.
Maybe once training starts, he becomes obsessed like the Timeless Immortal Saint.
"Why are you waiting for me, Julius?"
The shorter guy was leaning against the wall, browsing through a paper. He pushed himself off the wall. "Well, I have something important to report. Head Instructor Darius Faulkner has mandated every House leader to come to a meeting the day after tomorrow. I received the confirmation to the House building."
For all intents and purposes, Julius is the secretary and the head of the admin in the House. In fact, he was in charge of almost everything that's not actively fighting.
They began to walk out of the training center building. "Do you know what it's about?" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Julius leaned closer, and his voice turned into a whisper. "Yes. I'm guessing it's about the kidnapping. If I'm to speculate, then I'll say more students have been kidnapped than they let the public know."
Severin grunted. Seems the kidnapping is getting out of hand if the Academy has to involve the public about it. What a mess.
But this time, Severin didn't have any ideas on the kidnapping. It's something that never happened in the book. He's also quite surprised and a little concerned about it.
"...It couldn't be the Scar... They've suffered too many losses to be able to start another trouble too soon... Well, it's no business of mine... It shouldn't be..."
Julius bid him goodnight when he got to his dorm and wished him victory for his mock battle the next day.
☆☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆☆
"That doesn't look good," Celia said.
Severin agreed.
They were in the large arena, but unlike the previous monthly assessment, there weren't a lot of spectators.
But on the platform that Class Four would be doing their mock battle, there were surprisingly a large number of people—students and even some instructors.
Watching. Waiting.
Now, what type of tricks are you going to pull now?
You have only three members while the whole class is against you. This time, you are going to be crushed.
Under the table, a lot of bets quickly exchanged hands.
Only Julius bet on Severin, and even then, he only bet the money he was willing to lose. Julius had calculated it again and again, and there was simply no way for Severin to win.
The platform they were standing on wasn't the smooth one that was used between students' duels.
This one was made in imitation of rough land with sands and stones. Even large boulders dotted it.
Currently, Team Severin were hiding against one of those large boulders.
Derrick was annoyed, and he sneered. "You really don't have to drag us along with you, Severin! This is something you are going to lose. You should have just surrendered."
Celia didn't say anything, but it was sure that she agreed.
Severin frowned. If after the battle they lost, then he was sure his Talent Ability probably won't work on those two anymore, as they would lose faith completely.
"...It'll be troublesome to look for new slav... subordinate..."
"And yet you're here, Derrick. Do you believe I would pull something off? I know how you think. If you think this is a total loss, then you wouldn't be here."
Currently, Derrick was trying to build his reputation as one of the strongest in Class Four. This type of defeat would bring him down hard.
His teeth clenched, but he didn't say anything.
Even against the evidence in his heart, he was still hoping something would change? That Severin would pull something off?