(Arin's POV)
The cheers of the arena sounded distant, like the buzzing of flies muffled behind thick glass.
I stood in the middle of the blinding white sand arena. The sun hung directly overhead, yet I felt no heat. The Life Magic Stone drug worked like a sturdy dam holding back a flood of pain. My nervous system seemed wrapped in a thick layer of ice.
My bare left shoulder, with red flesh exposed due to the shattered armor, should have made me faint from traumatic shock. However, my brain recorded it merely as statistical data.
Structural Damage: 40%.
No screams, no panic. Only cold calculation from a biological machine refusing to die.
Up ahead, five figures stood in standard combat formation.
My eyes scanned them one by one. I did not see them as classmates, but as a collection of flesh and iron that I had to dismantle efficiently.
In the front row, Gordon stood gallantly with a black Greatsword on his shoulder. Gareth flanked him, sheltering behind a Tower Shield and holding a one-handed sword. Lastly, Kurt stood ready with a standard Longsword. Their armor and weapons gleamed expensively, contrasting with my shattered condition.
Meanwhile, in the back row stood Owen, a First Circle Mage, and Maya, a Second Circle Mage. Maya was touted as the most genius mage in class B, and her gaze proved that arrogance.
"Give up, Trash!" Gordon stepped forward, the tip of his Greatsword aimed straight at my face. A scornful smile was clearly carved on his lips. "Look at yourself. You can barely even stand straight. Kneel now, and I will allow you to leave on a stretcher, not in a body bag."
Kurt chuckled beside him, twirling his sword in a provocative style. "Forget it, Gordon. Let me cut off his legs so he learns some manners towards nobles."
I ignored the insult completely. I took a deep breath, activating a special breathing technique to compress my remaining strength.
Technique: Maximum Junior Aura.
The referee on the sidelines raised his hand high.
"BEGIN!"
The duel of one against five commenced.
Gordon and his team expected me to stay still and wait for an attack. However, that was their first fatal mistake.
The second the referee lowered his hand, I exploded forward. Not a regular straight run. I activated Feather-Touch on my boots. The friction coefficient between my soles and the marble was totally erased.
I moved in a zig-zag with extreme tilts, a maneuver biomechanically impossible for a normal human. A barely visible trail of dust was left behind me. To them, my figure must have looked like a flickering ghost approaching, ruining their depth perception.
My main target locked onto Owen. The support mage had to die first.
"So fast!" shouted Owen in panic, stepping back unsteadily. "Gareth! Hold him!"
"Leave it to me!" Gareth roared, stepping forward and slamming his Tower Shield into the sand to create an iron wall.
Behind him, Gordon was ready. "Let me split him in two!" He swung his greatsword from behind Gareth's back, using the shield as tactical cover.
If I crashed, my body would be destroyed.
I activated the glove. Sword Weight: 0%.
Instead of slashing, I threw my body into the air, using the light sword as a vaulting pole to jump over the surprised Gareth.
"He is above!" shouted Gareth, his neck craning up in shock.
Kurt, who was already waiting on the flank, grinned widely. "Got you, Rat!"
He jumped to meet me in the air, his sword stabbing straight toward my exposed, unprotected stomach.
My position was terrible. I was floating without leverage to dodge.
Technique: Aerial Counterweight.
I spun my body in the air just as Kurt's sword edge approached. My sword weight was reactivated to 200%. The momentum of my light body rotation was suddenly forcibly pulled by the massive sword weight.
The laws of physics worked according to my will. My rotation axis in the air changed drastically, making Kurt's stab miss my waist narrowly, only scratching the outer skin.
"What?!" Kurt widened his eyes in shock as his attack slashed empty air. "How?!"
I landed smoothly behind their defense line. Right in front of Owen's nose.
Owen's face was deathly pale. He chanted a spell frantically. "Wind Bul—"
Our distance was only two meters. I did not give him time to finish that syllable. Without pause, I launched a straight Thrust.
However, Owen was no amateur. He canceled his spell and shouted, "Mana Shield!"
A transparent plate of light appeared, holding back the tip of my sword.
CLANG.
My sword was held. Owen stepped back, grinning in relief. "Hah! Failed, Fool! You think your dull sword can penetrate a magic shield?"
Really?
I gripped the sword hilt tightly, then channeled a strong surge of mana to a single point at the thrust tip.
Thrust + Minimum Senior Aura.
"Break," I whispered.
My sword pierced the mana plate like a needle piercing paper. The tip struck Owen's solar plexus squarely.
"Gah!" Owen's eyes bulged, his body bent over running out of breath instantly.
I stepped in, sweeping Owen's legs, followed by a hard knee kick to his face as he fell.
THUD!
Owen collapsed unconscious.
"One down," I muttered coldly.
Before I could catch my breath, a large shadow covered the sun. Gareth turned around with surprising speed for a Vanguard.
"DO NOT TOUCH HIM!"
SHIELD BASH!
The Tower Shield slammed into the side of my body brutally.
CRACK!
The sound of cracking ribs was heard clearly in my ears. I was thrown three meters, rolling on the hard marble before stopping in a kneeling position.
"Now! Do not let him get up!" shouted Kurt vengefully.
Kurt, who had missed earlier, now chased me with frenzy attacks. Slashes left, right, up, down. Fast and precise deadly attacks. The kneeling position forced me into total defense.
TING! TANG! TING!
I parried every one of Kurt's attacks with difficulty. He was fresh and fit, while I was dying. Every metal collision made my injured left shoulder scream in pain.
"You are slow, Arin!" Kurt mocked, seeing a gap in my defense. "Goodbye!"
He launched a fatal stab toward my neck.
Now!
Technique: Blade Grasping (Half-Swording).
I released the sword hilt with my left hand, then caught the middle of my own sword blade. This gave me greater leverage.
I deflected Kurt's stab roughly to the side with the base of the sword, pinning his weapon between my sword blade and the ground.
"Eh?" Kurt tried to pull his sword. But he couldn't. His weapon was locked.
I forced myself to stand, rotating my sword until the hilt became a makeshift war hammer. With the remaining strength pumped by the drug into my muscle fibers, I slammed the steel Crossguard vertically onto the temple of his helmet.
Technique: Mordhau.
"Eat this!"
DONG!
A loud sound like a cracked church bell echoed. The vibration of the impact traveled from the helmet directly to the skull, shaking his brain inside the cerebrospinal fluid with fatal violence.
Kurt's arms stiffened straight forward. His eyes rolled white, then he fell stiffly like a felled tree.
Two down.
"KURT! YOU BASTARD!"
Gareth roared in anger, his face flushed red. He charged forward, this time forgetting defense. The sharp edge of his shield was used as an axe weapon.
I took a step back, breathing heavily. But behind Gareth... Gordon was already waiting with a sly smile.
"Gareth, lock his movement! Maya, prepare artillery!" Shouted Gordon.
Gareth opened his shield to the side suddenly. From that gap, Gordon launched a full-power Greatsword slash that had been prepared.
Aura Technique: Heavy Cleave.
I could not parry this. The weight of Gordon's sword plus Aura would break my sword or even the arm holding it. Dodging to the side was also impossible because Gareth blocked my escape route with his shield.
There was only one way.
Inertia Violation: Vector Brake.
I lifted my sword, changing Feather-Touch to 0% weight. I pressed the flat side of my sword against the flat side of Gordon's descending Greatsword. Metal friction screamed painfully.
Not to hold his attack. I followed the direction of his slash, but applied constant downward pressure. By eliminating my own sword's mass, I erased my weapon's inertia.
This allowed me to deflect the force vector of that giant sword merely with angled friction, like a stream of water deflecting a large rock.
Gordon's sword slid down, lost its target, and smashed into the floor between my feet with a burst of dust.
BOOM! The floor cracked severely.
Gordon's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! How coul—"
I took advantage of the moment his sword was stuck in the floor. I jumped, kicking Gordon's chest with both feet at once.
THUD!
He staggered back, but his thick armor absorbed most of the impact.
"Protect Gordon!" shouted Gareth. He immediately closed the gap, fortifying Gordon again with his shield.
The two of them were still standing. Injured, angry, but still very dangerous.
"Move! You are blocking my view!"
Maya's voice shrieked high from behind the formation. The air suddenly became dry. The smell of ozone and sulfur filled the arena.
"Watch out, Maya is going to shoot!" exclaimed Gareth.
Gordon and Gareth jumped to the left and right sides, opening a deadly line of fire.
At the far end, Maya floated slightly above the ground. Her staff shone blindingly, gathering dense fire particles.
Second Circle Magic: Flame Lance (Maximum)
"Taste this, Trash!" shouted Maya, her eyes gleaming sadistically. "Die with your arrogance!"
The fire lance launched. Not an ordinary fireball, but a concentrated straight beam of fire.
I had nowhere to run. No shield to block that fire. Plus my Feather-Touch power was down to 5%, leaving very bad options.
I regulated my breathing again. My heart pounded loudly in protest of the excessive workload.
I raised the sword vertically in front of my face. Not to block the fire; that was suicide.
I spun my sword at high speed using the remaining glove power and Senior Aura.
Technique: Aerodynamic Turbulence Wall + Maximum Senior Aura.
I spun the Aura-coated sword exceeding 800 RPM. The wide sword blade created a turbulent wind vortex in front of me. Fire attacks needed concentrated oxygen and a stable propagation path. My intention was to disrupt both with this spin.
WHOOSH-BOOM!
The fire lance crashed into the wind wall of my creation. The fire broke apart, spreading to the left and right of my body.
However, I could not withstand the heat completely.
"ARGHH!"
The skin on my unarmored left arm blistered instantly. My eyebrows and part of my hair were singed. The heat burned my lungs when I inhaled.
Smoke billowed from my body. However, I still stood tall. Charred, smoking, but remaining statue-still.
Maya lowered her staff, panting. Her face was deathly pale seeing her target had not turned to ash.
"Monster..." she whispered trembling. "Why won't you just die?"
Gordon and Gareth took combat positions again.
"Do not be afraid!" snapped Gordon, though his own voice sounded doubtful. "He is dying! Maya, prepare the next spell!"
The three of them were still standing. Although their formation was broken, they were still an intact team.
While me? My world began to spin.
Suddenly, the cold feeling in my body vanished. Replaced by a heat far more terrible than Maya's fire.
Inside my stomach, the last remnant of the Life Magic Stone shattered. The drug had been completely digested by my body. Its pain-suppressing effect vanished totally in a single heartbeat.
THUMP!
"AAARRGGHHHHHH!"
I screamed. The pain from broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, burnt skin, and torn muscles... everything rushed into my brain at once. It felt like being shredded by a thousand knives from the inside.
However, along with that pain, pure energy overflowed uncontrollably. Transparent Aura exploded from my body, making the dust around me vibrate violently.
Gordon took a step back, his sword lowering slightly. "What... what happened to him? What kind of aura is that?"
I could not answer that question. Even my mind was unable to process it. My consciousness slowly drowned in a red sea of rage.
Only one instinct remained in my reptilian brain as I stared at the three enemies still standing.
Stay awake! I must stay awake!