Marcus immediately activated his skill "Inner Harmony." A faint golden aura erupted from his body as streams of mana flowed through his muscles. His breathing became calm and steady, his eyes sharpened with unnatural clarity, and every movement became lighter and faster. The buff greatly increased his physical strength, movement speed, and eyesight.
Without wasting another second, Marcus charged at Aster.
At the same time, he activated another skill, "Chi Burst." Brilliant golden energy wrapped around his staff, crackling like compressed sunlight. The weapon emitted a low humming sound as the mana condensed around its tip.
Marcus leaped high into the air, raising his glowing staff overhead before bringing it crashing down with tremendous force. The principals from every martial art college watched the battle with full attention.
Lincoln College’s principal frowned. "Why isn’t your student moving? Marcus is about to strike him, yet he hasn’t even taken a fighting stance."
The instant he finished speaking
"Grapple."
Aster vanished from where he stood and appeared several meters to the left as though an invisible force had pulled him sideways.
BOOOOM!
Marcus’s staff smashed into the arena floor instead. A deafening explosion echoed throughout the stadium as chunks of stone flew into the air. A massive crater formed beneath the impact, with spider web like cracks spreading across the arena.
"What kind of movement technique was that?" Lincoln’s principal exclaimed, his eyes widening in disbelief. "He moved to the side without even shifting his body!"
"Yeah... that was strange," Helena College’s principal said. "It almost looked like someone pulled him away."
"Hmph! What nonsense are you all talking about?" the general said with a smug smile. "No one can interfere under all of our noses. As for how he did it... even I don’t know. I’ve been observing him for quite some time, yet I still can’t understand how his class works."
"So he’s the student who awakened a unique class?" Helena’s principal asked.
"Yes" the general replied. "We have very little information on his abilities. From what I’ve observed, everything he does happens at an unbelievable speed. Even our eyes struggle to follow his movements."
Back in the arena, Marcus twisted his body the moment he landed and swung his staff horizontally toward Aster’s ribs. "Grapple." Aster’s body was instantly pulled forward. The attack missed by less than an inch. Before Marcus could recover, Aster had already appeared directly in front of him. "Strike." Five invisible staff strikes manifested at the same instant.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Marcus’s body jerked violently as the unseen impacts slammed into his chest and shoulders, launching him several meters backward. Before he could regain his footing "Strike." Another five invisible blows crashed into him.
Marcus’s pupils shrank. He couldn’t even see what was attacking him. Realizing something was terribly wrong, he immediately activated another skill "Flowing Guard." Liquid like mana poured out from his body, swirling around him before forming a translucent blue barrier. The shield rippled like flowing water, automatically consuming mana to block incoming attacks. It would remain active until Marcus dismissed it or completely exhausted his mana.
Marcus steadied his breathing and stopped moving. "If I can’t see the attack... I’ll wait for the pattern."
Aster casually looked at him.
"Strike."
Five more invisible attacks slammed into the watery barrier.
Ripples spread across its surface, but the shield successfully blocked every hit.
System Window
Lazy Inspection
Weakness:Consumes a large amount of mana with every blocked hit.
Aster glanced at the system window before looking back at Marcus. Then... He smiled. Marcus suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
The next instant
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
"Strike."
The invisible attacks came one after another without pause. The barrier rippled violently. Five impacts every second. Each one drained more mana than the last. Marcus frowned. "What’s happening?" His breathing became heavier. Cold sweat rolled down his forehead. His mana was disappearing at an alarming rate, yet he couldn’t see a single attack. He looked toward Aster. He wasn’t even fighting seriously. He simply stood there, casually leaning against his staff with a relaxed expression, as if waiting for time to pass.
Marcus couldn’t see it. The principals couldn’t see it. The audience couldn’t see it. Only Aster knew that hundreds of invisible staff strikes were continuously battering Marcus’s mana barrier every second. The watery shield gradually became thinner. Its ripples grew weaker.
Finally
Crack.
The barrier shattered into countless fragments of blue light before fading into the air. Marcus’s mana was completely depleted. His vision blurred. His knees gave out. With a dull thud, he collapsed onto the arena floor, unconscious.
Silence filled the stadium.
Suddenly, Lincoln College’s principal slammed both hands onto the table and shot to his feet. "Marcus! What happened? Stand up!" Confusion filled his face. Aster simply looked toward the referee and pointed at Marcus.
"I think he’s out."
The referee quickly entered the arena, examined Marcus, then raised his hand.
"Marcus is unable to continue."
"Winner! Aster Vale!"
...
Not a single cheer came from the audience. They simply stared at the arena with confused expressions. All they had seen was Aster moving in an incomprehensible way before Marcus suddenly collapsed for no apparent reason. Lincoln College’s principal clenched his fists in frustration. Helena College’s principal narrowed his eyes. "What a terrifying and mysterious ability... Fortunately, we’ve had the chance to witness it before facing him ourselves."
The broken arena was instantly fixed by a Awakener
After Marcus the next student stepped into the arena
System Window:
Name: Kenji Tanaka
Class: Warrior
Weapon: Sword
Kenji walked to the center of the arena and drew his sword, its blade reflecting the sunlight. He took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Aster. Aster, meanwhile, stood casually with his staff resting on his shoulder, wearing the same relaxed expression as always.
The referee looked at both contestants before raising his hand.
"Begin!"
The moment the match started Kenji activated his skill "Iron will" making his body really hard increasing defence and charged at Aster using another skill "War Charge" it increased his speed and strength tremendously. His plan was to give Aster no chance of thinking and attack him immediately. "Bind" but his charge back fired, the moment he charged Aster used his Bind skill of the iron chain wrapped in his right arm to bind Kenji. Each Bind effect binds him for one second total five seconds every use. Meanwhile, Aster could manifest more binds in that time.
Kenji was stuck in one place, Now the audience was more confused. One of them said "What the hell, now both of them are not moving!" Lincoln’s principal became more furious "Kenji do something don’t stand still" Kenji couldn’t move his body at all, he could feel something wrapping him. Kenji used his "Brutal Cleave" a skill that was meant to be used by a sword to strike a large area, he used it on his fist and launched a blow in the air destroying all the bind effects.
But Aster didn’t give him any chance to recover and instantly used a few "Strike" at him each use of strike skill manifested five strike effects and hit him from right and left. For the audience Kenji was moving weirdly and hit marks randomly appearing in his body. Soon Kenji also gave up.
The medical team came and took him with them. The referee announced the Aster winner and asked for another student to come in the arean from the opponent team.
At this time no one in the principal hall dared to make any sound because of the furious expression Lincoln’s principal was making, General Cassius could hardly hold his laugh.
Saint Helena’s principal was remembering every scene of Aster "If he moves really fast there should be a slight movement in the air or dirt, but there was none and even after fighting two opponents his expression didn’t change no exhaustion is seen in his face. Using these super speed skills should have used up a large amount of mana from him."
He thought for some second "Hmm.... This kid! His class is getting me more and more excited" He said with a gentle smile.