351 No Choice

“Your next match might be difficult,” Kiara said.

“I’ve heard he’s in Vice Principal Xander’s class,” Kiara added, to which Lishia opened her eyes and looked at her.

“I know he’s strong, but just being in his class doesn’t necessarily mean he’s better than others, right?” Lishia asked.

“It’s because Vice Principal Xander only teaches the Third Year students, and that’s only for a month,” Kiara replied.

“I learned a lot from him. And from what I’ve heard, that Matthew guy is under Leonard Tarvian,” Kiara continued.

“Don’t worry about me; you have your own match coming up, right?” Lishia said, glancing at Kiara.

“I know. It’s not that I’m not trying to win, but those two are obsessed with taking Rank 1,” Kiara said, an annoyed look crossing her face.

Kiara was strong, but she wasn’t obsessed with achieving Rank 1, mainly because she didn’t want too much attention on herself.

“But can you defeat them?” Lishia asked.

Meeting Lishia’s gaze, Kiara sensed the seriousness behind the question.

“In a fair fight, my chances of winning stand at 35%,” Kiara replied candidly.

Lishia smiled, understanding why Kiara had specifically mentioned a ‘fair fight’ in her response. She knew Kiara Everett was quite famous both inside and outside of World Academy.

The only one who rivaled her in fame was Raelyn Whiteheart, the Student Council President.

“Now, enough with the questions, Princess. You only have ten minutes,” Kiara said as she turned to leave the room.

Lishia took a deep breath after Kiara departed, continuing to gather her mana in preparation for her impending duel.

“With the Second Year matches concluded, we will now begin the match between Rank 4 Matthew and Rank 5 Lishia Halcyon,” Gazil announced. Both Matthew and Lishia stepped onto the stage, assuming their positions.

The Referee signaled the start, and they readied themselves. Lishia was equipped with her staff and various other artifacts for the fight.

Matthew presented a formidable challenge; after Asher, he was reputed to be the strongest sword user among all the First Year students. Lishia had witnessed his prowess firsthand.

“He’s remarkably talented, given his background,” Dalton remarked, observing Matthew.

“Exactly, it’s no surprise that the World Association recruited him,” Joseph commented, casting a side glance at Osbert.

“It’s our duty to nurture talents that lack the resources others possess,” Osbert responded.

However, Osbert’s true motive was to view individuals like Matthew as pawns. He was intent on recruiting Matthew to his faction. Even within the World Association, power was apportioned among the three SSS Rank hunters, and Osbert was keen to consolidate his internal influence.

Recruiting people like Matthew, who came from humble backgrounds, was ideal for his plans. Thus, he had instructed Leonard to keep Matthew under close watch.

“Of course, isn’t that the very purpose of the three Associations?” Xarax interjected.

Such interactions were precisely why Silvus was averse to these gatherings; every participant seemed driven by self-

interest.

Being an orphan himself, Silvus regarded Matthew with a sense of kinship. He viewed himself as a beacon of hope for individuals like Matthew.

However, Silvus was also aware that his own success was attributable to the excellent guidance and opportunities he had received, which others might not be as fortunate to have.

The same couldn’t be said for someone like Matthew, who was about to venture into the World Association, where ascending the ranks was no simple feat.

After all World Association was the power that kept other Elite Families in check, and it meant that their relationship with all of them was bad.

One of the reason why Silvus supported Farnus to make this World Academy, was to create place where these children could understand each other, and the constant struggle of power lessened.

At the stage, the countdown started.

“Start!!” The Referee said. 𝒐𝑣𝑙xt.𝚌𝒐𝚖

And immediately Matthew covered his whole body in aura, which was quite dense compared to most first years.

He took out his sword and got ready to face Lishia who created the same mist that she did against Damian.

Matthew dashed at Lishia who chanted another spell as chains erupted from the ground as Matthew dodged them from stepping towards one side to another.

His speed was quite fast, but Lishia back stepped as the mist started accumulate on the ground becoming denser.

Matthew felt his feet getting heavy, and it was the effect of the mist. Lishia knew that injuring Matthew would be hard, so she decided to restrict his movements.

This kind of spell couldn’t be used with a group as it affected the people around them but it was good option to use in a One on One situation.

Matthew lifted his sword as he pointed it towards the ground and slammed it into the ground creating a wave of aura that remove the mist around him.

His movement changed, and he charged towards Lishia who created pillars of fire around Matthew.

Matthew used the first sword technique he learned in the class, and merged it with the one he found in the Great Library.

He twisted his sword and slashed it sideways creating a gap in the spell and used it to escape it.

“Let’s end this,” Matthew muttered.

But he suddenly felt something coming from above as he looked at black mist appearing in the sky.

Daggers made of mist and black energy started dropping on Matthew as he raised his swords to deflect most of them.

He didn’t knew much about this spell but he felt a sense of danger coming from the daggers. It was instinct to deflect or either dodge them.

And he was right, the moment this spell wounded Matthew that part of his body part would become numb.

But the strange thing was that the moment those dagger hit the ground they would become part of the shadow that growing bigger.

Fighting a Black Element Mage in limited space was similar to giving them the chance to utilize all kinds of spell on you.

‘He will move carefully,’ Lishia assessed Matthew and she knew that he wouldn’t want to get injured even if won this fight.

But there was a slight mistake she made, and that was thinking that Matthew was fighting while thinking about the next fight.

Lishia made multiple fireballs that were size of a tip of finger appear and she sent them towards Matthew who was deflecting the fireballs.

The strange black mist above and the fireball coming his way, Matthew knew that if he wanted to end this fight early this was his only chance.

Instead of dodging or deflecting, Matthew bursted his aura out and charged towards Lishia as multiple Fireballs hit him, and even a few daggers managed to strike him.

“What?” Lishia was confused by Matthew’s moves.

“But why?” Lishia muttered as she immediately summoned restrictive chains.

‘Dammit,’ Matthew thought as he saw the chains.

He didn’t expect for Lishia to chant this quickly, but he had no other way than this.

He had taken the gamble, and if he lost this match would have been over, something that he knew Leonard didn’t wanted at all.

“Feather Steps,” Matthew side stepped twice as the aura at feet bursted giving him a boost while his sword smashed the chains that appeared in front of him.

He tilted body a bit while cutting the chains directly with his sword. Aura could counter spells, but there was limit to the aura person could use.

It was much more denser than mana, but it originated from mana itself. But Aura was something that could only be recovered over time, and something like mana that could be absorbed from the surroundings.

Matthew’s power was increasing as his aura intensified, but that also meant he was overusing it.

Overusing aura had no side effects, and some people even said that using Aura in strong burst was more useful than using it in a prolonged battle depending on the situation.

BAM!!!

Matthew’s sword clashed with Lishia’s mana barrier that started to crumble instantly.

That was how powerful Matthew’s strike was, and Lishia knew it would be over the moment that this shield broke.

Suddenly the shadow’s started accumulating under Lishia, and Matthew noticed them as his sword starting to crack the Mana Barrier more and more.

“Craft of darkness gather around,” Lishia chanted as Matthew saw the shadows started to envelope his feet.

He lost the sense of touch on his foot, and he didn’t even felt the ground.

‘It had to be now,’ Matthew thought.