Vale sighed as he heard Neil's voice.
He was no longer surprised that Neil came up with another reason to annoy him.
For some reason, his classmate really hated him ever since… At this point, he was already considering Extracting everything from him so he could just send this young man back to his family in the Rune Arts Faction.
Professor Cyrus was also a bit shocked by the sudden request to disqualify Vale.
As she was about to answer, she heard Stella's voice inside her head and realized what was going on.
'So it was like that…' Cyrus shook his head after understanding the situation.
In his opinion, Neil was just jealous and resentful of Vale, who had surpassed him in practical and combat aspects of Dark Arts.
He had always tried to find faults and flaws in Vale's performance and methods.
Now, he saw an opportunity to discredit and humiliate Vale in front of everyone.
"He didn't use any spells! He only used his physical abilities! That's not how a spellcaster should fight! That's cheating!" Neil exclaimed once again as he realized that the professors were silently discussing the matter.
"Please, disqualify Vale!" Leo's friends added.
They hoped that their complaint would make Professor Cyrus change his decision and give the victory to Leo instead of Vale.
The audience murmured and whispered as they listened to their claims.
A few of them agreed with Neil's group, but it could be seen that the majority disagreed with him. However, this majority didn't speak and just watched what would happen.
Of course, there were still others who were confused and curious why this was happening in the first place.
As for Vale's friends, they didn't seem to care about Neil's protest. They were pretty confident that Vale had just proven that Leo didn't deserve to experience his Dark Spell. The disqualification was just out of the question.
After some time, Professor Cyrus clapped his hands, creating a loud sound that silenced the audience.
"Enough!" he said sternly. "I have heard your protest, but I do not agree with it."
He looked at Neil and Leo's friends with a serious expression.
"Vale did not cheat or break any rules. He used his speed and strength, which are part of his abilities as a spellcaster. He did not need any spells or weapons to win the duel. He won fair and square."
He looked at Vale with a proud expression.
"Vale showed us that there is more than one way to fight as a Spellcaster. He showed you, or us, that there is more than one type of Dark Art in this world. Lastly, he may not have said it, but I can tell that his physique is born from a successful Dark Arts Ritual…"
He looked at the audience with an authoritative expression.
"He deserves our respect and admiration, not our doubt and criticism."
He stomped his feet on the ground, creating another loud sound that signaled the end of the discussion.
"The winner is still Vale Chambers!" He declared firmly.
The rest of the students clapped and cheered as they accepted Professor Cyrus' verdict.
Vale smiled and bowed again as he thanked Professor Cyrus. He also thanked Zara and Mark, as he knows that they've been discussing their verdict using their telepathy.
Now that it was settled, Professor Cyrus continued looking for his challengers.
The next one who volunteered was Warren Lawstein, his classmate in Class 2. Perhaps, Vale only had to worry about his Severe Ailment Spell that could inflict various diseases and conditions on the target, such as fever, nausea, paralysis, and more. As for the man's Ghost Hands, he knows that he could just ignore it.
In the battle, Vale even decided to get hit by the Severe Ailment Spell as he tried to see how much he would be affected by the Spell.
To his surprise, he only felt a slight discomfort in his body as he sensed Warren's Spell hitting him.
He shrugged it off easily… Perhaps it was due to his high Strength and Vitality or that he possessed an Advanced Realm Incorruptible Body.
'It seems that Intermediate Realm ailments or curses will no longer work on me…' Vale thought to himself as he saw Warren looking at him nervously.
This time, Vale didn't use his Spell once against him as he just dashed forward and grabbed his arm…
"I surrender…" he whimpered before Vale could do more damage to his arm.
Professor Cyrus sighed at this as he announced the victor once again.
'Warren isn't bad… He's even better than other second-year class' Student Representatives in the last 3 or 5 years. This Vale is just too strong…' Cyrus thought to himself, already considering which fourth-year students he would send to challenge Vale.
Anyway, the next second-year student to challenge Vale was Dalton Stranway. He was then followed by Philip Hoffman. Unsurprisingly, Vale also won the matches against them, giving the impression that Vale was truly undefeated.
There were still two students in Class 1 that were better than Philip in terms of Spell Mastery and Spirit Strands, but they decided not to participate, saying that they have nothing against Vale Chambers.
In the end, the last student to challenge Vale was Neil..
This surprised Aubrey and the others as they knew that Neil was avoiding any direct conflict or battle against Vale.
Neil would always find fault in Vale's actions, but that was it. This was the first time Neil had challenged Vale to a duel!
"Vale… I know this is a good chance, but make sure not to kill him." Chad suddenly said in a low voice.
As a matter of fact, Aubrey and Lisa had the same concern, as they didn't really want to see their friend killing a classmate.
After all, although they are in the Dark Arts Academy, they aren't evil people…
Seeing how his friends were looking at him, Vale helplessly smiled and nodded.
'Don't worry… I'm not going to kill him… I'll only make him unable to continue studying here.' Vale added in his mind as he watched Neil getting on the stage.
He noticed that Neil didn't seem afraid even after he defeated the four top students in their batch. It was quite baffling, so Vale used his Spirit Vision to inspect him carefully.
After a few moments, he finally realized what was going on.
'Seriously… Is Celina behind this?' Vale thought to himself as he looked around to see if Celina was watching.
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