While Benedict was being tortured, Erik and Floyd were in a tough fight against Slice. Luckily, the man didn't have a weird brain crystal power; he only conjured a sword. However, he was a master swordsman; he made bizarre and unpredictable movements, and only thanks to Floyd's power were the two able to, more or less, fight against him. Floyd had very low amounts of mana since he had to protect that ungrateful bunch of cowardly morons who fled. However, he had enough to impair their opponent, Slice, severely.
Floyd targeted the assassin's legs, making it so that his running speed was slower. However, the truth was that Slice let the young man target him on purpose. The man was, like Laser, a freak, a crazy guy; in his case, however, he liked the feeling of superiority he had when he fought others.
He liked the moment when his enemies understood they couldn't win against him and the despair they felt when they found that out. And what better way to do this than by giving himself a handicap and showing his superiority? That would ensure he killed every thought the two young men could have regarding their abilities and power; that move would have made them feel inferior to him.
"STOP HIM, FLOYD!" Erik said.
"I'M TRYING!" The young man replied.
Erik and Slice were fighting with their swords, but it was clear that the assassin was far more skilled with a sword than the awakener. It was like a child fighting against an older man.
In fact, even if Slice was far ahead of Erik, the young man wasn't going down without trying to put up as much resistance as possible, as even though the assassin was clearly stronger, he knew that he would be kidnapped if he didn't stall for more time.
<Where the hell are the teachers?> Erik asked himself. Almost ten minutes had passed since this whole situation began, and there was still no trace of them.
"Hahahahaha! Surrender, kid. You are a shitty swordsman!" Slice said.
"SHUT UP, OLD MAN!" Erik replied.
As the awakener and Slice fought back and forth with their swords, Floyd tried to stab the assassin from where he couldn't see him. However, Slice evaded each attack; it was almost like he had eyes on the back of his head.
Erik slashed horizontally at the assassin, but he parried the move with his sword. Another problem arose during the fight. To avoid his sword getting cut in two, Erik had to channel a lot of mana into the sword while using his power, allowing him to resist the man's blows barely.
This meant that Erik was rapidly depleting his mana; here, the young man truly understood the difference between ranks and how important it was to increase the number of neural links.
Floyd thrust his spear again, but Slice jumped three meters in the air and cut Floyd's spear in two with a swing. He then channeled a little bit of mana through his body, preventing Floyd's power from affecting him.
His speed suddenly increased twofold, and the man went behind Floyd. By parrying a slash from Slice with his own sword, Erik just barely made it in time to save his friend. Floyd's head would have been detached from his body if he had failed.
However, the blow was very powerful, and both Erik and Floyd were sent flying several meters back, crashing into a tree. Floyd immediately lost consciousness as he hit his head, while Erik lost his sight for a few seconds.
Erik found Slice before him as soon as he opened his eyes, and he raised his sword just at the right time to parry an attack. It was clear that Slice was still enjoying humiliating the young man. The assassin almost felt physical pleasure whenever he saw the young man despair or when he showed pain at each clash of their blades.
The strength that Slice showed was extraordinary. Even though the young man was doing everything he could to survive, the assassin seemed unstoppable. The young man blocked another strike coming from the assassin.
He managed to get closer to him, but Slice easily dodged the young man's blade and hit him with his own sword. It hurt, but not too badly; however, it was obvious that Slice wouldn't stop until he felt satisfied.
After all, he enjoyed tormenting his prey before ruthlessly killing them. He was insane and seemingly reveled in the control he held over his victims. Slice swung his sword again, aiming at a random place. Erik barely parried the attack, and his hands felt numb due to the required effort. The young man then tried hitting Slice with his sword. Still, he easily deflected Erik's amateurish attack with a laugh and wielded his sword so precisely that Erik could not even find an opening.
After a couple more moments, Slice decided he had had enough, so he went behind Erik and slashed at his back.
"GAH!"
The young man screamed in pain, and a couple of tears came to his eyes. Blood trickled down his back, and he collapsed to the ground in agony. Slice looked upon his opponent with a mixture of contempt and satisfaction, and a second later, he kicked Erik's head, making him lose consciousness.
***
As the other fights took place, Zachary was fighting against Gwen, but the fight wasn't going at all as they had hoped. Aaron released his slimy, corrosive substance on the ground around Zachary, who, circling his mana, stopped the corrosive effect on his body.
He only had trouble moving around because of the slime, but this was a minor obstacle since he was very high-leveled and had enough strength to move through the slimy terrain. Gwen was basically protecting Aaron by tanking Zachary's attack. The man was pretty tired of the students and decided to put an end to them once and for all. However, Gwen was a formidable opponent; she had a lot of mana, and her armor was very strong, even able to resist his blows. Aaron's persistent attacks were also slowing him down, and the pair started irritating him more.
Aaron tried attacking Zachary's legs with his sword, but he simply moved away from the strike. He was still strong and fast enough to avoid Aaron's attacks effortlessly. At that moment, Gwen chimed in and tried to land a hit on their opponent; she punched him with her right arm, but Zachary avoided the blow.
"You're a good fighter, I'll give you that," Zachary commented calmly after avoiding the punch thrown at his face. "But you don't have much stamina. You are still a greenhorn, young woman."
Gwen didn't reply. Instead, she attacked again with her fists, this time aiming at his chest. She knew that if she missed, there would be no way for her to dodge his next attack, so she used her entire strength in her attack and channeled an insanely high amount of mana into her armor.
As expected, Zachary reacted quickly and blocked the fist with his left hand. Then he threw one of his punches at Gwen, striking her in the face. It hurt a lot, but the young woman was able to mitigate most of the damage. However, she broke her nose and started bleeding profusely since she did not have enough mana to negate the attack completely.
"Damn..." Gwen said.
Seeing that the young woman didn't go down, Zachary decided enough was enough. He and the others had already wasted enough time, and it was only a matter of time before the teachers arrived.
The first thing that he did was use his brain crystal power, shadow bind, to lock Gwen in place. After that, he dashed toward Aaron.
The young man was skilled in combat, but he was an easy opponent without armor like the girl. He approached Aaron and punched him in the head, which rendered the young man unconscious. Gwen frowned when she saw the move because she knew she would suffer the same fate if she received it despite her armor.
She was not wrong, as Zachary immediately returned to her and started punching her several times in the head. The young woman withstood ten blows without taking significant damage due to her mana armor until Zachary, exasperated with Gwen's resilience, landed a powerful blow to her head that depleted her mana reserves and caused her to collapse to the ground. She lost consciousness soon after.
At that moment, Slice had just sent Erik K.O. Laser was deep in his torture, and Greg dealt with Anderson.
"SLICE! GRAB THE KID. I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THIS SHIT!"
"Aaaah, I didn't kill anyone yet!" Slice said.
"I don't care; you had your opportunity. Why did you waste it by playing with the kids?" Zachary replied.
Slice then looked at Laser, who was still using his brain crystal power on Benedict, who was still screaming in pain. Envy was in his eyes as he watched Laser have fun with the kids.
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