By the time Jonathan came down from the stage, he had enslaved two more female Grandmasters. He had also raised four more male Grandmaster from the dead to be his guards.
As for the other two he fought, they had died in such a way that he was unable to revive their bodies for his own use. In fact, they had actually self-destructed once they had realised that they were going to lose, unwilling to suffer the same fate as their predecessors.
That was why the current Jonathan, despite his titanium body, was limping and had to be helped by his undead guards.
"Not bad." Ash stated amiably as he gave Jonathan a thumbs up.
Jonathan simply snorted and ignored Ash, who he considered his true rival. "Hmph, easy as pie for someone like me."
Ash waved a hand. "Sure, sure, all hail Johnny the almighty. We are honoured to bask in your glorious presence."
"I told you not to call me that!" Jonathan growled with anger.
While he and Ash began to bicker, James ascended the stage as it was his turn. By this point, the visiting Grandmasters had long accepted that there was something wrong with these blokes.
They stopped underestimating them, yet the number of challengers did not stop. Not underestimating them did not mean they overestimated them. In their eyes, the lads were well-trained and mysterious, which was why they had the upper hand.
Their foundations were greater than actual Grandmasters, so they were able to pull off such feats of power. But with every battle, the veil of mystery behind them was peeled off, giving those who came later a higher chance of winning.
This wasn't a fallacy, but the truth. This was why Darius had charged them each with 100 battles.
Just fighting the first ten had been so easy, so what could they have learned from it? Very little!
Depending on their own skill and adaptability, they should start struggling around the 50th battle ongoing. However, for James who was now on the field, he was likely the most mysterious of the Five Apprentices.
A Grandmaster Assassin jumped on the stage, eying the boy warily. He had already noticed the trend that the first chosen fighter of these lads was always someone who countered them.
[Name: Ponbas Severe || Race: Human || Stage: Grandmaster || Jobs: Assassin, Fleetfoot.
HP: 13,860/13,860 (14,552) || MP: 3,330/3,330 (17,680) || STA: 8,100/8,100 (4,280)
Level: 90 || (Note: The stats in the brackets are James' current stats.)
Power: 154 (136) || Speed: 299 (325) || Constitution: 90 (107)
Magic: 37 (442) || Will: 9 (1,020) || Luck: 20 (70).
Skills: Quick Step, Short Blink, Cruel Assassinate, Phase Form.
Spells: None.]
Ponbas wondered what power this boy had that made he - Ponbas - James' best counter, but realized such thinking was flawed. If he was selected as the boy's counter, then he would stick to his own strengths to win!
As such, he immediately entered his own unique form of stealth, which was moving so fast that he could not register in the eyes of his foe. James simply smiled and took a single step.
In a world where the eye couldn't follow, a world where time seemed to have stopped as the very air had frozen in place, Ponbas was briskly walking through this realm as he angled towards where James stood.
In his eyes, the boy was frozen in place, which was normal since Assassin was moving at such speed that it seemed like time had stopped. However, his calm was broken when James took a slow step and disappeared from his sight.
Ponbas looked around for his target in confusion. Did the boy use a teleportation or stealth skill in his panic? That would make sense. In that case, an easy way to flush him out was to strike everywhere in the arena till he got lucky.
Ponbas was about to execute his plan when he realized that a sense of danger enveloped his entire being. He quickly dodged to the side, avoiding whatever danger was targeted at him while searching for the source.
However, he noticed that he could not see anything.
His brain instructed his left arm to form a defensive stance, but was left frozen, when he noticed that his appendage was… gone.
From the shoulder down, it was gone. He looked to the side and saw his arm frozen in mid-air, falling down extremely slowly due to the high-speed realm he was in.
Since it was detached, it was obviously moving in normal time now. He checked his stump to see that blood was stuck inside, not flowing out because of the high speed, which was a godsend as he wouldn't immediately bleed to death as long as he kept this up.
He checked the rest of his body and notice that he was slashed all over, yet had only lost his arm. The Grandmaster calmed down and analyzed his situation.
He understood that whatever that was, it had been an attack of that lad. Ponbas wasn't exactly sure what exactly he did or what attack he used, but it was lucky he was moving so fast.
Probably it was a skill with surestrike, meaning it could not miss its target according to the laws of Faust. Surestrike attacks could not be avoided, only blocked. He was lucky he was so fast that he had partially dodged it, beating the laws of Faust.
… or it could be that the lad had been aiming for his arm the entire time? If so, then why?
Ponbas' mind whirred rapidly as he continually searched around him for any sign of his foe or any sign of fatal danger. He considered many things about his foe from top to bottom, especially in tandem with his initial thoughts.
However, the mistake Ponbas had made was that he never for a second thought that his enemy might not be pulling any tricks. That the answer to his worry was quite simple.
His enemy was simply far faster than he was, existing in a flow of sped-up time at a higher level than him, which was why he couldn't be seen.
Yes, for in James' own time, he was currently standing behind Ponbas, a demonic smile on his face as he raised his weapon up to slaughter his foe.
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