Chapter 232 Shock
Lucius looked at Leo with his predator's eyes. He was waiting for the fight to start so that he could hunt him down like a lion with a rabbit. However, he was met by Leo's cold eyes that didn't seem bothered even a little bit by this fight.
When he met Leo's gaze and didn't see even an ounce of fear,? he got more agitated. To him, this meant confidence that he had a chance. And that was saying that he was weak.
"Get ready for the beating of your life, boy."
Leo ignored his words and looked at the Head Master.
"Start."
Lucius took out his sword from his dimensional ring and coated it with an icy cold aura that made the air around it move slower. The chill from it could be felt by Leo who was 5 meters away. It didn't bother him though. He just waited for his opponent to make the first move.
When he saw that Leo wasn't moving at all, Lucius charged forward with a smile.
"Are you frozen in fear?" He asked. Maybe that was the reason he didn't see any expression from Leo - because he had no idea what to do and his body wouldn't do what he asked it to do.
As he got near, Leo finally stopped bottling all his aura inside. He unleashed it all at once, to make a single tendril. A small tendril made of a red color aura emerged from Leo's palm and rapidly grew to the size of a meter. It lashed out at the incoming Lucius from his right.
He was surprised by the attack and blocked it with his sword, keeping his sharp edge facing the tendril to cut it. Once it was cut, he was planning on charging forward still. Because of his assumption, he didn't brace for any impact and kept charging forward.
The tendril hit the sword and kept going forward without getting cut, making contact with his body. Once it hit him, it threw his body several meters away, making him land on his left arm. The fall also knocked away the sword in his hand.
He groaned in pain and tried to get up. After struggling a little, he was able to get his body back up, but his arm was completely broken so it wouldn't help in the fight anymore.
He looked with shock at the tendril that had been fine even though it impacted his sword that was clad in his aura. It was impossible for a 2nd Circle Aura Knight's aura to face his, so how did it happen?
It wasn't just him that was surprised. Every student there didn't expect this to happen. They thought it would be a pitiful beatdown that the professors would have to stop. As for the teachers, they were a little surprised at the power of Leo's attacks, but not nearly as much as the students.
Leo stood still, waiting for Lucius to make the next attack. His tendril was retracted back into his body, but the aura he was emitting was still visible for everyone to know.
The eyes of every student there widened as they realized how Leo was able to do what he did. They were finally able to take a good look at the aura that he had been concealing, and it revealed exactly how strong Leo was.
"Leo became an Early-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knight?" Lyra asked Marcus.
"That is monstrous, even by his standards," he replied to her.
The 2nd years were surprised by what they saw too. Some of them were having a heated discussion while others were just observing silently, their thoughts hidden from the outside.
"Isn't he just 15 years old? How did he manage to become that strong?" The girl with Lucius asked the other boy in the group. He remained silent and just stared at Lucius, waiting to see what he would do next.
"There is no way that he got there by himself. He had to have help from someone strong. Maybe he took a lot of pills and it damaged his circles?" The red-headed girl asked Elysia.
"Did you look at the strength of the aura, Ria? The weird tendril he made knocked away the sword and Lucius too. The aura around his sword is decently strong. Even you couldn't do what he just did," she said.
"Are you saying that he might be stronger than me?" She asked with a hint of jealousy and surprise.
"No. I am saying he IS stronger. And it's not just you. Based on the aura I just saw for a second, he might be as strong as Nathaniel. And he must have understood that as well."
"But Nathaniel is a Middle-Stage 3rd Circle Aura Knight!" Ria said.
"That is why we are both interested in who this boy is. He is only 15 years old and he is making this much of a difference. What will he look like a year or two from now? We might be seeing a 4th Circle Aura Knight from Eldridge Academy entering the Phoenix Trials soon."
Lucius scowled when he saw Leo's 3rd Circle Aura. He walked to his fallen sword and picked it up, coating it with aura again. Inside, he knew that what happened wasn't because of luck or surprise.
The tendril was actually dangerous to him, so he would need to avoid it. He charged again with his sword in his right hand. Leo smiled and held out his hand.
The tendril emerged again and was about to swipe at Lucius again, but he was ready for it. He unleashed a massive amount of aura, creating a shield made of ice. The tendril hit the shield, creating massive cracks in it. It would tank another two hits, so Lucius decided to take advantage of it.
He kept charging forward with his sword and the shield followed him, hovering in the air. He was about to hit Leo since the tendril wouldn't be able to reach him to help unless it broke the shield first.
However, when he got there, he saw another tendril grow from Leo's other hand. This time, his sword wasn't fast enough and it hit him directly in his ribs, breaking two of them. His body dropped to the ground and he groaned in pain.
Leo retracted his two tendrils and took a step back, allowing the professors to tend to him. He looked at the Head Master to see if this was enough.
"I think that a few adjustments are in order. Leo will be a part of the normal team while Lucius will join our reserve team. I am sure nobody else will be questioning my decision," he said.
Asher was smiling a little and walked to the Head Master. He asked him a question once the students were no longer looking at them.
"Head Master, both of us know that the appearance of the boy is a coincidence. If he hadn't appeared, what would you have done?"
The old mage chuckled.
"That is a good question. But take a step back. If I didn't give them this chance and solely asked them to question my word, would there be any dispute? The only reason I did this is to get the boy out of the reserve team. He has the potential to make Eldridge more than just the top 10. We might even hit the top 5 academies with him."
"I agree," Asher said.
When Leo got back to his place, he was swarmed with questions by Marcus and Lyra.
"How did you break through?" Lyra asked him. "And why does your aura feel weird? It isn't the shadow element that you used to have."
"So you noticed. I changed to the Blood Element because I found a good aura manual that uses it. I used it to break through."
"Where did you buy it?" Marcus asked.
"The Thousand Treasure Tower, obviously. Where else would I find a good manual?"
"But that doesn't explain how you were able to get to the 3rd Circle from the Middle Stage of the 2nd Circle," Lyra said.
"Well, that is hard to explain. I just had a little luck and was able to rapidly increase my aura." He said. His response made both Marcus and Lyra change the topic. They knew that he didn't want to tell them which they respected.
At this point, the two other freshmen approached him cautiously.
"Hello. I am Seraphina Nightshade," the girl introduced herself.
"I am Magnus White," the boy said.
"I am Leo," he replied to their introductions.
When he just gave his first name, it made the two a little disappointed since they assumed he wasn't interested in giving them his full name. It was a slightly disrespectful thing to do.
"We just wanted to introduce ourselves since we were supposed to be in the same boat. But now that you moved up, it might be pointless," Magnus said.
"Oh hardly. I think that it is good we know each other since we will be traveling together for a while. And who knows? You might be able to get past the reserve stage!" He said.
"I don't think so. The reserve stage is incredibly hard. There are thousands of people and all of them are the most talented people in the empire." The girl said.
"Well, don't sell yourself short. So are you. You are from one of the best academies in the empire. That means you are as good, if not better than them. And if not this year, there's always next year."
As they were talking, Asher announced that they were leaving.
"Pack up! We are leaving."
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