Chapter 197: Stomped!...With ease.
The next day the fourth year Arena saw a crowd, uncharacteristic of weekends. However, considering Arthur’s first duel in his fourth year was to happen, many came to watch to see if Arthur had somehow gotten stronger again.
Due to him laying low for a while, rumours about him actually being able to use his energy had died down quite a bit.
Ross and Arthur stood opposite each other in the Arena. Ross was a prodigy from one of the human-ruled galaxies in the hell universe. He had achieved the grandmaster realm at 14 and had reached the superior stage by 16.
His strength was also all around as he was proficient in multiple weapons and various types of magic. He was what you could call a ’jack of all trades, master of some’.
After his constant challenges and victories, he had accumulated quite a fan base so a lot of students were there to cheer for him.
Layla, Nicole, Esna, and Edward only came over to the stands because they had somewhere to go together after the duel, for them, Arthur’s win was a predetermined result.
"Can we just get this over with already?!"
When Layla’s loud voice rang out, a lot of students wanted to retort but upon seeing that it was Layla who spoke, they swallowed their retorts.
Meanwhile, Ross was blabbing about a lot of things that Arthur just let enter one ear and leave through the other.
"...I don’t understand how a mere inferior stage became the highest-ranked student in the fourth year class of the prestigious ’royal’ academy."
He seemed to be trying to elicit a reaction from Arthur but when he saw the latter was not even listening he gritted his teeth in anger and called for the instructor who was acting as the referee to start the duel.
"Three sacrificial artifacts please, I have somewhere to go after this."
Arthur nonchalantly spoke up while tossing two of his sacrificial artifacts away. He was to meet up with Hades after this and he did not want to be late.
’Dad said today was gonna be a test of some sort.’
Ross who was confident in defeating Arthur easily agreed to Arthur’s terms and also got rid of two of his sacrificial artifacts too.
"Begin!"
Ross kicked off the ground into the air the moment the instructor gave the go-ahead. While in midair, he cast simple "Wall" magic and used it as a foothold.
He kicked off the foothold back towards the ground with his arm pulled back.
**BAMM!!!
His fist landed on the ground and shattered the earth, however, his target, Arthur, had already jumped out of the way. Without hesitation, he cast body-strengthening magic on himself and blitzed towards Arthur who was backstepping to avoid the shattering earth.
Ross moved so fast that it looked like he appeared out of thin air behind Arthur, he then sent a punch carrying all of his strength towards Arthur’s head but the latter easily dodged it by tilting his head a bit.
**WHOOOOOSSSHHHH!!!!!!!
The air pressure that was generated from Ross’ fist, should have put a tornado to shame, yet besides the loud sound, it was barely a small breeze.
He looked at his arm and saw that Arthur had grabbed it during his short moment of confusion. Next, his whole body was flying in the air as Arthur flung Ross over his shoulders with ease.
**BAM!
Ross slammed into the ground with his back but did not even get a chance to rest as Arthur’s kick came right after, sending him flying into the arena’s barrier.
**BOOMM!!
He stood up and felt the arm that he used to barely block Arthur’s kick was numb. He used healing magic on himself and was about to dash towards Arthur again, only to see that the latter had completely disregarded him and was answering a phone call!
The spectators began murmuring among themselves, wondering if Arthur was just that confident, or if he simply looked down on Ross too much.
"You damned!!"
Naturally, Ross didn’t take too kindly to being ignored like that. He had originally planned to test the waters first but after seeing Arthur’s blatant disregard for him, he decided to go all out.
"Earth Magic: Cube of Death!"
Ross called out and a giant magic circle appeared Above Arthur’s head, next, the ground cracked open and the shattered earth floated up and formed a huge 4 by 4-meter cube above Arthur’s head.
The cube then dropped down towards Arthur at a speed many students could barely catch. However, what they saw next shocked them to their cores.
"You’re in my room?"
[...]
"Okay, I’d be there soon."
**SHING!!
The giant cube that was dropping towards Arthur, suddenly split in two.
**BOOM!!
The two halves of the cube then fell on each of Arthur’s sides while he casually placed his phone back in his inter-spatial ring.
It was then that the spectators noticed the sword in Arthur’s hands. He had summoned Celestia and split the cube faster than the eye could see.
"Such speed!!"
"I didn’t even notice when he summoned the sword!"
**CCRAACKLEEEE!!!
There was a crackling sound and the skies turned dark. Ross suddenly appeared behind Arthur with lightning speed.
He raised his arm high and one could see tendrils of blue lightning crackling around the sword in his hands. The lightning spread through his whole body and onto the ground.
Sparks flew everywhere as he swung his sword downward with a loud cry!
"This is the end!!"
And it truly was the end.
Arthur’s eyes flashed and he rose up his right hand to do something no one expected.
"What?!!!!!"
He caught Ross’ lightning-filled sword with his bare hand!
Even as the lightning from the sword travelled down his arm, Arthur’s expression showed he was not affected in the least.
Ross tried to pull back his sword but found out that he could not! Arthur’s grip was too strong.
"Playtime is over."
As soon as Arthur spoke those words, he shattered the blade of the sword in his hand and turned his head to face Ross.
"Guh!"
Ross felt his vision tilt as Arthur delivered a spin kick to his the side of his legs, knocking him off his feet into the air.
Now facing Ross, Arthur took a stance with his hand pulled backwards and delivered a punch to the Latter’s stomach.
**BOOM!!
There was a booming sound alongside a shockwave spreading out in all directions as in the next second, Ross was at the end of the roughly 1500-meter-long arena!
However, to the shock of those who could see how fast he was sent flying by Arthur’s punch, they saw that Arthur was already there waiting for him with his leg pulled backwards!
**CCRACK!!
**BOOM!!
Arthur sent a kick to Ross’ defenceless body, sending him flying a few dozen meters in the air. Once again, Arthur reappeared above him and sent another kick towards Ross sending him back above the point of the first punch, while still in the air.
One of Ross’s sacrificial artifacts was already broken, but by the time most of the spectators could hear the sound, Arthur had already delivered another kick to Ross, this time, sending him flying downwards to the middle of the arena.
Yet, before he could land, Arthur appeared above him with both arms raised in the air and slammed him towards the ground.
**CCRACK!!
**BOOM!!
Another ’boom’ was heard followed by an omnidirectional shockwave, and then the sound of the second sacrificial artifact breaking.
However, by the time the sound of the artifact breaking got to the spectators, Arthur was already on the ground in a side stance with his right arm pulled back, awaiting Ross’ fall to the ground.
It should be noted that Arthur was the one who slammed Ross towards the ground, yet he had already reached the ground and had taken a stance before the sound of the sacrificial artifact breaking reached the spectators.
This showed just how fast Arthur was moving!
*BAM!
**CCRACK!!
***BOOOMMM!!!
Arthur gave the falling Ross an uppercut at supersonic speed, shattering both his sacrificial artifact, and the sound barrier alongside it!
Ross was sent flying into the air once again, however, before he could go far, the instructor appeared in the air and grabbed his unconscious body that was vomiting blood.
He hurriedly used healing magic while also trying to understand what just transpired. Nevertheless, he did not forget to declare Arthur the victor, albeit in a shaky voice.
"W-winner, Art-thur Va-aughn."
There was silence.
No cheers at all.
All the spectators were too stunned to even think about cheering.
Even those who came to cheer for Arthur were stunned, the live streamers were stunned, those receding were stunned, and the press club members were also stunned.
By the time the first person recovered from his stupor, Arthur had already pulled Layla and crew from the stands and they were already on their way back to his room.
Layla, Esna, and Nicole already expected a beat down, but even they were shocked with how quickly Arthur made short work of Ross.
Edward was doubting if there was meaning to him getting stronger when Arthur, who he was older than by 6 months, was already dishing out punches as fast as the speed of sound.
