Kev found himself completely frozen in place as he stared at Arthur. He felt a deep fear in his heart that he never experienced before. Something about his opponent even in his passive state was terrifying.
‘What is this feeling? Why am I afraid? He can’t be that much above me, right?’ He thought to himself as he clenched his fists, trying to ignore the fear building up in his heart. Staring at Arthur, the latter was just stretching his body casually as if he was about to do a small jog.
However, Kev could swear that he was seeing a thick layer of mana around the boy’s body as if it were a shield protecting him. The sheer pressure being exuded by Arthur was horrifying even when he was completely peaceful.
‘He’s strong… As expected from an S-Class. But, I’m also very strong, and the only reason I’m not S-Class is because my grades aren’t that good. I’m bound to reach that class soon.’
Shaking all that uncertainty out of his mind, Kev stared at Arthur with a serious expression. He wasn’t going to let this fear take over his mind, he was strong, unbelievably so and he was ready to at least put on a good fight.
“Are you ready, Kev?” After stretching, Arthur asked. “You can tell me whenever you’re mentally ready.”
“… I was ready from the start.” He said as he pulled his sword out. The weapon looked quite high-level and strong.
“Ok, press ‘ready’ then,” Arthur said as he tapped the button in front of him that would start the battle.
Kev did the same and a countdown started inside the training realm with a robotic voice.
“10… 9… 8…”
Slowly, Kev took a fighting stance as he got ready for an all-out battle. Meanwhile, Arthur was focused on the countdown, unbothered by his opponent.
“7… 6… 5…”
‘I will make you realize that I’m not a simple one to fight. Elise will see what I’m made of. I can prove it.’
When Kev heard about Elise’s new childhood friend, he was very displeased. She has been his target ever since he met her in the academy. She was extremely beautiful, cheerful, kind, and very attractive. It was a love at first sight for Kev and he wasn’t able to send those signals to Elise properly.
So, what could he do better than to show her that he was he truly capable? To show her that he was different from everyone else.
“3… 2… 1… Begin!”
The moment the alarm rang, Kev dashed forward at top speed, using his explosive strength, he wanted to take Arthur by surprise. As he was running, he channeled his mana, fusing fire into his sword. Arthur watched his opponent close the distance calmly.
‘I will slice him with one attack!’ With all the energy pumping through his muscles, Kev slashed down with immense force, aiming for Arthur’s head.
However, at the very last moment, before he can make contact with his target, Arthur suddenly vanished from sight.
‘… Huh?’
The sword descended to the ground and before it could even touch it, Kev’s vision flipped upside down as he felt something drop to the ground. His health started dropping sharply.
“Well, that was quick. I expected something a little more exciting.” The last thing he heard before his vision turned dark was Arthur’s bored voice.
“Wha-“
Outside, the girls watched the scene and their eyes widened to the extreme in shock. They couldn’t believe their eyes.
“What just… happened?”
“Did you see him move?”
“I swear he vanished like a ghost.”
“How did he do that?”
All the girls tried to make sense of the scene. After all, all they saw was that Arthur vanished and appeared behind Kev then the fight was over. Their eyes couldn’t perceive his movements at all.
[Ding!]
[You have defeated player ‘Kev’.]
[You have gained 10 points.] Explore hidden tales at empire
[Ding!]
[Double Bonus detected!]
[You have gained 20 points.]
A series of notifications assaulted Arthur’s vision as the fight came to an end in less than ten seconds. His eyes slowly trailed to his hand. The bloody claws have already vanished after appearing for a split second.
‘The fact I can summon them so fast and make them disappear this quick… My stats are increasing my mana control and spell-casting abilities.’ He thought to himself. All Arthur did to finish the fight was to use his speed and Bloody Claws to slice Kev’s head clean off his shoulders.
He had no intention of entertaining his opponent for longer than 10 seconds.
‘There was really nothing to entertain in the first place.’ Arthur thought to himself as he logged out of the game and left the capsule.
Immediately, he was approached by the girls.
“Oh my god! That was so cool!”
“How did you do that?”
“You killed him so quickly!”
They were extremely enthusiastic about it as if they witnessed something impossible. Yet, Arthur couldn’t really see that. For him, that was normal. He had fought extremely hard opponents and this speed was nothing in comparison.
“Wow! So this is what an S-Class can do!”
“Hey~ Can you add me as your friend, please.”
“Stop it, girls.”
At that moment, Elise stepped between them as she looked at Arthur with an excited look on her face.
“That was great, Arthur.”
“… Thank you.” The latter replied. Then, his eyes shifted to Kev who looked completely in shock as he stood next to his capsule, trying to remember what happened.
He wasn’t simply defeated, he was utterly and completely humiliated. To be defeated with one single move and in less than 10 seconds had truly hit him like a train.
‘How… I’m strong… I’m good… How did he do that?’ He held his face in utter shock.
“Hey, are you ok?”
At that moment, he felt someone approach him and he flinched. Looking up, he realized that it was Arthur and his entire body froze as if it was put in ice. The image from a minute ago flashed in his eyes as he found the primal fear within his heart come back stronger than ever.
The innocent boy in front of him wasn’t as innocent as he thought. He was a true and utter demon. The way he killed him could only be described as such. There was simply no way he could kill in such a manner if he didn’t know the easiest way to harvest a life. That comes with a lot of kills… Too many kills.
“… I…”
“Uh, I’m sorry for overdoing it. I should’ve warned you beforehand.” Arthur apologized awkwardly. ‘Did I traumatize this guy?’ He asked himself with a frown.
It was never his intention to make the young man afraid. He simply wanted to finish the fight quickly yet it seemed that gave a different result.
“… I… I need to go wash my face.” Kev said as he quickly turned around and left as quickly as possible.
“… I hope he will be ok. I have nothing against that guy.” Arthur muttered as he turned around to walk back to Elise, only to suddenly hear a few claps behind him.
“That was a splendid fight.”
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3