‘Why did I do that just now?’ He asked himself while looking down at Frederik, who was holding his head and howling in pain.
“No fighting outside the combat ring!” One of the referees blared loudly. He stared daggers at Michael, who returned an innocent expression.
“I’m just teaching my friend. Mind you–…” Michael started to explain but he noticed that he’d gotten too heated. He stopped mid-sentence and apologized to the referee,
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to ensure that nothing bad would happen. Brawls between friends are rough sometimes.”
The referee lifted an eyebrow at his response. He looked at Frederik, who had visibly calmed down, and nodded his head.
“Next time, both of you will receive your first warning. Three warnings, and you’ll be disqualified from the Real Combat assessment!”
“Yes, Sir. Thanks for your generosity!” Michael responded while pulling Frederik up.
His friend nearly collapsed on the ground when they headbutted, but Michael’s grasp around Frederik’s collar was iron-tight. He only let go of him when he saw that Frederik could stand on his own feet.
“What are you doing here?” Frederik asked after he got back to his senses.
He noticed that his rambling had attracted too much attention and that Michael prevented the worst. Without Michael, Frederik wouldn’t have stopped until Lincoln, or Zeke would have responded to his nonsense – and they wouldn’t have been as nice as Michael.
“I was talking to them about your little spar. I observed your fight and saw that Zeke took advantage of your distraction,” Michael said calmly. His expression eased upon seeing that Frederik had calmed down visibly.
“He won the moment the battle started. You guys never fought, in the first place,” Michael added before explaining that Frederik had never moved from the spot and that his gaze had been empty all along.
“You guys know each other?” Lincoln asked, visibly displeased at the sight of Frederik.
Michael could only smile bitterly seeing this.
“We’re both from Elyra and we fought quite often,” He revealed honestly before he added, “He is just bad at losing fights. His parents spoiled him a little bit too much.”
Frederik’s lips parted and his brows furrowed, clearly indicating that he wanted to say something. However, he quickly shut his mouth when he saw Michael glaring at him.
The white golden hue around his eerily dark eyes turned his glare even more terrifying than it ought to be.
Frederik pressed his lips together and stayed put.
At that moment, Jacqueline came rushing over.
“She is also a troublemaker. They’re known as the Barbaric Couple because of their foul attitude,” Michael added mercilessly.
Jacqueline felt like she had been targeted unjustly, but seeing her fiancè’s pitiful appearance, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she embraced Frederik and spoke to him with genuine care.
“So…you’re their nanny, who’s trying to beat sense into them?” James asked half-jokingly, while Janus added, “Or are they your punching bags?”
Janus giggled and James joined his brother. On the other hand, Jarg’s eyes were fixated on Michael.
“Punching bags? If you think about it like this, we were each other’s punching bag on our way to Kelta. That includes Kaleb as well,” Michael said nonchalantly.
He felt that the tension in the surroundings eased up visibly. Lincoln, who had been ready to beat the shit out of Frederik, regained a neutral stance toward Frederik, while Zeke began to frown hearing what Michael said just now.
“You’re talking about Kaleb Zenovia, aren’t you?” Zeke asked, recalling the exchange between Kaleb and Michael.
“Yep, exactly that one,” Michael affirmed, “Fortunately, he is not an Awakened yet. I can still beat him up thanks to that.”
Michael pinched the bridge of his nose and added, “But this kid is way too talented. Sometimes, I’m jealous of the tutelage he received in his past.”
He felt that he was being too honest with the people around him just now, but he couldn’t help it. Michael was forced to give his utmost to enter a prestigious Elite High School where he was taught some important lessons about the Origin Expanse, and his classmates had nothing better to do than to pick on him – just because he had no great background.
“But then again, I learned a lot working my way through bullies, and idiots. And I got to meet the fierce be–… Professor Zenovia, so I guess it’s perfectly fine,” Michael mumbled, mostly to himself.
He was not sure why he had suddenly opened up about his life, but it didn’t feel too bad. Until now, Michael’s only person to talk to about personal life had been his brother. However, he hadn’t been able to reach his brother for quite a while. Talking to Frederik and Jacqueline about his personal matters never sounded like a good idea. His opinion of them had improved a little. They were not as tyrannical as before – even if they still had many flaws to improve.
Frederik looked at Michael with the same astonished expression as the others, “I didn’t know that.”
Frederik wasn’t referring to the bullies and idiots Michael mentioned, but that he had met Professor Zenovia before already.
“Is that why you called her Alice before? Are you close to her?” Zeke asked, his curiosity piqued.
Lincoln was also interested in the discussion. He didn’t expect an inconspicuous character like Michael to turn out to be much better connected than some minor nobles.
Being friends with the children of the Kolbenheim and Orlando families wasn’t that exceptional. It was still an achievement, but it paled in comparison to being befriended by the Frozen Duchess, Alice Zenovia.
Being allowed to refer to anyone just by his or her first name publicly might not seem like a great deal to others, but they were talking about the prodigy of the Zenovia family right there!
“How did you get to know the Zenovia family?” Lincoln asked at last.
The tension between Frederik and the others was forgotten, and all interest moved to Michael, and his past.
He didn’t seem like an influential guy, but his demeanor alongwith his revelation attracted their curiosity. It was weird.
Michael just shrugged their astonishment off, “Well…it’s hard to explain. I don’t know what’s on her mind either. My War Rune wasn’t even manifested during the final exams when she told me to join the Saphirelake Military Academy.”
At this point, it was Jarg, who began to frown deeply,
“Wait, your War Rune manifested barely two months ago?
James was also surprised, “You’re telling me that you refined your physique to that degree in two months…all while studying two Soultraits to the extreme? Your Soultraits weren’t even disturbed when the tidal wave and fireballs impacted upon you. Are you just making fun of us, right now?”
Michael was thoroughly grilled by the group for the next ten minutes. Frederik forgot about his loss against Zeke for the time being, and the other group chose to ignore Frederik’s childishly prideful attitude from before.
They were more interested in Michael’s connection to the Zenovia family, and how he was able to become that strong in just two months. After all, contrary to most other students of the Saphirelake Military Academy, Michael’s family was not influential.
He hadn’t heard anything from his parents for nearly a year, and it was only thanks to Danny that he entered the Origin Expanse for the first time with a weapon bound to his War Rune.
Tigerfang made his life a lot easier in the Untamed Jungle, and it was the greatest benefit he could have obtained from having Danny as his dear brother.
After talking about Michael’s life a little bit more in detail, the others were impressed. Lincoln and Zeke were confident that they could achieve the same as Michael under the same circumstances, but their upbringing was different. They had been taught a lot more than most ordinary people could ever find out about the Origin Expanse and the extraterrestrial.
That was also why they could tell that Michael was an interesting person, especially after they saw him fight two more times.
Michael talked openly, he smiled a lot, and he didn’t seem to feel offended when others asked him questions that were very personal. Others would consider these questions rude, but Michael answered everything as long as he was comfortable.
He rarely had the chance to talk about himself because nobody had ever been interested in his life except his brother. Thus, he didn’t feel odd at the thought of exposing bits of his personal life. On the contrary, he was happy to see that other people were interested in him and his life. It was a welcome change that made him feel much closer to the people around him.
Michael merely avoided talking about his two hidden Soultraits Extraction and Spirit Whip, but that was rather simple because nobody asked, ‘Do you have any more hidden Soultriats?’ That would have been weird.
His eyes turned sharp, and his expression was overflowing with seriousness when his third battle began.
He didn’t show mercy fighting against his third opponent and overwhelmed him within the first five minutes of the battle. Michael slowly pushed his opponent into a corner before he finished him off. More than ten energy arrows jutted out of the vitals of his opponent, who hadn’t been given a single opportunity to initiate a counterattack.
Michael’s third opponent was weaker than James, but his fourth opponent was a little bit more cumbersome to tackle.
Nonetheless, Michael’s merciless tactics worked once again.
He fought the student with the Dragonoid transformation Soultraits in his fourth match. The student had recovered physically, but his mentality had been crushed by Anastasia before.
Michael took advantage of the trauma the student had sustained from his battle against Anastasia. He didn’t give the student enough time to finish his transformation and attacked immediately.
His War Rune was at a lower stage of the refinement degree, but his will and mentality were as sturdy as iron. He released several arrows the moment the battle started, forcing his opponent to terminate his transformation.
Afterward, Michael inched closer while continuously releasing more arrows. The arrows were precisely aimed and released with enough force to put the student in a predicament. The student was able to block some attacks and initiate another attempt to transform.
However, Michael was close enough to switch to the voulge before bursting forth to enter close combat.
Using both Lesser Enhancement and Eagle Eyes to the extreme, Michael was at an advantage against the mentally broken student, who couldn’t even unleash the full power of his Soultrait. He could barely manifest his dragon wings when Seron Voulge pierced them.
At this point, the battle turned upside down. The pain of bursting apart shot up in the student’s head the moment Michael pierced his wings. The student began to scream at the top of his lungs and he collapsed a few seconds later.
“Oh damn. This guy really needs some counseling!”