Boom!
Franco and Rein took a distance to each other. Franco knew that if he wanted to win against Rein he had to fight him in a close combat but Rein had a powerful barrier around him.
Rein was a powerful mage and he was taking the path to become an Archmage. That's why Rein wasn't strong in close combat. In the institute, Rein was called Magic Artillery because of his expertise in spell which was higher than some of the teachers in this school.
Multi-tasking. Rein was famous for casting ten spells at the same time. It was a powerful ability that only a few people gained.
"If you let me be I will promise that I will not kill any students here. Oh, right... We haven't killed a single student since the start so I hope you turn a blind eye to this." Franco said to Rein as he fixed his orange grade gauntlet on his fist.
"Ah, what are you saying, trash? You already hurt the students here and that's enough for me to beat you! You don't want to kill?! F*ck that shit!" Rein said as he raised his middle finger.
"You're really a foul-mouthed person..." Franco sighed and grinned. "Well, it's my job to prevent people so don't blame me for raising my hand against you."
"Haha, don't make me laugh!" Rein laughed as several magic circles appeared behind him.
Different elements of spell shoot towards Franco like a missile.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Franco nimbly moved his body from side to side.
Boom! Boom!
He launched himself towards Rein and gathered his mana in his fist.
[Thunderous Sky Punch]!
Rein sneered as he cast several spells.
[Agility Boost]!
[Strength Boost]!
[Acceleration]!
[Quick Step]!
These spells increased his speed and strength. After casting it, Rein moved away and Franco's attack landed on his previous position causing a small crater on the ground.
Bang!
Then, several thorn vines emerged from the ground. The vines moved towards Franco as it tried to strangle him but he was faster than these vines.
He charged his mana in his fist and threw dozens of sharp punch that disintegrate the vines.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
'This guy is really good. He's using buff, attack, and defense spells at the same time.' Franco thought as he glanced at Rein who was twenty meters away from him.
Rein felt something as he turned his head to the side. He saw a white beam heading towards him.
"That's..."
Although he was surprised, he still managed to avoid the white beam. The beam landed on his previous position causing a powerful explosion.
"Tsk! They even have the control of the defensive mechanism." Rein clicked his tongue as he glanced at Franco who was smiling at him. "Damn! If it's like this then there are dozens of traitors in the institute..."
The defensive mechanism was an array of spells around the Ladro Institute. The Institute only activated this array if there's an intruder. This was the first time that the defensive mechanism was used as there's no opportunity to use this in the past. No one would dare to sneak inside the Ladro Institute.
"This whole place is at my side, Rein. You will not be able to defeat me." Franco said with a vicious smile.
"Hmph! A trash is still a trash no matter what you do!" Rein snorted as he removed his left hand from his pocket. On his palm was a thumb-size silver orb.
The defensive mechanism shoots several beams at him.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Rein simply vanished from his position and reappeared in the mid-air.
"[Quick Flash]... [Float]..."
He looked at Franco with cold eyes as he closed his palm and the silver orb emitted blinding light. After a few seconds, he opened his palm and the silver orb grew into a fist-size orb with golden linings. This is an orange-grade weapon. A catalyst for magicians.
His clothes changed to a golden-colored light armor with a black cape on his back. He was a mage but his attire was for knights.
"Rejoice, Franco! I will defeat you with my full strength! Prepare yourself!"
"That's a set of orange grade equipment...!" Franco said with wide eyes.
...
Souta frowned as he watched the battles around the institute. The student council was trying their best to fight those traitors.
The student council president was fighting a teacher. The rank 2 was facing a teacher. While the other rankers were facing students and teachers. The student council called the teachers and students who caused this chaos a traitor.
Judging from the position of the battles he could guess that the traitors were preventing the other people from coming into building C3.
'That place... What they are hiding?' Souta thought as he squinted his eyes. He was wondering what's the objective of these traitors. It seems that they've planned this for a long time.
"Ufufu, I like this scenery." Yanagi laughed while watching the battles.
Souta glanced at her and said, "Let's check the control room first."
"Okay." Yanagi nodded her head.
The two left quickly as they run towards the control room. After one minute of running, they've arrived in front of the control room. Some of the teachers didn't leave and were guarding the control room.
"Oh? Souta, you're here!"
Souta glanced at Yanagi and she nodded at him. He then said, "Please step aside, Yanagi will open the room."
The teachers stepped back as they watched Yanagi stood in front of the door. She slowly raised his hand and threw a simple jab at the door.
Bang!
A loud sound echoed as her jab landed on the door but they found that her attack didn't leave a scratch on the door.
"Oh? It's not enough." Yanagi raised her brows as she looked at the door with interest in her eyes. "It's tough but old man's barrier is tougher than this."
She pulled back her hand and gathered a large amount of mana in her fist.
Ohm!
Sparks flew out as the mana in her hand flow around her fist like a water.
'Surely, A-rank.' Souta sighed in his mind when he saw this. Mastering this ability was the proof that she reached A-rank.
To reach B-rank a person needed to prove their strength or mana. There's no definite realm in this rank. As long as one person could fight B-rank then they were B-rank. But A-rank was entirely different than lower rank. If lower rank was just physical strength or magical strength then A-rank was about the transformation of a person's mana.
Liquefied mana was the realm of A-rank. Condensing the mana into liquid form was the requirement to reach A-rank. This liquid mana could amplify the user strength greater than the gaseous form of lower rank.
In the game, Souta didn't care about this as he couldn't control mana but now he paid attention to these details as it could potentially increase his strength. The trash [Mana Manipulation] spell in the game became one of the most important skills in this world.
The mana barrier created by liquefied mana was tougher than the one from gaseous mana. Not just the barrier, if this used as an offensive skill it would deal great damage to the opponents.
In their year level, Bargan didn't teach them about this. It was too early for them but Saya was already teaching this to him when he was training in her inner consciousness. That's why the first thing that she taught him when he brought Bryan and the rest was mana sensing. She was already preparing him to condense his mana.
He was slightly familiar with this. When he drunk two monster potions, the mana in his best feram turned into liquefied form. Actually, his energy will naturally be formed as long as he evolved but he still decided to train this so that he could fight people higher level than him. There's no demerit in training his mana control.
Seeing this, he confirmed that Yanagi was really an A-rank but he didn't have an idea about her accurate power level. Is she at the peak? Or not? Maybe, she already solidified her mana making her an S-rank.
"He~" Yanagi grinned as she threw her fist at the door.
Boom!
Sparks flew out and spider web cracks formed on the surface of the door. A huge gust of wind swept out the dust around her.
Crack!
After a few moments, the door broke down like a fragile glass but they saw that the door was still intact.
Yanagi didn't destroy the door. She only shattered the barrier around the control room.
The teachers were about to approach the door when Yanagi threw another punch.
Boom!
This time the punch destroyed the door and everything in front of the control room.
Ohm!
A powerful mana swept out coming from the control room.
Souta couldn't help but gulped when he felt this heavy mana.
"Ehe~ I like this development! Hey, is it okay for me to destroy that person?" Yanagi looked at Souta and asked while pointing at the control room.