Chapter 218: Madness (II)

That single fight was enough to burn fear into everyone watching.

For a moment, the arena stayed completely silent.

“FUCK! DID YOU SEE THAT?!”

“HE ONE-SHOT HIM!”

“I KNEW GRAY WAS A GENIUS… BUT DAMMNN!”

The audience instantly went nuts, to the point that a few leaned so far forward they almost fell into the arena.

The dust had not even settled when heavy footsteps echoed from the other side of the arena.

CLANG!

A tall figure stepped forward, dragging a massive greatsword behind him.

The blade scraped against the ground, throwing sparks as he walked.

His grip tightened around the handle, his muscles standing out as he lifted the weapon and rested it on his shoulder.

“Isn’t that Senior Rodrigo from the 2nd year!?”

“Ohhh, that muscle-brained guy that was said to have strength higher even than the 3rd years?!”

“I wonder how he’ll go against Gray!”

Crack!

Rodrigo rolled his neck once and stared straight at Gray, his teeth clenched, as his eyes burned with anger and pride.

Seeing this, Gray grabbed the daggers on his waist and got into a fighting stance.

“Huh…? Isn’t Gray a swordsman? Why isn’t he using daggers instead of a sword?”

“Right? I was just thinking the same thing!!”

The audience got in confusion for the reason why Gray was using daggers; they had noticed them on his waist, but they simply thought it was a secondary weapon…

At the same time, Rodrigo snorted, his lips peeling back in a grin that showed too many teeth.

CLAMP!

Stone cracked beneath his foot as he launched forward, his body exploding into motion.

The greatsword rose high, both hands gripping tight, then came down in a brutal overhead arc aimed straight for Gray’s skull.

The speed of it stole breath from the stands.

Seeing this, Gray’s eyes narrowed slighly.

[Proficiency +5%]

Clang!

Both daggers crossed an instant before impact.

Shrieeekkk!

Steel slammed into steel as sparks burst outward in a violent spray, some burning out midair, others skittering across the floor.

The force drove Gray down half a step, his feet grinding against the ground, and his arms struggled to support the incoming force.

’…Tsk. His strength is a little bit higher than mine,’ he clicked his tongue.

“Grrr!” Rodrigo growled, his muscles swelling as he leaned into the strike, trying to crush straight through the block.

When resistance held, his eyes widened in surprise.

He twisted his wrists and yanked the blade free, stepping back and swinging again, this time in a savage horizontal cut meant to cleave Gray in two.

“RAAAAAAAAAHH!!!”

Gray instantly crouched down, causing the blade to scream overhead, close enough to shear a lock of hair.

His palm slapped the ground, fingers biting into grit, and his body spun with the motion.

THUD!

His heel smashed right into Rodrigo’s leg.

“Argh!” Rodrigo barked out a sharp grunt as his balance broke, his upper body pitching backward.

The greatsword slammed into the ground with a crash, and seeing this, Gray instantly took the opportunity to adjust his stance on the ground and kick it, rushing towards Rodrigo.

At the same time, Rodrigo slammed a palm against the ground and forced his body to move.

Muscles screamed as he kicked himself backward, rolling and springing away toward his fallen weapon, his eyes wide with instinctive urgency.

But… he was unfortunately too slow.

Splurt!

Steel punched through flesh.

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!” Rodrigo’s scream tore across the arena as both daggers buried themselves deep into his back.

Blood sprayed forward in a violent arc, soaking his armor as two brutal holes bloomed between his shoulders.

His body jerked mid-motion, limbs spasming as strength drained out of him in a rush.

He collapsed hard onto his stomach, fingers clawing uselessly at the stone, breath breaking into wet, panicked gasps.

“A-aagh…”

THUD!

And if that wasn’t enough, Gray kicked Rodrigo’s back, seeing him rolling across the ground until he reached the area outside the barrier.

“Next.”

Gray uttered while adjusting his sleeves once again.

“This guyyyyy!”

“It’s irritating that he’s so arrogant, but he has enough power to be!”

“Dammit… at this point, only a 3rd year will be able to beat him, no?!”

“What about the 10th-ranked students of the 2nd year? Their level is above the 3rd year, so they might have a chance!”

[Spirit Eye’s Proficiency: 15%]

’…I need more opponents,’ Gray hummed inwardly.

The Spirit Eyes skill was quite useful since it actually let Gray read his opponent’s mana flow, which allowed him to know what kind of move his opponent is going to do.

And he’s pretty sure that he might be able to read his opponent’s power level when its proficiency is high enough.

Of course, he can just ask Jasmine; however, her readings aren’t that accurate since she’s quite unfamiliar with this new power status.

“YOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“IS T-THAT…. IT’S ACTUALLY THOMAS, THE LIGHTNING CHEETAH!!!”

“NO WAY IF MY MEMORY IS RIGHT, HE IS RANKED SIXTH IN THE SECOND YEAR!”

CRACKLLEEE!

Suddenly, as Gray was deep in thought, a challenger had already appeared, and surprisingly… he didn’t have a weapon.

Only… pure lightning magic and his fists.

Click!

In response, Gray also put his daggers back into his waist and instead decided to leak out a bit of his dark mana.

“Oh?”

Thomas’s eyes crackled in lightning.

CRACKLEEE!

Lightning snapped outward as he directly made the first move.

The stone beneath his feet burst apart as he vanished in a flash of bluish white light, the sound of thunder chasing his motion a heartbeat late.

He reappeared in front of Gray with a violent twist of his hips, fist wrapped in roaring lightning, and drove the punch straight toward Gray’s face.

BOOM!

Gray leaned aside at the last instant.

[Proficiency +5%]

The lightning grazed his cheek and detonated behind him, blasting a crater into the arena floor.

Dust and sparks swallowed the impact point.

Thomas did not stop, as his body blurred again, and threw multiple fast strikes at Gray, with lightning incorporated in every single one of them.

Gray easily reciprocated every blow, using his dark mana solely to strengthen his body, while also inputting mana into the ground to stabilize his posture.

Swish!

A lightning-charged elbow missed his temple by a breath, and seeing the opportunity, Gray’s knuckles directly slammed into Thomas’s side.

[Proficiency +5%]

THUD!

The sound held no magic, only pure force.

“Kugh!” Thomas’s body folded mid-motion, breath tearing free in a sharp cough as he skidded across the ground.

“WHAT?!”

“He HIT HIM WITHOUT MAGIC?!”

Crackle!

Thomas snarled and pushed himself up, his lightning flaring brighter and wilder.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

“Tsk…!”

Rage flashed across his face as he launched again, faster, lightning exploding outward in blinding arcs.

This time, he actually managed to land a hit, a crackling punch smashed into Gray’s shoulder, lightning bursting across his chest.

The crowd screamed in excitement as he was the first person to actually manage to deal any damage to Gray.

But strangely… Gray’s body barely moved from the spot.

And instead, his lips curled up, giving Thomas a bad feeling…

“Fuuu…”

He stepped inside, right out of Thomas’s reach, before the lightning dispersed and drove a short punch into Thomas’s abdomen.

THUD!

Then another to the ribs.

THUD!

A knee followed, slamming into Thomas’s thigh, stealing balance.

Thomas tried to retreat, but Gray took the opportunity to stay close.

A palm strike snapped Thomas’s head sideways.

A heel crushed down on his foot.

An elbow carved into his collarbone.

Each strike landed where Thomas never expected, through extremely unexpected angles that only a truly experienced person would be able to dodge.

Lightning lashed out in panic, scorching the ground, crawling up Gray’s arm.

And then, Gray grabbed Thomas’s wrist.

CRACKLE!

The lightning screamed louder.

Gray pulled Thomas towards him, causing him to stumble forward… and right at that moment…

CRACK!

Gray’s forehead smashed into his face with a brutal crack.

“URGHHHH!”

Blood sprayed, and teeth clacked together as Thomas instantly collapsed to one knee, lightning flickering unevenly around his fists.

[Proficiency +5%]

“…Not bad.”

Gray, looking down at him, commented with a faint smile.

“The only problem with your fighting style is the lack of experience.”

“W-what are you t-talking about?” Thomas muttered hard as he tried to rise.

THUD!

But before he could do so, Gray’s foot drove into his chest and sent him rolling across the arena floor, his strong lightning sputtering out in broken and weak sparks.

Three battles in a row, and yet, he didn’t suffer any visible wounds.

“OOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!”

“LET’S GO, GRAYYYYYYYY!”

“WHO’S NEXT?! WHO’S NEXT??!!”

The crowd instantly erupted into cheers, and the ones who were hoping for Thomas to win even clapped in pure respect.

Hearing their cheers, Gray simply threw a middle finger into the air, hoping to provoke someone into fighting him.

But somehow…

“OOOOHHHH! LOOK AT THAT!”

“HE’S EVEN MOCKING THE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THOMAS WAS GOING TO WIN!”

“OH MY GOD! HE’S SO DAMN HANDSOME!”

The crowd grew even more excited than before.

That last comment was completely unnecessary, though, but as they noticed that it was a pair of fan girls shouting loudly, they didn’t bother to argue.

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