“…That kid with the Titan Bloodline really went ahead and challenged Aestrea?”

“Yeah, somehow.” Miss Helena let out a small sigh, but then, a light smile appeared on her pale pink lips.

“Well, maybe now Aestrea can knock some sense into those arrogant pricks,” she said, gently pressing her palms together.

Vivian, standing in front of her, chuckled softly.

“I’m feeling sorry for that kid already. Aestrea is much stronger than before since he came back from the Royal Academy. Beating Ulgar now should be as easy as pushing over a toddler.” She gave a slight shake of her head.

“Really?” Miss Helena raised an eyebrow, tilting her head in surprise.

“I could feel that his mana had increased a lot, and probably also got thicker… but I still couldn’t tell just how powerful he really is,” she muttered uncertainly.

At her words, Vivian smiled dejectedly.

“…He already surpassed us.”

Miss Helena’s eyes widened in complete surprise.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Never been more.” Vivian nodded without hesitation.

“Damn… I just thought beating up an Archdemon one-on-one was a rumour… but now, it appears to be true.” Miss Helena exhaled deeply, rubbing her chin.

“Then… who do you think will win between Selene and Aestrea?” Miss Helena then asked curiously.

She had seen Selene fighting, and she almost didn’t need to move her body to deal with the students; a simple wink from her would do the job.

“That…” Vivian frowned slightly.

“I’m not completely sure. But, based on what I’ve seen of him, his Spirit Attribute should be very high, allowing him to deal with her seduction techniques.

“As for the rest… Aestrea probably has an advantage because he is a Magic Swordsman, even if he rarely uses his Aura.”

“Oh, yes!” Miss Helena exclaimed.

“I nearly forgot that he also trains his aura… It’s just, he’s always been focused on magic, so that stuck in my mind. And now, he even changed his main weapon to a scythe…” she mumbled.

“I honestly don’t know what goes through his head sometimes.” Miss Helena leaned down against the comfortable couch as she furrowed her eyebrows.

“You don’t need to guess what he’s thinking.” Vivian stretched her back slightly, her breasts puffing out, before she added:

“You just need to believe in our dear number one student.” Vivian smiled lazily, tilting her head slightly.

Even Miss Helena was a bit dazed as soon as she saw her beautiful smile, but quickly regained consciousness.

And instead, smiled inwardly.

For someone who’s already in his forties, Miss Helena could easily see that the young professor had a crush on Aestrea.

She didn’t even appear to be trying to hide it.

—

“Are you ready, Aestrea?” Derek asked, standing next to Aestrea as they were in the northern entrance of the arena.

“For someone like him?” Aestrea raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t underestimate him,” Derek told him earnestly.

“His Titan Bloodline is fucking strong, his body is as strong as I don’t know what. It felt like I was a normal human trying to punch a wall.” His fist flinched as he remembered what had happened during their duel.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Aestrea nodded slightly, adjusting his sleeves.

“Hey, where is your weapon?” James, who was listening to them, suddenly asked as he noticed that Aestrea didn’t have a single weapon on his body.

“Didn’t you say that he fought with his fists?” Aestrea grinned.

“I’ll do the same against him…”

Crack.

As if to emphasize his words, he popped his index finger with a flick of his thumb, and the sound echoed sharply.

“Ugh—chills. That was way too dramatic,” James muttered, brushing off his arms as if shaking off goosebumps.

Aestrea only laughed in response.

“Also… where’s Mia and Maria? Have they already gone to their seats?” Aestrea couldn’t help but ask, glancing around.

“Yeah, yeah. They didn’t even wish you luck.” Derek shook his head with a sigh, slinging an arm around Aestrea’s shoulder.

“Bro, this is exactly why guy friendships are top tier—girlfriends can never compete.”

To back him up, James clicked his tongue a few times and nodded solemnly.

“Hah…”

Aestrea let out a small laugh.

“Now… coming from the South side of the arena, we have, Ulgar! One of the new students who reached the fifth rank in the academy!”

The announcer’s voice suddenly boomed through the arena.

“BOOOOOOOO!”

The crowd started throwing countless ‘boos’ at him, basically displaying that they didn’t like him at all.

But that was music to Ulgar’s ears, because he couldn’t wait to see the crowd’s face as they saw their golden boy getting crushed.

“And now! From the north gate… our undefeated top student… Aestrea Moon!!!”

“MOONLIGHT SWORDSMAN!”

“MOONLIGHT SWORDSMAN!”

The crowd started cheering for him, not even by his name, but by his title.

“Break a leg.”

Both James and Derek spoke at the same time, exchanging gazes.

Aestrea gave a small smile and raised his hand in a casual wave before stepping into the hallway that led to the arena floor.

“WOOOOOOOH!”

The cheering grew even louder as they saw him coming out from the northern entrance, and Aestrea, with a small smile, waved his hand at them.

He glanced around and found Vivian and Miss Helena in the crowd, both smiling softly at him while clapping.

Miss Helena, in particular, mouthed something clearly:

‘You better teach him a lesson!’

Aestrea’s lips twitched into a half-smile.

But even if she didn’t say that, he was going to do exactly that anyway.

When he reached the center of the arena, he was greeted by Ulgar’s smug stance, with his bulging arms crossed, and eyes full of arrogance.

“Took you long enough, little insect,” Ulgar sneered arrogantly.

Instead of replying, Aestrea simply looked toward the announcer, prompting him to get on with it.

Picking up the cue, the announcer resumed.

“Now… the rules for this ranking duel are quite simple: whoever is knocked out of the ring, surrenders, or becomes unable to fight—loses.”

“If Ulgar wins, he will directly become the top student, but if he doesn’t, he will be unable to challenge or accept any challenges during a period of two weeks.”

“As for Aestrea… if he wins, well… he wins. Someone like him doesn’t really need any favors, am I right?” The announcer chuckled.

The crowd also laughed at his words.

“Alright, everyone—without further ado, let the ranking match… begin!”

Beep!

A multi-colored barrier instantly rose around the arena, made to protect the students in case the battle gets too messy.

“You ready to get flattened, bug?” Ulgar stepped forward with a savage grin, slamming his fists together with a loud thump that echoed around them.

“You only got me last time ’cause I wasn’t paying attention—but now…”

Fwip!

With a burst of muddy brown energy wrapping around him, Ulgar charged like a freight train, his fist drawn back and aimed straight for Aestrea’s face.

“You won’t be able to escape!”

His expression twisted with glee as his punch rocketed forward—

Click.

“…Eh?”

Ulgar blinked.

To his utter disbelief, Aestrea had blocked the full-force strike with just a single finger.

No movement, no recoil.

He… just took it.

And then, Aestrea’s lips slowly curled upward into a cold smirk, his glowing crimson eyes flashing sinisterly.

“Who’s escaping from whom?”

His eyes went bloodshot, veins glowing faintly red beneath them.

BAM!

Aestrea’s left fist slammed into Ulgar’s jaw.

“GRKH!”

Ulgar choked out a sound as his head snapped back violently.

He staggered backward from the impact, his shoes dragging against the arena floor as he gritted his teeth.

“YOU—!”

He didn’t finish.

BOOM!

Aestrea’s foot suddenly crashed into his chest, launching him backward like a ragdoll.

THUD!

He rolled across the ground, scraping along the hardened stone before flipping up to his feet with a snarl.

“You think this is fucking funny?!”

Aestrea only cracked his knuckles.

“You haven’t even warmed me up yet.”

“RAAAAH!!”

Ulgar roared, slamming both fists into the ground.

BOOOOM!!

Stone shattered.

Jagged cracks webbed across the arena floor as pieces of the stage rose up like broken teeth.

A massive dust cloud exploded around him.

But—

THUP.

A gentle sound echoed above him.

Ulgar froze.

Aestrea stood… balanced on his shoulders, one foot on each side of his neck, arms crossed.

“You done throwing your tantrum, little dwarf?”

“You—BASTARD!!”

Ulgar twisted violently, trying to grab him—

SWOOSH—CRACK!

Aestrea disappeared.

A split second later, his elbow slammed into the back of Ulgar’s skull.

BAM!

Ulgar’s face smashed into the ground, a small crater forming around his head.

CRUNCH…

The arena trembled lightly.

“Tsk, tsk… You really are weak, where’s that arrogance now?” Aestrea scoffed, putting his foot on top of Ulgar’s skull.

Then, he slowly started pressing pressure onto it.

Ulgar snarled, lifting his head, blood dripping from his lip.

“DON’T—TOY WITH ME!!”

He spun, arm swinging wildly—

FWOOP!

Aestrea ducked low, slid past his legs.

THUD!

His palm struck the back of Ulgar’s knee, collapsing it.

“GRAAAHHH!!”

“Balance problem?”

BAM!

Aestrea’s foot connected with his ribs.

CRACK!

Ulgar was sent flying again, bouncing off the barrier wall like a stone skipping across water.

The crowd was silent.

Even the announcer forgot to breathe.

Tap…

Ulgar slowly rose to his feet again, swaying, his mana surging like a boiling storm.

At this moment, Aestrea tilted his head.

“Hey… if you are this weak, at least make sure to use magic so it doesn’t make this boring to me.” Aestrea yawned, looking at Ulgar lazily.

Hearing Aestrea’s countless teasings, Ulgar gritted his teeth madly, clenching his fists until blood oozed out of them.

“RAAAAAHHH!”

『 Body Series: Body Aggregation! (✦ 7th-level Spell ✦) 』

And suddenly, an explosive aura surged from Ulgar’s body, as his muscles visibly bulged even more than before.

He had gotten more defined and seemed a lot stronger than before.

Yet, he still wasn’t using his bloodline’s ability.

“I’LL KILL YOU—!!” Ulgar roared madly.

Hearing him, Aestrea grinned, rolling his neck.

Crack.

“Come on, Titan-boy. Let’s see how tough you actually are.”

His crimson eyes glowed intensely.

And so did…

The black moon on the palm of his hand.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep