( The swordsmanship training arena )

Almost everyone willingly stopped training and vacated the swordsmanship training hall premises temporarily for Sophia and Erin to have their spar.

While the excitement for this battle wasn’t on the level of Rocky facing Zhi, it was still a pretty exciting fight for everyone present within the training hall, as nobody had ever seen a support mage engage in a one on one spar before.

At this point, Sophia was a mid tier1 fighter while Erin was a tier2 support mage, giving him the tier advantage over his opponent, however, Sophia with her inherent demi-god strength was a freak compared to normal tier1 fighters, putting her on even grounds with Erin, despite the tier disadvantage.

“Don’t back down, little blond guy, put that arrogant bitch in her place”

“We are all with you! It’s about time someone stood up to that bully-“

“She’s the reason behind why principal Liam is dead! If it wasn’t for the university rules, I’d have personally killed her already—”

The crowd bombarded Sophia with hate comments while encouraging Erin as in their eyes this was a David versus Goliath type fight, with Erin clearly being the underdog.

Nobody really expected Erin to win his fight against Sophia, however, it was a good chance for them to vent their anger towards Sophia, hence, while encouraging Erin they also took some shots at Sophia on the sly.

“Alright, try not to cause permanent injury to one another. This is only a spar and not a fight to death, so don’t go after each other’s vitals…..

Listen to my instructions at all times and stop immediately when I tell you to stop.

My decision regarding the winner will be final and if you have any problems with who I choose to be the victor then you better quit this fight right now” Instructor Mae said, as she clarified the rules of the spar to both fighters beforehand.

Nodding, both Erin and Sophia acknowledged the rules as Instructor Mae asked them to take their starting spots before calling for the fight to start.

“Begin–” she said, as immediately Sophia with a sharp academy issued training sword in her hand charged towards Erin, to deny him any additional time to chant a spell.

Erin, fighting with a simple wooden staff in his hand, began chanting his first spell well before the fight ever began, as by the time Professor Mae called for the fight to begin, he was already ready with his first move.

[ Reflective Barrier ]

Right before Sophia came within striking distance of him, Erin cast the spell [ Reflective Barrier ] as a transparent barrier covered him from 270° frontal assault, giving Sophia no choice but to hit her first strike on the barrier as she tried to slash past it.

[ Tidal Slash ]

Using one of Olympus’s strongest and most special tier1 attacks, Sophia used tidal slash to try slash past Erin’s protective barrier, however, unfortunately for her, the second her strike hit Erin’s barrier, instead of slashing past it, the strike rebounded and hit her own abdomen as she recieved a massive wound across her midsection.

“Anghhhh”

Sophia grunted as blood began dropping constantly from her abdomen which had received a deep cut.

Never in her wildest dreams did she imagine Erin to have learnt such a high level defensive spell that could reflect physical attacks, as her misjudgment of Erin’s capabilities had now landed her into a world of pain and trouble.

“Bloody hell! That small guy’s insane…. How did he do that?”

“Hahaha, hurt from her own attack… suits that bitch well”

“Are support mages supposed to be so strong? Or is Sophia just too dumb and weak?”

The crowd did not hold back their criticism of Sophia at all, as instead of sympathizing with her pain and suffering, they laughed at her and mocked her, causing Sophia to turn livid.

“Dirty little tricks can only get you so far… coward” Sophia said, enraged as she stopped clutching her stomach and began launching a barrage of sword strikes towards Erin from range.

Unfortunately, Erin no longer had the [ Reflective Barrier ] move active to reflect back this barrage, as the move was a single use spell with a cooldown time of over 30 minutes.

It was one of the two spells he had chosen as his tier2 promotion rewards with this being the first time that he himself used it in battle.

For a moment when Sophia unleashed the [ Tidal Slash ] attack from close range, Erin did fear for his life, however, the barrier he cast held strong and even managed to severely injure Sophia, which was beyond his expectations.

When Sophia unleashed a second barrage of sword slashes from range, Erin was forced to use the only other defensive spell he knew, the [ Magic Barrier ] spell as he cast small but precise barriers to intercept every single sword strike coming his way, while simultaneously preparing a curse spell to debuff Sophia.

*Block*

*Block*

*Block*

*Block*

While forced on the backfoot, Erin did manage to block all the attacks coming his way, as Sophia was forced to keep up with the strenuous barrage of attacks that only made the injury to her midsection worse, as she desperately wanted to overwhelm Erin once, even if it was briefly, to assert control over this fight.

[ Curse Spell – Stamina Drain ]

Sacrificing a portion of his own vitality, causing him to spit a mouthful of blood, Erin cast a curse on Sophia, draining her body of strength.

Almost immediately, Sophia suddenly started to feel lethargic as the strain to move her body seemed to increase every second.

The speed of her sword barrage slowed down by over 70% as she barely managed to launch a weak strike every 5 seconds.

‘What’s happening to me… why do I suddenly feel like my muscles have no strength? Why do I feel like my body is in deep sleep although I’m fully awake?’ Sophia wondered as she could not understand what was happening to her, this being the first time that she was being hit by a curse type mage’s magic.

“Hahahaha, are you a snail? Why are you moving so slow?”

“What is that sword slash? I learnt how to project a better sword slash in the second month of university”

“The Champion Of Poseidon? What a joke… she’s trash”

“Go! Go! Go! Little blondie, even you can beat the weakest student of the swordsmanship class–”

The other students were relentless in their insults of Sophia, as the more Sophia struggled the harsher their comments became, making Sophia feel even more self conscious about herself and even more anxious in the fight.

“Shut up! Shut up all of you…. I’m not weak! I’m not weak! I’m not a joke for you all to laugh at! I’M THE CHAMPION OF POSEIDON, I’M THE BLOOD OF OLYMPUS” Sophia screamed in anger as the tattoo on her arm began to glow brightly, just like Rocky’s tattoo did in his fight against Zhi.

now

Suddenly, the ground beneath Sophia’s feet began to tremble and give rise to cracks in its surface, as jets of water began to shoot out of those cracks as if responding to Sophia’s anger.

[ Water Style- First Form, Earth Splitting Slash ]

As if possessed by some primal being, Sophia spoke in a voice that was not her own as she unleashed a tier4 strike that was way beyond her current capabilities towards Erin.

The strike, strong enough to cut everything in its path from the swordsmanship arena to the university gate was not something that Erin could ever hope to block, as the second he saw that sword strike coming his way, Erin blanked out, knowing that this was certain death for him.

‘Will I end up dying such a meaningless death?’ Erin questioned, as he had never expected his spar with Sophia to take such an unexpected turn, however, for some odd reason, Sophia seemed to have tapped into a power that Erin wasn’t aware she possessed and managed to launch an attack far beyond her real capabilities.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Professor Mae shouted, as she jumped in front of Erin at the last possible second and blocked Sophia’s attack by putting all her strength behind the block.

As a tier4 fighter herself, even Mae had to struggle for real to block that move as by the end even she was forced to drop down to her knees in exhaustion as she needed to over-exert herself to ensure that Erin behind her was not hurt.

Passing out from the strain of the attack, Sophia fell to the floor being knocked out unconscious, while the rest of the swordsmanship class students were left stunned by the sheer magnitude of damage that Sophia’s attack had left behind.

A 7 meters deep and almost ten meters wide ridge was the only proof left behind of the attack that she had launched, as once again the fear of Champions’ became deeply rooted within all students.

Although Sophia was clearly on the losing end of her spar with Erin, the second her tattoo began to glow, she somehow summoned some unknown strength hidden deep within her and turned the whole situation around.

“I’m giving Sophia the win for this fight…. Although she passed out, she’s the winner.

Someone carry her to the infirmary…. That girl needs immediate medical treatment, she has most likely over-exerted her mana circuit.

Her body will probably fall apart without proper care” Professor Mae said, as some students who were loyal supporters of Olympus moved to lift Sophia and carry her to the infirmary.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep