Speed, strength, reaction, and also the level of arcane particles. In Ayrin’s view, Anson was a little stronger than Rowan.
However, Anson lost to Rowan.
This was a match between students of the same academy. If they had been on a genuine mission outside, in a true battle between arcane masters, then Anson would be dead already.
"You only know to fight recklessly!"
"Haha, I can beat you even fighting recklessly!"
The usual words during his fights with Moss seemed to ring against Ayrin’ ears.
"It seems that even if I have to fight recklessly, I still have to find out where the opponent’s lacking…"
Looking at the passed out Anson, Ayrin couldn’t resist mumbling to himself.
On the field, the victorious Rowan didn’t immediately leave. First he gestured towards those who cheered for him in the stands. Then he suddenly threw a chilly glance at Ayrin.
"Is he looking at me?"
Ayrin blinked. He couldn’t help but push Kybaver at his side. "Why’s he looking at me?"
"How would I know!" Kybaver was also very curious. He could clearly tell that Rowan’s gaze was aimed at Ayrin.
"Then I’ll go ask him why he’s looking at me."
"Are you an idiot…"
What made Kybaver utterly speechless was, Ayrin actually really ran toward a Rowan who’d gone back to the rest area, then asked in a loud voice, "Rowan, why did you look at me right now?"
"He actually ran straight up, is this provocation?"
Rowan’s stiffened faintly all of a sudden when he saw Ayrin running in front of him and asking him a question in a loud voice. A layer of frost abruptly shrouded his face. "I heard you and Belo have been plotting all along to beat me up, then ask me for protection fee?"
"Ah?" Ayrin was a little dumbfounded. " You found out?"
"This Belo is already very arrogant, I didn’t think you were this arrogant as well." Rowan’s gaze seemed to turn into a sharp sword blade. His voice also became louder. "I didn’t think you’d be unable to recognize life from death and actually had the guts to register and participate in this selection. You even happen to be in the same group with me. When the time comes, I’ll be certain to make you suffer."
"What, Ayrin and Rowan are in the same group?"
"The two of them have past contradictions?"
"Rowan’s tone is very overbearing."
"What do you know, Rowan has some secret skills from clan Flint, and he’s an arrogant bully in second year to begin with. He’s beaten up many people from his class."
"Won’t Ayrin be miserable this time then. Rowan can even beat Anson, Ayrin shouldn’t be Rowan’s match."
Exclamations and discussions clamored through the arena.
"We just happened to be arranged in the same group?" Apart from a little surprise, Ayrin didn’t show the slightest expression of fear. His face was instead filled with fighting spirit. "Belo isn’t here, I don’t know where teacher Carter took him to undertake what sort of training, but right now I’m much stronger than I was before. I’ll definitely beat you!"
Rowan glanced at Ayrin with a cold smile. He didn’t say a word, and directly walked past right under Ayrin’s nose, sitting down on a seat nearby.
"He’s really too rude!"
Ayrin was originally someone who was very hard to anger, but just now he was talking seriously, and Rowan’s extremely contemptuous attitude actually caused a fire to ignite inside his chest all of a sudden.
"You! I’ll definitely beat you up into a flat cake pasted on the ground!"
He suddenly faced Rowan and shouted in a loud voice, as if no one else were present.
"…" Kybaver’s face filled with black lines. "What the hell is this guy’s brain made of."
…
"He’s really too rude!" Ayrin angrily sat down beside Kybaver.
"Stay a bit further from me, are our relationship that good or what!" Kybaver gloomily shouted, "What’s the use of yelling so loud? If you have the energy to yell so loudly, why don’t you think of how you’re going to handle him. Also, water must have leaked inside your brain. If you yell like this loud and end up being unable to beat him, won’t you feel ashamed?"
"What’s shameful about that." Ayrin humphed, then again nodded his head. "What you say makes sense though, Kybaver. What method should I use to handle him? Kybaver, do you have a good way?"
"It’s not as if I’m his buddy! Plus, what method do I have. With your strength, the way I see it, fighting him is just asking for death!" Kybaver shouted.
"What on earth can I do against him?"
Ayrin racked his brains as he thought it over, thinking back to every part of the fight between Anson and Rowan just earlier.
"Ah? You’re done with your fight?"
"Did you win?"
He was too focused on his thoughts, to the point he didn’t even pay attention when Kybaver left his side for his match, all the way until Kybaver finished his fight and came back to sit beside him, hot air steaming from all over his body. Only then did he notice, and exclaim in surprise.
"You don’t only have a problem with your brain, even your eyes are blind?"
After fighting for a full five minutes and suffering a punch on his chest before he finally struggled his way to victory, Kybaver was close to really spit out blood after hearing Ayrin’s question.
"Ayrin!"
Ayrin suddenly heard someone call his name at this time.
"Who is it?"
He curiously turned his head around. He saw the one who called him was a teacher wearing a blue school uniform.
"It’s my turn to fight?" He finally understood.
"Ayrin against Taigel."
"Taigel is a second year student, an outstanding student who can already condense arcane particles. I heard he learned ‘Spider Web,’ it’s very easy to find yourself bound as soon as you’re careless when you fight him."
"He met someone so powerful for his first match?"
"What are you saying… Anyone who’s confident enough to participate in the selection is someone powerful."
"There are eight people in every group. You have to win three fights in total to come out of the group."
Kybaver rubbed his scalding chest and looked at Aryin entering the field amidst the waggling tongues. "This guy was shouting so loud earlier, now it’d be dead embarrassing if he can’t even win the first match."
"Ayrin, do your best!"
Tremendous cheers rose from the stands. After challenging Divine Shield Academy’s Ringel, Ayrin had become the object of worship of every freshman. Many freshman had also taken example on Ayrin and trained with everything they had. Added to the fact Ayrin was the only freshman participating in this selection, all the freshmen started shouting at the top of their lungs as soon as they saw him come into the field.
"Hm? Rinloran’s so strong, why didn’t he come and participate?"
Ayrin was really slow on the uptake. He only thought at this moment that Rinloran would very possibly stand out in this selection with his real strength. After all, even a powerful character like Dyfer couldn’t even hit back when facing Rinloran.
"I wonder, if I fought with Rinloran right now, who would be the stronger one?"
Ayrin couldn’t resist thinking about this question when walking into the field.
"Wait, what are you doing?"
A voice suddenly came to his ears.
"Ah?" Ayrin only realized then that he thought too seriously about how to handle Rowan and why Rinloran didn’t come to participate, so he walked with his head down, walked and walked and almost crashed into his opponent.
Slightly dumbfounded, Ayrin felt very embarrassed. He retreated back a few steps, crestfallen.
"What the hell is in this guy’s head." Kybaver thought his vision was going to go black when looking at Ayrin’s embarrassing appearance.
"Looks like there’s no need for me to take him seriously. With his level, he can’t even go through the barrier that is Taigel." Rowan let out a heavy, cold snicker in another corner of the rest area.
"Are both sides ready?"
"I must win!"
Ayrin’s body went into an unprecedented hot-blooded state of excitement when the voice of the referee teacher rose, standing in the center of the field, looking at the densely packed crowd all around him, hearing the rumble of yells and cheers.
He looked at the senior student in front of him, his skin tanned and his face cold. An unprecedented raging lust for war ignited inside his chest.
"He doesn’t have the slightest fear or nervousness. On the contrary, the bigger the field the more hotblooded and excited he is… This little guy Liszt and Ciaran have their eyes on is actually someone born for competition and war…" The Holy Dawn teacher acting as referee lifted his eyebrows when he saw the lust for war ignite in Ayrin’s eyes, such a thought appearing in his mind all of a sudden.
"Alright! Begin!"
With the referee teacher’s loud shout, Ayrin’s opponent, Taigel, sucking in a deep breath, his lust for war also surging all over his body.
"Hm?"
"What?"
However, what made him and almost the entire crowd present at the scene fall into disbelief was, in this instant when the flames of war could ignite at any moment, Ayrin suddenly turned around, his back facing his way, unsteady on his feet, and started to fall down face forward.
"…"
Up in the stand in the contestants’ rest area, Kybaver’s eyes stared wide open.
It seemed Ayrin was about to heavily land on the ground when, suddenly, his two hands fiercely propped themselves on the ground, pushed fiercely, and made his body shoot backward, his head down and his feet up, flying backward at an alarming speed.
"Pa!"
Taigel didn’t even have time to react yet that the two feet and the blurs trailing behind them violently struck his chest. His whole body flipped backward, flipped round and round several times in the air, then fiercely hit the ground with a bang.
"What!"
Half the Holy Dawn students in the stands couldn’t resist leaping up from their seats and exclaming in disbelief.
"Reverse Pile!"
Kybaver also jumped up with a "Ah." He had the urge to spit out blood.
What Ayrin had used was actually his own technique!
Ayrin actually used his own move right in front of him, and struck Taigel down in one hit!
Sweat densely covered Kybaver’s forehead and his back one second later, when even louder exclamations and shouts of disbelief rang up in the arena.
"What a powerful strength and explosiveness… His current body…"
Kybaver was certain that even if he were to use the same trick himself, he couldn’t move as fast as Ayrin or be as explosive.
Not long ago, Ayrin’s strength and speed were still far beneath his, but now, Ayrin’s physical strength was clearly even superior than his, superior to one who’d already condensed arcane particles like him!
"Impossible!"
At the same time, many senior students had a sudden change of expression in the contestant area.
Everyone watched on as Taigel could only make painful groans on the ground. He didn’t even have the strength to push his hands on the ground. It was simply impossible for him to stand up.
Taigel had acted a little neglectful because he hadn’t expected Ayrin to have such a move. But, not leaving him any time to react with a single move, hitting him down, unable to stand up, this was definitely a matter of instant explosiveness!
