Chapter 51 - Finals
"Try to struggle as much as you can! Let me see your strength or else you will fall easily!" Souta said to Brando.
Naturally, Brando wasn't the only one who heard his words, the audience too heard his words.
"Oi oi, that's some cheeky first year," Zac said then he recalled a certain individual. He turned his head to Rein and said, "You remind me of him. You're trash talker too, right?"
"Don't compare me to him! You sc.u.mbag!" Rein said with an annoyed tone.
"Ah~ I can't wait to see it~"
Zac turned his head and saw that Yanagi, the number one, was still here. It seems that she's much more excited than usual.
"Don't tell me..." He turned his head and looked at the two contestants of the finals.
...
"Hahaha, so he's like that!" Kanda laughed when he heard Souta's words.
"Hmm... I'm still not familiar with my students so I don't know much about their personality." Bargan said as he closed his eyes.
...
"Hais..." Souta sighed when he heard the audience started to murmur. He could hear some of them were saying some mean things to him.
"I'm just saying the truth why won't they believe it... Anyway..." Souta grinned at Brando. He slightly bent his knees and crouched on the ground. He looked at Brando and said, "Be prepared! You don't know what will happen next!"
Brando was looking at Souta with a frown on his face. He wanted to rush towards him but his intuition was telling him that's not a good idea. Something was wrong about this Souta.
He tightened his guard as he observed Souta's every movement.
Then...
He widened his eyes as Souta instantly appeared in front of him. He tried to raise his shield but Souta was faster than him. 'My body's to slow to follow his movements.' He thought.
The plus 200 agility and dexterity of the [Vajra Sword Saya] wasn't for display. If he displayed the full speed of his stats then only a few first years would be able to follow his movements, but that's only followed him with their eyes as their body and reflexes were to slow to follow him.
"He~" Souta opened his palm and grabbed Brando's face.
"Fall down."
He then smashed Brando on the ground.
Boom!!
"Go!" Souta tightened his grip on Brando's face. He raised him once again before he smashed him on the ground.
Boom!!
"Ha!" Souta's muscles bulge out and he threw Brando in the air. He then followed him in the air.
"I told you to prepare!" Souta said as he raised his arm in the air before he brought it down smashing Brando.
Swoosh!!
Boom!!
"Argh!" Brando crashed on the ground creating a small crater. He spat a mouthful of blood.
Souta wouldn't stop at all. He's going straight to Brando intending to destroy him.
Bang!
As soon as his punch landed on Brando's face, he quickly took a distance away. It was because he saw that Brando used the [Shielder's Aura].
...
"He hasn't used any combat arts at all. His abilities were surprising." Kanda was surprised when he saw this. He finally understood why Souta had the guts to say something like that before the match.
"Not just his abilities. He does everything with absolute confidence and you can see it in his face." Bargan said as he looked at Souta's smirk.
...
"He's more on the fighter side. He's not using any flashy combat arts. He's a textbook fighter." Zac said while looking at Souta. To be frank, if he didn't know that Souta was a mage he would think that he's from the fighter class.
"Ah, beautiful."
He heard Yanagi's voice at his side. He rubbed his temple and thought that this would become a problem. Every person that she got interested in was destroyed to the point that they quit the institute and hole up in their room. The only one who persisted until the end was Rein, the rank number two.
'I wonder what will you do once Yanagi pursue you...' Zac thought while looking at Souta.
...
"That's why I surrendered..." Yujin, the one who surrendered before fighting Souta, said. He had a feeling that Souta's physical abilities exceeded those of the other class and it's true. His decision wasn't wrong at all, if he fought Souta then he would suffer great injuries.
He wasn't a fighter but a swordsman who's using magic. It would be inconvenient for him if he would fight without using magic. He's also not the type of person to fight even if they saw that they don't have a chance to win. He will only fight someone if he saw that he have a fifty percent chance to win, lower than that he wouldn't bother himself.
...
Brando stood up as he wiped the blood on the mouth. He looked at Souta and said, "You will not be able to damage me without using combat arts."
"Ah, is that so? Let me tell you something. You're much slower than I am so you wouldn't be able to avoid my attack." Souta said as he opened his palm looking at Brando with an amused expression.
"I don't need to avoid your attack," Brando said. He's talking so much so that he could recover a little bit of his strength. He wanted to avoid direct confrontation with his current condition.
"It's true that with your [Shielder's Aura] most of my will be ineffective, but it's not that you're not taking any damage at all. If my punches before were damaging you forty, then with your skill on you only took five damage. Do you know what it means?" Souta knew what Brando was doing. He's just letting him do what he wants, for now.
"I don't..." Brando replied.
"It means that if I punch you hundred times using that five damage then the damage you took would acc.u.mulate to the point that you couldn't handle it. Also if I just targeted your head then do you think you can hold out a hundred punches only aiming at your head." Souta pointed at his head as he patiently explained what he was saying to Brando.
"..." Brando didn't know what to say anymore. He knew that Souta's words were right. The difference in their speed was large. He could follow Souta with his eyes but his large body was too slow to react, so even if he could see Souta's movements it was pointless if he couldn't even defend.
"Okay, let's stop talking, I will start now." Souta shrugged his shoulder and he started to walk towards Brando.
Brando tensed his muscle and expand his senses. He took a deep breath and braced himself.
The whole training ground was devoid of any sounds as no one dared to talk. They just focused their attention on Souta.
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Souta's footsteps echoed as he slowly walked towards Brando. Souta opened his mouth and slowly said, "Actually, I don't want to use this at all but I don't have a choice now, do I?"
Brando subconsciously took a step back. He then saw that Souta was already gone.
"Wha-"
Swoosh!!
"I'm here..." Souta appeared behind Brando. He grabbed the handle of the [Vajra Sword Saya] and pulled it out of its scabbard.
Shiing!!
He quickly slashed Brando's back using the [Vajra Sword Saya].
Putchi!!
"Argh!!" A large cut appeared on Brando's back. His blood flew in the air and some splattered on the ground.
Souta quickly sheathed his sword. He looked around him. It seems that some people with sharp eyes saw the abilities of his sword. He pulled out his sword and placed it as fast as he could but he couldn't escape the eyes of those powerful teachers. Some of them would gain some idea about his sword.
Souta turned around and walked away.
Alex then declared the winner of the tournament.
At the same time, Souta heard a familiar sound in his head.
*Ding!*
[Congratulations on completing the Tournament Quest!]
[You've received 5,000 exp, 2 free attribute points, and 1 skill point!]
'Nice, a skill point!' Souta was glad that he received skill point in this quest.
Although it was only one, it was still better than none. It didn't matter to him if he doesn't receive exp or attribute points. There were many ways to earn exp. Just farm outside the city and you will earn a huge amount of exp. That's also the case for attribute points. Just find some rare fruits or potions to increase your attributes. But skill points were different, it could only be earned by completing a quest.
...
"To think that everyone forgot his sword," Kanda said. He was the teacher of the Sword Class 2-C, so he instantly guessed just from one slash how proficient Souta in using the sword.
"Yeah, it's the first time he used his sword, and you see it too, right?" Bargan said.
"Yeah, that's not an ordinary sword. It could pierce through the [Shielder's Aura] like a thin paper." Kanda nodded. He looked down at the sword that was hanging on his waist. He felt that the quality of Souta's sword was higher than his sword.
"What about his sword skills?" Bargan asked.
"It's high... I couldn't even believe that he enrolled in the mage class. His sword skill is already at the level of my students." Kanda said in disbelief. In terms of proficiency in using sword skill, Souta was without a doubt higher than any first-year students.
After all, Souta's [Sword Mastery] was level two.