"I’m getting better," Ace wiped the sweat from his face.
His progress was painfully slow, but it was progress. When he started training, he had lost his sword each ti he used the Stigma, but now he could hold it well when fighting.
"Good. Now let’s try my other fighting thod."
More projections appeared, but this ti they were monsters at the sa stage as him and at E-rank, but he’d made their senses and perception to be as high as A-rank—even higher.
The wolf-like monsters appeared and imdiately began to growl, sniffing the air. They were made in direct replica of his monsters’ behaviors.
Ace took a step towards them, and the monsters turned towards him, and yet they didn’t attack.
He must have looked like a tree being blown by wind because he appeared as nothing to their sensing. It must be as if he was a stick wearing clothes.
Ace then readied his sword. He took a step forward and then he jumped forward lightly, but imdiately his shoes pushed him forward at an incredible speed.
In an instant, he was in the midst of the monsters, and his sword ca down, cleaving through one of them in the next. It was then that the whole group labeled him as danger.
They couldn’t sense him, but they knew it was danger.
As one, they showed their teeth and then flew at him.
Ace simply straightened, and then he hopped. Sothing propelled him upward in a thrust.
His shoes, using acceleration.
Woosh!
Once he was in the air, his left hand wiped down.
Bang! Bang!
Sothing flew out of his hand with the sound of a bullet and shattered the head of one monster projection.
And then another before he reached down.
He was holding small tal balls and used his Stigma to shoot them. His problem was that it wasn’t advisable in a long fight or once the enemy knew.
He could only shoot one at a ti, after all.
He shot one more out before he touched ground, and the monster ca at him, tearing into him.
Darkness rushed over.
And loss.
The Stigma: Acceleration that gives ti to non-living things.
The effect was pretty powerful because it gives more ti to things, speeding up ti around it.
The problem was that it was only on sothing that’s already in motion.
Ace had tried it on things that are at rest, but his Stigma wouldn’t work on them. They need to be in motion, no matter how small.
He sat down on the ground and was breathing hard.
His shoulder and legs hurt badly.
Giving things in motion more speed ans it’ll gain more strength, and it’s higher than Ace could handle. "I’ll just have to make my body get used to it."
He picked himself up and dragged his feet outside.
He wasn’t surprised to find that it was already evening—training that he started in the morning before the sun was up.
His ti at the Tiless Immortal Saint domain had carved into his body the patience to train. He could go on and on, even with a ruined body.
Maybe once training starts, he becos obsessed like the Tiless Immortal Saint.
"Why are you waiting for , Julius?"
The shorter guy was leaning against the wall, browsing through a paper. He pushed himself off the wall. "Well, I have sothing important to report. Head Instructor Darius Faulkner has mandated every House leader to co to a eting the day after tomorrow. I received the confirmation to the House building."
For all intents and purposes, Julius is the secretary and the head of the admin in the House. In fact, he was in charge of almost everything that’s not actively fighting.
They began to walk out of the training center building. "Do you know what it’s about?"
Julius leaned closer, and his voice turned into a whisper. "Yes. I’m guessing it’s about the kidnapping. If I’m to speculate, then I’ll say more students have been kidnapped than they let the public know."
Ace grunted. Seems the kidnapping is getting out of hand if the Academy has to involve the public about it. What a ss.
But this ti, Ace didn’t have any ideas on the kidnapping. It’s sothing that never happened in the book. He’s also quite surprised and a little concerned about it.
"...It couldn’t be the Scar... They’ve suffered too many losses to be able to start another trouble too soon... Well, it’s no business of mine... It shouldn’t be..."
Julius bid him goodnight when he got to his dorm and wished him victory for his mock battle the next day.
☆☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆☆
"That doesn’t look good," Celia said.
Ace agreed.
They were in the large arena, but unlike the previous monthly assessnt, there weren’t a lot of spectators.
But on the platform that Class Four would be doing their mock battle, there were surprisingly a large number of people—students and even so instructors.
Watching. Waiting.
Now, what type of tricks are you going to pull now?
You have only three mbers while the whole class is against you. This ti, you are going to be crushed.
Under the table, a lot of bets quickly exchanged hands.
Only Julius bet on Ace, and even then, he only bet the money he was willing to lose. Julius had calculated it again and again, and there was simply no way for Ace to win.
The platform they were standing on wasn’t the smooth one that was used between students’ duels.
This one was made in imitation of rough land with sands and stones. Even large boulders dotted it.
Currently, Team Ace were hiding against one of those large boulders.
Derrick was annoyed, and he sneered. "You really don’t have to drag us along with you, Ace! This is sothing you are going to lose. You should have just surrendered."
Celia didn’t say anything, but it was sure that she agreed.
Ace frowned. If after the battle they lost, then he was sure his Talent Ability probably won’t work on those two anymore, as they would lose faith completely.
"...It’ll be troubleso to look for new slav... subordinate..."
"And yet you’re here, Derrick. Do you believe I would pull sothing off? I know how you think. If you think this is a total loss, then you wouldn’t be here."
Currently, Derrick was trying to build his reputation as one of the strongest in Class Four. This type of defeat would bring him down hard.
His teeth clenched, but he didn’t say anything.
Even against the evidence in his heart, he was still hoping sothing would change? That Ace would pull sothing off?
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