Seraphin felt a massive amount of pain as his form was slammed headfirst against the unmoving ground with tremendous force.
The force of the slam momentarily disoriented him as his face became cloudy and unfocused.
However, due to the hours and hours of intense training, Seraphin had developed multiple instinctual reactions depending on the situation. In his confused state, one of them immediately activated.
Mana surged from Seraphin's form, instantly siphoning into the radiant armor he was currently donned in.
In the next instance, the armor erupted in a blinding radiance. The intricate lines etched on the armor ignited with fluid grace, tracing across its surface in a mesmerizing dance of luminosity.
They converged into a ball-shaped energy, pulsating with unbridled power at the center of the chest part of the armor, casting a brilliant glow that seemed to illuminate the entire hallway.
And in the next instant, with a force that would have sent Seraphin flying away if not for Atticus's grip, it shot toward Atticus's form.
The distance between Atticus and Seraphin was so close that with how fast everything had happened, no one should have nearly enough time to even comprehend the fact that they had been attacked before they got turned into cinders.
But as soon as Atticus had felt the mana in Seraphin's body stirring, he had long since acted.
The air around Atticus's torso appeared to warp and twist, as if being molded by invisible hands.
Atticus deftly manipulated the space element surrounding his torso, shaping it with precision. It formed a subtle yet perceptible aura, enveloping him in a field of distortion that seemed to ripple and undulate with his movements.
And just as it seemed that the beam was about to pierce through Atticus's form, it met the distorted space surrounding him.
In an instant, the air around Atticus shimmered and shifted, altering the path of the beam. The beam's trajectory suddenly veered off course and collided with the wall nearby.
The impact resulted in a powerful clash, unleashing shockwaves that rippled through the surroundings and scattering scorching remains across the area.
Before Seraphin could even regain his composure, the firm grip on his face tightened as he was immediately lifted up from the ground.
And with another deliberate swirl, his form was slammed once again headfirst into the wall, sending another wave of pain passing through him.
Seraphin felt his mind go blank as Atticus lifted him up from the wall, gradually pulling him in, putting a good amount of distance from the wall.
His arms and legs appeared lifeless, dangling downwards as his head was held firmly. And then, with a forceful push, his form was slammed brutally onto the wall.
The same action repeated itself, each time more brutal than the last.
The academy buildings were sturdy, very sturdy. Despite how brutally Seraphin was being slammed against the wall, the wall didn't even show a single crack.
With each slam, the armor Seraphin was donned in would light up, protecting his torso from harm while also siphoning mana away from Seraphin.
Unfortunately for Seraphin, he was always being slammed headfirst against the wall, and the armor wasn't protecting his head.
And each time the devastating beam was shot at him, the air would simply distort in front of Atticus, easily deflecting the beam away from him.
Atticus wasn't using a single shred of mana as he slammed Seraphin against the wall; in fact, he hadn't even used it to neutralize Seraphin.
This was the height of Atticus's strength and how powerful he was compared to the other Tier Ones.
Only his passive strength was enough to not only keep up with Seraphin but also easily neutralize him.
There was only one ability Atticus was using, and that was the newly awakened space element.
Every single inch of Seraphin's form was covered in smoldering golden light, making his form scalding hot. If not for the thin distorted space wrapping around Atticus's hand, he wouldn't have been able to hold Seraphin the way he was holding him.
Even Atticus would get burned if he touched Seraphin without protection.
And then,
*CRACK*
The sound of something breaking echoed, but it wasn't the wall.
The sound was instantly followed by the splatter of something against a hard surface, and then,
"Haaaaa!" The intense, deafening scream followed.
Atticus watched with a cold gaze as Seraphin screamed. The back of his head had just cracked, causing a significant amount of blood to splatter on the wall.
Incredible pain seemed to bring Seraphin out of his confusion as his eyes regained their clarity, the two blood-red eyes instantly meeting the cold, piercing blue gaze of Atticus.
Contrary to what many would think, as he met Atticus's cold gaze, Seraphin didn't tremble. In fact, he wasn't even the least bit scared.
There was only one thing Seraphin was currently feeling: intense anger.
Through and through, Seraphin was a Tier One, and Tier Ones were incredibly proud individuals.
Due to the nature of his bloodline, Seraphin had undergone intensive training from childhood. During this time, he couldn't count the number of times he had been inflicted with a massive amount of pain.
This wasn't nearly enough to scare him.
Seraphin glared at Atticus with a ferocity that seemed to ignite the air around them. His eyes blazed with intense fury, like smoldering embers ready to erupt into flames.
Every line on his face was etched with rage, contorted into a visage of absolute fury.
The gem embedded in Seraphin's head erupted in blinding radiance, its brilliance partially obscured by the firm grip of Atticus's hand.
Despite the obstruction, the intense glow seeped through the gaps between Atticus's fingers, as if straining to burst forth.
Meanwhile, the golden aura enveloping Seraphin's body intensified exponentially, casting a radiant sheen around him.
Seraphin thundered,
"You fucking bas-" but unfortunately for him, the one he was currently facing was ruthless.
Tendrils of crackling lightning snaked their way through Atticus's arm, the air around them crackling with volatile energy, instantly electrifying the atmosphere.
Before Seraphin could finish his words, he suddenly felt a jolt of searing pain shoot through his body like a thousand needles piercing his skin.
His muscles seized with spasms as the lightning surged through him, coursing along his nerves and setting every fiber of his being ablaze with agony.
A primal scream tore from his throat, "Ahhhhh!" raw and guttural, as he convulsed uncontrollably under the onslaught of electrical energy.
But the inflictor of his pain maintained his cold look as he kept increasing the intensity of the lightning.
Seraphin still had a bit of his senses left as his mind raced. 'How is this possible!' He thought frantically.
It wasn't even about the fact that Atticus was able to use the lightning element; that, too, had astonished him.
But what astonished him the most was how painful the lightning was.
Seraphin had fought with a lot of lightning users back at his sector; in fact, he had trained with it. Each of the Seraphin family members had to temper their bodies from childhood because of the nature of their bloodline.
Being able to control such an intense amount of energy from the sun was not something anyone could just do. If their bodies weren't strong enough to withstand the energy, they would be turned to dust before they could even utilize it.
Tempering their bodies with lightning had always been one of their training methods, and with how intense he had been training, Seraphin had been 100% sure that there was no person in the first year who could hurt him with the fire or lightning elements.
'So then why!' Seraphin thought with gritted teeth.
And in the next instance, his screams increased in intensity as the lightning racking his body intensified.
'I have to use it,' Seraphin desperately thought. He was already gradually losing himself, the glow encompassing his whole form diminishing bit by bit, their glow dimming.
As soon as he thought this, Seraphin mustered all the concentration he had left and every single ounce of mana in his mana core suddenly burst out from his body, their massive forms instantly getting siphoned into the armor.
And then, in the next instant, the intricate lines adorning the armor ignited, their luminescence converging once more at the center of the armor before radiating outwards in all directions.
The orange glow grew increasingly intense, shifting into a searing red hue that engulfed the entire armor with fiery brilliance.
Atticus narrowed his eyes as he saw this, 'This is different and stronger than the others,' no one needed to tell him something big was coming.
Atticus instantly released hold of the boy who was clearly about to go boom and instantly stimulated his space bloodline with mana.
Atticus instantly felt the familiar surreal feeling, and then, with godlike timing, Atticus's movement was followed by Seraphin's armor exploding with crazy intensity.
BOOOM!
The entirety of the hallway instantly got engulfed in searing red flames as the building that was supposed to be sturdy regardless of the attack, trembled with crazy intensity, cracks appearing on the surfaces of the walls and ground in different areas.
In the next second, a small hole appeared just next to where Atticus had been standing earlier, and from it, the form of Atticus swirled and emerged, completely unscathed.
'Damn,' Atticus muttered.
He had suspected that that attack would be stronger and different from the rest, but he truly hadn't been expecting it to be this bad.
