Atticus fixed his eyes on Gerald's advancing form, his expression still not changing. They were about 17 meters away from each other.
Atticus couldn't help but be slightly surprised at how powerful the red aura surrounding Gerald was. But even though he felt a slight danger to it, he still wasn't worried about the situation.
'I should wrap this up,'
Atticus's gaze became colder as he suddenly spoke up again,
"Besides, it seems you're terribly mistaken about something. I said the mana contract was his way out if you want his mind intact. The other option is simply for me to break him."
Atticus suddenly tightened his hold on Seraphin's neck once more, tendrils of lightning materializing and shocking his struggling form.
"Ahhhh! Bro-," Seraphin screamed in pain, his voice intense and deafening.
This action seemed to crush whatever good reasoning that was in Gerald's mind.
An AI voice sounded,
"Student Gerald Stellaris. It is against the rules to attack a lower year. Breaking this would attract severe punis-"
The AI voice was abruptly cut short as Gerald's form rocketed towards Atticus.
The floor on which he previously stood melted and warped, leaving a trail of molten metal in his wake.
The sheer force of his movement caused the air to ripple and distort behind him, the temperature increasing with each passing moment.
In a breath, Gerald appeared in front of Atticus like a phantom, intense amounts of crimson flames coalescing around his fist as he unleashed a devastating punch that seemed to distort the air around Atticus.
Atticus' gaze instantly narrowed, 'He's fast!'
He had been caught off guard by how fast Gerald had moved. It was nothing less than Expert rank speed!
Although Atticus was currently a higher rank than him, if he wasn't using any arts and just his passive strength, Gerald's current form would be able to keep up with him!
'This ability is truly powerful,' Atticus praised.
But unfortunately for Gerald, the earlier case would be true only if he wasn't using any one of his abilities. And why in heaven's sake would he do that, especially when he had just awakened an overpowered element?
He remained undaunted in the face of Gerald's attack as he muttered under his breath,
"Space mimicry."
Atticus instantly felt his form shift with the space, and with a deliberate effort, Atticus moved.
To Gerald, it seemed as though the individual he had been fixated upon had abruptly twisted and disappeared away from the trajectory of his punch.
And in the next instance, Gerald's pupils shifted to his left as the same figure of Atticus suddenly twisted once more and materialized at his left-hand side.
Gerald was already in the Expert- rank and thus had awakened his perception. He was able to see every single thing happen in slow motion. But unfortunately for him, his body wasn't fast enough to react to the unfolding events.
Atticus's left hand was still holding Seraphin's neck as he shot his right shoulder backwards, his hand drawn back for a punch.
Atticus focused his attention on the space element as it wrapped around his fist.
He decided to try out one of the moves he learned when he had experimented in the space elemental room, the punch force multiplier.
Atticus took a massive step forward with his left leg, his hips rhythmically twisting as his right fist shot forward in a brutal punch, the force of the punch intensifying manifold as Atticus manipulated the space element around his fist, increasing the kinetic energy to unimaginable heights.
Atticus's fist landed on Gerald's left cheek, the impact akin to the sound of a nuclear explosion.
Gerald's form came to an abrupt stop, suspended in the air for a full second, and then, with the force of a bullet, Gerald's form shot back, hitting the sturdy wall of the hallway with a brutal impact.
The force of the punch, coupled with Gerald's intense heat, made him crash through the wall like a searing hot knife through tofu.
Gerald broke through the wall, his form streaking outside the building above the expansive academy garden.
And just as it seemed that Gerald's form would continue moving through the air, Gerald's hand stirred as he raised his hands, instantly releasing an intense blast of energy which immediately stopped his momentum in the air.
Gerald's head snapped towards the hole he had just come out of, his bloodshot eyes instantly meeting the icy blue gaze of Atticus.
The force of the punch had completely deformed the left side of Gerald's face, his cheekbones having shifted inwards.
Gerald's anger couldn't help but intensify as he saw Atticus's current state. He still had Seraphin in his grasp, holding him like a bag of garbage.
But this wasn't the only thing that made him seethe; it was the fact that Atticus hadn't even taken him seriously!
Gerald's gaze turned red as he muttered under his breath, "Fine, I'll show you your place."
With a speed that wasn't too fast nor slow, Gerald's right arm suddenly tapped his chest. Instantaneously, intricate lines flickered to light, tracing a diamond-shaped pentagon device on Gerald's chest.
Then, with his chest as the center, the device suddenly started to reshape and contort, forming and spreading an orange attire that seemed to hug him like a second skin all around Gerald's figure.
An AI voice instantly sounded, "Deployment of your exosuits in the academy campus premises and against a lower year is against the academy rules and regulations. Deactivate it or you would be punished accordingly."
Gerald completely ignored all the ramblings of the AI, the exosuit simultaneously completing its transformation as it finished contorting and covered up his face.
Itricate lines suddenly lit up in a crimson glow across Gerald's form, tracing down this figure as it immediately amplified his mana and abilities.
Instantly, Gerald's aura surged to unprecedented heights, an intense wave of heat spreading out in the sky.
'Expert+! What the hell is that suit!?' Atticus's gaze narrowed. Gerald's aura, which had initially been at the expert- rank, had just spiked and crossed two sub-levels all at once.
Just what the hell was that suit!
The crimson aura initially surrounding his form had all been siphoned into the exosuit, leaving him with an appearance of him donned in an orange suit traced with intricate crimson lines.
But yet, the temperature of the surrounding area didn't diminish in the slightest bit; in fact, it tripled in intensity.
Gerald's red gaze locked onto Atticus's form as the tension in the air intensified to staggering levels.
And then, Gerald's form blurred, the force of his movement creating a sonic boom in the air as his fist suddenly appeared inches away from Atticus's face.
Atticus's piercing blue eyes blazed, and just as he was about to fight back, an AI voice sounded, interrupting the altercation.
[The time is 7 PM. All remaining students in the academy campus will be forcefully teleported back to their divisions.]
Before any one of them could understand what was going on, a golden glow enveloped each and every one of them, and then, they all disappeared.
