Kyle's eyes narrowed sharply, he wanted to dodge but Alec's sword was too fast.
With a clenched grip, he took Alec's strike head-on. As their swords touched, a huge shockwave spread out in the air.
Kyle's feet creaked backward on the stage as his hand went numb from the sheer amount of strength Alec used in his attack.
'Damn it! He isn't holding back at all.'
He grumbled inwardly and infused one of his legs with mana. A thin transparent layer of mist appeared on his leg as he threw his food forward, aiming for Alec's stomach.
Alec looked at the incoming attack and the force on his sword loosened as he tilted his body to dodge.
Kyle smirked and with a burst of speed he infused his fist with a layer of mana, taking Alec off guard, he punched forward.
Even though Alec was faster he didn't see this coming. His eyes flashed with surprise and he instantly moved his arm to block the punch.
A stinging pain appeared on his wrist as he stumbled a few steps back with a wince. He looked at Kyle but his eyes widened slightly, seeing another punch directed at his face.
"When the hell did you learn to fight with fists!"
He shouted and was ready to block but the punch stopped midway and Kyle whispered.
"Ice Spear."
The air around them contacted and turned visibly cold within a second. The mana inside Kyle's body moved and a large floating ice spear appeared above his head.
Alec looked at the spear hovering above Kyle's head with a serious expression. He knew the attack wasn't weak at all.
As the spear shot forward with lightning-fast speed, Alec raised his hand and an earth wall appeared in front of him.
'One won't work.'
He grumbled inwardly because unlike Kyle's ice spear his defense skill was only (E)-Rank.
He used his mana and hurriedly formed three more walls in front of himself but to his shock, the ice spear exploded after crashing into the first earth wall. It shattered into tiny fragments and those chilling fragments spread out on the whole stage.
The mana shield around the stage trembled as ice spread out everywhere, Alec's body temperature dropped and he felt the ice seeping inside his body.
Cold breath came out from his mouth as he instantly removed the earth walls before dashing toward Kyle with incredible speed.
Kyle clicked his tongue because his surprise attack failed. He glanced at the ice that didn't affect his body at all and dashed forward as well.
He could see Alec's figure but the latter speed was almost double than him.
Their swords clashed with lightning speed, creating a mesmerizing display, the voice of their clash echoed throughout the whole training ground. The shield around the stage started trembling because the battle was intense, with both fighters giving it their all.
All this while the audience was eerily quiet. They watched the duo with heavy breaths and gasped from time to time with awe.
Under their intense gaze, the duo had exchanged multiple blows within a minute.
Some of the students gulped nervously while unconsciously stepping away from the two Arena stages. Their tiny bit of motivation to fight the top students was already out of the window.
Nine gazed at Kyle and Alec. He could see Alec had the upper hand because Kyle was having difficulty while trying his best to match Alec's speed.
He massaged his temples with a grumble and moved toward Carcel.
"They are showing off!"
Carcel didn't look back at him. He was busy analyzing the fight. He didn't see any opening in Kyle and Alec's attacks but Kyle's hand gripping the sword was visibly shaking due to the impact.
"Yes, they are."
He sighed with a dry smile. He was stronger than Kyle in terms of rank but he was sure he would lose if they fought seriously.
"If you want to show off as well, how about we climb the stage after them?"
A sly smile appeared on his lips as he finally looked at Nine for an answer.
"Haha, I remember Professor Aliza was looking for me. I don't think I can accompany you any further bro."
Nine chuckled and after tapping Carcel's shoulder he disappeared within the crowd of students.
Carcel raised his brow, looking at the fading back. Even though Nine chuckled with a nonchalant expression there was visible panic in his eyes.
"Tsk he fled again. I wanted to beat him up a little and get those 200 mana stones. What a pity."
On the other hand, Professor Liam's eyebrow twitched uncontrollably. He looked at the stage where the intense fight was going on before looking at the students standing behind him.
He could see it from their sweaty faces after witnessing Alec and Kyle battle not a single student looked willing to challenge the top students.
Liam shoulders trembled slightly as his excitement vanished into thin air. He was happy that Kyle and Alec were so powerful even better than the third-year students but he was sour all over because he was here to ignite the flame of motivation within the kids not to scare them away.
He massaged his temples and looked at the stage with a sigh.
'I made a mistake.'
Meanwhile, Kyle and Alec's swords clashed for about ten minutes and Kyle was the one who was being pushed to the edge. He was panting and his hands were trembling.
Alec looked at Kyle, he was tired as well but he was better than Kyle who seemed to have strained his body while trying to match his speed and attacks.
With a last leap, Alec narrowed the distance and attacked Kyle using his sword Art. His sword glowed with intense white light and even though Kyle blocked he stumbled backward due to the pressure and his sword dropped on the stage.
Kyle chuckled and moved his hands up in surrender. He closed his eyes for a while feeling the metallic smell around himself before simply slumping at the stage with heavy breathing.
His eyes were closed when Alec's voice resounded inside his ear.
"Are you okay?"
"Hmm."
Kyle winced because his muscles were too strained, he looked up and saw Alec's helping hand.
"You could have used that transport skill to avoid my last attack."
Kyle grabbed his hand and stood up, his breathing was heavy but he took a deep breath to calm his nerves before looking at Alec.
'Transport skill? Oh... he meant Instant teleportation.'
"No, it requires too much mana."
Alec nodded but then patted his shoulder with an annoyed expression.
"Tsk, even when we were fighting so seriously you still didn't use all of your skills. You didn't even use your sword Art!"
Kyle looked back at him with a raised brow.
"It's not like you used all of your skills and you only used the sword Art at the end of the match."
Alec chuckled.
"Well, that's true. Let's fight more seriously in the future."
They talked and looked at the shield around the stage. It disappeared when Professor Liam stood up from the chair and waved his hand.
