Shang put everything about Mattheo to the back of his mind. He had several more questions to ask him, but his fight with Astor was far more important.
Shang had done a lot in the past week.
He had upgraded his weapon.
He had killed his first General Stage beast.
He had gotten very familiar with his new Affinities.
Now, it was his time to prove that he had become more powerful.
"Start!" teacher Loran announced.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward, the ground below him cracking.
The watching students' eyes shone.
Shang was faster than before!
His body obviously hadn't become more powerful, but his speed was definitely higher. That meant that Shang had gained far greater control over his body.
Astor readied his sword as he stepped backward with one leg. He was obviously readying a counterattack to Shang's offensive.
Shang pointed his left arm to the back.
BANG!
Shang unleashed an Ice Blast, which shot him forward at incredible speeds.
At this moment, Shang reached the speed of an Initial General Stage warrior.
Astor readied a shoulder check.
Yet, Astor's eyes widened when he saw Shang appear right in front of him in an instant.
Shang's sword swung.
CLINK!
Teacher Loran stopped the sword just before it hit Astor's head.
Silence.
Deafening silence.
Astor looked with shock at the sword in front of his eyes.
The students watched with slack jaws.
They knew that Shang had become more powerful, but they hadn't expected something like that!
It had only been a week!
"That's for our match before the last one," Shang said as he pulled his sword back.
"Back then, I took you lightly, and I lost without even being able to show my power."
"Now, things are reversed."
"We won't count this one. Let's go again," Shang said as he slowly walked back to his starting location.
By now, the students had calmed down, and their brows furrowed.
Earlier, they had been shocked since it was basically impossible for a Late Soldier Stage warrior to reach speeds equivalent to an Initial General Stage warrior.
But then they remembered that Shang was at the Peak Soldier Stage.
Several students could reach speeds above their level for a short time. Shang definitely wasn't the only one.
Mattheo could reach these speeds with his explosions.
Astor could reach these speeds by throwing himself forward with his sword.
Now, Shang had also unlocked this ability.
Not every student had the ability to increase their speed by a level, but a lot of them could. Of course, there were also students that could increase their power or their defense by a level.
In a way, nearly every student could upgrade something of themselves to the next level for a short moment.
However, one shouldn't take Shang's new power lightly.
These warriors had trained for a long time to unlock this ability.
The last time Shang had been here, he hadn't had this ability.
But in just a single week, he unlocked it.
This meant that Shang had closed a significant gap between him and the other students.
"Incredible," Astor said with an intense smirk. One could see burning battle intent in his eyes.
"Finally, there's another person in our class that can fight me properly. You didn't disappoint, Shang."
"I lost the last fight because I underestimated you. That is one of my shortcomings, and it won't happen a second time," Astor said.
Astor readied his sword. "Let's go again!"
Shang nodded as he readied himself.
"Mattheo and Sarah," teacher Loran said while Shang and Astor were focusing on each other.
He wouldn't stop the entire class just to watch Astor and Shang.
Sarah looked at Shang with narrowed eyes.
No one knew what she was thinking about.
BANG!
Shang charged forward again, but this time, he didn't use his Ice Blast.
Shang had unveiled his Ice Affinity earlier, but just as expected, nobody had cared. Ice was a normal Affinity, just like all the other ones. Sure, it was on the rarer side, but the academy had plenty of students with rare Affinities.
Just before Shang reached Astor, Astor swung his sword forward.
Astor's swing took Shang's potential, higher speed into account, and if Shang accelerated, he would run right into it.
However, Shang didn't accelerate.
The swing would miss.
Suddenly, water appeared below Astor's feet, and he got carried forward by a meter.
Shang's eyes widened.
The swing would hit him!
BANG!
Shang's sword blocked Astor's attack, but it wasn't easy. Shang's entire body shook, and he heard his sword creak. Luckily, Astor hadn't been able to put his entire power into the swing. Otherwise, it would have broken Shang's sword.
"Danger, I, break. Block, Ice," the sword said in Shang's mind.
It obviously wanted Shang to block with his Ice Affinity, but that was still a risk. After all, Shang could only release his Ice Blast once before he needed some time for his arm to heat up again.
In the wild, he could simply use a Fire Blast and then quickly heal his arm with his Mana, but he couldn't do that here.
He had decided to go public with his Ice Affinity, and if he suddenly showed a Fire Affinity, people would become very interested in him.
Because of that, Shang only had a single Ice Blast per fight unless the fight took a very long time.
Astor's body was one level below Shang's, but the sheer power behind the swing made it reach the power of a Peak Soldier Stage warrior, the same power as Shang.
However, Shang still managed to block the attack.
BANG!
Shang pushed the side of Astor's sword upward and out of his way with his left arm before he charged forward again.
Shang took a large step forward and slashed at Astor.
More water appeared beneath Astor as he slid back.
Shang extended his step and slashed towards Astor's new position.
However, at that moment, Astor's sword began to fall again.
Astor had put all his weight on top of his sword, pushing it down again.
Shang gritted his teeth.
He wouldn't be able to hit Astor's head. At most, he could hit Astor's chest.
However, the uniform would block Shang's attack. He had learned that the hard way in their last fight.
Blocking was also out of the question since his sword was already extended to slash at Astor.
Astor had managed to put Shang into a predicament yet again. Sure enough, he had far more experience in fighting against humans than him.
Shang pulled his sword back as he rotated to the side.
He had canceled his attack, but Astor would miss.
When Astor saw that, more water gathered beneath his feet as he slid away from Shang.
His sword continued to fall, but due to Astor's new position, it was now behind him.
Astor took a deep breath.
In that instant, time seemed to stand still.
Then, Astor's eyes shone with burning conviction.
"AAAH!"
Astor shouted with all of his power as his entire body trembled with power.
Shang felt like an incredible pressure had appeared around him.
It was like he was fighting the General Stage Vanishing Snake again.
This was the feeling of total suppression.
If that attack hit Shang or his weapon, it wouldn't matter what he would do.
This attack couldn't be blocked.
Even by someone with a more powerful body than Astor.
