'She has grown quite complacent,' Xander saw Vanessa hesitating whether to attack Asher or not. However, it was not her fault. Her whole life, she was better than her peers, and even in World Academy, she was on the level of rankers. But Asher was not a person she could compare herself to.
Reaching D-Rank in the first few days of joining World Academy was unheard of. It was only at the age of 12-13 when one's mana core would start to show growth.
As Kevin got knocked out, Asher could see that nobody was attacking him and carefully observed his surroundings.
Asher looked around and quickly took glances at all the students. He dashed towards the nearest students to his left. Seeing Asher move, Vanessa came out of her stupor and went ahead to help them.
"Argh," the guy who tried to block Asher's sword groaned in pain due to the difference in their strength.
"What are they doing?" Erwin was getting restless seeing students helplessly trying to beat Asher.
All of them were close combat-oriented hunters, so they could swarm Asher and only fight four at a time, but there was no teamwork between them.
Asher was continuously abusing their pure timings, and his agility was already a lot higher than theirs.
*Cling*
Asher blocked the spear to his left and saw Sam, who glanced at Asher's right.
"Now!!" Sam shouted, but as Vanessa struck at Asher, Sam thought his little plan had worked. Unfortunately for him, Asher turned towards his right as he pushed Sam's spear back and used the flat side of his sword, making Vanessa's sword slide and miss his body.
It happened so quickly that most of the students couldn't even keep up with Asher's speed.
'How the hell are we supposed to defeat him?' many of them were thinking the same.
Asher caught Vanessa's wrist and twisted it, making her twist her body to save her wrist. But Asher threw her against Sam, who was trying to dash towards him.
"Sh*t," Vanessa said as she fell on Sam.
Sam caught her, but before both of them could regain their balance, Asher had dashed towards other students. A student tried to swing his staff at Asher's leg, but Asher kicked his staff to the ground, making the student lose his grip.
Asher slashed most of the attacks, and the difference in strength made it impossible for them to resist his physical might.
"Tire him out," a student shouted, but only eleven students were standing.
"Yeah-Yeah, I can defeat him now," Alan thought as he calmed his trembling hands.
Matthew charged with Alan and two other students, but Asher easily dodged the first two strikes and made Matthew defend the attack of his ally. But Alan, who had a desperate look on his face, was not so lucky as Asher took his sword and slashed it down at his hand, making him scream in pain.
"Arghhhhhh," Alan screamed and clenched his teeth on the ground as he held his broken arm.
It was not a lethal injury, but it made others fear Asher considerably.
'Let's surrender, can't we just surrender?' Thoughts were popping into their heads.
It was better to lose than feel so much pain for a meaningless duel that didn't benefit them in any way other than fueling their pride.
"Move," Vanessa shouted as she tried to strike Asher again, but this time she was a bit late.
Asher could focus on her attack, and despite putting all her strength in that one strike Asher countered it easily. His stamina was no joke. Asher was the one who was moving the most, and taking on so many enemies at once required experience, and Asher had plenty.
He had forgotten his sword art, but his battle instincts were still there. His awareness and his high intelligence made it possible for him to focus on so many things at once.
"Genius!" Students who were spectating could not help but say when they saw Asher. It was like they were seeing seasoned hunters fighting newbies and training them.
But even for someone like Erwin and Xander, Asher seemed like a genius.
When all of this was happening, a student wearing a black uniform who had light brown hair and deep blue eyes was watching Asher, and the look on his face was not good.
"This is not good, isn't it?" Leonard said to himself.
He could not believe that a first-year could move like that, and he was pretty sure that even he himself in his first year was not like Asher. Right now, he could defeat Asher, but it would be purely due to their difference in strength. Skillwise, he could not see himself winning against Asher.
"Leon, we should take him in Blood Faction. There are rumors about his fight with the Student Council President," a guy behind Leonard spoke.
Unlike Leonard, he was wearing a white uniform, but just like Leonard, he also had a crest of Blood Faction on his shoulder.
"Do you think you can win against him?" Leonard asked, ignoring the question.
"Ah, of course! How would I lose to a first-year?!" The student behind him said with full confidence.
No matter what, he was C-Rank. There was no chance he would lose to a first-year.
Leonard, with the guy who seemed like his subordinate, entered the duel hall and started walking towards Asher.
Meanwhile, the referee wanted to stop the duel, but neither Xander nor Erwin had told him to do so. So he couldn't intervene right now.
Right now, only three students were standing, and the rest of them were on the ground lying because they couldn't get up or they didn't want to get up.
"Huff! You take left, I take right," Venessa said to Sam as she dashed towards Asher's left side.
Matthew just charged from the front, but all three of them were tired and felt weak in their grips.
Asher, on the other hand, was fine. His face was the same, but sweat could be seen dripping from his hair. But he was not out of breath. He was calm and saw three people rushing at him. Suddenly a thought came to Asher's mind.
"Can't I just kill them?" It was a sudden thought, but Asher focused on the current fight.
Fighting while calming his urges was a huge task for him. This was not similar to dungeons where he could fight however he wanted and kill whoever he wanted. Asher dashed at Matthew, who tried to block the incoming strike but turned it was fake.
Asher struck his elbow region with his sword, breaking a few bones and making Matthew fall on the ground. Sam, who was almost at his right, and Venessa, who was at Asher's left, were about to strike. But Asher disappeared in front of them, and their weapons met empty ground. For them, it seemed he had disappeared, but others could see Asher doing a fast backstep.
Asher dropped his sword and raised his hand as he smashed both of their heads on the ground, knocking them out.
He stood up and saw all the students on the ground, including Damian who was cheering for him loudly from a bit far away. Only some of the students, including Alan, were conscious; the rest were knocked out cold.
"Asher Greville has won the duel," the referee announced. Suddenly, a voice came that surprised everyone.
"I heard that you are not attending the Sword class. Do you mind if my friend here has a friendly duel with you?" The identity of this student shocked all the first-year students, including Damian, who were spectating until now.
"Student Leonard is a Third-Year Student. You cannot-" The referee was speaking, but he was stopped by Professor Erwin.
"Why not allow it? It's just a friendly duel, isn't it?" Erwin said with a smirk on his face. He thought that if Leonard himself brought this student, there would be no implications.
Leonard's social standing was similar to Asher's, as he was the son of the World Association Chairman himself.
Asher, who was quiet after winning a duel, was calming his urges when he heard a familiar voice albeit a bit young, but he remembered it vividly. A voice he would never forget.
Leonard was waiting for Asher's answer, but something unexpected happened.
[ Warning !! Host's emotional state is unstable ]
*BAM*
A very thick amount of bloodlust flooded Asher's vicinity. The amount was not ordinary at all.
"Blergh!" Alan, along with other students who were closest to Asher, were vomiting.
For them, it was like someone was choking them; they felt like they were going to die right there.
But only Damian and others were watching something different with their eyes wide open, because of the distance they didn't feel the killing intent fully so they could see.
They could see Erwin who had his sword touching Asher's neck, with blood dropping out of Asher's neck due to a very small cut made by Erwin.
Fortunately, it didn't penetrate any further than that, thanks to Xander, who was holding the sword with his bare hand, making the blood flow out of his hand.
"Professor Erwin, do you know what you have done?" Xander carefully released his SS Rank pressure at Erwin, whose face was pale.
Erwin had no way of explaining what he had just done. The amount of killing intent coming from Asher was enough to make Erwin move due to the fear of Asher killing Leonard right then and there.
He could not tell Xander why he had done this, why he had prioritized his life over Leonard. He looked towards Leonard Tarvian's direction, but what he saw was Leonard, who had taken a few steps back in fear.
But the third-year student behind him was already on his knees.
Asher turned and touched his neck and saw blood due to the small scratch made by Erwin's sword.
[ Warning !! Host's emotional state is unstable ]
[ Warning !! Host's emotional state is unstable ]
Asher ignored the situation and looked at Erwin dead in his eyes.
"Do you want to die?" Words came out of his mouth, but Erwin could not reply with anything.
His life was over. He had broken the rule of the World Academy by attacking a student, and that student was Asher Greville. He was sure he would die, but what he feared more was that he would be killed by Osbert Tarvian first rather than the Greville family.
