Chapter 296 - Feras

Feras POV

Feras was feeling a bit nervous and had to wipe the sweat from his palms against his pant legs.

"Come on, stop being so nervous," his friend Harold said to him.

"But what if I get paired with one of the stronger fourth years?" He asked Harold worriedly.

Harold shrugged. "Well, I guess that means you just have terrible luck. Don't worry about losing. We are both only third years, which means we shouldn't be too hung up about winning all of our fights. This is a great chance for us to experience it for next year, where we will be stronger and have a much better chance."

Feras had to concede to that point. Unlike the other fourth years, they still had a shot next year. Very few people in the school's history have managed to reach the top sixteen, not as fourth years. This realization made him relax a bit.

"Let's head on over to your section. My fight isn't until later, but yours is in a little bit, so we might as well get there early. You did ask who you were fighting, right?" Harold asked him.

"Yeah, some guy named Julius. Which is why I am worried because I haven't heard of a Julius in our year before, which means it's probably a fourth year."

He saw Harold squeeze his forehead together and scratch his chin as he tried to figure out if he knew a Julius from somewhere.

"Yeah, I haven't heard of a Julius in our year either," Harold eventually admitted.

Feras looked high into the air and sighed heavily.

"Hey, on the bright side, the fact that we haven't heard of him must mean he's not a favorite to win, so you lucked out there," Harold said optimistically.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that," he said with a hopeful grin.

When he arrived at his designated zone, the person who would officiate his match greeted him.

He was given a quick breakdown of the rules and what was forbidden. It was pretty simple. The winner would be the first person to activate the other person's protection enchantments. You weren't allowed certain items, which would give you a massive advantage. However, a sword or a magical focus was allowed.

After the official checked over his weapons to ensure they were allowed, he headed to one side of the field.

Once he got settled in, he just had to wait for his opponent to show up. Luckily, he didn't have to wait very long because a few minutes later, a boy walked in.

The first thing he noted to himself was how young the boy looked. It looked like he was a second-year or something.

He knew that some second years advanced to Tier 3, but that was still relatively rare since it was better to advance once you had as many skills at rare rank as you could gain.

Before he could think about it any further, the official addressed the two of them.

"Okay, this is an official match between Third-Year Feras Jonith and First-Year Julius Snow. You have both been explained the rules, so I expect a clean fight. If any of you violate any of these rules, you will be automatically assessed a forfeit, and depending on the severity of the offense, you might be punished even further. Do you guys understand?"

Feras felt himself subconsciously nodding his head, but his mind was completely distracted by what he had just heard.

A first year? Why was the first year participating in this tournament? It just didn't make any sense to him. But a quick examination of the boy's uniform confirmed the official's words. He was a genuine first-year.

He couldn't help but feel a little bit bad and consciously relaxed when he heard that he would be fighting a first year. He had been expecting a powerful fourth year and had already written himself off.

But now?

Now, he was feeling sympathetic for the kid. What kind of person decided that advancing to Tier 3 so quickly was a good idea? His family must have been very upset to learn that their son ruined any potential to advance further because of his impatience.

With a shake of the head, he readied his spear, letting his shield hang lazily from his side.

The boy didn't even have a weapon or a magical focus. He merely stood in front of Feras with a surprisingly calm demeanor.

Is he a hand-to-hand fighter? Or is he just a mage who dislikes using a focus? He thought to himself.

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It didn't matter, though. He was planning to end it swiftly. There was no need to embarrass or humiliate the kid. A quick ending would be a mercy. Although he couldn't say that other students would be as gracious, he was already thinking about the people he knew who would love the opportunity to bully this kid.

He distantly heard the official's countdown, and when the fight started, he paced toward the kid, his spear pointing at him.

The first year just stood there, and Feras noticed that the boy still didn't look the least bit nervous. The same blank expression remained on his face, and an uneasy feeling started to bloom in Feras's gut.

However, he brushed it aside and continued to advance slowly.

Once he was within striking distance, he waited to see if the boy tried to make a move. He wanted to give the boy a chance to attack, which was the least he could do.

But when he didn't move a single inch, he came to the conclusion that the boy had no intention of being the one to attack.

So, without any further ado, he activated his earth-aspect movement skill and dashed toward the boy with crushing force.

However, just as he was extending his spear toward the boy's chest, he widened his eyes as the boy calmly raised a forearm to parry his strike.

Feras's spear went wide, and he instinctively raised his lowered shield to block the punch that was coming toward him.

The fist had much more force than he would have expected, and he had to use some earth magic to stabilize his footing. He then ducked his head to avoid the leg kick swinging for his head and used a burst of mana to throw himself backward, enabling him to use the reach of his spear to ward off the boy's next strike.

Just like before, the boy didn't make any moves to come chasing after him, still standing there with a serene calmness. However, after that last exchange, that calmness was starting to feel much more eerie and creepy than serene.

He immediately reevaluated his assessment of the boy. While he wasn't the fastest person he had fought, there was no denying that the boy was skilled in combat. He had used the optimal amount of force to parry his strike and then used that opportunity to force him off balance. That wasn't something a normal first-year would be able to pull off with such practiced ease.

Steadying himself, he reigned his focus back and took all of it a bit more seriously because he was not about to lose his first fight, especially not to a first year.

Taking hold of his mana, he sent it rushing toward the boy and tried to manipulate the earth beneath the boy's feet. To his immense concern, the boy must have sensed his mana because he sidestepped to the right, and the clamps of earth magic missed the boy's legs.

However, he was already moving in the second he activated his skill. His spear thrust out at the boy's chest, but once again, the boy avoided it and stepped forward as if trying to take away the reach advantage of Feras.

Luckily for him, he had the skills to handle these situations. He activated and slammed his shield at the boy.

But instead of smacking the boy with the shield, the boy somehow leaned backward in a supreme display of flexibility and grabbed hold of the edge of his shield. Feras tightened his grip on his shield, and as they wrestled for it, he tried to slam pillars of stone into the boy's back.

However, before the pillars could connect, the boy, still holding onto the shield, dropped low and sent a brutal strike right at his knee, making sure to use the leverage of the shield to his advantage.

Feras growled as a flash of phantom pain emanated from his leg. He felt the enchantments activate to limit his leg's mobility. His anger caused him to send out a flood of earth magic centering around himself.

This staggered the boy, and Feras didn't let this chance pass him by. He continued to send continuous blistering strikes at the boy's vitals. There was no more thought of taking it easy in his mind. He was now too preoccupied with not losing.

As he forced the boy backward, he made sure to use his earth magic to try and pin him down. Unfortunately, the boy appeared to have eyes on the back of his head because each time his earth magic was about to restrain him, the boy would step to the side or jump out of the way.

Feras kept up the offense but got frustrated as he did because it felt like he was swinging at air. The boy was still just as annoyingly calm as at the beginning of the fight. Not a single flash of annoyance or stress was seen on his face.

He casually and calmly avoided every one of his spear strikes.

The worst part was that he was starting to feel tired. He kept pumping more and more mana into his body enhancement skill, trying to go a little bit faster. But the boy was always just fast enough to dodge.

Understanding that it couldn't continue the way it was going, he decided to make a choice. He sent one last blast of earth magic at the boy, hoping to gain him some time, and started to manipulate his mana in complex patterns.

However, to his shock, the boy decided to take the attack head-on for the first time during their fight. The entire fight, the boy had been focused on dodging and evading, but now Feras was surprised as the boy took the blast of earth magic to the chest.

When the cloud of dirt dissipated, a shimmering barrier of mana was seen flickering on the boy's chest, and the boy was charging toward him. Feras was alarmed by the change of pace and used his movement skill to send himself backward, trying to buy as much time as he could to use his larger spell, which he was almost done preparing.

Despite his attempts, it wasn't enough, and he panicked when the boy disappeared from his sight. He desperately tried to activate his large spell even though it wasn't quite finished yet.

Yet it wasn't fast enough. Before it could take effect, he felt something smash into his back with alarming force. His defenses, which he was so proud of because of his exceptional earth affinity, were cracked with a single blow.

He was sent face-first into the dirt, and the spell that he worked hard to create dissipated into the earth. He got up to his knees and swung his spear around him in a wide arc, preemptively swinging at the place he thought the boy would attack next.

All he hit was air, and he found himself getting smashed once again on the back of the head, dazing him.

He roared and sloppily swung his spear and shield, hoping it would connect. But the boy let them pass by his face with that annoying calm expression on his face.

And with one last strike, the boy leaned down and sent a brutal fist right to Feras's face. This seemed to be enough for the enchantments because they activated and signaled the end of the fight.

The fight was over, but Feras found himself still lying on the ground with a lifeless expression on his face, trying to pick up the shattered remnants of his confidence from the ground.

He still did not quite comprehend what had just happened to him and didn't understand how a mere first year was able to thrash him so badly.