Chapter 10: Fighting As Ascenders

Voom! Swoosh!

Bobby threw a ferocious jab at the boy's right which the boy avoided smoothly by tilting half his body to the left, creating an opening for a counter and making Bobby defenceless of his abdomen.

Bam!

Raising his left foot he spun anticlockwise on it while still positioning his right leg horizontally at Bobby's torso, connecting both parties and then burying his right leg deep inside Bobby's stomach.

Bobby flew steps back and gushed out both water and spit from his mouth before landing heavily on the ground.

'Face it Bobby, you hide under the wings of Mordecai 'almighty'. Even with your spot in the Society, you know very well you are… weak.' the boy scornfully spoke while caressing his wrist.

'You fool! I'll show you WEAK!!' Bobby exclaimed and rushed at the boy, throwing his hands erratically around, his bright red ring began to amalgamate three inches around his wrist.

Bam!

Ghhrgh!

The next thing Bobby knew was he saw himself being redirected to his former position with a force stronger than before while an indescribable pain travelled like wired currents inside his stomach.

Meanwhile, the boy stood there with his fist pointed outwards at Bobby. Basically speaking, the only thing he did was punch the direction Bobby stood at and a sudden force pushed back Bobby.

..

Somewhere around the outside of the training ground, two teenage girls atop a labyrinth structure watched the spectacle with varying thoughts. One stood akimbo while the other sat and dangled her legs over the vertex of the roof.

'This year's squires are no weaker than last year's.' the girl close to the roof's vertex spoke with hints of admiration. This girl was bald, had smooth olive skin with large earrings and her left forearm had some kind of strange tattoo on it.

'Onisha, why do you always judge with just so little information.' the other girl who stood said as she rolled her eyes. This girl was partly uninterested with the current commotion at the training ground with her countenance. Despite having a stern look, her facial expression displayed how cute and laughable she was, like a ferocious rabbit.

'You know that's my thing! And besides, I think I'm sensing something… an indescribable force from there.' Onisha confusedly spoke.

'What is it?'

'Funny, I don't know, but it's… fluctuating.' Onisha rolled her humongous earrings as she spoke.

'It's probably Bobby, expelling unnecessary mana than he should.' the girl who stood shook her head in pity when she spoke.

'I bet Yuzan doesn't know Bobby could end him only with a punch.' Onisha drove her fist dramatically through the air.

..

Meanwhile, the two Ascenders who accompanied the female official exchanged quick glances at themselves before then inquisitively redirecting their gazes to their superior.

Their superior seeming to understand their disquiet mood said drawly to them, 'We cannot intervene in their matter. They can't take the law into their hands.'

In the Ascension Society, it was typical for Ascenders of the same rank to battle each other. This was a thing that was condoned in the Society by the council before it officially became accepted and permitted. By fighting themselves they are exposed the more to how cruel and severe the path of Ascension was.

Furthermore, fighting against each other at an early stage like this is likely to reduce the pressure of life and death battle in the future and also acutely develop their thinking faculty to a stage which would be of great importance to them at serious situations.

The Honorary Society of Ascension had no business in the fights of their pupils but this also didn't mean they were negligent of the extent these Ascenders would go. If the fight was amounting to something different entirely, which could mean death, they most certainly will intervene and break the battle. The Society could not afford to see its prodigies suit up and exterminate themselves, leaving even bigger problems of the world to the void.

'Least not yet.'

..

'Yah, Yuzan. I thought we're going to settle things, but it looks like you have your hands filled already. I'm won't fight you with only one-quarter and of your strength.' the other boy who initially prepared to fight inside the circle turned around and slowly walked away as he spoke.

'What?! One-quarter of my strength? You think I need too much to just for you Nene?' Yuzan retorted.

The other boy, Nene, looked over his shoulder with half his face to say, 'Enjoy your practice, you and I both know you need it. And so does your strength.' With that said, he left the circle and the surrounding squires gave path for him as he walked out.

Yuzan glared and muttered at Nene's back as it mixed with the herd of squires, 'Idiot, I'll shatter your bones into dust soon.'

'How'd you like being underestimated? Huh? You punk!' This scornful voice bellowed from behind Yuzan

When Yuzan turned around and saw the speaker, his countenance turned grave while unleashing a somewhat terrifying speed and prepared to imprint underneath his foot on Bobby's face.

'Leave him alone!'

'What are you?!'

Vester ran out to shield Bobby with his two hands spread out.

Yuzan paused with his leg lunged very close to Vester. When he looked closely at Vester, he remembered quite somethings. The look on Vester's angry face was intimidating and scary, and second, he had totally lost his cool around here.

With one leg planted on the ground, he shifted his sight to both squires on the left and right only to see how some of them were angry about the matter. Some of the less confident ones were even scared while the stupid ones laughed at Bobby.

Damnit! We haven't even started training as squires and here I am beating the crap out of someone.

He lowered his head and rubbed his eyebrows with his thumb and index finger.

'I didn't want to... but now I will. My superiors would be disappointed in me for vanquishing a man, not of my calibre.' Yuzan spoke as he brought down his second leg, before turning around and leaving the circle.

Vester went down to pick Bobby from the ground after he closely watched as Yuzan Left the gathering. But as Vester prepared to help Bobby, Bobby surprisingly jerked Vester arms away when it came in contact with his body and yelled at Vester.

'I'll get stronger you'll see!'

Vester's brows jumped when he stared into Bobby's eyes.

If he were the one who ended in such a pitiful state, he might as well lose the courage to show himself outside. For maybe a while. At the first day, Bobby made a somewhat very low description of himself by making his fellow mate toss him around like playing ping-pong. But despite this humiliation, Bobby still had the heart of a warrior - Perseverance!

Vester started to have the idea that this was typically Bobby's every day of living; being boastful about his abilities when he didn't have one and some people might find this, intolerable. Some people even disliked Bobby for bragging about his unattained feats.

But Vester didn't see this Bobby as a nuisance, instead, he saw Bobby as a warrior who was confident in himself despite him not having what he claimed.

From the looks of it, Bobby might actually be the only person here who has what it takes to be an Untrammeled Ascender. And if he kept this up. Vester believed no one, he meant no one would rival Robert Gruseman.

'We all will.' Vester answered with a slight smile over his face and pulled Bobby up from the floor.

*Tap*Tap

The female official walked away from her apprentices and ungetin to the platform's end she opened her legs and clasped her hands behind her waist. When the squires watch her come forward they thought she would reprimand those who were involved in the fight a while ago.

But no, she wasn't.

'Listen up squires! You are brave, you are strong, you are who you choose to be. There is a trump card all Ascenders possess. A card everybody desires to exceed in power. But most times, some of the most wicked things of the world must happen to us first, to obtain this card. Some even get this card after witnessing to the most destruction upon them. Do you know what this card is?'

'It is DETERMINATION!'

Unexpectedly the female official exclaimed atop her voice on every single word.

'WHEN YOU GET HIT HARD TO THE GROUND, YOU RISE! WHEN YOU GET KICKED TO THE GROUND YOU RISE UP! WHEN YOU GET BLOWN TO THE GROUND, YOU RISE UP AGAIN... BECAUSE I KNOW NOTHING CAN STOP YOU!' she lowered her voice a bit when she said the last sentence and stared deeply into Bobby's eyes.

Bobby seeming to understand used all the ounce of strength in his hand to the moulded his fist and shut his eyes.

'For those who are strong let them hear! Because when you are strong you have the fate of an entire group of people resting on your shoulders. The weak would look up to. The damned would call you saviour and even the lords would respect you. As one of the strong, the only objective you have is to protect the weak and not inflict more unwarranted pain to them.'

Yuzan located somewhere lowered his head amidst the crowd. He knew the official was indirectly saying this to reprimanding him for beating up Bobby.

'As squires, there isn't much information to disseminate to you. The basics would be explained further during your training later today. But before that. There is something of utmost importance I'd want to attend to first. Which is your Ascension Path!'

For some reason unknown, the female official drove her splayed fingers through the air as she exclaimed and a gentle breeze swept the swath and everything in it.

'As squires it is important you know your path as an Ascender. You should know there are only two paths, that is, it is only natural for you to ascend in one of these paths.'

'Either you're a ScrollMaster or a Mantrant!'