Chapter 14 - The Duel

In order to settle a legal fight or a duel in this Academy you would need a space in the training room and an Instructor to supervise.

Normally, duels like this one is common. But this early is a bit out of the norms. It would usually take at least a week before some problems within the students evolve to something that only a fight could resolve it. Or at least lessen the animosity between the opposing parties.

Kazuya just stared at him with a smile, this made the guy angrier. He waved his battle axe and tried to slam it to Kazuya's table. Kazuya just stared to him, unfazed.

Just before it hits, a spark of lightning was shot on it. Though it has no intention to harm the Marquis guy felt a shock from the current and took a step back.

He then scanned at the room, looking for the culprit. He saw a blondie walking to them with a wide smile.

"Good Morning Mr. West.", Kazuya greeted. It was the blondie from the Entrance Test.

Dalton chuckled and said, "Just call me Dalton. We're acquaintance after all, and I'll call you Kazu from now on.".

"Very well, suit yourself.".

Feeling left out the Marquis guy interrupted their talk, " Hey! Do you dare to accept my challenge!?".

Kazuya waved his hand, "Pesky fly, I will accept it, don't make too much fuss. Come let's find an instructor.".

Kazuya stood up and left with the Marquis guy, Scarlett and Dalton followed him. Half of the class took the bait and followed them.

While they are walking to the Training Room, the Marquis guy kept on giving flirty glances on Scarlett. This made her shiver from disgust.

This guy may be a handsome one, but he's just the type where only looks and money is their good side. A typical douche.

If not for that she knows this guy would be thrashed by Kazuya she would long kick this guy to his death.

As they reach the Training Room, they saw a lot of mats in the middle. At the side is chairs and stands. The whole room is at least a kilometer and half squared. The mats are 10 meters, squared as well.

There is also a lot of equipments like training dummy, strength meter, and exercise machines. All of this are the highest quality, even the mats wouldn't be burned by normal fire.

Luckily, there are a few instructor inside so they don't have to actually find one. They talked to an instructor and he agreed nonchalantly.

They are all interested in a fight between first years, especially this early. They somehow wonder what kind of animosity is between this two that made want to settle things with a duel.

Looking at both sides, the instructor find it weird. He saw the Marquis guy is quite battle ready. He is clad on a high-class armor with a huge battle axe on his hand.

Then Kazuya on other hand seemed like a child that was brought on a zoo for the first time. He's dressed with a hoodie and is looking around, the people to be exact.

He was like scanning the audience looking for a specific someone. But actually he's just looking if there's someone of power watching so that he would show off a bit more than intended. But the way he does it looks like he was ignoring his opponent, which is true.

This look showed how badass and 'ignorant' he is. As they say, too much confidence is a form of ignorance.

"Let's make bet, if you beat him on a minute I'll owe you a favor. If not, you'll owe me a favor.", Dalton said to Kazuya while waiting for the fight to start.

Kazuya looked at him and showed a confident smile, " Make it 30 seconds. A favor and a business proposal.".

"Hmm, that does sound quite interesting. About the business proposal, the other party would accept it even it means to lose some profits, right?".

Kazuya nodded and looked at him with a calm smile. Seeing it, Dalton nodded and accepted the terms.

This may be a bit bigger wager but if he won he can take advantage of this guy's strength. The way he uses sword piqued his interest.

He was wondering if Kazuya could teach him the way of the swords since his fighting style greatly relies on his Lightning ability.

When the Instructor is finally ready, he called for the both of them. They picked a mat and the crowd followed as well.

The Instructor looked at them and said, " You two ready?". Well, the question is directed to Kazuya as he look at him.

Kazuya shrugged, then he remembered something and said, "I didn't bring a spare hoodie.".

As he said that he took off his hoodie and a training armor was shown to the crowd. It was like a black onesie, however, there's a number "50" written on the chest pocket area.

There's also a visible bracelet on both of his wrist. Though there's no number written on it, it also weigh the same as the armor. Adding all the weight, it would amount up to 250 kilograms.

Everyone's eye twitched, excluding Scarlett who knew this all along and Dalton who seems to admire Kazuya even more.

All those looking at him don't know what to think, its either to be amazed by his perseverance on training or to think he's too arrogant.

Arrogant because rather than taking off the training armor as well, he just took his hoodie off. He even reasoned that he didn't have a spare so it's better to not dirty it.

If they just knew that he currently weigh 300+ kilograms right now, even Kazuya nor Scarlett wouldn't know how to hide their grin.

Phase 1 is now complete, they gathered a couple of people to spread a rumor and has showed a little bit on how swordsman usually train.

Now to move on to the next phase, Kazuya nodded at the Instructor. When the Instructor saw it he just shrugged as he witness a great show off.

"No killing and no breaking bones. Conditions of defeat are exhaustion, admitting it, out of the mat, and fainting.".

He then looked at the two, after he saw their nods he waved his hand indicating the start of the match. Dalton set a 30-second timer.

Without further ado, the Marquis guy who's name is actually Aaron pounced on Kazuya with his Fiery Axe.

Kazuya unsheathed his sword and waved to block the attack. Immediately after blocking, his sword swirled and attacked the opponent's arm. It was so natural that it looks like a move that was practiced by them and not an impromptu battle.

Not expecting the sudden counter-attack, Aaron's arm was hit by it. Losing his strength, he loses the grip of his axe and accidentally thrown it off.

Thinking that the match ended, he looked Kazuya with the angriest face he could make. Kazuya just looked at him and said, " Pick it up. I'll give you the chance to make me use my ability.".

The crowd looked at them. They felt pity for Aaron. Of course, Aaron still haven't realized it but the way Kazuya use his sword and his calm smile shows how much this battle means to him. It was just a child's play.

Aaron laughed, he picked his axe, and said, "You should have ended it.".

He then bursted with fire. Literally.

His armor turned like a fiery one. Every now and then there would be a flame igniting from it. His arms is now on fire and the battle axe's fire bursted even more.

He looks like a Fire Golem, with a huge axe at that. 15 seconds just passed, and in order to win his bet with Dalton he needs to end it with just half the time limit.

Thus he decided to take the initiative to attack, well to make Aaron attack him since he can't actually do much damage if its not a counter attack.

He dashed forward waving his sword in a unique manner, it was elegant. Aaron also dashed, but with greater speed than Kazuya.

Aaron shouted, " Mountain Axe of the Fire Golem!".

Kazuya smiled. A huge axe was about to walloped on his head, instead of paniking he closed his eyes. Concentrating.

His body released a slight blue aura, his sword is still on its way to greet the axe. He felt the tremor on the air, as well as the heat caused by the axe.

The Instructor was about to move and stop the battle, it was a sure death if it hits. But a man held him back, a bulky man. He nodded and watched the battle with increased interest.

Kazuya eyes are still closed. He observed the air and found the spot where the force is most concentrated. He moved further forward and when the two weapons touched, the sword was overpowered and slid down.

As Aaron saw this he was ecstatic as he knew he would win this match. But it felt strange. He clearly saw that he successfully hit the sword, yet it felt nothing. It was like battling with air, just like his first attack.

The sword was swinged down by the force of the axe. Using the momentum, he twisted his body and turned around. Completing a 360-turn, the sword the seemed to have no force was raised again aiming for Aaron's neck.

It happened so swift, that it looks like Kazuya dodged the attack instead of receiving it. He then released a bit of his killing intent and directed it to Aaron. He then turned the Eye of Reality for a second and looked straight on Aaron's eyes. It was just for special effect of course.

Aaron on the other hand was frightened, no. It would be accurate it we say he's terrified. The flame is completely out, his face paled, and his battle armor is wet. And its not because of sweat nor tears.

As to why, well, from his field view. There is nothing he could see but a demon in form of Kazuya. His face showed a cruel smile. It was like Grim Reaper waving at him.

But just before the sword touched Aaron's neck, it was blocked by the sword. But as usual, the spear seemed to hit nothing. However, the purpose of the spear was achieved. Kazuya still smiled but is clearly unsatisfied.

The the momentum of the sword that was gathered from two powerful attacks was brought on the mat. The so said high quality mat was not just ripped but the ground is also ruptured.

Aaron fainted, more liquid wetted his battle armor. Its smell is so pungent. He now looks

like a coal that was peed on. Unlit and stinky.

Sir Mike clucked his tounge and remarked, "If not for me, the head would not be connected on its neck. Oh- and the head would also cease to exist.".

He then looked at Kazuya and said, " You could've killed him if not for me.".

Kazuya chuckled and said, "Yeah, lucky him.".

"Do you know that killing is not allowed?".

"Yeah, but if not for my sword being stronger than anything then would I not be the one who is supposed to be dead.", he replied with a questioning gaze.

Sir Mike chuckled and said, " Haha, you're right. Lucky him.".

But of course, Sir Mike knew it all along. If a weapon uses raw strength, it wouldn't be effective against him at all. If its an ability or an attack base on speed, then it might harm him. If the weapon touches his sword, then it has no effect whatsoever.

Kazuya prompted Scarlett and Dalton that they were leaving. They then left the area. Leaving the others to their jobs, making and spreading the rumor.