Asher Versus Aurora

"Be quiet."

Asher abruptly appeared in front of the young boy; his arm outstretched towards him.

"!!"

Shock appeared in the boy's face as he never expected Asher to make a move at him, what more, to be that fast.

Bang.

The ground in front of the boy sunk right after a purplish sliver of lightning struck it. As for Asher, he appeared towards the side, a few steps away.

"You have some skill." Aurora, who right hand glimmered with purple mana, said as she stared at Asher.

"You too." Asher flatly responded.

"What happened?" James, who was unable to process what had just occurred, glanced towards Noah.

Noah shook his head in response implying that he was also at loss to the situation.

James then glanced over at the next person he believed would know what took place.

"She's fast. Asher underestimated her." Owen said.

"He must have thought that he had struck quickly but in truth, she was on alert from the very beginning. Considering her element is lightning, it would be difficult for Asher to outpace if they both moved at roughly the same time. Coming out unharmed was already impressive." Owen narrowed his eyes as he looked at Aurora with a different look in his eyes.

Truthfully, even he thought that Asher's move would have been successful from the start. Similarly, he had also failed to notice that she was on alert from the very beginning, and by the very beginning, this could mean from when she sensed their presence or right when the boy was speaking, which Owen believed was the most possible opinion.

"You actually attacked me." The young boy, who just happened to come out unharmed widened his eyes in anger.

"Be quiet." Aurora spoke up instead.

"You guys can handle the others. He's mine."

Purple lightning streaked across her hair a bit while her eyes flashed for a second.

"I'm staying out of this." Lyn, the other twin, replied.

Ethan, the young boy who spoke first, calling Asher 'the bastard of the Arnhaunts', was surprised at her statement. Not only him, the other seven in the team including Aurora were astounded.

"...alright." Aurora replied.

Although confused at the development on the enemy side, Asher still maintained his calm and gave out orders.

"Noah, James, take Luna and get out of here. At least, stay about two hundred metres away from here. Melissa, Owen, protect the back-lines and assist them in escaping. I'll handle the rest."

While he didn't talk out loud, Asher's statement did manage to reach the ears of the others after all, they were Guardian stage mages. The 'others' also included his opponents.

"Just you? You think just you alone is enough?" The other girl in the team, the only one apart from the twin princesses, looked flabbergasted.

"You don't need to worry about me." Asher replied.

"Hehe." Aurora laughed before blasting her aura off and letting the entirety of her cultivation show.

Third stage of the Guardian realm.

Thanks to her heavenly constitution and physique as well as the resources easily available to her because of her status, Aurora was able to reach a record high cultivation for a third year student of the First Dawn academy.

In the entire third year division, those who had reached the third stage of the Guardian realm didn't exceed four(excluding Asher of course). Even if one were to consider the entire students since the creation of the First Dawn academy, not many of them managed to reach the third stage of the Guardian realm during their third year; only the best of them did. One should recall that the First Dawn academy was one of geniuses and elites, so those who managed to stand out above the rest were geniuses on an entirely different level.

Asher narrowed his eyes in response, not due to fear, but frustration.

Just like Aurora, Asher was also a third stage Guardian realm mage. Heck, he was on an entirely different level compared to Aurora, not just thanks to his beyond-heavenly constitution but also his knowledge and experiences from his past life. However, due to the circumstances regarding his birth and his family, he couldn't show off strength of that level. He could only reveal his cultivation to be at the peak of the second stage but by relying on his past experience and knowledge, he could hold his own against a normal third stage Guardian mage even with that level of skill.

The problem however, laid in the fact that Asher could only hold his own against a third stage Guardian mage with that level of strength, but not do so with an added six combatants with individual capabilities equivalent to roughly the second stage of the Guardian realm. If he wanted to do so, he would have to use the entirety of his cultivation, the third stage of the Guardian realm, but the future repercussions would definitely not be worth it.

'Might as well use it now then.' Asher thought.

Taking a step forward, he unleashed his aura, putting his cultivation on full display.

Peak Second stage of the Guardian realm.

"Hmph." Aurora snorted at the sight of this.

Normally, even a third stage Guardian mage would be wary of a peak second stage Guardian, after all, the opponent could be said to be infinitesimally close to their stage and possessed enough power to harm them. However, Aurora wasn't a normal third stage Guardian as she possessed dual elements, both of which were offensively powerful. She also possessed a heavenly body which set her apart from the rest.

All these qualities added together made it possible for her to treat a peak second stage Guardian as a regular one, and this included Asher who was rumored to be a null.

Whoosh.

Asher disappeared from the spot almost immediately appearing right in front of Ethan.

"Shit."

Ethan could only say a word before he was forced to react.

Unlike his comrade from before, Ethan was already on alert for any tricks from Asher. Apart from that, the gap between him and Asher, in terms of cultivation, wasn't much as they were both peak second stage Guardian mages. This, as well as the previous point, made it possible for him to dodge Asher's attack.

But Asher knew this as well and had made preparations.

"!!!"

Ethan's eyes widened in shock once he realised that his body couldn't move.

There was no physical restraint or the sort on him. Instead, an intense and weighty pressure came upon him preventing his body from making any movements.

While Ethan was stunned and confused by this development, Asher wasn't. This was because the pressure enveloping Ethan was from him; to be specific, his mental pressure.

Just as it looked like Asher's attack would hit with Ethan unable to move, a shadow appeared by the side.

Boom.

Similar to before, an explosion sounded in front of Ethan with Asher's figure gone from the scene. Instead, it was now Aurora who stood before Ethan. A vexed expression could be clearly noted on her face. Almost immediately though, she disappeared from the spot.

Aurora was disappointed that for two times in a row, she had missed. Asher had managed to do something that no one had since the start of this exercise, or even since Aurora entered the academy.

Asher appeared a couple steps away from Aurora but as he did so, he flinged his arms out sending small ice daggers towards the other members of Aurora's team.

At the same time, Aurora appeared in front of him with her right arm coated in lightning. The lightning extended towards the edge of her hand to form a spear made out of lightning which she gripped with both hands and thrust at Asher.

As for the ice daggers Asher fired at her teammates, Aurora wasn't bothered about them. Her teammates were not your average students. Excluding Ethan and her sister Lyn, the rest were all part of the top 30 rankings. The 11th, 13th, 23rd, 26th and 27th rankers were all in this team.

Ignoring her faith in her teammates due to their rankings, Aurora really had no reason to be bothered about Asher's attack. After Asher's assault on the loud mouth, they had all gone on alert. Following Asher's move on Ethan, the group had more than enough time to prepare themselves for his attacks, so this ice attack of his looked nothing more than a party trick in their eyes. They each utilised various methods to block Asher's move despite its speed and abruptness.

'A pointless attempt.' Aurora smirked as she thrust the lightning spear in her hands at Asher with great strength.

Asher sidestepped and made a lunge to the back, creating even more space between him and Aurora. As he did so, he smiled.

"I win."