Brian vs Connor

After lunch, Thomas, Brian, Amanda, and Annabelle walked to the training arena. As they walked, Brian reflected, "He's an ally of humanity, right? Although his species is unknown, I don't think he would be our enemy."

Thomas, realizing that Brian was distracted, asked, "Hey, are you okay?"

Amanda intervened, "He's just like that, there are times when he's in the moon world."

Brian laughed in embarrassment and said, "I'm worried about today's duel, apparently Connor will be my opponent."

Everyone was surprised, and Annabelle asked, "Connor, rank 2?"

Brian confirmed, "Yeah."

Amanda encouraged him, "Don't be afraid, you can handle someone like him easily. Besides, he deserves a good spanking, right?"

Everyone started laughing, and Brian said, "I think you're right, hahaha."

After a period of walking, they reached their destination. As they entered the training arena, Thomas thought, "Who will be my opponent? Whatever it is, I think I can handle it. Even if I can't use all the techniques in the manual, I still have confidence in winning!"

To use all the techniques in the manual, one had to be at least class S. If used at a lower classification, the body would be destroyed.

Jade, seeing that all the students were present, put a smile on her face and said, "I'm happy none of you are late. So form a line, one next to the other. When I say the names, you go to the middle of the arena and go to battle. Any questions?"

Nobody had any doubts, so she had the students line up. After a while, she called the first students to fight, "Brian Mallet and Connor Lothbrok."

All those present were surprised and began to whisper, "Connor? Of the Lothbrok family? Aren't they the greatest guild in the world?"

Their surprise was understandable. The Lothbrok family had built an empire from scratch using only brute force. They had the strongest awakenings in the world, and all of them were cruel to nature to awaken strong, attack-oriented innate abilities.

Even though Connor was at rank 2, they had confidence that he would win and steal the top spot at rank D.

(Explanation of how the ranks work: The world has several awakened ones, but they only rank the 1000 strongest in the world. Since Brian, Connor, Amanda, Elizabeth, and Annabelle are occupying the top positions, they are known as the "golden generation." Despite having other awakened ones in the top positions, such as 6th place, they are all over 30 years old.)

Then Brian, wielding a katana, and Connor, holding two daggers, walked to the middle of the arena. Both faced each other, and Jade warned them about the rules, "It's going to be a one-on-one fight. You can use all your powers. I'll interfere if I think it's necessary. Got it?"

The two said, "Yea!"

Jade left the arena, and the two started to walk away. Jade warned them again, "Try to fight using fair play." She looked at Brian and asked, "Are you ready?" Brian looked at her and said in a serious tone, "Yea!" She then looked at Connor and asked, "Are you ready?" Connor, facing Brian, said, "Yea!" He looked at the two students in the middle of the arena and smiled, then said aloud, "Start!"

Immediately, both invested against each other, generating a shock field. Brian moved away and, using his skill "Absolute Control (Wind)," bathed his sword with his innate skill and made a vertical cut, like a shot. The cut hit Connor, who was just over 10 meters away, but Connor easily dodged and charged forward, making a cut that was capable of leaving a huge scar in the arena.

Connor advanced using his innate skill "Absolute Control (Shadows)." His whole body was bathed by the element of shadows, and Connor disappeared. Brian, seeing that situation, knew he was at a disadvantage. The only way to reveal such invisibility would be with the element of light. So, Brian kept his sword in its scabbard, bent over slightly, and held the sword hilt ready to unsheathe his sword while relying only on his senses and reflexes to parry the attack.

(Brian is the only human in the world who has more than one innate ability, and in order not to arouse suspicion, he only uses "Absolute Control (Wind).")

Silence took over the arena. Everyone present was anxious for the attack to come. They already imagined that the fight would end with Connor's next attack, but they were wrong to underestimate Brian, who had the manual of the greatest samurai that ever existed. Brian closed his eyes and concentrated.

Suddenly, Connor appeared behind Brian and attacked him. But Brian did not move and let the attack come. When he got very close, Brian drew his sword with both fists and made a diagonal cut. The cut was able to divide Connor in half, but suddenly, Connor's body turned into a black liquid and fell to the ground. When Brian realized that he was just a clone, it was too late. Connor appeared in his blind spot and plunged the dagger into his chest, aiming at his heart. But Brian, using his reflexes to the fullest, managed to turn his body so that the target hit was his shoulder. Quickly, bathing his sword to his innate ability "Absolute Control (Wind)," he made a horizontal cut in Connor that was in front of him. But Connor barely managed to dodge, receiving only a slash to the abdomen.

They both pulled away and, facing each other, said mentally at the same time, 'Did he manage to dodge that?'

The reason for the surprise of both was that the two received blows at close range, which would normally be lethal, but both managed to dodge and avoid danger.

Brian wasted no time, using a technique from his manual, which consisted of using the entire wind element in his body and the tip of his sword. Connor, seeing the circulation of mana around Brian, decided to follow the same strategy, circling all his shadow element around his body and in their daggers. Brian and Connor invested against each other. Brian drew his sword as if it was a lunge towards Connor. In response, Connor used the strongest technique he could use, using his innate skill.

Leaving Connor's feet suddenly, as if it were a tsunami, his shadow element began to leak and swallow the arena. Brian, seeing his situation, used all his mana to reach incomparable speed and reach Connor. All those present wondered, "How will this end?" Seeing Brian fighting on equal terms with a member of the Lothbrok family was surreal, but Jade, seeing the duel, already knew who would win.

Connor looked at his tsunami of shadows that would engulf everything in its path as he mentally thought, 'It's over... There's no way anyone can deal with this!' But what he didn't expect was for Thomas to pierce his tsunami as if it were a jet heading towards the target. When Connor realized the attack was coming, he didn't have enough speed to dodge. Brian walked past Connor and stopped just over 5 meters away, his sword bathed in blood.

Everyone in the arena was silent. Seeing such a scene was surreal, and suddenly Connor knelt down vomiting blood. Jade, seeing the result, said smiling, "The duel is over, Brian Mallet was the winner!!!" Immediately, the arena was filled with applause and shouts of joy. Jade said, interrupting them, "Ally, take care of Connor." Ally, who was called in to treat students if they were injured during the clashes, spoke as she carried Connor, "All right."

Thomas, seeing such a scene unfold before him, mentally said, 'Can I fight like this too?' Cutting through his thoughts was Amanda, who said, "Didn't I? I knew Brian would win!" Annabelle overheard and replied in shock, "They're amazing... And to think they're only 16."

Brian left the arena and went to Amanda, Thomas, and Annabelle and said, "How did I do?" But before any of them could answer, Jade said again in a loud voice, "Thomas Junior and Elizabeth Holmes!" Thomas heard his name and walked towards the arena.

[...]

(I'm going a little fast with the fights... let me know if you like it)