Chapter XCIX - Ceremonial Catastrophe (part 2)

I lifted one finger and put on my biggest smirk.

"I… will become the number one.

So, whoever you are, senior, junior--Though that's not possible since I'm the junior... Feel free to challenge me and we'll see if we can serve a spot in any of the arena.

All of you snorty nobles that can only pick your nose and enjoy your daily lives, thinking that being rich equals unbeatable… go ahead. 

I'll accept your challenge... at any time.

That will be all."

I finished, and I stepped down from the podium. But as I walked down, things started to go loud over there.

"What the hell, Junior!!!"

"You really think you're that good!? Come face me!!"

"Who is this brat!?! Come face me right now!!!"

The teachers immediately became overwhelmed by the sudden hatred in the morning as I kept on walking. 

The headmaster was... shocked. His eyes are wide open, and his mouth is also wide open. I chuckled a little when I saw him, and I folded my arms as I walked past him.

"Don't look so surprised, oh 'great' headmaster. You wanted this."

"I... didn't expect you to do it so openly."

"I thought this could work as the best way. And the most interesting way."

After giving him my reasoning, the headmaster let out a tired sigh. I left him and returned to my spot next to Milly, where I found the students were still shouting things at me.

Damn, I'm famous! They liked me so much!!

When I arrived next to Milly, I found Milly staring at me confusingly.

"You planned on making enemies?"

She asked as soon as I arrived, and I lifted my shoulders as I stood beside her once more.

"Before I came here, I already planned on becoming stronger. Certainly, this is just one of my methods. Now, I get to have endless amounts of training partners."

I gave Milly a thumbs up, and she laughed quite silently.

"Hehem... You are very interesting."

Milly commented, and I only turned my gaze back to the audience that was staring at me. The headmaster is already back at his podium, trying to kill the fire that is burning the ceremony's atmosphere. Even so, all the students still had their eyes turned to me.

I just waved my hand at a group of third years not too far from me, and I seem to piss off even more.

The ceremony ended around fifteen minutes after that. Milly, as my bodyguard, followed me and escorted me until my room, where I will be changing into a training suit. 

Why a training suit, one may ask?

Because I will be heading back out to face the mob.

Milly will be there, as supervisor. The student council prohibits any killing or anything that could cause permanent injuries. They also had reserved the arena at the gymnasium as the spot for the challenge battles, and I'm glad that we are having a pretty sizable arena.

The gymnasium is similarly made to a very normal training hall that existed back in my world. It's very wide, and has hundreds of seats available above the arena. I'm just a bit disappointed because the floor is made of rock and not dirt, which was what made the Mazino's adventurers arena so special.

And just like that, I am faced against a hundred angry students.

I know I'm prepared for this… but this is still too much. There's like a hundred of them, and they all looked scary and angry.

Most of them are seniors, others are from the same year as me. Most of them are female, and I can probably guess why.

I stood in the middle of the arena while everyone else was on the sides. I glared at them one by one, and I noticed how they all hesitate to think how we should do this. It was taking quite a while, and I decided I should be the one to decide.

So, I clapped my hand really hard.

"So! How should we do this?"

I acted like I was thinking, and then finally deciding on an answer.

"I know! What about all of you came at me one by one. And if just one person managed to beat me, I'll apologize in the next ceremony!"

I said aloud, and they all heard me very well. They all shouted some terrible stuff at me (holy shit, am I really that mean?), saying I shouldn't get cocky.

"Then, I'll go first."

One of the seniors with green hair and slanted eyes stepped forward into the arena. His muscles are quite well made, and his fist is covered in bandages. He's the type to do physical training, and his build really reminded me of a Jrake-type. Just a lot younger and with green hair instead of bald.

"All right, then. Let's do this one by one and end it quickly. I have a class at eight."

I took on a fighting stance. I didn't show my full pressure just yet since that will just scare them. I wanted to have a little fun too, and hiding myself serves that purpose.

The other guy enchanted his whole body. And from his pressure, let's see... Blue rank? Maybe lower Yellow rank. Not bad, not bad…

Magical pressure speaking, that is. If he was put into a blue ranking mission, I wonder how well he can do.

"Yo, that's Jiman from class A! He's a third year, why the hell would he move forward!?"

"Y-Yeah! You're right! He's one of the top students from the third year!"

Talks go around about this senior coming from the spectators. Apparently he is in his third year, and one of the strongest ones too.

"Don't let me down, little girl!"

The third year senior, Jiman, said aloud to me as he lifted both his fists. I only did a similar pose while grinning at him.

"I should be the one saying that to you!"

"Kheh!!"

Jiman accepted my challenge. He saw me forming a stance, marking that I am ready. As soon as he decided, he dashed forward.

FWOOSSSHHH!!!!!

Jiman moved forward, and I admit that his move is incredibly fast. But, I have yet to see his magic powers, so I became careful at what he might do.

There are tons of other students wanting to fight me, so I'm better off hiding my abilities at first. It will get revealed later on, but for now... let's go fully physical.

Jiman threw a punch, and I simply dodge. Exactly where I dodged, his foot is already flying towards it.

BAKK!!!

But, he left his gut open.

Jiman got pushed ten meters backwards from a single punch from my left hand. He wrinkled on the ground like a cold puppy while his hands were holding his stomach.

"What's wrong? Got a stomach-ache?"

I taunted immediately, which also received a reaction from everyone.

"Y-You!!!"

Everyone watched in silence as Jiman slowly moved back up. They had no idea what just happened, but the senior looks like he is going serious.

Jiman started using his magic. He lifted both of his hands, and a giant wind ball spun at high speed on top of his head. That ball looks like it's the size of a carriage. It looks scary, not gonna lie.

The wind force was able to affect the spectators, because some of them are agitated from the wind force.

"Take this!!"

WOOOSHHH!!!

The wind ball dissipates before it can be thrown. 

Jiman's mouth and eyes are wide open as his body slowly bends. 

Bending… from my punch.

"You let your guard down~."

VWOOOSHH!!!!

BAAARRRR!!!!!!!

In an instant, he flew all the way towards the wall. His crash created a massive crater, and his body is sticking on the wall in the middle.

Everyone else turned their gaze at me, who was just wiping my hand on my training suit that the academy gave. They had no idea what just happened. All they know is that I threw the punch while Jiman was still powering up.

That's simply a dick move, but why should I care?

"Boo!! Cheater!!"

"You should have let him finish!!"

All of these boos are just stupid...

"Why would I do that? Let him finish, I mean?"'

My mumbles were ignored, because the next challenger approached. 

One by one, the challenge continues. It started with the third year seniors, and then some of the second years as well as the ones from my year. Most of them are seniors, but the only thing similar about them is how they all flew out of the arena in the end.

I didn't even have to use my magic for this. I can just enchant my body and dance. This is way too easy.

Fighting people is somewhat difficult because they have the ability to think. But, fighting a high ranked beast is multiple times harder. Not only does the beast have intelligence, but it also has animal instincts to support it. 

And after fighting hundreds of high ranked beasts, I can say that fighting people seemed to be extremely trivial.

Towards the end, it's almost eight, and not a single soul has defeated me, or even forced me to use magic.

I feel so powerful…

Why have I not done this a long time ago?