Descending Into A Novel

Chapter 130:Zachary’s Fights

Zachary’s fights against the special class members was legendary. For a second year that is.

He was running the gauntlet from the bottom of the special class all the way to the top. Aiming to reach Ellen’s position and tear her down from it.

The rankings above him had stagnated and never moved once in the whole time they were in the academy. So many believed this was a good opportunity to finally gauge the true strength of the special class members and reshuffle the order.

His fight with Lin Qingyi alone was already extremely intense.

The two of them exchanged strike after strike—master of the sword against the first to form the light-attunement since Caspian of the hero party.

In the end, when they were both exhausted and drained. They both bet it all onto one final exchange. An exchange of ultimate moves, win this exchange and they won the fight.

And by a close margin, Zachary barely won. Lin Qingyi collapsing to the ground after their exchange was over and the dust cleared. Leaving only Zachary standing in the destroyed arena.

If the first challenge was already this intense, the next must’ve been insane!

Except the next person he should have faced, Cador. Immediately forfeited, handing over his position as seventh to Zachary without a word.

A bit anticlimactic but that was okay! There was still Lucy!

Although the fight between Zachary and Lucy wasn’t as extreme as the fight between him and Lin Qingyi.

Lucy was someone who focused more on versatility after all, compared to someone like Zachary. She may have been able to produce electricity, control fire, form scales on her body or have extreme flexibility but she couldn’t compare to the others who focused entirely on their singular aspect.

Jack of all trades, master of none was a term that suited Lucy extremely well. Although the ’better then a master of one’ part of that saying was debatable in her case.

Regardless, the fight between Zachary and Lucy unfortunately went as expected. With Zachary winning the fight.

They weren’t real novel characters, but Zachary’s life was really just too suitable for a novel.

Afterwards was Audrina, unfortunately. The result of this one also went about as expected.

Audrina wasn’t a frontline fighter after all, as an assassin. Fighting in close quarters combat was actually the worst option for her, so she was always in a permanent disadvantage in fights no matter what. Even if she tried to remedy it, she was merely showing up her weaknesses. She couldn’t fully get rid of this shortcoming.

She couldn’t even use her demonic energy to the fullest, doing so would reveal her identity as a demon after all.

So when the match immediately started and Audrina went into hiding. The spectators that thought they were about to witness an extreme fight were disappointed.

Because for the next eleven hours and forty two minutes (yes, there was no time limit as long as both participants were still active). Literally nothing happened.

The moon was already in the sky, and they had to turn on the lights for the arena just so everyone could see.

Only in the final minute, did Audrina finally launch an attack at a mentally exhausted Zachary.

The result was a massive bloody gash along his chest and arm, as well as a stab wound on his leg. Each injury delivering a paralytic poison into his body.

But Zachary was still able to move, the poison took a while for its effects to kick in—and in that split moment when she revealed herself to attack him. He struck her.

Another victory for Zachary. This time, he suffered the biggest wound yet.

Nearly twelve entire hours all for it to end within a minute, needless to say their fight was largely disappointing to the general audience of the academy.

Whatever, there was still Thomas and the others. They were real fighters and would definitely provide a good show!

The fight between Zachary a d Thomas was in fact epic, minus a small problem.

As Zachary’s light and Thomas’s holy energy met for dominance, the resulting clashes were so intensely bright—it might as well have been the equivalent of throwing several flash bangs directly into the eyes of the audience.

Hearing the sounds of metal sparking, swords clashing and battle roars made it all the worse.

So what if the fight was cool? All they could see was a massive blob of light that occasionally separated into Zachary and Thomas taking a breather.

With his phantom wings and halo, as well as a longsword. Thomas’s current appearance also drew out a lot of cheers.

Was it due to the image of him as a warrior? Or because he was all sweaty and his clothes clung to his body? It was impossible to say.

With Thomas acting as a shield and Zachary as a sword. His offense was often failing to match Thomas’s defense. Out of a dozen attacks, none could truly hit him. Only give him a small scratch here and there that healed within moments.

Whenever he tried to use a more powerful attack and overextended himself. Thomas was there to swiftly punish him, countering with heavy swings of his own.

Zachary’s body slid backwards. His own posture faltering slightly as he failed to properly execute his Arts.

Compared to his other fights. This fight against Thomas felt more like slamming his body into a solid brick wall.

Despite the difficulty however, he still smiled.

Because for the past few days, Zachary felt himself make massive progress!

These fights against the others were truly helpful to him. The experience alone would have made it worth for him, let alone the quest reward he would receive.

His sword, his Arts, his mana. Everything had improved substantially. How could he not be happy?

He felt that even if he lost, it would still all be worth it.

Not that he planned to lose.

Jumping backwards, the light dimmed enough for his silhouette to be visible. Preparing for another attack to break through Thomas’s defense.

Seeing the familiar stance, Thomas immediately moved to interrupt it. Sending out bolts of holy energy as he dashed towards him.

The bolts missed him narrowly, digging into the ground behind him and leaving small fist sized holes.

Again, before Zachary could unleash his attack. Thomas swung his longsword at him. The single attack containing enough power to cause the ground to spiderweb if he missed.

Rather then aborting his Arts and blocking it however. Zachary chose to instead let go of his sword!

Instead of dropping to the ground, the sword simply shifted its shape. Transforming from a long and sharp sword into a translucent dome around him.

The system held lots of valuable goodies, and this sword was one of them. A grade four weapon that was matched perfectly to his current level.

With the sword now turned shield defending him, a new sword of light appeared in his hands.

With Thomas still right in front of him, there was no escape.

The flash of light that occured next was so bright the academy’s spectator protection magic kicked in in order to prevent the spectators from going blind.

By the time the light, and dust cleared. Zachary was seen standing over a collapsed Thomas. His wings and halo gone—a clear sign of his unconsciousness.

Another win for Zachary, at the rate he was going. Getting first place was merely a matter of time.

But there still another three contestants to defeat.

After Thomas was Noelle, at third place. Her strength was roughly equivalent to Thomas, but she also now knew a lot about Zachary.

She knew her own challenge declaration from him would come soon. So she prepared for it all that she could with the resources at her disposal.

Watching his attack patterns, his small habits, getting the optimal amount of rest and training. Noelle made sure she was as prepared as could be.

And when the challenge declaration finally did arrive she was ready for it.

With her suit of silver armour, she rushed towards Zachary with her spear—starlight glimmering at her every step along the way.

She was confident enough in her defence to protect against most of Zachary’s attacks. Whenever it happened, he was almost guaranteed to start holding back more in order to conserve energy in order to later break through in one swift motion.

And she was right, upon their weapons clashing together. Zachary quickly realized his current strikes weren’t enough, and started holding back to conserve mana.

This was the moment to start!

Noelle intensified her attacks. Thrusts, sweeps, occasionally utilizing it like a staff in extreme close-range combat.

Faced with these attacks, Zachary decisively stopped holding back. Another move predicted by Noelle.

Both of their attacks started speeding up, ramping up continuously with every spark that flew.

Clang!

Sword thrust was knocked away, every sweep was blocked. Every lunge and every spin was parried.

The first one to break would lose, they both understood this clearly.

Both of them ramped up their attacks even more. Faster, stronger, discarding any useless movements as their bodies moved before their minds could even think of a response.

Compared to the fight between Zachary and the others, this fight felt more like a demonstration of their weapons rather then their Arts. A clash of sword against spear, light against starlight.

Noelle shot out a cone-shapes blast of starlight from her spear, before immediately using the butt of it to strike Zachary who had closed the distance. Similar to how a dagger was used in reverse-grip. Except the handle was a lot longer.

Gritting his teeth, Zachary’s sword which was in its shield dome form transformed back into its sword form. Whirling in his hands as he lunged again, aiming to close the distance. With his shorter reach against her spear, he was at her mercy if he tried to fight in her range.

’Cleaving Strike!’

’Astral Cutter!’

The two of them yelled out the names of their attacks in their heads.

Zachary’s sword, lifted up high. Fell down in such a fast motion it blurred. Light surrounding it to the point it looked solid.

Noelle, already aware of the attack Zachary was using. Immediately responded in kind. A sharp crescent-shaped blade of starlight formed on her spear as she performed another sweeping motion at his chest.

Just like before, Zachary’s fights were showing a clear pattern. Near the end, before he could get too tired and lose via attrition. He chose to bet it all on one decisive attack.

The two different types of light clashed, sparks from their weapons flew in the air.

But Zachary’s weapon was a grade four weapon, whereas Noelle’s spear was something created via her Asteria Armory Arts.

Suffering such a blow weakened the spear to the point it snapped into two halves.

Noelle immediately tried to reform another spear in her hands, but Zachary moved in. His sword hitting her armour in the shoulder.

Clang!

Thanks to her armor, it absorbed most of the blow. Preventing her from suffering any bleeding, but it only reduced the impact she took. Some of the force still managed to pass through!

’Rising Slash!’

’Astral Fall!’

The two of them got into a stance again, both of them nearly reaching their limits. Considering they were only at the first tempering, their performance was something far from the average.

Zachary’s sword moved vertically upwards. As if to cut her in half even despite her armour. While Noelle’s spear moved down,as if aiming to smash him into the ground.

Their weapons clashed again, Noelle’s spear breaking upon impact. It was only natural, she had created it in the barest amount of time and mana. Compared to the first one she created at the start, it was weaker in every way, shape or form.

With her spear gone again, Zachary’s sword executed a swift thrust before she could recover.

Right before it pierced her chest however, it immediately froze in place.

The academy had detected the danger and stopped it before it could cause any harm.

Zachary had won.