An Extra's POV

After all, among the next contestants was yet another one of the Class 1-A students; the last one competing, in fact.

"Round twenty-five of the preliminaries… involving Lan\'griz, Ras\'ta, and Ad\'oni..."

However, he wasn\'t the only star of the show. Nôv(el)B\\\\jnn

"I-isn\'t that Lan\'griz?"

"The genius of Stage 3?"

"He\'s the youngest of their class, yet he is said to be the best."

"Ohh! I heard it from my daughter. Every girl in school has some sort of crush on him!"

"I want to root for the Stage 1 kid, but… this is just unfair, isn\'t it?"

"He doesn\'t stand a chance…"

That was the general consensus of the sensible watchers of the match. There were a few, of course, who still held out hope for the underdog.

But, they all knew that his victory was an unrealistic expectation.

He was up against two Stage Threes, one of which was going to graduate very soon and have a sure internship in the Capital.

The distance in skill and talent was clear enough.

The contestants themselves should have known this as well, yet Ad\'oni was completely calm as he came to the stage.

Even as he took his position among the other two seniors, he remained unfazed in the slightest. He simply stood still and waited for the match to begin.

"Just out of courtesy, I plan on ending this rather quickly. So, if you don\'t resist or struggle, it\'ll all be over before you can blink." Lan\'griz spoke as he looked directly at Ad\'oni.

The boy said nothing.

His golden hair simply danced softly as he stood still and waited for the referee to announce the start of the match.

The last senior on stage also said nothing, but his expression already made it clear that he had resigned himself to fate. He would have surrendered, but since Lan\'griz wanted to look good in front of the audience, he needed two opponents to serve as his punching bag.

He planned on making quite a show.

"Out of courtesy? Don\'t make me laugh." The condescending voice of his junior shookLan\'griz to his core the moment he heard it.

\'Is he talking to me?\' He wondered.

"You only want to end things quickly so I don\'t have any chance to make any proper move against you."

Lan\'griz felt rage rise from within him the moment he heard even more of Ad\'oni\'s words.

The boy wasn\'t wrong.

It was true that Lan\'griz was a little on edge and wary of his junior. Who wouldn\'t be after seeing what the other students of Class 1-A had done?

He had also gotten a warning from his Class Instructor not to underestimate his opponent, and to end the match as soon as possible. All of these factors made him decide to swiftly finish things rather than play with his prey the way he liked to.

\'He saw through me, huh? Sharp brat…\' Lan\'griz gritted his teeth as he glared at Ad\'oni. \'It doesn\'t matter, though. I can just—\'

"Don\'t worry, though…" Ad\'oni interrupted his thoughts by speaking, once again resorting to a condescending tone to pass the message across.

"... I\'ll be ending the match even faster."

"Why, you—!" Lan\'griz had reached the limit of what he could stand.

The boy\'s impudence had reached the very heights of what he was able to swallow, and he simply couldn\'t wait for the match to start.

\'I\'ll tear you from limb to limb! I\'ll humiliate you so much that you\'ll wish you were dead!\'

Lan\'griz licked his lips as he smiled evilly at the target. There was no longer any room for mercy or hesitation in his heart—just sheer bloodlust.

\'You\'re going to be forced to drop out once I\'m done with you!\'

"BEGIN!"

~WHOOOSH!~

A flash of golden light suddenly sparked within the podium, like a strike of lightning, and once the flickers stopped… the match was over.

Lan\'griz and Ras\'ta were both on the ground—passed out—and Ad\'oni stood at the opposite end of the position where he started.

"Huu…" He leaked out a small sigh, steam proceeding from his lips.

Flashes of golden electricity still crackled around him, but nothing else could be seen—no weapon, no remnant of a Spell or any extra thing.

This was simply the product of raw power.

Nothing more… nothing less.

The audience was silent for the following few seconds after witnessing the end of the fight. They were not only shocked, but confused as well.

Were they supposed to cheer for the winner, or pity the losers? How exactly did the boy called Ad\'oni win? They couldn\'t decipher it.

And so, after a few seconds of confusion and utter stupefaction, they resorted to the only rational thing they could think of.

"WOOOHOOOOOO!!!"

The thunderous cry of the crowd seemingly caused the air to vibrate.

Still, despite the loud ovation he received, Ad\'oni still had no emotion on his face. He simply accepted his victory and left the stage to sit among the victors. Nothing else mattered to him.

*****************

"Fine… I\'ll admit it. Your kids are good."

D\'aru sounded deflated as soon as Ad\'oni was declared the winner. Just like the audience, he had taken a few seconds to process what he had just witnessed.

Unlike them, though, he clearly saw everything that happened.

\'He moved incredibly fast, grabbed both of their faces with his palms, and sent them crashing on the ground, all within a second, before walking a few steps away from them.\'

The speed and strength needed to achieve such a feat was unreal.

"Yeah… Ad\'oni just doesn\'t know how to hold back." O\'jog grinned as he watched the match\'s conclusion. "I could say the same about Luc\'ia, but she seems more interested in having fun than anything else."

The other two had to nod.

"The only one holding back so much is R\'ai. That\'s what makes him so interesting…"

Initially, D\'aru and L\'ester could not understand their leader\'s fixation on mere students of Stage 1—especially a nobody that just joined the Academy.

But they understood better after the demonstration before them.

These ones were strong.

*

*

*

[A/N]

Thanks for reading.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I\'ll try to speed things up as quickly as I can. After all, there are some sweet things up ahead…