The Extra of The Lunerra

Adrian was even more dangerous than Lucia. He didn't even use his mana properly, he just crushed his opponents with his technique and sheer power.

And in this way, after the duo he crushed in his first duel, he crushed two more groups in threes.

He didn't even break a sweat. His eyes almost never left the side where Jack and Cassandra were... without focusing on his duel, as if to emphasize to them who they were facing.

Finally, he defeated another duo, both fourth years, without difficulty, simply by toying with them.

With each duel he won, the facial expressions of everyone watching him changed.

Honestly... this arena was already over. Even with Adrian and Lucia's performance, it was clear how much power I had. Even if I refused to fight the next duel, things would be in my favor.

But I didn't want to stop here. What I wanted to show, my purpose was much more than that.

"Adrian... thank you, that's enough."

Adrian turned toward me and looked at me with a slightly... disappointed expression. He wanted to stay longer, he hadn't even shown anything yet.

But as I said, that was enough. And even if I didn't say it again, he understood it from my look.

He just dropped his spear in the air and put it in his inventory. Then he walked over to me and stood right next to Lucia.

Both of them acted almost like my bodyguards. Their gaze was sharp, their posture straight. They could have gone much further in this arena if I hadn't stopped them...

"Now..."

I grabbed my cane and walked slowly toward the center of the arena.

Jack and Cassandra's expressions were quite bad. They clearly knew how dire their situation was.

They had thought they could simply end it here instead of dragging things out... but they had found themselves right in the trap.

And now, it was my turn.

"They're pretty good, aren't they? It doesn't matter much when you have friends like that... just the two of them are enough to open the whole way for me, after all."

I smiled, turning slightly toward the stands.

"But I have to prove myself too as a 'leader'... if I hide behind those standing next to me and don't do something myself, I'll get a bad name, I'll be a coward... right?"

And I slowly turned my eyes back to the other two 'leaders', my implication clear.

Jack and Cassandra looked at each other. I could guess exactly what they were thinking.

If we take him down overwhelmingly fast, we can save face and then move on.

That's exactly what they were thinking.

So I decided to give them a little push.

"Come, both of you. I don't think we need to drag this night out any longer. Your choice, of course. If you're going to keep sending others, that's also fine."

There was silence between us for a short while. And at the end of that silence... they both started walking slowly toward the center of the arena.

As they approached me, a rapier appeared in Cassandra's hands, and a shield and sword in Jack's.

But they were not the only ones walking toward the arena. Behind them, two more people slowly stepped forward, both from the high ranks of the fourth-years... The third and seventh, if I remember correctly.

"If you're so confident, you should be able to stand by your words... right?"

I was silent for a few seconds at first, staring into Cassandra's eyes, which shone with a cold, purple glow. Then... a rather broad smile appeared on my face.

"You're right, absolutely right. What did I say... what did I say... Was it that you can all come if you want?"

I gently reached deep into my mind, to the memories... the emotions. A purple glow faintly filled my vision, power flowed into my crippled body. My mana flow gradually improved, returning to what it should be.

But I did not use it completely. Only enough to make me able to fight, no more, no less. To keep me going for longer.

"Yeah, it was something like that. So... come. I am waiting."

I poured a little mana into my cane and it glowed blue, then slowly changed shape. It was a relatively long sword, the gray blade almost eighty centimeters long. A darker line ran down the center, part of a system that would make the sword much more powerful than it would otherwise be when wrapped in mana, and around it were runes that supported it. The hilt was leather, a strange but comfortable one.

It was the sword the dwarves gave me, which was quite good… so good that if it was an artifact the system gave as a reward, its rank would be S grade for sure.

After my sword appeared in my hands, my opponents finally made their first move. And it was the duo behind Jack and Cassandra.

One of them had a strange-looking curved sword in his hand. The other looked like she was going to use her fists.

Their posture wasn't bad, their movements showed that they had been well-trained.

However...

They were not enough.

I didn't do much, to be honest. I didn't move faster than them, I didn't apply excessive force to my attack. I just inhaled a deep breath, then poured the wild mana of the Ambiguous Flow into my sword.

The dark line on the sword's long, gray blade suddenly began to glow. The runes around it glowed at the same time. Then the image of the sword blurred. But it didn't stop there.

The blur quickly spread from my sword into the surroundings, into the atmosphere... and that's when I found my sword-

wielding opponent in front of me.

I didn't panic, I didn't even look at his body properly. I simply swung my own sword at his, shifting his center of gravity by tilting it slightly to repel it. Then I stepped back and the blurring from my sword into the atmosphere began to change.

It was at this moment that the one with the fist appeared next to her friend. But before she could make her attack, her eyes widened at what she encountered. There were four blurs in front of her, all resembling my sword, and four attacks, each coming at her from different directions.

Inevitably, she had to take a step back. She wasn't sure which attack was real.

I widened the smile on my face and muttered in a calm voice.

"First rule of the battlefield: never focus only on what is in front of you."

I turned around quickly, but kept my previous calm expression. I swung my sword at a wide angle, and with that, it hit something hard. A... shield. Jack's shield.

"Attacks always come from where you least expect them."

I used the false blurs to attack Jack this time. But he wasn't alone... he had allies.

A barrier of water suddenly surrounded Jack, each of my attacks backfiring. I felt two intense waves of mana coming from behind me. While Cassandra was protecting Jack, the other two were preparing to attack me... and this time, they were using mana too.

And the mana they used was quite dense. Unnecessarily so.

Not only that, but even the mana barrier protecting Jack was carrying too much mana.

"Second rule of the battlefield: always use your resources as if they are almost exhausted."

I gave my mana a tiny tap and the wind currents around me stirred. A strong gust of wind blew behind me, followed by two of the blurs I had been using as fake attacks.

"If you are the first to run out of mana, you will die."

I gave the wind currents a sudden burst of speed. What had been blowing behind me like a calm breeze suddenly became fierce, like that of a hurricane... but since I was using an instant burst of mana, I wasn't really using my reserves.

And so I attacked the water barrier protecting Jack again.

"Third rule of the battlefield: never underestimate your opponent, no matter who they are."

A blue glow appeared for a moment on the blur that was my real sword, a glow that resembled a flame... and then I brought it down.

The barrier of water dissolved in an instant. All the mana that held it together dissipated into the atmosphere. Jack's body was in front of me.

"They always have a trump card."

The blue flames formed a wall behind me, a barrier against surprise attacks from the others.

Jack quickly pulled his shield in front of him, but I ignored its presence. I didn't even swing my sword. I simply stepped in front of him, placed my hand on his shield, and looked over it. His deep blue eyes were up above me in fear. I simply smiled.

I pulled his shield toward me, trying to throw him off balance and deprive him of his shield. But Jack was quicker than me, as soon as he realized what I was going to do, he deliberately released his shield and stepped back. His eyes were not on me, but behind me.

I quickly swung the shield behind me, the sound of metal on metal echoing in my ears. But it wasn't just one person attacking me.

Cassandra was right behind me, the one whose attack I had blocked. At the same time, the other two were attacking me from my right and left.

The ground beneath my feet suddenly froze, the ice spreading around me. Then countless spikes rose around me, with me in the center.

A gray glow appeared around Cassandra. Then, in an instant, she disappeared.

It was so sudden that it was as if she had... teleported.

And that's exactly what it was. It was a short-range teleportation skill, which Cassandra had.

As soon as I noticed her shadow falling on me, I set up a Mana Barrier around me. And the moment Cassandra's rapier touched my barrier, the whole barrier trembled tremendously. Cassandra didn't stop, thrusting her rapier countless times into the same spot on the barrier.

The barrier had barely been formed for a second when it shattered into pieces. I was Cassandra's next target when I felt a wave of mana coming from behind me, and then I saw daggers of ice all around me. It was one of Jack's skills, he was back in action.

Cassandra's rapier was about to reach me, her eyes glittering with fury.

The other two students were preparing their own spells, ready to attack me at any time.

They had me in the middle.

And it was less than a second before they attacked.

It looked like the end had come.