Beatrice wasn't expecting much from the trainee wielding a hook blade. She just saw him flopping around when fighting against the dummies, then she decided to give him a bit of advice.
Little did she know he was going to attempt ascending the ranks a few days later. "What is he thinking...?" she pondered.
"I challenge Ragnar Everstoke." Her eyes widened. He wasn't aiming for the silver rank; he was aiming for gold.
"What is up with him?" She folded her hands. Not that she cared, anyways.
But secretly she wondered, was it because he wanted to be by her side that he trained so hard? The question lingered.
But she shrugged it off.
Zach faced off against Ragnar, wielding his twin hook blades and a bit of grit.
Ragnar held his sheathed sword, getting into a lounging stance.
"I see, you're a 'less talking—more fighting' kind of guy." Zach positioned himself.
"I don't get the point of dialogue during battle," Ragnar muttered.
"Then let our blades do the talking." Zach smirked, holding his wooden weapon.
The bronze knights weren't allowed to wield real weapons; only silver ranks and above.
The duo dashed; Ragnar raised his sheathed blade, swinging down with crushing force. Zach anticipated that, using his wooden sword to parry the attack.
By now Zach had trained his eyes well enough to see incoming attacks of that speed. He shifted his stance to a lounge, lowering his center of gravity and shifting all his weight into his front foot.
Whoosh! With a single leap, Zach exploded with movement towards the calm Ragnar.
Ragnar threw a quick slash, and Zach dodged it, stepping back. "This is boring." Ragnar held the hilt of his blade and, in one fluid movement, unsheathed the weapon.
"From henceforth, I'll fight with what I've got." Ragnar's eyes flashed. Zach's eyes widened; at that split second, he could sense it.
"Bloodlust?"
_Boom_ Ragnar's figure turned into a blur, and instantly Zach dashed in too, shocking the onlookers.
"Wait, that's not right...?"
"How is he...?" Beatrice stared in amazement as Zach's wooden hook blades parried Ragnar's arcs of liquid silver.
Zach gritted his teeth, spinning one blade outward to deflect; the other snapped forward like a speeding viper.
The area exploded with movement as Ragnar cranked up the speed, moving like an acrobat and a master swordsman.
He hopped over Zach, swinging the blade as Zach raised his hook blades, parrying the gold student's attack perfectly.
The instructors watched this spectacle intrigued. "What's even more impressive is the fact he's using a wooden weapon." Gale's eyes squinted.
Zach dashed at Ragnar. During his training these past few days, he could do it. Zach gritted his teeth, activating his skill.
Zach wasn't only training his physical body, he was also training the shadow morph, if he activates the attack for long periods of time he suffers. So he came with a way, to just activate the skill in short bursts, rapidly shiftimg forms, and with that, he was able mauever around the battlefield with the form of a snake.
Shadow Morph.
His body curled into a high-speed serpent, slipping under Ragnar's legs.
Ragnar's eyes widened; the instructors' eyes widened, and all the students' jaws dropped.
"He... he's reached the Earth rank!!???" Zach reverted to his human form in an instant, using his hook blades to trap Ragnar's feet.
Zach gritted and pulled with all his might. The sudden spectacle shocked Ragnar, and he couldn't turn back in time.
Ragnar twisted into the air, but with a decisive thrust, he jammed his blade into the concrete, changing the course of his fall, landing on his feet a few meters away.
"You..." He muttered, surprised. "You're an Earth rank?"
Zach didn't waste his breath; quickly switching into his lounge stance, he bolted towards Ragnar in a burst of speed.
Zach's body turned black; feathers morphed as he shifted into a hawk, but it was for only a fraction of a second.
But that was enough to launch Zach ten feet into the air. He reverted back, black feathers dancing gracefully as he descended with both weapons in hand.
Ragnar raised his blade to block, getting into the defensive stance.
He spinned horizontally, gathering momentum, slamming his hook blades into Ragnar's sword. The wood snapped under pressure, but Zach kept going.
Ragnar knelt due to the sheer force.
He placed his left foot on the ground and, with a spinning movement, delivered a roundhouse kick to Ragnar's face.
Ragnar stepped back, his nose bleeding.
"No way; is that bronze guy actually winning?"
"I can't believe it..."
Ragnar sighed, standing up. His body zapped, and arcs of lightning appeared, dancing through his fingertips.
"That's enough." An instructor shouted, coming in between them.
"The duel has been decided."
The zapping stopped, and Ragnar turned to walk down.
"I'll remember you, Zach." He grabbed his blade, walking down to the crowd.
"Congratulations, Zachaeus; you are now a gold-ranked student." The instructor shouted.
The crowd cheered, and some instructors clapped, nodding their heads.
He actually did it. Zach dropped the broken weapon in his hands, panting.
This time, his soul essence only went down by 30%. The instructor walked up to him and handed him a gold badge.
Zach clenched the gold badge and walked down to the crowd. "Whoa, that was impressive. Where'd you learn to fight like that?" Richard threw his hand over Zach's neck.
Zach rubbed the back of his head.
"Just some extra training."
Then, from the heart of the crowd, a student walked onto the pavement.
A white-haired boy with eyes red as a ruby, wearing a platinum badge, stood on the pavement, looking at the crowd.
"Wait, Prince Arthur...?"
"What's he doing up there?" The white-haired boy looked into the sky and then pointed at a burly instructor standing in front.
The entire hall went dead silent once again. Zach looked ahead in astonishment. "The prince...?"
"I challenge you." He pointed at an instructor with a scar on his face—Ray, a master swordsman and also Beatrice's instructor.
"Wait, a student challenging an instructor? Is that even right?"
"I didn't even know you could do that..." "It's Prince Arthur; he earned the platinum badge at just 15."
The students chimed. A prodigy... Zach thought. Ray, sitting on his seat, smirked and then stood up.
"Well, well, well... Arthur." Ray walked up to the stage. Zach watched intently as he was about to see two monster battles.
Arthur radiated an aura of cold, calculated fury, while Ray radiated brute strength. Ray unsheathed his greatsword, plunging it into the ground.
"I guess I won't have to hold back, considering you're the king's son and all..." "I guess even the king's son wasn't spared either."
Richard's eyes were fixated on the stage.
"Ready?"
"If you hold back, you're gonna regret it." Arthur muttered, crouching into an unusual stance.
"I'm well aware of that." Ray cracked his neck.
"Go."