The Infinite Realms

Chapter 34: Majestic Static Wolf

"Let the event begin!" having heard those words, everyone stopped what they were doing and lined up horizontally so that Merza could see everyone's faces.

Daksh, who had been the gladiator in charge of training them, inspected the line making sure every person was present.

After which, he pulled out a scroll that was wrapped around his waist.

Reading through the names, he called; "Novela and Rose...Jastrick and Howler... Ajay and Price..." Daksh spent a whole five minutes pairing up every student according to their strength.

Immediately, every pair made their way to the various fighting rings and awaited for the Rudis to start the match.

" Begin. " all the rudises shouted in unison followed by which the matches began.

Clashes of wooden weapons filled the atmosphere as Merza looked at the activities paying attention to the most pleasing.

He had ordered for the event to take place like this so he could save time by watching all the fights rather than one at a time. Naturally, students from higher classes would be paired amongst themselves since they were naturally skilled than the ones in lower classes. This time though, the students were mixed up since they all started combat physical combat training at the same time.

At this particular moment, Trevor who fought without a weapon caught the director's eyes.

The unique fighting style he used, he had never seen.

But that wasn't the thing that surprised him the most.

After looking at Trevor's right arm repeatedly, his face turned grimmer. Though the tasabar was hard to spot even from a close distance, he was sure that the boy did not posses one.

"Dira!" he growled.

"Yes, esteemed Merza," Dira said leaning in closer to Merza's chair.

"What is he doing here?"

The way Merza said these words could make goosebumps creep up one's spine.

"Who?"

Merza's face only became grimmer after hearing Dira's answer; "Him!" he yelled while pointing at Trevor. Causing the soldiers guarding him to shudder a bit.

"The boy without a tasabar. WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?! You wasted my money on a mere magicless human!"

"Oh... Him..." Dira came to the realization after following Merza's gaze, "He is one of my latest researches. But don't worry, I'll pay for him."

"And what type of research are you doing this time?" Merza rolled his eyes.

"I am trying to find a way to increase one's ranks past their limit. Most mages can't reach the highest possible rank, so I want to fix the issue. "

"Hmmm....are you blind? Does he look like a mage to you?"Merza's face lightened up a little as he developed an interest in the topic but he still looked at the wizard disdainfully.

"Well, no.....But in order to achieve that, I have to start with something easy. I'll have to accomplish turning a normal human to a stone rank. That way I can apply the working method to a different rank but with increased intensity." Dira replied like the wise old man he was, "But...even now, the easy method proves to be challenging. I'll need some time."

"Take all the time you need. But update me with the slightest progress. And you know what to do when it is a success."Merza shifted his gaze back at Trevor with a wicked smile.

" I don't answer to you sir. You know that."

Usually, when faced with this much disrespect, Merza wouldn't take it lying down. This time though, he kept quiet with a gloomy face and readjusted himself on his seat before watching the events closely.

"You sly old fox, what are you up to now..... You might be a big hindrance to my plans. I'll have to keep an eye on that boy too. " his eyes darted abut before they landed on Daksh who was supervising the events, "And him, I don't remember him being on the list of gladiators I hired, he is definitely one of your men.....looks like you've started taking liberties around here old man." His gloomy face turned back into its porker state but with a slight smile to his lips.

Relatively at the same time, the wizard also had similar thoughts;" Now that he knows, he will be keeping a close eye on me. He might be a hindrance to my plans."

One by one, the first round of matches drew to a close.

With Merza being intrigued by Trevor's fighting style.

Shortly after, the students engaged themselves in the next round with different opponents.

With only six people catching his attention, he grew bored of the whole thing.

"Dira," he said impatiently.

Dira simply nodded and drew familiar runes before voicing out, "His esteemed director wishes that you all stop. He will pick the best students now."

"Why?"

"We only just began."

"Is he already bored?"

The students said to themselves as they made their way to the middle of the field and lining up.

At this moment, Merza walked down from his seat along with Dira and inspected the paraded students.

"I just hope he picks me."

"I swear by the goddess, If I go through, I'll pay tribute."

Every student thought to themselves nervously as Merza passed by them.

His domineering aura rendering them breathless for a moment.

Merza moved with his hands held behind his back as he checked on everyone's faces.

From time to time, he would stop on random students and stare at them for a prolonged period before moving on.

After reaching the end of the line, he searched for the students he had liked.

"This one....." he pointed at a muscular tall boy before moving on.

"Dillan.... Step aside," said Daksh who accompanied Merza to identify the students.

"You...." he pointed at another muscular boy whom Daksh later identified as Jastrick.

A brief moment later, a line of 30 had been paraded.

No one was surprised by the students chosen.

After all, they were the school's champions already picked by the chief trainers of each field some time back.

Ever since then, they had been undergoing double the training the normal students had.

"Does Director want me to have these students duel with themselves?" Daksh asked respectfully.

"No... That won't be necessary. They are already good enough....."Merza shook his head," Though..... Just for some entertainment, let's have Jastrick and that slave duel. " he said pointing at Trevor who was still lined up with the other students who weren't picked.

" Trevor step up. "Voiced Daksh.

Everyone gaped in as they saw Merza point at Trevor; "Fate sure wants that slave to die in the hands of Jastrick."

As Jastrick saw Trevor step up, he too gaped but hid it immediately; "Does Merza want to humiliate me in front of everyone today?" he stared in disdain. Jastric knew for a fact Trevor used borrowed magic. In terms of magic and physical strength, he was certain he could beat him. But when it came to fighting techniques the slave was better.

Wooden swords were handed over to both Trevor and Jastrick.

And both headed to the nearest fighting ring.

"Begin." said the rudis.

And with that, the boys engaged in combat.

This time, Trevor swung his sword first at Jastrick.

Immediately, Jastrick raised his sword to block off the attack.

But Trevor didn't stop there. He immediately followed with a swing of the sword aimed at his legs.

Of which Jastrick blocked successfully without breaking a sweat.

"This slave might cause me to be pushed out of the best 30. I must end this." Jastric panicked inwardly.

But after a couple of exchanges, he realized something was amiss.

He blocked off nearly every attack against him.

Could I have become more skilled? He asked himself.

"but that can't be." he doubted inwardly.

If he remembered correctly what happened the last time he fought with Trevor, it was that Trevor was a good copy cat and had managed to master Daksh footwork with first glance. Which were the qualities of a good fighting prodigy. So it didn't make sense that Trevor was displaying lousy moves like so.

He spent a second assessing the situation before coming to a conclusion, "That's right. He is deliberately slowing down his speed so I have the time to react. Does this mean he intends to lose?"

Taking in the sign Trevor had given him, he grew excited. "I promised myself I would pay you back for the humiliation you caused me." he thought with a wicked smile.

Just as Trevor's sword was about to hit Jastick's chest, it was knocked out of his hand, and in the next moment, Jastrick's sword came slashing fast towards Trevor's head.

Trevor's eyes widened at the realization that the strike was thrown with malicious intent. Adrenaline rushed through his body in the midst of the attack and like a slow bolt of lighting, he had put himself at distance of five meters from Jastrick.

"That was a close one." he heaved a sigh of relief.

It was evident that Trevor had lost, now that he did not have the sword in his hand; but the move he had just displayed left everyone that saw him surprised.

Daksh being the owner of the move Trevor displayed was, more shocked compared to others. "I did not teach him my flash step. Don't tell me he learnt it from that one time I performed it?" he thought.

Though Trevor's flashstep was slower and covered a small distance, Daksh was terrified and shocked at the same time. "I need to keep an eye out for him."

The rudis clapped his hands indicating that Jastrick had won.

Although Merza was pleased, he wasn't satisfied.

He wanted to see some blood being shed.

"Cetus fight. Now!" he said.

Everyone gaped at the mention of those words.

"It looks like Merza wants Trevor dead." Page said in disdain and little anger.

Just as she was about to step up and defend Trevor, Tony held her back and shook his head signaling her to stop; "There's nothing you can do. Unless you want to end up dead or even worse."

Jastrick threw away his wooden sword and prepared to fight with fists.

"Begin."

Immediately after hearing these words, Trevor launched his fists at Jastrick's cheek.

Jastrick simply raised up his left arm blocking off Trevor's punch.

And immediately, he countered with his right fist aiming for Trevor's abdomen.

Forcing Trevor to clench his stomach in pain; "Such punch power!"

But Jastrick didn't stop there, he immediately followed up with an uppercut to Trevor's chin forcing him to throw his head back and eventually landing heavily on his back.

Blood came out of Trevor's mouth as he lay on the ground in pain;" Ahh..... I shouldn't have held back. " he said to himself in pain.

He decided to hide his strength in public so as to avoid getting attention which in turn would lead to an increase in his training.

Limiting the time he has to research the whole magic system.

He expected some pain but the one he experienced now was too much. Jastrick overdid it.

"Good!"Merza exclaimed when he saw the condition Trevor was in.

" Now that's the savage in need in everyone. Never be afraid of shedding some blood. You did well!" he smiled brightly at the performance of Jastrick.

He finished off Trevor in just two moves. That was extraordinary.

"He's a monster!" Tony said angered at Merza. But what could he do about it?

"Dira...." Merza called and gestured towards Trevor.

Dira understood and did as he was told.

He gave Trevor a pain killer potion and tissue repairing pill.

And in just seconds, Trevor was almost back as new.

"Dira.... Make sure you give these talents their own rooms. And they can start their combat training right away." Merza said pointing at the five students he selected.

Everyone looked in in envy.

Private rooms were extremely expensive in this school. Those who had one had to be extremely rich nobles like Jastrick himself.

Yet here they were, getting private rooms casually.

And most shocking part was that these private rooms were installed with a personal hot tub.

One didn't need to wait till Saturday to access the public school hot tub!

Merza simply smiled at everyone's expressions; "If you can improve significantly, you can get this special treatment."

Suddenly everyone's enthusiasm towards the training skyrocketed.

After saying this, Merza pulled out a whistle and blew it loud.

And a couple of seconds later, a beast could be seen approaching them through the air.

The beast looked like the wolves on earth but quite big.

Its blue fur swirled in the wind and occasional blue lightning arcs moved around them.

Its majestic black wings spread out as it slowly glided down to the ground.

Just as it was a short distance from the ground, it flapped its wings forward to reduce the impact at which it descended before finally touching the ground.

The air that resulted from it flapping its wings formed a breeze that made everyone's hair sway.

"What the!"

"He has a static wolf!"

"I heard that capturing a static wolf is almost impossible!"

Everyone gaped at the majestic creature standing in front of them.

Merza casually climbed up the Static wolf and rose to the air.

Immediately, his guards pulled out similar whistles and summoned their mounts.

And in just a second, giant eagles with four legs appeared.

They climbed on them and Rose to the sky following closely behind Merza.