His body began to shake uncontrollably, he could still move, but his brain seemed to reject it.
And this caused Furina to misunderstand a little.
"What's wrong, Ash? If you're angry because those people looked down on you, then you don't need to worry too much." She carefully comforted him.
No, Furina, that's not the truth!
Ash didn't feel angry at the other students for mercilessly insulting him, but felt scared when he knew his opponent was Lucian Starlight.
'Oh right, why don't I surrender?' A wonderful thought suddenly flashed through Ash's mind.
But before he had a chance to put that thought into words, a strong hand suddenly grabbed his collar and threw Ash straight down without showing any mercy.
"You're too slow, Third Prince." The lecturer said in annoyance.
Ash's mouth dropped open, completely unable to imagine what had just happened.
But he didn't have much time to be distracted anymore because Lucian was right there in the arena, about 10 meters away from Ash, ready to make a fool of him.
The game's protagonist was looking at him indifferently, completely confident that he could win easily without wasting too much time.
That was not arrogance at all, but the fact.
He was very strong, and Ash was the one who understood best how strong his opponent was.
'Damn it!' With a glare, Ash immediately took out the Sword of Dawn - the gift he received from the First Prince Barry.
After all, the instructor himself had said that everyone could use their Ability and Relic.
With this wonderful sword, he would try to hold on as long as possible.
Enough to make everyone realize that Lucian was really strong and Ash was strong enough to hold on against him for a long time.
"Alright, fight." Albedo signaled the start of the battle, not showing much interest in the battle between these two losers.
But… how could he have imagined that this would be the most fierce and exciting battle?
***
As soon as the signal was given, the entire audience seemed to explode, everyone thought that Ash and Lucian would immediately rush into each other.
But that was not the case.
They just walked around, keeping their distance from each other, carefully observing the opponent's movements and analyzing that person's power.
The steps of the two people were still slow and calm, but not useless at all. No one had any intention of rushing into the opponent right now. Because they both knew that the one who rushed in first was the stupidest.
After a while, the atmosphere had calmed down, all the spectators became much more disappointed because the two swords had not yet clashed each other.
If Ash remembered correctly, Lucian currently had an Ability called Echo of Pain. And this Ability would allow him to become stronger the more wounds his body had.
So, Ash knew very well that he could not let this battle drag on like that.
And fortunately, he had the Sword of Dawn.
[Energy: 200/1000]
Currently, after exposing this sword to sunlight for a long time, Ash had accumulated 200 Energy.
And since each attack would consume 100 Energy, he would be able to unleash 2 extremely powerful attacks.
In these 2 attacks, Ash was forced to deal as much damage to Lucian as possible, and if he defeated the protagonist as well, that would be even better.
***
The time for observing and analyzing the opponent was over, at least for Lucian, because now, his eyes had become much more cruel and sharp. The word "Victory" was clearly visible in them.
And then, in just a blink of an eye, Lucian had already shot straight towards Ash - who still didn't understand what was happening - at a speed that even surpassed light.
Seeing that, Ash also realized that he had no more time to waste.
He swallowed, gripped his sword tightly, and ran towards Lucian like he was doing.
The Sword of Dawn swung down, but nothing happened, a simple attack, no technique, just instinct and long-repressed emotions.
Of course, Ash had not used that extremely powerful attack of this Relic yet.
However, all Lucian had to do was simply dodge to the side at a speed far exceeding Ash's sword swing speed.
Not giving him time to realize what had just happened, his foot kicked him hard in the stomach, sending Ash flying backwards like a broken doll.
His stomach hurt, extremely hurt. It was as if all of his internal organs were canceling each other out.
And in the stands, the audience also started to laugh at this unpredictable development.
An Elite Class student lost to a nobody from Class D? It was impossible to imagine. But now, that scenario was happening right in front of them.
Ash was starting to feel that this battle was difficult. Unfortunately, Lucian had no intention of giving him time to feel despair as he charged forward once again.
He was panting, his hands shaking, it was hard to hold the hilt of his sword. But… he still didn't give up. Ignoring the terrible pain that was tearing at his body, Ash also charged forward.
And then, less than 2 seconds later, Ash once again thought that he wouldn't be able to do it.
The sunlight shone directly on Lucian, making him radiate the aura of someone worthy of being the main character.
But what about Ash? There was only darkness.
And the audience was the same, they were starting to cheer for Lucian and curse Ash, calling him all the previous nicknames of the Third Prince.
'Dogshit.' He gritted his teeth.
This time, Ash launched a horizontal slash, but just like last time, Lucian successfully dodged it, but this time, the way he did it looked much more skillful and cool.
All the protagonist had to do was jump up lightly like a wind and land on Ash's blade as if it wasn't challenging at all.
He stood there, looking at his opponent with an emotionless but somewhat pitiful gaze.
Lucian's blade was illuminated by the sunlight itself, making it shine just like a legendary sword.
Ash didn't have time to react because the tip of the sword was now only a few centimeters away from him.
However, it was never able to touch Ash's body and actually hurt him because Albedo had an Ability that could create an invisible armor that would activate whenever someone was about to be injured by a weapon.
And even though that armor could prevent any unnecessary dangers from happening, it still couldn't prevent Ash from being sent flying backwards miserably again.
Ash's entire body lay on the ground, having become very dirty since the battle began. And also very tired and sore.
However, Lucian didn't care about that at all and just slowly walked up. His current wish was only one, and that was to win.
Now, Ash could guarantee that his defeat was fated.
But, like every other time, he would not give up.
It was time to use that powerful attack…