"Aaaaah! Ace, you bastard! I swear I'll make you pay!" Frank said, his voice full of anger and frustration as he stood in the waiting room designated for those eliminated from the competition.
With a long sigh, Frank looked up on the screen, his thoughts heavy with other concerns.
"I doubt he knows about me, but…" his eyes became even more focused. "Better to be safe than sorry. I guess I'll just have to face that guy when all of this is over. After all, if I don't, I won't be able to continue my mission in peace. And that would be way too much of a pain. Well, see ya around… Ace."
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Throughout the muddy ground of the virtual space created by Hugo, Ace was continuously darting around the field, efficiently eliminating any and all contestants he came across in a matter of seconds.
Like a skilled hunter that never missed his prey, his shots, similar to arrows that always hit the bull's eye, never missed even with all the rain that was coming down.
Like an assassin waiting for the right moment to eliminate his target, his breath, calm as ever, his eyes, sharp and aware, and all his senses that were in high alert, noticing any presence that surrounded him, Ace relentlessly destroyed all the weak contestants that were against him.
Elegantly and ruthlessly, without a chance to fight back, his moves were like a dance dedicated to art of killing his opponents. And that didn't go unnoticed.
Back in the lounge, with holographic screen hovering above their heads, streaming the various happenings that were occurring during the competition, Hugo and the VIPs, were attracted to the screen that was displaying Ace and his performance in all its glory.
"Well, well, my dear Hugo. Doesn't it seem that you've hidden quite the interesting contestant from us?" said Leonard, his attention more focused on the holographic screen that hovered above their heads.
"I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by that, Your Majesty," replied Hugo, evading the question while the other elders stayed glued on Ace's actions with an almost hunger-filled gaze.
"So that's the kid that damn son of mine was talking about," thought Greg, keenly attentive of Ace's moves. "I can understand why he'd be intrigued by him. He doesn't move like a student at all. His maneuvers are similar to the Sentinels' assassination methods but…"
In Greg's eyes, Ace's form overlapped with one where he held a sword.
"There's no denying he's a swordsman through and through. Not only that, but he hides it well. I don't know why he's using a gun though. Well, one thing's certain, if he had a sword in hand, this year's competition would end way faster. Though, considering that His Highness is also participating, we might not have to wait that long. Let's see how this all plays out."
Coincidentally, Dorian, Claude, and Roselia, each had their own thoughts about Ace.
In Claude's case…
"I guess now I can understand why Hugo wanted him to be registered as a Realizer," he thought, though several questions still gnawed at him.
"What I still can't understand though is why Hugo would even go to the lengths of enrolling him into the academy. That kid clearly isn't normal. What he is is completely different from His Highness or any other talent I've seen in my long years on this earth. Not only that, but he doesn't possess an ounce of mana in him."
He slightly glanced at Hugo with a gaze full of suspicion.
"Hugo has always been a mystery and that isn't going to change any time soon. And I'm pretty sure His Majesty is thinking the same."
Contrary to Claude, Roselia was more focused on Ace's unique choice of weapon.
"Those shots… those aren't bullets," she gawked in awe internally though her outward expression didn't show it. "Even though guns are a more adaptable weapon than regular blunt weapons, it was already concluded that they are ineffective in actual combat. And yet that child is using one. You might even say that he has completely mastered it. But… how did he do it? And more importantly, where did he even procure a Magic Gun?"
Her mind became heavy with facts as she analyzed what she observed.
"Compared to weapons manufactured using magic ores, guns were way more complex to manipulate since monsters can only be harmed with mana-infused attacks. With their complexity, it'd need an impressive, fine-tuned manipulation of mana to use them. And even if you were to infuse mana into the bullets, in actual combat, the moment necessary for reloading a gun would be enough to succumb to an attack. With those two factors, it'd be impossible to use a gun in actual combat. And yet…"
Her eyes couldn't believe what she was seeing. Someone, and a student no less, was using a weapon that was deemed unfit for real combat.
"Condensing raw mana into a firing projectile, formulating the materialization process, taking into account the distance between him and the opponent, their reaction speed… How fast is his brain able to process all that information and act upon it in such a short amount of time? It shouldn't be humanly possible. His body should be unable to bear the burden from all of that. Even if he had an enormous amount of mana, his mind couldn't be able to handle the strain from such exhaustion. So how?"
In the meantime, Dorian only watched in silence, a single line of thought crossing his mind.
"Hunters should always be ready to be preyed upon. No matter how strong of a predator you are, there'll always be one stronger than you," he let out a small chuckle. "It would seem that my dear granddaughter found herself in a den full of lions."
If each and every elder was focused on Ace, Leonardo on the other hand, was eyeing Hugo with an amused smirk.
"Hugo, Hugo. It would seem everything is going according to your little plan… whatever that is," he thought, Hugo's eyes never leaving the streaming display that hovered above them, fully conscious of Leonardo's gaze which shifted back to the competition.
"All for the cause was it. Well, old friend…" Leonardo's eyes narrowed, his smirking expression almost giving off a knowledgeable air. "Let the games begin."