From the beginning, Azariah knew there was no way for him to outright hit Melissa.
A 2nd-year Div 1 student who specialized not only in magic but whose physicality outpowered most of the Synapths out there.
And here he was, a guy who still had no foundation in his magic or body.
However, if there was one thing in the world that affected even the strongest of beings—
It wasn't the element of fire, earth, wind, or darkness.
It was the element of surprise.
That was all he needed. A split second to overpower Melissa.
Unfortunately, it was much easier said than done.
For it to work, he had to get close and suffer.
To get to the clutches of defeat and lower her defense altogether.
As Melissa's grip tightened on Azariah, his vision became blurry, and he was almost about to give out.
"When does the fight end?" she asked, bored at how Azariah kept resisting.
"When the opponent is knocked out cold or taps themselves out," Darius answered.
Azariah clutched Melissa's arm as he struggled midair, trying his best to free himself from her grip.
It was of no use as Melissa just had him in her hand without even so much as a sweat.
"I can punch him, but that might break a bone or two with how weak he is. Unfortunately, he isn't deciding to tap himself out as well."
'No, I cannot let that happen.'
A physical hit was the last thing he needed right now.
It was why he kept struggling — to show her that physical hits would be useless.
"This should be enough." Melissa raised her free hand, bringing it up to his face.
'Yes. Do it.'
The next moment, a novice sequence formed a moment away from his face.
'Perfect. Please work!'
Closing his eyes, Azariah manifested the mana inside him.
Immediately, he felt the raw destructive energy course through his body.
"Sadly, this is as far as you go, kid. You didn't even put up a fight."
The sequence glowed, manifesting itself.
Before it could execute itself, however, a sudden crimson energy overtook the blue glowing sequence.
Cracks spread all over the sequence as the whole diagram broke down a second later, shattering into pieces before pixelating into space.
Melissa's eyes widened as she witnessed her sequence vanishing into thin air, completely nullified.
'Now!'
Cutting himself from her loose grip, Azariah grabbed her arm back and flipped himself, trying to smash his leg into her face with full force.
Unfortunately…
BOOM!
A wrecking force smashed into Azariah's chest, sending him flying to the edge of the room.
Blood came coughing out of his mouth as he felt the whole wind had been knocked out from his body.
As the smoke cleared, however, a wide smile was seen on his face despite the pool of blood that formed at his feet.
'Contact.'
He felt it.
And he saw it by the cut on the side of Melissa's face, blood trickling down her cheek with her eyes widened.
"Ha… haha… haha, I win." Azariah let out a laugh, pointing at her face.
The next moment, he dropped on the floor, unconscious.
***
Splash!
Azariah woke up with a shock, cold water splashed over his face.
"You're up," he heard Darius speaking from the side.
Clearing the water from his face, Azariah looked around him.
He found himself on the committee room's sofa, with the whole group standing around him.
"How long have I been out for?" he asked.
"Roughly 20 minutes," Melissa replied, grabbing his attention.
The cut on her face was gone now. Probably healed.
But then he saw her rubbing the spot with her thumb.
"It's healed, but it still itches. That was a good kick." A slight smirk played on her lips.
"I guess I'll take it as a compliment." Azariah chuckled.
"You're lucky her terminal failed, though a promise is a promise," Darius intervened from the side.
Surprise ran through Azariah's body, but he was able to control his mouth.
'Huh?'
He looked at Darius, who didn't take notice of Azariah's surprise and continued.
"From now, you'll be a part of the Regulation Committee. A direct member under the captaincy of Melissa."
However, Azariah wasn't focused on those words.
His gaze ran to Melissa, who looked at him with curiosity as well.
And a message that seemed to say,
'You owe me an explanation.'
Yeah, he was expecting that.
Melissa wasn't the same student he had faced back then. She was smarter and stronger.
'Especially with those eyes,' Azariah thought as he looked at them.
So when he used 'Pixelation', he was expecting everyone to recognize it and know about it.
After all, these people were among the strongest in the academy.
It wasn't like he had any other choice or way to win the battle, so he accepted the outcome.
But he was surprised when the other captains and Darius had been lied to.
And there was only one person who could've convinced them.
'Melissa.'
He looked at her, their eyes meeting.
But why though?
Why did she keep helping him on all occasions?
There was definitely something she wanted from him. And from how much she was doing, it wasn't going to be cheap.
Nonetheless, he could do nothing for now and just enjoy that he had passed the test.
"Thank you. I feel honored to be a part of this committee."
Darius and the other captains nodded.
"From tomorrow, you need to be on active duty under Melissa. These riots are increasing every day and showing no signs of stopping any time soon."
Azariah nodded and stood up.
"I'll take my leave for now then."
Bidding everyone farewell, he quickly left the committee room.
However, he didn't leave the committee section as he walked down the corridor to the training section.
There, he saw a familiar figure waiting for him.
'How did she reach here before me?'
He could've sworn he didn't see her, and there was only one path to the section.
Regardless, Melissa stood there with her back against the wall.
"Surprised? I'd be more if you managed to see me coming here." She smiled.
"How did you—"
"Shhhhh, that's a secret. I think I'm the one who should be asking the questions here."
Azariah closed his mouth, a frown creasing his face.
"What do you want?"
Melissa laughed lightly, pointing to herself.
"Me? What would I want with this?"
Azariah knew she wasn't evil. Melissa would rather die than be evil.
But he still had to be careful around her.
"Do you know about my eyes, Azariah?" she asked, pointing to them.
It felt a little weird for Azariah to not be called 'Student Azariah', but he ignored it.
He slowly shook his head, even though he knew about them.
The major reason for her success and power later was those eyes.
"They can see the mana in the air. Mana flow, mana disruption, mana manipulation—whatever process of mana it might be," she told him, shocking Azariah.
His eyes widened as he fakingly processed the information.
Even though he knew about them, he was still internally shocked at why she had told him about them.
She didn't even tell her parents about it until a certain stage in the future.
"Some days before, I was walking past the orientation hall until I saw an incident," she said, understanding the question on Azariah's face.
A deep frown emerged on the latter's face as he got a premonition of where this was about to head.
"It seemed like a normal incident at first. Between a parent and a boy, with the regulation students under me already running to intervene."
Melissa was walking closer to Azariah now, but the latter wasn't stepping back to create a distance.
It was as if he couldn't.
"As normal, I was going to ignore it and walk past until I saw a boy intervene."
Sweat rolled down Azariah's face as he understood what she was about to say.
"A student by the name of Azariah Indrath. A Division 2 student, ranked 1947, and yet so bold enough to take on the spell of a Division 1 student."
'Fuck, I didn't notice she was there.' Azariah cursed as Melissa continued.
"However, as everyone saw the spell a moment away from knocking out the boy, the spell suddenly broke down into pieces, completely vanishing."
Tap. Tap.
Melissa's heels clicked against the ground as she got within arm's length of Azariah.
"It was said that it was a terminal failure, making the sequence unable to load. Yet, there was one person on the scene who truly saw what happened."
Tap.
"Something so rare and unique that it left me surprised at what I saw."
Tap.
"The ability to completely nullify a magic sequence. And I saw it not only once but twice—the second right in front of my eyes today."
Azariah's heart started thumping against his chest as Melissa extended her hand, getting closer.
Tap. Thump.
"So my question is this…"
Her finger touched his chin, lifting up his face where his soft blue eyes met the glowing golden ones of Melissa.
"Who are you, Azariah Indrath?"
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