After the afternoon rest in the fields, the golden hour light began to stretch across the Vanguard Academy. We headed back to the lecture halls for the final sessions of the day. As the closing bells echoed through the corridors, signaling the end of the school day, I prepared for the long walk back to the Veyron mansion.
Kael, as usual, didn't waste a second. He hopped onto his flying skateboard—a sleek, hover-tech board that hummed with mana—and zoomed toward the gates.
"Hey, Oliver Sensei!" Ria called out from behind me.
I turned around to the voice . "I told you to drop the 'sensei' part, Ria. It gives me the creeps."
She ignored my protest with a playful roll of her eyes. "Mind if I take you home?" she asked, gesturing toward a sleek, wheelless machine idling nearby. It hovered several inches above the ground, shimmering with a polished, pearlescent finish.
"No, no. There's no need for that. I can walk," I replied, but my curiosity got the better of me. I looked at the floating vehicle. "By the way... what exactly is that?"
Ria stared at me as if I had suddenly grown a second head. "What? You don't know what this is? It's a carriage! Every noble family has one of these. Jeez, Oliver, you're such a strange one."
I felt a cold sweat prickle my neck. I had forgotten that in this world, cars were mana-driven carriages. "Oh, right. It's just that yours looks... slightly different from the ones I'm used to seeing," I covered quickly, not wanting her to realize I was essentially an alien to their culture.
"Hmph. Everyone's gear is customized. Anyway, I'm heading out. See you tomorrow!" She hopped into the carriage, and with a soft whine of mana-turbines, the vehicle zoomed off, leaving a faint trail of blue light in its wake.
As the dust settled, I prepared to start my walk, but a sharp thought hit me. "Shit, I haven't met Suki today." I had promised myself I'd check the library, but the day had slipped through my fingers.
I turned toward the library wing, but I stopped dead.
Coming towards me from the shadows of the Arcane Spire was a lone figure. He walked with a slow, rhythmic gait that felt unnervingly deliberate. He had black hair, styled with faded sides and a longer top that swayed as he moved. yellow earrings dangled from his lobe, catching the dying sunlight. He wore a long, black, duster-style jacket that flowed down to his combat boots, and at the back of his waist side sat a katana in a pitch-black scabbard.
He wasn't hiding his presence. An intimidating purple aura oozed from his body, radiating a raw, untamed pressure that made the air feel heavy. The system remained silent—no hostile intent detected—but my instincts were screaming.
"Umm... who are you? Do you want something from me?" I asked, my body shifting into a subtle defensive stance.
"Of course I wanted to see you," the figure replied, his expression unreadable. "And fortunately, here you are. Thank goodness."
Before the final word left his lips, my internal alarm went off. My senses perceived a flicker in the space-time fabric. I didn't think, I reacted. I threw my arm up in a snap-block just as a devastating kick materialized out of thin air.
CRACK.
The impact was like being hit by a falling meteor. I felt the bone in my forearm groan under the pressure, and the force sent me skidding backward, my boots carving grooves into the stone before I slammed into a structural pillar.
"Whoa," the figure said, sounding genuinely surprised. "You've got some good eyes for an E-Rank."
I stood up, shaking out my arm. The pain was white-hot, but I pushed it into a corner of my mind. He's fast. Too fast. I didn't see even see him coming.I thought, gritting my teeth.
"Why did you attack me out of nowhere?" I asked coldly. "I don't even know you."
"Oops. My apologies," he replied, though he didn't look sorry at all. "I am Sherach Leon, one of the Diamond Tiers. But you can call me Shera. Most people consider it an honor just to hear that name."
"This arrogant bastard," I muttered. I glared at him. "Isn't it a shame for a Tier-nine to bully a Tier-one?"
Sherach scoffed, a playful glint in his eyes. "We'll see if you're actually a Tier-1 when I'm done testing you."
Without another word, he lunged. It wasn't a dash, it was a supersonic blur.
He aimed an upper kick at my head. I raised my left arm to block, but in mid-air, the trajectory shifted—a perfect, fluid transition into a parallel low kick. I dropped my weight, kneeling from the impact, and immediately felt a wind-fan strike—a pressurized palm of air—whistling toward my face.
I leaned back, the strike grazing my cheek and drawing a thin line of blood. I back-flipped twice to create space, touching the injury on my face. The sting ignited something dark in my soul. My Monster Veins—the cold, calculating part of my god-soul—kicked in.
"If you want to play that way... fine!"
I didn't use mana, I used high-frequency motion control. I blurred, appearing at his flank, and unleashed an upward kick. Sherach stepped aside with a graceful sidestep, and my foot slammed into the earth. The ground shattered, creating a massive crater and sending pebbles flying like shrapnel.
I followed up instantly, delivering a flurry of jabs and roundhouses. Sherach parried and dodged them all, his hands tucked casually behind his back. He looked bored, but his eyes were tracking every micro-movement.
I went for his side, throwing a jab that he parried with his left hand. I used the contact to pivot into a back-spinning kick, but suddenly, the world tilted.
"Huh?" I was spinning through the air, my momentum completely neutralized.
I realized it instantly. He had used a redirection technique—a high-level variant of Aikido. Is he well-versed in my Earth's martial arts knowledge too? While still spinning in the air, I focused the Nebula breath into my heel, turning a fall into a descending strike. He blocked it with both arms, and for the first time, he was pushed back, his boots dragging through the dirt.
I landed, breathing heavily. My chest felt like it was on fire. "So this is the gap. This is a diamond rank."
Sherach stood upright, his head bowed. When he looked up, the expressionless mask was gone, replaced by a wide, joyful grin.
"Ha... hahaha!" He laughed, the sound echoing through the empty courtyard. "The rumors were true! You're interesting, kiddo. I've taken a real interest in you, Oliver."
"Tsk. Seems someone did their research," I replied, wiping the blood from my cheek. "I haven't even told you my name."
"Aren't you popular? Everyone knows the bully hunter Oliver," he mocked.
" Don't call me that. It sounds creepy."
Sherach laughed and walked over, surprisingly wrapping an arm around my shoulders as if we were old friends. "Hey, how about we become buddies? I'll introduce you to my other friend, and we can go out for coffee tomorrow during lunch."
"No thanks," I said, trying to shrug him off.
"C'mon! Be buddies with me. I'll see you tomorrow at the lunch center. And if you don't show up, I'll just send someone to come fetch you."
He tapped my shoulder one last time and vanished in a blur of purple light.
"Is that guy daft? Doesn't he understand the word no?" I grumbled. As the adrenaline faded, the aches in my body came rushing back. My arm was bruising, and my ribs felt like they had been through a trash compactor.
"Ouch... damn. I need to get home. Maria is going to have to prepare a hell of a healing bath tonight. That guy is a serious pain in the ass."
I turned toward the Veyron mansion, my mind already calculating how to close the gap between Tier-one and Tier-nine. If the diamond-teirs were starting to move, my peaceful days of hunting bullies were officially over.