Chapter 140 140 - Fear
Each day the tension of the battles event was intensifying. Each day, the number of competitors was decreasing, and now there were at least forty competitors and about twenty duels to take place in the current phase. After that, ten competitors from the novice group would go into the playoffs along with those who had been eliminated.
This meant that Ryan would still have a significant number of confrontations over the next few days, however, his idea was working. As he walked through the halls, everyone made room for him to pass. The surprised looks and smiles were significant, in the break times, girls were sending letters and declaring themselves while the men were asking for suggestions and tips on how to fight.
His reputation was growing a little more with each duel and even outside the academy you could hear his name relatively often. The videos of his battles were going viral, so much so that they gave him a new nickname, now besides being called 'hero of the dark flames' he began to be called the newest 'All-rounder' of Neodrazzil.
The experts in the world of travelers began to comment more and more on the diversity of elements he possessed. And while a high number of classes was common in the world of travelers, the use of several different skills at the same time was somewhat rare.
Sitting on a bench in the middle of the academy's main square. Ryan was moving his finger up and down, reading the articles that were being written about him.
'All-rounder... I still don't deserve a title like that' he thought.
< You should receive the title of biggest ego searcher of the century >
'Where did you learn this word?'
< I'm watching some videos on the internet >
You always surprise me
- What are you two talking about? - said Lux, who was following a butterfly as it flew back and forth in its ghost form.
The two started to laugh at the angel's funny answer, but the bell rang before they could talk again. Getting up, Ryan went into the living room. Walking through the halls, everyone was paying attention to him, and the same proved true when he walked through the door. Dozens of watchful eyes turned to him. This was now a routine situation and in a way to be expected after attracting so much attention in battle and in everyday life itself.
Hanging around several pretty girls was also making things a little more difficult for him. A few minutes later, Alice and Sara joined him and then the class began.
'What's that?'
Running his hand from under the table, he found two cards addressed to him. Without much thought, he put them inside his backpack and ignored them for a first moment.
'I'll read them later, they must just be girls in love'
<Ehehehehe You're full of fans now. You can thank me later with some ice cream>
'Yeah, sure'
<Wait, that was too easy to be true>
'You can have it, I'll buy it after class'
<Are you okay Ryan?
'Yeah... I'm ok'
<Hmm... That was really too easy>
Class continued, but as time passed a notification would update itself on Ryan's system. Every second, two glances became even more aggressive.
[Two hateful glances detected]
[The hateful looks were upgraded to looks of complete fury]
[The looks of complete fury were upgraded to looks of bloodlust]
[Bloodlust stares have been upgraded to murderous stares]
<Someone is quite irritated with you, master>
'Annoyed enough to try to attack me. Try to check who is doing this'
Nyx stepped out in her physical form and began flying around the room, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Lux did the same, and she also couldn't find anyone who appeared to be consumed by such intense rage that they wanted to eliminate their master.
With no options, the two just returned to Ryan with no response.
'We'll have to deal with this later' he thought.
The remainder of class occurred without any real problems. When the second break began, now free, Ryan opened the letters he had received.
'From Luna Nightglow! She's the girl I battled with'
The first letter he had received was clearly a statement, and with a smile on his face, he decided that he would accept her into his harem. However, the smile broke when he opened the second letter.
Nyx was watching his master, and the very moment he opened that piece of paper, Ryan's face closed and his eyes became cloudy. For a few seconds he remained neutral while reading that message. As soon as he closed the piece of paper, Ryan put the letter away and looked all around the room.
<Are you okay?"> Succubus questioned, concerned about the reaction he had had.
'A threat, that letter was a threat. I need to find out who wrote it.'
The message had been written with a magic circle. So that the letters did not have a handwriting or even a print mark or fingerprint, this type of spell is relatively simple to perform, which made it even harder for Ryan to figure out what was going on.
Even looking all around the room, he could not identify who had sent this message to him. And looking closely at the letter, he could not find any clues that could help him. Ryan was not looking neutral involuntarily, the truth was that his hatred was so concentrated that he was holding back from creating an excessive amount of demonic energy.
Taking a deep breath, he kept his thoughts focused on just counting to ten and then returning to zero.
'one, two...'
But every second, remembering the threats to his wives made him even more angry.
'Ten... Zero... One... Two...'
The message kept running through his head, and with it his worry increased. He began to wonder what the girls were doing or what might be going on with each of them, Ryan's mind began to fly with possibilities. That message could not just be a joke, as the author had quoted each of the girls that Ryan was dating.
Before he could reset the count, a burst of demonic energy happened in that room. Suddenly everyone began to feel extremely threatened, it was a feeling of pressure and suffocation that none of the hundred plus students had ever felt. Not even the teacher who was teaching the class knew how to react to this feeling.
Everyone was paralyzed, and while some girls cried and others cringed, the teacher who was standing up ran out the door completely terrified. Several students started to run, while some remained frozen, sitting on the chair unable to stand up. Part of the room smelled of urine, as some of the students let it all out because of fear.
The demonic energy that Ryan was emitting was so pure that it was even possible to feel the waves hitting the victims' bodies, creating a suffocating pressure similar to when a very loud sound wave hits someone's body.
This flow of energy lasted a minute, and that's how long it took for Alice and Sara to be able to calm Ryan down. They both hugged him, and with the warmth of their wives' kisses and cuddles, he finally calmed down.
No one in the room realized where this feeling came from, but this event quickly spread to every corner of the academy. Walking through the halls, it was possible to hear the gossip and conversations about what had occurred in the room where the prodigy Ryan was.
The theories were diverse, but the most acceptable was that a mana collapse had happened nearby in some magic system. With this news, Ryan's fame increased even more, since he was extremely calm in that situation, while the teacher who was an experienced traveler just ran away in fear.
Classes went on as usual, but Ryan knew that these rumors would continue, and maybe even increase. He kept checking himself all day while trying to find clues as to who might have made that letter. Looking back and forth in the hallways, he went about reading the magical signature of each of the people who passed by him.
<You should avoid the duel today> Nyx said, who was worried about what might end up happening if Ryan entered a battle. But with no means of relieving his stress, he chose to go through with the duel.
'I need a fight'
After class, Ryan's battle was again announced in secret. Entering the arena, a warrior standing two meters tall proudly appeared. He was an extremely muscular student and relatively bigger than Ryan, this was the first duel between a second year student and a fifth year student.
The battle lasted two minutes. In the first fifteen seconds, Ryan's concentrated anger caused him to activate his power amplification skill. The demonic energy emanating from Ryan caused the berserker to lose control and start attacking in desperation still in the first minute.
Fifteen seconds later, Ryan launched over four hundred light spheres and nature element attacks. When the duel came to two minutes, the berserker surrendered in fear of the All-rounder.