Chapter 16: The Two Academy Graduates

Just as Aiden had spoken, he took Azaroth to the town lord, Brynn Gaynor.

The town lord was currently discussing some tactics with some generals and some strategists in his cabin.

The guards stationed ahead of their cabin didn't stop Aiden since they knew that he was one of the rare 4 Star Warriors of this camp, and he was entitled to special privileges. One of them was that other than the town lord, no one else could order Aiden.

Brynn Gaynor, the strategists, and generals halted with their words as they turned their heads towards the cabin's entrance.

They looked slightly surprised to see someone along with Aiden there. However, their expressions soon returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

"Sir, Brynn Gaynor, this is…" Aiden began to introduce Azaroth to Brynn Gaynor.

"So it is Sir Edwin Rhodes? I never imagined we would meet each other so soon." Brynn Gaynor suddenly cut in as he stared at Azaroth.

"I heard that Kloras Town was going to suffer from a Beast Raid and informed my family of this. The Rhodes Family is preoccupied with some other tasks, so I decided to come here independently. I hope Lord Brynn won't mind." Azaroth politely and respectfully spoke to Brynn Gaynor.

"Y-You… You are the heir to the Rhodes Family?! Why did you not tell us?" Aiden looked utterly shocked as he asked this question.

Azaroth dryly replied, "You never asked me."

"How did you meet up with Sir Edwin, Aiden?" Brynn Gaynor asked the question which the other people in the cabin had been wondering as well.

"As you know, Lord Brynn, my students, and I went hunting the three 4 Star Rank beasts who were blocking the route to the city. As my students were fighting the beasts, Sir Edwin arrived. He effortlessly killed one of the beasts and scared off the other two with his aura. Once he told us that his reason for coming here was to join our defense against the Beast Raid, I invited him to come along with us." Aiden narrated the entire event, leaving minor details.

Instantly, all the generals, strategists, and even Brynn Gaynor turned to look at Azaroth with some shock evident in their eyes, "He effortlessly killed a Four Star Rank Beast and scared off the other two with just his aura?!"

Azaroth internally sighed since he knew that his secret was up. He couldn't make an excuse and hope that it would work. Better yet, he should just tell them the truth to gain their trust.

"That is true. I recently became a 4 Star Warrior." Azaroth affirmed it with a calm voice.

Along with his words, a dense aura began to spread out from his body. This had more or less confirmed it.

"We welcome you to our camp, Sir Edwin. Please take a look around the camp while I order some men to set up a large cabin for you." Brynn Gaynor spoke with a respectful voice. The strong were to be respected after all.

Azaroth nodded his head and recalled his aura, "I have also wanted to take a look at the whole camp."

Aiden went along with him and let Brynn Gaynor continue his meeting with the generals and strategists.

For some moments, Aiden remained entirely quiet. Azaroth noticed his silence and spoke, "You don't need to be that conservative and mind my status that much. I just wanted you all to treat me the same as you treat others."

"…Alright."

"Let me bring you to see our other comrades," Aiden said with a light-hearted tone.

Azaroth nodded his head while looking around, analyzing this location with his spiritual sense. What he had found until now was quite interesting…

This location had no formation set up until now.

'Just amazing… From what I see, this camp is going to be absolutely slaughtered. There is really no 5 Star Rank Warrior here. No attacking formation or even a defensive formation around us.'

Aiden took Azaroth towards the western part of the encampment.

"This is the place where the graduates from Palm Valley School of Martial Arts are staying," Aiden told Azaroth as he pointed at the area.

A couple of students were out of their cabins, and their eyes fell on Azaroth and Aiden. They already knew Aiden but not Azaroth.

Some men were curious about Azaroth's identity now since he was being escorted by Aiden.

"Who are you?"

Azaroth spoke out, "I am Edwin."

"Yeah, like that says a lot." The guy sarcastically spoke as he looked at Edwin.

"You came here to join us against the Beast Raid?" Another guy spoke as he gauged Edwin.

Because of no aura released from Edwin's body, they had to rate his level according to his age.

"Yes." That's all Azaroth said as he looked at them with cold empty eyes.

"How about we spar a little. I want to see where you stand and whether you deserve to stand alongside us or not." The other guy spoke while getting into position.

Aiden nervously laughed as he heard these two. He was about to speak, but Azaroth suddenly stepped forwards and added, "Alright. Let's spar. What will be the rules?"

"The rules will be simple. The one who surrenders loses." The guy who was about to fight Azaroth spoke with a grin.

"Let's go to the nearby fields. If we fight here, I might accidentally destroy the residences of my fellow brothers." The guy looked quite arrogant and spoke as if only he was capable of destroying the residences here.

Aiden went closer to Azaroth and whispered to him, "Sir, this guy is Rudy Burton, the heir to the Burton Noble House. The guy next to him is Carson Wright, from the Wright Noble House. Although you are also an heir of Rhodes Noble House, it might not be wise to anger both of them."

Azaroth meanwhile smiled in response, "You don't need to be worried about this, Sir Aiden. I know much about political complications like this compared to you. Also, the reality of a Noble House is far from what you think."

Those words only served to confuse Aiden to no end.

Also, Azaroth turned towards Rudy and spoke to him, "Since you want a fight. I will give you one. Let's go to the empty fields."

Rudy and Carson frowned slightly as they looked at Azaroth. They more or less understood that Aiden had informed him of their identities just now. How could this commoner still not pay any respect to them?!

Rudy thought 'No matter. I will make him kneel in submission!'

As Rudy led Azaroth and Aiden to the empty fields, Carson went to some cabins and brought along a few more of their friends.

Most of them were their underlings from humble family backgrounds, while a few individuals had Noble Family backgrounds.

It could be said that most of the graduates of Palm Valley School were coming along Carson to the empty fields.

Meanwhile, in the fields, Aiden decided to judge the fight between Azaroth and Rudy.

"This is just sparring. Please don't heavily injure each other…" Aiden spoke while looking in Azaroth's direction.

Azaroth waved off his hands as if he was telling Aiden to knock it off.

Meanwhile, Rudy replied with a hint of arrogance in his voice, "You can't blame me if he can't even take on a single blow from me."

"I want to say the same."

"Hmph. Such trash talk… You should have the strength to back it up!" With that, Rudy suddenly jumped towards Azaroth.

"Palm of the Great Bear!" A strange aura of the great bear appeared around Rudy as he rushed towards Azaroth and attempted to strike him.

Azaroth very coolly got out of the way by side-stepping him.

Aiden thought Azaroth was in Rudy's way one second and then realized his position had shifted significantly the next. They were separated by such a little space that they appeared to be in a straight line from afar.

Actually, Azaroth was wondering whether he should play football now or not.

'Maybe I should just make him roam around like an idiot until his other comrades arrive. Once they come, I can start his beatdown. That will be hilarious.'

Anyway, the opening move was dodged by Azaroth, and Rudy managed to stop himself some seconds later.

He looked quite angry as he gazed at Azaroth.

"Such fluke won't happen again." Rudy said while gritting his teeth in anger.

Azaroth remained quiet and just gave a neutral expression to Rudy.

"Chasing Wind Movement Skill!"

Rudy rushed towards Azaroth with a strange movement skill. From a glance, his movements seemed unrealistically profound as he crossed the distance between him and Azaroth rather quickly.

"Astral Cyclone!" Ardor seemed to be shinning all over Rudy's body as he started rotating his body with a quick speed, intending to hit Azaroth with a series of attacks.

However, Azaroth just lowered his body and gave a simple low sweep. His kick had quite some power behind it, and it successfully made Rudy lose his balance.

Once Rudy realized that he was going to fall down, he immediately got ready. Rudy's palms touched the ground, and he placed his entire weight over his arms.

Once Rudy could more or less control his body in this position, he immediately spoke out, "Double Kicks!"

He forcefully pushed both his legs in Azaroth's direction as if he wanted to give him a strong double kick for that stunt.

In that position, Azaroth's face would be struck by Rudy's double kicks.

Azaroth saw the kicks coming towards his way and immediately rolled out of danger.

As Rudy's double kicks struck the ground, it cracked the floor slightly. Now, Rudy placed his entire weight over his legs and stood up.

By the time he did stand up, Azaroth had already stood up and was waiting for Rudy.

Instead of a neutral look, Azaroth's face now had a victorious smile on his face.

This slight activity seemed to have taunted Rudy as he immediately took action and went over to punch Azaroth.

Although the punch was enhanced through his Ardor, Rudy had forgotten to use a skill in his anger.

At around this moment, his comrades, led by Carson, had arrived. They were all rather excited to see how Rudy was beating the new guy.

But just as they reached the location, and saw their friend Rudy fighting against Azaroth. They were shocked to witness that Rudy's punch was held by Azaroth's hand very firmly.

"Let's switch. Now I will be on the offensive." Azaroth spoke as he places his power in his hand.

Rudy felt the bones of his right-hand crackle one by one.

"Aiyaaaa!!" He screamed in pain as, one by one, his right hand's bones broke.

Rudy immediately used his other hand and whispered, "Palm of the Great Bear." Although he mainly used his right hand when he used this move, he was nearly equally proficient with his left hand.

Azaroth, though, suddenly kneed his stomach and whispered to him, "You seem to have not heard my words. I will be on the offensive now."

Rudy spat out some saliva and blood. There were some internal injuries because of the knee attack from Azaroth.

After that, Azaroth raised his right arm and tossed Rudy's body in the air.

Once Rudy's body standing free-falling towards the ground, Rudy gritted his teeth and controlled his balance to turn his body and somehow use a skill to attack Azaroth.

However, just as he turned his body to look at the ground, a strong kick struck his head, which sent him in the ground's direction.

Rudy created a protective film of Ardor around him to defend himself from the impact once he crashed against the ground.

However, surprisingly, he didn't crash into the ground.

It was because his body was once again flung into the air by Azaroth's kick. This time, his chest was targeted as if Azaroth wanted to break his rib bones.

Rudy coughed out a mouthful of blood as he was flying in the air. His condition was getting worse with each kick from Azaroth.

Before Rudy even reached the full height in the air, Azaroth gave him a tornado kick and threw him back to the ground.

This time, the target was Rudy's backbone. And also, Azaroth allowed Rudy to crash into the ground.

Fortunately, Rudy had protected himself using Ardor all around his body. But unfortunately, he found that he couldn't even move his finger.

"I-I s-surrender."

Aiden looked slightly relieved once he heard those words, "Edwin wins this match." After saying this, he immediately rushed towards Rudy's position.

Meanwhile, Azaroth gracefully landed on the ground. Carson and the people alongside him stared at Azaroth with a hateful expression.

Azaroth spoke out with a mocking voice, "And here I thought this guy could take a punch or two. How could I have known that he was so weak? Oh wait, maybe I should have known he was weak since he is from Palm Valley School of Martial Arts."

"You! How dare you insult our school?!" It was Carson who yelled at Azaroth.

Even Aiden looked surprised to hear those words from Azaroth. He didn't think Azaroth was such a person who would mock the other person's school.

Meanwhile, Azaroth shrugged with a smile, "Why shouldn't I? I am your better, after all."

Carson and his group's eyes widened slightly, and they all gritted their teeth in anger, "You mean…"

"Yeah, I am a graduate of the Acadia School of Martial Arts," Azaroth spoke out with a proud tone.