Chapter 58: Stepping forward!

"I don't have time to play mind games with you," Vincent said with a frown on his face as he looked at Felix. "Are you moving or not?"

Hearing his words, Felix inclined his head to look at the flames, and acting as if he was talking to someone, he said, "That would be too boring wouldn't it?" A moment later, he nodded acting as if the flames have responded to him, and he then turned to look at the examinees with a judgmental gaze and said, "Nope, I won't be moving out of this place as I don't think that any of you are worthy to pass this test. That's why I will play as the examiner to see whether or not you are worthy of becoming a student in the military academy."

"To prove yourself worthy, you must defeat me in a one-on-one fistfight. Otherwise, I won't let you go ahead! It doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman, everyone must follow my rules for this test!"

Hearing his boastful words, Leila rolled her pretty eyes while the students gritted their teeth as they thought that he just want to bully them.

Meanwhile, instructor Alex looked at his Guardian and said, "Can I expel him out of the track?"

"You can't do that. There was no rule against infighting, to begin with," Kayle hurriedly spoke to defend her younger stepbrother. 

Theodore brought the cup in one of his hands near his lips and took a sip. Afterward, he said, "It's a battle amongst the younger generation. So let them come to a decision themselves."

The younger generations were itching to beat the shit out of Felix, but they didn't step forward as they didn't want to be the first ones to fight him.

"Big brother, can I please teach him a lesson? He's wasting our time, and it's also causing your result to worsen! I will fight him, and you take that chance to make a run for the finish line." Leila was worried that he won't get the actual amount of rewards he deserved if this goes on any longer. That's why she decided to act as bait and draw over Felix's attention. Vincent will be able to successfully jump over the wall of flames once Felix is distracted, after all, but Vincent shook his head indicating that he recuses to put her in danger for such a selfish reason.

"Stay here." Vincent declined her proposal as he was worried that she would get hurt. "I will deal with him by myself," he added as he stepped towards Felix.

"I don't care if you stop the other participants. I don't care if you hurt them, either. However, trust me on this, if your hurt a single hair on her head, I will hunt you down my entire life, and mark my words, once I am done with you, you will be destroyed both mentally and physically!" Vincent threatened in a low voice as he looked at Felix with a cold murderous gaze while stepping forward, and Felix could feel Vincent's threatening aura intensifying by each step he took.

The eyes of Felix twitched as he felt angered by being threatened by a low-born.

"Why the hell would I listen to your words? Who the hell do you think you are, huh? Why would I listen to your bullshits?" Felix said as wisps of fire burst forth from his body, twirling around his fists threateningly.

"Believe me, soon you will do as I say," Vincent said as he picked up the pace and rapidly closed the distance between him and Felix with a few steps.

A second later, the two of them clashed, and Vincent repeatedly maneuvered his body like an expert to dodge Felix's barrage of blazing fists.

After a few moments, Vincent was able to determine that Felix lacks actual combat experience.

He was correct. The youngest son of the saintess of fire also knows as the most spoiled of the Great royal Walken family had never participated in actual combat where the chance of getting hurt exists. After all, the Knights that were supposed to train Felix had always held back when sparring with him as they feared hurting him. They knew that a knight had been unjustly dismissed after he accidentally wounded Felix in a spar. This in itself had lowered the impression the family's knight had of Felix. They disliked him. That's why the knights had never sparred with Felix with the intention of fixing his shortcomings.

Thus, Felix had never experienced an actual fight in his life, and he wasn't trained for one either.

An actual fight is cruel and brutal as there is a high chance of getting severely injured. Furthermore, it has unexpected movements and attacks.

A person like Felix that has never fought for real would never be a match for a person like Vincent who has been learning about combat tactics since a young age and had even fought beasts in the wilderness.

Vincent determined that Felix's attacking routine was simple, and the way Felix fought contained mistakes that he could use to his advantage. However, Vincent didn't instantly make use of Felix's mistakes to his advantage as he wasn't sure whether or not Felix was purposely exposing his weakness to bait him into his attack range.

'Particularly, his weakness is his lower body and wide movements. However, he just has too many weaknesses. It's almost hard to believe that he is not faking it. Whatever, I will target his weaknesses once I'm sure that he is not trying to fool me but rather he is just that bad at fighting.' Vincent felt conflicted as it was hard for him to believe that someone from the great royal family would use an attacking routine that was not only easy to understand and follow but is also filled to the brim with mistakes.

In truth, the mistakes seemed like a trap that Felix has created to bait Vincent into his attacking range even in the eyes of the spectators. After all, the instructors and the faculty members didn't know that Felix didn't have actual combat experience.

It's not like they researched about his past, but if they did, they would have been laughing their guts out. 

Felix fall from grace and the things that happened after to him were just too comical!

It was like karma fucked him all over!

"Is dodging all you can do? Pathetic!" Felix said in disdain after a moment.

At that very moment, Vincent's leg connected with his knee causing him to grimace in pain. Immediately after, Felix used his movement skill and hurriedly took three steps back as he evaded Vincent's attack.

"You still have the time to talk while fighting me? I guess you never really brawled with an actual person." Vincent taunted as his eyes glistened in a calculative glint. He was now sure that Felix was just that bad.

Hearing his words, Felix scowled. "What do you even know! I have been fighting against my family knight ever since I was a child!"

As soon as he said those words, the raging red-haired teenager released a torrent of fireball towards him. However, Vincent closed the distance between them as he dodged each of them. Then, he immediately stepped forward and began attacking Felix's weak points.

Pa* Pa*

As Felix's cheeks were being slapped left and right under Vincent's hands, the eyes of Nevis brightened as he thought that this was the perfect chance to make a run for it. After all, his buddy was keeping Felix kept. After Nevis infused a large amount of battle energy into his legs, his body moved with incredible speed, displaying the epitome of basic footwork. His body arched forward as he jumped over the flame walls, and although the tip of the flame walls came near him, it never did any harm to him.

"I will be going ahead. Buddy, thanks for holding this raging bull back for me," Nevis exclaimed after landing on the ground.

Felix could do nothing to stop him as his hands were already full fighting Vincent. He was receiving the beating of his life as Vincent's fists and kicks connected all over his body.

"Since Vincent is keeping Felix busy for us, we should not waste his generous act of kindness. This is our chance to cross this adversary!"

"Let's fucking go!"

"Shouldn't we help him?"

"Can't you see that he is winning? Why would he need our help?! We should focus on winning the race rather than wasting our time here."

Following Nevis's footsteps, Geom and a lot of other participants jumped over the enormous flame walls one after another.

A few of the students saw them going away, and they turned their heads down in disappointment.

"Ugh, the walls of flame are too high for me to jump over it."

"I think I can't make the jump either."

"Guess we will be waiting here."

"Hopefully, he will win soon."

Peter, Leila, Varth, and more than thirty percent of the participants stayed as they weren't sure whether or not they could jump over the flame walls.

"God damn you!" Felix exclaimed in anger as he threw a punch with flames swirling around it at Vincent's face.

"You are full of weaknesses!" Vincent casually performed a downward roll and dodged the blazing fist.

In the split of a second, Vincent rolled behind Felix as he then instantly kicked the back of his right legs.

The force behind his kick was so great that it shattered the bones of Felix's leg.

"Ugh!" Felix dropped to his knees, screaming like a pig being butchered as tears of pain streamed down the corner of his eyes.

It was pretty comical as Felix's eyes were darker than the eyes of a panda. After all, Vincent had made sure to hit him repeatedly on the bullseyes. 

"I will leave the rest to you guys. He is already injured so taking him down should be easy enough for you," Vincent exclaimed as he rushed forward and jumped over the flame walls.

By using his energy resonating eyes that work like a drone, he had noticed that a lot of participants have crossed one-third of the tracks. He needed to hurry up and overtake them or else, he won't get a good reward from completing the mission as he won't be able to place higher than the tenth position.

He was being selfish here, but he wanted to win the race, and be placed above others, as his future's goal also depended upon passing the entrance examination of the military academy with the highest score.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?!" Felix exclaimed like a sore loser as fireballs burst forth from his palms and shoot towards Vincent's back.

As the balls of fire came towards him, Vincent's body flickered, displaying excellent footwork. His speed that doubled once he infused several units of battle energy into his legs allowed him to move faster than what the eyes of Felix and the other participants could follow. He moved like a gust of wind, and although the fireballs struck the ground near to him, not even a single one managed to hit him.