Chapter 94 First Round— Badge Fight VI

"What is he doing?" He asked himself, perplexed.

Rustle rustle.

"Oi, Grior, what are you doing?" The guy asked, coming out of a nearby bush just to ask the wind-blade user an unnecessary question.

"Leader Aljier, I didn't know you were here. Please stand by for a moment, I'll finish this USA candidate in one fell swoop." He said with waning confidence.

Aljier's eyes drifted from Grior then to Siril and he immediately realized who was playing with whom. With a click of the tongue, he scratched his head, suppressing the urge to smack Grior to the ground due to his own helplessness. 'He may be the strongest wind manipulator in our Great Mountain School but his brains are lacking. Why did he engage with a much stronger opponent with the false confidence that he'd win? Preposterous!'

"You're not going to win. Even if you did, you won't come out unscathed. That guy is strong."

"Really?! It doesn't look like that to me. Leader, he's been defending himself for more than ten minutes now. If he were stronger than me, he'd have done something by now." Grior laid out in front of Aljier who didn't buy a single word he said.

After all, he could see the clarity and the conniving expression on Siril's face. It was as conspicuous as the trees in the stage where they're currently in. "That, or he's planning something. I suggest you pull out for now and let us handle the rest." Aljier suggested, gently placing a hand on Grior's shoulder before patting it so hard he dislocated his arm a couple of times over.

? "Agghhkk~" Grior screamed in pain as his arm spun a couple of times with its axis right by his shoulder's scapula. He fell down and stopped using his wind blades altogether as Aljier stepped on his injured hand, breaking it in the process as he twisted his foot. Another scream came out of his mouth but he bit his lips upon realizing that screaming more would just give their location to other teams.

"Clara, you know what to do," Aljier said, clicking his tongue while pointing towards Grior.

"Yes, leader," Another figure popped out of the bushes, and this time, it was a girl covered in what seemed like a white dress of some sort, Upon command, she knelt beside Grior and placed her hand on his arm which had been broken many times over in a span of a split second. Clara felt a bit of nausea upon seeing Grior's battered hands but she wasn't complaining. She was just glad that Aljier isn't an enemy. But then again, his behavior is questionable as a superhero since he bullies everyone inferior to him. This was how he managed to rise to the top in their school, earning him his rightful place as the number one candidate for inter-high.

Although Clara and the others disliked his personality, he is one reliable candidate so she wasn't complaining. With that thought, she bit her lips as she healed Grior's injury.

"Aljier, injuring our fellow candidate wouldn't help us. Just let him be next time," Someone spoke from behind with a mild-mannered tone. The other guy was a tad taller than the rest of them and he wore a loose shirt and pajamas as if he just got out of bed. He seemed sleepy, or it's just his aura that screamed he was a sleepy person.

Ruffling his hair, he stepped forward and patted Clara's head. "You should speak up sometimes too, it will help with your inferiority complex." The guy continued.

"Nah, he deserved that one." Aljier indifferently said despite what his teammate said. Without a thought, he spat on the ground and stared back at Siril who could finally take a breather after Grior stopped attacking him. Now that everyone's out of the bag, Siril knew it was his chance to defeat them in one fell swoop.

But seeing the third-year injure his own teammate made Siril question if he would engage them in combat or not. Although he was confident that he could defeat all of them after shifting into his dragon form, he had his doubts about whether he could get out unharmed since their leader seemed formidable. And also, there were four of them— four third-years. Worst-case scenario, he could get away with all their badges but not without a deep wound or two.

"Man, I could really use some help right now," Siril said to himself, clicking his tongue.

Meanwhile, the sleepy guy grabbed Aljier by the throat as he stood behind him. He then lifted him upwards. "No, he didn't deserve that one." He continued, eyes flaring.

"All right, all right, I'm sorry," Aljier mumbled as he felt the sleepy guy's grip on his neck tighten. He wheezed, and then coughed as the air got back to his lungs.

The sleepy guy then turned towards Grior and knelt in front of him. "Are you all right?" He said, patting him on the head once again. In an instant, he felt better. "Yeah, thanks so much Vulcan-san,"

"No worries, I just sped up your recovery so you might feel a bit dazed. Take a good rest. Clara, replenish his energy if you can. We still have a long first-round ahead of us."

Clara nodded as the light on her hands turn a bright green color instead of its previous whitish color. Beads of sweat trickled on her forehead as she continued but then Siril noticed that the sleepy guy just patted her on the head again and her previous tiredness was gone in an instant.

"What on earth is his superpower?" Siril asked.

Swish!

Suddenly, a tree branch flew right by his face, causing a small gash of a wound to appear on his cheeks. The attack was too fast that he couldn't even react on time. Because of that, he suffered a wound before he detected the bloodlust that came from the enemy's side.

"You over there!' Aljier screamed. "Kobayashi Siril from the United Superheroes Academy, right? Hand over your badge while we're being nice." Upon saying that, he threw another branch, and once again, the branch was too fast for Siril to see that it grazed his legs.

Well, if his eyes were to shift into its dragon form, then seeing the attack would be fairly easy but he didn't want them to know what his superpower was. Unless they did their research, he knew that his superpower should be hidden as long as possible. That way, he can surprise them while their guards are down.

'I knew it!' Aljier licked his lips. Upon throwing those two branches, he realized two things. One, that Siril was hiding his actual superpower. And two, his superpower is the defensive type, sort of like a tanker. With these thoughts in mind, Aljier knew that winning against him would be easy.

"Why don't you hand over your badge now before you get hurt for real?"

"Why? Are you going to mug me?" Siril asked. Even though he was panicking deep inside, he didn't show an ounce of it as he spoke.

"Maybe, if our patience runs out," Aljier answered.

BOOM!

A sound wave erupted where Aljier was standing. In an instant, he disappeared and reappeared in front of Siril with his index finger pointing outward. Without further ado, he pressed his index finger right on Siril's stomach. "You're finished." He continued.

With his heightened senses though, Siril realized that if he were hit by that index finger, he would die in a flash. That's why he shifted into his dragon form before the index finger touched his belly. He felt a considerable amount of killing intent leaking out of Aljier as he did that and that was more than enough to convince him that he was out for blood.

Siril didn't even need to think twice about it. He shifted without hesitation.

However, after assuming his dragon form, he still flew a couple of meters backward. Blood dripped from his mouth as he coughed in pain. "What just happened?" He asked himself.

His dragon form was not only known for its massive size, but also for its absolute defense as well. And yet, Aljier just penetrated his defenses as if he was a knife cutting through butter. If Siril were a normal person, he would've died instantly by now. Fortunately, his fast reflexes saved him and he managed to survive such a powerful attack.

"Force multiplier. The smaller the point of contact and the bigger the opponent, the more force is applied. It could be quite scary if you didn't react on time." Aljier narrated, shaking his hands as if his own attack had recoil damage. But all he was doing was taunting Siril to get nearer so he could attack again.

"Aljier, you almost killed him." The sleepy guy calmly warned. "You might get disqualified."

"Yeah! Isn't that illegal?!" Siril screamed in acquiescence.

TI-RING!

[Aljier Bradford had been disqualified from Round 1]

The announcement that rang throughout the stage made everyone pause for a moment. Indeed, it was an unexpected announcement.

"Che— " Aljier clicked his tongue in displeasure.