Rocky studied his surroundings carefully as the first wave of opponents neared his location.
Despite the frenzy of attackers from different teams surrounding him, each clad in jackets of red, blue, green, and yellow, there was no coordination among them—only a shared intent to overwhelm the lone figure standing calm at the center, as in the face of such an un-coordinated assault, Rocky did not feel fazed at all.
Rocky had already marked a sequence to eliminate them and it was now only a matter of executing his predetermined kill sequence to seize control of the battlefield.
"COCKY BASTARD! YOU'RE MINE-" Screamed a Bull-Beastman wearing a red jacket, as he was the first one to engage with Rocky.
Running at full speed towards Rocky, with his sword swinging in his hands in a natural running motion, there was only the sword thrust movement that he could have performed naturally as to change his stance and perform a slash, he would have needed to slow down his speed first, which he did not seem likely to do based off his current trajectory.
Understanding and calculating this, Rocky's mind mapped out his opponent's movements in advance. His eyes flickering from one attacker to the next, as he did not just calculate the next step, but the next five steps in advance.
Taking the angles of approach from multiple opponent's into consideration and calculating the likely trajectory of their swings, Rocky came up with the perfect fight plan, as he too jumped into action.
As the bull beast man reached him in the red jacket, thrusting with a heavy, double armed strike.
Rocky sidestepped, his movement minimal but precise as he dropped his shoulder and shifted ever so slightly out of his opponents path.
As he moved, dodging the incoming attack he also simultaneously used his right sword to lightly tap the opponent's jacket, causing a splash of red colored water to erupt out of the jacket marking his defeat.
Almost simultaneously, two attackers—one from the blue team and one from the yellow—tried to flank him.
Rocky pivoted, turning the movement into an advantage as his left sword deflected an incoming blow from the yellow jacket while his right sword reached out to tap the blue jacket's side, sending another burst of color into the air and following it up with an attack on yellow jacket as well.
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
"WHAT?"
All three of the opponents that had just been dispatched said in surprise, as from start to finish they could hardly trace Rocky's movements at all.
It wasn't that Rocky was moving too fast that their eyes could not even see, but it was rather the very opposite where Rocky seemed to be moving at a very leisurely pace, however, somehow he still managed to eliminate all three of them.
But while his opponents were stunned, for Rocky himself, the chaos around him didn't falter; if anything, it intensified, as more and more students reached his location and attacked him with their best strikes.
A green jacketed vampire tried to use a fake strike skill called [ Feint ] on Rocky.
Pretending to go for his legs, the vampire actually aimed for his jacket as he hoped that Rocky would use his sword to mount a low defence, being fooled by his feint which would then open up his abdomen for a counterattack.
However instead of blocking low, Rocky jumped into the air and backflipped behind him, evading his strike, but as he landed, his sword came down on the vampires shoulder, adding another splash of color to the ground.
Then, Rocky suddenly swung his blades without any warning.
Although he did not move from his position at all, a total of 8 students had their jackets sliced open as colorful water burst from within.
"Huh, I got eliminated?"
"What?"
"How?"
The first row students said in confusion, as they could not even notice the strike that cut them open.
"SWORD PROJECTION! IT'S SWORD PROJECTION..... ROCKY HAS SURPASSED THE REALM OF SWORD INTENT, HE ALREADY KNOWS SWORD PROJECTION" Someone said, as this revelation caused pandemonium amongst the other kids.
"What sword projection? But that's impossible, not even veteran swordsmen have the guarantee of unlocking it, it's not even a part of our curriculum!"
"If he knows sword projection, then we are not even worthy of being practise opponents against him! He's on a whole another level"
"I refused to believe it, it's only been six months since we started with our university lessons, how could he have unlocked sword projection already?"
The students said, as they discussed the possibility of Rocky having learnt sword projection, as they subconsciously stepped away from him, enlarging the circle around him from 5 to 15 meters.
Professor Mae, watching this situation develop from the sidelines, had her eyes widen with a mix of professional admiration and genuine surprise.
She knew Rocky had only been studying swordsmanship under her for six months, yet his command of the blade and the battlefield was something she'd expect from veteran fighters like university professors or C ranked adventurers, if not higher.
'He's reading them like a book, inducing fear and controlling the rhythm of the battle' she thought to herself, impressed by how Rocky anticipated and countered every move with such precision and calm.
It was as if he was choreographing the entire fight, making seasoned decisions that belied his limited formal training in the art.
Rocky's prowess on the battlefield was a lesson in both swordsmanship and psychological warfare.
The remaining students, once eager to prove themselves against him, now held back, their eyes darting not just to him but to each other, uncertain and shaken.
The psychological barrier Rocky had built with his initial display of skill and calm now acted as a shield as much as his swords did.
However, when everyone else refused to fight him, Sophia finally decided to step up as she walked into the empty space that Rocky had created between himself and the others, as she approached him with a confident smile on her face.
"I knew it! I did not expect any of these fools to be able to scratch you! But if they did, I'd have been really disappointed.
Guess in the end, us champions are really a cut above the rest-" she said, putting herself in the same category as Rocky as she insulted the crowd around her without any fear of retribution.