So, since I've got that important upcoming Quest pretty soon and am busy preparing for it……here's how a few of my duels went over the past few months in the meantime……

  Around the third week of January, a third year guy with Fire Magic and a spear challenged me to a duel. It went a little something like this……

  "Take this!" He cried out, blasting flames out towards me from his hand.

  I used Lightning Boost to evade the flames, while simultaneously flinging poison needles at him. He used the spear to deflect them away, before throwing it at me.

  I smirked as the spear neared me.

  "Now, Store. And……," I mumbled, before returning it to him with……, "……Extract!"

  The spear went shooting back to where it came from, he was too stunned to react, as it shot towards his chest, the barrier teleporting him out right before it could pierce him.

  Using Store and Extract during duels became a bit harder after I used up its surprise factor, but it was still a more than handy trick to have up my sleeve. There really weren't that many Student Adventurers who could put up a decent fight against me, most of my duels ended as fast as this one did, some even faster.

  Vi was the only one who was strong enough to force me to use Karma in order to win. That said, there were a few others who could challenge me to some degree……

  Towards the end of January, I fought a third year girl with Water Magic, a walrus Anima with two long fangs, and a bladed whip. Her name was Siela Larwas, she had white and blue striped medium-length hair that was pushed back from her forehead. She was fairly skilled……I was pretty sure she hadn't fought in the Brawl of Glory last year, which was surprising since she wasn't half bad.

  The duel was a pretty fun one……

  She started the fight by firing a barrage of pressurized water shots, I evaded them without a problem, but as I did, she dashed forward and cracked her whip towards me. I sprang back to avoid it, the blade at the end of it slightly grazing my collarbone.

  It was about ten meters long, but despite the length, she handled it expertly.

  She began spinning the whip above her, as she fired rapid blasts of water to keep me at bay. I could dodge them pretty easily, but she kept firing them at my legs to prevent me from moving forward or closing the gap.

  If I could force a fight into the close-range, more often than not, I would almost definitely win. Not only was my fighting technique superior to most, but with my speed, very few could even begin to keep up.

  She then fired a couple of rapid blasts at me as I got into a bit of an awkward position to be able to dodge……I forcibly twisted my body to avoid them, spraining my right ankle as I did. Before I could heal it or even regain my balance, she swung her whip across towards my left, having been spinning it all this time, it had some seriously intense momentum, the blade rapidly slicing through the air.

  With my center of balance still unstable, I awkwardly blocked the rapidly incoming blade with my dagger, the force knocked me off my feet and sent me crashing onto the barrier wall, my right shoulder slamming into it. She then swung the whip straight down at me.

  I quickly sheathed my dagger and drew out my Counter Barrier Spell Scroll, activating the spell as the whip neared me.

  It struck the barrier, and deflected off of it as it exploded outwards, I used the smoke from the explosion as cover to zip out and sneak up behind her. Before she could react, I slashed my sword across the back of her neck, the barrier teleporting her out before I could cut across her nape.

  I had been refraining from using Bloodlust Mode, as well as manually suppressing my violent urges, during these duels. I really didn't care about hurting people I barely know during a fight, but I wanted to be able to control and resist these sadistic desires at will, to avoid losing control.

  I had decided to avoid using Bloodlust Mode and inflicting pain before delivering the final blow unless my opponent was someone I actively wanted to hurt. For instance, if I were to fight Neo, I would probably let my violent tendencies completely take over without restraint, but if I was just fighting a random person whom I have no real animosity against……I'll hold back my more malevolent side.

  If nothing else, restraining those urges serve as good self-control and discipline training……

  In early February, I dueled Rai. It went like this……

  He started off the fight by activating Lightning Boost at x3.2, his current level of mastery.

  Unfortunately for him, he would have put up a better fight against me if he had used just x3 instead……his eyes just couldn't keep up with his speed at x3.2, and as a result, there were a lot of wasted movements and mistakes on his part.

  I decided to try and win this without using Karma.

  He sprinted at me as I activated my own Lightning Boost, blocking the swing of his scythe with my sword and thrusting my dagger at his neck. He let go of his scythe and quickly grabbed my left hand with both his hands, before I could drive the dagger any further forward.

  As his scythe began to drop, he caught the handle with his tail, and then used it to swing it across my head, with a tight grip on my left hand.

  Before the scythe could reach me, I quickly flicked my right wrist and used my sword to cut off my left hand to free myself from his grasp and spring back, the blade of his scythe slicing in front of me, leaving a deep gash on the bridge of my nose.

  He looked taken aback and dropped his guard as he held my bloody, severed left hand. Now's my chance. I fired a bolt of lightning from my left stump at his neck, he sprang back and threw my severed hand at the blast to take the brunt of the impact.

  Damn, wasn't expecting that……he used my hand as a meatshield……

  I shot forward, and as he began to put his guard back up as I neared him, I swung my bloody left stump across his face, splashing some blood onto his eyes, blinding him for a second. I then used Stream on my sword and drove it towards his chest, as he was teleported out right before it could pierce through.

  As the instructor supervising the duel declared me the winner and took down the barrier, I walked over to Rai……

  "Aw, man……I should have figured you'd just cut off your hand if I tried to grab on," He sighed with a defeated grin.

  "And I wasn't expecting you to use my cut off hand as a meatshield……now I need to grow it back from scratch instead of reattaching it, thanks a lot," I remarked with mock irritation, as I grew back the bones, followed by the muscles, nerves and blood vessels, and finally the skin.

  "I'll beat you one of these days, dude, and I'll make sure to beat you after forcing you to go all out! But, first……I need to wash out your blood from my eyes……that was a dirty trick, man!"

  "You're welcome to try, Raccoon Tail……and there are no 'dirty tricks' in a fight. I've never understood the concept of 'fighting honorably', especially if it means your chances of surviving are worsened. Of course, even I have lines I don't cross, but when it comes down to it I have no problem using tactics that some might consider 'dirty' in order to win."……

  This next duel happened sometime in the middle of February, and it wasn't a particularly difficult one, but it did help me figure out another use for my Counter Barrier. Actually, this was something that would work with any defensive shield barriers as well.

  My opponent was an Earth Magic user with a strong Elemental Magic capacity and output.

  As the fight began, he immediately used his magic to cover the entire ground below us with spikes.

  I sprang up as high as I could to avoid getting my feet pierced, but there was no way to avoid them when I drop back down.

  That's when it clicked, the idea hitting me like a truck……I swiftly drew out my Counter Barrier scroll, pointed it below me, and activated it.

  Let me quickly explain how activating barriers works. Defensive barriers, the ones that form a wall in front of you, activate about half a meter ahead of you in the direction you pointed the scroll. For instance, if I held out a barrier scroll in front of me and activated it, a wall would form half a meter in front of me……and if I held the scroll and activated it while my arm was pointing straight up, it would form like a ceiling half a meter above me.

  Then there were closed barriers, like the safety barrier used in duels, and the barriers used to contain Forbidden Zone monsters. These barriers form in the shape of a closed box, or sometimes a dome or semi-circle, if you hold the scroll out in front of you as you activate it, it'll form in front of you, with you outside of it. And if you hold it above you as you activate it, it'll form around you, with you inside of it.

  Anyway, knowing that, I realized how I could use my Counter Barrier to stop myself from falling. Here's the thing about this particular barrier……it only explodes if something touches the side facing away from me……the side that was facing me wouldn't explode no matter how much you touched it.

  And so, as I activated it below me, it became the ideal foothold to step on. And unlike the normal defensive barriers that have a translucent shimmer, my Counter Barrier was completely invisible, so it looked like I was just standing in mid-air.

  Anyway, with that, I used Lightning Reign to zap my opponent out of the barrier from my mid-air vantage point.

  Barriers were mostly used as shields, so no one had considered using them as a stepping stone……honestly, I was a little mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner, imagine how useful it'd be for surprise attacks……I could literally drop down on someone from thin air.

  So, yeah……not a particularly challenging duel, but it led me to a very valuable discovery……

  I mentioned before that I was leading the duel rankings amongst all the Student Adventurers at the Academy, and that was mainly because of my win rate, plenty of others had more wins than I did, but they also had a much higher proportion of losses.

  Excluding the Brawl of Glory semi-final, I hadn't lost a single duel so far. Vi was ranked second after me, she had a couple of losses that were due to carelessness, but in terms of actual fights, she had only lost to me.

  Gela was ranked third, she had been dueling more than anyone else over the last couple of months, and while there were a few third years who had been able to beat her, she was rapidly improving, her fighting style becoming more fierce and violent with every battle.

  She tormented her opponents like crazy, dragging out her fights for as long as possible while trying to draw out as much blood as she can without triggering the safety barrier's teleportation.

  These days, she was finding it harder and harder to find people willing to fight her. I wouldn't have minded fighting her again myself, but she turned down my challenge, saying that the next time we fight, she'll be the one to challenge me.

  It was too bad, she was one of the few Student Adventurers I wouldn't bother holding back my violent urges against……I didn't really hate her all that much, but hey, she enjoys that masochistic crap just as much as her sadistic crap, so I'd be doing her a favor.

  The last time I had properly entered Bloodlust Mode and given in to my sadistic side was during my fight against that serial killer.

  However, given that I was continually getting stronger thanks to my slow but steady increases in mastery over Karma and Lightning Boost, I need to be able to suppress and control my violent tendencies at the drop of a hat if I start to lose control……by continuing to resist these urges over and over, I'd be less likely to succumb to them.

  Anyway, back to what I was talking about……the Student Adventurer duel rankings. I was first, followed by Vi and Gela, and then at fourth place was a guy named Oreg Dinwiy. Fifth was the girl I dueled before, Siela Larwas. As for the rest of the significant names in my class……Tuck, Rai and Key held fluctuating positions in the bottom half of the top ten.

  Key had finally worked up the nerve to use her Retractable Anima in front of other people, and as a result, she was now arguably the best sword wielder at the Academy.

  Lamasa had been pretty quiet and reserved ever since the whole Shuffle incident, she didn't even show up to class on most days. That had been a pretty traumatizing day for her, which was emphasized by the loss of her right eye.

  Niski Torfa also had a decent ranking, somewhere in the top fifteen. Persia hadn't dueled at all so far, having been focused on controlling her Anima instead, though she was planning on starting soon. She could use half of the full extent of it without any problems, but any more than that made her mind far too feral to stay in control.

  It might be possible to eventually control it fully with repetitive practice, but there was also a fair chance that this was the limit as far as how much of it she could fully control.

  Az had also avoided duels, and had absolutely no intention of changing that. I certainly had no plans to challenge him to one, especially in an enclosed space……it would take him all of ten seconds to completely fill the barrier with water or ice, keeping himself in an air bubble or something……he certainly had the skills to do it.

  Actually, even in an open area, I wouldn't fancy my chances against him……if I got close to him, he didn't have the combat skills to defend himself, but getting close to him would be quite the feat, given how much water he can generate, and how quickly he could do so.

  I may take a fair amount of pride in my skills and abilities, but I'm not so proud that I can't admit it when I'm facing a losing battle.

  By the way, just to put it into perspective, there are currently only a little over thirty-five students active in the ranking system……the second and third year classes combined had barely over forty-five students, and even if first years were allowed to duel, there were only twelve students in the current first year class……and that was half my fault……

  Let's do one more duel, against the fourth ranked Student Adventurer, Oreg Dinwiy.

  This was a couple of days after I took on Mika as my apprentice, in early March. He had a shaved head, bright yellow eyes, and was pretty lean. He had Wind Magic and a rhinoceros Anima, with a horn growing out of the middle of his forehead. He had a crossbow strapped to his right arm.

  The fight began with him using Flight to get some height, before firing arrows down at me using his crossbow, using spiraling wind shots to speed them up. However, I had come up with a few ways to counter being attacked from above.

  As he shot another arrow down at me, I used Store and Extract to return it back up at him.

  The moment he stopped firing in order to evade the arrow fired back at him, I sprang up into the air as high as I could, activating the Counter Barrier spell under me as I reached the peak of my jump.

  He regained his bearings and quickly continued firing his arrows down at me.

  Some spells have cooldown times before you can activate them again, but……my Counter Barrier spell wasn't one of them.

  I activated it again, this time above me. As the arrows crashed down onto it, it exploded upwards, though my opponent was still well out of the reach of the blast.

  Using the smoke from the explosion as cover, I sprang across to the left, activated another Counter Barrier at an angle, before springing up off of it, jumping through the smoke as I quickly activated Lightning Web to create a large net of electricity above me. I was now only a few meters below my opponent, so the streams of lightning that reached him were fairly potent.

  After a series of unavoidable zaps, he lost control of Flight and began falling back down.

  In that moment, the temptation to unleash a powerful attack was irresistible. I maxed out my Lightning Boost at x3, extracted twenty percent Karma, and began wrapping lightning around my fist.

  I usually used lightning attacks in the long range, but recently I had used this lightning punch a few times now, most notably against Neo Lapunder. As I began to drop back down, my fist raised and ready to slam into the ground, I started brainstorming names for this attack……

  Lightning Punch or Lightning Fist? No, too generic. So generic that they were probably already taken. It then struck me like a bolt of, well……lightning.

  Of course, that's genius! Sometimes, I astonish myself with my brilliance!

  Right, so the time I used this attack against Neo, it had been as a sucker punch……in which case……

  "Take this……!"……

  Shocker Punch!

  Oh, since I was using Karma, it should technically be……Shocker Punch Noir!

  My opponent got teleported out before my fist even got within half a meter of him, and as I slammed it into the ground……it smashed the ground inwards into a crater, the force of the shockwave generated upon impact caused the barrier to immediately shatter. The walls of the training hall had severe cracks all over them as I absolutely devastated the floor. I had smashed nearly the entire ground surface of the hall into a crater.

  The door leading into the room collapsed inwards and fell down, as several areas of the walls crumbled. Even though he had gotten teleported out, my opponent had still gotten pretty hurt, having been sent flying by the shockwave that shattered the barrier and crashed onto one of the walls, cracking it even further.

  It's a good thing all the training halls and rooms were located in the ground floor of the Academy, if this had been on one of the upper floors, I probably would have punched right through it……

  Instructor Tabbs, who had been supervising this particular duel, did not look pleased at all.

  As I transferred the Karma back into the Mana Orb, I sighed sheepishly as I figured that Earth Magic wasn't going to be enough to fix all this damage. Instructor Tabbs then spoke up, confirming that……

  "Kuro Black wins. We'll be sending you the bill for the repairs to this training hall, Mr Black," She stated with a cold smile, before walking away.

  That's when I noticed that my right hand and forearm were absolutely shattered……

  well, I did slam it into the ground as hard as I could from a drop of several meters……

  Anyway, that was my twenty-fifth duel……no one's challenged me since then.

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.