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  **Chapter Six**

  The students' voices stopped suddenly, as if a knife had cut their throats.

  Even Professor Era’s pupils narrowed slightly. She had expected Cyril to struggle, but at least not to this extent.

  She had already watched Ion in the student exams, from the elimination rounds to the competition for rankings; he had surprised all the faculty with his strength.

  Therefore, she already had an overview of his overall power.

  She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at Ion, who was regaining his grip, adjusting his stance, and standing like an upright spear in the middle of the arena.

  Only a month had passed since the end of the entrance exams; it was impossible that he had hidden his power during the competition, especially against Arthur Greylock.

  Unless, perhaps, in this month his strength had increased to this extent, but that still remained a bit hard to believe, yet it seemed to be the only expnation for now.

  She stopped thinking and turned her attention to the battle.

  Cyril rose in astonishment from the pit, staring bnkly, and then as he began to regain his focus, his anger grew, and then he cursed violently.

  "You bastard—"

  But before he could finish his sentence, Ion approached him quickly.

  He hurried to take a defensive stance, but Ion had a look of concern on his face as he looked at Cyril, then said:

  "Hey, Senior, are you okay? I already told you to get ready. Why did you just stand there and take my hit? I know you are kind and don't like to bully, but you are scratching my pride and my self-respect by doing this if you are not serious in this duel." Ion’s face frowned, and his eyes shone with unparalleled sincerity.

  When Cyril heard him, he almost choked from the intensity of his anger, but he forced himself to suppress his fury, while other students did not really know if Ion was telling the truth or if it was just nonsense. However, his eyes seemed to say the truth, except for his lips, which were trembling as they tried to form a sarcastic smirk, exposing his lie, but it seemed Cyril did not notice this.

  "Fine... yes, I was negligent and didn't circute my aura before the fight... Well, junior, warm-up time is over, and let's begin. I will do my best, so try to hold on," said Cyril with a smile that radiated fake confidence.

  He had already decided that he would dig Ion's grave today to humiliate him.

  But before Cyril could move, Ion spoke again and said: "What about the two remaining chances, Senior?"

  Cyril reeled and almost coughed up blood, remembering his previous words. What the hell, why am I such a bbbermouth? Damn me.

  He couldn't help but remember Ion’s punch, even though he didn't want to admit it; Ion’s concentrated aura power had already overwhelmed him, even though he was stimuting his aura with mana, which was essentially cheating that he simply overlooked.

  Cyril couldn't help but pressure himself as he said, "Oh, yeah, I already forgot about it... Go ahead, take your second chance now. Do your best; I won't be negligent like st time." And without waiting, he circuted his aura to the maximum concentration he could muster on his vital areas and his arms and legs, preparing to receive Ion’s blow.

  Ion couldn't help but curl his lips into a sarcastic smirk as he looked at Cyril’s current state. Well, it seems I will put on a little show for them.

  He circuted his aura concentrated in the shape of a ring revolving around his right shoulder instead of his fist. This sight drew looks of surprise from the students and even the professor and the blonde-haired student, Rein Evelyn, one of the heroines.

  Before they understood what Ion was doing, the ground suddenly exploded under Ion’s feet into a small pit before he disappeared suddenly and appeared in the blink of an eye in front of Cyril.

  Cyril’s eyes widened, and he tensed up even more, preparing for the impact.

  Ion directed his punch directly at Cyril’s chest, which was surrounded by crossed arms protecting his chest.

  But...

  The scene of the impact did not appear. Cyril did not budge from his pce at all, though he was already prepared to at least be pushed back a few meters.

  As soon as he opened his mouth to release a taunt and try to "reassure" his junior, he noticed a sarcastic smirk on Ion’s lips.

  Even the spectators, before they could comprehend what was happening, after less than a second, a violent shockwave unched, moving from Ion’s shoulder to his fist, then to Cyril’s crossed arms, and then the same scene of the first chance that Cyril "graced" Ion with returned.

  The funny surprise was that Cyril was pushed into the same path he had created before and stopped in the same pce as before.

  The spectators' eyes widened; some of them even opened their mouths to the point where you could put a whole egg inside. Well, you can't bme them, for this technique was created by Ion himself when he was 14 years old.

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