*Sizzle*

“Ouch.” The moment Isabella teleported into the fleeting lands, she fell onto the blazing sands of a lifeless desert.

She got herself up on her feet and dusted off the hot sands from her uniform before scanning her surroundings. Even though she was quite sure where she was, she brought out her map from one of her pockets just to confirm her location.

‘The Sandy deaths’- that’s what was written just a bit West of the circular Medial mountain range.

She folded the map and put it back into her pocket. Unlike the other students, she was not carrying any huge bags or backpacks to store foods, equipments and potions. She only had a small pouch hanging from her waist, a composite bow and quiver was held by her back. Her two dark daggers were crossed just above her butt.

She looked East. The Dragontail mountain, the tallest mountain of the Medial mountain range was not too far away. A smile surfaced on her face; it was her destination.

She began to run. In contrast to the other students who were taking their time, she could not afford to- she had a mission. In a matter of five minutes, she was already at the base of the mountain. Being a level 4 ‘wind’ circler, she was one of the fastest on the lands.

She suddenly stopped- not because she reached her destination, but because something came in her way- someone to be precise. The bald and burly young man was taken by surprise from her sudden intrusion.

“Look who’s here. Isn’t this Isabella Hunt? The Confederation tier 5 of this decade. How unlucky of you to-” He suddenly lost his voice. The world span around before *thump*. The last thing he ever saw was the eruption of blood from the neck of his standing body, which had yet to realise its head was gone.

Isabella was already on her way as she sheathed her dagger back. Though she would have loved to enjoy his death, the task bestowed upon her by her young master came first; she did not even bother to loot the nameplate. In a little more than ten minutes, she had already climbed on top of the Dragontail mountain.

From the peak, the whole magical land came into her view. Just beside the mountain was a massive lake. The whole Medial mountain range surrounded the lake as if it were trying to protect the it. The Dragontail mountain was at the extreme West, and at the extreme East of the range lied the shortest of mountains.

Past those mountains, she was able to see the ‘unending seas’ along with constellations of islands floating on it. To her West was ‘the Sandy deaths’, just where she came from. The ‘hellish depths’- the great canyon was to her North. To her South, she could see marshes with greenish vegetation. And further away, there was a forest which looked akin to a sea of violet.

A few minutes into the Hunt, Lecturer Euclid Raven- wearing an orange coat- was walking through the forest filled with purple leaves. There was a diagonal scar on his face. Unlike the supervisors of past Hunts, he had a task this time. Despite that, he was not in a hurry; he would finish it eventually.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!” A high pitched shriek grabbed his attention. He began to rush towards the source of the sound.

Soon, he reached his destination. All there was was a corpse of a student from his institution. Her shoulder and ribs were caved in, trails of blood came out from her mouth and tears from her eyes- the eyes that betrayed despair and regret, even after death.

He knelt down and used his hand to shut her eyes. “Poor girl, she was squeezed to death.”

He closed his eyes and soon, he opened them again before facing North. “Here you are.”

Adrian looked at the scarred face of the the one who blocked his path and took a step back.

“Who would have thought that we will meet even before the Hunt properly begins? Blame your bad luck.”

Adrian looked into his eyes. “Don’t the rules say that supervisors are prohibited from interfering with the students’ affairs in any possible way? You are only allowed to protect students from unforeseen calamities.”

“The rules?” The lecturer snorted. “Who cares about them? Every year, the supervisors from both sides kill some students from the other side. As long as none crosses the line, the other party wouldn’t care at all.”

Adrian took out two short-swords from his backpack before dropping the backpack to the ground. This was probably- no- this WAS the first fight ever where he would have to be serious. He could not let extra weight drag him down.

“Vengeance is not the reason you want to kill me, nor is it fun. Right?” He smiled.

“You don’t get it, do you?” The orange uniformed man laughed. “The more you prove your abilities, the more incumbent it is for me to end you.” He stopped his laughter and gave Adrian a death glare.

He charged at Adrian with dashing speed. It was already too late to dodge; Adrian crossed both of his swords to block the charge. Though he was unscathed, he was hurled away against a tree. The rigid tree had no chance whatsoever to keep standing; it fell down, destroying dozens of branches of other trees along the way.

Adrian stood back up as if nothing had happened.

*Snap. Snap*

He snapped his own neck and shoulders before looking back at the surprised face of the lecturer. Even a level 4 augmenter would have face some damage from that strike. This second year student- what level had he reached?

Adrian knew what his opponent was thinking. But he was a level 5 augmenter; even more so, he was Adrian Darkheart.

This time, Adrian took the initiative to attack, surprising the man even more. But he only smirked as he easily dodged the attack. He was a level 7 wind circler after all- an Institute lecturer at that. He could dodge ordinary level 8 circlers, let alone someone who had been practicing magic for just a year and a half.

Adrian’s momentum caused him to strike another tree; that tree shared the same fate- it fell down.

“Corrosion!” The man shouted with his eyes wide open. “You-” He sighed. “Now I understand what she meant when she termed you a ‘variable’. I never paid any heed even though I took the task. Looks like I can’t play with you any longer.” He waved his hand. “Goodbye.”

Adrian jumped to his right as fast and as far as he could.

*Whoosh*

*Bam. Bam.*

Though Adrian was safe, the same could not be said for the two trees behind him. They fell down.

The man did not mind the miss as he waved his hand again.

“Tsk.” Adrian got up and evaded again. He could sense the invisible magic circle behind the man. The right choice would have been to ambush him before he prepared the spell.

But Adrian knew it would have been useless as his opponent was a level 7 wind circler. And the best defence against that spell was to stay away as far as possible. Even his demonic aura was rendered ineffective as the man did not have even a little fear for him.

Now, all he could do was avoid the attacks until his opponent runs out of magical energy. And that’s what he did; he kept dodging those super fast attacks- left and right, up and down. Trees fell- one after the other.

Many of the attacks grazed him- tearing his uniform, wounding his skin. Even his demonically handsome face was not spared; blood trickled through a cut on his cheek. But his superhuman moves along with what seemed like an ability to predict all of the attacks rendered the man speechless.

But Adrian got the fruit of his work- the spell died down. He did not waste a moment as he charged towards the depleted lecturer. The lecturer did not panic though; he was still inhumanly fast. It was his time to dodge. Even though he evaded every single one of the young man’s strike, his quick speed surprised him nonetheless.

‘He could not be left alive.’ He began to absorb magical energy with renewed fervour.

Though Adrian’s side almost turned into a desert, the imperial lecturer’s side of the forest remained dense as it had been. Hence, his missed strikes scratched a lot of the trees.

Since the beginning of the duel, Adrian had dodged more than a dozen of attacks and missed even more. It was taking its toll on his body- regardless of its superiority compared to ordinary bodies. His speed was gradually decreasing, along with the power behind those attacks.

The lecturer smirked. “This battle- is over.” But suddenly-

*Creak. Creak*

Tens of trees around him began to fall at once. Adrian’s speed and strength did not only recover, they exceeded their previous conditions.

The scarred man wanted to dodge right, but he could not. A falling tree blocked his way. He switched to another direction, but the result was the same. This time, he barely avoided Adrian’s attack.

‘Fuck!’ The imperial citizen understood what was going on. ‘The freak used his <corrosion> property to time the falling trees. Moreover he timed and manipulated the directions of the falls in such a way that they would get in my way. He thought of all this during a heated battle like this? He is a monster. No. He can’t be left alive. At. Any. Cost!’

He kept dodging, but some of Adrian’s strikes connected- resulting in injuries. Even though he recovered a bit of magical energy, he did not have the time nor the situation to cast a spell.

Very soon, he was trapped from all sides and Adrian’s swords aimed for his vitals. He exhaled a long breath and made a choice.

He evaded the swords; he survived. But this came at a cost. A heavy tree fell on his right shoulder, tearing the whole arm apart.

He bit his lips and endured the pain before kicking Adrian in the stomach. Adrian was blasted away; blood spewed out from his mouth, the swords left his grip.

He barely sat up, coughing out blood. He looked at his amputated opponent. The man lost all of his previous vigour. His scarred face was now pale. He slowly walked towards him, covering his bloody right shoulder with his left hand.

Adrian did not have the energy left to move his limbs, let alone stand up. But he maintained eye contact with his opponent- without any sign of fear or cowardice.

The man picked up one of the swords and stood before him.

“Any last words?” The veteran pointed the sword at him.

But Adrian- he smiled, revealing his blood coated teeth.

“Check. Mate.”