"Kiko Sun?!!!"

Everyone shouted under their breaths after Bren Storm called out Kiko's name as his opponent.

This decision of his was unexpected to all. Even his friends were having shocked faces. They also weren't expecting Bren to choose Kiko to be his opponent.

Why did he choose someone of such caliber to be his opponent? His friends asked in their minds. It was known to everyone that Kiko was from the Elite section. And he was a wielder of great talent that was favored by the instructors and even by the elders as the one who has a high chance of bringing the whole academy into the top of the ranking. Such thoughts were present in everyone's mind.

Each trainee has scattered thought at the moment.

Actually, this was also the reason why Bren chose Kiko as the opponent.

Kiko frowned.

He never expected that someone would challenge him so blatantly.

"Fool," Marco muttered while staring daggers at Bren and shook his head in disgust.

"Hahaha. What a joke! That guy probably hit his head so hard and forgot who he shouldn't choose to challenge." Bruno followed while guffawing.

"Hehe. Is that guy an idiot?" Other friends of them said and chuckled.

"Tsk, such a pushover." Kiko felt awful at Bren. He originally wanted to fight that Froggyman and embarrass him.

The judges seemed to be excited at the next duel.

"Hehe. So we are already at the climax of the show?" Instructor Musk asked with a grin.

"This is what I've been waiting for...! Finally, finally! Ahahaha!" Torr exclaimed excitedly. Finally, he was able to witness again that kid's ancient technique, the Earth-Crushing Technique.

"Oh, I started to like that kid. Someone who is not afraid to challenge a strong opponent is worthy of praise." Instructor Beth pointed to Bren.

Yman who was near the judge's table heard what the Instructor Beth said. Because of her words, he felt some arrow let loose and hit his head from behind.

Regardless, for him, he would rather escape or chose a weaker opponent than feed himself to the beast.

Safety first!

Most of the trainees wanted to question Bren of why he chose Kiko as his opponent.

But Bren had reasons that were not simple to achieve. He knew that Kiko was strong. And that is also the reason why he chose him as an opponent.

If ever he was able to defeat him in this duel, even out of luck only, for sure his popularity would rise immediately.

And he might get a chance to be close to the most beautiful girls in this academy. Actually, not just that. It is also about his family. The Storm family used to be one of the tops in the Middle Region.

Yet their family slowly declined for not producing talented offspring for about 5 generations.

In order to prove himself. He must defeat someone stronger. And the best target for him was Kiko who was favored by many in this academy.

If he lost in this duel, nothing really much of an impact on him. After all, the gap in their strength was noticeable.

On the official's table, Mayor Chan and Chief Henderson also have curious faces. They already had some news about this specific trainee who was said to have a great talent, with the high probability of bringing the academy into the top of ranking once again.

After choosing their weapons, everyone expected for Kiko to use a sword. But contrary to their expectations, he chose nothing.

He was barehanded!

Bren felt like he just swallowed a bitter food. And he was wearing a grim expression on his face.

"Arrogant. I will defeat you." Bren mumbled and the sword in his hand trembled from his grip.

"Hehe..." Kiko smirked while spreading his hands open, welcoming Bren to attack.

"Haha, that kid even has the heart to feel pity to his opponent and present a handicap." The judge's Torr chuckled at Kiko's behavior but he found it amusing.

"I don't think he was pitying him. More like, he is looking down on his opponent. Mhm." Instructor Musk added while nodding his head.

"Kufufu. I hope to see a good fight." Instructor Beth cackled.

After their resonance, their body was immediately enveloped by greenish brilliance.

Without wasting any second, while he was holding the sword hilt in his right hand, Bren caressed the sword blade using his left hand and it was followed by the mana of green brilliance, coating the sword blade.

Then more mana burst on his feet as he made a huge sudden stride towards Kiko.

"Dieeeee!!!! Bastard!!!" He dashed towards Kiko like a comet.

And followed by...

BANG!

A loud explosion was heard. The mixture of smoke and dust arises. Forming like a tree.

Then,

Whoosh! The burned smell was carried by the wind as it invaded their nostrils.

The area was dead silent like it was desolated.

A moment later when the dust and smoke were carried by the wind and caused the surroundings to clear up, a charred body fell face-first on the ground.

Then it glowed for a moment and next second, a deity cushioning on a person's back. His color went back to normal also, but he lost his consciousness.

"He was defeated in one explosion?!! All the people in the area shouted behind their breaths!"

"Such domineering aura!"

"A true genius indeed!"

Everyone thinks so.

Kiko walked towards his friends as if nothing happened in the first place. After three steps he stopped and glanced at Yman. Narrowed eyes and disgust was visible on his face. In Kiko's mind, it should be that person that is laying like a charred piece of wood at the moment.

'Well, there are still more chances to come, and next time I will make sure to grill that frog as crispy as possible.'

After a quick thought, he proceeded towards his friends who were at the moment in full excitement.

"Hahaha, Kiko Dude, you have never told us that you're bad at grilling this whole time. Ahahaha!" Bruno who was holding his stomach exclaimed with a big laugh.

"Yeah, gyahaha, oh boy, you overcooked that one. Gyehehehe!" One of Kiko's friends added and cackled.

"Ha~haaaah! I already expected this to happen." Said Marco as he shook his head in disappointment for that guy who challenged Kiko.

*Sigh!* Kiko sighed as he wanted to fight that froggy originally but was spoiled by that side character.

For Kiko though, everyone was a side character for his glorious path of achieving his goal.

Even that frog was just a comedic villain for him. He just wanted to squash him for a swallow reason of 'that guy was like a personified bad omen, whenever he saw his face, his goodwill will be sullied, because of how unhealthy and gloomy he looks.

Like, he was spreading negativities around him.'

Seeing his face made Kiko want to vomit. It was what he originally felt before. That was also the reason why they ganged up on him when he passed by in the alleyway on that day of the evaluation exam.

However, after that incident on the cliff, his anger towards that person had reached the pinnacle of a mere disgust. And now sprouted a real animosity towards that person.

But after realizing that even that mere frog, an unessential comedic villain has almost killed him?! Kiko realized that he could not just let loose his cool.

And so even in the hospital, he practiced and invented new techniques. With his high level of control with his mana, he finally found a better ability for him. An ability that suits that person. An ability to grill that frog for good.

And now he wanted to thoroughly dispatch him.

Everyone was having surprised and unbelievable faces at the moment. Not all of them were smart enough to understand what happened in that instant. And most of them were overcome by deep emotions that wanted to scream that man's name.

"He-He-He's so coooooool!!!" Most of the trainees thought so."

"Kyaaaaahhhhh!!!" Some girls failed to hide their emotions and burst into deep admiration then shouted on top of their lungs as their emotions finally wailed up.

"Kiko!!!"

"Coooool!!!"

"Marry me!!!"

"Please be my boyfriend!"

"One night is enough!"

"Two nights is okay too!"

"No, make it three!!!"

"No, daddy K' make me your baby!" Some random gay shouted in a flirtatious tone.

Screams of excitement overcome the whole training grounds at the moment.

"Woah! What was that?" Bob exclaimed in puzzlement of what or how it happened. That guy named Bren was KO'ed in just one instance!

"Kere boy, Yman bro, what was that explosion?!" Since the two remained silent, he asked again after calling their names.

"Ahaha. Must be his new technique. What do you think, my prince?" Keremi replied while showing a tired smile. He too had no idea why that guy named Bren suddenly exploded before his sword tip pierced Kiko's face.

Yman scratches the side of his face before opening his mouth, "Actually, I failed to see the whole picture of the skill execution — but..."

"But?" Bob repeated.

"It must be some kind of — skill fusion."

"Skill fusion?" Bob repeated in puzzlement as more question marks floated above his head.

"Hm, must be a combination of skills or techniques. Right, my prince?" Keremi explained.

"Mhm." Yman slightly nodded. He really felt awkward about the way Keremi called him.

"So it's like that." Bob in realization mumbled and added, "But what kind of skills he fused?"

Keremi and Bob glanced at Yman. Who was now in between of the two.

Yman's eyes slightly narrowed.

"I'm not too sure, but, hm..." he stopped for a moment and thought, while slightly biting the tip of his thumb.

"If I made a guess, it would be his explosion ability with the addition of fire and wind element. And hid it in the ground using his earth element." Yman explained.

"A-A-A land mine?"

"Basically. Fufufu. As expected of you my prince."

"No. This is just my honest deduction but I'm not too sure if it was really the truth. Regardless, only the person himself knows the truth."

Actually, this was just based on Yman's observation of Kiko's skill that he saw he used from that day on the cliff. And because he used some earth element ability on that day, he assumed he had an affinity for it. Then he used fire also. And the explosion happened from below of that guy named Bren. So it must be something like a landmine.

It was also known to everyone that Kiko had an Earth-Crushing Technique which is an explosive type of ability. Not just explosive but it also can cause an explosion. Although not a strong explosion, it would have different results if he combined it using his fire element.

It only means that Kiko delayed the explosion like a timed bomb.

But the problem comes, how he managed to delay the explosion? Or hold it for a certain period of time?

The only possible answer that Yman comes up with is...he coated it using a wind element. Only wind elements can do such. If it was water, then it will defuse the explosion instead. Earth and water was not a good pair, it shortens the water's time of manifestation. Because basic knowledge says: earth absorbs water.

That's why Yman assumed that Kiko also had an affinity for wind elements.

Yman suddenly noticed some realization. The mechanics and execution of combining the skills to create a new type of skills. Just like when he was executing his channeling ability. Maybe he could also do some tricks with his ability?

Not only the trainees were surprised at the results of the duel, but also the judges themselves. And even the officials.

"Ahaha. So that's the reason he did not choose a weapon. I thought he was just cocky. Hahaha. This kid is really an interesting person." Instructor Torr exclaimed in excitement. He became more of a fan of Kiko's talent.

"Fufufu. In any case, although the fight I expected did not happen, the result is more than a good fight. Fufufu. I wanted to train him personally." Beth declared.

"Heeehehehe. No. That kid should be trained by me." Musk also declared.

"No way. That kid belongs to me. His abilities were more suited to be one of my students." Torr joined the two.

They were really surprised by Kiko's skills. But because of excitement, they failed to voice it out.

The chief showed more interest at Kiko after such a domineering performance.

Mayor Chan and Principal Mar giggled in excitement as they thought, 'Middle Region Magic Academy will surely reach the top ranking on this year's competition with this person.'

Kiko's name resounded.

Almina who was tending on Kesha heard a loud cheering noise from the training ground. She looked towards the area and thought something interesting probably happened.

|Not only does he have high control with his mana, but he also has super-fast casting speed.| Yman thought in dismay.

Yman glanced at the blonde and surprised that she was having the same face. No reaction at all. Only nodded her head slightly. Probably, she appreciated Kiko's performance. Looks like she found a new friend.

After the unconscious Bren was brought to the medical tent, many trainees went next after Kiko's duel.

Some shouted as they won, adding more confidence in themselves. While some griefed as they lost but it only bore courage to make themselves stronger. Although some took it seriously and felt down. While their friends tried to liven them.

As more trainees finished their duel, Yman's turn came closer.

Sistela who was in standby mode a while ago finally woke up, she yawned and asked. Actually, as of now Yman and Sistela are still in 'resonance' state.

In standby mode, the use of battery and mana was being conserved and only a little of it would be spent. But it also means some of its features are in lock mode.

Yman could not show Sistela's form to others, she looked so funny. Although her head was cute, her body was awkward.

So he had to spend some mana and battery. And it also a part of her training in controlling mana by herself. After all, she will be the lever and Yman was a switch only.

'Nothing. Just some kind of a game.' He replied through a 'thought conversation'.