Chapter 80: Light Show

The crowd who was watching the main stage erupted into wild cheers of disbelief! Those who placed small bets on Teo to win unexpectedly won! Those who placed for Genso to win lost some money but they didn’t feel too bad as the match was extremely exciting.

“Hahaha that little guy actually won!”

“Though that tall guy was not weak at all, that shorty is unexpectedly very agile and full of surprises!”

The many drunkards did not notice the quick acceleration of Teo’s speed, and Teo positioned himself to conceal his true speed. He had never released the weighted shackles since his training started.

Rowen and Gina would always add the weights on his ankles incrementally but Teo would use his enchanted shoes to reduce his overall weight from time to time. The only time he stopped doing so was when Lia invited him to follow her and Windle’s path to the capital. Now that he had unshackled these restrictive weights and made full use of his enchanted boots, his speed was incredibly faster!

—–

“He actually defeated Genso!” another hired member spoke.

“Genso must’ve been careless, what a useless guy.”

The majority of them were seniors that were specifically hired to bind Teo’s speed so although they had some combat experience, they excelled in their speed the most. Some of them were surprised seeing Genso defeated. His speed was comparable to them, but this was a speed was of chase potential. Teo positioning himself near the edge of the ring removed this advantage and instead they had to rely on their agility to fight instead.

Agility wise, they were comparable with Teo’s quick movements. It was as if Teo could predict Genso’s move he even took action, but only some of them realized this point.

His reaction speed was comparable to an eighth year student! Although his attacks were unrefined, he easily dodged Genso’s moves and even blocked some of them. The force of Teo’s sword did not lose in terms of strength!

“That kid must have some high level bracer underneath his sleeve!” another explained.

“Zachery, should I go this time?”

Kristofer was eager for a rematch but Zachery shook his head.

“Despite us improving, he was improving as well.”

Zachery noticed that Teo’s ability to dodge had improved dramatically. When Kristofer fought him last year, he could barely dodge Kristofer’s [Wind Blade] but now, it looked like he dodged Genso’s attacks with ease.

He became worried as he knew that Teo’s speed was something that was very troublesome!

“Dast, go next!”

Dast was the oldest and most experienced among the hired students. He was a seventh year student and was vastly more experience in combat than Teo. He could arguably the strongest among the bunch seeing as there was no elementalist among them.

He carried a long wooden sword, that seemed to be thicker than normal. Dast was a little embarrassed being a seventh year student fighting a third year, but he was getting paid at a much higher price than the others which was enough for him to swallow his pride.

After gracefully jumping on to the stage, he looked towards Teo and warned him.

“Kid, you should just really give up. It’s inevitable to get beaten up, just take it like a man.”

Dast was still hesitant to fight against such a young opponent but his job was to help Zachery get his revenge. He was fine with holding Teo down and letting his employers beat the shit out of Teo, but since he had been paid in advance, he could only follow orders.

“Oh? So senior thinks a man should not fight against his enemies?”

Teo was unreserved. Normally he was respectful to someone he didn’t know, especially his seniors, but after seeing them as his enemy, he did not bother with pleasantries. Instead, he mocked the senior who was giving him advice!

“Really cheeky! But you’ll regret not taking my advice.”

“Senior should take his own advice and back down.”

A cold glint in his eyes emerged as his “kind words” were turned back to him.

“I’ll bet 10 silver coins”

“Oh? Senior does not want to win more gold?”

Seeing as Dast did not bet as much as Genso, he wanted to goad him into betting more.

“10 silver coins should be good enough!”

—–

After the host announced the start of the match, like Genso, Dast did not see Teo as any threat to him. He dash towards Teo at incredible speed, but Teo looked motionlessly, waiting for Dast to get closer.

‘This punk is too cocky, I’ll beat him slowly making him unable to surrender!’

Dast raised his sword preparing to his strike.

At a distance of two meters, Teo threw a single sheet of paper!

Dast seeing this briefly flinched but after clearly examining it, he continued without pause.

‘I thought it was something but It’s just a talisman!’

Within only a few seconds, he was one meter away, his eyes completely ignoring the sheet of paper and preparing to tear whatever effects it might have! His attention was mainly focus on Teo who was directly on the behind the paper!

Suddenly, the paper emits soft light. It was a light reactor talisman!

‘And here I was thinking he was actually smar-’

As he was mocking Teo in his head, the soft light erupted into a bright blinding light!

‘Ah! I can’t see!’

Dast quickly jumped back as his eyes were blinded by the fierce light. He relied on his experience and moved away from Teo’s position while listening to his surroundings.

‘!!’

He felt a presence running around him, many others who were paying attention were also blinded! Some of the other stages were even forced to look at the bright light that appeared out of nowhere!

Dast swings his sword to the direction of the sound, but he nothing but air! His eyes still needed more time to recover and he heard a clicking sound behind him!

Turning around and unleashing a horizontal slash Dast tries to defend himself but-

*Bang!*

His right knee was targeted from the side!

Dast retaliates but against an enemy he could not see he suffered tremendous amounts of blows to unexpected locations.

The strikes were heavy and accurate! Initial strikes robbed him of his mobility!

The following strikes aimed for his head but he barely dodges them by swaying his upper body. The next strikes took his fingers, wrists and arms!

He could no longer retaliate!

From the start of the match he could not even get close to Teo and when his eyes recovered he was beaten bloody on the floor.

As the judges and the spectator’s vision also recovered they were dumbfounded by aftermath of a few minutes of blindness!

The only ones who had witness Teo’s performance were the ones who did not pay attention to the match initially! Only after noticing the flash of intense light were they able see Teo’s swift and agile movements! Using stones from underneath his hood, he manipulated his opponent’s senses and took advantage of their impaired opponent!

“What was that light!?”

“I thought it was just a talisman but I don’t know a talisman with such a reaction!”

“Perhaps that shorty is a light elementalist! No one but a light elementalist can produce that kind of light!”

“No but he clearly threw a talisman towards that seventh year student!”

Many were confused of the situation, even the judges blankly stared at the fight that was obviously over. No one but Teo knew what really happened!

As he experimented briefly within the Martial faction’s underground room, he tried to improve the effects of each reactor talismans and one ward! With the little amount of time he had, he had slightly improved the light reactor talisman but knew that it was still not enough for the amount he wanted. He made 40 light reactor talisman with the resources he had within his interspatial stone using a weighted paper he had gotten from the Talisman class.

He wanted to stack each talisman in a bundle to increase its effect but the judge ruled that there would be a limit in stacking them! He considered it but if the opponent noticed a stacked bundle of talismans being thrown, they would be wary. Within the brief moment before the start of the match, Teo thought of a plan that he could use a modified talisman and surprise his opponent.

With a mischievous expression Teo thought, ‘Looks like the chain talismans works like a charm!’

By activating the first soft light talisman, he everyone’s attention to it and then quickly threw 3 modified talismans one after another! The chaining effect of each talisman only took a few milliseconds but one after the other one talisman would absorb the surrounding light elemental energy and release it magnified!

As one talisman produced light, the other one took it and produce an even stronger light! A total of four talismans were used! The first one was a regular reactor talisman while the other three modified!

—–

After everyone returned to their senses, the judge announced Teo’s victory! They had not seen a talisman like this before but they also knew that light elementalists use a similar move to blind their opponent during fights!

With the stand, Zachery, Kristofer, Erin and Ash were still shocked that their strongest pawn was easily crushed without being able to fight back!

“Looks like he has more tricks that we thought,” Erin murmured.

“We’ll flush out all his tricks then it’ll be easy to beat him! Heston go!”

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