Chapter 139: Turn

In Professor Santulli’s class, several students focused.

“The blessings of gods. As you may have heard, some people are ‘blessed’ by gods, depending on the ‘authority’ of that God, that person has an improvement in a certain area,” Reported Professor Santulli, and giving a smile, she explained. “For example, the God of Time and Space would surely, if he gives his blessing, get that person to have greater control over ‘space’ or ‘time’. A god of the sword might improve a person’s ability in the handling of his sword.”

Different gods dominated or represented different ‘concepts’ or ‘authorities’, leading to their powers and blessings affecting in a unique way.

Even when gods with similar concepts existed in various worlds, they did not all handle it in the same way.

“Sometimes the blessing does not have to do with some element. For example, the same God of Time and Space, even though he does not have so many ‘titles’ and ‘authorities’, can give you a blessing related to time. It has not been seen, but theologians say it is possible that he could allow to see the future or just see the past. Or as a ‘God of Destiny’ to have good luck,” Professor Santulli explained, and seeing that the few students were interested, she added. “But being ‘blessed’ means having a connection with that god and, in general, receiving his command or accepting his influence.”

“An example would be the Goddess of Order who perhaps influences the ‘blessed’ to carry out tasks related to ‘Order’,” Professor Santulli added.

A fire god could give the person they blessed an affinity to fire, but could also relate to things beyond ‘fire.’

In that sense, a blessing that would push a person to ignite the ‘flames’ of their vitality and get a surge of strength was also possible.

It was just like other gods; the Moon Goddess of the Lunar Empire of Terra nova could increase strength during the night, certain ability over ‘night creatures’ and ‘purification’ related to ‘moonlight’.

Also, as she possessed the title of ‘Goddess of the Night’, she has some ability over ‘rest’ and ‘darkness’.

In Terra nova, studying the gods, their titles, and abilities were important and allowed.

Theology was a very fundamental discipline in a world where such gods existed, even for non-believers.

Studying existences of great power like them would allow her to understand the capacity of those gods over people.

Alice raised her hand, and Professor Santulli, with a smile, allowed her to speak.

“Keep in mind that there is a difference between those who were ‘blessed’ with those who are ‘Saints’. The former receive an increase in their strength according to each god, while the latter is connected to that god, even possible for ‘Possession’ or ‘Descent’ to happen,” Alice said, unable to resist.

If there are gods, can they descend to this earthly world?

It was a frequent question among theologians and history has shown that yes; it was possible.

In Terra nova, there were known stories of gods descending and it was to the point that several major players met powerful deities during those times.

It was known that some gods had ‘rules’ when it came to interfering with ‘mortals’ and for that reason some churches had Saints.

That they were the individuals who could convey the designs of their gods, be the body for a god to descend upon or simply possess for a moment.

“Exactly, but don’t get ahead of me in the next classes. We will get to that point,” Professor Santulli said, and giving a smile, she reminded. “The Earth still doesn’t have any Saints or at least if there are any, the churches hid them or they hide it. Anyway, no ‘descent’ or ‘possession’ has happened on Earth, and I hope it will stay that way.”

Aurora could understand Professor Santulli’s last words.

A situation that would require a god to descend or possess a person would not be pleasant at all.

Adding that all gods could perform such actions meant that among those who could try were the evil or malignant gods, whose influence spread the Earth.

“It is time. This is all for today. I know it is nearing the end of the week and some of you have battles. I also understand that next week you have the battles to challenge for a spot for the international tournament, but if you have time don’t forget to attend class,” Professor Santulli asked, and giving an amused laugh, she commented. “What you learn here may never happen in your lifetime, but having that knowledge is important.”

Alice nodded, followed by the teacher’s comment.

One could tell that she enjoyed the theology class, and it was impressive since in other classes she was not so participative.

As soon as the teacher left, the students approached animatedly.

“Alice, ready for the fight?” one student asked with an excited look on his face.

Yesterday she had finished her bout against Gregorio and since it was over, and they let out who she was facing, everyone was excited.

The next opponent was Oliver for the semi-final and he was preparing with great enthusiasm.

His training was always open and Oliver showed a ferocity as if he wanted to push his limits.

Aurora had also seen it and was impressed by the enthusiasm Oliver was taking for his showdown with Alice.

He didn’t seem to just want to win the tournament; he wanted to show his full potential to give his opponent a hard time.

“Yes,” Alice replied in her typical nonchalant tone and pulled out a bag of chips.

Aurora’s lips quivered at that tone that many would see as cold, but she couldn’t say too much.

The students didn’t get angry or feel bad about that simple response, but instead praised her and then moved to surround Clémentine, who was about to approach.

As they all left, Nicole approached with a smile.

“Alice is always so well-known,” Nicole murmured, giving a shy smile as she looked at Alice.

Alice returned the look and pointed. “I think you’re becoming well known, too.”

Where she was pointing to were some students who were watching Nicole’s combat from yesterday.

Her bout was so fierce and so full of enthusiasm that it stirred the spirits of many students.

It was to such a degree that many students ended up injured and could not take part in the next bout.

“I just got carried away,” Nicole muttered, rather embarrassed.

Aurora couldn’t help but laugh at seeing her act that way.

She had to admit that Nicole’s sparring certainly made her train harder against her teacher, and the other students also increased their enthusiasm.

Nicole had sparked an initiative that spread through all the students, but at the same time increased the ferocity of the fights and caused injuries to appear.

“By the way, are you okay for your next fight?” Aurora asked with curiosity and concern.

The barrier was active and prevented serious or fatal injuries, however, the ferocity of a battle could cause damage that would only be recovered in the short term.

It was the same for Nicole and Marc, who ended up not only receiving external injuries but had some internal injuries.

Nicole had broken a rib yesterday, and it was when Cithrel intervened that she realized it.

“Yes, I’m fine. Cithrel has been taking good care of me and I could recover today,” Nicole replied, smiling contentedly.

Cithrel, as an S-Rank healer, helped the students recover and among the wounded, she prioritized Nicole because of the close proximity.

While an S-Rank healing mage was powerful and could reduce the healing time from several days into a day or hours, it didn’t mean that everyone could be healed with such dedication and more so when there were so many students with different injuries.

“That’s great. I heard a lot of students dropped out,” Aurora commented, shaking her head.

No matter how hard the healers tried, the ordinary students had to have some time off, something that, because of the number of students and the short time of the tournament, was impossible.

Yesterday, twenty-five students were participating in the B-Rank section and today there were only eight left.

It was a bloodbath for the students in that section because if their opponent gave everything to face them, one had to give everything oneself to contain them.

And since they were of the same rank, even those with more experience had a hard time winning their fight, sometimes ending up injured in the process.

That meant that the winner and the loser ended up injured and if the winner could not fight in the next round, he ended up being disqualified.

Since they couldn’t delay the bouts and needed to be competing for spots in the next week, they ended up disqualifying a lot of students.

That was a big problem with the lack of organization of this year’s academic tournament, although, in Edward’s defense, no one expected Nicole to arouse everyone’s enthusiasm.

Least of all when in previous bouts, the students were limiting themselves, taking no chances.

“At least, I’ll stay until I can’t anymore,” Nicole said as she raised her fist in the air.

Aurora gave a prayer in her mind for those who would become that fighter’s opponent and it was only natural that she would do so, for Nicole was not looking to win, but to temper her strength in fierce battles.

There was no worse enemy than a tough and tenacious fighter.

Seeing that Clémentine could break away from the group that had approached her earlier, Aurora smiled at her.

“How are the preparations going?” Aurora asked curiously.

For the Rank A individual sparring, there were five students left.

Since only four could face each other to go to the final, Edward planned to select one who would make it through the final round, and then when the two winners of the other bouts came out, the final would be played with three students at the same time.

He had planned to have an ‘all against all’ match so that only one would be left standing, but one of the group decided to withdraw, leaving only four participants.

The reason was that the enthusiasm aroused by Nicole spread to the A-ranked students, who could cause greater destruction.

That meant that Oliver, Clémentine, and perhaps Alice could show unique ferocity in their own way.

They would not come out with light injuries and would surely give their all to face their opponent, which made him quit since, like many A-Rankers, the student who quit had work after the tournament, and getting hurt meant losing days resting.

“Yes, I have prepared as well as I could. But so has my opponent,” Clémentine replied and as her eyes turned purple from her psionic energy, she announced. “I don’t care about winning. I’m going to show everything I’m capable of.”

If before they were fighting with very high seriousness, after Nicole’s battle, their enthusiasm multiplied several times.

Aurora, looking at those two extremely enthusiastic young women, breathed a sigh of relief at not participating in the fights.

******

Jordan took a cold breath, watching the projection.

Clémentine was facing a mage as an opponent.

As a senior, Jordan knew that individual who was fighting.

Rachael Lawson is a third-year student and a powerful A-Rank fire mage.

They rated her talent in terms of mage second behind Edward, who was an S-Rank.

Now she was up against a first-year student who was showing impressive ferocity.

Fireballs were flying and exploding around Clémentine as she used her psionic energy to create barriers while firing debris towards Rachael with her telekinesis.

The fire had already spread to most of the arena and the barrier to protect the audience had been activated, but the two were still clashing with terrible ferocity.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM!*

Muttering spells at high-speed, Rachael, using her wand, fired fireballs towards Clémentine, who was using her telekinesis to move her body with an agility that would impress any fighter.

At the same time, she fired daggers of psionic energy and waved her hand to send as much debris as possible to put pressure on Rachael, whose barrier was reaching its limit.

“Oliver, don’t you want to watch?” Jordan asked and looking at the combat on his holographic clock projection, he commented. “Rachael is already about to cast her strongest spell.”

Seeing that there was no response, he looked at Oliver, who was punching a punching bag, so focused that he ignored him.

His partner’s muscles were tensing, and it was visible to the naked eye.

Jordan shook his head in astonishment.

What Nicole started was too terrifying and even though Oliver already wanted to go all out before, now only that desire became stronger.

Turning his gaze back to the projection, he watched as Rachael prepared a great spell.

The flames in the arena rose as she waved her wand and soared into the sky, as Rachael continued to mutter a spell.

She was using minor spells to manipulate the fire like an S-Rank Archmage, but those minor spells formed a larger spell.

The fire rose into the sky and surrounded Rachael.

“[Flare]” Rachael muttered and waved her wand towards where Clémentine was standing.

Rachael shot a huge flare at Clémentine, who stopped as she looked at the fire covering her vision.

However, she created a powerful psionic barrier to protect herself.

The flare burned her surroundings as she recoiled from the powerful force of the fire.

Sweat poured down Clémentine’s face, perhaps from the overflowing heat, she was in.

“That’s enough!”

Before her psionic barrier broke, a scream came from Clémentine.

A ripple spread through the surroundings and when it reached Rachael, her eyes went white, completely stunned.

Taking that moment, Clémentine opened her arms and, looking at the fire spreading to the surroundings, joined hands.

The fire that had gone wild accumulated at one point because of Clémentine’s telekinesis and formed a gigantic fireball.

As Rachael was waking up, she saw a sphere of her own fire, only this time she had no control over it, and of course, now it would cause her harm.

If before it was her own fire and would not harm her, now it appeared to be the fire of another fire mage.

Before Rachael could create a barrier, Clémentine, whose nose was bleeding, sent her flying at her former owner.

*BOOM*

The fireball had so much power that it caused the barrier to protect Rachael to activate as she hit the ground because of the expansive force of the blast.

She didn’t receive serious injuries, but the barrier activating meant that this attack was outside the limit she could withstand.

That meant it was her loss.

“Clémentine won,” Jordan muttered with a rather impressed expression.

*Boom*

Oliver tensed his muscles and punched the punching bag, shattering it into pieces.

He stretched his body and clenched his fists tightly as the veins stood out on his arms.

“Then it’s my turn.”

Oliver’s voice was more serious than ever.