Chapter 362: Bullying Theo

Theo was the first one to reach the arena. Normally, Ellia would have prepared to enter the arena so that she would be the one waiting for her opponent, but in this match, Ellia actually broke everything she had built.

First, she waited for a minute before she entered the arena.

Ellia looked at Theodore Ashavatalia. He had jet-black hair like hers. His blue eyes remained half-closed as though the only thing he could think about was sleeping. His clothes were slightly messy.

In a way, he portrayed himself as someone irresponsible.

For Auric, she intended to crush Theo in the weirdest way possible. She didn’t exactly have a grudge against him, but his family was a different matter.

After all, she had been the one taking care of the business and the profits generated by the Sun Store and the Moon Store.

She didn’t draw her blade this time. Instead, she was waiting for the referee to start the match.

"..." The referee couldn’t help but notice, considering she was the first person to win the match in every round.

However, he couldn’t think of anything, so the referee simply raised his hand. "You may begin!"

Theo didn’t say a single word, not because he couldn’t do trash talk, but because he was just too lazy to exchange words with others unless it was necessary.

As soon as the match began, Theo stepped forward. The dark energy from his body erupted. This was why Theo was able to become number two after Antonio.

His dark element had a rating of 4.7. It was a very high rating, especially considering that the light and dark elements were quite uncommon compared to the six basic elements. Of course, the unique element was rarer, but the fact that he had quite a powerful element didn’t change.

Theodore raised his hand, forming a small sphere on top of his palm.

"!!!" The referee, on the other hand, looked to the side. Usually, Ellia would be closing the distance to her opponent, trying to take him down. However, she was actually taking her time in this match. Was it because Theo was a much more powerful opponent than anyone she had faced so far? Was it because of something else?

Theo didn’t care about this small detail. He simply intended to end this match as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the small sphere shot a beam. It was as small as the sphere, making it look like an extension of the sphere itself, but the power was a different matter.

Ellia was putting her sheathed sword in front, using it to receive this attack. It turned out that the power from this small sphere was more than enough to push Ellia back all the way to the edge of the arena.

This was the first time Theo fought someone of his level, so they were wondering what kind of strength he would show.

They didn’t expect Theo to be this strong.

At the same time, Ellia had learned everything she needed to fight Theo. It was time to start her plan.

Ellia rushed toward Theo, not yet drawing her blade.

Theo snapped his fingers. Multiple dark spikes emerged from the ground, but Ellia skillfully stepped on one of them at a perfect angle so that she could propel herself in a different direction, away from the spikes.

Then, she continued toward Theo and flicked her sword hilt.

Theo created a black shield to protect himself from her sword, but Ellia actually attacked him not with her sword but with her element.

Ellia stopped and pointed her palm instead. Usually, she used her space element as a supplementary power to her sword, but this time, she actually distorted the space of that black shield.

The black shield got distorted until it broke apart.

Theo saw Ellia coming toward him right after, so he immediately jumped back to get some distance, but she waved her hand down.

"!!!" Theo widened his eyes and raised both arms right away. There was a sudden spike of pressure that fell upon him, restricting his movement.

Theo immediately formed another black cell and pinched it, drawing it to the back as if he was drawing his bow.

As soon as he released it, the black sphere fired a beam at a much faster speed.

Ellia tilted her body at the last moment, avoiding it.

Theo waved his hand up. "Cut."

All of a sudden, the black sphere that had turned into a single line moved down as though it was a cleaver, and this arena was its chopping board.

Because Ellia was avoiding it barely, her arm should be cut. That was why the referee was rushing to Ellia, trying to protect her.

He abruptly stopped midway when he saw what Ellia did next. Ellia didn’t use her teleportation. Instead, she drew her blade, withstanding that power by using only her scabbard.

She actually tried to withstand the power that knocked her to the edge of the arena with both her left hand and her scabbard.

Unexpectedly, she actually withstood it.

Everyone immediately realized what was going on. The reason Ellia was pushed back that far was that she wanted to create the illusion that Theo was powerful. He would think that a small attack would be enough to crush his opponent.

That was why she slightly jumped up so that the momentum would push her back all the way to the edge of the arena.

Even so, his attack shouldn’t be that easy to block. Yet, Ellia had grown strong enough to block it. The reason was actually her SS grade affinity.

After learning how to use her element, she gained better mastery over her energy. Combined with the enhanced strength coming from the SS grade affinity, she was able to pour out energy at a precise level.

She used more than enough energy to withstand this power.

Ellia continued toward Theo, while Theo jumped back, trying to regain some distance.

Surprisingly, Ellia used her Void Step, teleporting behind him.

Theo felt a chill down his spine. It turned out Ellia was trying to push him to the edge so that he would move back. This way, her Void Step would be more effective.

What he didn’t expect was that this might be Ellia’s intention, but it wasn’t her only move. She used the same power as the one he showed in the first match.

Back then, she used the Void Step and hit her opponent at the same time, showing that she could teleport and attack at the same time.

That was what she did. When Theo was trying to stop her from attacking him from behind, the strikes came at his body, leaving big grazes all over him.

However, these wounds weren’t big or deep enough for the referee to stop the match. Still, they were more than enough to make Theo feel some pain.

Because of these smaller attacks, Ellia swung her blade downwards. Theo was trying to tilt his body, causing Ellia to fall a small step short.

Ellia leaned her body forward to get the extra distance and cut his shoulder down to the center of his chest.

The blood spurted, but it was also just another superficial wound.

"Huh?!" The instructors began to notice something.

Supervisor Jacob narrowed his eyes. "She... She could have ended that fight right there, right?"

Mr. Green nodded. "Unless my eyes are playing me right now, yes."

The instructors from other countries also noticed it.

"Now that I think about it, she didn’t try to end this battle quickly like in the other matches. She entered the arena later than her opponent."

"Now that you mention it, that’s true. She didn’t draw her blade before the match began."

"What is going on? She doesn’t intend to end this match quickly?"

"What? For what? Is it because Theodore Ashavatalia is the representative of Dermania? Is it because of Auric Elfe’s incident that she intends to repay Dermania this way?"

"No way, right? I mean, if she intends to do that, she would do the same thing to her second opponent. That one was from Dermania as well."

"That’s true. Then, is it because of a personal grudge?"

"Personal... Maybe her family? If I’m not mistaken, the Astler family is a quite big family. Her grandfather is in the top one hundred richest people in the world. The Ashavatalia family also has influence at the same level. Maybe a family conflict?"

"I haven’t heard anything about a conflict between the families. If not, there will be some movements in their capitals..."

"I can’t deny that, so is this just a personal grudge?"

"Then, what the hell did Theo do?"

They were wondering what was going on. In the end, their conclusion was that Theo had done something to deserve it.

They didn’t know the reason she did this was simply because of Auric’s Moon Store.

’Remind me not to make her angry.’ Auric shook his head helplessly.

"She is quite a devil. She makes it seem as though the other party has done something wrong. I mean, they did so, but... she’s manipulating people’s opinions. I guess that’s a businessman for you. It’s no wonder why those businessmen are hard to deal with when they’re standing behind their lawyers." Lindwurm laughed.

Auric’s eyebrows twitched, but he chose not to continue the topic.

In the meantime, Ellia continued to fight in the same way. She dominated the battlefield by using her space element, but she refused to end the fight right away. People continued to talk about it, as more and more wounds were inflicted on Theo’s body.

Theo couldn’t help but grit his teeth. "Enough!"

He leaped into the sky and formed a massive black ball. "I don’t intend to be your punching bag anymore. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’ve had enough!"

The massive black ball generated terrifying pressure. It was something that no Rank 3 student should possess.

"Hoh? To think that he has such a trump card. If she hadn’t played around, she would have won the match before he could use this."

"Yeah. It was a shame. She had just used her teleportation ability, so she shouldn’t be able to use it again so soon."

"It’s unfortunate, but this is the price you have to pay for playing with your prey."

Theo tossed down the black ball that covered half of the arena.

The referee was moving carefully, ready to be the one receiving this attack as soon as Ellia surrendered.

However, Ellia simply remained in her position. She lowered her stance before taking a firm step forward.

"First Cataclysm," Ellia muttered. She swung her blade upward.

"!!!" Everyone abruptly opened their eyes in shock. It looked like the black ball was actually split in two, each part sliding in the opposite direction... No, it wasn’t just the ball. It was as if the world was split in half, considering Theo was also being split.

As soon as he saw it, the referee rushed toward Theo. The energy from the black ball dispersed, causing a massive shock wave.

The sword strike continued toward Theo, but it was blocked by the barrier the referee had made.

The referee was quite shocked. The energy from her slash was so powerful that it actually clashed against his barrier for a few seconds. The eruption of that energy neutralized the powerful shock wave from the black ball.

More importantly, once her sword strike disappeared, the referee found his barrier cracked.

Yes. The referee was a Rank 6 instructor from Lech-Aistia. Although he didn’t use his full power to block it, he was still a Rank 6 instructor. A Rank 3 student like her shouldn’t have enough strength to even scratch his barrier.

The referee shook his head, regaining his composure. "Ellia Stroph Astler from Esfrata won!"

"Oohhhh!" The people couldn’t help but cheer. Ellia’s sword strike was actually as powerful as the one Clarice unleashed, but because of her element, it was trickier. That was why the referee failed to block it completely.

Noticing this, Clarice couldn’t help but clench her hands. "Ellia Stroph Astler..."