Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 49:Copy Skills

"Y-y-you! How did you do that!!"

Troy screamed at him, but Zachary simply blinked at him innocently.

"Hmmm? Do what?"

A masterclass in acting. An outsider seeing them might truly have believed that Zachary was innocent, with how oblivious he looked, and how angry Troy was.

"Fine. I’ll beat it out of you myself!"

A shame, Zachary was hoping that Troy would be a little more angry or stunned. His Willful Sword Path Arts worked better when the opponent wasn’t exactly in their right mind. Whether it be due to anger or something else, the mistakes created was the foundation of the sword Art.

Raising his sword, he cut through one of Troy’s punches again. Suffering a hit in return, causing several needles to enter his body again.

He only had enough mana to do such a thing two more times—three if he squeezed everything out of his body. Zachary would have loved to fight Troy a bit more but he wanted to end it before he had to cleanse his body for a third time.

Sending a sword thrust at Troy, who quickly maneuvered to block it. Zachary used the brief window when his arms were still crossed, swiftly raising his sword again.

The light pulsed again as Zachary channeled more mana into his sword. The light around his sword growing more opaque, the glow intensifying as he brought it down with all his might.

But Troy wasn’t exactly a slouch either, he quickly noticed Zachary was planning something big. The wind up from his attack gave him enough time to prepare.

Originally, there was only a faint aura of green around Troy. With only his hands, which appeared to be covered with a leafy green aura. Seeing Zachary prepare for a stronger attack caused him to also strengthen his defenses.

Several small needles soon appeared all over his hands, the faint green aura grew stronger. Appearing more jagged and spiky.

Zachary’s vertical slash and Troy’s enhanced defense met in an epic clash. Light should have been a good thing for plants, but in this scenario. Zachary’s light was like an unstoppable tsunami, breaking through Troy’s defenses, enhanced or not.

Troy was sent backwards, the wind knocked out of him as he staggered from the recoil of Zachary’s vertical clash. The ground beneath had been destroyed, creating a small crater in the ground where it occurred.

Zachary was still fine, his body was suffering small continuous injuries from the needles inside him sure. But that was for the long-term. Right now, he held the clear advantage over Troy.

Charging at Troy, Zachary activated another one of his skills. A slight golden sheen covering his body as he ran at Troy. Sword poised and ready for a trusting attack.

[Skill:Sword Charge][Level 2/5]

-Charge towards your opponent and execute a swift sword thrust, user is more resistant to status effects during the charge.

The uncomfortable feeling of the needles in him faded slightly. Not completely gone, Zachary could still feel them. But they were not as intrusive or pesky anymore. It provided a brief moment of relief.

Reaching Troy, he swiftly thrust his sword at him. Aiming for the chest, with how fast he was. Troy had no other option but to grit his teeth and block it again.

His leafy green aura manifested itself once more, ready to block and inflict his retaliation against Zachary.

Zachary was ready for it, right as his sword collided with Troy’s aura. He let go of the sword with his left hand, adjusting his feet somewhat. He reeled his left arm back, a golden flame erupted on his fist.

With Troy’s arms preoccupied with his sword, that left him completely open to Zachary’s punch. A punch that he delivered with as much of his strength as he could muster from his body—thanks to the help of a new skill he had recently bought as well.

[Skill:Copy Skills][level2/10]

-Copy a skill from any opponent, the user must have witnessed the skill being used in order to copy the skill.

-Current Copied skills:Evergreen Pine Art-Needle defense, Von Mez Fighting Style-Sovereign Impact. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

He wasn’t sure what exactly a fighting style was, and he didn’t know why Raymond Vance had such an ability. But the skill was extremely strong, when he had used it for the first time. He had realized with a shocking truth that Raymond had been holding back significantly during that fight.

Now, he was unleashing all of that power onto Troy. His body executed the movements of the skill automatically. His fist snapped forwards, landing right into Troy’s face with a sickening crunch sound.

Standing over his collapsed body, Zachary found himself breathing hard. He could hear a noise signaling the end of the challenge, and lots of cheering.

Looking into the stands, Zachary made eye contact with Raymond. His face was still, but his eyes were filled with a rage. He had definitely recognized that punch, and he did not seem happy about Zachary copying it.

***

"This f*cking bastard."

Ellen tilted her head slightly, looking at him. But he didn’t care.

Raymond gritted his teeth, clenching his fists and letting his nails dig into the flesh of his palms. He had been enjoying the fight between Zachary and Troy, but that last part. The part where Zachary blatantly used Sovereign Impact on Troy.

Raymond remembered using it on Troy himself when he was bailing Zachary out of that fight. Now, he was seeing it again. Used on the same person no less.

Raymond knew what had happened almost instantly the moment he saw that attack. When Raymond had used it on Troy then, Zachary had used that chance to copy it.

This ungrateful, selfish, inconsiderate bastard.

He clenched his jaw, he felt violated. The Von Mez Fighting Style was a part of himself that he hated, something that he despised. It was a shameful reminder of his past, so he had hid it.

And now, in broad daylight. Such a thing was being used by Zachary. In front of hundreds of others. He felt violated, something deeply personal from him—taken and used without his consent.

"Raymond? What’s wrong?"

Ellen was quick to notice his anger, worriedly questioning him.

"He copied me. That last part, that’s...

He hesitated, it was hard to describe why he felt so angry to Ellen without also revealing too much about himself. Something he was hesitant to do.

"It’s something that’s deeply personal to me."

"...I see."

She could tell he was uncomfortable with the topic and stopped right away, something he was massively grateful for.

Maybe one day, when he felt comfortable enough. He might have told her more, but he still felt uncertain right now.

’Actually, does it really matter at all?’

Raymond made a decision he knew he would regret. His rational mind was telling him to stop but his emotions were currently in charge of him right now. He had always been the sort of person who was easily controlled by his own emotions. A side-effect of his long life.

"I’ll...tell you later. I promise. But I need to deal with Zachary first."

She nodded, her expression was still the same on the outside but secretly she was a bit shocked.

The two of them quickly left the stands, Zachary had just entered into the changing rooms and was definitely still in there. Using the excuse of being friends, the two of them easily made the way through. The academy was always nice to its special class students.

Barging through the door, Raymond found himself in a small changing room. A few clothes hung on the walls next to a longsword, Zachary had already changed and was wearing more casual clothes rather then the academy uniform.

"Raymond? What are yo-

Zachary looked confused at his appearance, but before he could finish his sentence. Raymond was already upon him. Shoving him backwards over and over again.

"You have fun with it?"

"What? What are you talking ab-

"Don’t f*cking play coy with me Zachary. Did you have fun with it?"

He was nearly shouting at Zachary at this point, pushed up against the wall. Zachary had nowhere to run, forced to withstand Raymond’s wrath.

"Listen the f*ck up. I’ll give you two options right now. You delete that skill you copied from me or you can not delete it. I’ll still beat the sh*t out of you, but I’ll beat you less if you choose the first one."

Raymond didn’t have any method to ensure that Zachary would delete such a skill, he couldn’t force him to and he couldn’t see the system unless Zachary himself decided to let others see it. He had no way to guarantee that Zachary would actually delete it.

"Sovereign Impact right? Must have been real nice using it in front of everybody. Not for me though, you know how I felt? I felt violated, you overstepped Zachary. I saved you from being expelled and this is how you repay me?"

"I’ll delete it! I’ll delete it! Just let me go for a bit!"

Raymond took a small step back, giving Zachary half a minute.

"It’s done. What are you doing?!"

Raymond had summoned his staff already, pointing it at Zachary. "I told you I would beat you up for even daring to copy that from me. But I keep my promises. I won’t hit you as hard or as much as I would want to."

He was a man of his word after all. He would have loved to start punching Zachary like a punching bag, but he wasn’t sure if he could control himself sufficiently to avoid using the Von Mez Fighting Style. There was a better option anyways.

With Zachary suspended in the air, Raymond rained down hell upon him with several magic spells. Each of them were weak, but combined together—they made for a decent punishment. Not enough to severely wound, just enough to make them remember.

After a while, he dropped his spells. Leaving Zachary on the floor of the changing room. His clothes were ruined now, slightly smoldering in some spots and wet in others. Dirt and soot covered him, his hair sticking out as if he was electrocuted—which he was.

Walking out of the changing room, he gave a small nod to Ellen who had been waiting outside.

"Let’s go."