The Vengeful Extra's Ascension-Chapter 20: Noble Superiority!

The arena’s temperated seemed to immediately drop by 20 degrees as soon as Professor Skye stepped onto the battlefield in front of Lucian and Albedo.

With every step she took, the tiles beneath her flashed with refracted light. In the audience, all the students and Professor Kayle all held their breaths as they saw her approaching the two of them.

A Diamond Rank Professor... versus two Silver Ranked Students.

The matchup was absurd and yet, it was happening directly in front of them.

Lucian cracked his neck, already holding his sword in his hand. He tried to remain expressionless, but Albedo could notice the faint crease of worry in his brow.

As for himself, he stood silently. There was no fear in his eyes, only a cold, calculating expression.

This was also an event in the Novel, minus Albedo of course. Skye was a Noble Supremacist through and through, and she showed it at this point in the Novel.

She challenges Lucian to a fight to ’test’ him but it was really her toying and bullying him the entire time. As a Diamond Rank, she had a trillion and 1 ways to slaughter a Silver Rank, so Lucian never stood a chance.

However, he never stopped fighting, pissing Professor Skye off so much that she goes for a dangerous attack that is blocked by Kayle, ending this mini-plot.

Still, Albedo wondered how his presence would change this as he was preparing for the fight.

~CLICK!~

A quiet click echoed across the arena as a swirl of black and magenta light flashed in front of everyone, and in a flash, Albedo had manifested his Soul Weapons for the first time in front of his classmates.

Havoc and Ruin.

Twin pistols unlike anything most students had ever seen, sleek, jet black and crimson runes lining the barrels, glowing like fresh magma. Their design was unfamiliar to many, almost alien compared to swords, spears, and staves.

Guns were certainly present in this world, but as Albedo thought before, especially for Nobles, no-one used them.

Gasps rippled through the arena seats.

"Is that...?"

"He uses guns?!"

"No way, how can the #1 be a Gunner?"

"Has there even been someone wielding guns in Myth Class....ever?"

Professor Skye raised an elegant brow, an amused smile touching her lips. Her crystalline rapier shimmered in the light as she raised it slightly.

"Oh dear," she drawled, voice honeyed with contempt. "A commoner’s toy."

Albedo’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

"Tell me, boy," she continued, "Did you forget we’re not in some backwater village where crude tools like that pass for magic? This is Zephyr Academy. We craft spells, summon elements, wield noble steel. And you bring that?"

The crowd laughed, at least, those Nobles who were still caught up in the idea of noble superiority laughed, but Albedo and Lucian didn’t pay them any mind, fully focused on the challenge ahead.

Lucian took a step forward, lips tightening, "Professor," he said, "Let’s just get this over with."

Skye gave a mock pout. "Aw. Did I strike a nerve?"

Then, in an instant, the mockery vanished from her face and she brought out her very own Rapier.

"Very well," she said, raising her rapier, confidence practically etched onto her face as she stared down the two top rankers.

"You may strike first."

Albedo didn’t waste the opportunity.

~BOOM~BOOM!~

Twin muzzle flashes erupted from Havoc and Ruin. Albedo fired two shots in Infernal Mode, the recoil of the twin bursts rocking his stance as the crimson bolts of molten flame soared toward Skye at breakneck speed.

Lucian didn’t wait either. In perfect sync, he lunged forward with a burst of silver mana, his Gift, Transcendence, was already working, sharpening his perception and boosting his instincts mid-combat.

However, compared to the Diamond Ranked Skye, the duo were practically worlds apart. The Professor moved like gracefully.

~SHING~SHING~SHING!~

Skye flicked her wrist once, and her rapier sliced the flaming bullets in half with casual ease, causing the flames to disperse before even touching her robes.

Lucian’s blade followed a second later, slashing diagonally in a perfect arc.

"How pathetic, is this really the rank 2?" Skye said as she sidestepped the attack, immediately striking her Rapier out not directly at Lucian, but towards his shadow.

"ARGG!" Lucian gasped in pain as a sudden wave of pressure descended onto him, and he stumbled backwards, barely able to catch his breath.

"Now onto you." Skye said, ignoring the pained Lucian and twirling around to face Albedo, pointing her Rapier at him like a conductor’s baton.

"Guns are cowardly," she said, "Real warriors engage in combat with valor and nobility, two traits you clearly seem to lack."

Albedo didn’t bother responding and pulled the triggers again.

~BOOM!~

This time, Havoc was in Graviton Mode, a violet-hued slug surged from Havoc, the compressed gravitational core warping the very air around it.

The slug slammed toward Skye like a black star falling from the sky, and she showed some genuine shock for once. Her eyes widened, but it was only for a split second.

~POOF!~

Then she vanished, without being seen or head, just disappearing into nothingness.

"Behind!"

Lucian barely got the warning out before,

~CRACK!~

Skye’s foot connected with Albedo’s chest, sending him hurtling backward across the arena.

He tumbled mid-air, twisting just in time to land in a crouch and re-stabilize himself. A small cough escaped his lips as he recovered.

He had to admit it. He was way WAY out of his league. The Novel portrayed a stomp, but it was only actually facing her did Albedo realize truly just how insurmountable the gap between their ranks was.

Even at full power, nothing would work, nothing could work, but that didn’t mean he had to give him.

~WHOOSH!~

Lucian moved in again, flashing forward as he switched tactics. Instead of blindly engaging, he used his footwork, feints, and a burst of sword play to attack her,

~CLANG!~

Unfortunately for him, Skye had already created a barrier to protect herself, it faintly shimmering before her, not even a scratch on it after Lucian’s strike, not to mention her counterattack was swift and brutal.

~SHING~SHIGN~SHING~SHING!~

Skye’s rapier stabbed forward dozens of times in the span of a second, each thrust echoing like glass shards breaking the air.

Lucian deflected as many as he could, but the pace and ruthlessness of the attacks were on a different level. Two clipped his shoulder and another battered him, sending him spinning.

However, that distract was barely enough for Albedo to reappear behind her. However, it seemed all for naught as Skye had already twirled and stabbed at Albedo.

But all she hit was clouds, the Albedo in front of her vanishing into a puff of smoke.

A clone?

No.

Mirage Body.

His movements constantly spawned these Illusions that took Skye off guard, and gave him just enough time to surge in with a burst of speed.

~BANG!~

Ruin’s muzzle flared as it unleashed an Infernal Bullet directly towards Skye, and this time, with the split second of time he bought, the bullet it.

Skye’s head snapped slightly to the side as the Infernal Round grazed her cheek, the flames erupting and burning away at the skin just beneath her left eye.

Even being so higher ranked than Albedo, the Flames of Crimson Apocalypse were not to be underestimated, and burned away at that skin for a while until she used her mana to put it out.

Gasps echoed around the arena.

"Did he just...."

"No way, he actually landed a hit."

Lucian’s eyes widened and even Professor Kayle stood a little straighter after seeing that, now recognizing why Albedo was the #1 rank.

Albedo meanwhile had just stopped moving across from Skye, both pistols raised as he stared directly at her.

"I’m not some peasant playing with toys," he said calmly, "I’m a marksman."

Skye touched her cheek, her gloved fingers smearing a trace of blood as she stared at it, flabbergasted that she, a Noble, was injured like that, was embarrassed like that.

For a moment, she was silent.

Then, her entire body shuddered with mana.

~CRACK!~

The air warped around her and her expression twisted, her aura surging and the pressure slamming into Lucian and Albedo like an avalanche.

Skye’s smile was gone, now replaced by a disgusted scowl as she stared at the two, as if she wanted to rid them from her site for eternity.

Her voice came out low, "I was going to let this be a lesson in failure... but now I think you need to be broken."

She raised her rapier again, and this time it glowed a cold, iridescent blue. She pointed it forward.

"Let me show you the difference between Silver and Diamond."

In a single motion, she disappeared, blinking from existence and reappearing mid-air, above both Lucian and Albedo.

"Crystalline Judgment: Thousand Shards."

A hundred glittering spears of mana formed in the air around her. All of them aimed downward.

Lucian stepped forward, slamming his sword into the ground and channeling a burst of mana, raising a radiant barrier.

Albedo switched both guns to Graviton Mode and fired upward, each shot trying to disrupt the spears and shatter them before they could reach the ground.

But for every spear he broke, 4 more took it’s place, and they soon all crashed downwards.

~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM!~

A massive explosion occurred, with smoke absolutely covering the entire arena, leaving everyone blind to what occurred.

SILENCE!

No one spoke, no one even breathed too heavy as they eagerly awaited to see what happened.

Then.

~WHOOM!~

A wave of golden light surged through the arena like a divine heartbeat. It pulsed once, clearing the smoke, scattering the thick mist like it were mere dust in the wind.

The students gasped.

Lucian and Albedo were still standing.

Though barely. Lucian was on one knee, his blade buried into the ground for support, cracks webbing across his barrier like fractured glass. His silver hair was matted to his brow, one shoulder scorched, blood trickling from his lip.

Albedo was worse off.

He was crouched with one knee down, Havoc and Ruin both aimed upward though his arms visibly trembled. His jacket was half-burnt away, the left side of his face slightly singed, and blood dripped from a cut above his eye.

But they were alive, and seemingly untouched by the final wave of spears.

Because between them and Skye... stood a figure cloaked in robes of moonlight and starlight, her presence both soft and absolute.

The runes in the arena glowed brighter, seemingly in deference to her arrival.

Headmistress Raphaeline.

All of the spears of Mana that were meant to pierce Albedo and Lucian were frozen mid air, caught in a golden stasis.

Professor Skye, mid-air, had paled visibly. Her rapier was still extended, mana crackling around her, but it flickered now as she realized what she had done.

But before she could plead her case, Raphaeline spoke,

"That is enough."

Raphaeline then looked down at Lucian, then at Albedo.

Her tone didn’t change.

"Class is dismissed."

A ripple of gasps spread through the crowd. Even Professor Kayle blinked in confusion, but quickly regained composure and began ushering students out.

Raphaeline, meanwhile, looked toward the two battered students in the center of the arena.

"Albedo Neverwinter. Lucian Arclight," she said. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Come with me."