Chapter 94 - 28
The afternoon sun beat down relentlessly over the Grand Colosseum Arena, a sweeping architectural marvel of reinforced titan-stone and anti-magic barrier pillars built right into the heart of the academy grounds. Tens of thousands of spectator seats were packed to capacity with excited students, senior faculty, and visiting military observers from across the continent.
Up in the VIP administrative box, high above the arena floor, Director Celeste sat surrounded by senior department heads. Her silver-framed spectacles reflected the dazzling sunlight, though her hands trembled slightly as she adjusted her parchment files. Beside her, Dr. Elena Vance leaned casually against the stone railing, sipping a chilled berry tonic while wearing her physician’s coat.
"Sister Elena... are you absolutely sure we shouldn’t intervene?" Celeste whispered nervously, her voice barely audible over the roaring crowd. "Lord Julian’s family used their regional influence to bribe the arena beast-masters. They’ve swapped the standard training golem for a wild, rank-S Obsidian-Scaled Wyvern! If Arthur is forced into the pit without high-tier gear—"
Elena let out a soft, amused chuckle, taking another sip of her drink. "Celeste, my dear future sister-in-law, relax. My brother built the economic apparatus that pays those beast-masters’ salaries. Watching arrogant boys realize they’ve poked a dormant volcano is my favorite pastime."
Celeste’s cheeks flushed a violent, brilliant crimson at the phrase future sister-in-law, her mind instantly melting into a puddle of sweet, flustered panic as she clutched her clipboard to her heaving chest.
Down in the subterranean preparation chambers beneath the arena floor, the atmosphere was thick with tension.
The incoming freshmen were lined up along the weapons racks, strapping on lightweight leather chest pieces and selecting enchanted training blades. Lord Julian stood near the center of the staging hall, surrounded by his three aristocratic lackeys. He adjusted his silver-plated rapier with a boastful smirk, loudly broadcasting his confidence to the surrounding female students.
"A true nobleman shows his superior bloodline in battle!" Julian declared loudly, casting a venomous glare across the room. "Not by hiding behind bank carriages or sitting in the back row with slum trash!"
In the far corner of the holding room, Katherine stood huddled behind a weapon rack, trying her absolute hardest to shrink into the shadows. The tight leather combat harness she had been forced to wear over her uniform strained violently against her massive, exceptionally voluptuous bust and sweeping hips. Every time she moved, the surrounding students cast disgusted, envious glares in her direction, whispering cruel insults about her commoner background.
She kept her hands tightly clasped over her trembling chest, her deep violet eyes wide with frantic, quivering fear.
"Katherine."
Arthur’s deep, soothing voice cut through her panic instantly. She gasped softly, her head snapping up as Arthur stepped out from behind the armory pillar. Dressed in the simple, dark combat tunic provided by the academy, he looked relaxed, unbothered, and strikingly handsome. He carried no heavy armor, no enchanted shields, and held only a basic, un-enchanted iron training sword.
"A-Arthur!" Katherine stammered, her face exploding into a fiery blush as she instinctively tried to pull her cardigan over her leather harness, her heart doing wild, frantic flips. "I... I’m sorry! I look so ridiculous in this armor! I’m so clumsy... I know I’m going to fail the combat test and embarrass you..."
Arthur stepped directly into her personal space, completely ignoring her massive, heaving chest and looking straight into her tear-filled violet eyes. He reached out with effortless grace, gently adjusting the leather buckle strap on her shoulder that had been fastened incorrectly.
"You aren’t clumsy, Katherine," Arthur said softly, his voice carrying a calm, absolute authority that made her heart skip a beat. "And you won’t fail. When you step into that arena, don’t worry about the crowd, the monsters, or those loud aristocrats. Just swing your blade with the precise mana-flow techniques you practiced yesterday. I’ll be watching you from the floor."
Katherine swallowed hard, her whole body warming under his gentle touch. The suffocating weight of her self-doubt melted away, replaced by an intense, sweet warmth blooming deep within her chest. "Y-Yes! I’ll do my best! For you!"
Before Arthur could reply, the heavy iron portcullis at the end of the tunnel ground upward with a deafening screech of gears.
"Freshmen Combat Group 4, step onto the sands!" the arena proctor roared through an amplified megaphone.
The crowd in the colosseum erupted into a thunderous roar as Arthur, Katherine, Julian, and twenty other freshmen stepped out onto the blinding, sun-drenched sands of the main arena floor. A massive, shimmering blue mana-barrier hummed to life around the perimeter, sealing the combatants inside the multi-acre fighting pit.
Julian strutted to the absolute front of the group, unsheathing his jeweled rapier and raising it dramatically toward the cheering noble balconies. "Watch closely, ladies! I shall demonstrate how a true lord handles a beast!"
Suddenly, the heavy steel portcullis on the far side of the arena shattered with a violent, bone-rattling CRASH.
A blast of scorching, dark-purple flames burst through the dust cloud, followed by a deafening, terrifying roar that shook the very stone foundations of the colosseum. Out from the darkness stumbled an absolute nightmare—a thirty-foot-tall Obsidian-Scaled Wyvern. Its razor-sharp claws gouged deep trenches into the stone floor, its glowing red eyes burning with wild, maddened rage, and its massive wings spreading wide to cast a shadow of death over the entire pit.
The cheering in the stands died instantly.
"W-What is that?!" a noble student in the pit shrieked, dropping her sword in sheer terror. "That isn’t a training golem! That’s a Calamity-Class rift beast!"
"Run! The barrier is locked!" another cried, the group dissolving into absolute, chaotic panic.
Julian’s face went completely ghostly white. His knees trembled so violently his jeweled rapier clattered uselessly onto the sand. He wet himself on the spot, falling backward onto his rear as the monstrous beast locked its murderous gaze directly onto him, opening its massive, tooth-filled maw to unleash a torrent of incinerating hellfire.
"SAVE ME!" Julian screamed, blubbering like a terrified toddler as he crawled backward into the dirt.
As the column of liquid purple fire surged across the sands toward the screaming noble boy, a dark figure moved.
Arthur stepped casually in front of the paralyzed group. He didn’t draw a magic scroll, he didn’t summon an elite guard, and he didn’t even drop his basic iron training sword. With total, unbothered grace, Arthur reached out with his left hand, his long, slender fingers tapping his mana-suppression ring just once.
An invisible, absolute pressure hit the arena floor.
The roaring column of dark fire didn’t just stop—it completely dissolved into harmless, sparkling ambient dust two inches before it could touch Arthur’s boots.
The Obsidian Wyvern froze mid-roar. The terrifying, wild madness in its glowing red eyes instantly vanished, replaced by an overwhelming, instinctual terror that chilled its blood to absolute zero. In the beast’s eyes, the handsome youth standing before it was no longer a mortal student; he was an ancient, cosmic apex predator whose very existence demanded absolute, total submission.
With a pathetic, high-pitched whimper, the massive thirty-foot monster slammed its head flat into the arena sand, tucking its giant wings tightly around its body, trembling like a beaten stray dog in front of Arthur’s dark, unblinking gaze.
The entire colosseum fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
Tens of thousands of spectators, high-tier military officers, and panicked faculty members stared down into the pit with their jaws slack, completely unable to comprehend what their eyes were seeing. Julian sat frozen in the dirt, staring up at Arthur’s back in sheer, paralyzing horror.
Arthur casually swung his basic iron blade onto his shoulder, looking down at the trembling wyvern with a quiet, dry smirk. He turned his head slightly, offering a calm glance back at Katherine, who was staring at him with wide, breathtaking violet eyes full of utter wonder and unshakeable love.
"See?" Arthur said smoothly, his deep voice echoing in the dead quiet of the arena. "I told you it would be fine."