Chapter 356: Obliterated [1]
For some unknown reason I felt a strong sense of pride in John’s eyes while looking at me.
Alicia’s eyes had turned round, as she might have been feeling like she was caught between two decisions, which according to me was a senseless worry.
"Just go."
Removing my hand from her head, I placed it on Alicia’s shoulder before meeting her eyes and reassuring the girl with a nod of my head.
Kevin, who was hell-bent on dragging Alicia away from me, was quick to pull the girl along with him before glaring at me with hate filling his eyes.
Someday or the other... I would have to teach this pest a good lesson that he would remember for his lifetime.
Alicia, despite wanting to stay with me, had no choice but to walk away, though the girl kept giving me worried glances, which I purposefully ignored, as I had already shifted my focus to the rest of the group.
They were certainly familiar faces, including Amelia Dracoth and Vienna Elor, who, though not as worried as Alicia, still looked at me with some hints of worry in their eyes.
But more than that, I could notice all of them being surprised at my well-being, as they might have expected me to be badly injured.
During my fight with Noah, I had sensed some students moving closer to us, so as to capture the video of our battle.
I had thought that everyone would have already watched those videos, but perhaps they hadn’t been circulated yet.
Well... I hoped they would soon be visible for everyone to see, and help them know what had actually happened than trying to imagine some scenario of me being beaten by Noah.
Maybe... I would have to defeat Noah once again, and that too in front of the entire academy, to let the people know the difference between us.
Being at the receiving end of such worrying gazes didn’t make me happy in any way.
On the contrary, the more the people asked about my well-being, the more repulsion I felt, though my willpower was strong enough to not let my actual emotions be displayed on my face.
Quickly sweeping my gaze through the group—
Hm?
A certain white-haired girl with equally white eyes caught my attention for a brief moment, though I didn’t let my gaze pause on her and was quick to walk away, leaving the group moving towards their original destination.
Even if my eyes were not fixed on the group, I could sense them through my mana sense, and that girl... she must have been the one that Ashlyn had talked about.
Yennifer Alistair... the second princess of the Alistairian Empire.
I could have been wrong in my guess, but from what I knew, white hair and those white eyes were the signature of House Alistair.
The girl had sharp eyes... maybe I should try to know about her... from the princess herself.
For now, I had to prepare for the upcoming visit.
***
Leaning her head on the chair, Victoria had her eyes settled on the ceiling above.
During the recent fight, she had indeed suffered some injuries, but they weren’t lethal enough for her to visit the infirmary.
She would make the visit some time later, as at the moment her mind was replaying every single part of the battle that she had just gone through.
Though Victoria had emerged dominant in the battle, she knew that it was only due to her opponent being inexperienced and of a lower rank than her.
The victory in no way felt like an achievement.
For Victoria, it was as bitter as it could get.
And Noah had now evolved his core to the Gold rank while awakening some sort of monstrous ability that could temporarily upgrade his rank to a new level.
Victoria had no idea about its limits, or how far the upgrade went, and what all benefits Noah had received from it, but one thing was for sure... she would have been defeated had she fought Noah after the first year had evolved his core to the Gold rank.
Victoria had seen the injury that she had inflicted on Noah’s right shin healing within seconds, something that was unbelievable to her.
Only the top elites of the vampires could compete with such speed of regeneration, but Victoria doubted whether their regeneration could compare with Noah’s, as the guy was just a recently evolved Gold core.
The vampires who had rapid regeneration were generally of the royal bloodline, with many being in the Platinum rank and above.
If compared through the lens of practicality... Noah’s regenerative abilities felt far superior to the vampires’.
Victoria had first-hand witnessed Noah’s power after his evolution, and she knew that there was no way she could have defeated him, even after using every trick out there.
But Kael...
Thinking about the guy, Victoria didn’t know what she should feel anymore about the first years in the academy.
Was Noah’s sudden evolution combined with his monstrous ability the shocking thing, or Kael’s mid-battle evolution to Gold 2, with no effort whatsoever?
Both of the first years had now become something that Victoria believed was above what mere mortals could achieve.
Victoria had the innate arrogance of the Frosts running in her blood, but it didn’t mean that she was blinded to reality.
From all the events so far, Victoria had come to one final conclusion—
She was neither a match for Kael nor Noah, who was just a commoner and an orphan no less.
Since her childhood, Victoria had been an exceptional child as well, but seeing the two monsters amongst the first years... Victoria began to have second thoughts about what the word exceptional even meant.
Her talent coupled with all the hard work that she had put forth over the span of several years... it... none of it was even close to what she had witnessed today.
Currently, Victoria was at Gold 3, and she knew what type of effort she had to put in to reach such a rank, and that too while being in the third year.
Her speed of growth was supposed to be one of the fastest in the world, but now, Victoria couldn’t say the same.
She had fought Kael just a month ago, and now... he had become a Gold 2, the same as Victoria’s past rank.
The girl had been unable to defeat Kael when he was just a Silver 3, and now that he was a Gold 2... even the tiniest hints of ambition in her heart were obliterated by the majesty of Kael’s burning flames, which had now covered Victoria’s entire existence.
And now an existence named Noah had done the same to Victoria.