The sound of cracking ground was heard as Alex rushed forward to attack the katana user.
Alex took out one of his papers with a unique symbol.
The katana user's eyes widened as he saw Alex approaching.
The katana user swallowed, his position returning to a defensive stance. His right eye closed again, and then the pupil of his left eye turned white.
In his vision, red points could clearly be seen on several parts of Alex's body.
The katana user channeled mana into his katana that was still sheathed and tried to touch one of the red points on Alex's left shoulder.
Alex's eyes widened. His soul core responded to the danger. Both his legs bent slightly at that moment, showing a half-crouching stance.
Fwosh
The wind from the mana-coated katana attack roared.
The katana user's eyes widened, and now his position was completely open.
Alex moved his right hand, which held the symbol paper, and stuck it onto the katana user's left thigh.
Puk.
The katana user responded by swinging his sheathed katana downward to attack Alex, but once again Alex's first soul core reacted. Alex pushed his body backward, and the explosion from the katana's impact cracked the ground.
Buk
Alex lay on the ground. He immediately pointed his right index and middle fingers toward the symbol paper that had been attached earlier.
Alex smiled.
"Boom!"
The katana user's eyes widened when he saw the paper on his left thigh shining, and slowly blue fire exploded from the paper.
BOOM!
Black smoke billowed once again, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the explosion.
Not far away, Azka, Kayla, and Reva's team quickly rushed out of the encirclement and headed toward Katarina and her team, while the other encircling group could only stare blankly at the explosion.
From Katarina's side, cheers were heard.
"Hit him, Captain!"
"Blow everything up!"
And Katarina simply watched in silence.
From the pile of smoke emerged a figure holding a katana. The clothing covering his left thigh was now torn and scorched, revealing skin that had turned black.
Meanwhile, a painful expression appeared on his face.
Alex looked at the katana user.
'Wasn't that a little strange earlier, Krystal? Did you see it? His right eye was closed while the pupil of his left eye turned white.'
'Yes… maybe that is his talent.'
Alex swallowed.
'I actually already have a rough guess. Maybe I should look for stronger proof now.'
'Be careful, Alex.'
Alex exhaled.
The katana user looked at Alex with a pained expression, then he turned his head toward where Katarina was.
Katarina was also looking at him. The two of them stared at each other.
The katana user tried to raise his hand to greet Katarina.
Alex, seeing that, took advantage of the opportunity.
Alex dashed forward again. This time his body was not flowing with mana.
The katana user immediately looked back at Alex.
A shout came from another direction.
"Don't lose focus, Ken!"
Alex's eyes twitched slightly when he heard the katana user's name.
Alex moved closer to Ken.
His breathing grew heavier. He had a plan.
Alex took out another small paper with a symbol, this time in the palm of his left hand. His posture was now more open than before.
Ken prepared again. He closed his right eye, and the pupil of his left eye turned white.
Ken's expression changed from usual. This time it showed shock.
Usually he only saw a few red points, but now there were far more red points than he had ever seen before, even more than the amateur soldiers he had fought.
His heartbeat quickened. Ken felt something was wrong.
But as Alex got closer, he finally decided. Ken channeled mana into his sheathed katana again, this time targeting the collarbone area on Alex's left shoulder.
A faint smile appeared on Alex's face.
Ken's katana thrust toward Alex's collarbone.
Alex's first soul core reacted, but this time it was not to dodge.
Alex caught Ken's mana-coated katana thrust with the palm of his left hand that held the symbol paper.
Puk
A faint light appeared when Ken's katana and the paper touched. There was no explosion.
Alex's smile widened when he saw the confused look on Ken's face.
"Got you…"
Alex pulled Ken's katana with all his strength. Ken followed the pull because he held his katana tightly.
During that pull, Alex lifted his right leg and kicked straight toward Ken's stomach.
Buk.
Ken's eyes widened when he felt the kick in his stomach.
It was just a normal kick without mana.
Alex released the pull on Ken's katana, letting Ken stagger backward. As Ken's butt was about to touch the ground, Alex smiled widely again, almost giggling.
He pointed his index and middle fingers toward the place where Ken was about to sit down.
Buar.
From the ground emerged a long stone rising 3 meters high. Ken's butt was pierced by the stone and he was lifted about 4 meters into the air.
Everyone stared in shock at the sudden appearance of the stone from the ground.
A groan came from Ken as his butt was pierced.
"Ack"
Buk
Ken rolled on the ground and immediately tried to get up and look at Alex, but Alex did not give him the chance.
Alex's index and middle fingers pointed toward the upper right side of Ken. There was a symbol paper attached to a tree there. The symbol glowed, and a black rope appeared, immediately targeting Ken's wrist.
Sreet.
The grip of his katana slipped from his right hand. Alex swung his hand again toward the opposite tree.
The symbol paper glowed. Ken and everyone else looked at the paper.
Curr
From the symbol, a stream of water appeared.
Everyone's faces went blank as they saw water coming out of the symbol paper like a small fountain.
Alex scratched the back of his head while smiling widely.
"Damn, I messed up."
Laughter erupted from Class 1C.
"What an idiot."
"He's really predictable."
"Yeah! That's our Alex!"
Katarina massaged her forehead and sighed.
Katarina looked at Alex. Alex looked at Katarina.
"Come here, Alex."
Alex's face turned confused, and he pointed at Ken.
"Then what about him?"
Before Katarina could answer, a burst of laughter suddenly came from near Alex. Everyone turned toward it.
"Hahahahaha I've never seen a fountain like that, do it again, do it again!"
Alex looked toward the source of the voice. There, Ken was sitting while bathed in the sunlight that pierced through the forest canopy, wiping tears from his eyes with his left hand, while his right hand was still tied.
Alex looked at him in confusion.
The sound of footsteps was heard as Ken's friends came to protect him. The tense silence returned.
Ken's friends tried to untie the rope binding his hand.
"Are you okay, Ken?"
Ken nodded.
Alex walked toward Katarina and stood beside her.
A whisper was heard.
"Do you know him?"
Katarina nodded while looking at Ken who was being treated.
"Yes, he's Ken, the representative of Class 1F."
Alex looked at Katarina.
"He already eliminated Reva. Should we eliminate him here too? Or what kind of person is he?"
Katarina sighed.
"It seems there was a misunderstanding."
Alex's face became confused.
Katarina looked back toward Kayla, Azka, and Reva's team.
Alex followed her gaze.
Kayla, Azka, and Reva's team nodded repeatedly while looking at Katarina.
Katarina looked at Alex.
"It seems Reva acted on his own."
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Actually they accidentally met, and Ken who was surprised to meet Reva initially decided not to fight and leave, but he mentioned my name?"
Kayla, Azka, and Reva's team nodded while looking at Alex.
Alex's eyebrow twitched.
"Don't tell me that short-tempered idiot got triggered by something trivial."
Katarina flipped her dark red hair while looking at Alex.
"Ken actually likes me? Maybe?"
All the students of Class 1C exclaimed upon hearing news they should not have heard.
But Alex's face looked like he had just seen something disgusting.
"You're even more shameless now."
Katarina shrugged.
"So now you know the problem, right?"
Alex sighed, looking up at the forest canopy. Veins bulged on his forehead.
"That bastard… I'll beat him up later. Doesn't he realize he's needed right now?"
The others could only swallow nervously.
But suddenly a chuckle was heard, and a faint smile appeared on Alex's face, making the others even more uneasy.
Alex looked at Katarina with a frightening smile.
"So he likes you, huh?"
"Maybe still?"
Alex chuckled and then walked toward Ken and his friends.
Katarina and the others looked at Alex in confusion but eventually followed.
Alex's steps drew closer. Ken looked at him and stood up.
Behind Ken and Alex, their respective classmates gathered.
Alex smiled, making Ken nervous.
Alex extended his right hand.
"I'm Alex Sander…"
Ken looked at him in confusion, then quickly grabbed Alex's hand.
"I… I'm Kentaro Ken."
"Nice to meet you," Alex said.
Ken nodded.
Alex looked at him.
"So what actually happened? Did you intend to invade us?"
Ken's eyes widened and he waved both hands to signal no.
"No, no, that's not it."
Alex smiled, then spread his arms.
"But the damage here seems to say otherwise."
They all looked around. Cracks were everywhere, a long stone towered high, and even the small fountain was still flowing.
A student from Class 1F spoke.
"Yeah… we came to take your logistics. Isn't that what we're supposed to do? This is a simulation."
All the students from Class 1F nodded in agreement.
Meanwhile, the students from Class 1C clicked their tongues.
Alex smiled.
"Is that what you wanted to do too, Ken?"
Ken's eyes widened.
"No… no."
Ken scratched his cheek. For a moment he glanced at Katarina, who was also looking at him.
"I… I… did intend to attack earlier, but because I met Reva and that automatically meant it was Class 1C, I decided not to fight. But Reva didn't listen to my explanation."
Ken's shoulders slumped.
Whispers came from Class 1F.
"What are you saying, Ken? Don't look so weak."
"Let's just beat them all, Ken."
Ken became confused seeing his friends' reactions.
Meanwhile, Alex chuckled quietly.
Alex looked at Ken.
"You know, Class 1C suffered losses because of your misunderstanding."
Ken's face turned panicked, occasionally glancing at Katarina who remained expressionless.
Shouts of hostility erupted from Class 1F.
"What are you talking about? This is a simulation!"
"Don't listen to him, Ken! He's provoking you!"
Alex looked at all of them suspiciously, then looked back at Ken.
"So… Ken, do you want to cooperate with us? Let's form an alliance."
Ken and the students of Class 1F widened their eyes.
"An alliance?"
Alex nodded.
Katarina looked at Ken.
"We lost Reva too early, and shouldn't we at least combine our strength to take down Arthur's and Julian's classes?"
The students of Class 1F fell silent for a moment.
A student from 1F beside Ken spoke.
"Then what will you offer?"
Alex smiled at him.
"Abundant logistics. Very abundant."
The faces of the students from Class 1F turned disbelieving.
"How could you possibly have abundant logistics?"
"Like the traps."
Alex ignored them and simply pointed at the small fountain, the black rope, and the towering stone from the ground. Everyone's eyes followed Alex's pointing finger.
"Do you see all that? We put all the items we need into those. Of course it took a full week, but we managed it and brought way too much."
The students of Class 1F swallowed nervously.
"How about I show you our logistics directly?" Alex said. All the students of Class 1C puffed out their chests proudly hearing Alex's words.
Ken looked at Katarina.
Katarina returned his gaze.
"Come on, we'll show you."
Suddenly Ken's feet stepped forward on their own to follow Class 1C, mesmerized by Katarina's beauty, but a grip on his shoulder stopped him.
A student from 1F asked again.
"How can we trust you that this isn't a trap?"
Alex smiled, his hand pointing at Katarina.
"If we trap you, all the wealth Princess Katarina Mars owns in the real world will be given to you."
Everyone fell silent staring at Alex.
Katarina's eyebrow twitched. Veins bulged on her forehead as her right hand flew toward the back of Alex's head.
Buk
Alex rubbed the back of his aching head.
Everyone laughed seeing the scene.
That moment became the beginning of their alliance.
Elsewhere, the observation room was now a little quieter.
The professors and the headmaster were doing something outside. They were holding an emergency meeting.
Meanwhile, a pair of young man and woman were still watching the screen.
The pink-haired young man smiled as he looked at the screen.
"Isn't his power unique? He did it well, of course not including that fountain."
The white-haired girl with her hair tied in a bun nodded and pointed at the screen.
"Yes, but it seems like I've seen that towering stone before. Doesn't it feel familiar, Arkan?"
Arkan's eyes narrowed, then widened as he immediately looked at the girl.
"No way. Did he put that stone from the edge of the lake in there?"
The girl with the bun smiled.
"Isn't that funny? What if the headmaster or the professors find out about this?"
Arkan swallowed.
"Shouldn't we hide that, Kartika?"
Kartika shrugged.
"Their fight was pretty good. That boy analyzed Ken's talent quickly, didn't he?"
Arkan looked back at the screen.
"Yes, even though Ken didn't use his right eye, that short black-haired boy managed to corner him."
Kartika smiled and clapped once, her eyes sparkling.
"He'll be the perfect opponent for Arthur and Julian, right?"
Arkan sighed.
"That is only if he can survive for 10 seconds."
Kartika chuckled.
"Want to bet?"
Arkan did not answer. He was still looking at the screen.
Kartika did not continue either. She simply stared at the screen, which showed the figure of a short black-haired boy holding his head in pain after being hit by a girl.
A small laugh escaped Kartika's lips.
Arkan looked at a smaller screen and pointed.
"Sir, could you show the screen over there?"
The operator nodded.
The screen that had been small became large, replacing the other screen.
There, a massive battle between students was taking place.