People squinted their eyes, trying to see through the blinding light from the lightning.
"What? Did Auric…" Arina panicked.
Ellia crossed her arms. "No."
The light dimmed as Auric spun his body and sent forth a kick. Simon instinctively grabbed Auric's foot, but before he could discharge his lightning again, Auric had used the Plant Outburst to summon spikes.
Simon leaped away to avoid the spikes.
"Did he lose?"
"Not yet!"
"That's… the body armor! Has he mastered it?"
"Still, it should be quite painful."
They were worried about Auric, but it looked like Simon had a greater overall power.
What they didn't know was that Auric wasn't as hurt as they thought. At the last moment, Auric used the wind element in his arm, utilizing the elemental advantage against lightning to withstand the electrocution.
While it was true that Simon was currently stronger than him, Auric had no intention of losing.
He used the Plant General and sent all six roots toward Simon.
"I have shown you that it won't work!" Simon snorted and dashed once again, showing his superiority.
Simon did well when he avoided the roots, but he had underestimated Auric.
"Hmph. Idiot." Eric snorted. As someone who had grown used to Auric's style, Eric could see Auric's attempt.
Suddenly, Simon stopped himself when he found himself being surrounded by roots. "What?"
He had avoided all of them, but for some reason, he ended up being surrounded by them with no chance of leaving. In addition, the root that was supposed to chase him from behind had sealed the exit.
"Is he…"
"Is that a coincidence?"
The people watching from above noticed what was going on.
Even though Auric looked like he was blindly chasing Simon, he had actually created a maze to lead Simon to a certain position before sealing his movement.
"That must be just a coincidence, right?" Arina asked.
"No, it's intentional. He is able to calculate Simon's movement and create a dead end to stop him."
Auric then flicked his fingers, summoning a spike to pierce him from below.
Simon couldn't think any longer and simply jumped up to escape. The spike barely missed him as well.
But jumping up was exactly what Auric wanted from him.
The roots became a wall around Simon by simply extending themselves up. This meant the moment Simon jumped up, Auric could extend them again to chase after him.
There was no way Simon could avoid them in the air.
Simon gritted his teeth. He never thought he would be in such a situation. But he still had his trump card.
"Haaaa!" Simon didn't plan to run away. Instead, he was challenging Auric head-on.
His hands were approaching each other. From the gap between his hands, a ball of lightning started to form. This lightning ball created violent sparks, destroying the roots upon contact.
The thunderous sound echoed inside the gym, and the pressure was mounting.
Auric squinted his eyes. This kind of power was definitely not good for him. This battle technique was far superior to the other two.
It looked like Simon was trying to show his Lightning Discharge on the first day but failed. As soon as he succeeded, he would learn both the movement battle technique and this hidden technique.
This must be his trump card to deal with him, thought Auric.
Auric made the six roots into a spiral to strengthen them like an advanced cable.
Simon simply threw the ball down. The violent lightning pulverized the roots to the very bottom.
Once it hit the ground, the lightning ball exploded and sent sparks in all directions, shattering the rest of the roots.
"Is this really the power of a first-year?"
"Aren't they supposed to be newbies?"
"How can he be that strong?"
"It's no wonder he claims to be number one."
"I guess the Lightning Emperor has gotten a fine disciple."
The people believed Simon would win this battle. After all, everything Auric had shown was subpar compared to Simon's techniques. It would just be a matter of time before Auric lost.
Arina panicked. "What should we do? Is he really going to lose? I mean, I know his strength, but…"
Ellia shook her head calmly. "You told me we're similar. Don't you know what I don't like the most?"
"Ah." Arina covered her mouth in surprise. She almost forgot Ellia's trait.
Ellia might not be showy, but she hated losing if she could win. It wasn't a matter of arrogance or showing their superiority. She didn't want to lose simply because she could win.
When Auric saw the incoming sparks, he summoned three spikes at the same time, creating a wall to block them.
"That's my technique." Arina shook her head helplessly. Auric truly absorbed everything from that battle.
The residual sparks didn't have enough strength to shatter these spikes, but Simon had expected this result as well. While Auric's vision was blocked by the spikes, Simon used his movement technique to loop around the wall and reach Auric.
He had already clenched his hands into fists, ready to throw another punch.
Auric didn't plan to make the same mistake. He raised both arms again, but instead of lining them up like a wall, he formed an 'X' shape so that he could see the incoming punch and react if it was a feint.
"It's useless!" Simon shouted. He didn't care whether Auric improved or not. Since Auric tried to see the incoming attack, Simon would then deliver the punch.
Bam!
The punch launched Auric to the other side of the arena, slamming his body against the wall erected by Eren.
"…" Auric felt his arms getting numb. Even though the body armor had saved him earlier, it didn't absorb all the damage. Besides, he had poured too much energy into Body Armor to block the two attacks, and it looked like he would exhaust all his energy first before Simon did.
Simon, on the other hand, used his influence to gather lightning-element materials to get as much energy as his body allowed.
Since they were just starting, he filled up about 30% of his element. In this regard, he was superior to Auric if they were only talking about one element.
Seeing his superiority, Simon laughed. "Hahaha. This is the difference between us. You won't be able to defeat me."
"Shut up. Do you think you are any better?"
"You are just an arrogant prick!"
The female students were berating Simon from the outside.
These actions actually made Simon even angrier. He actually shouted back, "Shut up! Do you think it will do you any good to idolize him?
"He is just a useless person who failed to awaken an avatar!"
"What?" That statement just dumbfounded everyone.
There were not many students from their high school attending this university, so they didn't know about it. Besides, the only person who attended this college and was in the same class as him was Eric.
After all, the awakening ceremony was held per class, so students from other classes didn't know much about the situation. They heard only rumors about it.
So, the information had yet to be well-known on campus.
That was why his announcement caught them off guard.
"Do you think he's good by not showing his avatar? It's not a matter of good or bad. He's just a useless loser who doesn't even have an avatar."
The people were speechless. Even Professor Eren gasped.
"He didn't awaken an avatar?" Stefany dropped her jaw. She turned to Ran. "Did you know about this?"
Ran shook his head. "I'm not an encyclopedia, so don't ask me about every little thing."
The male students couldn't help but laugh.
"Hahaha!"
"So, he's just a loser pretending to be strong."
"Serve him right. He will not be able to get stronger at this rate."
Stefany blinked her eyes a few times, noticing something. "If he didn't awaken any avatar, how could he use an element?"
Even Angelina asked the same thing. They had never seen anyone fail to awaken an avatar.
But this failure allowed him to wield an element. Angelina even knew that Auric also possessed an earth element.
How did he do it?
Some people were sneering at him. Some people were curious. Some were trying to cheer him up regardless of his situation.
Eric shook his head helplessly. "It looks like the cat is out of the bag already."
Eric remembered how he mocked Auric by using the same thing. Now that he thought about it, he had looked like a fool back then. "Probably, the happiness of finally beating him in one aspect got the better of me, but seriously… Did I look like that fool over there when I said the same thing to him?"
Eric facepalmed, trying to hide his embarrassment. "To think I would forget his character. Auric never fights a losing battle."
Auric never accepted a duel if he didn't think he would win. And this time was the same.
Auric must have expected Simon would reveal this information, but he could still turn the situation around.
Arina was panicking, not because Simon revealed that information, but because Ellia beside her was exuding killing intent.
"Good, good, good. Lightning Emperor. You are really teaching a good disciple." She was already formulating a plan in her mind.
If she revealed this information to the higher-ups of the Evolution Association, not the one in this city, but the one at the headquarters, they would probably pressure the Evolution Association in this city to act against the Lightning Dojo.
If she wanted, tormenting Simon would be a piece of cake. But the problem was Auric.
Still, there was one variable that both Auric and Ellia hadn't expected.
"Aaahhhh!" Ran's voice suddenly echoed across the gym. "Isn't that guy the rumored person who became a 3-star bronze evolution master in our city, known as the youngest evolution master?!"
"!!!" The people had heard the rumors about the youngest evolution master, but they had never heard or seen him in person before.
The freshmen already knew this because they attended the orientation with Auric, while most second-year students didn't attend it.
So, the students immediately shouted back.
"That's right. Auric is our evolution master!"
"How dare you mess with an evolution master?!"
"You're going to pay for this!"
"Do you think you're good just because you can fight hard?"
"You are just like a barbarian who only knows how to fight!"
"Boooo!"
After Ran's shout, Stefany turned to him and asked, "What did you say? He really…"
Ran nodded. "I forgot about it earlier, but I'm sure of it now. He's really that guy."
"He is my Auric! Heh. Ellia can get that freaking arrogant bastard. I'm getting this calm and talented guy!" Stefany licked her lip.
"Whoa. You are becoming more and more similar to brain-dead idol fans…" Ran let out a long sigh.
Auric, on the other hand, simply smiled. "You know… you talk too much. Maybe this is your strategy. Trash talk your opponent and try to mess with their mind? A good strategy, but you should conduct yourself properly. Or maybe no one taught you about it?"
"You bastard." Simon gnashed his teeth as his eyes turned bloodshot. He charged his energy again to form the lightning ball. "I'm going to shut your mouth forever!"
Simon shot the lightning ball forward.
"NO!"
"My Auric!"
"Stop this fight!"
"Stop it!"
The people began asking Eren to stop the match.
Auric's face remained calm. He first summoned six roots and three spikes to form multiple layers of defense.
However, the lightning smashed them in succession.
The energy from the lightning had decreased significantly due to those walls, but it still had enough power to severely injure Auric.
"…" Eren squinted his eyes. This was it. He had to stop the battle as the victor was already obvious.
But when he was about to enter the arena, he suddenly saw Auric smiling as though he could turn the situation around.