Atticus lay on the ground, his eyes wide open as he gazed at the massive hammer that was suspended inches away from his face.
If it had been just a few inches lower, Atticus would have had his head crushed.
As soon as the AI voice sounded, the massive golden form of the robot, which currently looked like the embodiment of the sun God, lifted the massive golden hammer away from Atticus's face effortlessly and stood up straight.
The large smile on its face remained unchanged as it walked away from Atticus and went to stand on one side of the space. The golden glow surrounding its body dimmed until it regained its silver color, its massive hammer fading away into the air.
Atticus breathed heavily, his chest heaving upwards and downwards as he desperately tried to catch his breath.
The battle had been far too intense. The katana kept on vibrating intensely, its sharp end pointed at the robot standing a few meters away. It was clear it wanted nothing more than to rip it to pieces, but unfortunately it's user was finding it hard to lift up a finger right now.
After a few minutes, Atticus released a large exhale and sat up straight, this small action sending a whole wave of pain through his form.
Atticus winced.
'It's been a long while,' Atticus thought with a small chuckle. The only time he ever ended up this beaten up was when he was training with Magnus. Atticus couldn't help but miss it a little bit.
But at the next instant of having this thought, Atticus shivered. Magnus was even more brutal that the robot.
Atticus was thoroughly exhausted. So exhausted that he would rather not use the little stamina he had left to control the water element and heal himself.
So Atticus decided to use something he hadn't used in a long time. He channeled the little amounts of mana he had left into his space ring and in the next instant, a small vial filled to the brim with a light green liquid appeared in his right hand, and he instantly drank its contents.
Atticus immediately felt an unimaginable amount of refreshing feeling assault his body, streaming into each of his veins. His body felt slightly ticklish as his blisters, burns, and other injuries he acquired during the battle healed at a fast rate.
What Atticus had just drank was one of the highest grades of healing potion that was available to them in the first year. He had bought it from the academy store.
This was one of the things he bought during where he had a massive amount of points but nowhere to spend it.
"Good days," Atticus murmured.
Atticus focused and brought out two more vials filled to the brim with sky blue and deep green liquid. These were mana recovery potion and fatigue recovery potion.
It was the first time he was drinking these two potions as he had never found any need to. His passive recovery had always been enough, even when training with mana. Plus, he would be able to improve more if he didn't use these potions.
Upon drinking them, he felt his mana recovering at a very fast rate compared to when he was idly trying to recover it or even when he meditated and absorbed mana. He also felt his fatigue melting as he gradually started regaining his strength.
After more than a minute, Atticus finally felt completely good. He stood up slowly from his seated position, his intense gaze focusing on the form of the robot standing a few meters away from him.
"Damn," Atticus couldn't help but mutter.
He had tried everything, everything in his repertoire during the battle. Even his first and second katana arts weren't excluded, and yet he had still lost badly. "It's like they have an unlimited supply of energy," Atticus mused.
During the battle, Atticus didn't once see the robot low on energy or fatigued. With his keen senses, there was simply no way he would miss something like that. If he didn't see it, then it didn't happen, Atticus had that much confidence in himself.
Contrary to the robot's current flawless form, Atticus had inflicted a great amount of damage and attacks on it, but despite all his suffering, at the end, the robot would simply heal them as though they were scratches.
It was as if they could use the energy from the sun to augment, heal, and replenish their stamina.
Its regeneration capabilities were endless, its energy endless, stamina endless; Atticus's defeat was completely inevitable even if he had used everything he had.
Atticus checked the time on his artifact and seeing that the time had gone and it was already late, he released a deep breath and decided to call it a day.
Atticus gave the robot a long, cold look before shutting down the program, and after triple-checking if his data had truly been deleted, he left the training room.
The camp was already dark by the time he finished, but there were still a lot of students strolling about the campgrounds.
Atticus walking through the camp had always drawn attention, but this was usually one of respect and reverence. There was only one thing on the students' faces as Atticus walked by each of them: complete and absolute shock.
There was no one amongst them who wouldn't be utterly shocked if they saw Atticus's current form.
He actually got injured?
It seemed so absurd that such a thing was possible. The Atticus they knew, the same white-haired devil was reduced to this state? It was too much to bear.
'Shit, I forgot to change my clothes,' Atticus thought. Although his body had completely healed, his clothes were still burnt and charred black.
Atticus released a short sigh, 'I guess there's no helping it,' he ignored the curious gazes that tried to bore into him and continued walking.
After a few seconds, Atticus got to his destination, his gaze facing upwards and gazing at the form of the imposing mansion.