Every student, the instructor included, was flabbergasted by what they witnessed. Alex and Ross simply shared knowing smiles as they enjoyed the shocked look on everyone's faces.
This class was supposed to be the class of genius, no, monsters. The best of the best. Each and every one of them had physical stats at the extremes when they awakened. While not as impressive as Alex and Ross's stats, it was still without a doubt, impressive.
But what they were currently seeing overturned everything they knew about strength and levels. While they were all at the same level, they were, in fact, not on the same level.
How could someone from an unknown family beat a prodigy from a powerful family like the Knights?! It was simply a fool's dream. The kind of resources that went into raising a prodigy like her was not something a few weeks of learning combat could overcome.
The instructor quickly came out of his reverie. His experience and strength allowed him to see exactly what happened, and while it wasn't anything fancy, it was a perfect application of speed and power.
'She isn't from the Knight family for no reason.' The thought alone made him smile slightly, but it quickly disappeared.
When the signal for the fight to start was given, Julia quickly closed the distance. By gathering sufficient strength in her legs when they prepared for the countdown to end, Julia had gathered enough momentum to close the distance in a burst of speed that took Zephra by surprise.
Without giving her time to process what happened, Julia delivered a powerful palm strike straight to her chest. The force had cracked a few bones and sent her slamming forcefully into the walls. Since there was basically no time difference between the strike and her slamming into the walls, the impact rendered her unconscious from the dual damage she received. She had not even used her ice ability.
"Winner, Julia Knight!" The instructor declared, drawing the students out of their reverie. The look on their faces showed how shaken they were by her prowess.
Meanwhile, Julia made her way back to her friends as if nothing happened. When she sat down with her friends, her demeanour changed to the warm and friendly one Alex and Ross were already used to.
"You did good, Julia.," Alex commented, smiling brightly at her.
"You hold back when we spar together, don't you?" Ross, on the other hand, noticed the difference, but it wasn't by much.
"If I go all out, would you stand a chance?" She questioned back, shutting down Ross.
Having not responded to that, Ross turned back to the instructor awaiting the next set of instructions and matches. Alex simply shook his head observing their actions.
He had come a long way in the ways of combat and while not perfect, he was good enough to go toe-to-toe with Julia. Of course, the purpose was not to win, but to apply all the concepts he had learned.
But he also knew Ross was exaggerating a bit. Julia did not hold back that much when they had their sparring sessions. After all, their stats were pretty much the same, and with the lessons in force applications, they knew how and when not to use too much power.
"The next person should step out." The instructor called out, but the shocked look in the eyes of the students had not dissipated.
Someone stood up from the seated students, drawing the attention of everyone. Alex glanced at the student and noticed the gaze of the boy on him. He also identified him as one of the friends of Zen Henjok.
Already seeing where this way going, Alex prepared himself.
Before the instructor called for the next batch, Zen had already discussed with his friends how to deal with Alex.
"Do you want to challenge him again? This time he can't refuse."
Listening to the question his friend asked, Zen pondered seriously, his gaze on where Alex was seated.
'Not yet. Challenging him without knowing his full strength would be stupid of me. I don't have any data on his fighting strength, and while he is the same, his stats are still troublesome.'
His gaze moved to the one that asked the question, and the idea popped into his head, resulting in the current situation.
"Who do you choose?"
The question lingered for a while as the boy's gaze moved to the area where Alex was seated.
"Alexander Gray." He muttered with a sly grin.
His response elicited murmurs all around. They all knew of Zen's desire to fight Alex, but sending one of his friends to fight him made them understand that Zen was being careful not to underestimate Alex and decided to send his friend instead.
Without waiting for the instructor to call him out, Alex stood up and made his way to the stage.
The boy, whose name was Amon Kai, a one-horned human, also made his way over to the stage.
"Weapons?"
The two boys exchanged a look before shaking their heads. Affirming their choice, the instructor set the countdown, prompting Alex and Amon to ready themselves.
'I can finish this as quickly as Julia, but where's the fun in that?!'
He decided to enjoy this fight a bit. Since this would be his first fight against someone who wasn't Julia or Ross, he was itching to find out just how good their fighting styles were.
'Let's hold off the use of my light skills as well. Pure physicals should be more than enough.' He breathed in and out to settle his nerves. He was confident in his win, but this was still a fight all his classmates were witnessing.
After months of everyone wanting to see his capabilities ever since he made a name as the only survivor and the one with the highest physical stats, they were finally about to bore witness.
Amon himself was confident in his strength, and unlike Zephra's miserable performance, he actually had the capability to back up his confidence. Yes, they were all in Class A, but they were not the same. Talents brought them here, but only their abilities would retain them.
'Let's see just how good you really are, Alex…'
[Fight!]
Alex and Amon both disappeared from their positions.