"How dare you make a fool out of my name! I'll fucking kick your ass!!!" William's insult hit Reinhardt hard.
This time, he hit William with a quick series of blows that made him step back. Each hit came faster than the one before it, a textbook series of attacks meant to overwhelm someone with speed and aggression.
The crowd went wild every time Reinhardt's sword got close to hitting him. William could hear them placing bets and making guesses about how many more seconds he had before he was entirely ruined.
What none of them knew was that William could read every move they made like an open book. He was keeping track of their habits, patterns, and all the little signs that showed what they were going to do next.
Reinhardt was very good, much better than most people, but he fought like someone who had spent most of his time training against academy students. His moves were so polished that they looked like mirrors, but they were also very predictable.
They were made for tournaments and exhibitions, not for real fights where people died. William thought he had seen everything he needed to see after about thirty seconds of this.
This time, Reinhardt really put his back into it when he came in hard with another horizontal slash. William ducked under the whole thing and stepped right into Reinhardt's personal space before the guy could even think about what was going on.
His sword came up smoothly and tapped Reinhardt lightly on the throat. It was like someone had hit a mute button, and the whole training ground went dead silent.
Reinhardt froze completely, and his eyes got big in the way that people do when they realize they really messed up. William stepped back and put his sword down as if nothing had happened. "That was a fun match."
"That's one point for the garbage instructor, which is myself," William said in the most casual way possible. "Do you want to keep going, or should we end this so you can fix your hair?"
Reinhardt's face changed expression three times, going from shocked to frustrated to embarrassed. "That was just fucking pure luck. Or maybe a bluff!"
"We're going again. Now!"
"And there it is... the denial phase, am I right?"
They changed positions, and this time Reinhardt came at him like a crazed person. His attacks became much more violent and out of control, driven by his broken pride rather than any real tactical thinking.
"Yeah, I can see that this guy lost all his focus, which damaged his pride. A big mistake for a so-called asshole."
William moved through the barrage of strikes like he was dancing, and every time Reinhardt missed by inches. To the students who were watching, it probably looked like some kind of elaborate performance art, with the Zero-Class instructor somehow avoiding death through impossible luck.
But Lia, who was standing at the edge of the crowd with her arms crossed, saw something completely different. William could see the light of understanding slowly dawning in her red eyes.
She knew that his movements weren't random at all. Every dodge, every step, and every little change was planned with a level of accuracy that shouldn't be possible for a person.
Reinhardt, getting more and more angry by the second, finally put everything on the line with one huge overhead strike that was meant to end the fight right then and there. He put all of his weight behind it, making himself an easy target like an idiot.
William avoided the attack and casually extended his foot at just the right moment, causing Reinhardt to trip over it dramatically and fall face-first into the dirt with a thud that made several students wince. His sword flew out of his hand and hit the stones, making a loud noise until it stopped right at William's feet.
"You could probably hear a pin drop from across the academy after that."
William bent down and picked up Reinhardt's sword. He looked at it like he was looking at food at the store. "Our swords are the same, so it's fair."
"You know what?" he said in a voice that everyone could hear. "In my experience, angry people are terrible fighters because they fall for ragebait so easily."
"You were doing well at first, but as soon as I ragebaited you, you fell apart. A good instructor doesn't act like that. That's what someone who has never had to deal with real problems looks like."
He threw the sword back to Reinhardt, who was slowly getting up with dirt on his perfect hair and fancy uniform. "That's enough for today before your aura goes negative again."
William went on, "Maybe next time you should think twice before you challenge someone based on their rank instead of what they can actually do."
"When you're flat on your face eating dirt, titles don't mean anything.
Reinhardt looked like he wanted to kill William right in front of everyone, but there were dozens of students watching and recording every second of this, so he couldn't do anything without ruining his reputation even more. He took his sword and ran off without saying a word, leaving William alone in the middle of the training grounds.
For about three seconds, no one moved or spoke. Then someone started clapping slowly, and soon everyone else joined in. Before long, the whole crowd was clapping like they had just seen the best show of their lives.
[Prestige +10]
[New Title: Underdog Champion]
[Students are noticing what you can do]
William saw the system notifications, but he didn't pay much attention to them because he was too busy noticing how the students were looking at him now. They were looking at him not with the scorn or dismissive attitude from before, but with real curiosity, interest, and maybe even a little respect.
Someone nearby said, "Holy shit," in a loud voice. "Did we really just see a Zero-Class instructor completely destroy Instructor Ashford?"
"That was totally crazy," another student said.
"How did he even move like that?"
"I couldn't see half of what he did."
William began to walk toward the door, eager to leave before people started asking questions he couldn't answer honestly. But before he could take three steps, someone got in his way.
She was a girl, probably 20 or 21, with long pink hair that went past her shoulders and pointed ears that made her look like an elf. She wore a brand-new and well-kept academy uniform, and a healer's badge was neatly pinned to her chest. But what really caught William's eye were her eyes, which were a bright amber color that looked like they were glowing in the evening light.
Her hands were so tightly clasped that her knuckles were turning white as she tried to find the courage to speak. "An elf, huh... now this felt more like a fantasy world."
"Um, excuse me, Instructor Wade?" She said it quietly, and her voice was hard to hear over the noise from the crowd. "My name is Ellie Von Synthia."
"I'm a healer student in the medical division, and I really hope you have some time to speak with me."
William looked at her for a moment and saw that her hands were shaking a little bit, even though she was trying very hard to look calm and collected. "Talk about what, exactly?"
Ellie bit her lip and looked around nervously at the students who were still there before leaning in closer to him. "It's about the magic that heals me."
"It keeps getting stronger, but I can't control it like I used to. Every time I try to help someone, I either don't heal them at all or I heal them too much and then pass out from magical exhaustion."
"The medical instructors keep telling me that I just need to practice more, but nothing they teach me works. I know of healers who hurt people terribly by accident because they lost control of their power, and I'm scared that I will become one of them."
She looked up at him with eyes full of desperation and pleading that made William think of soldiers begging for help they didn't think they deserved.
"Please, Instructor Wade. I really do think you might be the only person in this whole academy who can help me after seeing what you just did out there."
"Please train me."