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[Alec's POV]

Bam!

"Gurfg..."

I let out another pained groan after being punched in the face again.

And looking in front of me, I can see Raven standing still few tens of meters away from me while facing my direction!

'I'm sure he was facing the other direction just now!'

I exclaimed internally.

It's been a while since Raven countered and stopped my technique, [Spatial Barrage].

And after that, I can't hit Raven anymore!

To be precise, every time I try to attack him, even from his blind spot...

I would suddenly feel a punch in my face or somewhere in my body!

And the next thing I knew, Raven is suddenly facing me like he expected or saw through my movements!

'How is that possible...?'

I contemplated while I activated my skill, <Calm Mind>.

I know that [Spatial Barrage] is a move that can be stopped.

But it's not gonna be that easy even if my opponent is a rank higher than me!

'And I'm sure Raven isn't on that level yet...'

So how is he countering my technique?

'Is he using an illusion skill, that make him appear that he has his back turned against me when in reality he's not?'

'Or is he really just moving so fast that I can't even react?'

I started thinking for a possible answer.

But then...

"Grrgh...fuck."

I heard Raven cursed in a barely audible voice.

I immediately shifted my gaze to him...

And I soon noticed that Raven's eyes seems unfocused.

And his whole body was trembling a little.

'Huh? Why?'

I asked inwardly.

I was confused.

Raven hit me more than I hit him in this battle.

'So why does it seems like he's struggling more than me?'

I thought, then I started recalling everything that happened in our sparring until now to search for an answer.

And that's when I realized...

That Raven's attacks are getting weaker and weaker.

My eyes immediately shifted back to Raven, then I squinted my eyes while looking at him.

'Is he perhaps... Using a skill that his body can't handle?'

That's the answer I got by thinking back for a bit.

'If so, that explains why he's gradually getting weaker.'

I thought.

"Hey, you."

Then Raven suddenly called for me.

I was surprised.

"Huh? What?"

But I replied to his call.

And after that, Raven smiled, a mischievous one at that.

"You figured it out right?"

Then he asked me!

His eyes and his confident expression are telling me that he knows what I'm thinking!

And that made my whole body flinch as my eyes to widened a bit.

But I immediately came back to normal after activating my skill, <Calm Mind>.

"What are you talking about?"

Then I asked Raven, trying to feign ignorance.

After my words...

Raven frowned at me, then he opened his mouth.

"I did made you naive, but not overly stupid."

He mumbled.

'What is he talking about?'

I asked in my head.

There's a lot of time that Raven do and say things that me and the others don't understand.

And if that happens, we usually just ignore him as we just thought that's just Raven trying to confuse us or act silly.

'But... What if there's more meaning behind them?'

That question struck my mind...

'Argh, fuck!'

Then, I suddenly cursed myself!

'Raven wants to confuse me, and I'm letting that happen!'

I stated in my head as I decided to ignore Raven's earlier words and just put up my defense.

And after that...

"Alec..."

Raven muttered my name, but I didn't reply.

"I'll probably lose this spar."

Then Raven continued talking.

"The answer you got by yourself was right, I'm using a skill that my body can't handle yet."

Then he revealed that to me!

"...Why are you saying this to me?"

I asked him.

And Raven just slyly smiled at me.

"Because I want to give you a piece of advice."

Then he stated.

I frowned a little at his words.

"What is it?"

And I asked Raven again.

But after my words faded...

Fwish-

Raven suddenly disappeared!

"!"

And he immediately reappeared in front of me!

"Be stronger."

I heard Raven whispered to me.

And before I could even do something...

BAM!

Crack-!

I felt a heavy body blow on my right and some of my ribs broke!

"Keerghh!!"

Swoosh–

I was flung away from Raven...

Boom!

"Gurgh...!"

Then I crashed into the main field's wall!

Thud-

After that, I fell on the ground on my knees.

"Koff...koff..koff..!"

And started coughing pretty hard.

A thick dust cloud was surrounding me.

But the reason I was coughing is because of the pain that I'm feeling on the right side of my torso!

I covered my mouth with my right hand. Then I gently placed my left hand on where I can fell my ribs broken.

"Kuhf..Coff..."

And that's when I noticed that I was coughing out blood!

"Ugh..."

I groaned while looking at the mouthful amount of blood in the palm of my right hand.

I tried standing up...

"Kergh..."

But when I tried moving my body, I felt a radiating pain all over my body!

"It seems like that last attack just gave me a pretty serious injury..."

I mumbled with a frown.

"Gurgh..."

Then I forced myself to stand up.

I did managed to stand up...

But I keep on staggering because my side is aching.

'Where's Raven?'

I asked inwardly, then I started looking around to find him.

And while on my search, I noticed that the arena is dead silent.

But I ignored it and prepared for an another possible attack from Raven.

"Eh?"

But when I saw him... I was dumbfounded.

Raven was on the ground.

And his face is touching the ground!

"What happened?"

I asked in a weak voice.

Swoosh-

"He passed out."

Then I suddenly heard a familiar and beautiful voice beside me.

I immediately snapped my head where I heard the voice.

And I saw Miss Ruby smiling at me.

"He exhausted all of his mana, that's why he passed out."

Miss Ruby explained to me.

"Here."

Then she handed something to me.

And unconsciously, I received it with a smile.

"It's a low life potion, drink it and get checked in the medical center later just to be sure."

Then Miss Ruby said.

"Oh, okay... Thank you so much."

I replied to her.

And Miss Ruby just smiled at me as a response.

Swoosh-

Then she immediately rushed at Raven's side.

And after that, Ruby princess carried Raven...

She looked around the arena.

"The show is over."

Then Miss Ruby declared.

Swoosh-

And after that, she disappeared with Raven.

While me, I was left standing alone in the main field.

That's when I started questioning myself what happened at the end part of the match.

And as I was trying to remember that...

I also remembered Raven's words to me before hitting me.

'Be stronger.'

And remembering that made me frown.

But after a while, I let out a smile.

"Fufu."

Then I chuckled.

"I'm stronger than you, idiot."

I mumbled.

(Although Alec said that, he decided to train even harder.)

After a while...

I saw Blake, Adelle, Aoi, Eve, and Curtis coming at my direction.

"Hey, you okay?"

Blake asked me as soon as he reached me.

"Yeah."

I answered him.

"What about Raven?"

Then Adelle asked me after.

I looked at her and smiled.

"He's fine, he just exhausted his mana, and Miss Ruby will take care of him."

Then I replied to her.

"Anyway, did you see Raven's last attack?"

Aoi then followed a question of her own.

I faced her, and with a bitter smile...

I shook my head.

"It was too fast... We were just talking, and the next thing I knew is I was on the ground and coughing out blood."

And I said to her.

Aoi seems to be dissapointed, but she didn't pry anymore about it.

"So, how strong is he?"

Eve asked me.

And before I could even reply...

"Ouch...!"

I felt a weak hit on my right side, but because I still have the injury Raven gave me.

It hurt!

I looked at who did it, and saw Curtis grinning like an idiot!

"Raven seems to be pretty strong huh."

He said with a scoff!

I frowned and was about to say something to Curtis.

But I then decided to just ignore him.

Instead, I looked at the others.

"So, any pointers on what me and Raven should improve on?"

Then I asked them.

***

[Raven's POV]

"Fuck..."

I cursed as soon as I regained my consciousness.

Why?

I don't need to be a genius to know that I lost the battle against Alec.

Anyway, I sat up from where I am lying.

And I finally saw where I am.

'I'm in Ruby's room again huh...'

I thought before looking around.

There's no one in the room beside me.

Also, I still feel sluggish.

So I just started recalling my spar against Alec.

And after remembering what I said to Alec at the end part of the battle.

I cringed and frowned.

'Why the hell did I tell him to get stronger when I'm much weaker than him?'

I asked myself inwardly.

Then with a determined face...

"It is I who need to get stronger."

I mumbled.

"I need to rank up sooner or later."

Then I declared.