Group Battle-III

...

Sheila in her green bob-cut hair is hiding under the ground safely. She is far away from her crazy fellow students’ fighting. She doesn’t get it, really… Why are they suddenly fighting?

Wasn’t the exam’s goal to gather points by slaying monsters?

This riot was instigated by the principal to begin with, so it's no surprise to the principal that this small civil war is happening across the map. What the principal doesn’t know is that a certain pink-haired lass exacerbated the ‘riot’ by spreading exaggerated rumors.

"Jimmy, look. I found something interesting." The principal beckoned.

The virtual screen the principal is projecting is big enough and numerous enough for everyone, but he can summon more if he wants to... since it is his power.

Jimmy is amazed by what he is seeing. A long distant hunt under the soil is commencing. Numerous goblins are simultaneously disappearing from the map.

It's Sheila's work. Twig-like roots grabbed the poor goblins by their foot then were buried alive. It was a very subtle kill. If not for the principal, Jimmy won't even notice it.

"This is beyond impressive. Adjacent selective artillery is so much more difficult than mindless carpet bombing."

Jimmy remembered the brutal white hair who almost annihilated his fellow applicants.

"But Jimmy, this lass is a little bit vindictive."

Jimmy looked where the principal is pointing at... It was students tripping from suddenly appearing roots, and spores causing them to sneeze uncontrollably. There are also some goblins suddenly finding their way to the fray.

...

Jana doesn't want to score, but she is outperforming herself by bashing the heads of these hot-blooded fools.

"You might think that I am easy prey since I am not hunting or something. I have no intention to score anyway, why don't you leave me alone?" Irritated by the fools in front of her, Jana manifested a portion of her abilities, by turning the air around them into a cold mist.

"It's personal. We simply don't like you."

"It’s because of your sister, we are what you call anti-fans, Lol-ol-ol… HAhahahAha!!"

"Your attitude too... It is vexing. Just like your slut sister."

"If you are not aiming to become a hero, why stay?"

"We might as well give you a beating, eh?"

There are a dozen hostiles. A mixture of girls and boys. Some of them are buff, and the others are lean. All kinds of people gathered just because of some vague resentment toward someone who is not even here.

"You wanted this, so don't blame it on me."

A dozen enemies activated their powers. Fireballs, lightning arrows, and invisible darts. But all of them stopped just before it reaches Jana. The melee fighters approached her, but their powers were suddenly gone as Jana walks in their direction without a care, then mercilessly hit them in their vitals. It looked like a casual stroll that adds more to the visual impact.

It was a one-sided battle.

Jimmy watched it expectantly as he sighs in disappointment. After beating her enemies, she simply searched for a place to sit and pass time.

"She is...a rebel...this... Sheesh... That display of power is amazing, but her passiveness is causing me a headache. Her Special Ability looks like molecular nullification. It allows her to disturb functions, huh? It is understandable she doesn't want to fight the monsters then..."

"Jimmy, I can't blame you for this, since she is not showing much. It's not nullification, it's an application of her far more specific power— this child, Jana, can weaken particle motion."

"That doesn't make sense! Do you mean, she canceled their abilities with this? Her computational ability and reflexes must be proportionately immense!"

When Jimmy looked back to the virtual screen, he observed the cold mist dancing around Jana. Suddenly, a troll found its way to Jana’s side. The ice-cold beauty reacted in reflex, as she summons her power once more, the troll was frozen in ice within a microsecond!

"To weaken particle motion... That means she can freeze stuff like this. The potential of this ability is frightening."

Understanding dawned on Jimmy. The more energy a particle possesses, the warmer it becomes. By weakening these revolving protons, Jana is effectively freezing matter. But that is not where her powers stop. Because of this same mechanism, she can nullify abilities unrelated to hers. She cannot cancel ice powers, specific variants, and psychic types. But the rest? They are almost a free kill to her.

...

Lorie, the familiar blonde, moved like a specter. Soundless, fast, and deadly. She punched hard, enough to break a person's trachea, but thank god... it's only the limbs.

"AAAAaaaah! My arm!"

"No! My legs!? It's painful!"

"I... I can't walk!"

She is surrounded by anti-imperials, a faction that holds grudges against the empire. They are not a functioning faction, just a gathering of like-minded individuals. Since the academy is neutral ground, and they are safe from the imperial-implicating crimes for assaulting an imperial member, they are having the time of their life— they will never receive the same opportunity twice, thus their frantic approach of gunning Lorie.

But.

The projectile abilities keep missing, and the close-quarters abilities keep on failing. Her enemies either tripped or accidentally received friendly fire. It's a chaos of coincidences, and if it is happening on a scale like this, it must not be coincidental.

"So, this is the power of fortune and misfortune. This is why she is called Lucky Lorie... The empire never fails in creating monsters like this, but it makes me wonder. How is she so physically strong? Can luck boost your strength or something?" Jimmy thought aloud, his bafflement is understandable.

Jimmy thought that Cain’s and Jana’s abilities are the weirdest of the bunch, but he got it all wrong. Can luck, such an intangible concept, be manifested as a Special Ability?

"Let me provide you an answer, Jimmy."

A young man in his flamboyant coat approached Jimmy. He is the 7th prince of the empire, Samdrel Hither Arandragon is Lorie's closest family member. They are of the same age and grew together, like siblings, they are inseparable.

"You see, my little sis~ ahem~ my niece can store luck. And like a lid to a bottle, if it is released, the world will accomplish her desires. This explains the curiously chaotic battle in our sights. But how does that explain her impressive specs? It's because she has devised a unique cultivation method. By expending all of her luck at once, she can optimize her genetic potential to a higher realm giving her these superhuman attributes... She's doing it since she was 6 years old..."

The Prince continued to rant and create more ruckus as he glorify his niece (little sister in his mind). But Jimmy was no more. He doesn't want to hear anything from this notorious sis-con who talks for hours about his niece-cum-sister.

That’s the empire for you with their chaotic family bloodlines. Too chaotic in fact, that a grandpa can be younger than his own nephew. The Prince is not the worse of them.

Still…

Thank heavens, Jimmy was able to escape that sis-con.

What the imperial prince said is true, but Jimmy can easily get this information from the principal.

"Here it is... Data analysis of Lorie's powers, a conceptual ability not visible to the current science. This will be difficult."

Jimmy watched closer at Lorie's feats. She has long extricated herself from the anti-imperials. She is now facing monsters, and fully exhibiting her lethality.

The monsters either got impaled by a sharp twig, tripped on a rock, sunk in a mud pit, or most of the time suffered from friendly fire. The monsters have no time to react as Lorie inflicts great pain on them.

Lorie laughed like a maniac as she tortures her victims without mercy, be they a monster or fellow humans.

...

"What do you think about them, Jimmy?"

"We got red hair, purple hair, white hair, green hair, and a blondie..."

"They are amazing, right?"

"Yes, sure. But their personalities are a little bit unstable. Red is suicidal. Purple is savage. White is murderous. Green is spiteful. Blue is rebellious. And Blonde is bloody mischievous, no, she is a sadist..."

"Don't worry. This is a school after all. They can be fixed."

...

Meanwhile, Alfir watched this all from the shadows.

"Looks like their strength didn't change. Only Deron has become a little weaker, but considering his miraculous power, he is not inferior to his rivals..."

'Yeah, objective 1 is complete. Time for objective 2.'

Alfir started his search for recruits. Honestly, there are too many good seeds, but Alfir can only pick the best since he can't cater to a number as large as 50. Yes, Alfir saw at least 50 potential recruits, and that number is too many for him.

'I have to wait for the tournament to look for a more proper recruit huh?'

Alfir felt his palms becoming itchy. It is boring as hell to just watch and not fight. But fighting may expose his abilities. That's a big minus for him.

'I am restraining myself to the best of my abilities. Fuck, I want to fight a Troll, but no! Focus, me! Focus! It's all for world domination!'

Alfir regretfully looked at the passing troll just below the tree he was nesting.

'Sigh... This is boring.'

...