17 Ch. 17 - Self-Created Skill

"You asked for it, shorty!" Casino Riot didn't mince words any further, as his body shot forward mysteriously as if he was a serpent. Before anyone realized he covered the 10 meters separating himself and Curtis Liverpool so rapidly, that the latter failed to react in time! Once Casino reached one meter of distance from his opponent he suddenly leapt forward and spun his body a full 360 degrees before throwing out a series of meteor-like punches!

To Curtis Liverpool, each and every punch was like a thousand pound boulder hurtling toward his face, chest, and kidneys at 110 miles per hour!

Surfing Killer Moccasin Style!

"Taste my new technique, Collapsing Waves Fist: Barrage of One Hundred Waves!" Casino Riot's fist landed on Curtis' body 15 times in rapid succession, making his body buckle repeatedly like a lifeless training dummy. The impact of each punch felt like the boulder like weight was suddenly exploding as it hit him, causing even more damage! What Curtis didn't know was that this was the volatile effect of primal ki. If Casino was to manifest his primal ki outside of his body then this effect would be far more damaging.

Just from holding back, Casino had even suffered minor injuries to his fist and arm, even some of his blood vessels ruptured. However, he kept punching in spite of the pain!

This was his first time testing out this new technique, after all. He had adapted this technique after completely mastering the first style of the {Water God Fist Arts}

When the 16th punch landed square in Curtis Liverpool's gut, he immediate coughed out a arrow of blood, before slumping to his knees. Curtis' eyes were stained with disbelief and unwillingness. He hadn't even made a move! If he knew Casino was so strong, so fast, then he definitely would not have let him attack first. Perhaps he wouldn't fight this savage at all!

Barf!

Curtis couldn't hold in the pain and his dinner from the previous night begin to paint the platform in filth. Casino sneered indifferently and then walked calmly towards the dumbstruck junior instructor Sir Wale. Sir Wale's mouth hung open in shock as he assumed a stunned posture, as if he was frozen by the shock of the results.

"Whew~! Lucky, go, go! Yeah! Beat him, beat him!"

"Ho. Ly. SHIT!"

"What the hell just happened?"

"Is this the strength of the record breaker? Tough."

"That bastard hurt my Curtis, Curtis baby are you okay!"

...…

There were different reactions around the grounds. Below the platform, a young man who possessed a rather majestic air around himself had a strange glint in his eyes after watching this fight. This young man was the size of an average adult male, right under six feet tall, with long brown dreads that hung to his mid-back, and emotionless eyes. Casino couldn't help but to briefly match the gaze of this young man. He was inwardly astounded once his perceptive force state psyche touched the young man, because as soon as it happened the young man frowned. Casino quickly retracted his psyche, and gave the young man an apologetic nod. The young man seemed appeased, as his face once again became devoid of emotion.

Of course, Casino Riot only made this gesture because knew who this young man was. He was the only previous classmate whom Casino admires wholeheartedly! This was the young phenom of the Sinatra clan, Caine Sinatra.

Many students misunderstood this interaction.

"So he was friends with the Sonata Slayer? No wonder, no wonder. It's true the birds of a feather flock together. Their both so strong and ruthless"

"Caine actually interacted with someone?! I'm stunned."

"Should be the other who interacts with him, right? Anyway don't force it, he's not that hot. He's just at the seventh level with us seniors."

Meanwhile, even the other half of the class had noticed the commotion. Across the field even the senior instructor, a scholarly looking middle-aged man wearing glasses and regal attire, had a sharp light flash in his eyes as he observed secretly from a distance.

'The boy is so similar to you it's scary…rambunctious indeed,' thought senior instructor Pheno Maze. 'How do we tame this young mad man ah…'

Kenneth Royale was also across the field since he had reached the eighth level of the Hardbody realm already. He gnashed his teeth watching Casino, and swore to slay this annoyance at the first opportunity.

Violet Mercy had stopped her exercise half way through due to her shock and irritation. Did Lucky just…move so swiftly that even she could barely keep up? And then he decimated that Curtis Liverpool whom she remembered once tried to pursue her! He was defeated in less than 20 punches, less than a full breathe of time. She didn't even believe that she could beat Curtis Liverpool so swiftly. This was truly maddening for Violet.

How could this possibly be her fiancé?

If he possessed such strength, such potential, then wouldn't that mean…that her family, the teachers, her new boyfriend, everyone who persuaded her to abandon him was wrong about him?

That she…was wrong about him?

"No…it can't be…right?" Violet Mercy thought to herself, as she stared in disbelief at the scene on the platform. "No…no…no…why now…"

"Is that him?" came a deep voice from behind her. Violet was startled back to reality, and spun around anxiously.

"Jimmy, you don't need too…" Violet grabbed Jim's arm and reflexively tried to dissuade her boyfriend before he reacted too aggressively. After all, that passionate if not slightly violent side of him is what she found attractive in the first place. She didn't know if liked this because it reminded her of Casino…or if she only liked Casino because he was like a weaker version of Jimmy.

Jim Mercury was tall, muscular, and had the physique matching a pro wrestler. He had sharp eyes that were light blue in color and and long black hair, tied back in a ponytail. He stood at close to eight feet tall, and was an approaching the expert level of strength. His fire arts were truly strong, and he was already Silver Rank 1 Magi.

Thanks to the body strengthening tablets and mystic freedom tablets that her Jimmy had provided her when trying to win her affection, Violet herself was Bronze Rank 1 Magi who was close to reaching the next rank. With Jimmy's help, she felt like she would form her second magic circle in no time and ascend to the next rank. This would make her family back in Acadia immensely proud of her! She finally felt like she found a man she could depend on…it was a feeling she didn't realize she was missing.

She secretly resented Casino for being to weak to protect her…

It was due to this difference in security, in addition to the pressures from her family, that she chose Jimmy. She thought it would make her family happy that she had chosen someone stronger than Casino, with a strong family that could likely intimidate the other. After all, they had taken over an entire city, even the twelve couldn't stop them! Of course, she didn't want any trouble to befall Casino or his family.

However, how could she marry an immortal waste?

How could the number one angel of Thoth Academy give her life too the number one wretch! She had developed these thoughts after spending years in the same class with the Casino Riot who never managed to progress.

She had lost faith in him…though on the outside she treated him and Capital the same as always. After all, they really were her childhood friends! However, after making it to the Advanced Class, all the other students and even the teachers had told her to let go. That her life was destined to reach heights that such a character could never imagine. At first she remained loyal to her fiancé and best friend. However, after meeting Jimmy she slowly changed her stance. Jimmy doted on her and her aggressive attitude seduced her.

The day they crossed the line was the day she gave him her everything.

Since that day she was already destined to never be with Casino again. How could she marry him when she had already given her all to another man?

Casino would of course never accept this.

Prior to today, this was beginning to matter to her less and less.

However, her heart was currently in turmoil.

"Don't bother," Jim Mercury removed Violet's arm from his on in a rough manner, as he spoke to her with disdain, "To think that you still covet this trash. How embarrassing."

"Jimmy, it's nothing, okay?" Violet said in a low voice, less the senior instructor catch them, "I was just surprised, that's it. I'm yours, baby, all yours."

"Hmph," snorted Jim. He was clearly dissatisfied, as a mystic wave of heat begin to emanate from his body, "If he so much as looks at you again, it will be the last time his eyes function properly!"

"No, Jim, stop it!" said Violet anxiously. She definitely didn't want this to escalate, and part of her desperately hoped Casino would not discover the truth about her and Jimmy before she could break things off with him herself. Now that things had come to this, all she could do was tell him that she wanted a divorce. "I'll speak with him on my own, okay? I'll make sure he knows that I am no longer something he can dream of obtaining."

"You had better, Violet. For if you don't, then I will," spat Jim Mercury furiously. Violet said some more soothing words, and then returned to her morning exercises. However, her body suddenly shook, and she felt someone's gaze had just left her. She suddenly grew slightly horrified. Merely, she wasn't brave enough to turn around again. Behind them Kenneth Royale smiled evilly as his thoughts changed after witnessing that little lovers quarrel. Maybe he would have another method to deal with the waste.

Merely, if Kenneth was able to overhear, then how could any of this escape the perception of Casino Riot? He had been zoned in on Violet since he first noticed her. His perceptive force had grown powerful enough to reflect smells, sounds, and the general outline of the surroundings for 50 meters around himself. The perception was only clearer if he focused on a target.

Although he couldn't hear everything clearly, he had heard enough to understand the situation, as he grumbled and sucked his teeth, "So it turns out you were so cheap, tch."

Casino felt a bit hurt, but he wasn't torn up about it. After all, this was a marriage set up by his step father, whom he hated. If Violet was so beautiful and pleasant he would have never trusted her for a second.

Casino reminded himself to never let a pretty face lead him astray. After learning what Amenophis had told him, he could only conclude that this chick was a double agent. Casino decided to trust nothing that had anything to do with Marc Rizen. Even the love of his life, his own mother, was in question until further investigation. After all, she married the creep.

"To think, I almost let myself get caught up," Casino felt disdain for the him of ten minutes ago. He looked at the Margot Frenzy who was cheering the loudest like a freak in his honor, and a smile crept onto his face as he actually felt quite warm. He still had genuine friends. He decided to look for Bravo later.

This smile of Casino's actually dazzled a few of the girls in the surroundings.

"Oh wow…" said a tall female warrior with a magnificent physique and cute features, "I think…I'm falling for him."

"No way Rhonda, weren't you just calling him a waste?" said one of her admirers despairingly. He was a short young man with broad shoulders, and blonde hair, wearing a luxurious looking helmet. He was sounding utterly unsatisfied as he spat in contempt, "That kid has a little skill, I admit that. However, ultimately I believe that is was Curtis underestimating his opposition that led to his downfall, more so than this kid's prowess or anything else. He's tough, but could he be as tough as us?"

"Everyone makes mistakes Timmy…" said Rhonda Nottingham with a sparkle in her eyes. However, she suddenly caught a chill. It felt like a fierce beast was preying her near by. When she turned her heard she saw Margot Frenzy staring daggers at her, making cold sweat appear on her back. However, she still let her gaze which contained a certain heat to return to that ever so handsome brown boy on the stage. His prowess in the previous fight had even made her sticky, "I made one before...and you're making the same one now. He's not normal. At least I wouldn't be able to defeat Liverpool such an imposing and effortless manner. What was that attack again? Collapsing Waves Fist: Barrage of One Hundred Waves, what style! I wonder where he learned such a technique? Could he really be a noble disguised as a commoner?"

"Tch," Timmy Casque sucked his teeth in indignation, before replying in his mind, "If I manage to break through to the eighth level, what will he even count as?"

Of course, he didn't dare to say this out loud. Breaking through to the eighth level from seventh was almost equivalent to traversing two levels instead of one. If a seventh level Hardbody realm practitioner had double the strength of a sixth level practitioner, then an eighth level Hardbody realm strength increased by at least 3.5 from the seventh level!

All of this was due to one reason alone. Mystic strength! Once at the eighth level a Hardbody realm practitioner would be able to release mystic origin from their bodies in different forms. For a magus is this would be refined into magic power or mana. For a warrior, it was refined into natural force, or ki! This was the fundamental stage for all warriors, because after the eighth level of the Hardbody realm, the journey of martial arts truly began!

It was to the extent that anyone under the eighth level simply didn't understand the outside world at all, unless they hailed from prominent families that were willing to instruct them on these things.

Casino Riot was of course unaware of these few ogling girls' antics, and even less aware that he had another jealous sap painting a target on his back. After his thoughts of Margot passed, so did his near dazzling smile. However, the radiance of said smile had already stunned many people, including those who may have already known Casino before this.

After all, his genuine smiling face from before was not something this young man showed very easily. It could be said to be as rare as seeing a purple unicorn with a platinum horn.

"Instructor, don't you want to announce the results?" Called out Margot Frenzy, annoyed with all the female warriors that kept ogling Casino, and the males who looked on spitefully. At this point, she was simply ready for him to descend from the platform if she couldn't go up!