Not far from Damion, Zacard fought brutally.

He would close the distance between himself and his opponent in an instant, then he would overwhelm his opponent's guard with a series of heavy strikes, and finish them with a decisive blow that triggered their protective barriers.

Lucas watched as Zacard deflected a fire spell with a casual wave of his spear, then surged forward and delivered a devastating overhead strike that sent his opponent crashing to the ground.

The barrier flashed, and another student was eliminated.

Three students then tried to gang up on Damion while his back was turned.

Before they could land their attacks, Zacard appeared right beside them and his spear was swung in a wide arc that forced all three to abort their assault and defend themselves.

"Watch your back, idiot," Zacard said flatly.

"I had it under control!" Damion said.

He was still grinning as he went and attacked the now-distracted students alongside Zacard.

"Sure you did," Zacard replied without emotion, though Lucas could swear he saw the hint of a smirk on his face.

Together, they dismantled the three-person ambush in less than thirty seconds.

Meanwhile, on the northern side of the arena, Celeste was proving why she was so dangerous. Her swordsmanship was textbook perfect.

Every stance, every parry, every riposte executed with the precision that came from years of noble house training.

She faced off against two opponents simultaneously and was easily beating them. In fact, it seemed like she was toying with them.

"Your form is sloppy!" she said.

She then performed a sharp thrust that triggered one student's barrier. The girl vanished in a flash of light.

The remaining opponent, a burly young man with an axe, tried to overwhelm Celeste with his brute strength.

She simply sidestepped his wild swing, used his momentum against him, and delivered a precise strike to the back of his knee. As he fell, her blade was already at his throat and another barrier flashed.

Celeste straightened and flashed off imaginary blood from her sword with practiced ease before moving on to find her next opponent.

On the opposite side of the arena, Lydia was also fighting viciously.

A group of five students had made the mistake of thinking she was an easy target.

They learned otherwise when she easily parried their blows with such force that two of them slipped and fell. Before they could recover, she quickly slashed at the ones still in standing.

Her sword and flew forward with deadly accuracy and easily eliminated the three students in a single coordinated attack.

The remaining two had gotten up and had tried to flee but Lydia was already on their backs.

Lucas lost sight of what happened next as movement in his peripheral vision demanded his immediate attention.

"There you are, you half-breed bastard!"

Lucas turned just in time to see three young men rushing toward him, their faces twisted with malicious glee.

He recognized them immediately. They were Carl Wayland's cronies. They must have planned this ambush ahead of time.

The first one, a stocky youth with short red hair, was already casting a spell. "[Earth Spike]!"

The ground beneath Lucas' feet trembled, and he leaped to the side just as a jagged spike of stone erupted from where he'd been standing.

Before he could land, the second attacker, who was a lanky boy with a staff, swung at his head.

Lucas ducked under the staff, feeling it whistle past his ear, and rolled forward to create distance.

As he came up, he saw the third crony, a sneering noble with two daggers, trying to circle around to his back.

'Three on one. 'They want to humiliate me by eliminating me early.'

"What's wrong, Estellan?" The red-haired one taunted. "Scared? You should be! Carl-sama said we could rough you up as much as we want before your barrier triggers!"

The dagger user laughed. "Yeah! Let's show this mongrel what happens when you disrespect your betters!"

Lucas took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. He'd faced worse than this in his previous life, although admittedly, most of that had been in video game form.

But he'd trained since arriving in this world. He wasn't the weak, bullied Lucas from the original timeline.

Time to prove it.

"You know what?" Lucas said, a cold smile spreading across his face. "I think Carl sent you three because he knew he couldn't beat me himself."

The red-haired youth's face flushed with anger. "You little...[Earth Bullet]!"

Multiple projectiles of compressed earth shot toward Lucas. At the same time, the staff wielder cast "[Wind Cutter]!" and the dagger user rushed forward under the cover of the ranged attacks.

The three-pronged assault was well-coordinated. These cronies might be arrogant, but they weren't complete idiots.

Unfortunately for them, neither was Lucas.

"Since you guys made up to fight me, you can all get humiliated together!" He shouted.

The Earth Bullets came first. Lucas twisted his body, letting the first two whistle past his ribs.

The third he deflected with a sharp backhand strike, his knuckles meeting stone with a crack that sent pain lancing up his arm. The fourth grazed his shoulder, tearing his uniform. The fifth he simply ducked under.

Before the dagger user could capitalize on his dodge, Lucas surged forward into the gap between attacks.

The Wind Cutter spell sliced through the air where he'd been standing a heartbeat before.

"Too slow!" Lucas shouted.

The dagger wielder's eyes widened as Lucas closed the distance faster than he'd anticipated.

The crony slashed with both blades in a desperate cross-pattern, but Lucas had already read the obvious attack.

He stepped inside the guard, too close for the daggers to be effective, and drove his fist into the young man's solar plexus.

The impact drove the air from the crony's lungs with a satisfying WHOOSH. Lucas didn't give him time to recover.

He grabbed the dagger user's wrist, twisted sharply to disarm him, then delivered a crushing elbow strike to his jaw.

The crony's head snapped back, and Lucas followed up with a straight punch to his sternum that sent him sprawling backward.

The protective barrier flashed bright blue, and the dagger user vanished in a burst of light.

"One down," Lucas said coldly.

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