The Regressed NoBody

I could clearly hear the muttering of the crowd. They were ready to see a good match.

After changing into the protection suit, I made my way towards the arena.

The protection suit was the same as our uniform, black in colour and with the golden stripes, tracing over the body of the suit.

But the main reason to make us wear these suits was because, they had small Mana crystals imbued in the area around the shoulders, sternum and the knees, and if the suit was damaged around ninety percent, then the Mana crystals will be activated and will erect a small barrier which protected the one wearing the suit.

The Lock made the students wear these suits, because in the past, there had been many incidents, when the students got severely injured or almost crippled.

And the suit didn’t hinder the wearer’s maneuverability, despite being a little too tight.

I stood inside a wide corridor which led to the platform where I was to fight in a second, or two.

A sword hung over my hip. It was a sword provided to me by the Lock.

As we're not allowed to use our own weapons in the open tournament.

It’s weight and balance were perfect.

I stepped forward and reached the end of the corridor.

Soon as I stepped forward, my eyes were dazzled by the sun light and I had to cover them with my arm to let my eyes adjust.

Then just as I had stepped into the arena, all the eyes present were fixed in my direction. Everyone looked at me or the other contestant.

Their eyes followed our every movement.

Their eyes brimmed with anticipation. To see who would win, or how would the match go.

They looked like hungery wolves.

Soon I stepped onto the concrete stairs and climbed up to the platform. It was a wide platform, which stretched twenty-five meters in length and in width.

Then my gaze landed on my opponent, who stood on the other side of the platform.

‘Mike Selva’

His brunette hair were cut short and his blue eyes shined as he returned my gaze.

I examined his body and felt the pulse of mana surrounding him, and through which I determined his rank, which was borderline .

[Everyone are you ready?]

I heard the commentator’s voice echo inside the arena.

[Are both contestants ready?]

I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders, then pulled the sword out of it’s scabbard.

My opponent Mike also did the same and pulled his sword out and held it firmly in his hands.

Steading his posture he pulled his sword forward and waited for the commentator to announce the start of the battle.

[Begin!]

Just as the commentator’s voice faded, both of us dashed forward, and our swords clashed.

The moment our swords clashed, the noise of steel colliding with steel echoed, which sparks followed suit after.

Mike pulled his sword an inch backwards and then swung his sword vertically down.

I brought my sword forward and also vertically slashed. Again our swords collided.

I increased my grip over the hilt and pushed him backwards.

He stumbled a few steps backwards and then I made some distance between us.

But with a frown, he closed the gap and followed with a barrage of slashes.

I just simply deflected and dodged his slashes whilst defensively maintaining distance between us.

‘Alright, how should I deal with this?’ I inwardly thought whilst dodging and maintaining my defensive play, ‘should I go with the desperate win or the quick win?’

Mike dashed towards me and with a twirl he swung his sword horizontally with full force.

Leaning my torso backwards in a ninety degree angle, I avoided his attack.

‘Let’s just fuck’em over,’ I inwardly thought. Then taking a step forward, I brought the hilt of my sword close to his abdomen and hit him with the pommel.

“Uek...”

With a painful groan, he stumbled a few steps. His hand rested over his abdomen where I had just hit him, his face twisted into a frown due to the pain.

“Y-You, what is your rank, bastard?” His voice sounded hoarse, and his brows furrowed as he asked.

‘Here it was, the rank bullshit,’ I sighed and looked at Mike with a nonchalant expression.

“2290! happy?” I said.

He steadied his body and pulled his sword forward which was held in his right hand and scoffed, “so that hit from earlier was just a fluke,” with a smile over his face, he took a quick stance, “and here I thought you were worth fighting against.”

I just looked at him with my nonchalant eyes.

Seriously, these guys dwell too much on ranks. The rank system was not diverse and only gave an overall evaluation of your abilities.

Let’s just say, a person like Jiyoung, who was an rank almost rank, who had real battle experience, had fought with a ranked demon, and spent her time in a life and death situation inside a dungeon and the person of the same rank as her but with zero battle experience whatsoever.

Who would be the one to win in a fight?

Almost all the factors added up in Jiyoung’s favour.

It was the same with ranks. Only your rank and stats didn’t determine your entire potential.

The way you fight, or make strategies to overpower your opponent’s with brains. Because if an opponent shakes your mentality, then it’s game over for you from the start.

The same with underestimating them.

And it was the same here. A moment ago he was fighting me with all he had, but the moment he learned about my rank, he lowered his guard and had now started to underestimate me.

Without wasting another second, Mike channelled the Mana inside him and dashed in my direction, he held his sword tightly in his hand and soon he propelled his sword towards me.

I allowed him to close the distance and waited for the right moment.

The noise of the crowds muttering entered my ears. I just stood still in one place, not moving an inch back or avoiding his thrust. To the people who were watching I must have looked crazy, but I had other plans.

Soon his sword came close enough, and I avoided with twisting my torso. Then channelling the mana inside my body and strengthening my legs, I shot my right leg upwards and soon my leg connected with his chin.

"Eek..."

With a painful groan he stumbled backwards.

Just as my leg hit his chin, I back-flipped and then dashed forward in Mike’s direction.

The crowd burst into cheers and shouts.

I held my sword tightly in my hands.

Mike staggered as he brought his sword forward to defend, but at the last second, I loosened my grip over the sword and let it go.

Seeing this left Mike flabbergasted.

I took this opportunity and ducked down, pivoted and finished it with a round-house.

I channelled the mana inside my body and reinforced my legs.

Soon my leg connected with Mike’s head and I bashed his head into the concrete platform.

A loud cracking noise echoed in the surrounding, as Mike's head bashed into the concrete floor.

The moment his head got bashed into the concrete platform, cracks appeared around where his head was bashed.

“Haaaa...” With an exhale, I grabbed my sword and put it back into it’s scabbard.

I looked at Mike one final time and then turned around and walked off.

[Contestant Mike Selva has lost consciousness]

[So the winner of this round is contestant...Seo Jiwoo]

The commentator’s voice boomed inside the arena, as he announced the result of the match.

The crowd with a rush of adrenaline burst into cheers and shouts again. I heard loud and energetic voices enter my ears.

I soon descend down the stairway and stepped into the wide corridor I had came from.

***

Inside a lavish room, sat three people.

The lounge was adorned with beautiful flowers which were placed on the table on the left side of the lounge. There were three sofas placed inside the lounge. One in the middle and two on each side. A beautiful oak table was in the middle, on which was placed refreshments.

On each sofa sat one person. It was Samuel, a woman and a man.

[And the winner of this round is contestant...Seo Jiwoo!]

Samuel solemnly looked at the hologram which displayed the match between Jiwoo and Mike.

“Who is that boy?” The woman curiously asked. She looked to be in her late fifties. She had brunette hair which cascaded down her waist. Her amber eyes shined mysteriously but at the same time they looked beautiful.

She didn’t have a single wrinkle over her face and her light brown skin only added to her beauty, she looked charmingly beautiful.

She wore a beautiful white suit with a skirt.

“Here madam!” An attendant brought her a tablet which displayed the information about a boy.

“Thank you,” she thanked the attendant and then continued to look at the tablet for a while longer than she had expected.

‘What is this?’ She thought as her brows knit together. She looked at the image of the boy over the tablet and read through his data, which made her brows to knit even more tightly.

“Something wrong Laurena?” Samuel asked. But the woman Laurena didn’t respond to him.

“She’s alright Sam! It must be one of her 'moments'.” The man on Samuel’s left spoke.

He wore a black suit, and his long blonde hair were tied into a bun. He looked elegant in every way.

His face was devoid of any imperfection, but there were only a few wrinkles over the edges of his eyes, and his skin was pure white. He looked dashing.

But Samuel’s gaze never once left Laurena. He worriedly looked at her, and again asked.

“Laurena, everything alright?”

Turning her head toward Samuel she spoke, “I am alright Seth.”

With a smile he returned her gaze.

“Anyways, when is one of the top ten going to fight?” The man with blond hair asked.

Samuel cocked his head an inch towards him and spoke, “I think it’s the fourth match...” then turning his gaze back at the hologram he looked at the match which was going underway. “Mikhail you should also take a good look at the matches of the other students, there might be someone who could surprise us all.”

The muttering sound of the crowd echoed inside the arena.

Both of the contestants fought with all of their might.

“Oh yeah, who was the number one ranked again?” Mikhail asked whilst looking at the hologram which displayed the match which was underway.

Extending his arm forward, Samuel grabbed the tablet over the table and tapped over it several times, before handing it to Mikhail.

Grabbing a hold of the tablet, Mikhail looked at the tablet's screen which displayed the information of a youth, “Ho, Ho...He’s already rank. A promising kid.” Mikhail said with a surprised look over his face.

“I pity the guy who has to fight a monster like him,” Mikhail mumbled in a low voice.