Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 964 222.4 - The Antagonist

The training hall was still.

The air, moments ago filled with lightning's hiss and mana's roar, now hung in a reverent silence. Only the echo of that final clash lingered, trailing like smoke after a fire. The other students-those who had once been sparring, stretching, waiting- stood frozen. All eyes locked on the scene at the center of the arena.

Victor stood calm, blade at Ethan's neck. Not a scratch on him. Ethan stood equally still, chest heaving, sweat trickling, his spear frozen mid-air in a strike that had gone wide at the last second.

It was over.

No declaration needed.

Only silence.

From the sidelines, Julia stared, arms crossed tight over her chest, her usual smirk absent. Her blue eyes followed the slow, inevitable way Victor lowered his sword and stepped back with quiet finality.

"...That wasn't just a fight," she murmured, barely above a whisper. "That was a freaking textbook."

Lilia didn't speak at first.

Her gaze hadn't left Victor from the moment the match began. Even now, her eyes tracked the subtle shifts in his posture-the effortless way he sheathed his sword, like nothing of importance had happened.

And yet what she had just witnessed was anything but ordinary.

Her voice finally escaped her lips, low and strained.

"Just what on earth...?"

Irina, standing beside her, arms loosely crossed, exhaled slowly. "That wasn't normal. His movements..."

"They weren't just precise," Lilia added, eyes narrowing. "They were... calibrated."

Julia finally tore her gaze from the arena to glance between them. "It's like space itself was bending around him. Like it wouldn't let him be touched."

Irina's amber eyes narrowed slightly, focused on the spot where Victor had stood. "His movements were too clean. Not just trained-unnaturally stable. There wasn't even a fluctuation in his mana stream when he deflected Ethan's spear."

"Yeah," Lilia murmured, her voice more unsettled than analytical for once. "Every time Ethan struck, something in the air... shifted. But not because of the spear. It was like- his mana didn't respond the way it should."

Julia crossed her arms again, slower this time, her brows furrowed. "So what? You think it was a skill?"