Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 968 224.1 - Illusions and Hammer

Lucas stepped onto the platform, boots tapping lightly against the stone. The ambient hum of mana from the other dueling arenas receded into background noise, blurring into the periphery. All that remained in focus was the wide stage, the space between him and Carl-and the opportunity that lay within it.

He spared a glance at his opponent.

Carl Braveheart.

Solid. Silent. A mountain carved into human form. The kind of presence that didn't demand attention through words, but through sheer immovability. And Lucas... Lucas had never liked fighting people like that.

Not because he feared them.

But because they were difficult to tilt.

'Indeed... this can be a good opportunity.

Lucas's fingers brushed the hilt of his sword, a casual motion, but deliberate. He

wasn't thinking about the crowd. Not about Julia, Irina, or the instructor standing just off the stage.

He was thinking about the system.

The pattern.

The timing.

Carl was efficient. A step in, swing. A guard. Follow-up. His entire style was clean and minimalist, designed to waste neither mana nor breath.

But Lucas?

Lucas was ghost walking in the skin of a swordsman,

'The skills from the future are still out of reach. My body can't handle the mana flow... the nerves aren't tuned yet!'

He exhaled, his other hand coming to rest behind his back in thought.

'But the illusion sequence...'

He'd been refining it slowly. One part Middleton Sword Technique. One part memory. One part adaptive spellcasting from the Arkwrights. What started as a mimicry of Damien's illusions had since diverged. Improved.

The trick wasn't just creating illusions.

It was making the opponent believe they weren't illusions.

'And it's getting better.'

He glanced at Carl again, this time not just seeing the present-but the echo of what he knew was coming.

From the future, he remembered this man. Not the quiet, watchful version standing across from him now, but the battlefield leader. The defender. The one who stood firm beside Ethan when everything else burned.