Mock battles

"That was amazing Tom!"

Returning to Dan, Aura and Lizzy after his performance, Tom was immediately attacked by Elizabeth who appeared out of nowhere and embraced him in a hug. After a few seconds, Elizabeth seemed to regain her sanity and hurriedly separated from Tom with a flustered face as Dan and Aura added their praise.

"Yeah, that really was amazing, I'm glad you're part of the team."

"W-well, if anything it was so-so. But was it really okay to use that much mana?"

Knowing how bad of an efficiency Tom's longer-ranged spells had, it was clear that Aura at least showed concern for Tom on some level, although exactly how much was unclear.

"That's right kiddo, there are still mock battles after this so it is way too soon to pass out."

With a cold tinge in her voice, it was clear Lizzy and the academy still held some expectations for Tom (although for different reasons) in the mock battles that were about to start after a short break.

"I'll be fine Lizzy, I still have about a fourth of my mana left, that should be plenty. Besides too much mana and I won't be able to use strengthening as easily."

"Didn't you learn how to do it even with full mana?"

Confused at what he was hearing, Dan cut in between the student-teacher talk and was offered a wry smile from Tom in response.

"Yeah I can do it with full mana, it is just easier to control when I only have about 6.000 left."

"O-only 6.000?"

"... This is the problem with today's youth, the lack of self awareness is simply stunning."

As Lizzy was about to tear her disciple another new one, she suddenly turned serious as she picked up an approaching threat.

"Hey, isn't that?"

"... Yeah it is."

With confirmation from Tom, Lizzy turned around and blocked the path of a person rapidly approaching her much loved disciple. Wearing a cold business smile, Lizzy made it obvious she was clutching her [catalyst] and rapidly circulating her mana.

More than just ready for a fight, she was ready to kill.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Step aside, this is a family matter."

With no more than just those words, the Lapace family butler attempted to sidestep Lizzy but was once more blocked by Lizzy who's mood had further deteriorated.

"Don't think so, there's no one from your family here."

Looking behind her just to sell the bit, Lizzy turned her attention back towards the butler as her smile turned even more ice cold.

"This area is out of bounds for non academy personnel as it is dangerous, you could even lose your life in an unfortunate 'accident' if you're not careful."

"I Don't-"

"You could also just lose your life, whether you're careful or not."

Increasing her bloodlust as ice crystals started forming in the air around her, Lizzy made her stance on 'accidents' perfectly clear as the butler finally backed off while glaring like a rabid animal denied its meal.

"What was all that about?"

As everyone was finally able to breathe again with Lizzy's bloodlust lessened, the first question out of Dan's mouth was one Tom had been dreading for a while.

"That was a butler from the Laplace family, it seems they are not happy about my recent attitude… If you're now wondering why the mighty Laplace family cares about me, that's because their fuckface of a head couldn't keep it in his pants and had a bastard that up until around half a year ago he didn't care about but then suddenly decided he had the authority to marry off like a pawn for political gain. Not that I'm going to fucking let him mind you, I'm fighting for my personal freedom with tooth claw and nails."

Suddenly realizing she had gravely misjudged Tom as some sort of rich snotnose, Aura was made aware of the things he was struggling with for the first time. Having the initial impression that Tom was nothing more than a rich brat, Aura had purposely overlooked anything that didn't confirm her bias.

Although she had a personal reason not to like Tom besides the former, Aura still felt somewhat bad.

"I-"

"But now that you're talking about marriage wouldn't it just be best to marry me, Tom? I've already told my dad and he approves of you so just say the word."

But of course, getting cut off just as she was saying something sincere would annoy anyone, especially Aura when the person cutting her off was the very picture of a snot-faced noble.

"Could you give that a break already, it is clear as day Tom has no interest in you."

In a single sentence, Aura managed to not only antagonize Elizabeth but arguably worse the young adventurer managed to establish herself as a possible rival in Elizabeth's mind.

"Oh my, I think that's something for me and Tom to figure out, why don't you stay out of it miss?"

"I don't think so-"

As the two women started bickering without any sort of end in sight, Lizzy wordlessly dragged Tom aside as it was time for his first mock battle.

-

"Well, that's strange…"

Returning to the practice field, Lizzy found Tom's opponent was already waiting for him, only it wasn't the opponent that had been planned.

"What's up?"

"Apparently you're fighting one of the top students, which shouldn't normally happen as you're only supposed to match against people from your own year..."

Glancing up at the spectators seating, Lizzy's eyes turned cold as she noticed eyes on her and Tom. Looking back to Tom, Lizzy started 'smiling' as both of them had figured out who was interfering.

"Go crush him, no mercy."

"Roger."

Sending Tom off with a pat on the back, Lizzy glanced up at the spectators again as she wished she was allowed to smoke. Letting her senses which had been sharpened across countless battles to the dead take over, Lizzy realized the Laplace's head posed a threat to herself and her disciple.

(That's not just bloodlust, there's something else going on here…)

If Lizzy was able to see the flow of mana around Laplace's head she would immediately have moved to separate his head from the rest of his body, but as only the gods had that power the scene was now set for a tragedy.

Taking a deep breath as the surroundings slowly faded away, Tom sized up his opponent who was standing right next to a teacher he assumed to be the judge.

(So this won't be a fair fight… Well, that's not anything new, but when it is this blatant it is slightly off-putting.)

Standing a head taller than Tom, his opponent was a somewhat well-built mage with his choice of [catalyst] adorning the tip of a short staff. Being the midpoint between a free [catalyst] which had the advantage of great flexibility at the cost of a longer cast time and a long staff often optimised for only a handful of spells, a short staff could be said to be a good balance between the two, but it was also a compromise between the two.

A jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Taking his place in the arena about 10 meters from his opponent, Tom made sure to wear the same sort of confident smile as his opponent, only that just seemed to invite further scorn from him.

As if to say 'give up before you get hurt'.

"This is not a battle, but a demonstration of ability. As such, lethal spells or spells intended to cause long term harm will be strictly forbidden, the battle will be over when I deem it or a contestant surrenders… Begin!"

As the match started, Tom's opponent immediately summoned a hail of razor-sharp icicles that pelted the position Tom had been a split second earlier.

('Lethal spells are not allowed' my ass! Well, two can play that game.)

Glancing at the referee which indeed stayed silent after his opponent just tried to kill him, Tom sped up his internal circulation of mana as he swung around his [catalyst] hanging from his wrist by a chain. Briefly disappearing from view as he avoided another hail of icicles, Tom mentally ranged his target before loading his [catalyst] with mana along with a strong mental image of his spell.

"Urg!-"

The effect on the target was immediate, as Tom felt his mana drain, the area around his opponent suddenly became subject to 3 times the normal gravity as the unlucky upperclassman collapsed to his knee. Of course, this was only a temporary measure to stun his opponent while Tom moved in for the kill using [strengthening]. If experience had taught Tom anything, it was to be quick and ruthless when fighting so Tom spared no expense as he kneed the poor, still-kneeling upperclassman in the chest hard enough to send him flying a few meters, even as the gravity was still 3 times the normal.

Silence immediately filled the air as Tom cut off mana supply to his initial spell and checked his mana while still remaining on high alert against his opponent.

(3.000 mana left, I have to get better at long-range spells, the efficiency is still abysmal...)

"That's it! Healer on call, please take care of the contestant!"

As quickly as the mock battle started, it came to an end with the referee's call as a few healers rushed to take care of the upperclassman which was still on the ground barely moving.

"This is outrageous! Is this really the kind of subject taught at this academy!? I don't appreciate the students beating each other within an inch of their life!"

(Here we go…)

The second things stopped going his way, Tom's sorry excuse for a father started loudly protesting. It was clear his goal was getting Tom pulled out of the academy so he could reassert his influence directly.

Not that Tom was going to let him.

"Then don't fucking encourage it by bribing instructors to fix matches and have me beat up fucktard!"

Speaking his mind loud enough for everyone present, including all the nobles in the spectator seats, Tom watched with a smile as his sorry excuse for a farmer's head turned red as a tomato.

"Important little brat! Do you even have proof of these horrendous accusations!?"

"No I don't, but the academy will in a few moments, right Lizzy?"

Turning to his trusted instructor, Tom shared a mutual smile with her.

"Yeah, that'll be way easier than any interrogation I've led before."

Pressured with actual, tangible pressure from the academy which could come back to bite him, Tom's father immediately moved to discredit Tom instead.

"Is the academy seriously planning to listen to that brat over me, the lord Lapace!?"

Of course, this also immediately backfired as Tom pulled out a bombshell.

"As if a corrupt shitstain's word like yours means anything, besides, my word carries a lot more worth than yours, because the gods will it."

"The gods will it, they stand behind our newest [saint], blessed by not one, but two gods."

The first chance they got, a church representative confirmed Tom's status as a [saint] while also confirming their support for him. With both the academy and the church standing behind Tom and therefore against Sebastian Lapace's position was now in significant danger. More than anything, the embarrassment of being called by his insignificant bastard in front of the entire political structure of the kingdom was an embarrassment that could not be allowed to stand. Sebastian had not been steadily increasing his power base and currying favour by any means necessary for years just to have it ruined by a bastard, by his bastard of all people.

(This can not be allowed to stand, how dare he, how dare that fucking shitstain embarrass me like this, how dare he strike the hand that has fed him, clothed him, raised him from the simple life to that akin to a noble, how dare he, that little fucking shitface-)

While Sebastian's anger started boiling over, something else also started happening. It started gradually, but within seconds it was too much for Tom to ignore, suddenly it felt like a pit had formed in the bottom of his stomach. The uncomfortable feeling quickly spread to the rest of Tom's body, something was very, very wrong. Just a second before he found out what was happening himself, Tom received an oracle from the voice of the gods.

[WARNING: THE PRESENCE OF A DARK GOD HAS APPEARED NEARBY, ELIMINATE THE HERETIC BEFORE THEIR CORRUPTION CAN BE ALLOWED TO SPREAD.]

"What the fuc!?-"

While Tom was distracted by the ominous message which had just entered his head, something rapidly approached him at the edge of his vision.

"Watch out!"

Next thing Tom knew, Lizzy had forced herself in front of him, blocking an attack that tore straight through her defences and blood-stained cloak, staining the instructor's cloak with a significant amount of her own blood for the first and last time.