Unexpected Level-Up

(Third Person Pov)

Monsters.

They are all monsters.

Thought the man from far away as he looked at the ongoing duel in the arena with the help of one of his skills.

He could tell, they would all grow up to be forces that would be unstoppable and they would become the new faces that would represent humanity.

Humanity has been growing stronger and stronger with time.

They had too many advantages compared to other species. Not only did humans not have any potential cap but they also had a diverse amount of classes.

Beastfolk usually has classes that are related to close combats whether it's directly or not like brawlers, tankers, and monks.

Dwarves have classes related to smithing, enchantment, tinkering, engineering, artificer, and so on.

Elves mostly have classes like mages, archers, magic archers, or alchemy and the type.

Vampires have classes that mostly allow them to manipulate their blood or give them something like a shapeshifter type of ability. Their classes are mostly related to changes in their own body.

There were no statistics about demons but it was said that they mostly have classes have destructive type class.

But what about humans? 

They were different. They have a diverse amount of classes.

Necromancers, Warriors, Mages, Healer, Saintess, Reapers, Summoners, Beast Tamers, Battle Commanders, Trap Masters, Gamblers, Battle Mages, Sword-Magi, Assassins, Shadow Masters, GunSlinger, Masters of Spear, and so on.

The sheer diversity was mindboggling to other species.

The only thing that kept humanity from ever surpassing other species was their age.

And it wasn't hard to notice, that the more lifespan the species has the more constricted and less diverse their classes became.

Though no one knew how age influenced the classes they realized there was some sort of connection.

In the end, the research to this day continues, trying to find the answers to the unknown.

An answer that Noah realized about when Aqua had ranked up in the middle of the battlefield.

It's better to pluck them out before they have the chance to bloom. 

The man thought as he disappeared making his way towards the artifact, the artifact that created the barrier around the participants of the duel and kept them from dying.

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(Third Person Pov)

Classes are thought of as a blessing by many but so is a curse by some.

"Here, I go."

Max muttered.

An E- ranker beastfolk with grey color eyes, his class Corroder. Anything he touches directly with his hands can corrode.

Max hated his class. He was never able to get close to anyone because of it and he was also responsible for the death of people he caused unknowingly.

Classes came in many different forms, passive, and active. 

The result of Max not having control over his class resulted in him living alone.

All alone, abandoned by everyone. Who would want him to be near them? Just a careless touch and they would die.

Max accepted his cruel fate, ready to kill himself until he met that man and that's when his world changed.

He learned to control his corroding class.

And he kept learning more and more about his class with the help of that man.

And by the time Max turned 16, that man approached his limit. He was about to die, and that was when he asked Max to go and attend the academy.

And that's what Max did.

He for sure, didn't come here to get kicked out just after a month.

His hand currently touching the blade of Noah's sword.

Blood dripped down his hands as the blade started to corrode at an incredible pace.

Seizing the opportunity, Ashly activated another one of her skills that increased the speed of her strikes, launching another barrage of her attacks. Ash joined her with his spear covered in amber flames.

Noah stepped backward, yanking his sword from Max's tight grasp, barely evading their attacks.

Elinalise up above him, in free fall approached him, her fist covered in the aura.

Can't evade forever, can I?

Noah thought, this time prepared to take the onslaught of their attacks but before that, Noah threw his sword with incredible speed.

Before anyone can process it, it cleaved Lucy in two halves.

Well, now no one's going to keep switching places every damn second.

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If one were to see the death of someone in front of their eyes, it would leave an impact on them.

That's normal.

But if you were to witness a death that is not so simple?

A death in which you can see the blood splurting from their body.

Innards coming out of their body?

Well, you will differently be thrown off.

And that's exactly what happened.

Maybe it was because before, it was a beast and a summoned creature they weren't able to feel the intensity of these emotions but now that it had happened to one of their own. They couldn't help but puke.

Some of them puked unable to even look at Lucy's body while others stood frozen.

The barrier on someone's dying or losing consciousness ejects them back outside but their dead body ...or a look-alike still remains inside.

That was precisely what made the artifact so valuable.

It was perfect to train these kids and mentally prepare them.

Noah grabbed the free-falling Elinalise by her wrist threw her towards the frozen Ashly and yanked Ashly's scythe from her.

Amidst the storming fear and disbelief that ran through others, Alyssa remained unaffected as she moved on to the offense.

Noah's eyes met Alyssa's poker face and Alyssa's Noah's indifferent expression. Their eyes locked as the bout between an F-ranker and a D+ranker began.

Meanwhile, Ketharine managed to somehow choke the words out as she shouted "Area Heal!"

A green glow covered the entirety of the arena, healing not only injuries but also exhaustion and recovering the mana of her teammates. She used almost all of her mana, falling to her knees, as she tried to regulate her breathing and looked at Lucy.

...She really is dead.

That realization shook her, not only her but many others.

Noah will kill them ...and in not pleasing way.

The fight continued between Alyssa and Noah. Their blades clashed with each other, both moving with an incredible speed that defied logic, invisible to the other's eyes. The only things they saw were sparks and the sounds they heard.

After all, they were all but E-, E, or E+ rankers how could they follow the attacks of a D+ ranker? 

Laura from the stands watched with interest.

The fuck kind of F- ranker can take on a D+ ranker all alone?

She questioned, until now everyone was kind of just in the way but with the turn in the events they all simply stood, stupefied. Still trying to come to terms with what happened. Alyssa was able to fight Noah with no one getting in between but the result was still hanging in the air

And then, a smile formed on Laura's face as she looked at a young man with dark aqua hair.

Electrical sparks danced around him, with a sword clutched in his hand.

Ketharine's healing just took away Aqua's exhaustion of leveling up. Aqua, now a D ranker kicked off and joined the frey.

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Alyssa used her elemental affinity as the gusts and the strikes of her sword sent a barrage of attacks hurling toward Noah.

Feints aren't working

Alyssa concluded as their fight continued on, struggling to keep Noah away from others.

Noah always tried to kill others as they both ran through all over the arena clashing their blades and she prevented him from killing them.

Alyssa couldn't understand how Noah was able to keep up with her, not only had she received a buff from Katharine earlier but she was also using her wind affinity to increase her speed but despite that Noah was completely able to keep up with her.

At this point, one could wonder if he was the one keeping up with her or if was he simply matching her.

It didn't matter.

In the end, they were fighting to the death.

Both their blades were ready to kill one another.

Currently, they were both at a stalemate.

Noah wasn't going to kill her yet, not when she wasn't fighting with all she had, and for her to fight with everything, Noah knew he first needed to eliminate every other person in the arena.

As for Alyssa, well she was neither experienced nor strong enough to kill him.

At that moment, electrical sparks entered her field of vision.

A sword made its way towards Noah's neck.

Noah ducked and skidded to his side as the lightning-speed blade missed its mark.

Aqua changed the blade's direction, downwards and Noah simply jumped off creating a distance between himself and the other two.

"Can you keep up?"

"My rank is still lower than yours. I will focus on the support."

It made sense. Alyssa is a D+ranker while Aqua is still a D ranker.

A single sub-rank difference wasn't hard to overcome but the difference exists.

Before they could get themselves in formation, Noah launched a strike at Alyssa as she stumbled quite a bit to parry it.

Aqua without wasting any time swung his swords towards him.

And so their clash continued.

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Elinalise stood up, having recovered. Her wrist had broken when Noah had grabbed it which now was back to normal thanks to Ketharine's heal.

Elinalise tried but all she could hear was the sound of blades clashing against each other.

Unlike others in the arena, she didn't care about blood or dying. To her, that was when the fun truly began. 

And so, she focused on the sound. 

Once, twice, thrice...

Her fist slowly started to envelop itself with a thick aura and ever-growing flames.

And then, she hit the ground.

Shattering it.

Crap.

Noah muttered as his footing was disrupted, Alyssa without wasting opportunity swung her sword towards his face, and Noah barely managed to dodge with a slight cut on his face.

Noah jumped back, his foot skidding along the ground.

But the ground beneath him kept cracking.

Elinalise simply gave up on finding friend and foe, she couldn't see the other three. The result? She decided the just go ahead and crack the entire ground with her punches.

Disturbing not only Noah's but also Alyssa's and Aqua's footing.

Elinalise, 42 degrees to the north in the next 10 seconds.

When she heard those words, she looked towards Allen and a smile formed on her face.

You are finally done standing like a stupid guy.

Who are you calling stupid, stupid?

Without ado, she followed Allen's instructions.

Alyssa, and Aqua, we will focus on providing support.

Allen telepathically told them both, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous glint.

Alyssa and Aqua simply returned a nod and set off against Noah once again.

The battle continued, invisible to others. Their speed was too fast, all they could hear were a clash between blades, the crackling of electricity, the gusts of winds and the ground shattering.

In exactly 10 seconds, Elinalise ran and attacked 42 degrees of her north.

My, oh my... Prediction?

Noah thought twisting his body unnaturally and jumping towards his left.

And that's when two blades emerged, one with frost and the other with sparks all over it. The blades moved in a circular motion.

Noah jumped on the tip of the blade and used it as his footing as he lunged forward his scythe threatening to cut Margaret.

And right then, a bullet shot came that hit his scythe changing the trajectory of his scythe.

Sure, you guys are the main characters. Already joining the fuc-???

Before Noah could finish his words, an ear-splitting roar entered his ears.

"KREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Noah looked towards the source only to find an abhorrent giant monster.

Wings, a tail, legs, four hands, seven eyes, and its face is grotesque.

Noah observed the monster as he looked at the source of the one who brought this abomination into existence.

Emma had merged all her beasts into one, creating something more grotesque, absolutely disgusting but much more dangerous.

An all-or-nothing kind of shot? ...Did she just forget she isn't really gonna die here? Well, fuck.

Emma slowly raised her fingers, while blood came out of her orifices, and pointed it towards Noah.

"Get him"

The beast moved.

Without care, he stomped on her leg instead.

Crushing it.

"AGH!!!!!"

 Emma shouted and let out a roar.

Noah sensing an incredible amount of mana getting gathered looked towards the source as he cursed.

You too? This shit is supposed to be happening when you are on the verge of death against the villain! Villain, I repeat!

Noah without care sped towards Marianna as a glowing circle with intricate patterns in front of her formed, it was a summoning circle.

But before Noah could reach her, Alyssa and Aqua intercepted him.

"For the love of all that is holy, it ain't the time. Get out of my way"

Noah said, parrying Aqua's strike.

Confusion was apparent with how aggressive Noah suddenly seemed to be.

Noah kept his eyes on Marianna as he recalled the events that had transpired in the novel.

Marianna had come close to dying and that was when she had summoned an abomination and this incident happened in volume 2! They aren't even past volume 1 beginning! Emma had already brought one on the ground. If Marianna does too, well ...screw plans.

"....Come forth, O creature, from the night

Embrace the dark, and reveal your might"

Blood gushed out from Marianna's mouth as her chant ended, her insides burst out, and Lenny without wasting any time reached her, making her drink the healing potion.

...It was a question in and itself why he had healing potion in their duel but for now, let's focus on more pressing matters.

I wanted character development, not power-up, I could have given the power-up when they reached the appropriate ranks like Aqua who just ranked up faster than in the novel. What am I supposed to say? ...Oopsie-daisy..

Noah thought as he looked at the creature in front of him, it didn't have a form.

It was simply more of a black mist that hovered in the air but Noah didn't dare to approach it. However, the abomination of a beast that Emma created approached the black floating mist and was torn apart in an instant.

Blood splurted out of it, raining down on the arena.

Absolutely fabulous. Just like that, we have one less of a problem. Also, fuck y'all bastards! All those who said Emma is stronger than Marianna, see this! I was right! Marianna's more strong! We have won this war brothers, no questions at this point.

Noah had spent 3 hours debating on the internet with another stranger about who was more strong, his thoughts were justifiable.

Alyssa and Aqua, each took Noah's side realizing the threat which didn't seem to be in control of Marianna.

"What is that?"

"Are we calling the duel off?"

They both asked simultaneously.

"I don't know, ask the girl who summoned that thing here, summoners can't summon anything far above a level than their own but even so, the potential and threat of the summoned creature can't be neglected since we don't know what species it even is. Just like how beastfolk have better physical prowess than humans even with the same stats, that guy might be around D- rank but the dude's way stronger than any average D-ranker. And about the duel? Nah, we ain't calling it off. Just gotta deal with it fir-"

Before Noah could finish his sentence, a screeching sound came from the black mist.

It was unrecognizable, completely alien.

But even so, it made one feel dread.

It was a voice that created terror.

Other participants on the field had their weapons dropped, standing completely stunned in their positions, on the other hand, Noah simply rubbed his ears.

Noah is an environmentalist. He doesn't like noise pollution nor does he condone it.

As Noah looked around himself he towards all the frozen figures who simply fell on their knees, even Aqua and Alyssa were covering but they at least managed to stay on their feet as he thought

This fucking world just can't pick up a single plot and let it finish first properly. It just had to always mix it together with another plot.

Noah shook his head as he grabbed the scythe tighter.

At that moment, Noah's debuff came undone, there was still time before the 10 minutes were up, which meant Ashly wasn't in the right mind to keep the skill up.

And just as he was about to engage in the fight, his system screen showed itself up at that moment.

There was just one thing that revolved around Noah's mind.

It was a mistake. I will kill you all fucking annoyances.