PROMOTION BATTLE(3)

The most unexpected battle result left the audience clueless. Not only the students but the professors as well. As everyone went on the break, they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that Noah just decimated the giant of the Gamma Class just like that. Among the clueless faces was one with a faint smile. It was Principal Beck. He kept a check on his emotions and only gave a slim smile.

The strangest of the reactions were coming from the Delta Class. As other classes were still trying to believe it, the Delta Class should have been delighted by the fact that Noah won. But instead, they had mixed feelings of joy and fear. The trash they had bullied and foul-mouthed for an entire year had turned into a monstrous entity. If Noah was to exact revenge for all their wrongdoings, what would they do? They were not a match for Noah anymore. They thought it extremely necessary to make it up to Noah and get on his good books.

As Noah came down the Arena, some of the students approached to congratulate him. They almost crowded over him, Noah was finding them difficult to avoid, though he simply wanted to get away from all the attention.

"Move along, all you maggots. Do you want me to beat you all up?" shouted Melv as he pushed through and came near Noah. He dragged him away from the crowd.

"Phew. Thanks, buddy. I thought I was going to suffocate." Noah replied, taking a deep breath. But Melv was scanning Noah.

"What are you trying to do?" Noah asked.

Melv took a pause and replied, "I was just checking if it was really you or some Nine-Tailed beast taking control of your body."

"You read too many novels and manga…" replied Noah.

"So what is it? How did you do it?"

"Can we eat something? I am hungry."

"Right. Now that you mention it. I am famished. Let's go eat."

Noah didn't answer the question thrown by Melv. The reason being, he was himself unsure as to what happened. It is time to rewind a little and observe the match from Noah's point of view.

The match just started and Daimonjji was pulling some non-stop BS. Noah did not care about any of it. The plan was to avoid his blows, especially the hammer and deal swift damage. As he gripped his dagger and focussed on Daimonjji, a strange thing occurred to him.

Suddenly, he could identify the pressure points of Daimonjji. This is not something he had any knowledge of. He had no idea of the acupoints in a human body or their uses, until now. But he could precisely locate the points on his body like some auto-aim functionality. It was as if something was urging him to hit those marks.

LV - 14, GB - 25, SP - 12, TW - 18 and SI - 16.

Noah carefully launched his attack and hit the first pressure point. He did not exert full pressure as he was not sure how much damage the Battle Suit could take. Though having a grudge against Daimonjji, Noah did not want to cause any life-threatening damage to him. He never moved from his principle of not killing.

As the first strike was made, the Battle Suit reacted promptly and deducted a bit of HP. Noah was now confirmed that the Battle Suit can handle the blows. Thus he increased his speed to the max and landed the other blows depleting all HP.

All of this happened within a few seconds, but Noah's mind and body were in complete sync. In his eyes, it seemed like Daimonjji was grinning and the crowd was roaring, all in slow motion. So once he had finished and turned around, the crowd could only notice a gush of air.

"Bro, the bottle is empty. You finished the juice long back. What are you thinking?" Noah was brought to reality with Melv's query. Noah had been in thought for a while now. He did not even notice that Angelika had joined them. Not only her but James as well who came along.

"So daydreaming done? What pervy dreams were you thinking of?" asked Angelika.

"No. I was not.."

"Never mind. I don't wanna know."

James was looking at the two of them cluelessly.

"You owe me an explanation. You should have told me that you had knowledge of the pressure points. Then we could have set the plan likewise…" stated Angelika in an angry tone.

"Umm…I just got the info recently and thought of using it." Noah didn't reveal his source.

"That was awesome bro," Melv exclaimed.

"Yes. Those were some accurate strikes." James expressed his appreciation.

Noah scratched his head. "Well, it kinda happened."

"But don't start to enjoy it yet. You have another match. You remember right."

"Beta Class won't be that easy. There is a big gap between Beta and Gamma in skills."

Angelika and James warned Noah.

Noah nodded and acknowledged it.

The break was soon over. But the discussions on the previous match were still going on. No one knew how many days this gossip will continue. But one thing was for sure, the students started to look at Noah with awe. Even if he didn't win against the Beta Class, the feat he achieved by defeating Daimonjji will reverberate across the academy.

The announcement was made for the Promotion Battle to resume.

"Moving on with the next match."

Beta Class 3rd Last Jaxon vs Gamma Class 3rd Top Kiki.

As the contestants entered the Arena, the match started.

This was a relatively boring match for the audience after the absolute shocker of a match Noah delivered or the previous matches. Kiki was always on the defensive, protecting herself against the Heavy Sword of Jaxon. Jaxon's ability of an evolved Rhino gave him an enormous strength advantage against Kiki.

The match continued for 15 minutes in a stalemate. As both sides were getting exhausted, Jaxon put all his power in one last skill, the Sword Hurricane. The skill thrust towards Kiki and knocked her towards the Arena protective shield. She hit the shield hard and lost all her remaining HP.

As the match came to an end, the result was declared.

"The winner of this match is Jaxon. He remains in the Beta Class."

Both the contestants left the Arena to set the stage for the next match. The crowd was eagerly anticipating the next announcement. A few matches earlier, the crowd was booing Noah but now they are chanting his name. Even some in Beta Class also started supporting Noah. Huge chants were roared for Noah even before the match announcement was made.

"Moving on to the next match."

Beta Class 2nd Last Reggie vs Gamma Class 2nd Top Noah.

Match 5 - Statistics:

Name - Reggie (Original - Reginald Johnson)

Age - 16

Gender - M

Class - Gamma

EQ - 20

Weapon - Gauntlets

Ability Power - Red Kangaroo

Strengths - Choke Hold

Name - Noah (Original - Noah)

Age - 16

Gender - M

Class - Delta

EQ - 15

Weapon - Dagger

Ability Power - NA

Strengths - Intelligence, Hope

A tall and well-built student with hair braided like cornrows entered the Arena. His figure indicated that he was well versed in Mixed Martial Arts. This was Reggie. He came from a branch family of the famous Johnson family who had deep roots in the Primus Corp.

As Noah entered the Arena, the protective shield was drawn and the match started.

Reggie looked at Noah and gave a cynical smile.

Noah was about to take his stance when his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

A faint chest pain arose and Noah started feeling dizzy. He tried hard to retain his consciousness.

But before he could fully take control of himself, he was hit by a Cross Jab from Reggie. Noah immediately fell on the ground. Reggie followed it with a kick to the abdomen.

Though the pain sensors were kept at a minimum in the Battle Suits, Noah felt this one.

The pain fortuitously helped him stay awake. He started to rise back up.

Reggie was always maintaining his motion. He was hopping and jumping around the arena and waiting for the opportunity to throw a jab. He swiftly appeared in front of Noah and caught him in a Thai Clinch. He showered random low kicks and knee strikes at Noah.

As he left the lock, he followed it with another Cross Jab. Noah fell to the ground on impact.

The crowd was shocked.

"What is happening? Why isn't Noah fighting back? Did he exhaust himself in the last match?"

But to everyone's unawareness, Noah was not suffering from exhaustion.

He was poisoned.

…