Blaze charged again. He remained low even as he ran, and when he was within a good range, he went for a sweep with his legs. Riven reacted quickly and leaped backward to dodge.
"Gotcha," Blaze said, suddenly moving in a very unusual manner. He pushed off the ground, throwing a punch in the process. His plan was simple: nail Riven with a punch when he was mid-air.
There was no way Riven could dodge that. He would have to block, and Blaze had a plan for that as well.
Riven did the normal thing in that situation and blocked the attack, but he didn’t stop there. He borrowed the force of the attack, allowing his body to shoot back.
This created distance between them, putting him out of Blaze’s striking range and safe from the combo. Blaze was stunned when this happened. There was no easy way for him to get Riven now. He looked at Riven and saw a smile on his face.
’This dude, he is really good,’ Blaze thought. His smile widened, showcasing his razor teeth again. They both landed on the ground, and he launched an even faster attack, going in with a flurry of blows.
Since he couldn’t win using techniques and tricks, he would use speed and power to win. Sadly, to his dismay, despite the fact that Riven didn’t show any crazy speed, he managed to put his sword at just the right place before the attack landed, and so he blocked all the attacks.
Blaze started getting furious. It was as if Riven could predict all his attacks. He couldn’t even see a clear way to land a hit, and what made it worse was the fact that Riven was not even trying to attack, despite the fact he had created multiple openings to do that.
’I never really appreciated it, but Sword Mastery and Sword Disciple title are really overpowered,’ Riven thought.
He kept blocking the attacks, waiting for not just any opening, but one that would lead to an attack that Blaze couldn’t block. He kept blocking Blaze’s attacks until finally Blaze slipped up due to his growing frustration.
And with that opening that formed, Riven charged in. Using a makeshift flash step attack, he covered the distance, his sword already headed for Blaze’s neck.
This move was definitely one to win. There was no way Blaze could block or dodge it, and Blaze knew this.
He gritted his teeth, and flames burst out of his body, using it to propel himself backward and dodge the attack. He landed a few meters back and was about to use the flames to attack, but as he looked up, he didn’t see Riven.
Suddenly, everywhere went cold—ice cold. Blaze felt a chill at his neck. He froze, his eyes moved slowly to the side, and he saw a blue flame at his neck at the tip of Riven’s sword.
Riven stood behind him with the sword, his eyes glowing blue. "We weren’t supposed to use mana," he said. His voice cold and threatening, it made Blaze tremble. His flames went off, and he fell to the ground.
Riven stopped his flames as well and scratched the back of his head while giving an embarrassed laugh.
"Sorry, that got out of hand. Can we continue the tour later?" he said, then waved and walked out, leaving the three of them there.
Blaze slowly got on his feet, but his expression was not the same.
"You both felt it, right?" he asked.
"Indeed, that rank one is not to be trifled with. Right now, I didn’t even see him move," Arin said.
"It seems you three have gotten to see the strength of the rank one." Sally walked into the room.
"Our Lady," the three of them said and bowed their heads.
"No need to do that somewhere . So, what do you three think about the rank one?" she asked.
"Terrifying," Arin responded. She looked up at Sally. "His battle sense is sharper than his age. His strength and even his control of mana—he might be a bigger threat than even the hero candidate," Arin said.
"I see. Well, what you have witnessed today is the strongest of the first year. There exist the second, third, and fourth year in the academy, and their number ones are as stupidly terrifying.
The Vermillion Academy is a home for monsters, and you’ll get to see them going forward. When you finally do, you’ll see the difference between the first years and the second," Sally said. She walked to Blaze, who was still gloomy.
"Don’t feel too bad about it. You only used your normal strength, you didn’t get to use your real power," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"That doesn’t change anything. He is stronger than me normally—so much so that I’m not even sure if I can battle and win with all my strength.
I felt it at that moment when his blade was on my neck. Different eyes coldly staring at me... they were terrifying beings looking at me in that instant.
Something is not normal with that Riven. There is something inside him, something scary," Blaze said.
Sally had never seen Blaze this worried and scared, so she knew this was serious. She was wary of Riven, yes, but she had never put him up to be a serious threat. Her eyes were still on Lance, regardless of what people said.
’Riven Von Grave, I think it’s time I look into you more. I’d rather be careful than have a major issue in the future,’ Sally thought.
"I understand. I’ll look into it, but you three should not worry. Just keep doing what you are to do. I want you to use Riven as the base of scaling all the rank ten.
If you put it in your mind that all ten are as strong as him, you’ll be prepared for what is to come. I hope you all understand—we can’t fail in this," she said in a stern tone and walked out.