The next moment, the training ground and the Academy buildings were basked in a cold golden light as first Polaris's fur became bright, akin to sun, and then that brightness was transferred over to the wooden blade in its master's hands.
"HAAA!"
Then, looking like a shooting star, Justin let out a roar and accelerated towards the ground.
"..."
Towards the grim-faced Rotsard Vallhall.
…was that supposed to be a strong attack…?
The strongest that the future hero could pull off at his current strength?
Why would it be so easy to counter?
To make for a better and more convincing show, Rotsard raised one hand and frowned.
*CRACK* *CRACK*
A couple of ice blocks appeared all around Justin, but all shattered when they came too close to the golden glow.
"...!"
That made Rotsard's expression turn fierce, and he raised both of his arms!
At his command, a giant pillar of ice erupted from the ground, almost instantly matching the height that Justin was falling from.
"HAAAAAAAA!
As it was about to intercept him, Justin shouted, not even considering getting out of the way, and confronted the oncoming attack head-on!
"GGHHH...!"
…coming to a complete halt with a grunt, he spat through his clenched teeth the moment his blade touched the ice…
"?!?!"
Down below, Rotsard's beastly yellow eyes bulged out of their eyesockets, surely out of the shock at how immense Justin's strength actually was… surely…
"...ghh…!"
Within the same heartbeat, it was the bleached-blond-haired youth who let out a grunt, slouching down and starting to tremble as if the upkeep of the spell was taking a huge toll on him.
*CRRK*
"Ghh…! Hh…? H-HAAAAAAAAA!"
That was when the tip of the pillar started caving in and cracking, giving the future hero a slight shock but only for a split second...! The next moment, he was already back to his shouting, giving his all to go with the momentum…
…although slowly…
"...what the hel, still not weak enough…!?"
While bending down as if being crushed by a huge pressure, Rotsard desperately glanced up and wheezed to himself, feeling incredibly confused.
*CRAAAAAAAAAAACK*
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Finally, as everyone in the audience was holding their breaths, the pillar of ice shattered completely, and Justin was able to complete his attack, falling down to the ground blade-first.
"!!!"
Just as Rotsard straightened his back, he was met with the full brunt of the downwards slash empowered by the cold golden light.
*THUMP* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING*
His uniform's shirt got torn diagonally in half, but the future hero wasn't over! The moment Justin landed, he unleashed not one or two but three full follow-up slashes that shredded the rest of Rotsard's shirt.
"..."
"...haa… haaa… haaaa…"
In the moment of silence that followed, Justin's heavy breaths as he gasped for air in exhaustion were loud like the howls of the northern winds.
For a bit, nothing happened at all…
…well, at least he's able to do some follow-up attacks…I guess that's a silver lining… Ughh… now the worst part…
…during that brief pause, thoughts like that ran through Rotsard's head…
Then… Rotsard's circle and wings of light flickered in and out of existence…!
As if Rotsard's body realized with a delay what happened, his skin split open as four long cuts appeared on his torso, aligning with the path of Justin's slashes and filled with dark blood, making them appear as serious injuries.
"...guh…!"
*thump*
The wounded youth let out a short gasp, his wings and circle of light disappeared completely, and he dropped on his back to the ground like a fallen tree.
"Student Justin wins!"
Teacher Oltial wasted no time and approached the fallen student, confirming his state before straightening his back and raising his hand as he announced.
"H-he won!"
"OF COURSE HE WON! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY HOW HE WON!"
The whole audience erupted in cheers, and Amelia and a few of their classmates rushed up to the future hero, locking him in a group hug before lifting him up on their shoulders, where he could be paraded around to the adoring crowd.
"Nraaao! Nrao, nrao, nraaaao!"
"Yes, Polaris! We won! We REALLY won, and it's all thanks to you!"
The golden bear cub started growling and struggling on Justin's shoulder, so he picked it up and assured, showing it off to the audience that erupted in even louder cheers.
"NRAAAAAAO!"
"HURRAY!"
Polaris roared angrily, wildly trashing in the hands of its master, while the crowd and even its master completely missed what the fae was doing.
"NRAA…!"
"..."
But then, the golden bear cub looked over at the fallen Rotsard… and its desperate roar got cut short when it actually met the gaze of the beastly yellow eyes.
"...~"
Unnoticed by the crows surrounding the future hero and his contracted fae, Rotsard Vallhall was raising only his head to look at Polaris… he winked at the troubled fae and even blew her a little kiss before laying his head back down.
"...nrao..? Nnnraooo~!"
That alone calmed down the golden bear cub and even made it growl with content as it now knew it did a great job.
"....so…? What is the meaning of all of this…?"
But since teacher Oltial never left Rotsard's side, he clearly saw it all and ended up crouching down and asking inconspicuously, acting as if he was just making sure that the defeated student's life wasn't in danger.
"I'll be taking over from here, if you don't mind, sir Oltial~"
"...!?"
But even with that, it was not his fate to receive any explanation as the vice headmaster, Syon Gemleware swooped in with a smile, bumping into teacher Oltial's side, playfully pushing him away.
"Yes, yes. This one needs immediate treatment, I'll be taking him to the hospital wing personally~!"
Although there was far too much joy and excitement in Syon's voice, his declaration, followed up by making Rotsard's body levitate with a spell, was not met with any objection and so the two of them were off the training grounds while the celebration of Justin's victory was long before over.