Meanwhile, Asher thought, ’It’s getting annoying. Let’s get a little serious.’

Asher stopped advancing and simply stood in the same place.

The others were confused about why he had stopped.

"Is he giving up?"

"Or has his mana finally been depleted?"

Kael looked at Asher and said, "What happened? Are you giving up?"

Asher looked at him and replied, "I really don’t understand why people talk during battle. Don’t you value your life? Distracting yourself by talking too much."

Then, Asher manifested around twenty leaves made of mana. There was no need to use larger projectiles since Kael did not have a weapon.

Kael was surprised, but he soon calmed down and manifested around forty small fireballs. Since he had more mana than Asher, summoning that many was not a problem for him.

But Asher remained calm and then shot all the sharp mana leaves toward Kael.

Kael also fired the fireballs toward Asher’s attack, but Asher’s mana leaves did not even try to hit the fireballs. Instead, they focused entirely on attacking Kael.

Kael destroyed as many as he could, but some still slipped past his attacks and rushed toward him. He then summoned a wall of flames to destroy them.

Then, he sensed a shift in space behind him.

He immediately jumped to the side and avoided the mana blade that was about to strike his back.

Asher did not pause and fired even more projectiles at him.

At that moment, Kael was still midair.

Kael summoned more fireballs to destroy the incoming attacks, but at the same moment, Asher also appeared right behind him.

Since Kael was midair, he could not evade properly.

So, he used the explosion to push himself toward the right.

But Asher, as if he had already expected it, instantly teleported to the exact spot where Kael was heading.

Kael’s eyes widened the moment he saw Asher already waiting for him.

’He predicted my movement.’

Before Kael could react further, Asher swung his mana blade toward him without hesitation.

Kael forcefully twisted his body midair and barely avoided a direct hit, but the sharp blade still cut across his shoulder.

A thin line of blood appeared as Kael was sent crashing toward the ground.

Kael crashed to the ground, and before he could make sense of his surroundings, Asher was already standing behind him with his blade pressed against Kael’s head, as if ready to plunge it into his skull at any moment.

The entire arena fell silent.

Kael remained completely still as he felt the cold edge of the mana blade against his head.

After a few seconds of silence, Asher finally moved the blade away from Kael’s head and stepped back.

"I think this is enough," he said indifferently.

Kael slowly stood up and looked at Asher with a complicated expression.

Then he let out a small laugh and said, "You really fight like a monster."

Asher simply replied, "No. You just talk too much during battle."

Professor Elisa announced, "Asher wins."

She was not even surprised, as if she had expected it from the very beginning.

Elisa thought inwardly, "He fights with the intention to kill—nothing else. He has no regard for another person’s life. A natural killer, not a knight who fights to survive or to protect something."

Asher just went back to his spot,near Noah.

Noah just looked at him and said "Congratulations on winning"

Asher replied "What is there to congratulate about?, it was just annoying".

Aria then asked, "Why did you even learn to fight if you find it that annoying?"

Asher simply replied, "I would be happy if I could just live like a great tree, standing tall and observing the world for thousands of years."

Aria looked at him in confusion and said, "That does not answer my question."

Asher looked at her and said, "But a tree also has its flaws. It stays still even when someone cuts it down. It does not fight back."

Aria thought for a moment and then said, "To fight back."

Asher replied, "Yeah, that’s one of the reasons."

Noah looked at Asher and said, "Why can’t you just say it simply? Why complicate it?"

Asher replied, "Just for fun. It feels good to talk about nonsense as if it’s something wise."

Noah stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.

Noah said, "You really are impossible."

"Maybe"

Just then, Professor Elisa said, "Okay, everyone can go now except Asher." Then she looked at Asher and added, "You come with me. We need to have a talk."

Asher looked at her for a moment and then said, "Okay."

Everyone left for their upcoming classes.

Noah and the others looked at Asher with expressions that seemed to say, "Don’t do anything stupid."

But Asher simply ignored them.

They then left for their classes as well.

Asher followed Professor Elisa to the faculty building.

They entered Professor Elisa’s room.

Elisa sat in her seat and looked at Asher.

Then she said in a serious voice, "You should stop living this way."

Asher looked at her and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. It’s for your own good. What you’re trying to achieve is impossible, especially for someone like you," Elisa replied.

Asher simply looked at her and said nothing.

Elisa continued, "Stop making enemies out of people. People are already wary of you. Neither the academy nor your house will be able to protect you for long if you continue living this way." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Asher remained silent for a few moments before finally speaking.

"And what way am I living exactly?" he asked calmly.

Elisa frowned slightly. "You keep provoking people stronger than you, acting as if consequences don’t matter. You isolate yourself, refuse help, and keep looking at the world like it’s something beneath you."

Asher simply replied, "I just don’t like pretending."

Elisa looked at him quietly.

"And because of that, you decided to make enemies with everyone?" she asked.

"I never tried to make enemies," Asher replied. "People just hate anything they can’t control."