The walls in front of Varek began to droop, black sludge slithering across the floor.
Varek used this as his opportunity, slowly exiting the chamber he created through it.
"Ah, one more thing." He said, some students in the room raising their eyebrows and turning towards him. "Garron, go all out."
Varek's body now fully submerged in the black and inconspicuous to those inside his magic, Garron crossed his arms while grinning wildly at the students.
'We're expelled if we lose to him?' Someone asked rhetorically.
'Hey, guys, we just have to gang up on him.' Another said, inching closer to the rest of the class while trying to create a huddle.
Garron was unbothered, his foot stomping against the ground to refocus the class' attention.
"Grahahaha! Well, this is an interesting turn of events, isn't it!" Garron snarled, the air in the room rising with heat.
"Hey, can't you just convince Varek to call this whole thing off?" One student asked, the black hair crossing over his eyes a shield to the vulnerability he'd shone through his expression. "I mean, he said you were his apprentice. I understand that you're probably really strong, but I doubt that one man such as yourself could really lead an entire class."
Another student spoke up, this time a tall, lanky male with straight silver hair dropping past his shoulders. "Don't you understand? You'd have to compete against all the higher classes in the reclass trials and complete the monster hunts all by--"
"Idiots!" Garron pounced, waving his hand as if shattering an invisible wall. "Who do you think I am? I am Garron, second to none, and if my master wishes for me to lead an entire class myself, I will do just that."
Garron's eyes knit in anger, clenching his teeth while swinging coiled fists in the air.
"You won't bode well to insult me or my master's expectations of me, and I certainly won't betray him out of some off-handed fear that I'm not capable enough. Don't you know, my only fear is the fear that I'm too great! Grahahahaha!"
Garron's chest pumped into the air, the faint sound of drums causing some students to step back unconsciously.
'Is he serious?' Someone uttered, prompting Garron to step even closer to the students.
"So, how about it? The clock's ticking, won't you guys all jump me at once?" He asked, pointing at an imaginary watch on his wrist.
Some students were looking back and forth between one another, their limbs taut with no expressive desire to fight.
"Ah, so that's how it is." Garron said quietly, glancing between a few people in the room. "You guys are scared. I understand. I would be too... if I were trash like the lot of you!"
The ground rumbled from the students' roars, half of them--numbering at ten--launching towards him, all with their own unique weapons of choice.
Along a red-haired girl's blade were flames weakly spouting from its tip, hardly passing more than a few inches from its origin. Another, tall with silver hair, had a large polearm, although its movements were sluggish from its weight. A third student, this time a guy, burst forward with blistering speed, his short height an advantage for nimbleness.
The list of students continued, either holding weapons they weren't well-equipped to wield, or adapting to physical attributes that set them apart from the rest, good or bad.
"Who the hell do you think you are! You'll eat those words!" They all screamed in unison.
"That's the way I like it--groups of people all hounding to receive a clobbering from my fist!"
The first to meet the end of Garron's fist was a girl, her lunge cut short by the short bob his head made to escape its impact. Quickly grabbing onto her extending arm, he thrashed her against the next three students who'd gotten close.
The momentum of the girl's body was enough to stagger two of the others, the third--who'd approached from the flank--managing to dodge the human projectile but leaving himself wide open in doing so.
"Too slow," Garron muttered, swerving in a half-spin and jamming his elbow into the boy's side. A dry cough escaped the kid's lungs before his legs gave out, collapsing like a pile of bricks.
Three more came at him from varying directions. One struck from above, another low, and a third aimed straight for Garron's ribs with a jagged lance. But the rhythm of Garron's footwork was too measured, too tight. His movements were ugly in Revian's eyes--brutish, even--but efficient. Worthy of copying.
"Clumsy! Overextended! Weak!"
Each of his taunts was followed by an impact.
The polearm was kicked in two. The one who came from above was thrown down to meet the floor, and the third was greeted with the full brunt of Garron's knee to his solar plexus, his breath sucked from his lungs in a single, agonizing instant.
Screams echoed. Someone tried to cast a spell--light burst from their palm before sputtering out mid-air.
Another, this time a taller girl with braided white hair and a hammer, managed to almost land a blow on Garron's shoulder--only for it to slide off by mere centimeters with a dull thud. He'd tilted his shoulder enough to shift its momentum, distancing his shoulder and circumventing their win-condition of 'touching him'.
Garron's brow furrowed--not in pain, but in confusion.
"Did you actually think you could touch me with such clumsy movements?"
He grabbed the hammer mid-swing, yanked it from her hands, and tossed it to the side with the same casual disinterest one might discard a twig. His fist cracked across her jaw a moment later, and she flew like a ragdoll into the black grid wall, where she slumped, unmoving but breathing.
"GRAHAHAHA!" Garron let out a howl of laughter, arms thrown wide like he were bathing in their failure. "Is this all Class F has to offer? Come on, I was promised a challenge!"
Blood splattered the ground. Groans filled the air. The remaining students who hadn't yet charged stood frozen, watching with wide, horrified eyes.
A voice finally cracked through the thick tension--high-pitched and panicked.
"W-Wait!"
Garron's grin paused, his brow twitching as he turned toward the source.
It was the kid with the goggles--the same one who'd spoken earlier.
"That guy... he's ranked third in swordsmanship and first in unarmed combat," he stammered, stepping forward with both hands raised. "He was the top of the Combat Circuit Trials. They called him 'The Unbreakable Juggernaut!'"
The name reverberated through the chamber like a curse. Silence stretched.
Garron raised a finger to his chin, tapping it.
"Ah, so some of you do remember."
The others hesitated. Even the more reckless ones faltered in their steps.
"And yet," Garron continued, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles, "you thought you had a chance?"
A deep breath filled his lungs.
"Fine then. Let's raise the stakes, shall we?"
With that, he surged forward again--no finesse, no elegance, just raw pressure and overwhelming might. Bodies fell. Desperate last-minute counters were swatted aside like insects. A boy tried to dig a trench of stone with magic beneath Garron's feet to trip him--only to get snatched and flung into his own crater.
In just over a minute, twenty students had been taken down, the black arena littered with moans and shivering bodies.
And then there was silence.
Garron's chest heaved with fatigue, but his grin remained.
Only one remained standing.
His eyes slowly turned to the far end of the field.
Revian, still... unaffected.
The grin on Garron's face stretched wider, something sinister and amused flickering behind it.
"And what about you, brother--no, Silent Knight?" he called out, raising his hand to gesture toward the lone figure. "You haven't moved a muscle since this started."
He took a step closer, his feet pressing into cracked black and broken blades.
"Come on. You gonna try your luck? Or are you scared like the rest of them?"
Revian's gaze slowly lifted--unblinking, unreadable.
"Hm, I suppose I've seen just about enough."