363 Strength of A Rank
"Why are they standing there and not fighting?" Jennifer asked the Third Year Student behind them.
"Oh, they are increasing the strength of the barrier and the size of the stage for them," The Third Year replied.
"Both of them are A Rank Hunters, so that much preparation is needed," He added.
"A Rank, so they must be super powerful," Jacob asked excitedly.
"Of course, it is very rare to see A Rank Hunters in Fourth Year," The guy explained.
"A lot of talent is needed to reach A Rank, but most people hit their limit by B Rank," He said.
Not everyone had the talents needed to reach A Rank.
Although one could push himself past his limit, he couldn't go too far.
If the vessel is not big enough, pouring a huge amount of water into it will be useless.
Most students in World Academy developed their mana core very carefully, but not everyone was different.
The quality of the mana core, or the Mana Heart itself, was important.
Most students in the Fourth Year were Rank B, but some had reached their limits at Rank C.
"Kiara Everett, Reece Williams, and Jayden Hargrave. These three are the strongest students of World Academy currently," He told the twins.
Many students loudly cheered for both Reece and Kiara.
Both of them were famous in the World Academy, as not only were they strong and from powerful families, but their appearance was also eye-catching.
Reece had light blue hair, which was a distinct feature of the Williams Family, while Kiara had small stripes of blond hair around her long black hair.
Kiara was also taller than other female students, with a height reaching 5 11'.
Both of them had opposite personalities that they showed out in public.
While Kiara had a very strong temperament and a strict side, she showed in public. Her personality made it harder for others to approach her out of fear of offending her.
But Reece was the exact opposite.
Despite being the heir of the Williams family, Reece Williams came across as a humble person based on his manners and way of talking.
He was like Leonard Tarvian, but Reece went the extra mile to make sure his public opinion remained the same.
All the Elite Families had their businesses, and just like Greville, the Williams family was also involved with mana crystals.
Although they couldn't be compared to the Abyss Corporation, they were not small either.
"We've been friends for four years now, so let's make the most out of this match," Reece spoke as he looked at Kiara.
"Tch, His way of talking really makes me wanna punch that face," Kiara muttered to herself.
Because Kiara had faced many people who hid their intentions while presenting themselves in front of her, she had developed a strong hatred for such people.In Halcyon, the number of people who would want to manipulate her, someone who was most likely to become the next Archduchess of the Everett Family, was not small.
She had met many such people in her life, but Reece was different.
At first, even Kiara partially believed the personality that Reece showed was his true nature.
She was taught never to place trust in others, no matter how close they were.
But it was only near the end of the Second Year, during the start of their Third Year, when they entered Trials Ground, that she got to know that the personality Reece showed was nothing but a farce.
'Let's get this over with,' Kiara said.
Her aura took over the whole stage.
It was so much that her aura was visible to other students.
The strength of a A Rank Hunter was no joke.
In response, Reece simply countered with his own mana as he pushed back Kiara's aura back.
Kiara was A- Rank Hunter, but both Reece and Jayden had finally managed to reach A Rank during the last year of World Academy.
She was at a disadvantage, but it was still better than Reece and Jayden reaching peak A Rank, which would have been a very big achievement.
At A+ Rank, major changes would happen to the mana heart, causing it to grow bigger and denser.
Most people would be stuck in A Rank for years in their lives before reaching A+ Rank.
And breaking through A+ Rank was even harder than that.
There was a high chance of a person dying while breaking through to the S- Rank because of the process it took to go beyond A+ Rank.
If someone were not sure they could go beyond A+ Rank, it was simply suicidal to even try it.
The only person to ever reach A+ Rank while they were in World Academy was Ivar Greville.
In comparison, Jayden and Reece had just reached A Rank, and Kiara was sure they had both used an S Rank Mana Gem to reach that level.
She had seen both of them three months ago, and they were around her level. And to reach this level so quickly, it wasn't hard to predict what they did.
Although other students, including Kiara, couldn't sense the SSS Rank Hunters present here, they could sense that Reece didn't have the stable mana of A Rank Hunter.
Using mana gem was important to breakthrough, but it had its own downsides. That was the period of time it took to stabilize that mana into your mana core perfectly.
Right now, some of the mana was being wasted, so Reece wasn't a true A Rank Hunter, and at best, both Jayden and Reece were at the earliest stage of stepping to A Rank.
The Referee stood beyond the barrier that covered Kiara and Reece and the whole stage.
"3...2...1...Start!" The Referee said out loud as both Kiara and Reece disappeared from their places.
They appeared in the air. Kiara swirled in the air and struck Reece, who simply flicked his wrist to counter Kiara's strike.
Before coming to the ground, their sword met each other 17 times, making huge impact forces that could be felt through the vibrations that made their way past the barrier.
Students could feel the strength behind each of these strikes, and it was a completely new experience for the first-year students.
They couldn't even see the movements that Kiara and Reece were making; only the moment they would stop for half a second when their swords connected was the time they could see them.
"No wonder they changed the whole barrier," Damian muttered.He could feel the vibration of mana that was being produced by the clash of the aura of two A Rank Hunters.
"Not bad. She carries the fierce personality of the Everett Head," Dalton spoke.
"But Williams Hier also knows what he is doing," Dexter replied.
"The young generation seems more fierce this time around," Dexter said.
The last time such a thing happened was when Arthur and David were in World Academy.
BAM!
A huge aura clash erupted as Kiara's hair fluttered in the air, and her sword was pushing Reece.
Kiara was going all out from the start.
There was no need to rely on tricks to face Reece or Jayden because she knew how both of them fought.
It was useless for her to stretch the fight unnecessarily.
Despite her personality, Kiara often tried to stay out of unwanted trouble.
And that was why she wasn't serious about winning this match.
Although winning would have been nice, it wasn't worth the trouble going against someone crazy like Jayden and Reece.
Both of them were obsessed with winning this match, and Kiara had heard about it.
Jayden's reasons were clear, but she didn't know why Reece was trying so hard to take Rank 1.
The aura around Kiara started getting brighter as Reece pushed Kiara's sword back.
"They are not using any Sword Techniques," Damian noticed as he looked at Asher, whose eyes were glowing.
Asher was currently using his mana to improve his eyesight to check the movements of both Kiara and Reece.
Some of them were missed, but Asher could still see them move around.
Damian knew about the technique Asher was using, but he couldn't do it as it required extreme mana control.
BAM!
BAM!
Even without seeing Kiara and Reece, they could feel the blow they were exchanging.
Each time those two swords would collide, the mana would vibrate around them.
"It seems you have gotten sharper," Reece said as he brought his sword down.
Reece noticed Kiara's movement, and he had studied Everett's family's sword art.
But Kiara's strength was the way she could shift her style to a more rogue one.
It threw people off, and even someone like Jayden acknowledged that Kiara Everett was a tricky opponent to fight.
"That girl is not serious about it," Xarax muttered as he noticed it.
"Tch, no wonder they don't have a SSS Rank Hunter," Xarax mocked Halcyon, but nobody commented on it.
Hargrave Family only respected the strong, so Xarax disliked anybody who didn't try their best to win a fight regardless of their chances.
Normally, in a fight between A Rank Hunters, especially between weapon users, there was a lot of time, and people would show opening intentionally.
And this is what Reece was doing right now, but Kiara had no interest in punishing Reece for it.
The chances of winning favored Reece heavily, so he was making Kiara rush for a move that could guarantee her win, but she wasn't taking the bait.