Chapter 110: Killing the Manticore

"Winner of the first round! With 6 wins to 2! FARADAY UNIVERSITY!!"

The crowd cheered excitedly, Faraday University is the favorite so their victory makes more than half of the crowd crazy.

The day is already noon, the crowd is still energized.

It's not an everyday thing where a tournament of Awakened was held.

The announcer then points to the gates beside each of the representatives, the gates are made of steel that is imbued with protection runes and enhancement.

"For the next round! Our contestants will fight creatures that bring terror to humanity!"

While the announcer was hyping the crowd for the second round, Rex glance at the gates.

He can feel an ominous power behind it, "Are we going straight to round two?", he asks Hera.

"Yes, I can't be inside the Arena. Remember the plan, and good luck!", she said before she left the Arena under the other's gaze.

After she left, the announcer shouted, "The first one to kill their Supernatural win, OPEN THE GATES!!"

RATTLE!

The sound of chains follow by the gates opening reverberated through the Ring of Tenacity, it makes the crowd quietened down as everyone felt the bone-chilling aura from the gates.

Both universities will fight their Supernatural at the same time.

Ochyra University will fight a peak rank four Manticore, while Faraday University will be fighting a peak rank four Mummy.

"Get in position! Earth Elementalist stand on vanguard!", Rex command.

Hearing this, Brock and another guy went to the front with two big shields in their hands.

The sand breeze kisses their feet as they wait for the Manticore they were supposed to fight, it makes everyone's throat go dry.

From inside the gates, two red dots suddenly appeared.

It glared at each of Ochyra University's representatives aggressively, everyone except for Rex and Adhara steps back unconsciously.

Thud!

Thud!

The Manticore walks out slowly revealing its entire body.

The light shone down on the Manticore's body revealing a huge creature with razor-sharp fangs. Its body and head are that of a lion, its tail is a snake that coils behind him with bat wings on its back.

ROAR!!!

It roared menacingly vibrating the air around it.

From that roar alone, many normal people in the crowd started to tremble in fear.

Manticore is a Supernatural that is responsible for the destruction in five major cities across all countries during the Emergence of Supernatural.

Their kill count reaches millions of people, it is a living terror.

Rex's eyes glister, he checks the Manticore's stats.

<kai></kai>

Race: Infant Manticore - Lion

Power: Rank Four(Peak) - Fire

Mental: 75

Strength: 97

Agility: 80

Endurance: 121

Intelligence: 0

Seeing this, Rex nodded his head.

The Manticore's stats are somewhat in his expectation, he knows that Manticore is a durable Supernatural.

But then, his eyes caught something, 'Lion? Don't tell me'

Rex glance at the Manticore's tail as his eyes glister,

<rai></rai>

Race: Infant Manticore - Snake

Power: Rank Four(Early) - Lightning

Mental: 50

Strength: 71

Agility: 95

Endurance: 47

Intelligence: 0

The Manticore is a mix between beasts, Rex knows this.

But what he didn't expect is that each of these beasts has its own consciousness, which makes them able to react independently.

It's like fighting two Supernatural at the same time.

'Shit, then the plan will not work', Rex thought.

He then shouted, "The Lion and the Snake each have their own consciousness, we can't use diversion to aim for its tail!"

Hearing this, the others were shocked.

But before they can even snap out of their daze, 

ROAR!!

The Manticore opened its fiery huge mouth, it started to flap its wings away before suddenly,

SWOOSH!

It spat out fire breath that engulfs the entire arena, it lit up the sky as if a sun coming towards them.

"Basic Spell! Wall of Earth!"

"Basic Spell! Bubble!"

Both Earth Elementalist created an earth wall that enveloped the others before a bubble cover the earth wall adding an extra layer of protection.

The fire evaporates the bubble as it hits the earth wall.

The heat coming from the fire turns the water bubble into steam.

Its fire breath is so hot that makes the others sweat inside the earth wall, it was so powerful that the earth wall almost instantly crumbles.

Looking at this, Rex gritted his teeth.

He activates his force to envelope his body,

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After seeing the notifications, Rex slammed his body to the earth wall side creating a hole in it.

"Cover me!", Rex shouted before he jumped towards the Manticore.

His legs bulge with muscle as he propels himself upwards, it makes all of the crowd gasp in shock seeing Rex jumped so high without even using any mana.

Seeing this, the Manticore flapped its wings away before it sent a fire breath towards Rex.

"Sakhmet Tattoo!", a red woman figure that looks astral appeared on Rex's side, it caresses Rex's head before it turns into a red tattoo on his wrist.

Evelyn looks at Rex in shock, 'What is that? Is he going to tank a Manticore's fire breath like that'

SWOOSH!

The fire breath hits Rex directly, it engulfs Rex's body in flame.

The crowd gasps in shock, they can't even imagine themselves being hit by that fire breath. They will instantly get vaporized if they got hit by it.

But then, something shocking happened.

Rex's arms are burn but he still has the momentum towards the Manticore, it was a shocking scene.

"What?! The fire breath didn't manage to push him back?", Bennie shouted amongst the crowd. Beside him is Trevor who is also opening his mouth in shock.

The principal of Faraday University on the third floor also saw this, his eyes widened for a second before they went back to normal. He rubs his chins in thought while looking at Rex fighting the Manticore.

The others didn't sit idle, all of them attacked the Manticore with each of their respective spells hitting the Manticore from all sides.

ROAR!!

Some of them hit the Manticore but it did little to nothing.

Rex arrived in front of the Manticore before his eyes flashes, "Force Beam!!"

SLASH!

Rex uses his new sword to use his Force Beam skill, a white energy slash with black lightning current enveloping it shot towards the Manticore.

In the nick of the moment,

BOOM!

The snake tail of the Manticore suddenly shot out colliding with the Force Beam, it was so fast that it happened in a blink of an eye.

It immediately destroyed the Force Beam upon colliding.

Seeing this, Rex was shocked as he falls down.

He looks back at the Manticore who is still flying, 'The snake has Lightning Resistance but it seems it cannot completely nullify it', Rex thought.

The snake's skin got charred, it looks like it got hurt by the Force Beam.

"Keep bombarding it with spells, we need to cut off its wings", Rex shouted, the Manticore kept on flying.

Earth Elementalist on their team becomes ineffective because of this.

Meanwhile on the other side,

Faraday University was overwhelmed by the Mummy they fought.

The terrain of the Arena is made of sand, it gives the Mummy a huge terrain advantage against them.

Every time they attack the Mummy, it turns into sand.

The Mummy's movement is fast that almost none of Faraday University's attacks landed on it.

It hovers around like a ghost sending swarm of rank three insects to attack, it was chaos that even Kevin himself was struggling.

Although Mummy is very weak against Fire, they forget to take into account the terrain.

Faraday University has five Fire Elementalist, which seems to be a perfect match for them but they underestimated the Mummy's agile movement and high intelligence.

Because of its high intelligence, the Mummy knows its own weakness clearly making it a harder Supernatural to fight.

The Manticore, on the other hand, has only an animalistic intelligence.

Its head was filled to kill the opponents in front of it, it doesn't aware of its own weakness especially because it's still only an infant.

"Wind Enhancement!", Rosie chanted as wind hovers on Rex's legs.

Rex can feel his body becomes lighter, "When I attack it, aim for the snake!", Rex said before he bolted towards the Manticore.

He knows that he can't dodge the snake if it decided to attack him, it was too fast for him to react even with his unbelievable reflex.

The crowd notices his increased speed which makes it hard for normal people to see.

Black electricity ran rampant around Rex's body, it also got enhanced by the sword he wields making it almost double in power.

Rex jumped towards the Manticore fiercely.

This time, the Manticore flapped its wings away trying to avoid Rex because of the exchange before.

Seeing this, Rex smirks, "Flash!"

BLITZ!

Rex's speed becomes even faster as he jumped towards the Manticore again, it caught the Manticore off guard.

It was shocked by the sudden change in direction.

The Lion opens its mouth intending to burn Rex with its fire breath, 

Rex puts his arms in front of him again to block but then suddenly, his hands started to be enveloped by rocks.

"Basic Spell! Rock Armor!", Brock chanted.

Seeing this, Rex's smile fiercely.

The Manticore reacts fast, it knows that its fire breath does little to nothing before and will be ineffective with the rock armor on.

The snake's eyes turn blue, it seems it wanted to block Rex's attacks again but suddenly.

BOOM!

It got hit by fire scimitars from behind, 

Adhara's spell burns the snake's back, it makes it hiss in pain as it glare at Adhara.

Because both the Lion and the Snake got distracted by Rex's threatening attack, Adhara manage to land a hit on the Snake's back.

SLASH!

Then a wind slash followed by other spells attacked the snake, it wails left and right trying to dodge the spells.

This makes the snake got distracted, "Force Beam!"

SLASH!!

ROARR!!!

Rex manages to bypass the Lion with his Flash skill before he cuts off the Manticore's wings cleanly, the sword borrowed from Evelyn helped him cut the Manticore's wings despite its high endurance.

Blood started to burst from it painting the ground in red as it falls down from the sky.

BOOM!

The ground trembled as a web-like crack appeared because of the Manticore.

The crowd went crazy when they saw the Manticore fall down brutally, Ochyra University's team was on the verge of killing it.

"Trap it now!!"

The Earth and Water Elementalist chanted as they trapped the Manticore.

Water tentacles gripped each of the Manticore's limbs before rocks entangled its body pinning it down in place.

ROAR!!

The Manticore wails around trying to break free, it sent a fire breath to the surrounding chaotically.

Adhara and another Fire Elementalist create a fire barrier to block the attack, but it's still too strong for them.

"ARGHH!"

Some of the Ochyra University team got charred because of the fire, the water tentacles, and the rocks entangling the Manticore got weakened.

Seeing this, Adhara chanted, "Fire Schimitars!"

SWOOSH!

Twenty plus Fire Schimitars stabbed all of the Manticore's limbs, it pinned down the snake but it didn't manage to pierce the lion's skin.

Then suddenly, the Manticore's body burns in flame.

Rex saw the orb on its tail moves from its tail towards the Manticore's mouth, 'What is it going to do?'

ROAR!!

The Manticore's mouth turned fiery red as it raises the arena's temperature into scorching hot, Rex can feel the immense energy the Manticore emits that is way stronger than before.

It emits a fire around its body making everyone felt their skins boil upon nearing it, it looks like it will explode!

"No you don't!!", Rex dashes towards the Manticore.

The Manticore's red eyes glance at Rex before suddenly, "Alpha Intimidation!"

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After Rex successfully uses Alpha Intimidation, Rex dashes towards the Manticore with a black lightning current blitzing on his sword.

He can feel his body scorched in flame, if it's not for his fire resistance he probably will melt.

SLASH!

Rex slashes his swords destroying the orb in its mouth.

Roar!

Right after the orb got destroyed, the Manticore stumbles backward as it roared weakly. The orb is essential for it, destroying the orb makes the Manticore weakened.

"NOW!!"

All the others that are still able to fight chanted fiercely, their auras blaze with their respective elements.

STAB!!

Earth Spike, Fire Schimitars, Wind Slash, and many other spells stab throughout the Manticore, its weakened state makes it easy to pierce its skin.

"This is it!", Rex uses flash to approach the Manticore.

Kevin on the side was shocked, he heard the sound of cheering and the weak roar of the Manticore.

He looks at his side before he gritted his teeth, "Burn these insects! I'm going to finish this!", he shouted in anger.

Faraday University's team nodded their heads.

Kevin recklessly jumped skip the insects as his teammates burn the insects approaching him, he was aiming for the Mummy.

Seeing this, the Mummy points its rotten fingers towards Kevin.

The terrain suddenly got engulfed by sand storm making Kevin stopped on his track, many insects swarm him from the surrounding.

'I can't lose! Do I have to use it?!', he thought desperately, his legs got sucked by the sand.

Kevin waves his fiery sword creating a fire vortex every time he slashes his sword, it charred every insect approaching him but the insects seem endless.

His eyes bulged in anger, 'I don't have enough time even if I use it, Damn it!'

Just as the insects got closer to him, it suddenly stopped alongside the sand storm.

Rex waves the bloodied sword in his hand, the Manticore's blood painted the sand around him.

The black lightning flashes around as he waves his swords, he then flicks the sword before putting it back in the scabbard.

Click!

"WINNER! OCHYRA UNIVERSITY!!"

Hearing the announcer, the crowd burst in cheers and excitement.

The Manticore's head got slashed off by Rex, its big bloodied head roll on the ground.

Rosie's parents from the second floor also jumped from their seats, they were happy and shocked seeing Rex showing off his powers.

Ochyra University wins the second round even though their opponent is a Manticore.

Hera jumped in joy, she still can't believe that Ochyra University manages to win against the notorious Blazing Lion of Faraday University, Kevin Luc.

"Evelyn, is that your sword?", Evelyn's mother beside her asks.

Hearing this, her father also asks with a shocked expression, "Why did you give him that? Kevin lost because of that"

"Mom, Dad, It's good for Kevin to experience a loss. He's too prideful these days", Evelyn said.

Although she looks innocent, a smirk appeared on her face when she turns her head away from her parents, 'Rex Silverstar, What an amusing guy'