Ch. 33 - Murder

William felt powerless for once in his life -- the path to becoming a mage has left countless scars in his heart, and he felt broken, "Adam... are you even human? Don't you feel anything?"

Adam smirked sarcastically, "There is no reason for me to feel pity over Randy -- I can become a mage on my own. No other mage here became a mage from relying on the strength of others."

William was at a loss, "Randy was our friend! We're weak, we need to stick together to protect each other, look-"

Adam interrupted him, "Let me correct you with something."

"What is it?"

"The weak are all of you, not me. I already told you back on the ship that this pitiful alliance was meaningless and it still is. The weak die and the strong survive. Understand?"

Ophelia couldn't bear to hear him anymore, "But you are from the same country as us! No matter how strong you are, to those bullies, you are weak too! Sooner or later, they'll come for you, and we won't be there to help you!"

Adam became frustrated with them, and shouted, "Don't you understand?! You take this alliance too seriously and you take the words of others to heart -- don't you think it's stupid to listen to the worthless opinions of others? I am strong enough to defend myself and it sounds like all of you want to use me."

Adam's words pierced through their fragile self-esteem -- William stumbled backwards; Ophelia was red with anger. Crystal frowned, but remained silent. Crystal knew that Adam was right.

Quentin's emotions got the better of him and he immediately shot a fireball towards Adam.

Elliot's eyes widened -- although duels were allowed in the Academy, unprovoked attacks like these were punishable by death.

William, Ophelia and Crystal stared in horror and shouted, "Wait! Adam stop! Don't kill him!"

But their words fell on deaf ears -- the fireball was immediately quelled by a water shield, and with a single push, the curtain condensed into a water arrow, piercing through Quentin's head cleanly.

Elliot's eyes flashed with admiration -- Adam was strong enough to have versatility in his spells. The water arrow dissipated immediately after it killed Quentin, conserving his own mental strength. This is something that most senior apprentices were unable to do.

Ophelia and William could only stare at Quentin's corpse, and Ophelia could only burst out in anger, "You are a monster! Don't you feel any sense of remorse? You- you killed him!"

Crystal pursed her lips, holding Ophelia back, "Ophelia... enough."

Ophelia stared at her in disbelief, "Crystal... what...?"

Crystal hid her face from Ophelia, "Adam is right." She let go of Ophelia and stared at Adam yearningly, then left without looking back.

Elliot approached Adam and sneered at him, "You're as heartless as a mage -- that little girl was hurt by what you said."

Adam glanced at him, "Whatever."

"Don't worry about it Adam. We have millions of potential apprentices, anyways. By the way, are you still trying to help James? I don't think it's worth it."

Adam frowned at Elliot, "I'm about to succeed."

Elliot shrugged, "Okay, okay, I get it, you're about to reach a breakthrough, you already told me." He raised his hands in mock surrender, but quickly said, "Adam, looks like you got company."

Adam could see Sean and his companions blocking his path.

Sean's victory over Randy earlier made him arrogant and prideful, and said in a condescending tone, "Are you Adam?"

Howard frowned. He knew that Adam wasn't as simple as he looked, but he didn't stop Sean.

They didn't know that Adam had just committed murder.

Adam was rarely bothered, but the events of today, particularly his former companions bothering him, made him incredibly irritable.

Two of Sean's companions stepped in front of Adam, trying to size him up, "Speak when you're spoken to! Didn't you hear Sean?"

Sean grinned. He felt powerful.

Adam simply turned to Elliot and asked, "Will I get in trouble for killing them?"

Elliot was stunned, but replied, "Somewhat. They are considered the property of the academy, so you need to compensate for their deaths -- five hundred power stones for one death." Elliot didn't really tell the truth though. He only stated those prices to discourage Adam from killing anymore people.

Adam thought about it seriously, though. He got about 2,000 units of power stones, and he can get another 1,000 soon. If he succeeds in his experiment, then he will be rewarded greatly. Killing them wouldn't matter.

Adam faced the group and announced, "Get out of my way or die. This is your last warning." Adam wanted to avoid conflict if he could, since he still needed those power stones.

Sean's group was stunned -- they all thought Adam was looking for death, "You want to fight... all five of us? You'll need permission to get into a duel!"

Adam turned to Elliot again.

Elliot was helpless but muttered anyway, "Permission granted, but..."

Before Elliot could finish, Adam conjured an orb of wind immediately.

The strong gusts of winds pushed the surrounding crowd away, and he condensed this wind into a blade of wind -- he slashed at the two people standing in front of him, forcing them to retreat; Adam then stretched a finger to the sky, and rained fire upon them.

A one-on-five duel that he was winning.

Elliot was startled, and casted a shield to block the fire over him, "Are you trying to kill me too?!"

Adam swiped his left hand, using the wind to guide the rain of fire showering upon Sean's companions -- Elliot grinned, he was ecstatic seeing Adam grasp the concept of compound magic.

Sean's group huddled together in shock, refusing to believe that Adam would immediately attack them.

Death waits for no one -- the five casted their magic to shield themselves, but Adam far surpassed them in power. Their blood evaporated as they melted into ash, and Sean didn't even know what had hit him before he died.

Howard was the only one left standing.

In the face of Adam's magic, he casted four defensive magics one after another, but Adam simply shot out a spray of fire from his finger.

His shields melted into goo, and Howard was pale, "Let me go! Don't kill me! I didn't start this please!"

His heart cursed Sean for starting a fight and he couldn't understand why he had to die for Sean's sins.

Adam didn't even hesitate, he roasted Howard into human jerky before conjuring a rock to crush Howard.

Adam turned to Elliot, "You were saying?"

Elliot's forehead was painted with cold sweat.

"You need to go to the arena to duel, or you'll have to compensate for the damages- whatever. It's not worth that much anyways."

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