Rise of the Crusader

"40,089, Limitless swordsmanship!" Sylvia said.

There was complete silence in the training ground after she had spoken, as everyone, including Raphael, was staring at her.

After a few seconds, the voice of the silver-haired woman on the stage rang out. "Why don't you show us what it means to be limitless in the sword path." The woman said.

Sylvia tightened her grip on the katana when she heard the woman, she then unsheathed the katana from its scabbard, only to put it back in afterward.

"Sayonara…" With that said, Sylvia began walking toward the other side.

It all happened so fast that no one could process what exactly she had done, but the moment they moved their eyes past Sylvia and stared back at the silver-haired woman who was on the stage, their mouth opened slightly.

"Y-You…"

One of the students exclaimed as he stared at the silver-haired woman who was on the stage.

The woman's eyes twitched, and her eyebrows furrowed, when she saw how the students were staring at her, even her colleagues who were beside her were staring at her with shock evident in their eyes.

"Is something on my face?" She couldn't help but ask.

And in response to her, the muscular man shook his head, he then gulped before saying, "It's… Your hair." The man stammered because he knew that if the woman were to realize what happened to her hair, she was going to freak out.

The woman raised an eyebrow when she heard the muscular man, "What happened to my…" As she spoke, she rubbed her hand across her hair and discerning that her hair which formerly reached down to the middle of her back, was now shortened into a hime-cut her body shook violently.

"Ahhhhh!!!!" The woman yelled at the top of her voice, and it didn't take much longer until she realized that it was Sylvia who must have cut her hair when she unsheathed the katana.

"Y-You…" She stuttered, pointing her finger at Sylvia, who, however, had her hands placed behind her back.

"To be quite fair, it's your fault, You shouldn't have told her to demonstrate what she was capable of when you knew her.

The woman glared at the muscular man, if looks could kill them without a single doubt, the man would have died over and over again, from the way the woman was glaring at him.

"Ah-Ahem… Raphael, it's your turn." Seeing the deathly stare the woman was staring at him with, the man quickly averted his eyes from the woman and turned toward Raphael.

Raphael had been staring at Sylvia when he heard the man. "30, 400, Absolute decay," Raphael said.

There was a bit of shock from the students when they heard Raphael, as they had assumed his rank would be quite higher than that. However, they chose not to think too much about it, because of the powers which he possessed.

"Hmm, I suggest you work on your defense more, even though your powers are appalling, against a metahuman with long-range powers, you would be rendered shitless." The lean man on the stage said decisively.

"The battle against Adrian for instance, if Adrian was much smarter, he should have been able to defeat you in the first battle. His biggest mistake was allowing you to move close to him, which is why I say close range, there would hardly be anyone who would want to fight you, but at a long-range, you wouldn't be all that great."

"While the strongest attack is indeed the best defense, it doesn't mean one shouldn't raise his guard."

Raphael listened attentively when he heard the lean man, though he was well aware of his flaws, it wasn't a terrible thing hearing others tutor him about it.

After all, no one is above learning.

When the lean man went quiet, the voice of the muscular man rang out. "It's just like he said, focus more on your defense, if both attack and defense are top notches, then I see you going into higher places, kid." The muscular man said.

Raphael nodded his head, he then walked over to the other side. He had to admit that what the two of them said was indeed true, he would dominate any close-range attack, so a meta-human who is aware of what power he possessed wouldn't choose to engage in that sort of battle with him.

Except if, there were very confident in defeating him in a close-range battle, the majority, however, would choose to engage in a long-range battle with him.

"What do you think?" Devon mumbled a few seconds after Raphael arrived close to him.

"About what?" Raphael asked.

"You know, the students and all"

As Devon spoke to Raphael, Raphael could see three girls staring at him, but when he turned towards them, they quickly moved their eyes away. His eyebrows furrowed, before he then towards Devon, and said. "Good, good, good, good!" Raphael replied.

"It's Aiden, Martha, and Bane's turn!"

Raphael stared at the trio who were in front of the teachers. Raphael had already seen what Aiden and Bane's powers were, so he wasn't all that surprised, but what brought an astonishing look to his face was the girl who was beside them.

The ability to foresee the possible future and observe what might occur.

As the trio displayed what their power was capable of, and they moved to the other side, Raphael's eyes followed the girl, and even when she stood a few meters away, he still kept staring at her.

It was only after when Devon tapped him on the shoulder that he stopped looking at her. "Martha Silas. Her power makes her the most astounding and precious student in the elite division." Devon said.

Devon didn't find anything weird in how Raphael had been staring at her, as even he was surprised when he first learned about her powers.

"I agree to that," Raphael muttered.

With the power which Martha possessed, there was no doubt that the academy was going to treat her very differently. To Raphael that power was worth praise, as it could extend to the length to perceive who was going to die or when their death would occur.

There were so many things.

Suddenly, Raphael began looking at the students in the training ground, before he then said, "There are 19 students here including me, I thought you said they are 21 students in the year-1 elite division, so where are the remaining two."

"Oh, you mean Dwayne and Aliyah," Devon responded. He was about to speak when two figures walked into the training ground. "Speak of the devil!!" Devon exclaimed when he saw the duo that just arrived.

The two figures who had just entered the training ground were none other than Dwayne and Aliyah.

Dwayne was a teenager of average height, lean build with messy blue hair. He has a small black eye, long lower eyelashes, small eyebrows, and a simply remarkable face.

Staring at a teenager who was holding on to a black bow and a quiver which was filled with arrows at his back, Raphael's eyebrows furrowed. "He is strong," Raphael mumbled in a voice.

"Very strong," It was Aiden that spoke. "In the entrance exam, Dwayne came out second in the whole academy," Aiden said.

"Who came first?!" Raphael said.

"Aliyah," Devon replied.

Walking behind Dwayne was a woman of voluptuous build, gold eyes, and long wavy white hair. She was putting on a sleeveless, black-less, short white dress.

"She's beautiful right?" Devon said, then frowned deeply, "Raphael, do not make the mistake of ever going to that woman." Devon paused, as he saw the odd look on Raphael's face, and he said. "She is a monster!" Devon exclaimed.

Raphael turned toward Aiden and Bane, and he was just as surprised to see that they had horrified expressions on their face when they saw that girl. It was like she was someone that they dreaded the most.

"It's good that the both of you have finally returned," The silver-haired woman who had a deep frown on her face the whole time smiled when she saw the duo in front of her.

Dwayne and Aliyah, however, had a neutral expression on their faces, as they stood in front of the teachers.

Suddenly, about seven tennis balls appeared in the hand of the lean man. He threw the balls forward, then said, "Let's see how much you have improved so far, Dwayne."

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

It was barely up to ten seconds after the lean man spoke, and Dwayne pierced through the seven tennis balls he threw, with the arrows on his back. After the seven of them were embedded by his arrows and stuck at the wall, Dwayne lowered the black bow in his hand.

"Astounding isn't it," Devon said, and in response, Raphael slightly nodded his head. "That's just half of it, it isn't done yet."

BOOM!

A second after Devon spoke, and the tennis balls which were stuck on the wall exploded. The balls were scattered into several pieces. However, the arrows remained there.

"Apart from having an extraordinary proficiency with bow and arrow than what it is necessarily possible, he can create and manipulate explosion, making every shot he fires with his arrows to be explosive," Devon said.

Raphael raised an eyebrow as he then stared at Dwayne. He soon flashed a light smile, and then said, "What about her?!"

"Trust me, Raphael, her power is something you do not want to know," Devon replied the instant he heard Raphael. "So, don't move close to her, or even have anything to do with her."

"Hmm"

On the stage, after Dwayne's performance, the three teachers only said a couple of words to him, before they turned toward Aliyah. It came as much surprise to Raphael that after Aliyah stated her power rank, she moved to the other side, and the three teachers didn't question her.

They simply let her go, which even made Raphael more curious about what her power was, that even the teachers who were on the stage chose to act that way.

"I think that's going to be all! Have a wonderful week, and I do hope you do not get killed. We will meet in the next class." It was the muscular man that spoke.

With that said, the students walked out of the training ground.

A few seconds after they had left, the voice of the lean man sounded, "Aliyah, isn't it?"

"Yes, that girl gives me the creep." The muscular man responded, then heaved a deep breath.

While the silver-haired woman's attention was on her hair, she still nodded her head, when the muscular man spoke.

"A power like that shouldn't exist"