Chapter 178 – Authority (1)

Nicole stood frozen at her place… She thought she would never see the horrifying face of Ashton ever again. At least while she was still attending the academy. But she was wrong… and so were the other noble-tards, who thought with Ashton removed from the campus, they could do whatever they wanted.

On top of that, none of them could still believe what they were seeing. Both the first years and second years had seen what the man standing in front of them was capable of and didn't want to upset him. Let alone fight against him.

"Are you going to keep standing there like a bunch of fools or attack me?" Ashton asked the crowd while flexing his shoulders, "You outnumber me 50 to 1, it's already a handicap, isn't it? Just come at me together, what's the worse I could do to you?"

All of them nervously looked at Nicole to tell them what to do, after all, she was their 'leader'. But she was as flabbergasted as the rest of them. However, the look on her face changed the following moment.

"What the hell are you fools waiting for? Get him!!!" Nicole roared at the top of her lungs and her followers charged towards Ashton… albeit hesitantly.

However, Ashton wasn't gonna hold back just because they were hesitant. He had been craving for an opportunity like this to beat those bastards senseless, and now with Jonathan's backing, he could do it without sparing a second thought to it.

A fight broke out immediately.

As the students rushed towards him, Ashton immediately activated his less-lethal skills. As much as he wanted to kill them all, there already had been too much blood-shed in the last couple of weeks and for the first time, Ashton thought about fighting defensively against the students.

With the sharp edge of his whip, he slashed their weapons in half. While also knocking over those who were a bit too close for comfort. Seeing that the fight had already broken out, Anna decided to join in with her flames.

"Don't! Just stay back and relax. Their asses are mine for the taking."

Not only did Ashton's whip slice their weapons in half, but also their morale. Most of them backed off after that, but some didn't. Five second-year students simultaneously lunged at him. Since all of them were brawlers, thus they preferred close-quarter combat.

It seemed they either didn't know or had forgotten that Ashton preferred close combat as well. With whatever little bit of mana they could control, began swirling around their fists as they came crashing down on Ashton.

*Bang!*

With a loud noise, the already shattered courtyard got destroyed even further with debris flying around and hitting everyone. Everyone but the person the attack was supposed to hit. Ashton had dodged their half-assed attack by simply leaping over them.

"I guess you people can't even manage to execute [Rock Pound] properly, so much for being seniors…" Ashton shook his head.

"How do you know what skill we used?" One of the seniors was baffled a first-year dropout knew about a skill they had to buy at a hefty price.

"Why don't I show you instead?" Ashton smirked and slammed his fists on the ground.

Since his opponents did not have immunity to physical attacks like the Wraith wolves Ashton had previously used the skill on, he had to tone the skill's effect down quite a bit. But it was still effective… much to the seniors' dismay.

In an instant, countless bones in their bodies got shattered. Their legs had become useless as they had been gobbled up by the earth. After fighting with night creatures for more than a couple of months, handling the students was a piece of cake for Ashton. Still, he tried not to get too much in the flow and end up killing a couple of them.

"This should be enough," Ashton mumbled but was interrupted as an arrow whizzed past his head, "I guess not."

***

'What is going on here…' Anna couldn't help but wonder, 'Fifty against one and they are still losing? What's up with that brutish strength of Ashton's? He was strong before but now… it seems he's in an entirely different league.'

Anna had the front row seat to watch the drama unfold as Ashton destroyed Nicole's gang. Hell, it couldn't even be called a fight anymore, it had turned into a one-sided massacre.

Not only Ashton's strength, his battle prowess and his presence of mind had also evolved. Since there were people who were unwilling to fight him, he purposefully made a mistake every now and then to lure them into attacking him.

And since all of the students were so desperately wanted Nicole's approval, they immediately jumped ahead at the first opportunity. Only to get knocked out a moment later. One would think the cult members would stop falling for the same trick again and again, but nope, they didn't.

In just a couple of minutes, their number was reduced from 50 to 30, then to 20. As their numbers went down, it also became harder for them to fight him and unlike them, Ashton did not have a single wound on his body.

Within moments the few people who were still standing surrendered themselves in hopes of mercy. At the same time, the professors finally arrived to check what was the ruckus all about. They were pretty sure that yet another student would have to spend some time in the infirmary.

One could only imagine the look of shock on their face when they realised that not one but over forty students would have to receive medical attention there. But their shocked eyes only got wider when they realised who did this to them.

"What are you doing here? You are not allowed to-"

The familiar voice of Amaira was heard. But Ashton immediately brought a finger to his lips, gesturing her to shut up, before heading towards Nicole.

"If I wanted, I could have killed you all and no one would be able to do shit about it." Ashton's voice was calm yet the cold fury in his eyes made Nicole drop on her knees, "But don't worry about dying yet. I'm going to make your life so miserable, you'll beg for me to kill you."

At this time the final guest arrived at the destroyed courtyard. Michelle Bismark, Jonathan's beloved daughter.

"I see you already made a mess upon arrival." she stated in an uncaring tone, "Father had told you you were coming here to take care of this… issue, but I guess you arrived sooner than I expected."

"What can I say? Someone had to keep their raging hormones under control, princess." He then turned towards the professors, "Judging by their late response… it's no wonder situation got out of hand."

While the two of them conversed, the professors were confused. Since when did the two of them were on such good terms and what did the princess mean when she said 'The king' has sent him To the academy? Amaira immediately voiced those questions and Michelle's response surprised them all.

"I think you already know why he was sent here.. He's the baronet father had mentioned dispatching to establish order here once again," Michelle stood in front of Ashton before formally introducing him, "I would like to introduce to you, Baronet Ashton Bismark, the youngest person to have ever been given a title above Knights."