Chapter 43: Brand New Dynamics

For a moment, nobody in the arena seemed to move even a muscle, not even a twitch.

Two totally brand new figures stood beside Leon, both undead.

They were lean compared to the towering Skeleton Swordsman, with their bodies wrapped in worn desert clothing with no armour. Their empty faces half wrapped showed nothing, but their bodies were already positioned naturally, each one standing at a slightly different angle.

Leon lowered his hands slowly. Anyone could tell he was being dramatic on purpose, sicne he didn’t need to raise his hand to bring out his summons.

’This should make things easier.’ He said in his mind.

He had kept the two Desert Skirmishers hidden until now for a reason. There was no point showing everything he could do when nobody had forced him to.

The Skeleton Swordsman was already being pushed back, and Leon could see that the situation would only get worse if he continued fighting two against one.

Now the numbers had changed, and three undead stood between Leon and Aaron.

Once everything seemed to settle, the arena finally erupted.

"What the hell?!!!"

"He has three summons???! WHAT???"

"Since when can he summon more than one??"

"Wasn’t his summon supposed to be a Grade 1 Skeleton Warrior?"

"That’s not a Skeleton Warrior! Those things look different!"

The voices from the stands blended together as students stood and leaned over the railings to get a better look, almost everyone, if not all, were on their feet.

Leon barely paid attention, as his eyes stayed on Aaron.

Aaron hadn’t moved either. He stared at the three undead standing across from him, then slowly looked back toward Leon.

For the first time since the match started, his expression changed.

Leon could see the surprise all over his face before it subsided a bit.

’I knew something was off about him.’ Aaron thought to himself.

Aaron had suspected it from the beginning. Leon had been too calm, his summon had been too strong, and even Leon himself had fought differently from what his official record suggested; but Aaron had assumed there was another explanation.

He had been thinking towards the possibility that perhaps Leon had awakened some unusual trait, or perhaps his strength had just simply been underestimated, he hadn’t considered this.

’Three summons.’ He said in his mind.

Aaron looked toward his own Python. The creature remained beside him, its body lowered and ready to attack.

’So this is what he was hiding. Luckily, the death energy doesn’t affect us much.’ He thought to himself, ready to attack.

Across the arena, Leon gave the three undead a simple command. "Don’t give them room."

The Skeleton Swordsman moved immediately, and the Desert Skirmishers followed behind, flanking on both sides.

Aaron reacted at the same time. "Go!"

As though it had been waiting for that very command, the Python rushed forward with him.

Now, the Swordsman no longer had to handle both targets alone. Accelerating past the swordsman, showing superior speed, one Skirmisher intercepted the Python while the other moved toward Aaron, forcing both of them to deal with separate opponents.

Aaron blocked a slash and immediately countered, but the Skirmisher slipped past his attack and came at him from another angle. He avoided the curved blade and moved toward its exposed side, only to find the Skeleton Swordsman closing in from behind.

Aaron had to abandon the attack and retreat, experiencing the same thing he and his Python had done to the Swordsman all the while.

The Python tried to take advantage of the opening, but the other Skirmisher was already on it.

Steel and scales as hard as steel collided across the arena as the four fighters moved around one another.

For the first time, Aaron and the Python were no longer controlling the pace, instead, they were reacting.

That very fact was as clear as day to all who were atching.

Mason stared at the battlefield, still fascinated it seemed.

"Three." He said, almost to himself.

"Three." Darwit nodded.

"That doesn’t even make any sense."

"Well, open your eyes and see."

Mason watched Leon standing behind his summons.

"How much energy do you think that’s taking?"

Darwit didn’t answer immediately as he too wondered the same thing. Maintaining a summon took Spirit Energy, which was insanely hard to grow even after years, which meant Summoners had most of their limits set at the period of their awakening.

"That depends on the rules of his ability. If those summons consume his energy directly, maintaining three at once should be extremely difficult."

"And if it doesn’t?"

Darwit glanced toward him. "You’re also an instructor, why ask me?"

"And what do you mean by rules of his ability?" Mason questioned, but didn’t get any further reply.

Back on the battlefield, the fight continued.

Instead of allowing the Python to chase whichever undead attacked it, Aaron kept the summon close to himself. That reduced the number of directions they could be attacked from and allowed the two of them to fight as a single unit.

Whenever a Skirmisher came in, Aaron moved with the Python to cover it, and when the Swordsman tried to approach from another angle, the Python shifted to block its path.

The coordination between them was obvious.

The change slowed Leon’s three-on-two advantage for a while. For several exchanges, Aaron managed to keep the undead from surrounding them, using the Python’s larger body to limit their approach with attacks that covered large areas around them, forcing the opponents back while he looked for openings.

In that, the Skeleton Swordsman stepped in. The Python turned to meet it, leaving Aaron exposed for only an instant, but that was all the Skirmisher needed.

One Skirmisher immediately attacked from the side, closing in swiftly. Aaron ducked beneath the curved blade and caught the attacker’s wrist, using its momentum to throw it off balance. He barely had time to recover before another curved blade forced him away with a sweeping strike. Having to deal with the new summons was already hard enough, but the nature of the Skirmishers’ blade was hard to deal with also.

Leon watched closely.

’He’s good.’