Harem System In A fantasy World - Chapter 229: Aria Vs William

Chapter 229: Aria Vs William

Roughly twenty minutes earlier…

Aria walked onto the platform alongside William, her expression calm but her eyes sharp as she immediately noticed the way he was looking at her.

He had that infuriating smirk plastered on his face, only making it worse as his gaze leered and slid over her from head to toe without any restraint.

“Ew,” she said out loud without holding back, her voice filled with disgust, “your gaze disgusts me; no one but Elion is allowed to look at me like that. And you reek of pervert.”

William snorted, clearly not bothered in the slightest.

“I see hanging around that guy has given you a big head,” he said, his tone mocking as he rolled his shoulders slightly, “Too bad there’s nothing in it. I should put you in your place and show you that all women belong in one place…”

He licked his lips. “In my bed.”

Aria visibly shivered in disgust, her brows furrowing as she instinctively hugged her shoulders and shifted her body slightly sideways, as if trying to distance herself from him even while standing right in front of him.

“Ack—” she feigned spitting on the ground, her face scrunched up in clear revulsion.

The female proctor, dressed in the academy’s staff uniform, watched the exchange with a wry smile, clearly unsure how to react to the blatant hostility and the nature of their words, especially since the other matches around them had already begun.

She cleared her throat, “…You may begin,” she said after a brief pause, deciding not to interfere further than that.

William nodded lightly, and in the next moment, his sword flashed into his hand, the polished blade catching the light as he took a step forward.

Aria nodded as well, her expression settling as she got into position, her focus sharpening instantly.

She knew she was at a disadvantage; William was two levels above her, but Elion’s gifts did more than enough to bridge that gap.

And while she did not know how strong William was supposed to be, she had never seen him fight personally, nor did she care to keep track of her peers’ progress; she only had eyes for one person.

’I will do my best for him,’ she thought firmly as her gaze sharpened.

If she were strong enough, she would have killed this bastard long ago for how he bullied Elion when he was weak.

Sure, she was being a hypocrite since she had not exactly treated him well back then either, but she did not care about the past; what mattered to her was the present.

William was a wind mage who also used a sword, but Elion had already told her that his sword skills were subpar, that he only really knew how to swing it around without proper technique.

That made things simpler. As long as she played her cards right and kept him from closing in on her, she had a good shot at winning this fight.

And since she had practised with Elion, he had shown her the basics of what to expect when fighting a swordsman, and what to do if she was put in a situation where she had to fight close range.

’Just focus.’ She told herself.

William made the first move.

Aria settled into her stance, her feet planting lightly on the stone as her gaze locked onto William.

He dashed forward immediately, closing the distance with his sword drawn, his body coated faintly in wind mana as he rushed her.

“This will be easy!” William said with a smirk.

Aria did not move to meet him; instead, she began casting instantly.

Her mana flowed smoothly as she raised her hand, and before William could even reach her, a solid earth wall burst from the ground right in his path.

Boom!

William’s eyes widened slightly. He had not expected her casting speed to be that fast.

He reacted quickly, twisting his body mid-step and shifting directions to avoid crashing into the wall, his momentum carrying him sideways as he regained his footing.

“Oh! Look at that!” the hostess’ voice rang out excitedly across the arena, “what an impressive casting speed from the blue-haired girl! She put up that earth wall almost instantly to stop the guy’s advance!”

“Too slow,” Aria said coldly.

She was already tracking him as her fingers tightened slightly into a fist, and the ground beneath his new path cracked open.

A jagged spike of stone shot upward toward him, forcing him to kick off the ground and twist his body mid-air as the spike scraped his boot, and while still airborne, he redirected himself forward with his sword flashing downward.

“Tch!”

Aria had already stepped back and swept her hand forward as three stone lances shot toward him in rapid succession.

“Try dodging this.”

The first aimed at his chest, which he avoided by twisting his torso, the second aimed lower, which he ducked under as it passed just above his shoulder, and the third burst upward from below, which he barely avoided by pushing off with wind mana, though it still grazed his side and drew a thin line of blood.

William landed roughly as he grimaced in pain, his expression darkening. “How are you this annoying?”

Aria didn’t respond; her palm slammed downward as the ground shifted violently and multiple stone pillars erupted around him, attempting to trap him in place.

“Don’t get cocky,” William snapped as his sword flashed again and again, each strike shattering a pillar with loud clangs as fragments of stone scattered outward.

His body pushed through the collapsing formation as he forced his way out and dashed forward once more.

Aria stepped sideways again, her feet moving lightly as she kept casting without pause, the ground beneath William was constantly shifting and cracking as spikes threatened to rise at any moment, forcing him to keep dodging, twisting and redirecting his movements as he avoided one spike, then another, then narrowly escaped a third that burst up where his foot was about to land.

“You’re not getting close,” Aria said calmly, though her eyes were sharp. Elion had tld her to always keep moving while fighting, so that she would not get cornered, she was putting that into practice.

“Oh?” William sneered as he continued weaving through the terrain, his movements becoming more erratic as he zigzagged across the platform in an attempt to break through her control. “Let’s see how long you can keep that up.”

Aria raised her hand again and unleashed a barrage of stone bullets that shot toward him rapidly.

“Then try me.”

He leaned left as one missed his head by inches, twisted right as another struck the ground beside him, and one hit his shoulder with a dull thud, making him stagger slightly before pushing forward again.

“Ghh—!” he gritted his teeth, but this time he got closer.

Aria immediately shifted her stance and redirected her mana downward to raise a thick slab of earth between them just as his blade came down.

Clang!

“Not happening,” she said.

William followed up instantly with another strike and another, breaking through the wall piece by piece.

“Shut up! You talk too much,” he growled.

Aria used that brief moment to step back again and create distance, but he burst through the broken wall and lunged at her with renewed aggression, his sword flashing toward her as she barely managed to harden earth around her forearm to block.

The force of the strike pushed her back as her feet slid across the ground.

“You think this is enough?” William pressed forward with a flurry of strikes, his blade cutting through the air again and again.

Aria ducked under one slash, twisted to avoid another, and stepped back from a thrust aimed at her chest.

“Shut up,” she snapped, her voice sharp as she tried to create space.

But he was already there, closing the distance.

Their movements became faster and tighter, and her spells momentarily slowed due to the lack of distance, while his sword dominated the close-range exchange.

“You can’t run forever,” William said with a grin.

Aria grit her teeth. “I don’t need to.”

His sword flashed again in a tight arc aimed at her shoulder, forcing Aria to twist her body and step back, the blade cutting past her by inches as she barely avoided it, her boots scraping against the cracked stone as she tried to regain distance, but he followed immediately, his next strike coming low toward her legs.

“Stay still!” he muttered, his breathing already starting to roughen slightly from all the running around.

Aria jumped back as the blade skimmed under her as she landed and immediately thrust her hand forward.

A stone lance shot toward his chest.

William twisted his torso sharply, the lance passing beside him, his momentum unbroken as he stepped in again.

“You’re getting slower,” he said with a smirk, though his chest was rising a bit heavier now.

Aria didn’t respond, her eyes focused as she stomped lightly and caused the ground beneath him to shift again, forcing him to adjust his footing as another spike burst upward.

He kicked it off and came down with a heavy slash.

Clang!

She blocked again with hardened earth, her arm shaking slightly under the impact as she was pushed back another step.

’How is she still this sharp…!?’ His eyes narrowed. ’She should be slowing down by now.’

Five minutes had passed, and his breathing was now laboured. And yet, she looked like she could fight him for hours.

’This makes no sense… How is she keeping up with me like this!?’

It made no sense that her spells showed no sign of slowing down, and her casting was almost instantaneous!

Initially, he had hoped that maybe whittling her down would work well. After all, he was supposed to have the superior stamina here, and Aria was not known to have a large pool of mana.

And yet, she had been casting all these large spells without any sign of slowing down!

’How!?’

“Pathetic,” William said suddenly, his tone turning mocking as he stepped back from another spike, buying himself a brief moment.

Aria’s brows furrowed.

“You think you’re strong?” he continued, his voice louder now and clearly angry and frustrated, carrying across the platform as he pointed his blade at her, “you’re nothing.”

“Shut your mouth,” Aria snapped, her voice sharp as another stone lance formed beside her.

“You’re just a toy,” William said with a grin, dodging the lance as it shot toward him, “something for him to play with.”

He continued taunting her as he moved to attack again, “You are nothing but a cock sleeve to him. You think he loves you!?”

Aria’s casting sped up. “Of course he loves me!” she shot back, her voice firm as she sent another barrage at him.

William laughed, though his breathing was now clearly ragged as he dodged again; his movements were not as clean as before.

“Love?” he scoffed, narrowly avoiding another spike, “he’ll throw you away and look for another woman the moment he gets bored.”

A vein popped on Aria’s forehead. Her next cast came slightly faster and more aggressive than every previous one, but she was still in control.

’El…’ Stay calm.

“You really believe that?” William pressed on, his grin widening as he took a step forward, then another, testing her reactions.

“Yes,” Aria said without hesitation.

“Then you’re more stupid than I thought,” he replied instantly.