I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

Amongst the many battlefields which emerged throughout the Academy, one stood out.

And the reason was made evident by the people who fought on it.

Unlike the few others where the pawns either battled for their safety or to conquer, this one was different. They fought for something else– firmer, higher, more profound.

The future of the Academy.

Its fate had been tugged and pulled.

Laid bare for the sticky hands of the winners to wield.

But nothing worth gold was ever gotten without repercussions.

And the blood they bled was simply an ingredient to the repercussions they were yet to face.

That was the case for the leader of the System Uprisers. Katherin Starblaze.

Like the tenured Professor she was, she had proven to be more than just the pillar that held the Cult together.

She proved to be its core.

The source from which every other string stretched and formed the different parts and members of her group.

Without her, perhaps the System fanatics wouldn't have stood a chance against the Academy.

Though, with the help of the Red Peacemakers, she had pushed their way into the hearts of the Academy.

Making it bleed to her touch with each tug of a limb.

Every step had been difficult, but it was nothing compared to the thorn in her side now.

Her goals. Her ambitions. Her will.

Everything was being tested at this very moment, and she would fight until that test was a perfect score.

BANG!

An arm whipped through the air like a coiled spring, igniting a world of pain on the arm that blocked it with a slight grunt.

"Gosh, Miss. Katherin, you're really pushing it."

Phestus Greenhorn, ever so calm and composed, had a slight hesitation on his expression.

His face turned into a pained scowl while he stared into the depths of Katherin's gaze.

Katherin ignored.

Her attention focused on something else entirely.

Well, two things to be honest.

After all, as ambitious as she was, she remained empathetic.

Still in the Headmaster's large sub-space office.

The fight, which had begun a moment after the blast of the Mana Reflux, had continued in motion.

With Crown and Katherin locked in a brutal hand-to-hand with Cadwin and Phestus, respectively.

For how long? They didn't know.

What they did know was that the obstacles in their way had to be gotten rid of. Forcefully or not.

Though, it was far past the moment to try and sweet talk their opponents.

So as far as they were concerned, they needed to get rid of them forcefully.

Sadly, their opponents were not the type to get easily rid of.

No, they were the type to fight back– and they did so.

The air was filled with the rattling of bones and the pounding of flesh.

Each action was made with the precise goal of disengaging their opponents.

Movements of years of experience with footwork that squeaked the floors the more they moved.

Each step brings them closer to their goal. Yet, it seemed to swing between inevitability and implausibility.

With the strikingly brilliant combat of Katherin and Phestus, one would have to acknowledge that while one gave it his all, the other simply let her thoughts wander off anywhere other than the fight at hand.

Her focus was drawn to the Headmaster, who was about done screening through the magic imagery display device, and Cadwin, who had a better hand at his combat with Crown.

Both were farther away from her.

With the Headmaster still sitting on one of his chairs at the point where the magic image display device trickled to life. While Cadwin and Crown had their brawl almost entirely at the other end of the Room.

Closer to the Headmaster, yet incapable of closing the distance between them.

In the fight between Cadwin and Crown, one led it nearly unconstitutionally, and the other simply struggled to defend.

Keeping a close watch on Crown and making him totally incapable of finding a way through.

It was locking an animal in a cage, but Cadwin acted as the cage.

Constantly pushing the animal until it either breaks or stops.

With Crown, though, anyone could tell it was former, but he wasn't one to receive such a beating without laying one or two of his own.

Their fists met and struck. Legs swinging at the right timing and angle to deliver a blasting blow, which was quickly blocked or parried.

Each strike was an explosion of sound.

A testament to the triple digits of their physical stats despite their loss of mana.

Cadwin led the fight with his footwork.

Taking a step closer with each movement while leaving enough room to fool his opponent into leaping into an open trap.

Crown was a Physical Ed. Lecturer, but that only gave him more footing in raw power and a bit of it in speed, not in technique.

He fought with the simple intention to cause drastic harm with his well-defined muscles.

Crown used his guts and instincts, not his thoughts. Meaning he had fallen more times than he could count to Cadwin's tricks and received a counterblow as a result.

With a thrown fist, his tendon would snap to unleash a catapult of strikes. Maximal force packed at the edge of his knuckles.

They were inconceivable with the naked eye.

But Cadwin was more than tenured enough to trace his movements.

His eyes followed closely.

The subtle notches and the major changes.

He observed them all.

Most fighters were an open book when you're experienced enough, and Cadwin was one of those who had seen enough to be sure.

With a slight grunt, he pulled his right leg back, just as a kick sliced the air from Crown's side.

The sudden dodge caused Crown to groan.

His eyes bulged in shock while he glared at the bandaged man.

'This fucker.'

He cursed as he sent his fist reeling in.

'First, I'll make it seem like it's heading to its left shoulder cap…'

The angle had been cut. Sharp. Clean.

There was no mistaking where he was headed and Cadwin acted as such.

He sent his right arm towards the incoming fist.

Immediately, a subtle grin formed on Crown's face as he bent his torso down and charged through like a bull.

'Then I shoulder bash him!'

His thoughts came out with a flush of adrenaline as he closed the distance in a heartbeat.

Now, what was left was the powerful force of his shoulder on Cadwin's abdomen which should disrupt his flow.

Or so he thought.

Cadwin's arm immediately came forward with the other which was at his side. Both raised to the air at the same time as Crown closed in.

At this point, it was too late to turn back for either of them.

And even with Cadwin's counter, Crown should still cause more damage.

That should have been it! It was the plan!

But his eyes, while it was buried with the rest of his head, caught something amiss.

Cadwin's knee.

BANG!

"Aaargh?!"

Bones snapped under the pressure of the collision as a knee and elbows met Crown's abdomen and back.

With Crown being a minuscule distance from striking Cadwin.

The effect was immediate.

A sudden throw-up of blood and saliva as a world of pain assaulted his body.

Together with the metallic taste of realisation, as he attempted to jump back.

He couldn't.

He was pinned in the position of Cadwin's counter.

Impossible to move as much as he struggled. At least without mana.

"Shit!" He cried out. "Let go!"

He cried out when Cadwin raised an arm and sent a punch reeling into the back of Crown's skull in a heartbeat.

The world snapped in two as a headache banged against his scalp.

"AAARRGHH!"

The cry whipped the air with something raw and visceral. A surge of pure emotions littered their ears.

Cadwin ignored.

Opportunities making way for him to grab with open arms.

He grabbed Crown by his shoulders, lifted him into the air, pulled his knee forward, then slammed Crown against it.

CRUNCH.

The pain was yet to register when he ripped the air with an ear-piercing scream.

"aaaaAAAAAGGGHHGG???!!"

A distance away, Katherin's eyes snapped open as she whipped her head in their direction.

Her body went into an impulse of tension as adrenaline surged.

"CROWN!"

Despite her present predicament, her focus had been pulled to something else.

A distraction that Phestus was too sharp to ignore.

"Focus, Miss Katherin."

His warning came with a fist to her face.

A blow that sent her head spiralling back with the sound of wind erupting in her ears.

She grunted slightly as a chunk of blood spewed out of her mouth.

But composure was second nature to her in a fight.

A follow-up of Phestus to her lower abdomen was quickly blocked by a firm grasp with her hand.

She grabbed his fist and pulled it upwards in an easy motion, stopping him in his tracks altogether.

Phestus's expression shifted to wry amusement. A small chuckle escaped his lips as she slowly shifted her gaze towards him.

"Hah…" He laughed out loud. "Do I have your attention now?"

In that brief encounter, she yanked him into the air like a twig.

Flipping him over her head with the intent to slam him to the floor.

He landed on his feet.

A subtle throb jarred through his legs as his lips formed a tight grin.

Pain, dull yet aching, surging into his patella, which he ignored.

Things were just getting interesting.

He sent his free fist forward at the same time as she did, and a collision that seemed to warp reality surged from the impact.

A loud and thunder-like sound snapped into existence with an explosion of wind in concentric circles.

Phestus's gaze wrinkled.

'Shit. That hurt like fuck.'

He had been asking her to pay attention for a while.

Now, she did.