It was safe to say that Dio had no intention of backing down. He could estimate just how strong the senior was, but if he had learned one thing since coming to Hexora, it was not to underestimate the opponent.
'Tch…' but that was the opposite of who he was. He was cocky, confident and overestimated his ability rather than underestimate the opponent. Although, the consequences of both remain similar.
A swing with the senior's right hand was aimed directly at Dio's chin, he retaliated by raising his left hand and holding it firm, somewhat like a boxer. He followed it up with a palm strike to the senior's stomach.
Who, just in the nick of time, managed to pull back slightly, reducing the impact of the blow. Nevertheless, his feet dug into the ground and left clean, visible marks. Other than that, the senior was unhurt, albeit the wound probably stung a bit.
"Aggressive junior we have here," he chuckled as he turned to look at Blond, who was now scrambling on the ground. He barely managed to dodge the senior's body. However, looking at how well his reinforcement had handled that, there was a sense of relief.
"Hahahaah screw him brother," Blond screamed without even feeling the blood that gushed out of his mouth, staining his teeth. In response, the senior picked up Blond by the neck and punched him in the stomach. It looked as if the impact was delayed, but once it kicked in, Blond's body went flying into a nearby wall; it was like a bullet.
"Who the fuck is your brother? You scum, you can't seem to do anything useful. Tchuu," he spat on the ground as he looked at the smoke coming out of his hand. A red layer of mana wrapped around both his fists.
"An aura user. Very interesting…" Dio noted as he recalled what his father had taught him about them. The most fundamental of differences was that aura users utilized mana to enhance their physical capabilities. While mages used mana to manifest into magic. It was possible to practice both, which is what magic swordsmen like Blue did.
However, the cons of such choices were evident. Other than the time-consuming aspect, the second most important point is that the body adapts to the mana usage. An aura user's body was far more durable, with their circuits being relatively smaller. This was different from mages, who had larger mana circuits to aid in manifesting magic.
"Pay no attention to that filth," the senior cracked his neck using his hand.
"I thought he was your sweet junior," Dio giggled, expecting the senior to fall for the provocation.
"Was. Clearly, he no longer is," he replied with no indication of how he felt or what he thought. "Now then, can we get back to what we were doing?"
Dio attempted to copy his opponent by covering his hands with sharp blue mana, it wasn't aura; it certainly couldn't qualify as one. However, when taking into consideration how much mana he had, it was certainly akin to one.
"So anybody can do this?" Dio mocked as he looked at his hands. A battle is most often won before the actual battle itself. He was a testament to this. With a certain level of self-awareness came a different perspective. He used his personality as a psychological weapon.
"We'll see about that," his opponent replied. The next second, the two of them clashed in the middle. The contrast between their mana colors was truly fascinating. Even more so every time they collided with each other.
Rapid and sharp jabs were thrown at Dio's face; they were roughly the same speed as Hina's strikes. However, the precision was a little disappointing. He made no wasteful movements and dodged everything, gracefully using his hands to guide the opponent's strikes away.
To the other,s it looked like the senior was unrelentingly charging at Dio with absolutely no thoughts of mercy. However, to someone who was used to keeping their eyes open, John could see through what was happening and knew who really had the advantage.
"Shouldn't we help him…?" Judas asked in a coarse voice, he was in no state to stand up, let alone help Dio.
"Help him? Us? Funny.." John smiled as his eyes stayed glued to the battle.
After a few minutes of beast-like strikes thrown, the fight finally slowed down with the senior panting desperately. It looked like his whole body was sweating at the same time. Meanwhile, Dio had a single cut on his robe; it was clean and cut through the fabric.
"Man…I need to stitch this now…" he looked at the tear and sighed. "Anyway, you done? Or do you wanna waste more of my time? They get this habit from you," he pointed to the rest of the boys. Who now completely lost their composure, just as they were about to turn around and run, Dio's voice echoed.
"Without telling me?" he bent down slightly and held his hands out, and multiple laurel wreaths shot towards every one of the boys running away. Leaving only the senior free. But what could he even do at this point? He was exhausted, moreover, he just noticed how Dio seized all of them in a single second.
"Who the fuc-"A punch shot through his defenses and connected right in his gut. Following this, the senior puked out blood and gasped loudly. That wasn't the end. Dio grabbed his hair and began to punch him rapidly until his face was almost a bloody mess. Just as he was about to throw the last punch, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was John's turn now.
"Please stop…" John asked with a tone so gentle that it instantly felt like a warm green light covered Dio's body. "He was mistaken…probably overworked or something…"
"Are you serious?" Dio cocked his head as he flung the seniors unconscious body away. He looked at John with a slightly irritated look.
"....Yes.." John replied firmly, making Dio question everything he had done up till this point.
"But why? How do you know if he was stressed? Why aren't you both mad? Can't you see they were picking on you? If not for me, things would've been so much worse!!" he screamed, not knowing his feelings were slowly overwhelming him.
"I know…."
"What do you know? What exactly do you know, John? You can't be a sucker forever, we're here to grow stronger, not to be saints, for fucks sake," Dio screamed louder than before.
"I know…I know…"
"No, stop saying you know. You know nothing! You don't understand anything. Why am I being blamed for defending someone? Why am I the one at fault? Why are you stopping me? If you're weak, stand in the back and watch. Cower, run, hide, whatever. Why stand in my way when I'm protecting you???!!"
"I know!!" John screamed. For the first time he shut his eyes and gripped his fists, "I know very well! I know how you must feel, being so strong, with nothing to be afraid of. Still…..what does it make us…if we do what they do to us? Aren't we all here to make the world a better place….a safer place…? So please…I beg of you. Let them go,"
It was the worst possible scenario. John felt an insane amount of guilt pile up. This was the person who saved him not once, but twice. Moreover, he fought with his best friend over him. Dio did so much, only for John to criticize him in the end?
"Whatever…" Dio walked past him, he had his hands in his pockets as his robe fluttered about because of the wind.