Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

The teachers did not but a few students, in charge of the floor, strode out of the turns with their wands in front of them. A second-year stepped forward and pointed his wand at Hitori.

Hitori was busy casting spells, he lifted his wand to cast another spell when the student chanted, "Hi-Busou!"

Hitori's wand flew from his hand but that could not stop him. He still brought his hand down and released a hydro beam as he was going to with his wand.

Kamiya moved his wand in a circle, creating a round shield to block the pump of water.

Hitori felt a jolt around his armpits, Kamiya felt a jerk in his shoulders as he tried to stop the hydro pump.

The student's eyes widened when he saw Hitori charge at Kamiya with a flame of fire coming off his bare hands.

"W-What the... am I seeing things?" He turned his mate.

"No, that guy IS using elements without a wand!"

"R-Retreat! They are no jokes!"

If a second-year could use elements without a wand, he was either a prodigy or a skilled wizard reincarnated into the body of a 16-year-old. The students had never seen something like this, they started running in different directions.

Glen and his friend stood by, watching the fight unfold. Every blow they landed, every kick they kicked, and every spell they fired.

"T-They are serious..."

Hitori rolled backward and dodged an ice spear. He rolled back and grabbed his wand from the floor. He stood to his knees and pointed the wand at Kamiya.

"Petrify!"

Kamiya jolted. He turned and ran to the wall. He took a jump and found himself running on the wall, then he landed behind Hitori.

Hitori turned to give him hell but Kamiya had already taken off to the wall on the other side.

"W-Why is he running?" Glen asked.

His friend watched. "He is... planting a trap."

Hitori raised his wand with a frown, Kamiya disappeared again, and Hitori paused. His frown disappeared. 'He is doing it again...' he thought.

Hitori lowered his wand and released his stance.

"And now what is HE doing? Are they mad?"

"They surely are more powerful than us. Who the heck are they? Never seen before."

Kamiya completed his first round.

Hitori let a smile spread on his face. "See, this is why I told you never to stream your gameplay online," Hitori said.

Kamiya took off for his second round. Hitori clenched his wand and raise his eyes.

"They will get used to figuring out your strategy," he said and raised his wand. He followed Kamiya around. "Petrify!" He missed. "Bakuhatsu!"

Baam!

Kamiya smashed into the wall, a loud sound silenced everyone screaming in the hallway. "Oww!!" A few students let out a low moan of pain.

Hitori dropped his wand to his side. He wanted to grab Kamiya before he could fall to the floor, but he was delayed by Kamiya's delayed electrification.

That beam took a part of Hitori's abdomen flesh, he did not care, he jumped on Kamiya, grabbed him by the neck, and pinned him on the ground.

"Your gameplay has revealed your strategy," Hitori said.

Hitori grabbed Kamiya's collars, picked his head off the floor, and banged it back into the floorboard.

The students gasped when the head-bang created a crack on the floorboard. Hitori did that again, the students gasped again, and he created a spider crack in the floor.

"You want to fucking fight?" Hitori shouted, holding Kamiya's head near his face. "Do it then!"

Blood from Hitori's abdomen fell on Kamiya's abdomen. The girls were scared when they found blood on his abdomen. "Heal him! Someone heal him!"

She could have but she did not, maybe because she was way too scared to act. Glen frowned, he pointed his hand at Hitori. "Hey, is not he from the top ten rankings?"

His friend widened his eyes. "A-Are you..." he glanced at his friend, then at Hitori, "serious?" he ended.

He recognized Hitori from the recent battles. And no one could forget the 'boy who set the arena on hell fire.'

"They are! They are! It only makes sense if someone from the top five can use magic without a wand so easily."

Hitori shook Kamiya by his collar, Kamiya stretched his hand and kept them over Hitori's to stop him. "Use your spells, use your strategy, come on, fight me! Trigger your anger!"

Kamiya grinned. Hitori stopped shaking his head and frowned. Then he felt Kamiya's hand tightening over his hand. He glanced at his hand then at him.

"Of course, they will figure out my strategy, and I will fail as a streamer. As a streamer, I need to come up with new strategies to keep my audience with me."

He heard the cracking of frozen ice. Hitori's eyes widened when he found ice climbing over to his wrist.

"No fuck!" Glen jumped. "He can use magic without a wand, too!"

"Shit, shit, who are they? Why are they so casual about dying? Or worse, about a grave injury?"

"It was a bluff, Hitori."

Kamiya increased the pace of his ice, it covered Hitori's forearm and reached his elbow in an instant.

Hitori snapped from his shock and started forcing fire down his hands. But the ice continued to reach his biceps.

Hitori grabbed Kamiya's neck. "Stop it!" he shouted, "stop it now!"

Kamiya grinned wider. Hitori clicked his tongue and set his burning hands on Kamiya's hand that was spreading the ice.

He screamed in pain, and Hitori continued burning him. Kamiya's screams reached the floors above and below.

Kamiya stretched his left hand. The ice on Hitori's arm started melting. Kamiya stretched his fingers and tapped his wand, he got a hold of his hand.

He threw his wand at Hitori and said, "Bakuhatsu!"

Hitori took the hit on his chest, he felt all of the air pressing back into his body, and he flew from Kamiya's body.

Hitori landed on the floor, he was in immense pain both from the electric beam and from the air explosion spell. He grunted and groaned as he tried to stand.

Kamiya got to his knees, stared down at the floor, and started coughing his life out.

Hitori felt a stinging pain around his abdomen, when he touched it, he felt liquid on his fingers– it was blood.

His eyes widened and they trembled in the socket. Hitori rose from the ground and so did Kamiya, both panting for air.

Kamiya had held his wand loosely in his hands, it swung like a loose thread tied with a stone at the bottom. Their eyes met.

The hallway was silent, the students stared at them till they heard footsteps from the other side. Glen and his friend gulped.

"This is more serious than we thought it would be. At first, you said they would lower their wands, they fired spells. They damaged the hallway… this is bad.'

"Not the worst, at least," Glen's friend said.

"Huh? What can be worse than two students trying to injure each other due to some personal grudge? Or maybe because of a little argument?" Glen asked.

His friend narrowed his eyes at Kamiya and Hitori who were holding their chest and trying to calm down. The footsteps in the distance got close.

Then he turned to Glen. "At least they are not using killing curses."

Glen's eyes widened. "D-Do you think they know the curses?"

"Everybody knows, no one knows how to cast them."

"Well," he gulped, "do they?" He looked at Kamiya and Hitori.

Hitori dug his hand to the left side, Kamiya raised his wand at the same time Hitori swung his wand at him. Then they both chanted at once, "Shinigami no Noroi."

The students got goosebumps, their hairs stood at the edge of falling. They shouted, yelled, screamed, and ran into their rooms.

Glen and his friend were shocked. "They do. They do!" Glen shook his head. C-Come on, we need to leave!" He tugged his friend's shoulder.

But he refused to move. "Wait, Glen… wait," he said.

The footsteps disappeared in the screams of students. The mage came to a stop and shouted, "Atama-sensei is coming!"

A bright white light glowed at the end of the hallway. The next second, a man dressed in white robes jumped out and dashed through the crowd of panicked children.

Senso-sensei joined him from behind, he stepped out with a middle-aged woman behind him. They raced to the battle hallway behind Atama.

Senso raised his sword and slashed it in the air. Everything went silent. The students still ran and screamed but no one could hear their shouts anymore. Atama strode through them, he stopped when he found their wands movements– they had chanted a curse on each other.

Atama clicked his tongue. He distanced his legs, bent down, and concentrated his mana on his hands joined below his chest.

Senso said to the healer, "I will take these kids, make sure you heal them." And he took off.

Hitori brought his wand down, and Kamiya jerked his wand at Hitori. "Kor—"

"Shi—"

Their voices faded, too. It was not due to Senso's magic, it was Atama's magic. He sucked their mana and drained them till nothing but only a few drops of mana were left in their veins.

Hitori closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground. Kamiya tried to withstand the effect but he was no good either, he fell on his butt, then to his head.

Atama opened his eyes. "Stupid teenagers." He turned to the healer. "Please take care of them, Hila-san."

She shook her head. "Why do they know curses in the first place?" she wondered.

"Take the boy with glasses," he ordered.

Atama rushed to Hitori, who was unconscious and pulled a flask of a mana potion. He pushed the potion down Hitori's throat, then disappeared from the hallway.

Hila grabbed Kamiya off the ground, unlocked the door, and threw him on one of the beds.

Senso neutralized the effect of his magic which allowed everyone to talk– scream their heads out.

Hila was about to leave the room to get a towel from the washroom when Akemi's cries entered the atmosphere. Hila jumped and almost hit her head into the wall. She turned her eyes to Akemi who was crying and shouting in her bed.

"Oh, god! Akemi! What are you doing here?"

Akemi sobbed. She looked at Hila, she was relieved. "H-Hila-san—" then her eyes fell on Kamiya.

He was unconscious, his face was red, and there was blood on the back of his neck. She broke out crying again.

"For god's sake!" Hila raised her wand and silenced Akemi again.

While she was crying she knew who did it to Kamiya, she was building anger, a grudge against the person who did this to his little brother– the love of her life.

She finally stopped crying and sobbed. "Hitori… Hitori… Hitori… you have done it." She clenched her wand under the covers.