One, two, three...
Li Qi counted them. There were seven in total, all of them Second- and Third-Rank Mage Masters.
They had no firearms, but they did have Military Blades and daggers capable of channeling magic power.
Li Qi, however, had brought no weapons with him to meet Bolent.
Then again, weapons were forbidden at the academy in the first place. Every one of these people was violating school regulations.
"It's you, Sergeant Beru. I wonder, what are all of you students doing blocking the way here during lunch break? Have you obtained permission to carry weapons?"
Surrounded by the seven men, Li Qi did not panic in the slightest. He did not even take the weapons in their hands seriously.
Seeing Li Qi's attitude, Beru's expression twisted slightly, but a fake smile soon appeared on his face:
"Warrant Officer Li Qi, whether we obtained permission to carry weapons isn't something you need to worry about. Now, please answer our question. You just went to see Officer Bolent, didn't you?"
"What does that have to do with you?"
Li Qi tilted his head and looked at them.
Beru's smile faded somewhat, and his eyes fixed coldly on Li Qi.
One of the lackeys beside him shouted on his behalf:
"You're still acting cocky at a time like this?! If you don't want to get beaten up, answer our question!"
Li Qi looked at the lackey Beru had sent forward, his expression unchanged.
Yet that single glance made the lackey flinch. He instinctively took a step back.
A rabble of weaklings.
Seeing their performance, Li Qi judged them inwardly before calmly replying:
"Yes, I went to see Officer Bolent. Is there a problem?"
"So that means you intend to join the Reformist Faction?" Beru asked immediately.
Beru and the others were Traditional Faction nobles. Including the respectable Andrew White, they were all traditional nobles—in other words, members of the Traditional Faction.
Previously, because Li Qi had a good relationship with Bailey and Wood, he had been vaguely regarded as a member of the Traditional Faction. Although Beru and the others disliked him, they had not actively sought trouble with him.
Of course, Li Qi's overwhelming strength was also a factor.
But now...
War was about to begin, and the struggle between the Traditional Faction and the Reformist Faction seemed to have entered its most heated stage. In their eyes, Li Qi's approach to Bolent was tantamount to betraying the Traditional Faction.
Adding in their previous grievances, new and old grudges had been lumped together. That was why Beru and the others had ambushed him here.
Understanding Beru and the others' intentions, Li Qi removed the officer's cap from his head, symbolically brushed off the dust with two flicks, and looked at everyone.
"Sergeant Beru, if you want revenge, you can just say so. Using factional conflict as an excuse..."
Li Qi shook his head, put his cap back on, and lifted the corners of his mouth in a disdainful smile. "Don't you think that's rather petty?"
Li Qi's tone was not heated. In fact, it was remarkably calm.
However, the mockery on his face and the faint disdain for Beru hidden in his words still struck deeply at Beru's pride.
"Li Qi!!!"
Beru could no longer hold back. He drew his blade, pointed it at Li Qi, and shouted:
"Who do you think you are?! You're nothing but a commoner who got the Combat Badge by sheer luck! A mere commoner—what gives you the right to act so arrogantly in front of us?!"
Hearing Beru's words, Li Qi gave no response.
His gaze merely grew colder and colder.
Seeing that things had reached this point, Beru no longer hesitated. He ordered his lackeys:
"Get him!! Today, we'll teach him that our noble honor must not be violated!!"
In simple terms, they just wanted to beat Li Qi up.
Yet they made it sound so grand.
Li Qi felt even more disdainful. Facing the men charging at him, he extended one hand and met the Military Blade swung by one of them without dodging.
The man was fast. Judging from the amount of magic power stored in his body and the speed at which it circulated, he was a Second-Rank Mage Master close to the Third Rank.
The Military Blade in his hand was forged from Magic Metal, giving it extremely high magic-conductivity.
The Military Blade Li Qi had used on the battlefield earlier had been made from the same material.
Blue magic power flowed along the blade as it chopped down toward Li Qi's shoulder.
It seemed they had not intended to take Li Qi's life, as they had not aimed for his vital points.
Watching the blade's trajectory, Li Qi gathered blue-black magic power in his right palm and reached directly for the man's Military Blade.
Seeing that Li Qi neither dodged nor evaded, the attacker's eyes filled with delight.
How could a human palm possibly catch a blade strengthened with magic power?
Even with a special Knight Magic Technique, this slash would definitely sever the other man's palm!
And he called himself a battle hero? What kind of battle hero would be stupid enough to use his flesh against a blade?
The attacker sneered inwardly, excitement at his imminent success rising within him.
However, that excitement vanished in less than a second.
When he saw Li Qi's right hand clamp down on his Military Blade without suffering the slightest injury, the smile on his face turned into bewilderment.
"What?!"
He stared at the blue-black magic power coiling around Li Qi's right hand in disbelief, unable to understand what had happened.
Only when Li Qi kicked him to the ground and the Military Blade fell into Li Qi's hand did he finally realize what had happened.
That short brat had taken away his magic-enhanced weapon with just one hand!
What terrified the attacker even more was yet to come.
After taking his weapon, Li Qi did not stop. Instead, he pressed forward and swung the blade at the attacker lying on the ground.
"Wait—!" The attacker tried to beg for mercy, but Li Qi's blade moved faster than his shout.
Swish, swish—
With two slashes, the attacker's hands were severed at the arms.
In the same instant, Li Qi also cut down the arms of the other two men approaching him!
From the initial clash to the end, less than three seconds had passed. All three men who had approached Li Qi had lost both hands.
Blood sprayed as screams rang out one after another.
The youth moved among the three fallen men like an agile animal, dodging the blood that was about to splash across him.
Then he gave the blade a hard flick. The blood clinging to it formed a red, splattered line across the ground.
Looking at the remaining four, the youth said flatly:
"Trash."
The insulting word left his mouth, and no one could tell whether he was referring to these people or to their strength.
Perhaps both.
"No... I... I'm not doing this anymore! I... I was only dragged here to make up the numbers! I... I'm done fighting!!"
Seeing Li Qi render three people unable to fight in just a few moves, one of the remaining four immediately dropped his weapon and turned to run.
The muscles on Beru's face twitched as he furiously shouted the fleeing man's name:
"Jamie!!"
Beru had probably intended to order the fleeing student to stop, but being shouted at only made Jamie run faster.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
Unable to hold back his laughter at the sight, Li Qi grinned and tilted his head toward Beru.
"So this is the so-called... 'noble honor'? It really is impossible to violate."
"Damn it!!!"
Li Qi's mockery was like adding fuel to the fire for Beru.
The veins on his forehead bulged as he shouted at the remaining two:
"You two, get him!!!"
"..."
The remaining two exchanged glances, then looked at Beru. Finally, they almost simultaneously dropped their weapons and said to Li Qi:
"Warrant Officer Li Qi, we were only dragged here by Beru. We have no objections to you personally... We..."
"If you don't want to fight, get lost."
Li Qi spoke coldly to the two men.
Although Li Qi cursed them so bluntly, the remaining two did not get angry. They smiled ingratiatingly and turned to leave.
In the blink of an eye, only Li Qi and Beru remained on the field.
Along with the men rolling around in pools of blood.
Before you continue