Powerless Boy is reborn as Lustful Elf
Chapter 114: Fighting Valen

Chapter 114: Fighting Valen

Alex stood there, arms folded, voice calm yet cutting as he spoke.

"More talk, no action. Typical. All that noise just to hide the fact that you’re nothing more than an incompetent coward from an equally incompetent family."

The words dropped like a stone in a quiet pond. A hush swept over the hallway. The distant chatter of students died out as if the building itself paused to listen.

Valen had already turned his back to leave, confident the conversation was over. But at that insult, at those words, his body stiffened instantly. His shoulders went rigid, and the confident smirk that had been plastered on his face only moments ago vanished in an instant.

Slowly, deliberately, he turned his head to face Alex. His expression no longer bore even a hint of humor. His eyes locked onto Alex, and for the first time in a long while, silence in the academy felt dangerous.

"What did you just say?" Valen asked, his voice cold, low, and edged like a blade unsheathed.

Alex didn’t flinch. He simply shrugged, nonchalant, as if nothing he’d said had any particular weight.

"I’ve already said all I have to say."

There was something maddening about the way he said it, calm, detached, completely unbothered. Around them, a small crowd of students had gathered, drawn by the sudden tension like moths to fire. Dozens of curious eyes stared, whispering to each other, anticipating what would happen next.

Valen’s gaze swept the growing crowd. He could feel their attention like heat on his back. The longer he stood still, the more it felt like he was being judged. Ridiculed. Weak. To simply walk away now would be to admit defeat, to accept the insult, to acknowledge it as true.

No. He couldn’t do that. Not here. Not in front of them.

A slow smirk returned to his lips, but this time it was thin and bitter. He raised one hand with casual arrogance and summoned a mana sword into existence. The air shimmered as energy gathered and solidified, forming a gleaming, translucent blade that radiated sharp pressure. It was clear to anyone watching, this was not some basic mana trick. This was a refined weapon, an advanced technique. The weight of it was undeniable.

A ripple passed through the crowd. Someone whispered, "That’s... mana solidification. Advanced tier."

"He’s going to kill him," another student murmured, eyes wide with disbelief. "He’s really going to try and kill the newbie..."

Valen didn’t give them time to speculate further. His foot slammed into the ground, cracking the stone tile beneath him as he launched forward in a blur. The blade in his hand hummed with energy, its tip aimed directly at Alex’s chest. His strike was meant to overwhelm, quick, brutal, and impossible to dodge without serious power.

But Alex didn’t move. He didn’t even brace.

Instead, he smiled.

A soft shimmer passed over his form, imperceptible to most eyes. The moment the mana sword made contact with his body, there was no explosion, no sparks, no sign of resistance. And yet, Alex didn’t budge an inch. Not even a flinch. The attack landed... and it did absolutely nothing.

Gasps erupted from the crowd. From their perspective, it looked like Alex had just taken a direct hit from a lethal mana blade and stood there like it was nothing.

"How...?" one of the students stammered.

Alex remained still, arms at his sides, expression calm. In truth, his mana shield had absorbed the blow completely, but it was invisible to untrained eyes. To the students watching, it appeared as though he had tanked the full force of the strike without any defense.

That illusion was all he needed.

"Your bark," Alex said slowly, his voice echoing slightly through the now-still hallway, "is worse than your bite."

Valen staggered back in confusion, gripping his sword tightly. His breath quickened. He wasn’t hurt, but his pride had taken a brutal blow. He’d used an advanced mana technique, a deadly one, and yet, nothing.

Alex, feeling the shift in energy, decided to press the advantage. He raised his hand, eyes narrowing with focus. A faint pulse of mana flickered from his fingertips.

And then Valen dropped to his knees.

A sharp cry escaped his lips as he crumpled forward, clutching at his chest, his weapon vanishing from his hand. The pain was sudden and precise, like needles piercing his nerves one by one. He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.

More gasps. More murmurs. The hallway had become a storm of whispers.

"He’s using... pinpoint inflicting," someone said, barely able to believe it.

"Impossible," another replied, "that’s a high-tier technique. It takes perfect control of mana circulation to target pain receptors. Only top students can even attempt it."

"Is he actually advanced class? No way. Isn’t he new?"

All eyes were now on Alex. The mysterious new elf who had, up until now, remained largely under the radar. His demeanor, his strength, the ease with which he had flipped the situation, it was as though a veil had been lifted. Doubts about him shattered. He wasn’t some quiet weakling or nervous first-year.

He was dangerous.

Valen, on the other hand, was still kneeling. His fingers dug into the stone floor, his breathing labored. His pride was being shredded by the second, and he could feel it happening in real-time, in front of an audience.

But before anything else could escalate, a stern voice cut through the noise like a blade.

"Enough."

Professor Sylunne’s voice carried authority that needed no volume. The hallway fell silent the moment she stepped in.

She stood tall, arms behind her back, her sharp gaze scanning the scene before her. Her eyes moved from Valen, still crumpled in pain, to Alex, standing calmly with no sign of exertion. She took it all in, the tension in the air, the expressions of the crowd, the fading traces of mana.

"This is a hallway," she said coldly. "Not a battlefield."

Neither student responded at first.

Sylunne walked forward, her steps measured, and stopped beside Valen. "You," she said curtly, "get up."

Valen rose slowly, still slightly hunched over, his pride far more wounded than his body.

Then she turned to Alex.

"You too. Both of you, with me."

There was no room for argument. The authority in her tone brooked no disobedience. Both boys fell in line behind her as she turned on her heel and began walking down the corridor

As she moved, she addressed the crowd without looking back.

"Disperse. This is over. Get to your classes now."

The students hesitated only a second before beginning to scatter, the murmurs fading into a low hum of speculation. The image of what they had just seen, the way Valen had attacked and failed, the way Alex had defended and retaliated, would be on everyone’s lips for days.

As Sylunne led the two down the hallway, her mind whirled with questions. She had seen everything. The moment she arrived, her eyes had picked up the mana fluctuations, the residual pulses, the ambient pressure. But what stood out wasn’t the chaos, it was the technique.

Alex’s use of pinpoint inflicting was precise, clean, and intentional. Not sloppy like someone who had just learned it, not unstable like someone struggling to control it. No, he had used it masterfully.

Too masterfully.

Her lips pressed into a thin line as she walked. She didn’t speak again until they reached the hallway that led toward the disciplinary office. Even then, she remained silent, her mind occupied.

A new elf... using high-tier techniques without effort...

She glanced at Alex briefly but said nothing. The principal needs to hear about this.

Inside the quiet confines of her office, Professor Sylunne stood tall behind her desk, fingers steepled, her sharp gaze flickering between the two boys standing before her.

The tension in the air was thick enough to slice with a blade.

Alex stood with his hands behind his back, face calm and unreadable. Valen, on the other hand, shifted from foot to foot, occasionally glancing at the wall, jaw tight and brows furrowed in silent frustration.

The professor let the silence stretch. A deliberate tactic. Let them stew in it.

"I don’t care who started it," she said finally, her voice clipped and authoritative. "What you both did out there was reckless, arrogant, and frankly embarrassing for the academy."

Neither boy spoke.

"Well, since you both enjoy acting like savages, you’ll be treated like stablehands."

She pulled open a drawer and slapped two parchment slips on the desk.

"Tomorrow morning, both of you will report to the east barn. You’ll be cleaning the unicorn stables for the rest of the week. No magic. No shortcuts. Just you, your hands, and a mountain of unicorn manure."

Valen’s eyes widened in horror. "Professor, you can’t be serious..."