Chapter 280 - Silence

Seeing how Greg's whole demeanor changed into that of a ferocious beast, Jason frowned as he pushed himself away with all his might, only to notice that his leg was firmly grasped by Greg.
He was lifted high in the air and couldn't help but think that his friend lost all his reasoning when he saw his eyes, which led Jason to disregarded the possibility of injuring his Greg when he pierced out with the ice dagger towards his friend's arm without holding back.
Normally this would have been enough to pierce through Greg's skin into his flesh, only to be forcefully halted at his bones, however, now Jason's ice blade shatters when he barely grazed Greg's skin.
His eyes widened involuntarily, with a shocking thought revering through his mind.
'Did his physique increase to the Master rank?!?'
This should have been impossible, even if Greg's berserk ability was extremely powerful, increasing his strength by over a dozen levels was not something a normal body could take.
And after seeing that Greg's skin burst open with blood pouring out, Jason understood that his friend released his whole mana and everything inside him at once in order to fight for a few more seconds, even if he lost all reasoning.
Trying to find a way out of Greg's firm grasp, Jason knew that he either had to survive the next few seconds by defending against his powerful punches or that he would have to counterattack.
Taking a deep breath, he involuntarily shivered as Greg's punch approached him with a terrifying might and velocity.
Sensing the strength behind his friend's punch, he ordered Scorpio to completely release its amplification by fully opening the golden gate between his soul world and mana core.
Just like that Jason's strength increased once again, reaching the combat prowess of an average 8th Expert rank in both physical strength and mana core size.
Additionally, he manifested Scorpio's exoskeleton around him with the two-meter-long stinger growing out of his coccyx.
Greg still lifted him into the air with his leg in his hand only to swing down his arm, bashing Jason into the ground before Greg punched into his abdomen, which created cracks in the combat arena below Jason.
With his sight blurring, Jason was barely able to stay conscious, and he forced himself to use all his remaining mana in addition to Scorpio's to compress his poison affinity inside the stinger behind him which snapped out, piercing into Greg's burst open skin.
Jason felt as if he was about to faint any moment if the pain in his abdomen wouldn't lessen, when he noticed Greg's crimson red eyes, revealing his brown eyes before he collapsed.
[Victory, Jason Stella!]
Hearing this, Jason was about to faint, and only the thought that entering an unconscious state might be extremely disadvantageous, with Old Drake and so on around, forced him to stay conscious even if it was extremely uncomfortable.
Several seconds passed until he was able to lift himself from the ground.
Being able to barely balance himself as he loosened up the stinger that was still pierced inside Greg's wound.
Taking out multiple potions at once, Jason gulped them down without hesitation, and feeling the pain substituting by a small margin, he was finally able to breathe more freely again.
Looking down at him, he noticed a gaping hole in his azure blue exoskeleton armor, which caused him to gulp.
'Would I be dead without Scorpio's exoskeleton?' He asked himself, shocked, before realizing that Greg was truly unable to get a hold of himself after his Berserk ability seemed to have gone out of control by using up everything within his friend.
Thinking about his friend, he immediately looked out for Greg who laid on the ground, almost as if he was dead and Jason would have been extremely shocked if he didn't have his mana eyes that told him that Greg just overexerted almost everything inside his body, which forced him into the state he was currently in.
Turning him around, he took out another batch of potions which Jason forcefully inserted in Greg's mouth when the medic team arrived next to him.
Shocked about Greg's situation, they immediately released their healing abilities and particular affinities to soothe his pain.
Yet, they couldn't help themselves to eye Jason weirdly.
Noticing this, he couldn't help but smile lightly, and once he figured out that Scorpio's exoskeleton and stinger were still manifested, Jason retraced them once again.
Looking around, he noticed that the whole arena was eerie silent, without a single noise disrupting the silence, and he could see various emotions in their eyes, like shock, jealousy, and fear.
The citizens that were shocked thought that Jason was a foreign race, while the others that were shocked and jealous, most likely knew what Jason's appearance indicated.
He was able to manifest his soulbond's exoskeleton and stinger!!
However, even if nobody could immediately digest that he had a fortified soul conjunction with his soulbond at such a young age, both youths that fought in front of them less than a minute ago showed a ridiculous high combat prowess, considering that both of them had yet to reach the Expert rank.
From common knowledge, everyone knew that it was easier to break through multiple levels at the lower mana core ranks with the help of soulbonds, and most citizens were not even astonished to see a student being able to defeat someone with a higher mana core rank.
However, the previous fights were a joke compared to the one that happened right in front of them.
Jason knew that it was not the smarted move from him to reveal his fortified soul conjunction with Scorpio, yet he felt that it was necessary in order to survive against Greg, who couldn't control himself anymore.
As such, it was not something he could avoid and it was already enough for him to know that Shane was here, otherwise, he would have a huge problem by now.
Looking towards the direction where the office he was previously in was, Jason could perceive both sovereigns mana fluctuations flickering violently as if they were excited while Old Drake's mana core was about to break, which Jason hoped to happen deep within him.
Shaking his head, he would be unable to change anything for now and it was only fortunate that the two sovereigns or Drake wouldn't force him into signing a soul contract immediately, which would have been quite bad.
In the end, it was a good decision that he offered Seron his help in figuring out which earth dragon egg had the highest potential.
This gave him, or rather Shane, more time to get him out of the Drake family's clutches because he wouldn't be able to do that alone, and he would have to ask for help either way.
Maybe, the only thing he could have done alone would be concealing his mana core, while trying to run as far as possible before entering the closest restricted rift, preventing anyone too powerful from pursuing him.
However, there were too many flaws in this plan and in the end, Jason found that it was only something he could rely on if he were to be completely alone without anyone to rely on, which was not the case.
This was his fortune and Jason told himself that he had to repay Till and his two masters for this, even if it might take a while.
After picking up his two daggers, he followed the medic team that carried Greg out of the arena inside the infirmary, like Malia, Gabriella and Mark appeared next to him.
The three were also extremely shocked about the two youths' match against each other because it was simple as if two strangers were fighting a life and death battle, which created a slight tension between Jason and the three.
Nevertheless, after seeing that Jason was extremely worried, this tension almost immediately disappeared and the Fler's told themselves that the two youths just wanted to fight without holding back, even if it ended brutally.
Inside the Infirmary, Greg was quickly examined and healed by multiple healing abilities and potions.
Seeing blood rushing through his ashen-pale face, caused everyone to sigh in relief as it turned rosier.
He was still unconscious but his breathing turned more regular, and Jason smiled lightly, when he suddenly heard Till's voice behind him, as the Infirmary's door opened.
"Jason, I don't want to bother you and the Fler's but we should talk!"