alf, I suddenly lunged forward. The sword whistled past where I was sitting earlier, missing me by a hair's breadth. Ignoring the close shave, I spun around and slammed my foot into his chest.

Shadow Kick, one of the kicking techniques in the Shadow Steps.

"Gah!"

The leader was sent hurtling backward, blood spurting from his mouth. He soared across the courtyard and slammed into a tree before sliding down helplessly, his sword clattering next to him.

"What..what just happened?"

"How?!"

"I..It was so fast, I couldn't see anything!"

"I didn't even see him move!"

The other members of the Dark Shadow Sect backed away, their eyes wide in fear.

To be honest, I wasn't stronger than their leader. Actually, I was weaker. But as the description for Shadow Steps in the academy's intranet accurately told me, with a well-timed kick aimed at the opponent's vulnerable area when his guard was down, I would be able to defeat him even though he was superior to me.

Unfortunately, none of the Dark Shadow Sect members recognized the techniques of Shadow Step, so they believed that I was using Heaven and Earth Formula. I had no intention of correcting their misperception.

"So, seniors.." I smiled at the remaining seniors pleasantly. "Anyone else wants to try?"

Evidently not. The majority of the Dark Shadow Sect members had fled, shrieking or whimpering. A few had stayed behind to haul their wounded leader to his feet and ferry him out of here. I allowed them to.

"Phew.."

I breathed a sigh of relief and watched them disappear, glad that they didn't call my bluff. Good thing my current opponents were all idiots, or I would have a much harder time dealing with them. They were clearly greater than me in terms of strength, and that wasn't even taking their superior numbers into consideration. Rubbing my neck, I relaxed my muscles, which had gone all tense in the encounter, and exhaled.

"I really have to do something about this..I don't want to deal with this shit everyday."

Grumbling to myself, I shook my head and trudged home wearily while praying hard that I wouldn't run into yet another group wanting to steal whatever Heaven and Earth techniques that I didn't have.