As soon as Emeric felt his will appear in this space, he immediately felt the overwhelming size of Atticus's will.

'What the hell' Emeric thought.

He couldn't see the size nor the color of the orb, but he instinctively knew that it was crazy big.

'It doesn't matter, I wasn't planning on facing it head on anyways,' Emeric decided.

This was one of the advantages of having significantly high intelligencethe ability to effectively utilize your will.

Emeric didn't ponder on this thought for long; he acted swiftly.

Immediately utilizing his intelligence at full power, Emeric controlled and manipulated his will.

The orb responded immediately, morphing and contorting into the shape of a drill with a sharp and very pointed tip.

Still utilizing his intelligence, the drill started swirling slowly at first before it suddenly started picking up, rotating at fast speeds.

'If I can't fight it head-on, I just have to pierce through.'

And then, without hesitation, Emeric unleashed his drill-shaped will towards the massive form of Atticus's will.

Emeric had come up with a two-part plan.

Emeric had no idea what Atticus's rank was and the highest rank of an individual that he could match their will was Advanced- rank, if all the conditions were satisfied.

The first and second part of the plan had been to control him if it was possible or at the very least disorient him for a few seconds by damaging his will.

But life was truly unfair because if Emeric had been able to see the intense red hue that Atticus's will was emitting, he wouldn't dare bring his will so close to Atticus's.

The color of an individual's will defines the nature of that person. It defines the experiences said person had gone through throughout their lives; it defines who said person truly was at the deepest levels.

There were many spectrums of colors of different individuals in the human domain, each one representing the nature of each individual.

And there was no one in the human domain who didn't know what an intense red color signified. This will color was very rare despite the number of people in the human domain.

Those that possessed a vivid, deep red Will, would always, no matter what, lash out when they were provoked. And their will was no different.

Just as Emeric's will entered a 20-meter radius away from Atticus's will, an almost instinctual awareness seemed to stir within it.

In response to this perceived intrusion, it flared up in immediate provocation.

The crimson orb didn't hesitate; it surged forth, radiating an intense, blinding light.

In an instant, a relentless torrent of energy was unleashed, crashing against Emeric's will like an unyielding storm.

The force was overwhelming, extinguishing Emeric's will projection with the abruptness of a candle flame snuffed out at its peak.

As Emeric's will got snuffed out, a jarring psychological backlash reverberated through his physical form.

A searing, agonizing pain surged through him like a relentless tide, causing blood to flow uncontrollably from his eyes, nose, and mouth under the overwhelming pressure.

His once abyss-black eyes regained their normal color, and his pupils seemed to recoil in response to the intense backlash.

Quivering uncontrollably, Emeric crumpled to the earth in an instant. His form convulsed and trembled relentlessly, a continuous stream of blood pouring from his orifices with no discernible signs of abating.

The whole ordeal had lasted for just 2 seconds. The only thing the army of youths in the area saw was Emeric blurting out that odd statement and then suddenly falling to the ground the next instance, trembling uncontrollably.

What just happened?

They all thought about that same question. Did it just end like that? After all the confidence and bravado, all it took was a gun pointed at him at point-blank range?

No, it can't be.

Many of the youths still found it hard to believe, their gazes focused on Emeric's trembling form on the floor as though expecting him to stop and get up.

None of them really understood what had happened, and none of them even cared. They all never liked Emeric in the first place.

But what was a fact was that they were all following his lead.

But now that he was shaking like an electrocuted dog on the floor, what were they supposed to do now?

Each one of their gazes turned towards the cause of it all, Atticus, who seemed to be in deep thought.

Immediately, Emeric's eyes had turned black, even though it was just for a second, Atticus had felt his head go cloudy and something encroaching his mind before his will had suddenly reacted, and everything went back to normal.

Atticus would have to be a fool to not understand what just happened.

And although he had ultimately remained unharmed and instead Emeric received the damage, Atticus was far from feeling happy.

There was only one thing he was feeling in himselfdisappointment.

Atticus was completely disappointed in himself.

Even with all his powers, all his intelligence, he had almost fallen prey to Emeric.

What if his will hadn't been high enough to defend against Emeric? Wouldn't he have fallen under Emeric's control? Wouldn't that have been a complete game over?

He had gotten so drunk in his strength, assuming he was stronger and would be able to easily handle any youth in the academy, and because of this, he had let his guard down.

'Stupid. Absolutely stupid,' Atticus admonished himself.

So what if he had a higher rank than them? Wasn't the beast he fought in the caves higher ranked than him? And yet he was still able to easily defeat it.

Even though he was higher ranked than every student in the academy, even though he was smarter, even though he had a higher will than them, it didn't mean he couldn't lose; it didn't mean he was the absolute strongest.

Just as he had defeated the master rank beast, another random youth could as well easily defeat him.

Nothing was set in stone.

'Expect the unexpected, Atticus; you know this.'

Atticus took in a deep breath, getting his thoughts in order.

Opening his eyes, his gaze immediately landed on the army of youths who were all looking at him.

Atticus's gaze turned cold.