The Weakest F-Rank Who Breaks the System

Unedited*

"I-I-Iron Dragon..." Someone swallowed hard as they repeated those words.

That was even worse than the initial assumption.

The famous Iron Dragon was a legendary figure from 300 years ago, wielded by a person of unknown origin whose identity remains a mystery to this day.

"Iron Dragon" was merely the name of a very high-level suit of armor that could be controlled from a distance, but for over 50 years, it was believed to be a legendary Fake Ranker that ravaged entire cities and islands.

Its legend has spread throughout the world, and even the Top Rankers know of it.

After it was discovered that Iron Dragon was merely a remotely controlled suit of armor, it was captured and is now kept as a relic on the great Island of Gaia, but its operator was never caught.

Perhaps he is already dead.

Or maybe it’s one of those legendary old-timers with near-permanent spots on the Global Top list, who just wanted to have some fun.

But from that time until now, only two suits of armor capable of remote control have ever appeared.

One appeared 100 years ago, in the hands of a great inventor who died about 20 years ago.

And the second... Had it just appeared right in front of them?

The judges stood up, almost trembling, and went to inspect both suits of armor.

After a thorough examination of both suits, they simply told them they could begin the battle and said nothing else about it. They just returned to their seats.

Noah and Lucius applied the corresponding mana marks to their respective suits of armor. Noah’s only needed one.

As for Lucius’s armor, although it had space for 15 mana marks, he only placed seven of them. One on each limb. One on his chest and one on his back; and finally, one on his head.

If he had more, he would have put more. But these were enough.

Both of them put on their armor, and it fit snugly against their bodies.

"Why the swords?" Noah asked, confused as he looked at the swords on Lucius’s back. "We’re mages."

"Don’t you know that mages have secondary classes?" Lucius asked back.

"Of course I know that, but... I don’t think you’re planning to fight me using only your secondary class, when I’ll be using magic."

"Hehe. Then you’re in for a surprise."

"..." Noah didn’t respond.

He clenched his fists and assumed a magical combat stance.

"I’ll do my best."

"I’ll do my best."

With that, the whistle signaling the start of the battle sounded.

Noah’s armor glowed with that single mark of mana. It was Rank D. Immediately, mana began to flow through his mana veins, and the functions of the Level 4 magical tool were activated.

Noah took two steps forward and raised his hand to cast a powerful fireball from above, initiating the battle.

’A fire mage of the arcane caster type? What a troublesome opponent.’

Lucius’s armor also activated, though it required a more complex magical sequence to do so.

As soon as the seven mana marks activated, the fire magic was already in front of him. So Lucius had to summon one of his swords and defend himself.

The fireball was quite powerful.

’E-Rank magic, but it’s so powerful.’

Lucius slid several meters backward, but he didn’t have time to reposition himself.

Noah had dashed to his right and took the opportunity to cast several spells at him from a distance.

Among them were a fire spear—a Rank D spell—and a powerful ancestral blast—a Rank C spell.

’Nice attack.’ Lucius charged forward with all his might and nimbly dodged both spells.

He closed the distance in an instant using the propulsive force granted by the mana marks on his legs, and just six meters from his opponent, he raised his hands.

BOOM!

A strange shot fired from his wrist as if it were a firearm, but it was actually a powerful Rank E earth spell traveling at bullet speed.

Noah had to dive to the side to dodge the attack.

"A projectile mage?" Noah whispered in dismay. However, he soon saw another spell emerge from Lucius.

It was a fireball—one of the most powerful E-Rank spells of the fire attribute.

"No..." He quickly thrust his hand forward and cast another spell to counter the fireball.

His spear and the fireball collided, and there was an explosion.

"I’m not really a conventional mage." Suddenly, Noah felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when he heard a whisper behind him. "So don’t treat me like one. That would be boring."

Lucius swung his sword and struck Noah from behind. Noah was sent flying several meters, rolling across the ground.

With agility, and before coming to a stop, Noah managed to jump up and dodge another attack from Lucius before counterattacking with a fireball of his own.

Lucius simply jumped to the side and dodged it.

They both landed more than ten meters apart, so they came to a stop.

Finally, Noah understood what the swords were for...

Of the four swords, one was in Lucius’s hands. The other three floated around him as if they were extensions of his own body.

"You... What the hell did you create?" Noah asked, unable to comprehend it.

Lucius laughed. "Armor?"

"Mine is armor," he complained.

"Well, so is mine. Can’t you see?" He looked at the judges. "None of them have said anything against it."

"But they all feel the same way I do," Noah retorted after glancing at the judges and officials.

Lucius shrugged and didn’t answer.

He ran to meet Noah.

Spells rained down on the stage. Noah took a more serious approach, but Lucius’s four swords were simply too effective.

In the end, Lucius forced the battle into close combat.

CLANK!

Lucius’s sword struck Noah’s armor firmly, but it failed to pierce it or gain the upper hand.

"Just as I suspected—so your armor is abnormal, too."

The part of Noah’s armor covering his hands transformed into two strange, sharp, and dangerous swords.

"Not as much as yours." Noah pushed hard and tried to overpower him with sheer physical strength...

In fact, he succeeded.

In terms of raw physical strength—without relying on his [Meteor Impact]—Lucius was barely at D-Rank, perhaps close to C-Rank.

But this boy was already at C-Rank.

At the very least, it was comparable to Darius’s current full strength.

"It looks like you’ll lose that #5 ranking before I even get to you, Darius," Lucius thought in frustration.

The clashes between Lucius’s sword and Noah’s grew frantic.

Lucius had to employ his best combat tactics just to keep up with him. This was arguably his true second specialty, as his combat experience was exceptional.

"Damn. This is annoying," Noah suddenly complained and leaped backward to create distance with a fire spear.

However, Lucius closed the gap before that could happen and sent him crashing to the ground.

"What are you complaining about, when you’re winning?" Lucius asked.

Noah rolled across the ground to avoid his next attack.

"Is that what you call winning? You clearly figured out that my weakness was my lack of stamina, and that’s why you’re trying to wear me down!"

Lucius laughed. "Tsk. So it bothers you that I figured out your trick."

"No," Noah retorted immediately. "It bothers me that I don’t have enough stamina."

"Oh." Lucius paused his attacks for a moment, taken aback by that.

"Ha!" Noah took advantage of his moment of distraction to hurl a fireball at his face.

However, it didn’t catch Lucius off guard. He ducked and closed the distance again. But this time, he wasn’t intending to wear him down...

"Well, doing what I was thinking goes against my principles when fighting a mage. So I’d better get serious." Lucius laughed and began attacking him frantically.

At this point, his swords flashed in a frenzy of attacks.

Lucius wasn’t a swordsman and had only been learning for a few months, yet Noah found himself completely overwhelmed by those four swords and by a level of skill he hadn’t expected to see in a guy like that.

Although the biggest problem wasn’t the swords—it was the occasional spells fired point-blank from the armor, which kept hitting Noah until he could take no more.

"It’s a shame you have to face me. You’re a great arcane mage, but you just happened to run into the default counter for arcane mages." Lucius laughed. He was having fun.

Noah sighed and looked up at him.

"Hey, this is the first time I’ve lost like this. I once fought Darius Asturias, and not even he could beat me. Can you at least let me save some face?" he said sarcastically.

"Face? An arcane mage’s face is in his well-cast spells, kid. You didn’t even hit me with a single one."

"Tsk, you bastard. Be grateful I didn’t want to use my eyes." Noah grumbled with a chuckle.

As he watched the judges approach, he grew serious.

"Why are you doing this? You’re the Rising Star. You’ve already drawn enough attention... Why did you go and create armor that seems to scare the elders? Aren’t you afraid... of attracting the attention of crazy people?"

Lucius glanced at him out of the corner of his eye... this kid...

Lucius smiled beneath his armor. "Actually, I’m trying to attract the attention of one in particular."

Noah frowned. "Who?" he asked.

"A local madman?" Lucius replied with a question, just before the elders and judges arrived.