Capítulo 43: Finals [2]

"Get up. We aren't done yet."

That human had somehow made me fall to the ground and was now mimicking me by letting me get up to my feet, not using the opening to end the fight.

Gritting my teeth, I stood up as it dawned on me, we were the same but at the same time, we were very different.

Though I, as a result of this damn Manual, was feeling an immense set of pride in the context of battle and battle alone, he appeared to think of himself as above everyone else in all situations.

That was the real reason for my anger, that someone had the audacity to believe that being strong was what defined one's value. It was people like him who would go on and control other people, making them do his bidding because he was strong.

'All while still just being human like the rest of them... Like the rest of us! Fuck!'

I finally managed to escape that bizarre vortex of thoughts that had begun to consume me, forcefully reclaiming control of my mind.

Anger was still very much raging inside of me, but now I was finally angry for the right reason, not because of the thoughts of a stupid lizard inside of me.

"Haaaaa..."

Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to fight once more, this time with a lot more clarity. A smile emerged on my face as I could once more enjoy the duel, a joy that I didn't want to lose.

When Sebastian readied his spear, I dashed forward. When I was about to get in range, his spear elongated, firing like an arrow at me.

*Clang!*

Though I managed to parry his strike with my scales, he only made it shrink before launching the attack again.

*Clang! Clang! Clang!"

A flurry of spears was flying at me, all threatening to pierce my body if they were to hit. However, just like the first strike, I managed to deflect them with my hands as I kept on moving forward, albeit slowly.

Noticing that his 'ranged' strikes weren't working, the spearman gave up on using them and, instead, chose to keep his spear at its normal size.

Thus, the second wave of attacks started, now not nearly as telegraphed and obvious as when he sent his spear in a straight line.

*Bam! Bam! Splurt!*

It was to try and keep forcing my way forward as the whirlwind of attacks kept ripping the skin of my body, even as I tried my best to parry most of them. Even more annoying was that he kept moving backward, intent on not letting me get into a comfortable range.

I lacked the tools to deal with this situation, and, with my energy rapidly getting sapped away because of my activated Skills and being forced to endure Sebastian's onslaught, I quickly needed to find an answer.

There was the option of doing a reckless rush like at the beginning of the fight, using my wings, but I doubted he wouldn't be ready for it if I used it a second time.

Other than that, I only had my fists and feet. And they were not enough to right now. Thus I had only one action left that I could think of.

*Clang! Bam!*

While still suffering from the frantic attacks, I tried my best to imagine heat gathering in my stomach. And, it did.

An intense warmth started to surge through my belly, its temperature escalating every second, getting hotter and hotter.

At some point, I felt the heat's desire for escape, to roam freely. Thus I set it free.

*Roar! Crackle!*

"What?!"

A bestial roar rang out from my throat as I suddenly spewed out a sea of flames towards the unsuspecting man who was just about to stab me with his spear. When the heat's shackles were removed, it raged forward in joy, happy that it got to see the outside world.

Forced to cancel his attack as the fire got closer, he had to retreat, finally making an opening for me to get in range.

"Got you!"

"Shit!"

*Bom!*

Unable to escape from my lunge, I finally caught the man, and our reunion was celebrated with my right scaly blue fist greeting his face, ripping a part of his cheek in the process.

However, my assault didn't end there. *Bom, Bom, Bom!* Not giving him time to fix his posture, I kept piling on punches, making his head fly from side to side as blood started flying from his mouth.

Finally, seeing that he was about to fall, I made a very intense reenactment of what I had done to Brad.

Lifting him by his head, I jumped into the air with the assistance of my wings and threw him to the ground.

*BOOM!*

As I landed on the ground, *Tap*, I didn't even need to look at him to know the results, and it didn't take many seconds before a brand new Sebastian materialized next to Ms. Turner and Mr. Brown.

"The winner of this duel is Sophie, which also crowns her as the champion of the freshmen ranking tournament!"

*WOOO!!!*

The whole arena was shaking because of the eruption of the biggest cheer the audience had mustered so far, signifying that this long day had finally come to an end.

"Hahaha! You did it, girl! I'm proud of you!"

Mr. Brown had walked up to me, praising me for my achievement, not caring about the neutrality that was supposed to be a part of being a judge.

Before I could open my mouth to thank the man, he turned around and shouted at his colleague, "Jessica! What do you say about treating me to that dinner tonight? I really want to celebrate that MY student from the A-CLASS won the tournament!"

"Tsk!"

Clicking her tongue, Ms. Turner just walked away, leaving the arena in frustration."Bahahaha! Well, Sophie, go freshen yourself up! You are going to get an audience with the king, after all!"

It was somewhat expected. After seeing that James got to speak with him, though they weirdly enough spent most of the time hugging, and got awarded an item token for his efforts in the survival event, it made sense for the winner of the tournament to get the same treatment, if not better.

Giving a small bow to my teacher, I paid my respect for his teachings, "Thank you, Mr. Brown! It's all thanks to your lessons that I managed to win!"

Scratching the back of his neck, my teacher suddenly looked abashed, surprised at my sudden outburst, "Ah, well... Thank you, Sophie, but I just did my job. Now go away! Hahaha!"

Turning away from my homeroom teacher and, to a large degree, mentor, I was planning on taking a very long shower before the nightly banquet started, where the king would be present, as well as the principal that we had yet to get to see.

"You are strong. Truly strong..."

My journey was obstructed before it even began, as a purple-haired man stopped me. His face was still carrying an air of neutrality, uncaring and aloof, but somehow, I thought I could sense some other emotion painted on his face as well.

I could only reciprocate with a childlike smile, deciding not to care about my feelings about the man and only taking his words for what they were, "Thank you! And yes, I'm strong! Hehe!" For the first time, an incredibly subtle smile emerged on his face, or at least I wanted to believe so, "Guess I have been conceited then. However, just wait. I'll definitely catch up to you. And when I do, we will fight again."

With that, he walked away, his shoulders a lot more relaxed than usual.

****

[James's Pov]

"YES! SHE DID IT!"

"WOO!"

"Ooh?! What are we celebrating?"

In my room, I was currently celebrating Sophie's accomplishment by myself, not the fact that she won but by she managed to make Sebastian reveal what Manual he had. However, as I stared at the screen, there was something weird about the fact that there should only be me and sub-me in this room, yet there was a third person who responded.

Letting my gaze wander, I quickly found the incredibly suspicious culprit, currently sitting on one of my chairs at the tiny kitchen table. A slender man, with long flowing black hair, currently wearing a very nice gray suit. However, the most prominent feature of the man was something else entirely. What instantly captured the interest of my eyes was the mask he was wearing.

With a white base, blackened sockets to disguise his eyes, and embellished with red stripes, it was truly captivating.

Imagining I could sense a smile behind the mask, I quickly dismissed sub-me and started to walk in order to leave my apartment. I was not about to stay here while some kind of crazy person had invaded my privacy. Therefore, instead of screaming, putting myself at risk of triggering him, I just quietly let my feet carry me away, hoping he would be confused and let me go.

Sadly, this did not happen. "Hohoho. Now, Mr. Jackson, I would greatly appreciate it if you could just give me a couple of minutes of your time. How should I say it? It would be in line of manners to do so?"

Stopping, just before I could reach the doorknob, I turned around. There was no point in continuing the endeavor now that he had acknowledged that I was trying to escape. "Of course, Mr?"

Raising one of his legs over the other, he answered me with a silky sweet voice, "Oh, excuse me, how rude to not introduce myself! My name is Mr. Laufeyson, and I'm just here to talk. After all, you are a very interesting person!"

As a purple light started glowing out of the black sockets of his mask, I felt a patch of cold sweat quickly start running down my back.