บท 15: A Reprehensible Victory

The fight was over, but the stadium was still confused.

On the giant screen, Skyler's photo appeared as the winner of the match, but people were still trying to understand the Virtues' decision.

Some people began chanting Malcom's name as the young man began to descend the platform.

Skyler, who still had a couple of tears in her eyes, was still unable to completely remove them away from Malcom's back as he got down the stairs slowly.

Her gaze then shifted towards the box for Virtues. Skyler was searching for Maximo, but he was no longer there.

Instead, she saw Mabel standing as she clapped. There was an unmasked expression of disappointment from the Virtue of Fire as she stared at Skyler.

"We must prepare for the next match," the commentator said after he grabbed her shoulder.

His voice was more muffled than usual, and he was looking at Skyler with something close to shame as he continued to say, "You must get off the platform, miss."

Skyler nodded and started getting down, trying to catch up with Malcom, who had already entered the dressing room door.

She tried to run a bit, trying to control the involuntary tremors the battles had left on her.

The battle was a total illusion, but many times if the trauma inflicted in combat was very great, the brain retained the devastating experience in real life.

Skyler had caused other despair and trauma before. However, she had never been the victim of any.

She followed Malcom until she saw him enter her dressing room. She paused at the door, trying to think of what to say.

Skyler wanted to knock and congratulate him for the incredible fight he had made. She wanted to tell him so many things, but her words evaded her mind. She remained five long minutes standing in front of the door of the young man's dressing room when she suddenly heard.

"Damn!"

And a lot of objects sounded like they had hit a wall before they crashed on the floor.

Skyler took a step back and remembered Maximo's look when he declared her the winner.

She wanted to think how she would have felt if she was Malcom, but finding a remotely similar feeling for her was impossible.

Just as she was about to leave, Skyler heard some footsteps behind her, and when she turned, she saw two people approaching.

One she knew was another tournament competitor, one with whom she herself had fought once, and a young woman whom she had never seen but who was watching her with a rather serious expression.

Benjamin stopped right in front of her. He smiled tightly before speaking, "Maybe now is not the best time."

Skyler wanted to say something, but Violet walked by her side.

When Violet was behind Skyler, she raised her voice to say, "I do not doubt that your intentions are good."

Upon hearing this, the goddess of fire turned her head to see the girl who was speaking to her.

"But now you will only make things worse! You would never understand what he is feeling or what any of us feels for that matter!" Violet pointed out with restrained frustration.

Skyler looked at her, surprised, "I just want to apologize for the result!"

"A kind sentiment!" Violet mockingly refuted. She was visibly upset. "But that's just for you to feel good about yourself. Don't pretend as you care! If you actually care, leave. Here there is nothing for a woman like you!"

Skyler's words piled up in her mouth like a million coins trying to get out of the neck of a bottle, the girl had so much to say, and at the same time, she was speechless.

At that moment, Skyler simply thought of leaving without saying anything.

Skyler looked down and heard how behind her Violet knocked on the dressing room door.

However, Ben stepped in next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. He then shook his head before speaking, "Maybe in a couple of days. Perhaps…"

And with those words, he also entered. Skyler turned to take a peek inside the dressing room as the door closed, and she saw a shattered mirror and a young man with black hair with his head in his hands.

The door closed, but Skyler stayed two more minutes before beginning the walk to her own dressing room.

As she walked, Skyler relieved every fragment of the fight and saw how she was playing Malcolm's game all the time.

When he said that she never had a chance, it was not a declaration of superiority. It was a fact that he was making her see.

Skyler in that combat was just another aspect of that mage's strategy.

For some reason, that idea made her smile.

She didn't really know why but she was smiling. She took the doorknob from her dressing room and turned it, when the door opened her smile vanished instantly.

Inside the dressing room, there were three people.

Two of them sat staring at the door while a blond man in a white cape-like outfit looked at the groups on a poster taped to the wall in the corner of the dressing room.

The first to speak was the man sitting. Upon seeing her enter, he immediately stood up and said, "Honey! Are you ok!?" He then opened his arms towards her.

The young woman recovered a small fragment of her smile and began to walk towards that man.

"That's not the right question, Armand!" The other man said, from the corner of the room. He was wearing an entire white outfit.

The man turned his heels to face the others before continuing unhappily, "It's not even remotely the right question!"

Skyler's father, who was on his way to hug her daughter, stopped in his tracks and shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't be so hard on her. She clearly did what she could," Armand replied casually.

The other person present was Skyler's mother, who sat smoking from a mouthpiece. After hearing Armand's words, the lady snorted before she blew a large amount of smoke through her nose.

Skyler watched her mother and then planted her face on Maximo, who now held a black cane with a huge jewel on end in front of him.

"The right question is, what were you thinking?" The Virtue asked as he stared at Skyler.

Saying that phrase, he almost whispered, forcing Skyler to pay even more attention to him.

The young woman looked at him, and her hands began to sweat inclemently. Skyler wanted to hold his gaze. However, Maximo's eyes were so intense that they forced Skyler to direct her gaze to the ground.

Skyler began to remember the battle once more, but this time everything was very different from how she thinks about Malcom. Before in her mind, Malcom was not so incredible.

However, this time in her mind, she was the incompetent one.

"I am sorry," Skyler said, trying with all her strength to hold back her tears.

When her father saw her, he placed his hand around her neck and gave Maximo a reproachful look, a look that the Virtue ignored as if Armand was not in the room.

Maximo continued, "You are the number one in the ranking. I took care of that. I gave you all the benefits you could have to be the best. You have obviously been. Yet today, in the fight that mattered the most, you dare to do a performance so…."

"Pathetic!" Skyler's mother completed Maximo's words.

Upon hearing her mother's voice, Skyler could not bear the tears anymore and let them flow.

Skyler's mother got up and walked to the dressing room door. She then spitefully said, "I could not believe what I saw. It was a shame! Luckily your uncle was there to fix it. I hope that in your next fights, you leave up to your family's name."

Before leaving, her mother continued to look at her devastated daughter and then added, "This is not a small thing, Skyler!"

Maximo slowly walked until he was in front of the girl and asked in a voice colder than ice, "Did you… pity him?"

"No!" Skyler replied, trying to keep her composure, "He is really strong!"

"Nonsense!" Maximum refused her words immediately. He waved his hand in the air. "You wanted to test how many spells of the level one you could cast before breaking your bond?"

"No…"

"Did you want to end it with a spectacular attack so that everyone could see that you are the most powerful?" Maximo asked again. He was pressuring the girl with the way he looked at her as well as with the force of his voice.

"No…" Skyler shook her head, and she bit her lower lips in frustration.

"So," Maximo's brows furrowed in confusion, "What was it, Skyler? What did you want to prove?"

Skyler raised her face to see her uncle, this time, she was no longer crying, and without hesitation, "Is it really so hard to believe that he was better than me?!"

Maximo stared at her for a second in disbelief. As if what she said did not matter, or he plainly could not accept it, Maximo began to leave.

When he was outside, his steps halted. He turned around then looked at Skyler.

"You will go out at the back today," Maximo unhappily said before he placed his cane under his arm, "Today, you will not give a press conference!"

Finally, away from Maximo's interrogation, Skyler felt a little better.

"He was great at fighting Sky. Don't be sad!" Her father said thoughtfully.

"It seems that you are the only one who believes that," Skyler replied with a helpless smile. She was fighting back her tears.

Skyler's father smiled. He stepped back and then looked at her daughter intently.

"Not really," He said before he smiled evilly, before continuing, "All of us in the stadium shouted Malcom! Malcom! Your mom was hysterical."

Skyler's eyes bulged in disbelief while looking at her father, "You were screaming it too!?"

"Sure!" Armand replied proudly before winking at her daughter, "That boy tore you apart… It was incredible!"

And with those words, both her father and she smiled.

Skyler could not help but hug her father tightly. As her face rested on the chest of the only man who understood her, she said, "It was amazing, right? He is incredible!"