[Whoa, you look terrible.]
Sharon paused.
[I mean, more than usual.]
“Do you want my help or not?” I huffed, brushing dirt from the glowing seed. After a trip to the nurses office, a couple health potions, and a good sleep, all of my injuries had healed. But that healing took a whole lot of energy. Thus, I shuffled around like a zombie, generally fumbling around and occasionally bumbling headfirst into a wall.
“What do I do again?” I asked. “Just seal the crack?”
[Yes,] Sharon began, [Since the seed itself is such a complex object you must take great care to stitch each individual mana node into place, which may take anywhere from a week to several months—]
“Scab,” I commanded. A film immediately covered the crack. “That it?”
In total, I’d used less than a tenth of my currency maximum capacity. Zombie or no zombie, I had far more mental energy than I’d expected.
Sharon went silent.
[What’d you just do?]
“It looked complicated,” I grunted. “So I just asked the seed to heal itself. It’ll take a couple minutes.”
[That’s not how that works—]
“Yes it is.”
[No it’s—]
“Yes it is.”
The seed flickered red.
[Oh. So it does.]
He was blissfully quiet for a short period of time.
[Anyway, I’ll be stuck here for a little. After that I’ll need a lot of exp, but there’s really no rush.]
“I didn’t agree to that,” I muttered. “Some of us need Exp too. Staying a Dirt is going to get me killed.”
[Please? I’ll be very hungry.]
I bit my lip. “Fine.”
Sharon slipped into the seed, giving it a soft internal glow.
One of these days, I’d have to stop getting attached to every monster I met. They’d bleed me dry.
Sern.
I was thinking back to her, and Axel, and Rose and junior. Then all the other children whose memory had dulled in the back of my brain.
Were they okay? I hadn’t got any notifications telling me otherwise.
And if they were okay, did that imply distance between myself and them was for the best?
Has the issue been that I’ve been getting too attached, when I should’ve found the simplest, easiest solution I could? Where I went, bad things had a tendency to happen.
Something to think about.
[Hey, you alright?]
“No,” I sighed, glancing down at the twinkling seed. “See you in a week or something.”
[Lonely? Feed me exp and I’ll get out sooner.]
“Noted. Sweet dreams.”
The edge of the crack finished knitting itself together, and his responses silenced.
It felt suddenly awkward to sit in my bed, alone, so I wandered around the campus, hoping to run into familiar faces.
I got what I wished for, more or less.
Leo grabbed me by the shoulders. “Hey!” He flushed. “So…uagh…sorry about Harva. She just wanted to see how strong you were, since you kept beating Ardenidi. And then she beat you up.”
He was apologizing? For someone else, sure, but still.
“You’re welcome, by the way,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?”
“For saving you,” Leo huffed. “Come’on, you didn’t seriously think I’d beat you to a pulp just because you scratched Harva, did you?”
I blinked.
He blinked back.
“You didn’t?” I finally asked.
“Of course not!” Leo scratched the back of his head. “I was…well I was trying to stop you from fighting Ardenidi. Seriously, she was going to kill you. But now I guess she’s still going to kill you, so that’s not great. Anyway, I bought you some time, right?”
“I’ll be fine,” I sighed.
“Nah, admit it, you’re toast,” He chuckled, tightening his grip on one shoulder. He steered me away from the pavilion, down a path of narrow tunnels. “And seriously, Ardenidi is fuming. One of the refs had to drag her out of the courts.”
“So?”
Leo gave me a pointed look. “I’m trying to be nice. You know she got demoted, right?”
“So?”
“Ardendi got demoted three courts for repeatedly almost killing people in mortal combat. Normally, she’s good at keeping a lid on things, but now that you’ve got her angry, and especially since she thinks you're stronger than you look—”
Leo squinted. “You are stronger than you look, right?”
I frowned. “You’re telling me Ardenidi’s been holding back?”
“Yes. No. Mostly. She just wasn’t using lethal force.”
He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “So, to say sorry for my last plan, I’ll give you this advice. Don’t show up. Seriously. Do not. The seventh court has a limit of a hundred per stat, not ten, which she’ll be making full use of, so expect her to be at least two orders of magnitude harder to beat than last time.’
Leo ran ahead, peeking around the corners of the passage. “I know Ardenidi. As long as you stay here, she probably won’t find you.”
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Beneath the school.” He gagged. “It leads into the sewer. Do not go into the sewer. Do not. We don’t use water, since the second area is a desert. Instead, we disintegrate it all with condensed streams of mana. You will get vaporized. Everywhere else is fine though.”
“She wouldn’t actually kill me, would she?”
Leo shrugged. “The refs should stop her from actually killing you, but she’s already stated this is a fight to the death, and honestly…well I really don’t like your chances.
He left promptly.
I sat on the cold floor, rethinking my options. For Sharon’s sake, it would be better if I stayed alive.
But on the other hand, if I won the fight, I could make Ardenidi give me all of her exp and stats in exchange for her life.
My eyes widened.
I was thinking too small. I could also take all of her money, and then buy more stats and Exp!
And what was the worst she could do? Kill me?
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I started rubbing my hands together.
This might not be so bad.
Instead of going to class, I spent the whole afternoon training in the sewer. I made sure to take a short nap, replenishing physical and mental stamina, before I snuck into the seventh court.
While a fight to the death wasn’t technically allowed within the academy, you could get pretty close. This fight was officially called ‘a fight to the end’. There were three refs who would only stop the fight once I was no longer fit or able to continue fighting back.
Which meant that I could get hit as many times as needed.
Which meant I could make full use of my outrageous health stat, while Ardenidi was forced to rely on less than a thousand Hp.
Like many other students in the stands, Leo was startled when I arrived.
“HEY! ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?!” He screamed, hurtling down the stairs. A couple other students held him back, muttering amongst themselves. Harva shook her head. Sip was tallying numbers.
No doubt he already had a large bet placed.
I’d have to buy him a hamburger.
As the fight drew near, Ardenidi walked into the opposite side of the ring.
Walking isn’t the right word.
She clawed through the crowd, shoving a ref—Gus—out of the way. In her hand was a massive metal spear, which I didn’t recognize. I did, however, recognize the mushroom-smoothered cape she had slung over her shoulder.
The masses scattered away with intensified whispering.
Even some of the masters had decided to check in on the fight.
Ardenidi summoned another spear from her inventory, this one with silvery markings. She’s used it during the fight with the Core, all the way back in the first area. Chronologically speaking, that’d happen next week.
Funny how things worked like that.
The ref glanced at me, making sure I was serious about this fight.
“Begin!”
The point of a spear smashed into my ribs, flinging me back against the outer wall.
{GRIND}
[(-100) 10 Hp]
All at once, the refs lunged forward, preparing to stop the fight.
I clenched my jaw, hissing between my teeth.
Focus. I never got hit. I never got hit.
The punctured lung and broken rib suddenly healed, cutting the flow of pain.
“Let go!” Ardenidi swatted them aside. “He’s still fine, isn’t he?”
A couple glanced back at me, still standing, before retreating to the sides of the ring.
Gus was notably absent from the refs who came to stop me.
No time to think. I had to get serious.
Before the round could be officially restarted, Ardenidi was already attacking.
I summoned Crapshoveler, blocking and deflecting a sudden torment of jabs. These didn’t have the same lethal force as before, but if they hit, they’d break bones.
For now, I could parry most of her attacks with Crapshoveler’s automatic blocking. The rest only skimmed against my skin, making shallow cuts without meaningful damage.
The audience was getting louder. For comparison, the average eighth court didn’t know how to wield a sword. The seventh court was certainly better, but not by much. So to see two people in the lowest courts fighting at this level, despite the stats they had—that was unheard of.
I stumbled backward, straining to move my shovel in time, barely deflecting the next slice, before Arenidi rolled the second spear over her wrist, cracking the end against my head and resuming her first attack, plowing past my suddenly weakened grip and ramming both spears into my chest.
[(-50) 10 Hp]
[(-100) 10 Hp]
[(-100) 10 Hp]
While I was still reeling, she kneed me in the jaw, grabbed my face, and repeatedly stomped on it.
[(-100) 10 Hp] [(-100) 10 Hp]
[(-100) 10 Hp] [(-100) 10 Hp]
[(-100) 10 Hp] [(-100) 10 Hp]
Heal.
Strengthen.
My body froze, locking up and crystallizing. Her next attacks broke a crystalline layer, but no further.
Ardenidi jumped back, licking the end of her finger. “Is that salt?”
“It’s easy to get,” I said, dissolving the shield around myself.
In the palm of my hand, I’d created a hundred and twelve abnormality fields. They spiked red with Ardenidi’s burning hatred, distilled into thin points.
Each would only do a small portion of damage, having so many attacking at once—
Arenidi ripped a mushroom from her cloak and planted it into the concrete, where it exploded in growth. The thin fungus covered the whole area, dispelling my fields in an instant.
{Notice}
[You have entered a region of low mana. Your spells will cost additional mana to cast.]
[Your spell’s minimum requirement [12] exceeds your maximum mana output [10]]
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I groaned.
She rammed the end of one spear into the ground, then kicked it, pelting my side of the ring with dust.
I held a hand to my face, frantically blinking to clear my vision.
And then I saw her, leaping above the clouds with both spears raised in the air.
Arenidi jumped again, only to stop short, freezing in the air.
I was sweating, burning mental energy to resist her will. The effects lasted less than a second, before suddenly resuming at an accelerated pace, throwing her off balance.
I clapped the side of her face against the flat of my blade, tossing her upward. She spun around, aiming both spears with a clenched jaw.
{Notice}
[Your aura has been weaponized]
~
{Ardenidi : (-50) 100 Hp}
I ran, jumping off the wall, meeting her in the air.
It was already over.
A hundred and twelve piercing shots tore through the sky, detonating on impact.
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
{Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp} {Ardenidi : (-7) 100 Hp}
(+91 more items)
[1] [2] [3]...[6]
Ardenidi had exactly nine hundred ninety seven Hp the last time I met her, reduced by the fifty damage I already dealt. Now that I had a good feel for how much durability she actually had, I could adjust my abnormalities to deal exactly nine hundred and forty six damage.
For reference, that’s nine thousand percent more damage than someone my power should’ve been able to deal.
She dropped to a single point of Hp, totally unconscious.
One of the Masters caught Ardenidi from the air, glancing in my direction, before she vanished.
The entire stadium was dead silent.
I relished in it for a moment, before dusting my hands and walking away.
// {Notice} //
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