ACT II
MONAMI

Chapter 35
The Fresher King

  Till now many people including Martha were not known of his mana properties, she looked in the bundle of documents that she was holding and found his name and mana properties listed. She now understood why Aredhel and Rudolf were behaving like that and why Concordia allowed the special admission. it was not because of his backing but because he was the rarest talent. She let her prejudice make a bad impression but she was too prideful to admit that. Martha realised, If this child got hurt then she should be prepared to face some consequences from Concordia authorities.

  She sighed and signalled the start of the duel with no good feelings. Many were looking forward to seeing how Hans, a wood mage, fights. Hans was already prepared when his opponent was bashing him with words and without losing the element of surprise, just as the starting signal of the duel, the tiled floor started erecting the tiles like something powerful was slithering around. Everyone thought it was Rominick’s doing but both the mages in the platform knew who was doing it.

  Romnick was surprised at first but all Hans did was just shake the ground and upheaval some tiles. He was cautiously waiting for Hans to cast his spell but there was no mana circle in sight even after the ground stopped shaking.

He mocked Hans,
Is that all a special admission can do?

Hans replied to him,
You seem to have information about me but if you wanted to look me up then you should have done a proper job.

Hans yelled,

VeganBind

The orca vines, metallic black with sharp-bladed leaves and fine metallic hairs, rupture the ground beneath Romnick, making him fall into the small pit that vines have dug underneath him.

  Rominick tried to jump when he realised the ground was caving in but a small vine grabbed his feet and dragged him down while many of the similar things slithered onto his body, cutting him here and there.

  Hans didn't use poison in the VeganBInd this time because he wanted Rominick to feel the pain and as he intended his opponent screamed in pain making Hans feel satisfied. The grip and movement of orca vines were so painful that it was making his target irrational and instead of thinking of a way to destroy the vines, the poor excuse of the first-place admission just tried to break those physically.

  A bloated vine came out of nowhere and entered his mouth gagging him completely. With his all four limbs restrained, the elf couldn't move an inch even if he wanted to. Realising how messed up the situation was, Romnick bore the pain somehow and cast his fire spell.

Embers

It was a spell fueled by his first circle meant to burn everything in the surrounding area. The signature blue flame that represented Elven fire mana, different from human’s orange flames, came and tried to burn the vines but to no avail, the vines were fine.

  Rominick felt that his attack might have somehow made those vines more agitated since it was increasing the grip. He looked at Hans who was just looking at him with apathetic eyes and a hand raised at him.

  The vines loosened up in his hand, giving him hope and with a little bit of struggle he set his hands free but unbeknownst to him, Hans wanted to give him some hope before taking everything from him.

  Romnick reached his mouth and tried to remove the gag but suddenly the vines which were restraining him by the legs slammed him on the ground just like a washerman slams the cloth into the rocks by the banks. Hans didn't stop there, his vines that coiled around Romininck were providing the cushions so he wouldn't pass out early and he kept slamming him right and left.

  The brutal scene reminded Martha of his words, she realised Hans was not a boy who only relied on connections. This had gone too far in the duel and she wanted to intervene but Walter was stopping her, he wanted to see how far Hans would go under the restraints called rules of the duel.

  But the students were just children of twelve and thirteen years of age and some even never saw a real fight up front. It was a cruel experience that was going to latch onto their minds for a long time.

  Hans stopped the slamming and reached Romnick slowly, the vine gagging him slithered away, and the thoughts of defeating and humiliating Hans were not in his mind anymore. The only thing he wanted was to surrender and get away from this demon but his voice was not coming out because the gag had injected a paralysing poison in his tongue. With all his limbs restrained again.

Hans came to him and asked in a loud voice,
Do you wish to surrender?

  The elven boy wanted to but neither he could speak nor move. He looked at Martha who was worried for him and with a terrified expression he was relaying his thoughts to her. She started to move towards the platform but Hans’s words stopped her.

Professor Martha, I haven't broken the rules and he didn't surrender, is that how Concordia honours the duels here?

She stopped, Hans was using his words to make the duel continue. He turned back to Romnick and said with a wicked smile,
Clench your teeth, you shitshow.

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  Hans began the physical onslaught of his fast punches straight to his face. It was more of a physical thing for Hans. His small fists were not strong enough to make his opponent feel pain like earliest slammings but he felt satisfaction in doing it with his own hands.

After making a bloody mess and realising that Romnick was going to pass out soon, Hans stopped and took some steps back as he was wiping the blood from his fists and declared,
I concede

He looked at the almost passed-out Romnick and said to the panting boy,
Have all the honours in the wall, pisspot.

  He arrogantly returned to his place and Martha called the medical team urgently to take Romnick away. It was not hard to heal his wounds, he could even recover in a few days completely but what Hans inflicted on him was mental damage that was beyond fast recovery.

  In the duel, Hans had restrained Martha with the honour of Concordia so after the duel, she showed her displeasure with how he mocked this sacred Initiation Ceremony. In the end, she came to him in anger and shouted at him.

What do you think you just did? Do you even know what others give to be on the wall of fame?

Hans looked at the angry lady and calmly replied,
I lost, isn't that what you were aiming for from the start?

  Martha has forgotten her objective, she wanted Hans to be defeated in the Initiation Ceremonial duel but the way he did things was devoid of any honour. She replied blatantly,

There was no honour in how you fought…

Hans intervened,
I didn't break any rules…

She didn't let him finish his words and intervene again,
There was no respect in your duel.

Hans became silent for a moment and with his lowered gaze he said with a chilling voice,

Listen here, Professor, I don't know the reason for your hostility but The way you talk about honour and respect, that mindset will get me killed and I don't plan on dying soon. I don't know about others but I constantly fought hard for my life till I reached here so I won't allow anyone to go on a power trip at me. If you wanna piece of me then come straight, do not sacrifice innocents.

Hans looked at the stretcher moving away and added,
Well in his case, he was not so innocent after all.

Hans left her speechless and before he could damage her pride further Walter intervened,
Apologise to her Hans, she is your elder, you should respect…

Hans turned towards his House Master and said straight to his face,
If I bend once, I have to keep bending. Is that what a member of the prophets is supposed to do?

  Previously he restrained Martha with Concordia’s name and now he restricted Walter with his house’s honours. It was true that he took things way far but Martha was wrong since the beginning and Walter knew how hostile she always has been against the children from Recommendations, and her thinking was right too but Hans was an outlier.

IN THE INFIRMARY

  The boy was bandaged up and was healing. Suddenly a female figure appeared before him, he tried to look at her but couldn't make out who she was. She started speaking and the battered-up Romnick just listened to her words,

I did not abandon my friends, they just died, so give up your revenge and move on, just like I did.

Romnick mustered up all of his strength and asked her,
Why?

She replied in a grim voice,
Because no one can deal with the person responsible for that.

***