There were no objections. Everyone silently nodded at Rick's words.
Simon scratched his head in a little bit of embarrassment, and Hector didn't respond.
"And the weakest team is"
Rick glanced at Meilyn to check her countenance and said,
"I guess it's Team 1, with you and me, right?"
"Hey! Why are we the weakest?!"
Meilyn complained, face red in shame.
"Meilyn, do you know any enhancement dark spells?"
"Uh, hm. A few small ones, I guess?"
"Unless you're planning to burn all the people in Class C with a Dark Flame, it'll be a bit difficult to play an active part in a game like this."
Small laughter broke loose from everywhere. Meilyn's face went even redder.
Ignoring Meilyn's status, Rick continued his explanation.
"While Team 1 is focused on Meilyn, Team 3 has a solid breadth of strategies."
Class As Ace of Necromancy, Cindy Vivace.
Class As Ace of Curses, Jamie Victoria.
Class As Ace of Summoning, Pierre Berkeley
Class As Ace of Poisonous Alchemy, Claudia Menzies.
Those who scored in the 90s for their preferred subjects written assessment were all concentrated in Team 3.
Despite Simon and Hectors overwhelming performances, some felt that Team 3 was actually the strongest with their higher grades.
On the other hand, Meilyn, who was supposed to be the best of Team 1, didn't possess such specialized dark magic that'd be useful in this game.
"That's why our teams are the weakest, strongest, and mildly strong. We must put the weakest, Meilyn's Team 1, against Serene's team at all costs.
"You won't get away with this."
After glaring at Rick for a moment, Meilyn crossed her arms and turned around. As she let her thoughts fester, her fighting spirit only burned brighter.
Watching this, Rick furtively grinned.
In addition to what he said, he believed that Meilyn would somehow fight harder if she was versing Serene.
A cold voice split the lively atmosphere of the class.
"Youre blabbering bullshit thinking youre such a big shot! Bastard."
Hector intervened, his eyes gleaming with something strange.
"Stop dragging it on and cut to the damn chase."
"Ah, you're so impatient~ Just wait a little bit."
Sighed Rick, his hands in his pockets.
'Acting so high and mighty just because Simon Polentia is behind him.'
But Hector didn't go any further.
There was no reason to worry about a small fry like Rick. Hectors one target was already taking his everything.
"I got it."
Suddenly, an unknown males voice was heard in the air. As everyone was looking around for its source, the air melted, and a student with glasses appeared next to Rick.
It was Camouflage, a skill that hides the user's body.
"Could you please tell us?"
Rick smirked.
* * *
"Now then, students. Get ready for the match."
Grumbled Brett, who took the role of a referee. Students rushed to the front of the court.
'Ugh, this is pissing me off.'
Hong Feng and the other assistant teachers immediately left, saying they'd be preparing meals, leaving Brett and the two other senior assistant teachers to act as referees and deal with the students.
Of course, those seniors also left everything to Brett and went off somewhere.
'I'm gonna go insane! Am I really in a position to be treated like this?'
Brett violently pulled at his hair.
'After the incident with Simon, I feel like Professor Hong Feng is neglecting me! The other assistant teachers are also somewhat ignoring me! Dammit! Dammit! I'm sure everyone knows already! Maybe that bastard Simon spread the rumor?'
Of course, it was only Brett's own victim mentality.
'Simon Polentia!'
Besides, something more irritating happened a while back.
Simon brought in a girl named Camibarez.
"Assistant teacher. Cami seems to be showing slight anemic symptoms, so she needs some medicine."
Brett bluntly replied that there was no such medicine and told her to endure it.
At that time, what Simon said with a cold smile was ridiculous.
"A student is sick. Looks like your job as an assistant teacher is complete if you just say no, huh?"
It made his stomach sink.
An unspoken threat to tell Hong Feng all his secrets and make him resign from his position as a Kizen assistant teacher!
Since Simon had something on him, Brett had no choice but to run to Hong Feng's hut and bring the medicine.
'Ahhhhhh! It's annoying! That bastard keeps on acting up!'
Bretts legs trembled in anger. He resented not being able to resist Simon.
'How will I survive the 3 years until he graduates? Maybe he won't take up the Combat Dark Magic classes in the second semester!'
She blushed and turned away.
"Ah, you guys are so noisy! Shut up!!"
Meilyn, silencing the mocking Class A students, took a deep breath to calm herself.
After completing the enchantment, Rick gestured upward and shrugged. She nodded.
"Here you go."
Rick threw the enchanted ball high as though serving it. Meilyn ran behind it and leaped as high as she could, even activating Jet-Black Operation.
Whish!
She flew like a butterfly and went to spike the ball.
Just before the ball touched her palm, the magic circle drawn on the back of her hand spewed dark flames.
Fwooooooooosh!
Flames gushed out like an explosion, and she hit the ball with all her might.
Bang!!
The ball launched through the air and struck the face of a male student in Class C. He couldn't even react.
Tap.
Roll.
The ball fell off his face, and Meilyn landed effortlessly, letting out the breath she had been holding back.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Nice, Meilyn!"
Cheers broke loose everywhere.
"You saw that?"
Meilyn straightened her back and looked at Rick.
"I can win even without my own enchantments!"
"Oh my, of course~ You're always the best."
After kicking the insidious Rick's butt, she turned her head.
She saw Simon, watching with other students, smiling broadly and clapping. A bit of pride bubbled up inside her.
Brett, up on the referee's table, prompted while stroking his chin.
"Faster, faster. Next, Class C's attack."
From Class C, a girl with pigtails walked to the front. Meilyn gave an order.
"Tanks! Get to the front!"
Meilyn, the main striker, and some students stepped back. The big boys came forward, all aspirants of Combat Dark Magic or students who had defensive dark spells.
The girl with pigtails glanced at the formation of Class A and threw the ball awkwardly. It was heading out of court.
"Hah! Wheres that supposed to?"
Just then, the ball going out of the court twisted and hit a student from the formation right in the chest.
This time, cheers poured out from Class C.
"You dumbass! You saw it changing direction when the professor did a demonstration earlier! Everyone, don't let your guards down!"
Meilyn flared up. The student hit by the ball scratched his head awkwardly and left the court.
"Rick! Same as before!"
Meilyn served as Class A's main cannon. Everyone in Class A passed the ball to her when it came to them.
Indeed, her attack power was outstanding. 100% of her attacks hit. None could escape.
On the other hand, in Class C, various students took turns leading the attack. In fact, Serene was standing in the corner of the court, not attacking, and was nonchalantly trimming her nails. The other Class C students didn't dare push her to attack and just occasionally checked in on her.
Thud!
A student from Class A was out of play when he tried to catch the ball and it bumped into his arm.
Simon, watching from outside the court, let out a wry smile.
'To be honest, most of the attacks are successful.'
In this match, the offensive side had an overwhelming advantage. Of course, first-years also tended to belittle defense, so that was a huge factor.
In the first year, the power of each curse was quite something, so there was a tendency for the win rate of those who shot a curse or attacked first in the Duel Evaluation to rise.
Each sides fundamentals were lacking, so the first strike would often be the last.
Moreover, the protective suits and Kizen uniforms providing defense even in actual combat only encouraged that thought.
Of course, the importance of defense naturally increased as one went up to the senior and professor level.
Swipe!
"Woooaaah!"
At that moment, cheers erupted from both classes.
In this game where the offense almost always won, the impressive play was the defense, no matter what anyone said.
One of Class C's attacks was blocked by a Combat Dark Magic student from Class A for the first time. Liquid jet-black was dripping from his body.
'So he used Jet-Black Eruption.'
An aspirant who has studied in advance. He immediately fired back, and a Class C student was taken down.
This volley was worth double because not only did the attack succeed, he also nullified an opponent's attack. Everyone in Team 1 flocked to him and high-fived him.
The key to this match was a student who knew defensive spells or had a strong Combat Dark Magic talent.
'Defense, huh?'
Simon's eyes lit up.
Using just a simple ball game, Hong Feng was throwing a new subject at the students.