Chapter 69: 16 - The Duel (part 2)

"You...! Treat this duel seriously, damn it!"

Grazio gritted his teeth and growled, clenching his fists around the training sword's grip.

"...sir Victureo... I am the only person here who treats it seriously..."

Zoemi glared at his opponent and when their eyes met the red-haired boy was the one to break the eye contact almost immediately.

Those dead eyes could bring chills to people much braver than the red-haired son of a general.

"This is your chance, sir Victureo. I promise not to touch anything besides the practice sword in your hands – I will admit defeat immediately if I break my word."

Zoemi declared again, taking a proper stance with the training sword in front of him.

"...you...! HIAH!"

Grazio's shoulders trembled and he rushed at the black-haired attendant in the fit of blind rage that frankly was unbecoming of someone of his status and made some of his supporters shut up as they realized that the red-haired boy isn't as calm and composed as they thought that he was.

*whack*

The first wild swing was deflected with ease.

"HUAH! HAAA!"

*whack* *smack*

Another two sings were swept to the sides without ever threatening the black-haired boy.

"GRRAH! HIAAA! HUAA!"

*whack* *smack* *thump*

"..."

As the supposed duel progressed the more and more people from the audience were going silent watching the increasingly pathetic attempts of the red-haired boy to hit the scarred attendant.

It wasn't like Grazio's swings lack power – if even one of them reach the black-haired attendant they could easily cause his skull to crack open like a hardboiled egg – but the thing was that Zoemi wasn't trying to defeat Grazio – he was consciously trying to make him lose face, but the red-haired boy lost himself in anger and failed to realize that every attack takes away the support of the people watching.

Of course – revealing that it was Grazio who wounded the black-haired boy leaving him with horrible scars at least doubled the speed of that.

As Zoemi told Horeo before – he was going to do something dumb.

This whole challenge or duel, whatever someone may call it, was just as dumb as it was selfish.

For just a little while the scarred attendant with dead eyes forgot about his master and indulged himself in the pleasure of revenge.

Aside from the unknown person in his recurring nightmares, Grazio was one that Zoemi hated with all his heart.

|Just one more... I'll be satisfied after the next one...|

Deflecting hit after hit, the attendant thought to himself as his sinister smile grew.

|Ahh... isn't this perfect...? If only I could burn him as he did to me~|

The black-haired attendant thought to himself imagining the sight of a fireball that young Grazio conjured and threw at Miriette all those years ago.

The shape, the destructive power...

Yes.

If he could conjure one like that and smash it into Grazio's face...!

Ah!

Zoemi could almost see the shadowy flames coiling around his fist about to form a dark semi-transparent fireball...

"...?!"

Actually – scratch the almost part – he could actually see that happening right at the very moment!

He could feel his mana getting drained by the shadowy fireball forming around his hands still holding on to the training sword!

"!!!!!!"

Zoemi flinched and took a step back in shock, taken aback by the sight that he could not comprehend the origin of.

|Dear heaven's – I was right!|

And the scarred attendant wasn't the only one who saw the irregular spell appearing – Kros Rul Shuze momentarily forgot about overseeing the duel and just stared in awe at the flame-like shadows licking the black-haired boy's hands.

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"HAAAAAAA!"

The one who did not realize what was happening was the red-haired Grazio – who missed the strange occurrence and went straight for Zomei's head, swinging the sword with all of his might.

"!!!!!!!"

*WHAM!*

"UGHAH...!"

*thump*

Warned by the shout that Grazio would make before every attack, Zoemi flinched and his instinctive reflex has kicked in – forgetting about the shadow fireball, the black-haired boy swung his sword with all his might – which resulted in Grazio's weapon bouncing back and hitting the red-haired boy with enough strength to knock him out instantly.

"..."

The silence that befallen the training grounds that the duel was taking place was almost painful.

No one dared to move – not even breathe.

Zoemi, Kros Rul Shuze, and every single student in the audience all stared at the drop of blood slowly making its way down Grazio's face.

...the drop of blood that originated from a deep cut at the red-haired boy's forehead.

|...oh... oh no...|

The elderly teacher closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.

|That's why I hate supervising duels...|

He thought before opening his eyes and looking to the side.

"Miss, come here! You didn't really have the time to shine during the examination – but thankfully student Victureo has agreed beforehand to be wounded for you to showcase your abilities! Such a benevolent person! As expected of a son of a general!"

"??!???!"

Kros clapped his hands getting the attention of the students and beckoned the blond-haired heroine to approach him since thankfully she could use healing magic.

"I hope that all of you appreciated the demonstration that student Victureo and student Auequas agreed to perform to showcase to you the dangers of reckless duels!"

The elderly light magician was damage controlling to the best of his ability – was it working... well...

"...huh...? Wait.. a demonstration...?"

"So.. this was all for show...?"

...surprisingly enough... yes, it did seem to work...

"Now, miss, please start healing him."

Kros urged the hesitant heroine and the blond girl had no other choice but to go – and thankfully as soon as she used the first spell whatever it was, Grazio's bleeding stopped and his wound close up even though he didn't regain his consciousness.

"In the meantime, I have a few words to say to those of you who seemed to get way too into cheering and shouted some insensitive things towards student Auequas!"

The elderly magician grasped the confused Zoemi's shoulder and pulled him towards himself before he began scolding the crowd using any way he could to convince them that the whole duel was just a performance – which he of course try to do to save himself from the consequences of letting a student get hurt because of his mistake.

|...I'm way too old for this...|

Kros thought to himself while going on about the proper etiquette of a duel and whatnot.

---

That evening the heroine was lying face down on her bed in her dormitory room, resting after the rather nerve-racking day.

"I had my doubts before but after today I have a clear picture. That whole Zoemi Auequas is a capture target after all. There's no way that the creators would bother to add a character with such backstory if he couldn't be conquered!"

She lifted her head and smirked - the cunning smile made her appearance change from the innocent and pitiful naïve girl into a confident woman.

"Even though it was rather unexpected, I already have my beloved Surou around my finger as a backup- though I don't quite understand how did that happen so fast... meh, must be my natural charm! - and I don't really like any other of the standard ones... This Zoemi is really scary with those scars but after getting rid of them he sure will become devilishly handsome..."

She nodded to herself as the smile faded from her face replaced by concern.

"I think I recognize the trope... A male yandere who is weak at the beginning but after the right event triggers, he will suddenly get a boost in power - if I will not have a high enough affection level with him at that time, it will trigger a bad ending and he will most likely kill me..."

She got up and declared to herself while hugging her pillow.

"Fine! That leaves me with no choice! I refuse to keel over and die so I'll make this brand-new capture target mine!"

The heroine, both in her previous and current life, was a very headstrong girl - but she would never expect what did she get herself into this time.

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