10 Chapter 9

A black portal manifests right in front of Marie. The Hero appears from within it.

He uses Teleportation.

"Marie! Are you okay?" He looks worried. "Here, let me help you."

He gently holds the 4-finger-hand of Marie, who is crying uncontrollably because of the pain. A yellowish sphere forms upon his touch. It gradually grows bigger and bigger, with magical runes flying all around like a planet and its satellites.

Light magic: Restoration.

Everyone turns silent. Their eyes and faces are in absolute awe. Even sitting away at the end of the stadium, many can still feel the warming embrace of the spell. They have never seen or even heard of this magic before.

Light magic does have the effect of healing. However, the best that normal people can do would be to reduce the amount of pain and stress. Medical practitioners are still generally needed for diseases and surgeries.

Yet, the effect that is happening in the arena is something worthy of the title world-breaking.

It is not so fast, but the speed is of what the eyes can follow. The burned wound changes into a pinkish color of the skin. Flesh and bone start forming where the finger was cut. After 10 minutes, a completely new finger has grown back on Marie's hand.

"How do you feel?" Hero asks. His voice is soft and full of worries.

"There's no more pain! It's a miracle! I don't even feel anything strange. How did you even do that?" Marie hugs Hero. Her voice trembles in happiness. He always comes when she needs him the most. Unlike the tattered body on the ground.

"Haha. Well, it's kind of hard to explain. This is the first time I try something like that, too. My visualization is the multiplication of stem cells."

"But many have also tried that before, but the best they could do was remove the scar."

"Probably loads of mana as well." Hero scratches his head.

"Doesn't matter. Thank you, my love!" Marie kisses Hero on the cheek. His lack of general knowledge is simply normal in her eyes. She loves him even more because of that.

After done with being all lovey-dovey, Marie then looks at Lily and then down at Sam. Her eyes change from full of love to full of hatred and despise.

"You see this? This is how a man should be." She exclaims while spreading her palm which has 5 fingers now. "Just stop it, Sam. You can't ever be as good as Hero!"

"Would you do the same to Sam?" Lily says. Clearly, the person she is speaking to is Hero, she does not want to waste her time talking to Marie.

"No!" Sam and his ex-crush simultaneously reply.

"I don't want it."

"He does not deserve it!"

"I'm not asking the both of you. Shut it!" Lily stares at Marie.

Although she has her sunglasses on, Marie can still feel the intensity of Lily's glares. Thinking about the pain she just experienced, Marie feels cold all over her body.

Sam is stunned by Lily's aggressiveness. He has never seen her in such a state before.

He tries to stand up but falls down eventually. The wounds in his body are too much for him to handle. It is actually abnormal that Sam did not die. He did not put up a defensive aura because of his small mana pool but poured everything into the attacks. The energy formed by the Fire Bombs could have blown both of his arms away.

"Hey, Hero. Regrow his left eye." Lily orders.

"I'm sorry, I can't. Not after what you have done with Marie." Hero shakes his head.

"Who the fuck are you to talk to him in that tone?" Marie yells.

Lily stares at the disturbance.

Laser Prism Beam.

Another laser beam fires towards Marie. Fear quickly spreads all over her.

"That's enough!"

But instead of hitting the target, just like what happened before, the beam bends down towards the ground. The Hero uses the same tactics as Lily did.

"Tch." She clicks her tongue. "You can have her, for now."

"Apologize to Marie!"

"Fuck off. If anything, she must be the one to apologize."

"FOR WHAT?!" Being saved by the Hero, Marie has gotten back a little courage.

"For being such a bitch. For giving hope and taking it away. For abandoning Sam."

"Pffft. Ridiculous. Okay. I apologize because Sammy here is not as good as Hero. I am sorry because he cannot do what Hero can. I am terribly sorry, because he is not half a man my boyfriend is. Enough for you?"

Sam just smiles. He does not care anymore. He only wants to have a nice rest after all of this ruckus. What Marie said, albeit cruel, was all true. Sam is only himself. He can not become a prodigy.

But then, Lily takes out a big notepad from the inside of her lab coat. It looks like it has been used many many times. The book cover is all worn out, just like Sam's body at this moment. Lying on the ground, he can see the title of the notepad.

'Sam's stupidity volume 5'.

So there are other volumes as well?

"Let's talk about two months ago, shall we?" She turns the pages into the middle.

"3:32 PM, Monday, August 12th, you forgot your textbook and texted him. At 3:40 PM, Sam brought you his own textbook. The teacher disciplined Sam because of that and he had to run around the school under the rain."

"Whole day of August 13th, Sam had a cold. Because of the day before."

"11:10 AM, Wednesday. August 14th, you wanted a custom lunch set. Sam bought you the whole thing and had water for lunch on that day."

"6:00 Pm, Friday, July 8th, it was raining. You didn't bring an umbrella. Sam told you that you guys could share, but you just took it from him. He waited 2 hours for the rain to stop."

"Pretty insignificant, right? Let's read something more extreme." Lily turns her book to the front.

"8:24 PM, Sunday, January 1st, you said you wanted Sam to study with you in the Magic Academy. After that, every single day, he had been working in the gym for at least 6 hours per day. On the weekends, he would twice that much. To improve himself, Sam has had mock battles with 1,848 people, lost a total of 1,732. His medical fees were enough for a whole year off school intuition. Bones were broken a total of 255 times, head injuries: 41 times, countless minor wounds and bandages."

"Have you ever seen Sam without a bandage on his face or arm?" The air feels colder and colder around Lily. Her stares keep on getting heavier and heavier.

"Of...of course..." Marie struggles to find the words.

"Which day was it?"

"It...it was...probably...um..."

Lily sighs.

"You never really looked at him, didn't you? You never intended to keep your promise, didn't you? You wanted a failsafe for when you couldn't find anyone, didn't you? Someone so stupid, so devoted to you, he treated you like a fucking goddess. So that you can go and fuck with someone else?"

"I...I remember. On my birthday last year, he did not have a bandage on him!" Like finding the light at the end of a dark tunnel, Marie shouts.

"Fucking pathetic. On that day, he had a cut in the stomach. Not once in your party did Sam bend his back."

"Enough! Lady! This is the last warning I have for you! I will not take you lightly because you are a woman!" Hero yells.

"OOOOH. Scary. The big man with his big words. Going around knowing his girlfriend catfishing another student. Is it a fetish? It's a fetish, isn't it? You like banging her while thinking about her flirting with someone else, no?"

The Hero turns red. No one knows if it's because of anger or shame.

"You should really go, Lily." Sam tucks on Lily's lab coat. The labcoat is so heavy that it gives Sam a thought that Lily is hiding stuff on the inside.

"It is my decision to challenge Hero. I was defeated fair and square. Go back to the infirmary, Lily. This is not your fight."

"No, Sammy. I'm here for you."

"How did you know all this stuff anyway?"

Lily sits down and looks at Sam in the eyes. Even through the glasses, he can see her eyes tearing up.

"Because, dear Sammy! I've been watching. For the last 7 years!"

His cold body suddenly is wrapped by warmth. His forehead feels touched by a mask.

"I'm not staying in the shadow anymore, Sammy. You are mine!!"

Underneath the facemask, a crazy smile appears.