10 V 1.1 Chapter 7: A Certain Smile.

I've been called a genius by many. My teachers, my classmates, the people at the park, my father's friends, and the likes. Every time they speak to me, all I get are non-stop praises. But most of them, talk behind my back.

You might think I'm happy, but I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all the fake smiles everybody shows to gain my trust. I'm sick of all the fake compliments just to appease me. Everything they've done, they did it just because they want something from me. Just because I have talent, they want to be my friend. I'm sick of all these fake people, fake friends, fake everything. I'm sick of it all.

That is... until I met her.

***

"Where am I?" Catching my breath, I woke up lying on a bed, looking at the ceiling.

"Hiiro!" A girl suddenly hugged me, it was a familiar voice.

As I looked to my left, immediately, I recognized her.

"Ha... Haruka? Y-you're alive?"

Looking around, I saw medical equipment that looked strangely familiar.

"What's going on?"

"Hiiro!" Haruka cried while hugging me. "Thank goodness. Thank goodness you finally woke up."

"Ha... ruka? What's going on? Why am I in the hospital? A-and... why are you alive?"

"It's because of you," Haruka cried. "It's because you saved me. When I was about to jump on the rooftop you quickly rushed towards me. I was saved but you fell in the end. I'm sorry... I'm sorry Hiiro."

"I'm glad... I'm glad you're alive," I replied tightening my hug on her.

"Hiiro," Haruka said wiping her teary eyes. "I'm sorry. When I said sorry to your confession I was actually lying."

"Lying?"

"Yes. The truth is I like you. No, I love you. I've always loved you," Haruka said with her moist eyes.

"L-love?"

"Yes," she shouted. "I love you."

Wait, wait, and wait. What just happened? Is this really a confession?! This is real, right?

"Hiiro." Her eyes were sparkling.

"Y-yes?"

Ahhhrrg. She's too cute. I can't stand this at all.

"Hiiro..." she said, softly. "Can I... can I kiss you?"

"M-mnn"

It was like a charmed snake tamed by a flute. My hands slowly touched her face, caressing it while watching my hands slipping into her skin. It was as smooth as polished marble with her complexion as white as snow. Her lips were so pink, they shone as if tempting me to kiss her. Little by little, our lips were slowly meeting. For each second that passed, I could feel my heart beating faster.

She was so adorable right now, however...

"Hiiro," A mysterious voice echoed, a faint but familiar voice, stopping me from what I was doing.

"What is it, Hiiro?" Haruka asked.

"Hiiro," the same voice echoed again.

What is this voice?

"Haruka, can you hear something?"

"I don't. Hiiro, what are you talking about?" she replied with a dissatisfied look.

"Hiiro," The mysterious voice was not coming from Haruka, yet, it felt familiar.

"Hiiro, let us continue. Please," Haruka attempted to hug me.

Something's wrong.

"Hiiro," The voice was getting stronger, louder.

"Hiiro!" The faint voice then turned into a shout.

"Hiiro!" Realizing something, I pushed the girl in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked not the voice but the one in front of me. "You are not Haruka."

"Heh. I never thought you could break my spell," Suddenly, the place literally cracked right in front of my eyes.

The space is breaking? No, this is not reality.

As the illusion shattered, I found myself back in the arena.

***

"You will pay!" Clenching my fist, anger arose inside of me. "For toying with my feelings, I will never forgive you!!!"

This is not good. I need to calm down.

"Hiiro!!!" a girl shouted.

"Ha...ruka?" Looking at her, her face slowly changed. It was Emily. She then smiled out of relief.

Emily...

As my anger subsided, I opened my hand and looked at it.

Hiiro, remember why you're here, the reason why you're fighting. Remember your goal: 'I will go back to my world.'

"Thank you, Emily, for bringing me back to my senses. Don't worry, I'll win this fight."

"Hey, are you finished now?" the girl in front of me pouted as if she got jealous for praising Emily. "You should've thanked me instead for that wonderful dream!"

My stares then switched to the girl in the arena.

"Hello, I am Lucie Dreizehn, a succubus. Good job breaking my illusion, Hiiro. I'm impressed," she curted.

Curious, I stared at her.

She is really dressed in a hime-kei. How is this possible? That fashion is from Japan...

Calming myself, I slapped my bony face with my two hands,

Hiiro, you need to concentrate. Anyway, based on my knowledge, a succubus mostly fights at close range. This is a gamble, but I bet she doesn't know I'm a mage since normally, skeleton knights fight in close combat to distract their opponent while the master casts a spell.

Fighting a close combat specialist, I'm at a disadvantage, however, I have a plan.

"I'm going to defeat you, succubus," I shouted while pointing at her and looking directly at her eyes.

"Oh, really. I'd love to see you try, Hii—ro <3," she replied rushing at me at high speed. "Boy, can you even endure my punch <3?"

Preparing my counter, I waited for her to get close but not too much. As she met the required distance, I smiled. "Gotcha." Immediately, I cast a spell to block her attack. "Earth Wall!"

"Elemental magic?!" Her eyes widened.

After casting, I backed away. She then crashed into the wall, destroying it. However, it was within my calculations; I knew the wall would easily break---after all, it was a basic spell. What I was looking for was not blocking her attack but the dust it would produce. Since she was not expecting it, a lot found its way into her eyes and blinded her.

"Ahh, my eyes!" Immediately, I ran in circles around her while writing a rune, preparing to cast fireball.

"Execute Loop Program: Fireball!" I shouted while dashing around her. "Continuous Casting, FIRE!!!"

Continuous Casting is a type of loop magic where the spell will keep activating until I order it to stop.

Using a spell will give away my position since she can just follow where the spell came from. I need to change my position each time I attack.

"Sorry, I know this is cowardly but my experience (as a gamer) is telling me not to fight a stronger enemy head-on."

She then rushed in to attack me but missed. Immediately, I barraged her continuously with Fireball and repeated what I was doing before. She couldn't fight back. Each time she attacked me, she would always miss. Even though her eyes have recovered, the explosions from the fireballs produced a lot of smoke which I used as a smokescreen, limiting her vision once more.

"Ahh... You pesky skeleton," she shouted while punching the ground, producing a shockwave. The blast stopped my movements and dispersed the smoke around her. "Hahaha. I can see you now~!" She then charged towards me.

However, I had a counter for it.

"Water Whip!!" The spell grabbed her hands.

Simultaneously, I threw her upward and cast Air Slash at her. The force blew her away and she landed on the opposite side of the arena.

"Execute Loop Program: Fireball... Set X to 10... Fire!!!" A number of spheres made of fire then shoot at her, producing suffocating smoke with each strike.

She then stood, her once adorable clothes all tattered. "How... dare you..." She stomped the ground and a rock about the size of my head flew upward to her face's level. She then slapped the rock, and it came flying towards me with great force.

"Uggh!!!" The rock hit me; it was moving too fast, I couldn't dodge. She then immediately dashed towards me one more time. Again, it was also within my calculations. After she crashed, I knew she would rush at me in a straight line so I cast Water Mines beforehand. It'd leave her immobile if she ever steps on it, and it did.

"W-what is this?!"

"This is the end!" I didn't hesitate for I knew she could break out of it anytime, so I cast my trump card: "Execute Loop Program: Fireball... Set X to infinity... " Suddenly, fireball runes kept appearing, surrounding her from above. "Fire!!!" The fireball runes blasted her all at the same time, but it took all of my mana---it was a one-time spell.

***

Draining her energy by attacking continuously then trapping her to deliver a finishing blow. That was my plan.

"Did it work?"

"I can't believe... you're this strong," she spoke, wounded and swaying, she could barely stand. "You took... a months' worth... of my Lust Energy you know."

...Why? Was my spell not enough?

"I only plan on playing with you at first but... I hate losing you know. You even ripped my favorite clothes!" Suddenly, a strong gale then appeared on the stage; it was coming from her. "Behold my real form!"

A dark light then surrounded her. It was like a transformation sequence from a magical girl anime. As the light disappeared; I saw her flying while flapping her wings. Her headpiece was then removed as a pair of horns emerged from her head, curving front into a 90 degree angle; her pointed tail made her more seductive while waving in the air; her dress was replaced with a one piece black bikini with two big holes in the waist turning her once innocent aura into a woman filled with lust as her doll shoes changed into a pair of high heels further increasing her charm.

"This is bad."

Her transformation was within my calculations. However, I knew my magic alone was not enough to fight it. My plan was to finish the duel before she could change.

She landed on the ground. It seems some of her strength was restored. She then pointed her right hand at me like a gun and a dark light gathered at the tip of her index finger, forming a ball. It was small at first then it grew larger as the seconds passed. "Tch, I can only gather this much power but I think it's enough."

"Oi, oi, oi, that's overkill!" My body was too exhausted to even move. I'm totally glued to the ground, no matter how much I tried to move my joints.

"This is punishment," she shouted. "Try to dodge this, Hii—ro <3. Luxuria Blast!!!"

"Dammit."

The spell hit me and I was blown away.

Right... This... is reality. Plot armors don't exist...

With my vision getting blurry, I looked at my opponent for one last time as I slowly lost my consciousness.

***

Seeing Emily's face close up, I woke up lying in her lap.

Wait... Isn't this? This is the famous lap pillow!

"I-I'm sorry. A-am I a bother?" Emily stuttered, softly but fast. "M-my mom always does this to me when I'm tired s-so I thought..."

"Emily, it's okay," I assured her.

"Hiiro," she spoke looking at me from above.

"I'm sorry, I lost."

"It's okay, you did your best." She smiled.

Ahh, this smile. Why is it so beautiful? It's different from the illusion I saw in the fight. This is her genuine smile. A smile that is not a fake. A smile just like Haruka's.

The pain in my body slowly disappeared.

Suddenly, the host announced the 2nd round: "Now, at Round Two, we have Aria Silvermoon against Robyn Accalia!"

And so, Round Two commenced.