40 Ranking Tournament [5]

"So... Did it feel good to finally reach the heart of Arthur? Pfft!"

"Shut up, Anna!"

"Jeez, fine. Just don't go all demon lord on me. Pfft...! Hahaha!"

Currently back in the waiting room, I had expected my classmates to distance themselves and stop socializing with me, but I was wrong.

Although most of them appeared to look at me with some slight hesitation in their eyes, they relaxed when they saw my embarrassed expression. Then, there was also the fact that Anna was teasing me relentlessly, showing the others they didn't have to be afraid.

It was mind-boggling to see the petite girl that I had assumed to be shy and timid act like this as soon she got comfortable.

Most of my worries after the duel had already gone away after I talked to Arthur, who clearly didn't hold any grudges. In fact, he seemed to feel great having let go of his own restrictions, using the [Sword of Light] Manual.

Also, he appeared to be even more passionate about growing stronger, going as far as to make the decision to concede his elimination match to go train instead...

Yeah, he was an idiot, but he was a very loveable idiot and, hopefully, he would be my idiot in the future.

I focused my gaze on the screen again, as I was looking at the last match of the second elimination round, trying my best to ignore the annoying girl who had somehow made it through to the next round.

****

[James's Pov]

During an intense session of double meditating, as well as watching the matches using Matt, my heads suddenly started heating up.

"Argh! What the fuck is happening?!"

As the heat escalated, it felt like my brains were on fire, forcing me to quickly make Matt fly away from the arena so I could let the body dissipate.

As soon as my third body went away with a *Poff*, my heads cleared a bit, now just feeling like they had massive migraines. "Huff, huff..."

Both of my bodies fell to the bed, breathing heavily. The pain had come like a bolt from the blue without any signs to warn me.

Thinking about it a bit, I decided to let sub-me come back as well, and, as I had expected, another layer of weight was lifted from my mind.

'So that's how it is...'

It made sense, it truly did, but the evident truth still annoyed me a lot.

Dividing and controlling three different consciousness had most likely slowly been eating away at my brain until it couldn't take it anymore.

"Fuck!"

This changed a lot of things I had been planning on doing, as it meant I couldn't do a double meditation session while at the same time having spying eyes on the outside for a long duration of time.

Racking my brains, I tried desperately to remember for how long I had been using Matt.

'Two hours? Three hours? Something like that, I guess...'

It was hard to remember the exact duration, but my estimations landed on a bit less than three hours.

'It's not enough...'

If I was going to gather information as efficiently as I wanted, while at the same time strengthening myself, I needed it to be more than that.

'I wonder if I can improve it. If I were to go by the logic that this world is very much like a game, it should be possible by grinding the skill, but I can't know for sure.'

"Kh... Pfft! Ha...Hahahaha! This is fun! No game is fun without challenges!"

Spending the rest of the day in bed, trying to recover my hurting brain, I was looking forward to what the future had to offer me, not forgetting to turn on the broadcast of the tournament on the laptop.

****

[Sophie's Pov]

'Thank you, god, for this wonderful opportunity!'

I had gotten the amazing opportunity to match up against Anna, who was now trembling while she tried to keep her grip on the wand in her hand. "5!" As the teachers started to count down, the edges of my mouth started to rise.

"4!" At the same time, Anna's trembling escalated, her legs falling a bit but being caught by her knees. "3!" Dopamine started rushing in, knowing I would get the chance to completely pummel that annoying girl. In moderation, of course.

"2!" I thought I could see tears emerging from the eyes of the girl, as she was thinking about my duel with Arthur. "1" And this is where I would give her a taste of the same medicine!

"Fight!"

Before I could even make a move, Anna had raised the hand she held her wand in, her eyes showing that she had taken control of herself. Sadly...

" I surrender!"

"Anna, you bitch!"

She had realized the flaw in my plan, reverting back to the annoying girl that always bantered with me. "Well, I don't want to feel my heart getting destroyed. Even if the pain is decreased, I would be a masochist to want that. Oh, wait... Does that mean Arthur is? And by extension your type is?"

As I was grinding my teeth in frustration, Ms. Rose's voice rang out, "Umm... The winner is Sophie Red! Give them warm applause as we wait for Adriana Aldon and Sebastian Crawb to make their way to the stage! After that, we will be holding the last two elimination matches to determine which student will place 3rd in the tournament!"

*WOOO!*

Yes, Anna had somehow managed to make her way all the way to the semifinals of the main group, not suffering a single loss on the way. Sadly, she would now be sent to the elimination group where she would face either Suzan or Mike, who both had suffered a loss each but won their elimination match during the last round of duels.

*Slap!*

"Don't look so down! I mean, you are in the finals now! Shouldn't you be happy?"

Turning my sights to the girl who had just slapped my shoulder in an attempt to cheer me up, my eyes narrowed, "I hate you. Why didn't you just let me punch you a few times at least? Actually... What's stopping me from doing so now?"

Seeing my eyes lighting up at my sudden realization, she quickly reverted to the cowardly self she had displayed in the arena, "Well... you know... friends shouldn't fight? And we are friends, right?"

It was like watching an annoying squirrel who had been continuously ravaging your plantations; She was absolutely the one at fault, but because she was so small and pitiful it was hard to stay angry with her.

"Haaa... Fine. Let's just go back to the waiting room and watch the next match. It should be a good one."

"Yeees!"

****

[James's Pov]

It was finally time. In no duel so far had Sebastian shown any of his Skills, probably just using manual enhancement to fight. Or he had been using a skill that only strengthened him without any visual signs, something I found very unlikely. The most subtle body strengthening Skill I had seen so far was Sophies, but as she had already accidentally told me that her class was [Dragoon], I already knew about it.

He had emerged victorious over Trisha, Suzan, and Mike so far, out of which two were currently still in the elimination group, meaning they were also very strong. Yet, no one out of these three could even pressure him enough to use a Skill. He had just skillfully overpowered them with his spear.

It irked me badly that I didn't couldn't get a read on what Manual he had, a wave of anger that stemmed from, as always, not knowing what someone could or would do. Adding on to that, the fact that he almost never spoke couldn't give me a clear read on what sort of person he was, making it hard to know how to approach him. He was the sort of person that triggered my anxiety the most!

'But maybe that will change now...'

I had also seen just how impressive Adriana was when she used her [Armor of Ice], an alternative elemental Core Skill of the [Knight] Manual. In the game, this Skill adapted to whatever elemental gem that the player equipped, and in this world, it did the same, only it was dependent on the elemental affinity.

Seeing the silver-haired beauty and the almost-as-handsome-as-Arthur purple-haired man shaking hands, I felt a tinge of regret. 'I really wanted to watch this duel in person... Or at the very least through the eyes of Matt...'

Sadly, there was nothing I could do about it. I didn't dare to summon my clones, afraid that if my brain didn't get enough rest, the insane torment would once again come for a visit in my brain.

"Haa... Thank Theia that I got a good view of the fight even in my apartment..."

What I didn't know at this time was that there were a lot more prominent figures also watching the fight intently.

****

[3rd person Pov]

"So what do you think? Have any of you found someone to choose as an apostle yet?", Theia said as she let her sights wander on her guests.

Sitting around a large table, several figures were sitting, each and every one of them glowing in different colors, showing that they were of divine origin, watching a huge screen that showed them the duels that were taking place in Ainu.

"Don't you think it's too early to think of that, Theia? They are merely tadpoles at the moment, can't we wait for another 50 years at least?"

The bountiful woman shook her head, "Sadly, I think you will have to pick your apostles not too far in the future. We all know what is about to happen. That is, after all, the reason why I picked my apostle 10 years ago."

All of the men and women around the table seemed to realize the weight of her words, acknowledging the need of assisting the races of their world. Suddenly, another god appeared, a god who was wearing a white mask with black eyes and red stripes, his long black hair flowing down to his shoulders.

"Seems like I'm still not too late to the party? How rude of you to forget to invite me! Hohohoho!"

"What are you doing here..."