Chapter 63: Second Phase

The sky has turned fully dark as the moon shines brightly. "Are you sure this is my room?" Karl asks the knight.

"Yes sir. According to my sources this is the room that has been assigned to you."

'But isn't this too shabby?'

Ever since Karl came into this world he has encountered a new lifestyle that was far better than his previous one. Whether it was Ian's castle, a hotel or even the hospital. The feeling of richness kept on increasing. But after seeing his assigned room, the streak was broken.

Currently he is on the 32nd floor which was designated as the residential area for the participants. Each participants was assigned a room by their sponsored organization. There is a long corridor with rooms on both sides which looks straight out of a horror films. The feeling of emptiness and being watched by someone always take over Karl's senses whenever he walks in the corridor. He clearly doesn't like his room.

"Please open the door." The knight advices. Karl touches the door knob and his watch vibrates for a second before unlocking the door. A message displays on his watch. [Welcome. Participant no. 118521. We hope that you enjoy your stay.]

The door opens slowly, revealing an old metal bed, a large cabinet and a open shower with a toilet just below it. This room reminds Karl of his early high school days where he had to live in such apartment for his entire sophomore year.

'Why the fuck is the shower so open? At least provide some curtains.' Karl walks in the room followed by the knight.

"Still, this room is quite small for two people." Karl says as he sits on the creaking bed.

"Oh. No, no sir. We servant has a different section assigned to us. I cannot even imagine spending a night with you. Unless you order me to."

'What's with that flirty way of talking? Is he a halfblood too? If it was Nia instead of this guy, I would have thought about it.'

"No need." Karl quickly dismisses the knight.

"As you wish. If you need anything just give me a call and I already put your clothes in the cabinet over there. Then, please rest well. May the Horizon bless you." The knight bows to Karl before leaving.

Once left alone, Karl finally relaxes a bit and yawns loudly. 'I guess I should take a shower.'

He takes off his clothes and hops into the shower. While taking a shower Karl flexes his muscles in the mirror. He clearly gained a lot of weight in the past couple of weeks. 'The cut is going crazy!' He hits few more poses which looks ridiculous on Karl's fat stomach.

THUD!

'FFFFFFFFUCK!' Karl screams in silence as his toe hits the toilet seat below.

'But seriously whoever designed this room was a pervert.' Karl complains as looks at the main door.

'It's designed in a way that the main character walks in the room and catches a glimpse of the heroine's naked body as she showers. What a cliché plot.' Karl smirks.

CREAK! The main door opens and Serena walks in with a glass of milk in hand. "Huh?"

She stares at Karl for a solid second. "Oh? My bad, wrong room." She grabs the doorknob and closes the door.

"HEY! COME BACK!" Karl yells.

Few minutes later, Karl drying his wet hair with a towel and Serena is drinking milk quietly while sitting beside him. "So, why are you here?" He asks.

"I was going to my room after the party and by mistake I entered yours as mine is just besides your room."

"Hmm. You took my chastity therefore bear responsibility."

"Oh! That round stomach of yours sure looked soft. Mind if touch it?" Serena cutely pokes Karl's stomach.

"Oi! Hands off. I am still on bulk."

"Sure you are." Serena chuckles.

"But who knew that our rooms would be so close to eachother."

"Well, our rooms were assigned by our sponsored organization and we both are being sponsored by the same organization. Therefore, it is natural that we were assigned so close to eachother."

"Same? Were you also sponsored by Ian?"

"What? No! I was sponsored by the black Pegasus academy and so were you." Serena points at Karl.

"But I was recomm-"

"Being recommended and being sponsored are two very distinct things." Serena further explains.

Karl sighs loudly. "If I knew that I was being sponsored by the academy I would have asked Ian to sponsor me. At least I would have got a nicer room than this."

Serena takes look around Karl's room. "Well, it's your fault."

"What do you mean?"

"Come here." Serena opens the main door and takes Karl to her own room. By just opening the door Karl gets overwhelmed by the smell of a strong perfume. The dating experience from his past life tells him that he is about to enter the domain of a rich girl.

The room overall area is same as Karl's but the furniture and the structure of the room is miles ahead of Karl's own room. Even the bathroom and restroom are different with each of them having a separate door.

"Nice discrimination." Karl speaks out his thought aloud.

"I mean Principal Esther has grudge on you. Considering that, you being assigned a room is already a big thing."

'That bitch.' Karl curses.

"Well cursing her won't do any good." Serena walks into her room followed by Karl.

"Want something to drink? I have a refrigerator."

"At this point I am just too shunned to even ask." Serena chuckles once more. Karl sits on the soft bed and instantly feels sleepy.

"I watched your match. It was well played. You had your opponents in the back of your palm."

Serena's face quickly turns cold. "It was nothing. Such tricks only works on weaklings as them. I am sure in tomorrow's phase I cannot use my tricks."

"Yeah. Beasts are more vicious than humans after all." Serena nods at Karl's response and the conversation quickly dies.

Karl glances around the room in envy before calling it a day. "Well, I should go no-"

"How was your match? I couldn't watch it because I was a bit busy." Serena cuts in and asks with a fast tone.

Karl also notices the change of pace in her voice but decides not to point it out. "It was good. I got to fight different people with different fighting styles. It was quite fun."

Serena just stares Karl as if she was expecting a different response. "As your colleague and your classmate, I should warn you about a certain family and I am only doing this because I am your colleague and your classmate, okay? Nothing else!"

Seeing Serena's cute behaviour Karl smiles in his mind. 'Only if she was 18…..'

"The Dadelion family has placed a bounty on your head and as the part of the reward they are also offering a large part of Phirsecot family's heritage. So, expect few bloodthirsty opponents who are after your neck."

'That is why those two twins were after me.'

"The Dadelion family has even announced the bounty in the party earlier. Therefore, try not to get eliminated early."

"Yeah sure." Karl smiles and gets up from the bed.

"I am going back now. Best of luck for tomorrow."

"Likewise."

After saying goodbye to Serena, Karl goes back to his room. Once inside, he calls Ian but it goes unanswered. 'Probably sleeping.'

Karl then lies down on his bed and closes his eyes, eventually falling asleep.

Next day, Karl wakes up to his watch vibrating like crazy. He stretches his back before answering.

"WHERE ARE YOU? GO ON THE STAGE!" Ian's yelling brushed off Karl's sleepiness.

'Fuck!' He quickly changes into his armour and runs to the elevator. For some reason Karl feels that elevator is moving slowly even though it's not.

'Move! Dammit.' He glances at his watch and sees that it's just past 12pm.

TING!

The elevator door opens, revealing the same corriorder which leads to the main stage. Karl hurriedly jumps onto the platform.

"Are you participant no. 118521?" The referee asks in a rude tone, clearly upset at Karl for being late.

"Y-Yes."

"Good. The 43th round of the second phase will begin now." Karl quickly summons his talwar. Nervousness is clearly seen on his face indicating that he is not mentally ready for the fight. He glances at the judges and sees their natural expressions.

"The beast selected for this participant is the Twin headed acid lizard!" The crowd roars loudly as the referee announced the beast that Karl has to fight.

'Twin headed lizard? It's not a half dragon or something, right?'

The platform shakes, opening the middle part of the platform. Soon a cage emerges from the ground and inside there is the twin headed lizard. Karl sucks in mana from the air. The lizard is quite big over 9ft tall as it stand on its two hind legs.

"SHAAAA!" It hisses loudly.

'Heads aside the body heavily resembles a T-rex.' Karl thinks as he observes the beast.

"THE BEAST WILL BE RELEASED IN 5 SECONDS!" An announcement is made in the arena. Karl readies himself as the crowd counts down the seconds.

"4! 3! 2! 1!"

The metal cage opens up and the large lizard charges out. Karl remains solid on his place as he waits on the corner of the platform.

'Come. Show me what can you do.' He spreads mana throughout his body, ready to phase through any attacks.

"SHAAA!" One hisses loudly while the other remains calm.

Karl still not moving.

Everybody from the crowd are waiting for someone to make the first move. Suddenly a small purple glow comes from Karl's neck going all the way to his left middle finger. It was so fast that even Karl himself could not sense it. But the beast did sense it.

"SIII!" This time it was a weak squeal from the two heads and then one head bit the other head's neck while the other did the same. Blood splatters all over the platform but two heads did not stop until the end, killing eachother.

"SIII!" A last weak squeal comes as the large lizard fell on the ground.

Karl still not moving.

"What just happened?" A person yells from the crowd.