Volume 2 Episode 27

In the waiting room.

Luke Hamill was lying on his bed, gazing at the ceiling. He had woken up a while ago, but was still tired even after the healing process, so he chose to lay down for a bit more.

'I lost, huh.'

He had been thinking about his performance. He had been disqualified from the tournament without reaching the round of eight, but surprisingly he was pretty content with himself.

'I wonder why, but I don't feel any burden even after losing the round of sixteen. I thought I'd be feeling down after the loss, but why is it not the case?'

Luke contemplated on his feelings and emotions. He had never thought about what he actually wanted to receive from a fight. Was it the reward? Was it to gain acknowledgement?

What drives him to get up and fight his opponents?

He wanted to know. 

'I haven't even defeated Lin yet. Yet why do I feel so satisfied?'

He hadn't seen Lin even once since the battle royale started. He actually thought he had been eliminated, but turns out that's not the case.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, as he got up, curious to see who was visiting him.

"What's up?"

Andrea Perez. An unexpected visitor indeed. 

The person whom Luke had defeated was standing in front of his door. He still was processing the whole situation, while Andrea slipped past him and entered his room.

"Excuse me.." she said, as he stepped foot into his room, looking around the whole place.

"Um.." Luke, who had somewhat snapped out of the shock started speaking, but he seemed to be speechless as no words were coming out of his mouth.

"You want to know why I came to your place, right?"

Hearing Andrea's question, Luke hurriedly nodded.

"My secret, I had to make sure you wouldn't tell anyone."

'Secret? What was she talking about?'

Luke, who didn't know what she was talking about, scratched his head, until he finally remembered her secret social media account, which he had used to get her distracted.

'Was that the reason why she came to my place?'

Luke didn't think the secret she was talking about was worth all that, but he still decided to give her a proper answer.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your secret."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You shouldn't, not like you believing me changes anything." Against Luke's straight answers, Andrea couldn't counter back and bit her lips, frustrated.

"Anyways, you got healed pretty fast. I honestly didn't think you would wake up until maybe tomorrow."

"Heh, don't underestimate my healing abilities." Andrea snorted. "I may have lost to you, but I am still a higher level than you, so of course my physical abilities will be better than yours."

'That's true. I had forgotten that.'

"Well that's all I came to say." With that, Andrea walked past Luke, out of his room. Before she got past the door however, she turned around and looked at Luke.

"You're pretty good at fighting."

"... Thank you?"

Luke was confused by her sudden compliment which came out of nowhere. Andrea saw this and sighed.

"You know I'm a third year student right? It's not that easy to beat me."

"..."

"You did good is what I'm trying to say. So don't look so glum. It makes me feel like I'm not much of an opponent to you." Andrea stared at the unresponsive Luke, and furrowed her brows.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was it showing on my face?" Luke, who realized his mistake, quickly became a bit embarrassed.

"Kind of. Why are you so glum about it? I thought you were satisfied with your fight." Asked Andrea, to which Luke couldn't say a word.

'Was he satisfied?'

He didn't know.

'Should he be? Is that good or bad?'

After Andrea left, Luke looked up at the ceiling once more. He had to know what he felt. Was he satisfied? And if so, why did he feel satisfied?

He, who thought that beating Lin Hamill was everything. He, who thought that inheriting the Hamill Head position was everything. Why did he feel so satisfied with winning a small battle that, in the grand scale of things, could be considered pointless?

'What do I want?'

The question arose in his mind. It seemed that Luke Hamill of the Hamill Family had some introspection to do.

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The Kito Jungle.

Round of Sixteen (Ongoing).

"Haaah!" Roger moved swiftly, trying to avoid the flame balls produced by Christian, but still got hit by some, knocking him back a few steps.

"Roger, get back!" April stood in front of him, covering him with her ice barrier to shield him from the incoming attacks.

Christian saw this and stopped shooting flame balls. He quickly formed flame sword, his most powerful attack yet, and dashed towards his opponents. He knew that April with the ice type magic, was advantageous when it comes to both long range attacks and magical elemental weakness, so he decided to close in. 

Christian had already been tired from the doran, so he was hoping to finish off the fight quickly. He knew his opponents were also tired and drained of energy, so he most likely wouldn't have to use any of his other powerful moves that he didn't use against the doran.

'I didn't need to use it against the doran. I definitely don't need to use it against you two.'

Christian quickly got in front of the ice barrier and swung the sword, breaking through the barrier and destroying it. Roger and April moved back as fast as they could, but Christian was quicker. He used his firepower to cause an explosion, blowing up the whole area.

April and Roger who were near the explosion, couldn't escape it fast enough, knocking them back. Christian didn't let the chance slip by, as he dashed towards Roger before he could realise what had happened, grabbed his head, causing another explosion right in front of him.

"Roger!" April, who got back up, witnessed the whole incident and attacked Christian with her ice spear, but he dodged it, and countered with his flame blast right on her stomach, causing her to slam into the ground due to the force.

Christian stopped for a bit, not making any attacks. He was also mostly drained. He looked at his fallen opponents. They, although were heavily injured, weren't unconscious yet. They weren't disqualified.

He moved closer to both of them, who appeared to not be able to move a muscle, even though they were awake. Christian, looked at his enemies lying on the ground with his cold, lifeless eyes. Then he raised his hand up, and a sword started forming from it.

"I guess this is where you lose." As Christian said those words, he swung the sword down. 

But before the sword hit its target, it suddenly stopped its motion. Christian, who was still holding the sword, had a painful look on his face. The sword, then disappeared from his hands, as he fell down on the ground, unconscious.

His opponents, who witnessed the whole incident were clueless as to what was going on, until they saw a sword strike mark on his back. Seeing this, they looked up, only to find a man standing at the spot Christian was standing before. He had a flame sword in his hands, which closely resembled that of Christian's. The man smiled wickedly, as the host announced:

"Christian Ivan Andric disqualified. The round of Sixteen has been concluded as of now."