Chapter 7

"Don't worry, I'll just try and knock you out." Hero says to Sam. His face looks a little pale. The thoughts of killing a human being make him feel a little uncomfortable.

"And I'll try my best to cut your head off." The other party answers with his coarse voice. His goal is to either kill or be killed.

Upon hearing such a provocation, the crowd around goes completely wild.

In the seating areas, many students are yelling and screaming in pure chaos. Their faces have a red color because of the excitement. They told no teachers about this fight so that they could enjoy it to the fullest themselves.

It is not that common to see someone being utterly destroyed by the Hero.

Everyone is currently in the stadium, a special area for students to have mock battles. The place has the design of an ancient colosseum but with a touch of modern look here and there. White marble columns are everywhere alongside automatic drones. In addition, on top of the central battle arena is a gigantic floating orb made entirely out of water. Using drones to capture the images from the fight, the water will be magically changed accordingly and take the form of the two competitors. Light magic will then copy the looks and skills of them, magnifying them to a whole new size. It is basically a hologram made from water and light.

Standing at the two opposite ends, Hero looks at Sam.

"Don't do this to yourself."

"..."

"You can't win. Marie told me about you."

"...what did she say?" Sam stares at Hero.

"G...good things!"

"Really?"

"Yeah...like how you always practice, how you always study alone until morning. You are a good guy, I can see that."

"Did she tell you why I had to do that?"

"Y...yeah..."

"Did she tell you that I'm a useless son of a bitch?"

"No...although she did tell me you were not blessed enough."

"Pffft. Hahahaha. HAHAHAHAHA." Sam laughs to tears, his eyes remain the same abyss just like his heart. "I'm pathetic, right?"

"I get you, man. But you should not..."

"You understand jack shit!!"

Enough talk, the young man lunges forward.

"Eek." Unexpected, Hero leaks out an odd sound.

In less than a second, white fireballs at the size of melons are formed in his hands and fired towards Sam. Hero quickly jumps back to open up the distance. Even he cannot handle fully the heat.

*Bam*

The fireballs hit the ground, creating small walls of fire. Sam's body is consumed by the fire.

"I guess that should hold him off for now. I can't really kill him, can I?" Hero thinks to himself.

Students watching the fight are already in a trance.

"Is that white fire?!!"

"By the Goddess, IT IS WHITE!"

"The other guy is really going to die, and fast!"

"Hero has already reached the masters!! What a beast!"

"Have you seen the size of those balls?!!"

Fire magic mastery is divided into 6 levels.

Red, orange, yellow, white, blue, and violet. From the weakest to the strongest is also in that order.

In general, unless the blessed one is at least intermediate in terms of fire affinity, they will never reach orange, not to mention white. White fire is already the sign of a master in fire magic.

"Wait up! What is that!!"

A silhouette jumps through the white firewalls while covering his eyes and nose.

"You need more to get rid of me."

His uniform is slightly burned and torn, revealing the body underneath.

"Those abs *gulp*...I mean that guy...is not so bad." A female student says to her friends.

*Nod* They all agree with her.

"How did you escape my fire?!" The prodigy looks surprised.

Answering him is a small red fireball, which he does not even move. The fireball comes close to the Hero but is then blocked by an invisible force field.

Light magic: Defensive aura.

"You can't defeat me like this." Hero sighs.

Sam keeps running straight at his opponent. He knows that tiny fire does not mean a lot.

Still, the distance between them is now only half of the beginning.

"Come on, man." Hero understands what Sam is aiming for.

On his hands, orbs of water and earth appear. Hero then clasps the two together into one muddy orb, which is fired towards the ground.

"Let's see if you can get closer in a swamp."

Immediately, the area in front of the hero becomes brownish. The earth has turned into a liquid.

Earth creation magic: Mud pool.

By combining water and earth elements, Hero has created another element that has the characteristics of the former two. This technique is called Creation Magic.

With Creation Magic, imagination is the limit. Anyone with affinity, mana, and a little bit of thinking, even life can be made through magic alone. The only issue with combining elements to create a new element gets harder and more unstable when new elements are introduced. It is similar to doing two things at the same time.

Right upon seeing the orbs coming together, Sam has readied himself.

Once the Earth Creation magic is done, he jumps, closing in their distance.

His body shines really faint.

Light magic: Physics enhancements.

Annoying. Hero thinks.

"Dodge this!"

The earth underneath Sam suddenly fires upward like a stream of water. Moreover, the stream hardens in an instant.

Earth magic: Earth Spear.

There is no way for Sam to maneuver like this.

And so.

*crack crack*

Hero hears the sound of ice breaking.

BAM.

Sam's body flies upward. Leaving a light tray of red liquid.

Water creation magic: Ice Shield.

However, it seems that Ice Shield was not enough to block the Hero's attack. Sam's stomach has received a small hole on the side.

Whoosh.

But the young man does not stop. He is paying no mind to the intense pain. His goal was to die anyway. Using wind to push himself forward in the air, Sam is about to launch his actual counterattack. The distance is now only a fourth since the beginning.

Fire and wind combination. Fire creation magic: Firebomb.

Condensing wind under high pressure and wrapping fire around it, when the magic makes contact it will create a big explosion.

This is one of Sam's best weapons.

Instantly, around Hero, a beautiful sphere of Ice Shield appears.

In addition, an icy shard as big as Sam's whole body quickly forms.

The two guys stare at each other and launch their attacks.

Crack. BAM.

A huge explosion appears on the field.

While the Hero stays completely still, Sam's body is blown away like a ragdoll. The difference between the two is like heaven and earth.

The ice shards created from the impact have impaled all over Sam. Currently, Sam is almost covered in his own blood.

"Please, stand down." Hero looks complicated. "You cannot win."

"Guh..." Sam tries to stand up. His legs struggle to support him.

His blood has spilled everywhere. Especially his face.

He has lost one eye due to the ice shards.

"Stop this already."

"NO!! YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Adrenaline flows through his veins.

Fire, earth, and water combination.

Earth Creation magic: Metal chains.

From inside the palms of Sam, chains of steel extend towards Hero.

"3 elements creation? Astounding. And you don't think this will hurt me, right?"

But the chain does not attack Hero. It actually wraps around his Ice Shields sphere.

"Come here!!" Sam pulls on the chains.

Suprised, Hero tumbles down.

At this point, the young man once more jumps ahead. This is his only chance. He pours the rest of his mana into his two hands.

In his glowing fists are Fire Bombs.

"DIE YOU FUCKING TWAT!!"

BOOM.

The ice sphere explodes.

Steam and fire break out, covering the whole arena.

"Is it done?"

"I can't see. Steam is covering up everything."

"You numbskull, look at the water screen."

Above the stadium, two human figures can be seen. One lying down, one in mid-air.

"Is...is that..."

"The Hero is flying!!!"

"He really is. What the freak!? How on earth is he doing that!!"

"Is it wind magic? Please tell me it's just wind magic."

"No...look at his clothes...they're floating..."

"By the Goddess...it's Gravity!!!"

Hero is a little mad.

Because of his small mistake, he was about to get wounded.

He believed in his Defensive Aura, but Sam's body enhancements and Fire Bombs were really good.

The things that destroyed Hero's Ice Shields were the sheer physical power of Sam's fists. Hero could feel the force coming onto his face. Actually, Sam grazed the Hero a little.

When he got through, the firebombs were instantly released.

It was a solid plan, Hero had to give Sam credits for being able to scare him like that. If he did not break the shields, the Fire Bombs would have been stopped from the outside.

Before the Fire Bombs exploded, Hero was already at another location.

It was thanks to Teleportation, Void Magic.

To be completely safe from harm, Hero escaped to the sky. This time, he used Flight, Prime Earth Magic.

He has shown a fraction of his true power to this world through this fight. After this, Hero will become more famous, more girls will be attracted to him, and he would go and carry on his position as the embodiment of Hope.

Sam's position as a pawn has finally come to an end.

When the dust and steam have settled down, Hero also drops down to the arena.

Two people got into the field. After a few minutes, only one could stand. From the moment Sam requested the duel, this outcome was already apparent.

The winner looks down on his opponent while the other person lies there facing up the sky. Coincidentally, Sam is looking straight into his face on the water-screen.

Tattered, burned, punctured, half-blind.

And loveless.

His eyes have gone back to normal. He is exhausted. There is a gigantic wall in the middle between Marie and him that he will never be able to get through. An invincible wall, an immovable wall.

Compared to Hero, Sam really is a nobody.

His mind has now gotten back to him.

He sees it now, why Marie does not want him.

And yet, it is so frustrating.

All his hard work all this year for her. In the end, he gets nothing. He believed in persistence, in patience.

He believed that if he worked hard enough, he would be able to get his love, he would be able to stand with the blessed.

The answer is clear now.

Geniuses will always be geniuses.

Success is 99% hard work and 1% luck.

Hero was born in success while Sam will never be able to achieve it. He lacks that insignificant while so incredibly important one percent.

It is so, so very sad how cruel this world can be.

Looking at one side, he sees Marie running hurriedly towards the arena. It seems people deliberately hid the fight from her.

On her face are expressions that Sam has never seen. Her feelings are clearly for Hero only.

She hugs Hero tightly.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you? I know you're good but you should not have done something like this."

"I'm fine. Really. Just a small graze on the skin. See."

Hero points to a reddish wound on his face.

Marie cries while touching Hero's beautiful face. After that, she moves to Sam's spot.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO MY MAN!"

Her eyes are abysmal.

"I GAVE YOU A SOFT REJECTION BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ACQUAINTANCE. AND YOU GO CHALLENGING MY BOYFRIEND??!!"

So I am not even a friend.

Sam smiles, but his remaining eye does not.

"HOW FUCKING STUPID ARE YOU?!"

The young man stays silent. He knows he is in the wrong.

"No one can hurt my darling. NO ONE! NOT EVEN ME! LOOK AT HIS PERFECT SKIN! YOU FUCKER HAVE RUINED IT."

"I'm sorry." He says.

"No. Sorry is not enough. You wanted to die, didn't you? Then allow your long-time acquaintance to help you with that, alright?" Marie smiles.

"ATONE FOR YOUR SINS, ASSHOLE!"

She points at Sam. Marie's index finger shines a yellow hue.

Light magic: Laser Beam.

Sam closes his eyes.

He is about to be released.

*Slap*

Suddenly, Marie's face turns on one side. It slowly turns red.

Right next to Sam, the light suddenly fluctuates. From there, a person appears.

It looks like a female student wearing a facemask and a lab coat.

"Keep your disgusting hand away from him or I will cut it off myself."