"Ah…Albert lost."
The guy named Nick groaned and slapped his forehead.
"Bloody hell, how do you avoid something like that?" Louis complained. "He literally just engulfed the whole stage in fire!"
Cecilia watched as the staff carried Albert's charred body off the stage on a stretcher so that he could receive treatment. They would ferry him all the way to the infirmary where Teacher Cure was waiting. Chang Cheng had already recovered somewhat, and returned to his seat with bandages and gauzes wrapped over his wounds and burns. Apparently he had elected not to wait for Teacher Cure to complete her healing spell before returning.
That was fine. Defensive mages such as Chang Cheng had rapid regeneration. Now that he had received the basic healing spells from Teacher Cure, it would only take him the rest of the day to fully recover.
On the other hand, Hal Gunther was conspicuous by his absence. The guy was so much more injured than Chang Cheng that it would require Teacher Cure's full attention to heal him back to normal. Probably one of the reasons why Chang Cheng demurred on spending too much time in the infirmary. His teammate needed the treatment more than he did.
"What do we do now?" the burly guy directed the question toward his leader. Cecilia Stuart was folding her arms and pursing her lips as she considered her options.
After a moment of pondering, she turned to the handsome guy.
"Doug, do you think you can handle him?"
"If you so order it, I'll give it a shot, but no promises."
The good-looking, blond guy shrugged casually, a smile touching his lips. Cecilia glanced at him seriously.
"How do you rate your chances?"
"About 60-40, I suppose?"
"Oh!" Elena brightened up. "As expected of you, Doug. You have a 60% chance of winning? That's better than the rest of us, save the Captain."
"I think you misunderstand me." Doug's eyes gleamed mischievously. He tilted his head toward the Vermilion Phoenix. "I have a 40% chance of winning against a monster like that."
Elena's jaw dropped. "Even you aren't confident that you'll be able to fight on par, Doug?"
"Like I said, I can give it a shot." He glanced at Cecilia, who nodded almost imperceptibly. "It'll be a good experience anyhow."
Having gotten his leader's permission, he jumped to his feet and began stretching himself. Then he strode toward the stage. As he did so, all the girls in the spectators squealed and screamed, much to the guys' dismay.
"Sir Doug!"
"How handsome!"
"I love you, Doug!"
"Marry me!"
The guys looked at each other in dismay, but didn't say anything. There was nothing for them to say at all. Doug was quite the looker, much better looking than me. Even the girls from my school rooted for him over me.
Evidently this Doug dude had female fans all over the Federation.
"Get him, Richard!"
"Teach that pretty boy a lesson!"
"Burn him to ash!"
On the other hand, all the guys ended up cheering for me instead. United in their hatred against the handsome Doug, and jealous of him because of all the affection and attention the girls were fawning upon him, the guys in my school jumped onto my side. They appeared to relish the prospect of the pretty boy getting toasted by my Vermillion Phoenix. If his features were blackened to ash, would the girls still be infatuated with him?
I honestly didn't care. I had better things to do than to be jealous over a handsome guy or vie for the girls' attention. Previously, I had been a thirty-plus uncle before I reincarnated into my current young body, so I wasn't subject to the same teenage hormonal tendencies as my schoolmates.
"Doug Daniels. You already know that I'm from Crowley." Doug chuckled good-naturedly and extended a hand toward me. I accepted it. His grip was firm, but he didn't resort to that bullshit tactic of crushing my hand to show off his strength. "You've put on an impressive display this far and humbled my school. Please keep that up! I look forward to exchanging a few pointers with you. Let's have a good fight, okay?"
"I'll do my best," I replied non-committedly.
From what I knew, Doug Daniels was known as the White Knight of Crowley's Grand Arcane Academy. It wasn't solely because he was handsome, chivalrous and popular with the girls. I had seen a few of his fights, and he was a superlative swordsman.
And right now that Doug Daniels was drawing a sword from nowhere.
"Fighters, take your stance!" Teacher Fielding announced.
Doug held his sword in both hands. From first impression, he appeared to be relaxed, adopting an easy, casual offensive stance.
Yet…
What is with this pressure?
All my instincts were screaming at me. I could intuitively sense how dangerous Doug was. He was still smiling at me in a friendly manner, but I was breaking out in cold sweat just from seeing him hold his sword and settle into a standard stance.
"Ready…"
A gigantic knight in white armor appeared behind Doug. Within the visor, a single red light blazed demonically. No one else could see the behemoth. All the girls were cheering as they were fixated upon Doug's handsome features while the guys were hurling abuse at him and telling me to wipe the floor with him. None of them had noticed the behemoth knight in silver, gleaming armor that held a gigantic lance and shield, towering over Doug's lean figure.
What the hell is this!?
Swallowing, I took a step back. I instinctively understood that this match would be decided in an instant. If I allowed Doug to attack, no matter what sort of defensive firewall I conjured with Vermillion Phoenix, he would just smash through it with a single sword strike and lay me low. This match would definitely end in just one strike.
This guy was…a dragon slayer. Or a monster slayer. No, he was a monster in human form.
"Fight!"
Teacher Fielding swung his hand down.
Doug immediately lunged at me, almost as if he had exploded off his feet. Surging toward me like a rocket, he swung his sword mercilessly.
Behind him, the shimmering white knight also seemed to swing its sword, but it wasn't real. It was merely an illusion generated by the potent killing intent that Doug was emanating. His form was perfect, his sword strike so precise that I wouldn't be surprised if it cut down to the nanometer. There were no wasted movements, no trash-talking, nothing.
Just pure action.
At the same time, Vermillion Phoenix immediately conjured a firewall, but just as I suspected, Doug obliterated it with a swing of his sword immediately, slicing through the torrent of flames and dispersing them effortlessly.
Then his blade swung at my neck.
"!!!"
The sword slashed through empty air.
Doug's eyes widened in shock when he realized that I had dodged it by a literal hair's breadth. As it was, a few strands of my hair were considerably shortened as his keen blade cut through them. A millisecond slower and I might actually have a bald patch on my head.
Without even thinking, I slammed my palm into his chest in reflex, driving him back. Using the extremely basic palm strike that I had just learned in close combat class just this week, I forced him back. Doug staggered backward before skidding to a stop, and he shook his head.
"You actually dodged that?"
"Damn it…"
I realized how little effect my palm strike had on him. My arm throbbed – it felt as if I was the one who got hit instead of him. In contrast, Doug didn't seem hurt at all. He was a lot more astonished than injured. He didn't even bother to clutch at his chest, probably because I didn't even leave a single injury.
However…
Vermillion Phoenix spread its wings as it prepared to launch a torrent of flames at Doug. However, before it did, Doug dropped his sword and raised both hands.
"I surrender."
"…eh?"
Being tied to my mental state, Vermillion Phoenix also halted its attack. Around us, the spectators gaped at Doug's motionless figure.
"Are you sure?" Teacher Fielding asked.
"Yeah. I lost this." Doug nodded and flashed me a grin. "That was a good match. Thanks for indulging me."
While I honestly couldn't care if he threw the match or not, his teammates were less than impressed.
"What is Doug playing at?!" Elena howled. "Why did he suddenly forfeit the match?!"
Nick's brow furrowed. "Isn't he still unscathed? Even if the opponent managed to land a single strike on him, that shouldn't be enough to hurt Doug."
"In fact, Doug was lucky that the opponent wasn't capable of more than the most basic of palm strikes." Louis shook his head. "If the opponent had launched a more advanced combat technique in his counterattack, it would have been over. But he didn't…"
"No. Doug lost."
Everyone turned to look at Cecilia in surprise. She was studying the stage where Doug and I were still on as we conversed. She was frowning, but she had an inkling of what happened.
"Doug staked everything on the first attack. The moment he failed to take out his opponent with his sword at the very first second, he lost. The palm strike wasn't what defeated him. Doug knows that the real counterattack is beginning." She gestured toward the Vermillion Phoenix who was hovering high above the stage. "He knows that he has absolutely no defense against that monster's attack, and so wisely forfeited before he got hit by it. He's smart enough to avoid taking unnecessary injuries if he doesn't have to, especially since this is a friendly match."
"Even Doug has lost…" Elena slumped in her seat. "What should we do now?"
"We're down to our last member," Nick added tersely. "This is unprecedented. This is impossible. We're on the verge of getting wiped out by a single student from a no-name school?!"
"That might not be the case." Cecilia paused as she scrutinized the Vermillion Phoenix. "That monster may be formidable, but it's not invincible."