"Woah...that battle was so exciting. That was my first time of seeing elements being used."
"Me too. Sigh I hope tomorrow's final will be as exciting as this."
"Of course it will be, it's the final after all."
"Right. I'll make sure to be early tomorrow. I don't want to miss a single moment."
"Haha. Make sure to wait for me before going."
"Of course, you..." Two students continued chatting as they went home. They were still feeling excited after the battle they saw today.
This was totally understandable as most of the students had never seen abilities used before. They were looking forward to the final more than ever.
*****
Two figures could be seen slowly walking out in silence through the gates of Hitachi High School.
The walked for a while, before one of them hesitantly broke the silence.
"Umm... Argo, you really don't have to fight tomorrow if you don't want to. I know I said to not let Kenny become Team Captain, but now that he's learned to infuse Mana in his sword, he has become much harder to beat. I don't want to put you down, but I don't think you can beat him. So why don't u forfeit."
"How can I do that? Don't worry about me, I know what I'm doing. Trust me, Kenny can't beat me even if I gave him a thousand years." Argo chuckled.
"Could...could you have learnt how to infuse Mana too?" Jared asked in alarm at his confident tone.
"No, but how hard could it be?"
"..." Jared.
Seeing Jared's dumbfounded face, Argo laughed and decided to stop messing with him. "Alright, I promise I'll be careful. If I see I can't beat him, I'll forfeit Immediately." He said to calm Jared.
They continued making small talk as they walked. Suddenly they noticed a shadow blocking out the sun in front of them. Argo looked up and saw Adah standing before them.
"What do you want?" Jared asked first.
Adah took one look at him, and proceeded to ignore him. She turned to Argo and bowed slightly to him.
"Thank you for your help. I owe you a favour."
"It's nothing, glad to help." Argo chuckled, but inwardly he was already wondering how he would be able to use the favour to the best potential.
Adah nodded and turned around to walk away. She hesitated slightly, before turning back and saying to Argo.
"Do you a plan to beat Kenny tomorrow?"
"Why, are you worried about me!?" Argo exclaimed in mock shock.
"Hmph, who would be worried?" Adah annoyed, turned around and hurriedly left.
"...What was she thanking you for?" Jared asked curiously.
"I saved her cat from a burning building." Argo replied with a straight face.
~~~~~
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Final day of the tournament!
Today we will witness an epic duel between two of the finest students our school has ever produced. We are..." The anchor spent quite some time giving some hype to the battle.
Finally, the two duelists were called to take their place on the stage.
"I've been waiting for this a long time" Kenny said as he swung his sword in a circular motion.
"I bet, no doubt you were waiting to be eliminated by me. Thanks for you patience." Argo replied. Argo was very sincere with this thanks, because his mission was to personally eliminate Kenny. And it would not have counted, if he was out before Argo could even meet him. Thus, Argo was very sincere.
"Begin!"
Kenny immediately rushed forward and slashed his sword. As soon as Kenny felt his sword about to make contact with Argo's skull, Argo simply moved his head sideways. Successfully dodging the attack.
Unsatisfied, Kenny attacked again. This time he used his entire body weight behind the slash.
Argo exploited this, ducked and grabbed his arm before flipping him over using Kenny's own weight and momentum against him.
Kenny landed awkardly on the ground with an audible thud. His face turned a bit red from the embarrassment of his awkward position.
"Hehe. You look nice in that position." Argo mocked him.
Kenny angrily stood up and started infusing Fire Element Mana into his katana causing it to turn a red shade.
Argo knowing what came next, hurriedly purchased a basic Fast Pass from the system store.
"Flame Slash!"
Kenny roared as he slashed his Mana infused sword.
Even with the speed buff from the Fast Pass, Argo was just barely able to dodge the attack. Even so, he was a little wounded In the arm where he couldn't move fast enough.
'Phew! that was dangerous. I'm still not fast enough' he thought.
"Hehe...not so cocky, are you?" Kenny felt good seeing Argo hurt.
'If I'm going to complete the mission, I'm going to need a little help' Argo thought as he ignored Kenny and quickly looked through the System's skill section.
He instantly found a skill he liked.
Electric Palm(common): Coat your palms with Thunder Element Mana. Causes paralysis for three seconds. Only able to affect Apprentice level opponents and lower. Physical contact will free opponent from skill's effect.
Price: 30, 000 SP
Argo was alarmed when he saw the price. He checked his points balance and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his points balance was 41,100 SP. He had enough points to buy the skill. He bought it and turned his focus back to Kenny.
It took Argo less than a second to check out and buy the skill. As the system store was in his head, interactions we're almost instantaneous.
Kenny Lee was in the process of using Flame Slash a second time.
Argo hurriedly dodged to the side. This time he was lucky enough to escape without injuries. He rushed towards Kenny before he could use Flame Slash again, and activated his newly learned skill.
Electric Palm- Level 1(0/100): Freeze ur opponent for three seconds. Only able to affect Apprentice level opponents and below. Physical contact will free opponent from skill's effect.
Kenny Lee was shocked when he found Argo before him. He also noticed faint purple arcs flickering in his palms. He tried to dodge, but Argo was already in front of him. Argo grabbed his neck and he froze completely, unable to move.
With Kenny frozen, Argo threw a heavy right punch towards his head.
BAM!
Kenny was sent flying. As a result of Argo's punch, he was now free from the paralysis of Electric Palm. But before Kenny could make a move, Argo was already in front of him.
Electric Palm!
Argo once again activated the skill, freezing Argo in place once more. Again, Kenny was sent flying from a punch to the head, subsequently freeing him from the paralysis effect.
And again, Argo was in front of him before he could make a move and paralysed him again. As Argo was controlling his strength to not do too much damage to Kenny, the bracelet did not determine the attacks as life threatening. So Kenny fell into a vicious cycle of being paralysed, sent flying and being paralysed once more.
Deep inside, Kenny was having Murderous feelings as he was being humiliated by Argo. But as a result of being paralysed, even his emotions were not able to be transmitted.
At this point, Kenny did not care about the match anymore. He knew that Argo had the power to end the match, but didn't because he was humiliating him.
He swore he would one day pay Argo back for the humiliation.
Finally, Argo was bored of the one-sided beat down. He punched Kenny heavily in the jaws, dislocating them and knocking him out. Kenny was eliminated.
"We have a winner! Congratulations on winning the tournament, Argo Talean."
The audience cheered wildly. Even those that were previously against Argo cheered for him. Everyone in the audience was satisfied by the action in the duel. No one accused Argo of cheating this time.
None of that mattered to Argo, because the moment the anchor announced him as the winner of the tournament, he got two system messages.
[Ding. Host has done something fun and exciting. 200,000 SP awarded.]
[Ding. Mission Accomplished.
Mission Reward: Intermediate body strengthening pill, +10 Agility.
Mission Rating: Excellent.
Bonus Reward: x3 Medium Fast Pass
Medium Fast Pass: +50 Agility Temporarily for one minute.]
Argo's only thought was...
DANG! This system is turning me into a one minute man!