Nathan's fight had finally ended, which had me on the edge of my seat.
Not literally, of course.
His use of technology was far more advanced for this age than I had expected.
To be able to beat the best upcoming swordsman of the Azure Kingdom with his intelligence shows the Azurans that we aren't just the best warriors, but we're smart as well.
While we're not the most technologically developed kingdom, we still have excellent magi ready to invent new ways to do different things.
Nathan bursted through the door and was immediately bombarded by the group of angry Azuran boys. They began berating him for cheating and using explosives, to which he simply told them to cope.
I'm not going to lie, I almost laughed when he said that.
All of the commotion had woken up Nyx, who rubs her eyes and speaks to me, "Oh, Raine! I didn't miss your fight, did I?"
"No," I replied, "I still haven't gone yet."
"Oh, that's good." She sighed in relief as she sat up on the bench, "I didn't want to miss your fight."
Although my face was expressionless, I was filled with anxiety. I haven't gone yet for some reason.
Why?
Was there some mistake in the office? I should have gone some time before Nerrah, but what was taking so long for me to get put into the arena?
Could the higher ups have decided I didn't need to fight? No, that wouldn't be the case since they need to accurately gauge each student's individual power. Then could I have been expelled? That makes very little sense considering a prince such as myself would be an excellent combat asset.
I looked up at the screen that had displayed a new set of fighters, Johnathan Kostis vs Nero Wergilius.
Another person from the Azure Kingdom? That would mean about six of their fighters have already gone.
I watched as two guys got up and equipped their weapons from their holsters.
One, presumably John, had dirty blonde hair and a long brown coat, he was spinning a long cross-shaped silver sword with one hand as he exited.
The other fighter was one with dark silver hair and wearing a long black coat with the sleeves cut. He wielded a long black sword with one hand as he neared the exit.
Fuck those guys, no one wants to see another fight!
A more pressing matter is who my matchup will be. Logically, he would be from a different kingdom. Someone strong enough to be able to contest me, and also someone who has passed the first rank.
There were a few people here from other kingdoms that had managed to pass first rank, but all of them had already gone.
There was a chance that the instructor recognized me as strong enough to duel me personally, but that might be unlikely.
"Raine," Nyx tugged on my coat sleeve from beside me, "you're sweating, are you alright?"
"Hmm?" I felt around my forehead, and it was slightly moistening up, "Ah, it seems you're right. Nothing to worry about, just a bit anxious for my fight."
"Is that so?" Nyx had a slightly reddened face as she turned her full attention toward me, "I don't think you should be. No matter who you'll fight, I'm certain you will win."
Nyx smiled and looked at me with such a confident expression it made me happy, "You're right, I shouldn't be that anxious."
I nodded, however, I was still feeling an incredible amount of anxiety.
I sat upright and looked over toward the crystal screen. It was displaying the fight between the two guys, it seemed that the one in black was winning. I shrugged and took my attention away from the fight, as I had lost interest in the tournament fights altogether.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a silver coin with engravings that I created with earth magic and casually began flipping it around my fingers.
I used to do coin tricks whenever I felt bored or anxious in my previous life. It was around my junior year of high school when I started such a habit.
It was after the loss of probably the only person I could've considered family and I had completely given up on everything in my life.
For about a year of my life, I stopped everything, including reading. I let the author of "Rebirth" know about my break beforehand, I told them a friend had died and to continue writing as I would come back and read it one day, but I didn't know if that day would ever come. However, there was a single coin that we had kept all of our lives.
We used it to decide everything, from hangout spots, to important decisions. That coin was the last gift they left me, and that was the single item that brought me out of my depression.
I had done my best to recreate the same coin from my past life since it couldn't be carried over to this world.
I spent days searching through my memory in order to perfectly recreate every scratch, every dent, the worn out portrait of our nation's most influential man and my idol.
I carved years worth of damage into that coin in less than a day, but in the end, I was left with a painfully beautiful remnant of my past.
I twirled the coin with my fingers and moved it from my pinky to my thumb. I flipped the coin from my right hand to my left and proceeded to do the same tricks while alternating between hands.
I flipped it up and down so much that Nyx took notice and began watching me.
The first battle had ended with Nero's victory and the next fighters were announced, then another, and another.
The fights went by calling out students left and right, but never once did they call me.
I was beginning to worry that they were about to pull what I think they were.
The battles continued on and I flipped my coin the entire time in a slow, almost rhythmic pace as more and more students were called.
Finally, the last battle had been completed with a bang, literally. Half of the arena had been destroyed in a massive explosion at the end.
The final fight in the arena had to be delayed for a moment while they fixed the platform, but the matchup was already obvious.
The two combatants will be the only two students that didn't participate in any fights yet. The remaining two stood after 149 battles between two. These two were also, coincidentally from the exact same kingdom.
That's right, I guess I'm competing against Aaron.
"Well then," Aaron was grinning slightly as he stood from his seat, "I guess I'll be able to see your strength first-hand."
"I suppose that's true," I stood up and walked over to him, "I don't exactly mind giving you a demonstration of my power."
Actually, I kind of mind a bit.
Aaron is first rank in three different magic classes and the rest are second rank. I still have a high chance of losing this battle, even with first rank universe magic.
Despite the fact that I have a "Perfect Causality," Aaron probably will not be affected by it because of his many skills and abilities.
While we stared at each other, the crystal screen changed images from the arena that was under construction to the old man from the auditorium sitting in front of a wooden desk.
He appeared to be in an office that was filled with bookshelves and papers scattered across the tables.
He was staring down and straightening a large stack of documents and signing them off while being broadcasted.
He looked up with a startled expression, but immediately straightened himself out before opening his mouth to speak.
[Greetings recently enrolled students of the Zero Program, I am your director, Nigel Harrison. I apologize for the interruption, but with the last fight, that will conclude this tournament.]
"What?" A large number of the boys raised their heads in confusion
"Wait a minute, those two still haven't gone yet!" Nicholas exclaimed.
[I understand that those of you might already know the two that haven't yet fought, however, they have no need to fight since they both are already more than worthy of class A.]
The old guys cleared his throat before speaking again, [That, and also the fact that the arena platform is not strong enough to handle their battle. Thank you all for listening to my announcements, you're dismissed for the day.]
With those final words of thanks, the crystal screen shut off and turned back to a reflective mirror. The inside of the locker room erupted into outrage after the surprising words of our director.
Then a large number of the boys that had fought in the tournament were all angered that Aaron and I had received a free pass straight to class A.
"Hold on," it was Nicholas who had spoken up amongst the boys, "while I do hate to admit it, these guys are probably that strong."
Everybody in the locker room turned to Nicholas with confused expressions plastered on their faces, including me. His unexpected words of defense for both me and Aaron left just about everybody in the lockers shocked.
Nicholas simply scratched the back of his head and looked away from the crowd of people with a mix of embarrassment and anger on his face.
"Don't get me wrong, those demon-lovers still fucking suck," he took the time to express his wonderful opinion on us, "but those two are probably stronger than almost all of us combined."
I wiped my eyes, Nicholas's heartfelt words nearly moved me to tears. All jokes aside, I'm glad that I don't have to fight Aaron as he is ruthless on the battlefield. He's an incredibly sadistic fuck who enjoys tormenting his enemies when fighting, a habit picked up after years of being tormented himself.
If I were to fight him as of now, he would undoubtedly go all out in an attempt to tear me to pieces without remorse.
I looked over to my side to see Aaron standing beside me with a disappointed expression on his face.
He must have been looking forward to fighting me, but I hadn't the faintest clue why he could have possibly wanted to hurt me. And I've been so nice to everyone too.
"Whatever," Aaron turns towards the door, "I guess we're leaving then."
"Alright then, let's go," I replied, "but you looked really disappointed that we weren't fighting. Were you looking forward to the battle?"
Aaron turned around to look at me one last time before exiting the room. His sideways glance at me suggested that I stop speaking, something that would have intimidated a lesser man than me.
"R-Raine," Nyx sheepishly spoke up from behind me, "what was that with you and Aaron just now?"
I turned around and sighed at the words of Nyx, "You know, I don't exactly know. Perhaps he dislikes me?"
"That guy?" Nathan walked over to us and joined in on our discussion, "Nah, I doubt it."
I tilted my head slightly out of confusion.
Nathan sighed at my expression and took a deep breath, "It's true, at first, I thought he was just an annoying asshole who didn't know how to act."
That is precisely what I'm sure he is, so I don't exactly know where he's going with this. Did he perhaps have a change of heart in the past two days that I don't know of? Just as I was contemplating, Nathan opened his mouth to speak again.
"You might see him as someone who doesn't like anyone, but deep down, he cares about other people. He was probably just disappointed that he couldn't see your strength."
I wonder if he's completely sure about that. I wouldn't know enough about Aaron's character this early on in the story since the novel skipped over a lot of his younger years.
I could tell that the author had just started writing at that time, because the pacing was all over the place.
One moment, you would have an incredibly detailed chapter or two on how he is learning new magics, but in the next, a time skip has taken us all the way to the Geas Ceremony.
The Geas Ceremony was a prime example of poor writing and pacing. The beginning of the ceremony was very detailed, explaining the process of him riding to the building up until his argument with the Kingsley twins.
Although I enjoyed this part, the pace quickly sped up and completely skipped over many different scenes, like choosing a seat, the stage speaker, and announcing the top ten children of the generation.
Thankfully, the author took my suggestions and adopted a more steady pacing of the novel, but by then, they had already lost over three-quarters of their viewers. Only I and a handful of other readers stuck around after chapter forty. By the time the story had gotten to one hundred chapters, only I was left scrolling through the pages of the author's strife.
Upon realizing that no one was interested in their work, the author almost quit production of their novel. I, however, was unsatisfied by the author's decision and urged them with all of my might and passion to continue their work through emails.
This went on for about a month before the author finally reached out to me and confirmed that they would be continuing their novel.
I like to think of myself as that author's assistant writer, giving out suggestions from now and then and even helping them think of new concepts of characters.
"Even if he acts like that from time to time, you should just bear with him and give him a chance to get used to you." Nathan continued speaking about Aaron while we were next to the exit. Others began passing us as we spoke about Aaron.
"Is that so?" I shrugged and continued out the door, "I guess we'll just have to wait and see then, won't we?" I smirked as I, along with the other four, exited the locker room and made our way back to our dormitories.