After the duel between Leo and Sebastian, both of them were carried out of the arena by the medic team.
To honor Leo's triumphant victory, the school decided to give Leo fifth place. Now, it was a competition for the first four places to see who can enter Dormitory A.
As Ace watched the duel between random people from the school, he analyzed their fighting techniques along with their form and skills.
Due to his previous life being dreadful because of his terrible combat prowess, he wanted to ensure that that didn't happen this time.
Soon, it was his turn, and Ace couldn't be more ecstatic. However, his duel was against the sixth rank King, the King of Gale.
The King of Gale, Roberto Twele was an expert wind mage along with a spear user. However, he never used his spear to fight in close-combat. Instead, he used it like a javelin and increased the speed using wind magic.
In Ace's previous life, Roberto quickly surpassed Leo and became the third strongest in the school, behind Lily and Melissa. That was also the reason why Roberto was one of the co-heads of the Conscientious Faction.
Perhaps due to this, Leo's progress slowed down considerably and he ended up reaching a much lower level than he originally could.
'A pity, really.'
Ace had decided that he would take Leo in as his subordinate, but before he could reveal this to the latter, he needed to prepare for him to become stronger, or he would never accept the deal.
'Becoming my subordinate in exchange for power… would love to see how that works.'
Soon, Ace's name was called and he entered the arena alongside Roberto.
Because armors weren't allowed in the competition, the competitors had to create them using magic.
But, since Ace didn't possess a form of elemental affinity nor a form of magic skill, he could only use [Body Augmentation] to harden his skin with a sour expression on his face.
Facing forward, he saw the figure of Robert Twele.
He was a lanky individual, albeit not as skinny or malnourished as Leo. He had considerably long hair that fell down to his shoulders and wore sunglasses to protect his eyes from the sun. His face was filled with acne and pimples and he wore a red tunic with black pants.
"Ace Ambrosia versus Roberto Twele."
The referee announced, causing the spectators to erupt into a frenzy.
They were extremely hyped to finally watch the #1 King, the King of Indifference, fight.
Roberto Twele had also hidden his skills very well, as no one knew the true extent of his combative prowess.
Due to this, they could only speculate how the duel would go, with most of them betting on the King of Indifference.
"Begin!"
The referee announced as he disappeared from his spot.
However, as he uttered those words both competitors also disappeared from their spots.
Ace tried to close the gap while unsheathing his blade, as Roberto controlled the nearby wind to get him back safely.
'Little cheater.'
Ace swallowed these words as he thought about Roberto's previous action.
Instead of using mana to form the wind, the latter had used the surrounding mana and just conducted it to move to his will, consuming less mana than usual.
Using this method, he could fight for hours on end.
'I need to finish him off before my stamina starts to run low.'
Ace still hadn't achieved the Beginner Level Mastery on [Sword Saint], so his swordsmanship prowess was limited.
However, he still had [Flurry Steps] to pair with it.
Ace tried to close the gap several times, but Roberto kept on manipulating the surrounding air to his advantage.
"Is that all you've got, King of Indifference?"
"I'm not the one using cheap tricks here, King of Gale."
"What cheap tricks? Isn't it natural that a wind mage would use the surrounding wind to their advantage?"
Ace didn't answer, knowing full well that there was no point in rebuking his statement.
The people who had bet on Ace groaned as they regretted their choices.
Although it looked like Ace was at a clear disadvantage because of his inability to use elemental magic, the person in question didn't feel that way.
In fact, he considered himself lucky.
'I can finally use [Aura Manifestation] in a real fight.'
If the aura was strong enough it could even cut through mana. Moreover, right now, Roberto was using the surrounding air which only had a thin layer of mana imbued inside of it.
That meant Ace's aura could easily cut through it, revealing a gap for permeation.
Even if Roberto were to use his own mana to cast spells, although it would take a while, Ace would still be able to close the gap without much effort.
Shing!
Ace's blade suddenly ignited as white particles erupted from the blade's surface.
Everyone gasped as they gazed at the pure energy that the blade emitted.
Regaining their composure, the people who bet on Ace finally felt hopeful.
Roberto chuckled as he gazed at the black blade which had now turned orange and white and was now burning at an intense rate.
This was aura.
Using [Body Augmentation], Ace quickly jumped up by concentrating the mana on his feet. He then held out his blade and swung vertically, slicing open a hole in the air.
The hole had no air inside of it and was filled with the properties of aether.
After he finished testing the move out, he forcibly closed the gap between him and Roberto.
Since aura was normally used to counter the wind, Ace had a basic understanding of how to defeat the latter.
After he was within a meter distance of Roberto, Ace swung his sword horizontally, cutting a hole in the air right beside the former.
Since it was a portal to harness the properties of aether, Ace knew it would close in less than a minute.
Due to this, he was forced to try to end this duel in a matter of a minute.
Cutting a hole beside Roberto, he used [Flurry Steps] to get to each side of him.
He then encased Roberto in a cage of aether, forcing him to not be able to harness any of the surrounding air.
Then, he swung vertically twice…
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Thud!
Thud!
Silence descended onto the arena as the spectators now possessed either widened eyes or gaping mouths.
None of them could process what had happened, but what they did know was that Ace, the King of Indifference had won the battle.
Once they realized this fact, deafening cheers erupted as they chanted Ace's name.
"King of Indifference, King of Indifference."
Some people even chanted…
"The #1 King, The #1 King!"
Which sounded a little cheesy according to Ace.
Ace stared at the body of the King of Gale with a pitiful expression. The latter was laying on the ground unconscious.
Both of his arms were nowhere to be seen.
'Ah, right. There they are.'
Ace's gaze landed on two arms piled on top of each other in the distance. There was blood everywhere, and
'With this, I should have solidified my position as the number 1 King.'
As the medics placed Roberto's body on a stretcher, they took him out of the arena, sweat trickling down their bodies.
'I guess the school overworked them today. Well, namely, Lily, Leo, Sebastian, and I.'
As Ace remarked on his victory, a gaze penetrated his defenses as if staring into his soul.
The gaze was cast by Lily, the #2 King of Academy 07, the King of Wisdom. She was the sole daughter of the co-head of the Conscientious faction who worked with Noah Williams.
'That guy… he's special.'
Lily swallowed these words as she called her butler.
"Max."
She whispered as a figure suddenly materialized from out of nowhere.
"Yes, my lady?"
"Keep an eye on that youth for me."
"Affirmative, my lady."
As Lily nodded, the figure disappeared into thin air, leaving behind a squalid scent to which Lily plugged her nose.
"Ah, right. Also…"
The figure materialized once again.
"Tell Principal Edwards to arrange my duel with him."
"But, my lady–"
"I know about the consequences and what we'll have to pay. Just do it. I wanna personally test his skills."
"You could get hurt, my lady."
A crimson killing intent suddenly flashed in Lily's eyes, which disappeared instantly. However, the figure had noticed it.
He bowed his head and kneeled before saying…
"Yes, my lady."
And then disappearing.
"Let's see if this guy is truly worth all the hype. King of Indifference…."
Several hours passed as Melissa returned. She was in perfect form after the medic team healed her, and was set to fight against Jean Gray.
Since her injuries were child's play compared to Leo, whose spine along with bones had suffered massive damage, Melissa's injuries were healed in barely a few hours.
She returned to the stands and sat down as far away from Lily as she possibly could while playing with her hair.
Her simple yet charming action caused several lovestruck gazes to fall upon her, which prompted Ace to facepalm while chuckling.
'She really deserves her nickname.'
Soon, the referee stepped onto the arena while announcing the names of the next duel.
"Ace Ambrosia…"
Ace braced himself as he leaned forward.
"Versus Lily Yearning."
Silence descended upon the Dueling Grounds once again.
Many were ecstatic at the chance of watching the two strongest people in their academy fight.
The #1 King, the King of Indifference, and the #2 King, King of Wisdom.
A little while passed as Ace now stood before Lily.
Both of them had their hands on their scabbards.
Theoretically, Ace should win this fight because of the superiority of his sword art. However, if you add Lily's fire magic to the equation, he becomes a little more difficult to unravel.
"Begin!"
The referee announced as both Lily and Ace disappeared from their spots. Since both of them used the sword, they soon found each other in a sword lock.
Ace ignited his aura and used [Body Augmentation] while Lily ignited her blade with flames, aura, and used [Body Augmentation].
As expected, Ace soon found himself pushed back, but before Lily could deal damage, he used [Flurry Steps] to move out of the way.
As he ran, he looked behind him to see the ground where he previously stood broken and burnt.
Clicking his tongue, Ace used [Body Augmentation] to harden his body while using [Mana Manipulation] to concentrate his mana on his hands.
He then ignited his aura once again and used [Flurry Steps] to close the gap between him and Lily.
He cut off the wind supply of the area around Lily by using aura and then tried using the same trick he used on Roberto.
"Yeah, that's not gonna work this time."
Lily remarked as she used [Body Augmentation] to jump up and escape before Ace could trap her by opening portals to the aether properties, where magic was useless.
Ace followed up by jumping up to get a strike in but was disrupted because of the portal to the aether.
However, he used [Flurry Steps] to escape while keeping an eye out for Lily.
'She's good; real good. I don't think I have a chance.'
He knew he was strong, but against Lily, who had trained all her life? A pitiful one week of training wasn't going to help.
Besides, she hadn't even gone all out yet. Defeating Leo was drastically easier than this.
Moreover, Lily had reached the E+ Rank and had amazing skills, so there was just no way.
However, Ace wanted to try one more thing.
'I've been trying out different things using [Sword Saint], and finally… if I can just pull it off.'
As Ace was lost in his own thoughts, the sound of wind suddenly reverberated across the arena, which was followed by a loud…
Thud!
Deadly Silence.
No one dared to move while staring at the ear that had fallen off the side of Ace's face.
The color of Ace's face suddenly drained. However, his expression remained indifferent.
His emotions were waging war against his [Indifference] skill, but the latter didn't let the former win.
'Ah, well. That's a pity.'
He swallowed these words as he didn't want to look like a maniac.
Of course, the pain was almost unbearable, and half of his hearing had been cut off, but…
His mental state didn't seem any different.
'Is this the true power of [Indifference]?'
It was crazy.
"As expected of the King of Indifference!"
"Get 'em, King of Wisdom!"
The cheers were divided into two, the King of Wisdom supports, and the King of Indifference supporters.
The former was a group of people who idolized Lily's strength, while the latter was a group who praised Ace's indifference even in tough times.
'Well, that's a surprise. Anyway…'
He quickly turned around and spotted Lily off in the distance, glaring at him.
'Now, it's time.'
He used [Flurry Steps], [Body Augmentation], [Mana Manipulation], and [Aura Manifestation.
Using them simultaneously, Ace closed the gap between him and Lily in less than a second, utterly stunning the latter.
Then, he gathered mana inside his blade, filling it to the brim with as much energy as possible.
"I really hope this works."
He muttered as he unleashed the first move of [Sword Saint], the one he thought it would take him one year to learn.
"Vertical Tear."
He gently spoke, giving Lily goosebumps.
No, it wasn't because of Ace's creepy behavior.
It was because of what would happen next.
Boom!
"..."
"..."
There lay two half-dead corpses of Ace and Lily.
Watching Ace use his strongest move, Lily also felt the need to counter it using her most powerful method.
Just like how she'd burnt Melissa to a crisp, she sucked her mana reserves dry in order to counter Ace's 'Vertical Tear'.
The half-dead corpses were smothered in blood, and some joints were bent the wrong way. Despite that, Lily's eyebrows quivered.
Then, her entire eyes quivered. Following that development, her eyes slowly opened to reveal sky-blue pupils.
"Ughhh."
Lily groaned.
Deafening cheers resounded across the arena as the spectators cheered for their new-found goddess, Lily Yearning.
Not only countering, but defeating the #1 King in Academy 07 wasn't an easy feat by any means possible.
Despite that, Lily was fuming.
'This guy… he– he actually almost killed me.'
Lily grit her teeth before punching Ace's corpse. Then, she fell unconscious, her head on Ace's belly.
*
*
*
On a podium that seemed to shine brighter than the sun itself stood five people.
Lily Yearning, Ace Ambrosia, Melissa Smith, Carl Andersons, and Leo Kadz.
The winners of the Dormitory War, and the students who will stay at Dormitory A for the rest of their school year.
Despite this, the expressions on their faces were far from ecstatic.
Lily was fuming, Ace was indifferent, Melissa was frowning, Carl was stomping, and Leo was throwing things around hoping to alleviate his anger.
Despite having won the tournament, Ace, Melissa, Carl, and Leo weren't okay with their rankings. They wanted to be first.
Of course, according to Lily, she almost got killed in the process of winning, so she was sour too.
"Next time, I'll beat all of you guys."
Carl spat out while gritting his teeth. Melissa scoffed before looking at Carl with an innocent expression.
"Oh?"
The second she did, Carl's eyes turned lovestruck, but his willpower allowed him not to be obedient towards Melissa.
Watching this, the latter sighed and retracted her gaze.
Ace chuckled, and Lily suppressed a smile, while Leo outright laughed his head off.
The tense atmosphere of before was gone.
The next day, Ace found himself packing up his stuff.
This was because he wanted to meet his family once again before moving to Dormitory A.
Not only did he want to show off to his father, but he also missed his mother and sister.
This time, he decided not to only meet them once a year.
Exiting the Dormitory D, he found himself face-to-face with some people who had smug expressions on their faces.
Having lost to Lily, his reputation was worsening by the day, and it was obvious that some cliche villains like these would soon appear.
'Damned third-rate bullies.'
Despite having thought that, he didn't want to offend them before finding out why they had come to harass him.
"May I help you?"
He asked. There were five people, all dressed in black and wore sunglasses either because of the sun, or to hide their identity.
"Ah, yes. It would be of great help if the #1 King can hand over their access to Dormitory A."
Hearing this, Ace almost burst out laughing. However, he suppressed it and only let out a light chuckle in response to their words.
The bullies sneered at Ace, clenching their fist. They were ready to attack at any moment.
One guy, the leader wore a relaxed expression as he stared at the now #2 King, The King of Indifference.
Having lost to Lily, he was pushed down to #2, and that worsened his reputation even more.
People were underestimating him like he was a piece of garbage one could throw in the trash whenever they wanted.
The leader of the group of bullies believed it would be easy to take down a guy with overwhelming numbers.
He believed five people were enough.
"Oh yeah?"
Ace asked, still chuckling. He then clenched his fist and pointed it at the bullies.
"Come and get it then."
Hearing this response, the bullies all charged at Ace. Three of them used elemental magic while the other two used weapons.
Watching this, a regular person would react to it via running away. However, according to Ace, that would only give birth to more controversies behind his strength and prompt people to underestimate him.
He chuckled as he unsheathed his blade. Having used the first move yesterday, he didn't want to risk his foundation getting ruined because of the strain on his body.
He hadn't even witnessed his own move.
Ace wanted to train more and get comfortable with the move before using it in real fights.
Thus, he used the blade to cut off the first guy's arm. He then used [Flurry Steps] to close the gap between him and the leader, cutting his arm off too.
At this point, people should have named him the 'King of Arms' or 'Monarch of Amputation'.
Ace used [Body Augmentation] to deflect a blade off of his body. Then, he slashed the perpetrator behind the action, cutting his ear off.
'3 down, 2 to go.'
He smirked before igniting his blade with aura and cutting off the arm of the fourth guy.
Now, for the fifth guy, he didn't wanna hurt him.
Ace wanted to send a message.
"Oy."
He called out, igniting the fifth guy's fear.
The fifth guy cowered, not knowing what would happen to him. However, Ace didn't have any malicious intent anymore.
"Go tell this to the Academy. The King of Indifference will not let any who wrongs him go about their lives unscathed."
Much to the fifth guy's shock, Ace even sheathed his blade and started walking away. The former quickly abandoned the bodies of his friends who were flailing around, and ran away to inform the Academy about this incident.
Watching this, Ace could only click his tongue in disgust.
"A bunch of losers"
Having been abandoned by the miniscule amount of friends he made in his past life, he knew the feeling all too well.
He let out a sad sigh before heading towards his home.
Although it was in the same city, it still took a little bit to get there.
Besides, since he had no money, Ace had to walk home, which could take almost four hours even with [Flurry Steps].
Scratching his neck, he let out another sigh as he activated [Flurry Steps].
"This is gonna take a while, ain't it?"