***
Back to Max's Pov. A few minutes before.
***
"...Ugh... "
"Head healer, I think he's coming to," I heard a soft voice say.
***
[What... happened to me?]
<...I'm not sure about that. Why don't you ask the people who brought you back?>
[It wasn't you, Bradley?]
[Just great]
***
I tried getting up but a soft hand pushed me back down immediately. And not so easily either.
"OW! THE HELL?! Was the hard push really necessary?!"
"Maybe you deserve it, you jerk!"
I turned to the voice in anger, ready to chew her out, then stopped the second I saw who it was. Cammie looked back at me, really pissed if I must add. And I'm the patient here! But beside her was a much older woman dressed just like Cammie, a white doctors coat and trousers just the difference.
"Alright, why I'm I the jerk? And what the hell are you guys doing here? I just remember talking to Flintheart, then... uh, nothing from there I guess. What were we talking about with him?"
"Kid, I'd advice you to forget that conversation less you want to depart to the land of the dead," the woman spoke with a frown on her face.
"And you are?" I finally asked cause she didn't seem like she was going to introduce herself unless I asked.
She firstly ignored my question, then started checking for any injuries by generally probing my entire body. I could have opposed of course, but somehow, I felt that that wouldn't be the brightest idea to try with the hostile healer.
Once she was done, she got up from the floor, then, completely avoiding eye contact with me, turned to Cammie.
"He'll be alright now. In case of anything else, you know where to find me,"
Now I know she's got something against me, "So like what? I'm I oxygen now to be ignored this much?"
She turned to me and gave me a look filled with detest. Then, with a final shake of her head, she left to wherever else she was needed.
"Well... she's definitely a fan of mine,"
"Yeah, she's not usually this cold. Don't look at me for answers. But besides that, what the hell, Max!"
She punched me in my arm with such force that I flinched in pain.
"Ow! Are sure you're half–nymph and not half–boar?! Use your words to speak, not your fists!" I said while rubbing my injured hand in pain.
"How can you say that you want to be my friend then almost die in front of my eyes?! What are you trying to say? The universe hates me so it realized that I'd made a friend and now wants to kill him?!"
"Wait, come again? I almost died? How? Why? Was I attacked by someone or something?!"
"No you weren't, calm down. But you did do something so supid that I simply can't–AAARGH!"
I quickly got up before she chose me again as her target for her anger. But when I stared into her eyes, though filled with anger, I could also see some sadness and fear. Jeez, what did I do now?
"Hey, listen. I'm sorry for whatever I did even though I don't know what I did wrong. Can I like, give you some time to cool down or something?"
She breathed in, then calmly stood up and dusted herself, "After this event, meet me before your school leaves. I'll tell you then what happened and maybe how I can help you. Word of advice, never talk to anyone about what you talked with your class teacher, ok?"
"Yeah, ok. Sorry again,"
"You like apologizing or something? What kind of friend did I make, a weak willed one?"
Now that's just going too far!
"If I wanted to, I could be real tough you know,"
"I bet. Now, I've got places to be, and so do you,"
"Fine. I'll walk you as far as to where I'm needed,"
***
We later departed with Cammie at some point during the walk cause she had to go heal a West student who really needed her expertise. Surprisingly, she's one of the top healers in her school. Or at least she says so.
***
[And I'm done with having a life. Go on then, my lonely friend, tell me what's wrong]
<...feeling real proud of yourself today, aren't you? Well, you won't be as proud when you find out that there's some foreign energy residing within your body and brain>
[Not surprised]
[Got anything more for me other that what I already know? How's the big fella holding up?]
[Duh]
[Cranky fellow, isn't he?]
***
The said god went off grid some point during the six months, said something about conserving his power. Although I don't need him now, I'll definitely need him later on, so I'd like for this 'phase' of his to end soon.
Aside from me, the competition is still on going, isn't it? Man, I've missed a lot of fights right now. And I was so looking forward to see what these peers of mine were capable of. Guess I'll just watch the–
*sniff, sniff*
"Your majesty?" I asked while frantically searching around the corridor. I could swear I smelt him around here.
Not surprising, there was no one around. Must have been my imagination. Then again, it is the Beast king. He's as mysterious as they come.
"Now, where's the observation tower again?"
Ten minutes later (got lost. And Bradley was too moody to let me open the map), I finally stumbled upon the room itself.
"Should I knock, or... nah, I'll just go in. Maybe they're talking about something important and I might interrupt them," I muttered as I slowly pushed the door open.
".... If only Max was here to see his girlfriend fight," I caught Flintheart saying.
*sigh*
Figures. He's no different from the rest of them.
"To watch whose girlfriend fight?" I calmly asked frowning, while folding my arms. Both Flintheart and the principal turned to me in shock when they heard my voice.
A large smile of relief formed on both their faces. Flintheart wasted no time and ran towards me while stretching his arms out.
"WAIT, WAIT! DON'T YOU DARE–OOF!" he caught me while I tried to escape in a big bear hug.
"MAX! YOU'RE OK! THANK THE GODS!"
"GET OFF ME!"
"I'M GOOD, THANKS!"
He made sure to hug me real right, almost breaking my bones and already making my earlier wounds resurface with a new type of pain. Though...I didn't push him away.
Once he was done, the principal came over and gave me a pat on the back.
"You gave us quite the scare, Mandrax. Hope you're feeling good,"
"I've seen better days, Mrs Kelly. But onto more important things, who is this alleged girlfriend of mine who is to fight in the next round?"
"Oh, that would be, Kira. She's in the finals with another girl from the North class," Flintheart answered while rubbing my head like he still couldn't believe I was right in front if him.
"Arrrgh! Can you stop that. As you can clearly see, I'm still here, Mr Flintheart,"
He's eyes looked relieved, but there was a monetarily show of fear in them to.
"What?" I wondered while I swatted his hand away.
"Did they tell you anything? Anything at all?" he asked.
From the room, I could hear that the fight had started. The crowd and announcer were also making their own noises, but I could feel that this topic was a real serious one for Flintheart, and the principal too.
"Um...they said literally nothing to me, just that I should forget about the conversation we had. Speaking of which, I remember vaguely about most things. But when I was just about to talk about... about–"
"NO!"
Both said at the same time. Now they were starting to freak me out.
"What is wrong with the both of you? Is something bad happening to me?!"
Flintheart was the first to speak out.
"No, Max. Nothing is going to happen to you. How about we just forget this topic and go back to the match, huh?"
"Y–yeah, sure. Whatever you say,"
We decided to turn back to the match and observe how far it had gone. From a far, I saw something that was really surprising. Kira, contrary to what I thought she could do, was the one with various cuts on her body, while the girl she was fighting looked barely injured.
"Who is that?"
"One of the other geniuses in our school. Randolf, how would you feel fighting against her one day?" Mrs kelly asked me.
"I'll have to watch how she fights before she moves on. Wait, how come I didn't see her in the other events?"
"Probably because she really didn't care about anyone of them. She is from North, so I'm guessing she assumed that their class had it in the bag. Until of course, she realized that by the second event, the win wasn't as assured as she thought, so she had to take matters into her own hands,"
Flintheart raised an eyebrow in question, "And you just happen to know all this information, how?"
Mrs Kelly smiled before answering, "I always keep track of all my students. Just like how I remember quite vividly when Max happened to walk into the girls dorm and–"
"OK, Mrs Kelly! He's heard enough," I stopped the principal while turning to Flintheart with a nervous smile.
"Now hold on. What did the boy do Mrs Kelly–"
"AND THAT'S A WRAP EVERYBODY! THE NORTH STUDENT, JANE DRACIA, HAS WON IT FOR NORTH!" the announcer suddenly shouted. Until now did I notice that the crowd was awfully silent than normal.
"WAIT WHAT?!" both me and Flintheart exclaimed and quickly turned back to the fight. It ended that quickly?!
Multiple pillars of ice encircled the entire arena where the fight was taking place, and at the centre, was the victor smiling at Kira, who looked completely encased in the largest ice shard in the field. Only her face and legs were visible, all looking real bloody.
I found myself breathing ruggedly, but tried calming down. This is just a normal occurrence in a fight, right? I should be able to–
That's when I heard from the ground with my sensitive ears.
"That's why your pathetic race is worth nothing in my eyes," the North girl said.
Oh?
"Max... don't do anything you'll regret,"
"Oh, why do you say that, Mrs Kelly?"
"Cause I can sense an alarming amount of mana building up from inside you. And also, the tone you are using right now with me,"
Now this, this is something I can't bluntly ignore.