"W-wait, Ayato!"
At a moment's notice, Ayato sped away, out of his room. Kiara tried to stop him but he was too fast. She chased after him and Akari followed.
"Tell me more."
Akari told Kiara.
"It seems like a junior who gets along with Ayato got into some trouble. You're probably going to have to stop it yourself."
The woman sighed while lightly jogging. She took her glasses off.
"I think I'll see how it escalates. I can't have that ticking time bomb explode on me instead."
Akari smiled.
·———·
Ayato reached the cafeteria swiftly. He approached the large crowd. He couldn't see anything from outside of it.
"Move!"
The boy demanded, forcibly pushing people out of the way. He dove into the crowd, pushing people out of his path. They voiced complaints but he didn't care.
Sooner or later, he arrived at the front of the crowd, where he saw a grotesque screen.
Two boys, that he didn't know, were knocked out unconscious. A girl that he believed he recognised was lying on the floor with an almost unidentifiable face. Near her was Takaomi, whose face bleed and arm was twisted.
A familiar boy was holding Isamu in the air.
The boy holding him, Jun, was the same one who tried to mess with him when he was meeting with Akari.
"You've gotten silent now. No screams?"
Isamu's face was twisted in agony and tears. It was an unpleasant sight. Yet, the boy looked like he was having fun.
Ayato clenched his fists and walked toward him. In a dead tone, he asked.
"You're laughing? After beating them up so brutally, you laugh? What's so fun about it?"
"Oh, hey, it's Mister World Magician!"
Jun said with a smile, tossing Isamu away like a disposable item. Ayato quickly caught him and gently put him down on the floor.
"Last time you ran away with your tail behind your legs."
He said with a mocking tone. Ayato stood up. He blankly stared at Jun, uninterested in his talk.
"Why? What do you find so fun in torturing people?"
Jun narrowed his eyes in perplexity. He sneered with a thin smile.
"Torturing? Huh, but I'm the victim! Everyone saw that this girl hit me first! Then this guy tried to kick me! I was sooo scared! If I didn't retaliate, I think I would've died."
Jun explained to Ayato in a sarcastic tone. He jeered happily. It didn't put a smile on the black-haired boy's face.
"Die? Death? You talk about death when you've never killed a single person."
Like the flip of a switch, Jun felt uneasy. He could feel each hair on his arms.
"Are you sure you want to get involved? If you're with them, then I'll have no choice but to take you out."
Although he said that, he was frozen in place. Ayato didn't look human to him. He was hallucinating. The bloodlust coming from Ayato was affecting him more than he realised.
He saw the shadow of death. The Grim Reaper. Even so, Jun nervously grinned. He literally smiled in the face of death.
"Is that the excuse you're using? You beat up my seniors and you're using that excuse. Maybe they did start the fight but I don't care."
Ayato stood half a metre away from Jun. Their faces were almost touching. Jun could feel the hatred emanating from Ayato. It wasn't like his face didn't show it either.
"I'll beat you down in the place of my seniors, who you humiliated and beat down."
Jun threw his fist at Ayato. Without looking at his fist, the boy slid to the side, avoiding it. He primed his own. With all of his strength, he launched toward his opponent—
"STOP!"
With a grand order, Ayato stopped, glaring at the woman who told him to do so. It was Akari Chiori.
"What are you doing, Chiori?"
Ayato asked in a hostile tone. His dead eyes scowled at her.
"Calm down. I can see the state of your seniors but I don't exactly know the situation. How about this? A revenge match."
Those in the crowd started whispering at Akari's mention.
"It won't be anything big. A simple 1v1 against the two of you. For a single minute, you two will battle it out and whoever does the most damage wins."
Jun exhaled with a confident smile.
"A minute? Give me a second, I'll beat him down."
He cockily announced.
Akari gave a thin smile.
"The loser cannot participate in any games."
·———·
20 minutes later, the stage was set and so was the audience. Hearing about the incident, everyone came to watch the 1v1 battle.
Ayato and Jun were in the arena, facing each other.
[Hello everyone! It may be a break day today but we have a surprise matchup! Ayato Kyouya versus Jun Yomichi! It started because of a grudge, so let's see who'll win this one-minute revenge match!]
They all cheered, wanting to see the outcome. Most students were curious about Ayato Kyouya's capabilities.
"Who do you think will win, President?"
Takumi from Orchid asked Asaka, their student council president. They both saw the incident happen.
"I don't know anything about the World Magician but I think it'll be that Jun guy. Did you see how he managed to put those Auralia students to sleep with a few punches?"
Asaka nodded.
"Yeah... But, I feel like his matchup is unfair."
She blurted out. Takumi nodded.
"That Jun guy is good at close combat. Perhaps close combat isn't the World Magician's—"
"That's not what I mean. I mean that Jun has no chance of winning at all."
"Huh?"
Asaka turned to the boy.
"Remember the way that the Magician of Red came in. She was desperate to stop Ayato. His arrogance may not be misplaced. I feel like this match was crafted only for the suffering of Jun Yomichi."
Takumi felt perturbed, hearing her opinion. He looked at the match on the holographic screen.
"What do you...?"
[Anyways, let's start this match! The countdown to disaster! 3, 2, 1! Are ready? Start!]
Within an instant, the match was over.
There wasn't a reaction from anyone. The entirety of the stands was quiet. No one realised that the match ended as soon as it began.
The smoke on the holographic screen started to thin. It was only then that the audience realised.
"Eh...?"
"Huh...?"
"Did the fight just start?"
"What just happened? When the match started, I heard a boom and..."
"Who won?"
Ayato stood before Jun, whose face was buried in the ground.
[Wha... What an outcome! Ayato won in less than a second! 0.395 seconds to be exact!]
"No way... That's faster than it takes to cast Chateau!"
Asaka pointed out in shock. No magician was physically powerful enough to stop a spell like Chateau from being cast.
Chateau's cast time was 0.4 seconds. Ayato used his body to defeat Jun. That meant that he could defeat anyone.
[Instant replay time!]
The footage replayed Ayato's attack in slow motion. It was a terrifying attack. One that no one would believe if not caught on camera.
[He dashed as soon as the match started and drove Jun's face into the ground with his fist! No magic use at all! Even for a World Magician, that's scary!]
Now everybody knew.
The power of the World Magician, the Magician of the Night, Ayato Kyouya.