[Timer's up! Time remaining is 3:00!]
Obviously, the pain was primarily a physical feeling, so those who were weak immediately ran away from the more athletic students.
The idea was simple, the gold glove competitors could choose someone much weaker physically than them as their opponent, and everyone understood this.
However, for the white glove competitors, it was a matter of luck. For every participant with gold gloves, there were ten with white gloves, so there was a 10% chance of being their target. Well, that wasn't entirely true, because, for those who were short, skinny, and weak, the odds were literally 100%.
Math wasn't always an exact science in real-world situations.
"No! Don't you dare do that!" The low boy with glasses pitifully exclaimed, trying to escape from the tall young man who followed him like a predator.
"Hehehe, the two of us are in for a very fun Trial." The green-haired youth smirked, pointing at the low boy with his glove.
At the same moment, a white-gold thread appeared between their gloves, binding them to the end of the Fourth Trial. A small barrier appeared around them, separating them from everyone else.
"Shit, this isn't fair! You vile bastard practically made Alisa cry! You should be punished, not encouraged!" The low boy shouted out in despair.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Hehehehe, but, you know what else is logical?" Greenhead chuckled evilly, "That the winner gets everything and the loser gets nothing!"
[The first pair was created!]
Then, these messages continued to appear faster and faster. In fact, everyone without exception needed to hurry.
'Well, well, they quickly realized that it was better to find someone of equal strength than to fall victim to the golden gloves.' Magnus pondered as he watched the white-gloved people try to negotiate.
It was much better for them to put up a fair fight than to just become a punching bag for someone much stronger.
'Hmm... Who should I pick? Maybe her?' Magnus smirked before swinging his hand.
A golden thread emerged from his glove quickly approaching its victim, but it stopped before reaching it.
Nitra turned around with a raised eyebrow, "Hey, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You don't want to fight? I promise I'll be gentle." Magnus offered with a slight but dangerous smile.
Nitra waved her hand, discarding Magnus's golden thread along with his offer.
"Don't make me laugh. You're probably the worst opponent. If you wanted to, you could fold me in half and break me like a stick." Nitra frowned and headed off to find her prey.
She was a girl, and her athletic performance was below average, so even with the golden glove she would have to try hard to find a suitable opponent.
Magnus shook his head, then he looked around. Everyone knew why Magnus was in the S-Class, so no one wanted to fight him, for others, it was practically suicide.
Step. Step. Step. Step.
Magnus walked calmly forward, while everyone scattered from him like the plague. He stopped in front of one of the few students that were bigger and taller than him.
"Do you need something?" Alf asked with a slight frown. He stood in the middle of the main square with his arms crossed over his chest. There was no one within a ten-meter radius around him.
"Yeah." Magnus nodded, "I challenge you to a duel."
Without hesitation, Magnus pointed at Alf, and then the golden and white threads joined, creating a barrier around them.
"I didn't expect you to dare to do that." Alf said calmly, unlike the others he was not afraid of Magnus.
"Why is that?" Magnus asked with a confident smirk on his face.
Alf sighed, "You have a great physique, but it won't help you, you'll lose. Considering you have a golden glove, you could have picked anyone."
Azure Academy had many sports classes as well as martial arts classes. Alf was the best in karate in the entire academy, so he was a true fighter among the thousands of students who had never even fought in their lives. After all, they lived in Light City.
"Agh... Your problem is that you're too kind and honorable." Magnus shook his head, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and showing his black veins, "My friend, this will ruin you!"
"What is it...?" Alf became wary.
"I don't know yet, but it's definitely bad news for you! As for your question, well... do I look like those idiots around here?" Magnus's voice grew colder.
"What...?" Alf raised an eyebrow, baffled.
Magnus started stretching his shoulders, "They're all thinking about staying alive and just passing the Trial, so they pick weak opponents. However, I don't just want to go on, I want to win, and to do that I need to get as many points as possible!"
The rules of the Fourth Trial were simple, one had to hurt his opponent as much as possible, but for a high score one needed high endurance. Magnus wasn't the only one who realized this, but there were only a few such people out of a thousand.
"Ethan... What are you going to do?" Alisa asked, in a worried voice.
Ethan didn't answer, he just tilted his head meeting Alisa's gaze. She was puzzled, but then she realized that Ethan was the only one who could challenge her to a duel.
'No... no... no... He wouldn't do that, r-right...?' Alisa muttered inwardly, while fear gradually filled her gaze.
"I'm still thinking." Ethan smiled, lowering himself to Alisa, "What about you? Looks like you got a pretty good advantage because of your special position in the previous Trial."
Alisa lowered her head sadly, "Well... I'm glad I don't have to fight anyone, and I'll get points too, but 0.2%... isn't that too low?"
"Hey, you're in A-Class, don't you know how to count?" Ethan smirked, "There are practically a thousand people in the square, so each of us is 1/1000 or 0.1%. You're getting 0.2%! Twice as much as the average of the others, and you're not risking anything!"
Alisa's eyes shone brightly when she heard that. She didn't want to feel any more pain, but she also didn't want to hurt anyone. Staying away was the best option for her.
[Time remaining is 00:30!]
With less than a minute to go, those who hadn't found an opponent needed to hurry up.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! How did this happen!" Nitra exclaimed furiously, stomping the ground with her fists clenched.
"Did something happen?" Ethan asked with a devious smirk.
"Ah? What's it to you? It's not my fault luck isn't on my side today." Nitra spread her arms out to the sides, "As soon as I found some weakling, they immediately became the opponent of someone else. Just some kind of joke!"
Nitra expected Ethan to say something, but he was silent, then she realized he hadn't picked his opponent yet and started to panic.
"Wait! Hold on!" Nitra exclaimed, waving her arms.
"Well... You're wrong. You're lucky today." Ethan said calmly.
"Ah...?" Nitra was confused, "What do you mean?"
Ethan sighed, "Nothing at all. I just decided that I'm going to play by the rules this time and not try to think of anything."
[Time remaining - 00:10!]
Most of the pairs had already been determined, so all eyes were on Ethan. Everyone was curious as to how he would use his bonus.
With the final seconds ticking away, Ethan's hand slowly came into motion until it stopped at the very end of the timer.
"You will be my opponent." Ethan said serenely, announcing the bloody terror.
The black gauntlet pointed at the creature with massive white wings in whose eyes there was something other than arrogance for the first time.