In the luxurious living room, Midgard observed the System screens. Several data scrolled and a silhouette slowly rotated on itself on the main screen.|Sigma: 7%
"Sigma, category: physical and magical. Body capable of using the power of shadow, the possibility of having access to the power of creation. Sociability: 5/10, will taunt his opponent before attacking. Overall a normal person, but too calculating."
Outside, Dora took a finger sword pose and the black smoke revealed spikes floating.
Thomas got into position, and the festival resumed.
Rays of light fell from the stars, black crystals destroyed in the air, the ground was a multi-colored ocean and lightning of various colors tore through the air.
Midgard touched the screen and a new window opened.
|Gamma: 11%
"Gamma, category: magical. Body capable of using all types of elements, the possibility of being compatible with origin beasts. Sociability: 1/10, will attack as a warning. Too dangerous for human interaction."
Dora raised his arms and several balls of light swirled around him before shooting a laser at the stars of the vault, but without creating the slightest damage, Thomas took a new pose and a green ray fell on him.
|Beta: 25%
"Beta, category: hypothetically physical. No opinion on his affinity, maybe the origin of their healing skills. Sociability: 10/10, would not attack, even if threatened."
Outside, Dora crashed on the ground but immediately flew back toward Thomas, several black crystals behind him, he punched the latter but his arm hit the barrier and bounced back.
He lost his balance and fell backward, Thomas took a new pose.
"Scorp-"
But just then, the crystals appeared from behind Dora and hit Thomas in different places.
|Greed: 32%
"Omega, category: physical, magical, spirit. As an amalgam of all characters, he is affiliated with each of the elements and possesses all their abilities. Hypothetically the true body, but without fully awakening Beta, any hypothesis is not substantiated. Sociability: 0/10, the awakened form of Greed, dangerous for all living beings. As for his special ability..."
Dora fell, without struggling. He could have used an infinite number of abilities to regain his balance, but he didn't, his eyes fixed on an object floating in front of him and witness to a ray of sunshine in his nightmare: a drop of Thomas' blood.
"... That's it..."
He stabilized and landed on his legs then took his finger sword pose.
Around him, the field was covered with brambles covered with thousands of blackthorns.
He disappeared and the brambles rushed at Thomas.
"Synergy, a mode that allows abilities to be exchanged between two personas. Pros: useful to give Gamma's abilities to Sigma. Cons: the psychology of each persona will rub off on the others."
Thomas took a new pose and a new constellation lit up.
"Sagittarius!"
A volley of arrows rained down upon the brambles, obliterating them. Suddenly, Dora materialized behind Thomas, his black claws poised to rip his opponent's neck, but the magnetic field resurfaced and repelled him.
"Scorp-"
As he was about to use his ability to shoot his opponent, thorns suddenly hit on his back. He remained motionless in the air, his expression stern. Meanwhile, Dora reappeared on the ground, surrounded by a cloud of smoke.
Thomas slowly descended and faced his opponent, showing no emotion. However, Dora knew that a conversation was about to take place, and he knew what it was about.
"Well done, you exceeded my expectations."Thomas said.
He cynically applauded, and Dora's eyes narrowed.
"I was already impressed by your endurance, but I see that you are also a genius. You are the fifth student who managed to hit me in this mode, the second this whole year. So you figured it out? The magnetic field protects me from incoming attacks, but I can't use it when attacking, so your only chance is this small window when I'm charging an attack. Congratulation."
"... And now everyone else who heard that will know it."
Thomas chuckled and shook his head.
"There's a difference between knowing one's mistake and managing to use it. This is why I can't understand. You are strong, stronger than so many students... Maybe only I and Iris am above you. You have the best grade of your promotion... Do you know that neither Hope nor Cid managed to touch me in training?"
"As if it was a feat."
The vault over the sky disappeared, but Thomas' aura slowly increased.
"You could have made a great trio, you could have lived the best life: Iris as a tutor, lady Freya as noble, the best student of your promotion... You could... You could have been the face of commoners, the one standing for the poor people against the nobles."
Thomas' aura took on a reddish tint. Dora looked around him, seeing the wind converge around the young man.
He managed to find an opening before but it barely dealt any damage, every cell in his brain was working to find a flaw in his opponent's defense.
When the opponent was insurmountable defensively and offensively, the last resort was psychology.
"W-What do you mean, fighting for the poor? Aren't we serving the nobles?"
A bottle in the sea that hits its target.
Thomas clenched his fists. He slowly raised his face and looked at the audience cheering him on.
"I hate this... I really hate this situation... This is the worst..."
"You said you wish you weren't a noble? Do you have anything against the monarchy?"
"You're suddenly becoming curious? I know you well enough to see that you are up to something... But hey, I've been fooled too many times. You remind me a lot of her... I'll tell you, so you will know everything... If you can withstand this: Stargazer.
Thomas' aura exploded in a bright red color, Dora couldn't help but take a step back in surprise. However, to her amazement, Thomas had already moved in front of him in the blink of an eye.
"Great Crux"
He placed his index fingers in the shape of a cross and a flash occurred.
"Ngahh!..." Dora fell backward as a white cross burned on his chest.
"Years ago, while my family was on vacation in the countryside, I escaped the vigilance of our servants and ventured into nature."
Dora turned around on one arm and cut the air with his other arm, dozens of spikes came out of the ground but Thomas reappeared in front of him.
"Solar eruption".
Thomas'aura exploded, engulfing Dora and part of the ground. The spectators screamed with joy and encouraged Thomas more strongly.
"There, I realized... How rotten this world is. All my life, I was raised in luxury, I never knew what hunger, pain, and suffering were, I read fantasy books thinking that the outside world was like that... The birds sang because they were happy, the pigs played in the mud... I was stupid, wasn't I?"
Dora came out of his shadow, but just as he was about to touch him, a ball of energy hit him in the stomach and threw him into the air.
"Shooting Star... I found out the hard way what the outside world was like and I was so devastated. The poor people live in incredible poverty, and they use rags ... no, even things that we wouldn't use as rags and they wear them. They eat so rarely that their bones are almost visible, their houses are like our dogs' kennels... How is this allowed? How can we tolerate people living in this hell ?"
Dora managed to break free from the attack, which had lifted him several meters above the ground.
He fell back, his eyes widening and gasping for breath. He struggled to orient himself, unable to distinguish between the sky and the ground, and his vision began to blur.
"That day I met someone. It was a girl, about the same age as me. Her hair was unkempt, she obviously hadn't washed in a long time. She wasn't different from an animal, but she was so kind to me."
Little by little, the encouragement diminished. Thomas spoke out loud, and very lightly, his voice became perceptible to everyone.
"She had nothing, but she shared the few she had with me... How do you share a slice of bread? In the capital, everything is easy, everyone is healthy, we have everything we want to eat, do you realize how lucky we are? But look at everyone around you, every single one of them. Commoner this, peasant that... How can you treat a living creature like this and hope to receive love? Just how?"
The earth cracked beneath Thomas's feet and he found himself thrown into the air.
Dora rushed to him, a lightning javelin in the hand, but Thomas raised his arms and several particles of light formed on Dora.
"Spark"
A bright explosion occurred, followed by the young man's fall. On the stands, Zuri fell to her knee.
"Please... stop..."
Thomas' speech and Dora's persistence gradually froze the public's enthusiasm.
The council members observed the rebus's perseverance with slight compassion, or rather, it was something else.
Among the public, this feeling was shared, the sight of a weak E-rank, defying the order of life and putting a fight against an insurmountable wall.
"Just give up…"
"How much can he take?"
The teachers, the students, and every witness of this spectacle unknowingly let their hate or incomprehension be absorbed by a deep admiration for Dora.
Only 4 persons burned with a different desire: Candace, Eryl, and the two heirs. They knew the full extent of his power and how lucky Thomas had been to fight him at this level.
Dora fell to the ground, on one knee. He struggled to keep his balance but got up.
Thomas came back down in front of him, breathing slightly heavily.
"I knew it. No matter how battered you are, you won't give up, this is something that I admire about you, the poor. You're not fighting for a fictional family honor, you're fighting for yourself. The girl I talked about was like this too, she was weak and frail, yet she became a real animal when you dared laugh at her... She was the one who opened my eyes to your world... If only... If only I wasn't such a coward."
On the council side, Eryl sighed and her hair turned back to its natural color.
"I see, the battle was over a long time ago."
The gazes were down, filled with concern, while Zuri was visibly shaking and whispering something.
Solaria furrowed her brows and looked towards Iris, who was biting her lip and staring at the battlefield.
Dora stood up slowly, with black mist forming around his body, holding his forehead as several voices fought in his head.
- It doesn't work, it doesn't work! Let's switch again!
"... Why? To get beaten again?"
- If it doesn't work then use something else!
"At least I touched him!"
Dammit, will you both shut up? He's only a C-rank, he won't be able to use this power forever! Just let him burn out!
The mist spreads more and more around him. Thomas blew lightly and his aura became bluish again.
What?... No! He's using more power when he's red, don't let him rest!
"One day my parents discovered that I was playing with her. Ha... How laughable. They saw wild animals in cages but all it took was a little peasant to make them die of fear. They insulted her right in front of me, they blamed me for not listening to them..."
|Greed: 36%
|Sigma: 5%
|Gamma: 9%
|Beta: 25%
"This girl looked at me like a traitor... After everything we went through together, I saw her being insulted... And I didn't react. It's my biggest regret, and that was also the last time I saw her... Dora, I'll be honest, I didn't trust you at first, I wanted to meet a poor man, a peasant, strong enough to rise among the nobles... Nebula."
The galaxy reappeared at his feet. Dora looked helplessly above, seeing another constellation glowing.
He's going to attack! He's going to beat us!
|Greed: 38%
|Sigma: 5%
|Gamma: 7%
|Beta: 25%
"Hope is the first of this category that I met, not only a peasant but also a true hero at heart... A little stupid but with a pure heart. I wished that he would be the one who would stand up for the poor... But in a world where you exist, that will never happen. I wanted to humiliate you to teach you humility, I wanted you to open your eyes and understand your role... But you are like Iris: blinded by your own power, you have lost sight of reality, and that is why you are no longer relevant. Anesidora Carper, your kingdom falls here."
He took a pose, shining in bright blue, Dora took a step backward, his eyes fixed on the shining stars.
"Dammit!"
"Farewell, commoner, Virgo."
The light emitted by the stars gathered in the sky and formed the shape of a celestial woman who was in a prayer position. Gradually, she opened up her palms and a massive beam of white light struck Dora.
The arena was engulfed in a blinding light, and the explosion's thunderous sound drowned out the audience's screams and Zuri's desperate cries.
A large cloud of smoke replaced the light, causing everyone to fall silent. They watched in anguish as a crater formed.
Emerging from the smoke, Thomas walked towards the corridor. The students were hesitant at first, but then they started applauding one by one. Soon, cries of joy filled the air.
"Sleep, when you wake up, everything will have..."
The spectators were silent, but suddenly an explosion in the crater interrupted the stillness. The wind picked up, converging in the crater, and the faces grew increasingly distressed.
Slowly, Thomas turned around, his face frozen in a grimace.
"What more do I have to do to finish you?"
Then, something unusual caught his attention, and he widened his eyes in surprise.
Even Freya, in the council, was shocked and opened her eyes wide. A whole new aura swept the field, inspiring those who witnessed it.
In her room, Midgard's lips quivered for a moment before she gave way to a wide smile, her cheeks blushing a deep pink.
"... Thank you... thank you... Oh, thank you!... For your offering... Vice President."
|Greed: 40%
|Sigma: 5%
|Gamma: 7%
|Beta: 23%