Chapter 48
Bellator Academy is highly competitive. Here, even someone from the bottom sections has a chance to stand at the top since there are many chances to do so.
One such chance is the weekly duel. Duels are a method to promote fighting experience and to experience victory as well as loss.
There are two types of duels. Compulsory duels mean that each student must fight in a duel once a week regardless of price and then there are optional duels which means that two parties, when reaching an agreement, can fight with appropriate prices on the line.
Mostly, it is credit and rank, two things that have the most value in the Bellator Academy. Of course, if one is betting his own rank, he should be equally compensated which I doubt there is something equal for it.
I mean, the first ten ranks get unrestricted access to information in the library that even some teachers can't. they have access to facilities such as a mana-gathering array that can speed up their growth by ten times.
And if you don't remember the gravity chamber in the elite building, then only the first ten ranked students can get access to higher levels of it since the general gravity room can only increase gravity by three times which actually becomes useless at higher power ranks.
Credit is the general currency in Bellator City so it is also a common bet for the duel matches. Other things can include rare treasures, artifacts, mana crystals, etcetera.
Now, why am I telling you all of this?
Well, that is because of this shiny boy who came to me as soon as the classes ended. Since it is the first day, there are no optional classes. Students are given the first week to decide which class they want to attend so the first week is mostly theoretical classes.
Now, when I say shining boy, one might assume that he has a bald head that shines. Wrong! Lush. That is how I would describe his head in one word.
Long black hair like those of old Chinese nobles, so luster that even the light shines off of them. then there are his pearly white teeth that give a twinkling shine, like in animes, whenever he exposes his teeth for a long time.
"You scoundrel!" He needs to work on his slang skills though.
[They don't exist]
Right. They don't right now.
"I challenge you to a noble duel between knights. Stand up and accept your fate." He announced like he was doing me a good deed.
"I, Rodwell Heinz, a prideful cleric of the church that worships the goddess Isis, will fully expose you for what you did." He kept on ranting but I was too overwhelmed by his shine to even think of anything.
Ooh, I'm blinded by the shine. And, what did I even do? At least explain that, you shiny idiot.
"Stand up and face me!" He again shouted when he saw me unresponsive. I, obviously was pulled out of my trance and sighed.
This is troublesome. I don't want to do this. Now, technically, I have to accept his challenge regardless of the bet, but I don't want to.
[Lazy]
I am! What about it!?
So let's try technicality to get out of this. "According to the rules stated by the academy," I began and raised three fingers of mine.
"One, an appropriate price must be set and I doubt you have anything to give me. Second, we were just informed of the rules a while ago, and you cannot expect me to prepare in such a short time unless you are a dishonorable knight who likes to take advantage of unprepared opponents, and three, you first need clearance from a professor to begin this duel and as far as I can see, you haven't done that." And dear Rodwell was left speechless to say anything.
Technicality. A term derived from law and often used in it. Law is a very unique thing. If you can properly understand it, you can mold it to your desire through technicality.
Although what I said just now is all bullsh*t, these fledglings are not fully familiar with this system so they don't know it's bullsh*t.
Ha! Suckers. I'm getting out of this and there's nothing you can do about it.
"Not necessarily so." A voice interrupted my inward triumphant smile. A voice I recognized as well since she spent almost an hour with me in a closed room, alone.
[Interrogating you]
Tomato, tamato.
[And she is going to throw them at you]
Yeah, I got it coming for annoying the cr*p out of her yesterday.
Michelle Swanson. A teacher I annoyed to hell yesterday. I doubt she is very happy with me.
She raised her three fingers, just like me, and started saying "One, as long as it is a compulsory duel, no price has to be set. Two, all compulsory duels must be accepted even when you are eating sleeping, or…"
Sh*ting? Looked like she wanted to say it but her being a lady prevented her to even though it looked like she really, really wanted to say it.
"Ahem! Honor, although necessary to be a knight, cannot be regarded right now. And third, well, I will be granting permission for this duel." She ended with a smile, and then she asked with a slight and subtle wink, "Are there any more questions, student Adrian?"
Well, cr*p.
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And that is how, I, was so unjustly riled in the words of these cruel people.
[Innocent?]
'You're still hung up on that?!'
"This is the first official match between Adrian von Deus Lux and the challenger, Rodwell Heinz." Desmond, who was informed of our match and decided to oversee it along with Michelle, said and then asked, "Have you decided on the price?"
"Since this is a compulsory match, we have decided to have this match without any exchange," Rodwell replied.
Who decided?
Anyway, all of this isn't important. Currently, I am plagued with a very difficult decision.
[And that is?]
'Whether I kill this guy or not.'
[Are you deciding between chicken and beef?]
'That's a problem worth contemplating.'
This one isn't but the problem is, that like all the cliché scenarios if I kill this guy who is a member of the church, his comrades, maybe his lover, his friends, or just members of his squad, will vow to revenge him and come after me, and then I will kill them, and then the church would come after me, and then I would kill them as well and then I would be declared a heretic by the world, unanimously.
[There's a lot of killing in your mind]
But if I don't kill him, then he is going to annoy me like this again next week and I will also be showing everyone currently present in this arena that I am soft.
[But there is another option, right?]
There is. Traumatize him.
[And how will you do that?]
'Just watch.' I replied with a smile and said out loud, "Sir, what about the range of accidents that might occur during our fight?"
Desmond swiftly replied as if he had already prepared an answer, "Me and Michelle are capable enough to stop any mishaps from happening so you don't have to hold yourselves back."
That means anything goes other than killing.
"Now that everything is clear, you may begin on three," Desmond spoke and started counting. We both readied ourselves, well Rodwell readied himself, to me, this was nothing but a joke.
"Begin!" Desmond shouted but none of us moved from our spots.
Rodwell was dressed in a shining armor of gold color and his sword also shined under the sun. his sword was quite exquisite if I have to say.
With a golden hilt and a sharp silver blade, it seemed to be a perfect harmonized longsword in weight distribution.
"Do you really want to do this?" I asked after a while of staring. No doubt that Rodwell was an honest character and killing him was outright cruel.
However, just because he has a clean heart, doesn't give him the permit to force his beliefs on others.
So although I won't kill him, he still needs to be punished so that he can understand his limits.
"Stop speaking, you scoundrel. If you are seeking forgiveness for your sins, then beg before the goddess, not me."
Okay! Scratch that. I'm gonna kill him.
[Annoying, isn't he?]
"You have no idea," I spoke out loud instead of replying in my mind. It doesn't matter anyway.
Seeing that I wasn't going to move anytime soon, Rodwell slowly began to walk towards me.
[He's seen you fight before]
In the duel with Asmara and Allen, Rodwell must have been one of the spectators there with the church.
But, that doesn't change anything.
'Bless.' A bout of energy coursed through me, energizing me. Although 'Bless' only increased my stats by twenty-five percent, it was enough to surprise him.
'Magic bullet.' At once, I conjured three hundred bullets around me. I can't be bothered to deal with this charade long enough so I am going to end this in one move.
Rodwell hurriedly turned to look up in the sky and when he saw no bigger magic bullets, he heaved a sigh of relief and started to run towards me.
His speed was decent. Nowhere near Rose's but if I had to guess, it would be D+. Not my match though. I unleashed all the magic bullets at him at once and he guarded his head by crossing his forearms in front of it while his armor was enough to bear the rest.
The rain of magic bullets fell on him and although not very strong, with how many of them there were, he was bound to take enough damage to be distracting.
And that distraction was all I needed to run behind him. Since earlier, his shining hair has been pissing me off for some reason.
[You maniac]
Maniac de khekho.
As the rain of magic bullets stopped, he moved his arms but when he didn't see me, he turned his head vigilantly but it was too late.
His long shining hair was already in my grasp.
"Hello, my darling," I spoke in a soft and sensual voice that visibly made him shiver. Before he could recollect himself from that, "Rip."
An audible ripping sound traveled through all of the arena. And then, it was followed by a scream that resonated deep in the heart of the listeners.
But I wasn't done, I again grabbed a handful of his hair and ripped them off his mid-screams.
A wave of fear traveled those who hadn't gotten the shock of my earlier attack. My aim wasn't just to make him bald. My plans went beyond that
Do you know the types of male baldness? There is one called 'Baldness from the crown to the frontal region'. It is a type of baldness in which a person has hair on the side and back but from the middle and front, bald.
I'm going to make it so that this fu*ker can't go out without a cap. I will make it so he never gets a girlfriend.
Hahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Serves him right!!!!!!
Screams and screams. And amidst those screams, I wrapped the hair, that had bits of flesh at its scalp, around my fist and raised that fist.
Ah, the shine.
I did not need someone to tell me what others were feeling right now and what they were thinking of me.
They were horrified and thought of me as nothing but a lunatic. But like I said before, I don't care what anyone thinks of me, as long as they don't mess with me, I'm cool.
And now, the finale, "Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are having a nice day."
"I want to leave a message before this duel ends. This," I said and raised my fist high and continued, "This is what awaits you if you challenge me and fight me. I don't care who you are, a girl, a boy, or in-between, if you challenge me to take advantage of me, this is what I will do to you."
I simply finished, threw the hair on the ground, and announced, "I surrender," while heading to the exit of the arena, leaving everyone, even the teachers, shocked.
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Let me know what you think in the comments so I can make timely changes if needed.