"If I win, then you'll have to prostrate and admit that you and your sister are failures of the Crown Family. If you win, I'll do whatever you say." Zephyra's clear announcement had left Sophia in a state of shock. "The prizes were different! You clearly said you wanted me gone from the President's seat if I lost! Then why are you changing your prize?!" Sophia spoke out, clearly outraged by the absurdity of Zephyra's words. "It's my choice, Miss Sophia Von Crown~ You can't expect everything to go your way, do you?" Zephyra spoke mockingly, looking down at Sophia. The fight had boosted Zephyra's ego, relishing that she was superior to one of the most feared and influential students in the entire Academy.
Just as Sophia was about to protest, she sat beside Jeanne. "Oh hey, President. It seems like Amon sent you back here in the real world." Jeanne's words made Sophia glance around her surroundings frantically to realise she was now back in the real world. Sophia was utterly bewildered and was at a loss for words. This was the first time she had lost a fight this badly. Her younger brother's words and expression had shaken her to the core severely. The feeling of defeat and trauma was evident in her expression.
"President, You don't have to win every fight to prove superior. Sometimes, a loss can give us more than a win. In chess, when you lose a match, you learn from your mistakes and fix those mistakes to improve and win your next game. The same could be said for your loss just now." Jeanne spoke in a calm voice, patting Sophia's back. "How…" Sophia looked at Jeanne depressedly. "I am certain that Amon berated you while he was healing you, didn't he?" Jeanne's calm inquiry had caught Sophia a bit off-guard, but she responded with a nod, indicating that she had answered yes.
"So, my theory of Amon resenting you is correct." Jeanne's calm words shocked Sophia a lot. "Resent me…? Amon…?" Sophia stared at Jeanne with a shocked expression.
"Yes. Amon would act a bit differently whenever there is anything regarding you. He doesn't want to discuss you and would rather avoid anything regarding you. When I asked him, He said he didn't want to discuss it. But after some quick observation and thinking, I concluded that Amon harbours a deep resentment towards you. I don't know the exact reason, but he's never discussed anything with us regarding his family. My theory is that he has a sort of resentment towards you probably because he didn't get the attention, or the acknowledgement, or the love he deserved from you, his older sister." Jeanne explained calmly.
'Jeanne's theory definitely sounds plausible… But I won't believe it until I hear Amon's words…' Sophia thought, focusing on the screen now showing the intense clash between Zephyra and Amon.
…
| Hidden Quest Complete! You have successfully managed to cause psychological trauma to Sophia through your words, and for that, you have completed the Quest' Mental Imbalance'! Claim your Rewards from the System Message Box! |
| Hidden Quest Complete! You have established your reputation as the most remarkable student in R.S Advanced Academy's History, thus completing the 'Honor Student' Quest! Claim your Rewards from the System Message Box! |
| Hidden Quest Complete! You have significantly altered the plot of 'Forbidden Love Between Two Maidens' and have thus completed the Quest 'History Does Not Repeat Itself'! Claim your Rewards from the System Message Box! |
These 3 pop-ups from the System caught Amon off-guard for a moment during his exchange of punches and kicks with Zephyra, allowing her to finally land a solid hit on him. Due to the impact of the hit, Amon got flung backwards and crashed into a nearby building.
"Hmm, your physical strength is admirable. Being able to parry my physical attacks with pure brute force is something none of the students of this Academy can do. As the rumours suggest, you are an interesting student, Amon Von Crown." Zephyra praised Amon as she slowly walked towards where Amon had crashed. Her unhinged smile showed off her sadistic nature when she fought her opponents.
"Your 'Hamstring Magic' is praiseworthy. You can't use any Elemental Magic due to your lack of affinity for any of them, but since you have a very high Magium Reserve and an outstanding body, you made up for your shortcomings with your Personal Magic. You're smart and very hard-working, which earned you a position in the 'War Goddess Council', a council of female students who are the strongest fighters among the other students of this Academy." Amon spoke casually, pointing his wand at Zephyra, standing behind her.
"Oh my~ You're quite the tough boy~ It seems like I'll have a lot of fun when I mess you up badly~" Zephyra spoke in a sultry tone as she round-house kicked Amon, which he dodged pretty easily by jumping away from her.
'Gravity Collapse!' Zephyra got slammed into the ground due to intense gravity pressure after Amon said those words. "You may have resistance to Elemental Magic thanks to your 'Hamstring Magic', but you have no resistance to Null Magic, which means Gravity Magic will work on you. But here's the fun twist." Amon smiled menacingly as he stared at Zephyra, still slammed into the ground. "I never learned any Null Magic! What you're experiencing right now is the effect of my Personal Magic 'Gravity', and even a fucking dumbass would know that Personal Magic is stronger than Elemental & Null Magic!"
Personal Magic is stronger than Elemental and Null Magic but is hard to learn. As the name suggests, Personal Magic is developed by oneself and can't be used by others. But to create it, you need to have zero affinity for Elemental Magic or have excellent control over Magium. The System, however, had other plans. The rewards that Amon got for completing the three hidden tasks were 'Personal Magic Affinity', 'Gravity Magic Mastery', & 'Sword Wand'.
'Personal Magic Affinity', as the name suggests, granted Amon the ability to create his Personal Magic without needing to meet any of the conditions required for using Personal Magic. 'Gravity Magic Mastery' gave Amon complete mastery over Gravity Magic, which is classified as Null Magic.
The 'Sword Wand' is a wand that resembles a miniature black sword. The remarkable thing about this wand is its appearance and its stabilising and condensing of the Magium output of its Master.
'Final Counter: Malevolent Boxing Ring!' After Zephyra discreetly incanted those words, she and Amon were transported to an alternate dimension where they were standing inside a boxing ring while donning gloves. Amon was taken aback by the sudden shift of events.
"You are the first person to make me use my 'Final Counter.'" Amon Von Crown, you genuinely deserve my admiration and appreciation, but disappointingly, here is where you fail."
[Final Counter] is the Supreme Spell of all personal magic. It creates an alternate dimension composed of the user's soul and infused with their Personal Magic. Within a [Final Counter], the user's spells become substantially enhanced, with a 100% probability of striking their opponents. Furthermore, a [Final Counter] can only be defeated by a more powerful [Final Counter]. Another option would be to knock out or kill the user, although this is very tough. A [Final Counter] can negate the effects of [Normal Skill], but it can only partially negate the effects of [Special Skill]. To counter a [Final Counter], utilize a powerful [Special Skill].
Amon was trying to think of something that would help him out in this situation, but nothing came to his mind. Even if he has complete mastery over gravity magic and has turned it into his personal magic, Amon still isn't skilled enough to create his [Final Counter]. He even used [No Longer Human] to figure out a solution, but alas, it was all futile. As Amon was being beaten up by Zephyra, he realized that he had been too egoistic, which got to his head and clouded his judgment.
"Look at you, acting all high and mighty when you're just a hollow shell on the inside." A voice mockingly remarked, which got Amon's attention, and he was very pissed off. When Amon looked around, he saw that he was no longer in a fight with Zephyra. Instead, he was standing at the centre of a seemingly endless white void. Confusion and panic coursed through Amon's mind, trying to process what was going on and as if, to answer him, the same voice spoke again, this time in a slightly calm tone.
"You're currently in the 'Imaginary World'. A place where souls get transported to when their material body suffers a blackout. You lost the fight against Zephyra Valkaress, and you lost consciousness during the fight due to the severity of your injuries." The voice's explanation seemed to hit Amon like a freight train. He was utterly lost for words. However, the voice's next words were something that Amon couldn't even imagine, even from the wildest of his nightmares.
"Amon, you have been way too complacent with things. Just because you've got the 'System' helping you out doesn't mean that you're invincible. There's also the fact that you mimicking other people's personalities from different animes and manhwa. Doing deranged things to achieve greater good like Yuuichi Katagiri from 'Tomodachi Game', trash-talking people like Lloyd Fronterra from 'The Greatest Estate Developer', and showing off like Anos Voldigoad from 'Misfit of the Demon King Academy'; honestly, how much fucking insecure are you about your real personality?"
The harsh words of the voice seemed to have struck Amon's very core, to the point where he began to think his existence was meaningless and that he should disappear like he never existed. "Hahaha! Look at you! You have the best expression of despair I've seen since the dawn of creation!"
The voice was laughing at Amon's hilariously despaired expression. "For the Keeper of the Imaginary World... You're a fucking demon... Even the Devil would be sorry if he had a conversation with you. Amon commented flatly, looking down at the floor with the same despaired expression.
"It's a nice change when I get to meet someone who knows my identity. You're not as bad as I thought, although my opinion of you being an insecure idiot won't change." The voice commented in a subtly appreciative tone.
The Imaginary World was something that could only be accessed by people whose physical bodies suffered a blackout, and it could also be accessed by people who were at the pinnacle of their species, wanting to achieve far greater power than what they'd already accomplished. Amon, however, seemed to be confused. The chances of getting transported into the imaginary world through a blackout were extremely rare. Amon was confused about that, but what confused him the most was the fact that the 'Keeper' hadn't mentioned the first way of accessing the imaginary world.
Something didn't feel right. Amon looked at his body and saw that it had now started disappearing. "Oh, your physical body is about to gain consciousness. Before you go, I want you to follow this advice of mine." The voice spoke calmly. "Be yourself and don't try to imitate others. And don't let the negative changes destroy you."
. . .
"How long does he want to sleep? It's been a week, and he's also skipped the weekly exam. This NERD is blatantly faking to have a long-term blackout to get excused from skipping the weekly exam." Alexander commented sarcastically, although he was really worried about his classmate on the inside.
"Alex, you saw how hard Zephyra thrashed Amon during their fight... The Academy Doctor claimed it was unbelievable that Amon had not broken any bones..." Seraphina stared at Alexander blankly, seated beside a lain-down Amon on the hospital bed.
Alexander, Ross, Seraphina, and Jeanne were in the hospital wing, visiting Amon after classes as per their regular routine. All of them would spend at least an hour every day in the hospital wing, chatting about random things and events that had occurred throughout the day. The four of them did this just so Amon didn't feel lonely and they cared deeply about him as a friend.
After Amon passed out during his fight against Zephyra, it was Amou who stopped the fight and took Amon to the hospital wing with Jeanne and the others. Sophia wanted to visit Amon every day but wouldn't be allowed by Jeanne and Amou. Both of them were furious at Sophia for picking a fight with Zephyra, which had caused this.
The reason why Sophia and Zephyra clashed a week ago was because of Zephyra's criticism about how Sophia did things to maintain the discipline of the academy. And it hurt Sophia's ego, due to which she challenged Zephyra to a duel.
In 'Forbidden Love Between Two Maidens', the duel between Zephyra and Sophia takes place after the duel between Seraphina and Sophia, where Sophia beats Seraphina one-sidedly. Zephyra Valkaress, one of the war goddesses of the 'War Goddess Council', didn't take that well. She labelled it as 'bullying' and thus challenged Sophia to a duel.
However, due to Amon's actions, the original plot didn't play out. The reason why Amon was so confident about ruining the plot of 'Forbidden Love Between Two Maidens' was because he played a significant role in the novel, which was the 'Final Boss' or the main antagonist. Amon knew very well that if the plot of a major character was tampered with, then it would break apart the entire story, which he used as a factor for most of his plans.
Despite all of this, Amon made a mistake. He didn't consider the fact that Zephyra was able to use [Final Counter]. To counter Zephyra's 'Hamstring Magic', Amon had strategized accordingly the moment he claimed the 'Gravity Magic Mastery' reward. If Zephyra didn't use [Final Counter], then Amon would've won, but it would take a long time for him to corner Zephyra and beat her.
'Love at first sight, a phrase which I didn't believe to be real. I had always thought of it as a meaningless poetic phrase. Of course, why would I believe it to be real when I think of love as a meaningless joke? But somehow… When I first saw Amon and thought of how remarkable he was, I felt an unusual feeling... A fierce feeling of wanting to claim and cherish him... Not only that, but I also had shameless fantasies about him.' Jeanne thought as she looked at Amon and felt an overwhelming desire for him. '... Is this what 'love at first sight' means?'
While she pondered, Amou had arrived with a tray of refreshments for everyone. "All of you must be tired from your classes. Here, have some refreshments." She smiled gorgeously as she handed out drinks to them. "Woah! Mango Mocktail! Thanks for making it, Amou!" Ross exclaimed happily as he took the drink from the tray and sipped it. "I am confused about what I should pick... The Strawberry Mocktail seems nice, but I kind of want to try out the Pink Wine Punch as well. Oh God, making a decision is more stressful than stabbing orphans." Alexander's comment nearly made Seraphina spill her sparkling blueberry lemonade. "Good Lord! Blade, can you stop being violent for once?!"
"How long will it take for Amon to gain consciousness?" Jeanne asked calmly as she took the minty watermelon fizz cocktail from the tray. "This is the tenth time you're asking me this question, Jeanne. And like I said before, it's uncertain." Amou sighed as she went to Amon and sat beside him. She began to run her hand through Amon's hair. Amou was extremely worried about Amon and tried to recover him using her abilities, but it didn't work for some unknown reason. She tried many times, but all of her attempts were futile.
'I'll mark Master after he wakes up. With my personal mark, it'll be easier for me to protect him, even if he doesn't summon me.' Amou pondered while she kept running her hand through Amon's hair. Suddenly, Amon jolted up from the bed, which surprised everyone. "I am alive." Amon looked at himself with a bewildered expression. "Hello, alive. I am Ross Thoumeax. Nice to meet you." Ross remarked sarcastically, which got Amon's attention, and he looked at Ross blankly. "Really?"
"I had to! The timing was so perfect." Ross's excited explanation was immediately cut short when Jeanne, Amou, and Seraphina hugged Amon at the same time. "What a wholesome moment. It's a shame I can't ruin it and assert my superiority over everyone." Alexander commented in his usually calm tone, but he was very glad that Amon had regained consciousness.