I slowly opened my eyes while attempting to sit up, but my body felt weak, and there were several tubes attached to me.
While I was still digesting what happened to me, I heard a voice that was familiar in my ears.
"You won't be able to get up after just waking up from a coma for a week. Lie down for a while until you get better."
The person who just spoke to me was Charles, my teacher. When I heard his words, some flashes of memory just appeared and played like a movie. The last thing I remember was when I lost consciousness while hitting Ifrit's face.
That's when I remembered that I sacrificed my left hand to be able to hit him. But why is my left hand still attached to my body? Was it all just a dream or maybe I was still dreaming all along?
"It seems you've remembered a little. Then I just need to explain what happened after you lost consciousness in the duel against Ifrit."
Hearing my teacher's words. I let out a sigh of relief. That meant I wasn't dreaming and what had happened was real.
My teacher began recounting the events from when I blacked out after striking the devil.
Merlin, who realized that I had lost consciousness, immediately teleported and held my body to prevent it from collapsing hard to the floor. In addition, he also took my left hand which was cut off during the last attack, and used a high-level recovery spell on me right away.
From behind Merlin, Ifrit, who still hadn't fallen after being hit by my last attack said with a wide smile on his face, "I heard him mention the name Merlin. I thought it was just a name similar to yours, who would have thought it was you all along. How long has it been since we fought to the death? A hundred years? Three hundred years?"
Without even looking at Ifrit, Merlin replied, "Even though your body is different, your attitude has not changed. You are too noisy. The life-and-death battle we had was a thousand years ago."
Ifrit looked a little surprised to hear that.
"A thousand years? I didn't think so much time had passed since my death. Besides, for a human's lifespan, you still look fresh and healthy even though a thousand years have passed, your life force must be very strong. What about Charles? Is he still alive? I still remember in the war between demons and humans, the two of you had to work together and sacrifice the life of your crushes just to kill me. Ah, how nostalgic."
For the first time, Merlin turned his body and looked at Ifrit with eyes glowing red.
Undaunted or dominated, Ifrit laughed happily because he had succeeded in arousing the anger in Merlin's heart. Not long after feeling satisfied playing with Merlin's emotions, he said, "Hey, no need to be emotional. You won't hold a grudge against the dead, right? Besides, I have to admit that humans still have great young generations. Being able to kill me, Ifrit, even though my strength is limited by the potential and strength of the original owner of this body, he is quite promising."
Merlin, whose eyes were slowly returning to normal, replied to Ifrit's words with a short answer, but there was a proud and mocking tone in his words, "His name is Ace Arcane, you should know that he is Charles' student who is probably looking at you somewhere while enjoying a cup of tea."
Ifrit felt that fate had indeed brought him back from the dead to remind him that there was a thread that connected them all. Not being fooled by Merlin's provocation, Ifrit said, "Charles is not the only one who has a student. Before I died in your hand, I also had the chance to take on a student. He may have become the absolute ruler of hell. If war breaks out again, he will likely meet and fight the young man named Ace. Whatever it is, it is none of my business because my time seems to have come. Living only to die a few minutes later, fate must be toying with me, but being able to fight him to my heart's content, I do not regret getting this opportunity at all."
Right after those words left his mouth, his body was covered in cracks and shattered like sand blown by the wind.
Merlin cancelled the protective spell that surrounded the entire duel arena. Then, while pointing toward my body, which was being treated by his spell, Merlin declared, "The duel is won by Ace Arcane and Lichtalia Aurora. Desmond Darthon will be expelled from the academy according to the agreed-upon terms. As for Teradein Finito, as you can see, he has turned to dust. I forbid you from studying possession spells because your bodies may be taken over by something evil, like a demon. Ace has displayed his greatness and ability by defeating a high-rank demon that had possessed Teradein's body, even though he was seriously injured as a result. Additionally, the fifty people involved in the duel with him will also be expelled by the applicable duel agreement. That's all for today."
After hearing my teacher's story, I fell silent and pondered. My teacher looked confused and finally asked, "You managed to kill a high-rank demon, why don't you look happy at all?"
I answered my teacher's question according to what was on my mind, "Teacher, you said that I killed him, but in reality, I was the first to fall and become unconscious in the arena. I felt like I was the loser. Calling his death my victory feels too bland."
My teacher smiled and replied to me, "If you feel that the duel was your loss, that's fine too. Just make sure that you come out on top in the next duel. I'm glad you have a true man's mindset. Oh yeah, Merlin told you not to train for at least two weeks to make sure that your body recovers completely. You're not even allowed to channel your mana to any part of your body because the reason you were in a coma because you used up all the mana in your body. If it wasn't for Merlin acting quickly using his teleport spell, you would have died accompanying that demon."