Chapter 81: Tournament and Vengeance(4)

I felt the bloodlust nearing me, and it suddenly spiked as it stopped by me. I quickly opened my eyes and jumped off the bed, firing a couple of streaks of lightning. There was no one there that I could see or hear...but one of the streaks hit something, as a slash appeared by the pillow I had been resting my head on. 

Someone really is there! But even though I knew that now...it didn't change the fact that I couldn't either see or hear them. 

I'll fill this entire room with lightning! I began to charge up lightning in my fingers, when the door swung open, a slight shimmer appearing in front of it. I quickly flung a few paralysis needles at the shimmer...and three of them vanished into thin air. 

A small trail of blood appeared on the ground. 

Wha- it was moving, the paralysis had no effect? In that case, I'll have to pin 'em down the old fashioned way. I chased after it, flinging more needles in its direction, as it shimmered. It was still extremely disconcerting to be chasing someone who I couldn't either see or hear, but the blood trail, as well as the shimmering...told me exactly where they were. 

That shimmer meant that an invisibility barrier was being used, it shimmers when you move too quickly...and probably a soundproof barrier as well. A combination that I often used on my investigative missions. I should have figured it out already. 

Okay, seriously...I had struck this person with three paralysis needles...how were they still moving? It doesn't matter, they're not getting away, not after they tried to poison Persia as well! 

I flung some Confusion needles at the shimmering movement in front of me, causing the blood trail to grow a bit bigger but the person didn't stop moving. 

What the hell? 

Ah, screw it...I activated Lightning Boost and shot past the shimmer, before firing multiple bolts of lightning from in front of it. A cry of pain and a small thud sounded out, and a scroll suddenly appeared on the ground, rolling away. I see...they must have dropped the soundproof barrier scroll. 

I shot a bolt of lightning at it to destroy it...now even if I couldn't see the person, I could hear them, and there was no way they were getting away. 

"Take down the invisibility barrier already...it's over," I remarked, walking forward. 

I heard the person stumble back and I fired lightning at their feet, hearing another thud which sounded like they fell down, and...the invisibility barrier deactivated as they dropped the scroll, revealing the culprit. 

"Looks like my hunch was correct...Professor Kalbowdi Payse."

Remember earlier today, when I said that the fact that the killer hadn't made a move in the morning was proof of my theory...that was because she had been busy in the infirmary the whole time, after I asked the headmaster to station her there. 

She glared at me as she stood up and pulled out the needles that had struck her. She then drew out a dagger hidden in her dress and blasted a fireball at me. I zipped past it and slipped behind her, she began to turn around and spring away, but I quickly unleashed a kick to her left side, sending her crashing her right shoulder onto a wall. I could see a hint of the skills to justify her former A-Rank, but it had been a few years since she retired, so it was clear that she was extremely rusty. 

"You bastard...," She growled, standing up while clutching her side. 

"I am curious...how are you moving fine after I hit you with so many needles? Also...why are you trying to kill me?" 

I already knew the answer to the second one, how could I not. 

"Tch, why should I tell you anything...you fucking murderer!" She snapped, her eyes filled with hatred as vengeful bloodlust emanated from her. 

Should have seen that coming. 

"What, should I torture it out of you? I honestly wouldn't have given a shit if you had just tried to kill me...but no one tries to hurt my girlfriend, for that, I'll-." 

"You'll what!? What gives you the right to act so righteous, huh!? You murdered my husband, didn't you!?" 

"The way you said that...you don't actually have any solid proof, do you? What makes you think that I-?" 

"I heard you! That day, in April...when I told you that the headmaster wanted to speak to you, after you entered his office and I headed to the staff room, I realized that I'd left something in the classroom...and when I passed by the headmaster's office, I overheard that you'd been investigating and assassinating spies! Admit it, you killed him!"

Let's see how long I can dodge the question and get more information out of her. 

"And overhearing a part of a conversation, that might have sounded different without context, was all the proof you went on? Oh, and how do you even know that your husband was murdered?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow. 

"Don't fuck with me! Right from the beginning, I had a feeling that he was murdered. Despite his body not showing any signs of injury, there were small, straight tears on his shirt and scratch lines on the chair he was sitting on. I supervised some of your duels, and it hit me when I saw you use your wire...that's what you used to tie him up, didn't you!? And...and I had suspected that he might have been working as a spy, his behavior was so nervous and guilty all the time...but, even so...even so, that didn't give you the right to kill him!"

Crap, I had been so busy making sure not to leave any wounds on the body that I overlooked how sharp my wire was. 

"Like I said, is that all the proof-." 

"I also saw you use the combination of an invisible and soundproof barrier, an excellent idea...I then started following you using that combination, and I saw more than enough. And then, a couple of days ago, I followed you to the headmaster's office, and heard all that I needed. Particularly, something along the lines of...'With the first few missions I got from at the start of the year during January, it was like a 50-50 chance that I'd find someone guilty', that would be the same time frame around when my husband died, and you even said it had been 'boring' lately...was killing him really that much fun for you!?"

A day ago, I might have felt a bit guilty...but since she'd tried to kill Persia, I had absolutely no sympathy whatsoever. 

"Hm, that's still mostly just circumstantial evidence, but...sure, I'll admit it. I'm the one who killed him. FYI, it was nothing personal, he turned out to be a spy, so I assassinated-," I began, before being interrupted as she sprang at me and thrust her dagger towards my heart. 

I dodged her and kicked her ankle, tripping her over. 

"Even so...why did you have to kill him!? You could have arrested him, or even used him as a double agent...anything would have been better than killing him!" She cried, blasting flames at me as enraged tears ran down her face. 

"I thought about it...but I determined that he was too big a liability to let him live."

"You...you just stood and smiled when I first met and spoke to you, did you know who I was? Did you know that you were speaking to the person whose husband you murdered!?" 

"Yeah, I knew. Not gonna lie, that was pretty awkward- woah!" I responded, before quickly dodging another fireball. 

"You make me sick...I thanked you for saving us from Goldway, when in reality-!" 

This was starting to piss me off. I cut her off with kick across the side of her face, knocking out a tooth in the process. I then stepped back and stared down at her. 

"You know what, I'm gonna tell you what I told him when he said that he was just doing this for the sake of his loved ones...the Rustlands saved the lives of you and your family, taking you all in when you lost your home...and what he was doing could eventually have put the lives of my loved ones at risk. It really wasn't personal, but I still wasn't going to let that slide, it didn't matter to me whether he was a good person deep down and whatever the fuck else excuses you could come up with. I'll do anything to protect what's important to me, you got that?"

"I'm...I'm going to kill you-!" She began, as she got back on her feet, before I used Lightning Boost to appear in front of her and slammed my fist into her stomach, knocking her back down as she coughed up a bit of blood. 

"I gotta say, you hid your bloodlust really well...that barrier combination would have been useless if you had been leaking your bloodlust the whole time. Oh, and I already knew that you were the one trying to kill me...didn't you think that you suddenly being reassigned to duty in the infirmary was oddly timed...that was me giving you the opportunity to kill me, or rather...giving myself the opportunity to catch you red-handed. You might have actually killed me if you had bothered to suppress your bloodlust for as long as possible...unfortunately for you, you were practically drowning in bloodlust the moment I pretended to be asleep, I was able to sense you coming from a mile away. And I also figured out why my needles didn't affect you...since you've been watching me, you know what kind of toxins I carry on me, so you must have pumped yourself full of the respective antidotes for each of them, amiright?"

"I'll never forgive you...," She growled, struggling to get back on her feet. 

She wasn't listening anymore...actually, the more I spoke, the angrier she became. 

"Well, duh...you'd be pretty weird to forgive me for that. I did kill that nervous wreck you used to call your husband, after all."

I know that I'm being crueler than I need to, given the circumstances...but I was absolutely furious when I remembered that Persia had been just a sip away from death...if she had drank that juice before I did, then... 

Hm, I probably shouldn't kill her here, someone could walk by at any given moment. She glared at me with immense hatred, before a thought seemed to cross her mind... 

"Earlier...you said something about torture. You didn't-!?" 

"No, didn't have to...I just told him that I'd kill you and your kids if he lied or refused to answer. I doubt you'll believe me, but that was a bluff, I don't kill innocent people. It worked though, he told me everything I wanted to know."

"Enough...stop speaking about him, you don't have the right to talk about him!" She screamed, throwing the dagger at me, which I caught with ease, before dropping it to the ground and kicking it away. 

"Sure, whatever you say. Now then, what to do with you? I certainly can't have you revealing that I've been taking dirty, covert missions, and letting you live is pretty risky since I doubt you'll stop trying to kill me. I'll decide later," I shrugged, before grabbing the top of her head and lifting her up by her hair, zapping her with a strong stream of lightning before striking the side of her neck to knock her out before she could conjure up any flames. 

Huh, if someone walked by right now, I'd definitely look like the bad guy here...actually, maybe that's exactly what I am in this scenario. 

I activated the two barriers around us, made sure she wasn't bleeding so that there wouldn't be a trail, picked up the tooth that I knocked out, and then dragged her to the headmaster's office. 

A couple of instructors walked past me, following the now half-dry trail of blood with concerned looks. They were gonna be pretty puzzled when the trail suddenly cuts off. 

I reached the headmaster's office and opened the door and walked in, not bothering to knock. He looked confused and a little scared as the door opened and shut with seemingly no one there. 

"Relax, sir...it's just me," I remarked, deactivating the barriers and nodding at the unconscious body by my feet, "My plan worked."

I told him what had happened, leaving nothing out. He was silent for a couple of minutes after I finished, mulling over everything I said, before finally speaking... 

"This is quite unfortunate. I did not want to believe your suspicions yesterday, even though they made sense. This is a rather unpleasant and difficult situation...I would like to hear your thoughts on what we should do with her."

"Well...if we're speaking purely logically, the best course of action would be to kill her. If she's alive, there's a high risk of her exposing my covert operations, not to mention that she likely wouldn't give up on trying to kill me. And imprisoning her may mean that we're forced to reveal my secret missions anyway, and even if that wasn't the case, I doubt she'd keep her mouth shut just because we asked nicely. I suppose there's blackmail, we could threaten to hurt her kids or something...but that might just be adding fuel to the fire." 

"Indeed, that would be far too cruel. Do not worry, I shall take care of it, you no longer need to be involved in this situation. Return to the waiting room and get ready for the tournament final, and inform Instructor Tabbs to come here. I believe she can be trusted to keep this a secret," He suggested. 

I thought it over for a second...I really wouldn't mind letting him take this whole thing off my hands. 

"Alright, then...but when you decide what to do with her, please let me know what it is. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether she lives or dies."

With that, I excused myself and left his office after firmly tying up Kalbowdi Payse with my wire. I first looked for Instructor Tabbs, and found her soon enough. 

"Instructor, the headmaster wants to see you in his office right away," I called out as I ran in to her. 

"Oh, Mr Black...thank you for informing me, did he say what it is about?" 

"Well, uh...it's kind of a long story, I think it's best if you hear it from him."

In actuality, I just didn't feel like explaining the whole thing all over again. Well, for now...that takes care of that. 

I sighed in relief, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, before heading back to the waiting room, where a worried-looking Persia was restlessly pacing around. 

She dashed over to me as I entered the room, jumping onto me and hugging me tightly, nearly knocking me off my feet. 

"Hey, it's okay...I'm just fine, Persia," I whispered softly, stroking her head. 

She let go after a bit and kissed me, before she smiled with a look of relief. 

"I was really worried, every passing minute just made me more and more anxious...I considered rushing to the infirmary to find you multiple times, but I kept reminding myself that you can handle yourself, and that I'd promised to stay put...but still, I just couldn't help worrying," She whispered back, as she tenderly placed her hands on my cheeks and her forehead against mine. 

"I'm totally okay, it all went according to plan," I assured her, before explaining what had happened. 

... 

"That must have been rough...I might feel bad for Professor Payse if she hadn't tried to kill you."

"Yeah, and I might have felt conflicted about the whole thing if she hadn't tried to kill you too. But I can't help but think...if our roles had been reversed, I'd have probably reacted in the same way she did. Maybe that's why I didn't kill her outright, and left her fate up to the headmaster-."

"Don't think like that...maybe she wasn't exactly completely in the wrong, but you definitely weren't wrong for stopping her from killing you...I think, in a situation like this, no one is either right or wrong...sometimes there's no right or wrong when it comes to these life-or-death situations."

"That's...not a bad way of looking at it. But, still-." 

"Let's not talk about that anymore, not now anyway...the tournament isn't over yet, remember? And the next match is..."

"...against each other, I totally forgot for a moment! I'm, uh...not sure if I can fight you seriously," I replied sheepishly. 

"Don't be ridiculous, we spar all the time, and thanks to the safety barrier, we can't seriously injure each other. And besides...I really wanna know if I can actually beat you in a real fight!" 

"..."

"..."

"...maybe if I don't use my blades...I don't want to hurt you with lightning either-."

"Stop! I don't want you to go easy on me! And do you really think I can't dodge your slow lightning blasts?" 

"Excuse me, slow? That's it, Cat Girl...I'm going to kick your ass! I'll try not to use my blades if I don't have to, and also will not be using Vampire Mode or Soul-Eater Mode."

"...huh?" 

What?

...oh, crap. I had admitted that I named my attacks, but not my transformations! 

"Oh, uh...nothing!" 

"Wait, you mean the form where you can drain or heal people and the form with the Vampire wings and tail? You named those too? You're such a dork," She giggled, as I flicked her forehead with a sigh. 

"Damn it, I messed up..."

"Heh, I guess 'Vampire Mode' isn't that bad, it's literal and simple...but 'Soul-Eater Mode' is so dramatic and dorky!" 

"...stop analyzing my naming sense."

... 

After being teased for quite a while, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as we got called out for the start of the tournament final. 

The two of us made our way out to the arena and took our places, as Instructor Uensh activated the barrier around us with a disgruntled yawn. Guess the headmaster was busy taking care of the whole Payse situation. 

But I'm not going to think about that right, I'm gonna focus on beating my girlfriend. 

...that sounded kinda bad out of context. 

"Alright, are you ready to lose to me, Kuro?" Persia inquired with a teasing smirk.

"Heh...give me your best shot, Cat Girl."

She crouched on all fours and unleashed half of the full extent of her Retractable Anima, while I triggered Lightning Boost at x3. We waited for the instructor to signal the start of the fight... 

. 

.

. 

. 

. 

Uh... 

I glanced at Instructor Uensh, and she was...sitting on a chair and reading a book, seeming to have completely forgotten about announcing the start of the match. 

One of the other staff members jogged over to her with an exasperated look. He whispered something to her, she responded with an annoyed look, before standing up with a sigh and announcing the start of the fight... 

"Alright, uh...it's the final, so...begin or whatever."

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