Chapter 22 - Advantage

This battle is not just about strength.

It's also a battle of trust and deception. Stamina and strategy.

The battle had already started during the mock battle. If Joren didn't show his full strength, he would put more handicap on Virena. However, he didn't do that. Virena and Ness noticed this.

Meanwhile, Virena can just lie about the percentage of her strength and easily win against Joren but she also didn't. Joren was unable to discern this but he believed her.

It's not because they trust one another but the other way around - it shows that both of them were trustworthy.

Furthermore, they are also competing against reaction speed. Virena was able to bring all 20% of her power in a matter of a split second meanwhile and with her speed, she will definitely defeat Joren before he could even exert all of his strength.

"Urgh!" Joren groaned as he sweated. He perspired out of the fear that he might've already lost if he was even a millisecond late in getting all his strength onto his arm.

"H-he's pushing it! He's pushing it!" Ness exclaimed and proceeded to observe Virena's strength. The two have been together for as long as they can remember. They know how much strength each other have so she was about half sure that Virena was only using 20% of her strength.

At this rate, Joren keeps pushing and pushing until he wins. However, it isn't that simple. Once he reached halfway, he will enter Virena's territory and it will be harder even though she will still only use 20% of her strength.

That's not all. There's still the unknown factor called stamina.

Virena doesn't have much control since she cannot go more than 20%, however, what she does have is stamina. Since she's using less strength, it would be weird if she tires herself out first. In the first place, as a vampire, her stamina is leagues above Joren.

In other words, Joren shouldn't expect Virena to weaken over time. He should worry instead since he would be the one who will get tired as long as this drags on!

'Not only does Virena wins with bursting strength but she also wins on the war of attrition.' Ness carefully observed while still crouching atop the trembling table.

'Now, what will Joren do? Although if this continues, he will defeat Virena who is unable to put more strength, that is only true if he does it fast before he becomes weaker.'

Joren thought the same thing as Ness. However, it's harder than it sounds.

"You two are back to the starting point."

Ness commented when Joren finally pushed Virena to midway. At this point, he had released a lot of energy and would enter her territory where she will have more mechanical advantage. But even so, Joren continued to bring her down.

'C-can he really do it!?' Ness thought with anticipation.

However, the three of them knew that Joren, who was using a hundred percent of his strength would eventually get tired.

"Grrr...!"

Joren's silently groaned as veins popped out from his whole arm and his face. His face was becoming reddish as it was clenched. Not just his arm muscles but every supporting muscle inflated in response.

Meanwhile, Virena just quietly observed with an indifferent expression. At this moment, she can just put an unnoticeable one or two percent of her strength and she will win without Nessnoticing that small difference. But still, she didn't.

20%

She steadily used that percentage of strength against Joren from the start till now. Before, she used more strength in her fight against Joren because strength is not everything in a duel. But in arm wrestling, Joren wouldn't be able to use that much technique and since he was weaker now than before he became undead, he could only fight off 20% of Virena's strength.

Truthfully, 20% of Virena's strength was already too much for Joren. However, strength was not the only thing that increased by his Sagging Pants skill, toughness too!

Toughness, in other words, defense wouldn't do much in arm-wrestling, however, for Joren who is continuously using a hundred percent of his strength that risk of tearing off his own muscles, Toughness will play a big role!

But even so, Joren's stamina isn't infinite. Eventually, he got tired as his arm began losing and was beginning to be pushed back.

"Virena is pushing Joren again!" Ness anxiously commented. At this point, she didn't know who to support. It should be obvious that she should support Virena but Virena's punishment is not that heavy compared to Joren's. But it's not like Ness is that close to Joren to support him against Virena. So she stayed neutral.

"I guess this is it." Virena finally spoke, "It's your loss."

"N-not... yet!"

Joren replied with a smile.

"Hmph, even if you're undead, if you continue pushing yourself, you may break your arm. It will heal back but it still hurts, you know."

"I... know...!"

"Your choice."

Virena became silent as she continued pushing Joren down little by little. There are times where Joren fight back but he will eventually be pushed back down.

'D-damn... I feel my energy dissipating from me.'

Joren was still giving his all.

'I can't feel my arm anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if my arm breaks without me noticing. Haha!'

Virena was halfway into Joren's territory. She was still able to push down without getting pushed back.

'At this rate...!'

Joren finally gave up on winning.

He no longer gave much strength to his arm.

He was at his limit.

No one can blame him.

Virena is a vampire after all. Meanwhile, him? Just a lesser undead...

...

"As if I'd lose!"

However, Joren still wouldn't give up on not losing!

"Huh?"

Virena's face revealed shock as she felt it was easier to push, however, cracks began forming onto the table.

"You... You're using your strength down to the table instead!"

Crack*

The crack was getting bigger.

"Without the table, there's no winner. You're aiming for a draw?"

Virena said but before she could push Joren's arm onto the table and win, the table finally gave and broke down in half. With Virena and Joren's other arm pushing both sides of the table up, the table folded up. It touched Joren's arm but without a base, that is not considered a loss.

"As if I'd let a cheap result!"

Ness smiled and faster than the breaking table, she kicked it, blowing it to smithereens. Before both arms lost it's standing, she used her palm to make a substitute for the broken platform. Unsurprisingly, no matter how much Joren pushes down, Ness's palm was not budging the slightest.

'What strength! As expected from the Principal of the First Level!'e

Realizing what happened, Virena smiled a bit wider than she usually has.

"That was a good plan, Joren. However, that cheap trick of yours didn't work. I guess the Principal doesn't like a draw where we reach compromise!"

"E-eh? Is that what I did?" Ness widened her adorable eyes, "I was just excited so I thought..."

"No, Ness! What you did is right!"

Joren shouted attracting both of the girls' eyes. There, they saw his wide smile.

"You still think you will escape losing, Joren?" Virena happily mocked, "Even though the table is gone, as long as I push you down lower than Principal Ness' hands, you lose."

"C-correct. I think that's fair." Ness replied.

Virena said as she continued pushing down with 20% of her strength. Her own hand was only beneath her chair just like Joren. But in the next second, Joren removed his left hand from his chair.

"Hm?"

What he did next made both Ness and Virena lose their minds.

"It's true that I'm aiming for a draw in the... start! However, I will win!"

Joren's left hand went and latched onto Ness' waist.

"You will lose because first, you're no longer properly rooted!" Joren began pulling up while using his other arm's strength to pull Ness towards him. But since Ness is like an immovable object, he was being pulled towards her instead.

"Second, it's because you're lighter than me!"

No matter how much strength Virena give, she would only be carried along with the chair. Even if she used 100% she would only change her position relative to Joren's arm, not to the ground since she only has the chair as her root.

"Finally, because humans' true limitations lie beyond a hundred percent! While you can only use 20%, I can break my own limit without consequences because I'm undead!"

Without any resistance, Virena was carried until Joren's arm turned halfway, and there, she could only fall on her own even if Joren used less strength. While Virena turned 90 degrees to the left midair, her red eyes shone brighter.

Using 100% of her strength except for her arms, she was able to achieve the speed that surpassed what Joren's eyes can follow. Turned herself upright again by letting her arm be twisted back. While making use of her hand that is rooted to Joren's, she made her feet rooted to the ground.

This way, she can have more resistance. But she realized, that much was still not enough as her whole body was still carried by Joren's limit-breaking strength until her arm reached past Ness' height of hands, resulting in her defeat.

As if the time that was slowed down returned to its original speed. Virena placed her feet onto the ground again after being slightly tilted earlier. This time, Joren was no longer pushing. Not because he knew he won but because.

"H-he fainted." Virena whispered.

While bleeding from his nose and mouth, Joren leaned towards Ness while his left arm was tightly wrapped around her waist to the point that he was hugging her.

Virena was stunned for a bit but realized that Joren was latching onto Ness with his pants down!

But instaed of being angry, she sighed and said.

"Principal, are you okay?"

Ness, on the other hand, felt like smoke was coming out of her as she got dizzy.

"J-j-joren is h-h-hugging me...! W-what should I do? Virena? Should I hug back? T-this is my first time!"

"I.... I think you should let him go and give him time to rest."