Chapter 213: Dance of Despair

Chapter 213: Dance of DespairIn the backstage chaos, the director stood at the center, her mental crumbling under the weight of media scrutiny.

Flashes from reporters' cameras lit up her pale face as she turned to her staff, her voice sharp and desperate.

"Change the next matchup," she demanded. "Pair our students against each other. The winner faces Lila in the next round."

The room fell silent. Teachers exchanged uneasy glances.

One of them finally spoke up, her voice low and hesitant.

"You're... asking us to cheat?"

"Yes!" the director snapped, her patience threadbare. "We have no other choice. We need a win. What are you waiting for?"

No one argued further. They knew the academy's reputation was beyond saving, but fear of losing their jobs outweighed their morals.

Reluctantly, they turned to the tournament board, manually adjusting the brackets.

Moments later, the next match was displayed on the arena's screens.

[Kenny vs Julian]

For most spectators, the names were unremarkable.

Both were probably rookies, faces easily lost in the shuffle of more prominent competitors.

The announcement passed with little fanfare, drowned out by the crowd's restless murmurs. No one paid attention, except for Eliza.

From her seat in the Infinite Twilight section, she leaned forward, her sharp eyes narrowing. A faint smirk tugged at her lips.

"Well, well," she murmured to herself. "Isn't that interesting?"

Far from this massacre, the academy halls stretched endlessly before Kenny, their silence pressing down on him like a weight he couldn't shake.

His footsteps echoed, uneven and hurried, as if he were running from something, or maybe toward something. He didn't know anymore.

His chest heaved with shallow breaths, and his hands felt like ice.

The distant cheers and groans from the arena only made it worse.

Each sound reminded him of what was happening outside, the one-sided defeats, the humiliation.

The fifth consecutive one-shot match had shattered whatever fragile confidence he had left and he found himself mysteriously teleported far away from there.

He muttered under his breath, his voice shaky and desperate.

"It's fine. It's fine. No problem. I'll just... make a big impression. That's all. Just don't look ridiculous. Don't... don't look weak. Not like the others."

But even as he spoke, the words felt hollow. His body betrayed him, his hands trembled uncontrollably, his legs felt like they might give out.

Everyone was out there, literally everyone in the world. The world stars had brought the world's attention, so every battle was seen by billions of people.

His heart races, he felt like throwing up, and then the memories came.

The first duel.

Eratz standing tall, his presence unshakable, while Kenny lay on the ground, beaten, humiliated.

He felt it again, the sting of dirt in his mouth, the ache in his limbs, the weight of everyone's eyes on him.

And it hadn't just been that one time. Every fight they'd ever had ended the same way: Kenny broken, Eratz victorious, again and again, every freaking time.

He stumbled, gripping the wall for support as his knees threatened to buckle.

His breaths came faster, each one sharper than the last.

He saw Lisa's face, her disappointment cutting deeper than any wound as she abandoned him, he saw Crystal's smile as people forced him out of the arena.

And then there was Mercury. Kenny squeezed his eyes shut, but the image was seared into his mind.

Mercury, beautiful, strong and confident, standing beside Eratz. Always beside Eratz.

Her disdain for him, her rejection, it burned, it burned a lot! It burned more than anything else.

His hands gripped his hair, pulling as if he could tear the thoughts away. But they only came faster.

His imagination turned crueler. Kian's face appeared, calm and cold, his superiority demonstrated over him.

Kenny saw himself at his feet, helpless, crumpling under the weight of his strength before passing out.

And always in front of everyone.

"Why?" His voice cracked. "Why is it always like this? Why do I always lose?"

His words echoed in the empty hallway, mocking him. His failures pressed down on him, suffocating.

Why couldn't he win? What was he doing wrong? His mind spun, grasping for answers, for solutions, for anything to stop the spiral.

And then, suddenly, it all stopped. The noise, the chaos, the racing thoughts, it all fell silent.

Kenny froze, his body stiff as the memory surfaced. The one time everything had gone right. The one time he had defeated Eratz.

He remembered it vividly. Eratz's face, twisted with distress and disbelief.

That fleeting moment where Kenny had stood over him, victorious. For the first and only time, he had defeated Eratz.

The gift from the heaven. The object that had changed everything. That thing that started

everything.

That black orb. That damn black orb...

Slowly, he turned his head, his gaze falling on a door at the end of the hallway where his madness led him: Rowan's office.

Meanwhile, the arena buzzed with restless energy as the first round approached its

conclusion.

Most of the spectators had left, their initial excitement replaced by boredom or outright irritation. At this point, no one expected a miracle.

In the stands, Eliza sat with a sly grin, her fingers tapping away on her phone.

She wrote a message carefully, ensuring her anonymity before sending it out to the media.

The contents were damning: a leak that both Kenny and Julian, the next competitors, were students of Genova Academy. Sёarch* The Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The implication was clear, Genova was cheating their own rules to salvage what little reputation they had left.

Eliza hit send, her grin widening as she noticed the media frenzy brewing almost instantly.

Reporters in the press section were already passing whispers and gesturing animatedly. Within minutes, news outlets were ablaze with speculation and condemnation.

'I hope I'll have enough memory space to film the story of your demise, grandma,' Eliza thought, settling back in her seat to enjoy the chaos.

"Why are we even putting up with this farce?" Leonidas suddenly asked, his tone sharp and

disdainful.

Eliza flinched, her fingers tightening around her phone. She kept her face neutral but felt a bead of sweat forming on her brow. She dared not look directly at him.

Around them, the other aces shifted slightly, visibly bored. It was clear to everyone that their presence had been overkill.

Next to Leonidas, Kallistra raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulously. "Thanks to this trip, I met Vicky, a better version

of your Ishtarian, and now that bitch Tammy burned her chance with her excessive violence.

I'm on a winning streak."

Her voice grew more animated, and she gestured lazily toward the arena.

"Whoever came up with this trip deserves a raise, a bonus, and a vacation. Maybe even a kiss, I

haven't had this much fun since ages. Look at this chaos."

Leonidas rolled his eyes but he said nothing more, leaning back in his seat with an air of

resignation.

Eliza let out a quiet sigh of relief, her tension easing slightly.

'I'll do some overtime after all of this, just in case,' she thought, leaning back with a faint smile.

The arena grew tense as the announcer's voice boomed across the crowd.

"And now, for the final match of the first round... Julian versus Kenny!"

Julian stood in the battlefield, his arms stiff at his sides. He swallowed hard, his nerves

betraying him despite his attempts to appear composed.

His hands fidgeted with the edge of his jacket as his eyes darted to the entrance where Kenny

was supposed to emerge.

The seconds dragged on, and the tension thickened. The announcer, slightly flustered, called

out again.

"Kenny, please report to the battlefield!"

Still, nothing. Whispers began rippling through the crowd. The announcer hesitated, glancing

toward the officials for guidance.

"Kenny, this is your final call!"

Julian's brow furrowed, his unease growing with each passing second. The murmurs among

the teachers turned into louder speculation.

"Where is he?"

"Did he run away?"

"This is embarrassing."

Meanwhile, behind the silent corridors of the academy, Kenny stood in Rowan's office.

The air was heavy, the faint hum of distant arena noise barely reaching him. His hand hovered over a small black box on the desk, his breath shallow and uneven.

Kenny's fingers trembled as they brushed the lid, and for a moment, he hesitated. His mind raced with every failure, every loss, every ounce of humiliation he'd endured.

With a shaky breath, he opened the box, and the glow that emerged was a call for freedom.

The karinite 4.

The treasure seemed to call to him, its glow reflecting in his eyes the storm of emotions raging within him.

Fear, anger, despair... but also hope.