"A friendly spar?" The Emperor repeated with a slight frown. "And who do you want to fight against?"
That was exactly the question I wanted. I looked over to Derek and pointed at him.
"With Professor Derek over there. Rumors have been that I utterly lost to him, so I just want to clarify a few things."
The Emperor wasn’t too sure of what was happening. However, Alexandra started muttering some things in his ears, probably explaining our past to him. The look in the Emperor’s eyes changed a few times, and I hoped he would agree to it because, as far as I could tell, Derek didn’t want to participate in this fight at all.
A few more seconds passed by, and the Emperor rubbed his chin.
"Hm, why not. However, there will be some rules." It seemed he didn’t want the same thing as last time to happen. "As soon as one of you two bleeds, then the fight will be over."
I nodded.
However, the Emperor suddenly turned toward Derek, who still hadn’t said anything. He was probably stressing like crazy, knowing that his rumors would be revealed as total lies. Though he had no idea how much I had overpowered him back then, his memories were still altered after all.
Well, unless he transformed into a demon. If he did that, then things would be a little more interesting.
"What about you, Professor? Do you want to take part in this spar?"
Derek shook his head. "I don’t think it would be appropriate in this setting. We could do it at another time, perhaps."
"Hm, don’t worry. I don’t mind your fight; in fact, it will be interesting to see two powerful professors fight against each other. Also, I want to see what the Professor of my daughter has to offer. If you are that much stronger compared to him then I might appoint as her new teacher."
Derek opened his mouth to say something else, probably to avoid the fight again. But he wasn’t going against Alexandra. He was against the Emperor. He couldn’t say anything to him that would change his mind.
The Emperor suddenly turned to everyone else present and took a deep voice. "Don’t you all want to see this fight?"
"Yes!" Most of the parents replied in unison. "We want to see them fight!"
The Emperor turned once more toward Derek with a smile this time. "See? They all want it."
I managed to see the clenching of his jaw even from where I was standing. He was mad, really mad.
"Then, I guess I have no choice. We will fight."
Seeing that he wasn’t moving, I turned toward the director and the Emperor.
"It seems that Derek doesn’t want to fight against me." I giggled. "He’s not even trying to protect. It’s as if he’s trying to lose on purpose."
The crowd reacted instantly.
"Why would he do that?"
"Is Professor Caedrel that much stronger than him?"
"That doesn’t make sense! All the students know that Professor Derek fought against Professor Caedrel and beat him to a pulp. P-Professor Derek is probably just sick! Yeah, that must be it!"
I had no idea who that last person was, but when I turned in the direction of that voice...it stopped instantly. I quickly understood that it was one of his students that stood up for him.
A literal child.
That was the kind of people standing up for him.
"Haha! Are you going to let kids defend you? What kind of Professor are you?"
He gritted his teeth, still not moving whatsoever.
"Look at you! Too fucking scared to fight me!"
His head moved up.
"Shut up."
"Come and do it!" I teased him again.
He gritted his teeth.
"Shut your mouth."
I smiled without saying anything. His emotions were just so easily manipulated. If things continued this way, then his eyes would be turning bloody any moment.