Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 162: The One-On-One Duel, Their Choices

Act 1: Blue Ocean Pavilion - Chapter 162: The One-On-One Duel, Their Choices

Oscar locked eyes with Mary Jones and immediately brandished his buckler, to which Mary responded by taking a stance with her spear. There was no telling when their duel would begin. Oscar was about to say something when a circle of green light formed around them.

'This must be the teleportation the elders mentioned.' Oscar relaxed his stance and observed the glowing green circle with interest. It was strange, but he felt it was somewhat familiar. The points scattered around with interlocking lines that outlined and crossed over each other were similar to the formations for armament crafting.

Before he could see more of it, he felt his body squeezed like a wet towel, and his vision faded for a split second before it returned. Oscar came to and saw that he was in a stone-tiled room with torches around the walls. A sense of grogginess overcame him as he rested to catch his breath; it was a similar feeling to when he drank the ale with his friends and Emily's father.

"Ugh, my head. Teleportation is weird." Mary Jones said from the other end of the room. She clung to her spear like a crutch and rubbed her head, suffering from a bad headache.

"I remember throwing up the first time I went through teleportation." Oscar chuckled. The first time was during the entrance trial, where he met Frederick. He also teleported before with his master, Draven, but that was a different type and not as bad as this.

As they took a few seconds to recover, someone else appeared in the room, floating above them. It was a woman in the blue uniform of a Pavilion elder, one of the proctors for the Inner Hall Promotion Exam. She looked down at the two students, Oscar and Mary, and said, "The two of you now have to decide."

She threw down two coins each at Oscar and Mary, one blue and one red.

Oscar held the blue and red coins in his hand, looking over them, and immediately understood what they were for.

"The blue coin signifies peace and represents the choice of not fighting. The red coin means conflict, and choosing it means you want to fight. Wrap your hand around the coin you choose and hold it out. When I say to reveal them, reveal the coin you chose." The proctor explained. "You have a minute to deliberate or discuss a course of action with the other."

Oscar and Mary looked at each other once again, gripping the coins in their coins.

Oscar sighed. "At the start, we agreed to work together if it was something that required a combined effort. But since this is a duel, what do you think?"

Mary Jones tapped the bottom of her spear on the stone-tiled floor and said with a determined look, "I want to fight. Sorry, but I need the chance to get more points. I have to pass no matter what."

Oscar did not think it was out of the ordinary for Mary to want to fight. He saw the number five on her badge, unfurled the leaderboard scroll, and spotted her place. She was currently in seventh with 700 points.

Mary had done the same, but her eyes widened at Oscar's score. She stared at him with astonishment. "You're first place? How did you achieve this?"

The fact a Grade Four like Oscar was first place in this exam was shocking, especially when there were others like Serena, her hated enemy, in the group. By all conventions, a Grade Four should not have gotten this ahead.

"I can say the same about you. You're a Grade Five Exolsia, but you're keeping pace at seventh place out of ten." Oscar brought up his fists with his buckler. "So now that we know our standings, what do you want to do?"R/ê/Ad lateSt ch/a/pters at nô(v)e(l)bin/.c/o//m Only

"Do I even have a choice? You have a severe point advantage, so you can outbid me if you choose to fight, and I choose not to fight." Mary retorted. Her grip on her spear tightened.

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Oscar, however, thought about it and said, "Rather than using up the time to fight each other, I can agree not to fight. I can safely accumulate more points as I go."

The trials within the rooms seemed more autonomous and adhered to a base ceiling of difficulty, but a fight against another was unpredictable. Even with Oscar's Prinstyct to see their movements, it was a matter of knocking them out. Oscar knew all too well how a person can fight when desperate; he was a prime example of it.

However, Ava's face fell when Mary and Oscar agreed to fight. "That idiotic niece."

"Apparently, the two fought before in their first Grand Gathering. Oscar was the winner, so perhaps she wants revenge." Elder Dustin stroked his beard.

"No." Ava shook her head. "This isn't the face of someone wanting revenge or payback. Mary just wants to fight and show that she is strong."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Elder Dustin asked.

Ava Jones did not reply. Her eyes were fixed on Mary, who had her arm extended with the red coin in her fist. "She was always too eager and bursting at the chance to prove herself. Despite my and her mother's advice that that mindset was detrimental."

"She belongs to the famous Jones family but has a Grade Five Exolsia core. Compared to you and the other members of the Jones family, such an inferiority complex is natural." Elder Dustin advised.

Ava Jones fell on her chair and sighed. She could only hope that her beloved niece would mature out of this experience.

.......

"7"

"6"

A bead of sweat dripped down Mary's face. She recalled everything Oscar had done in their previous battle. The impeccable timing of his 'Stone Gaze', the devastating raw power of his fist, and the quick reactions to her spear were felt as if it was yesterday.

'So what if he beat me before? I've grown stronger since then, and I can't be swamped down here!' Images of her aunt and mother flashed across her mind. Her teeth clenched, her hands gripped tighter, and her face tensed up, making her cute look change into something fierce.

"5"

"4"

Oscar also thought about the previous battle with Mary. Her spear technique was at a high level, and the lightning spell provided an extra layer to her offense. However, that was all in the past; he had no idea about the current Mary, so he relaxed his stance slightly to react faster to any unforeseen events.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"Begin!"