Book 1: Chapter 98: Back to the Main Auditorium

Book 1: Chapter 98: Back to the Main Auditorium

Scarlet

The remaining time left in the first round ends up being really boring, as all Im left to do is sit in the corner and watch other people battle. Which isnt really saying much, considering Ive already fought everyone of significance in terms of combat prowess in here. Aside from Viper, of course. But I would be defeated in an instant if I tried fighting her right now.

Eventually I just sit up against the wall and close my eyes, not even watching the fights anymore. I dont go to sleep, since there are way too many people here to do that and I dont trust almost any of them even a hundredth as far as I can throw them. And Im pretty sure I can throw them pretty far. But I do take the time to rest my eyes.

Because Im pretty sure Im gonna need the rest between the rounds.

After all, even if we arent being physically affected between duels, it is a pretty big mental strain to continuously battle for dozens and dozens of duels back to back, just constantly being aware of everything needed to fight.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

At some point I begin humming a song I remember Cynthia singing to me back when I was a kid. A lullaby of sorts, mostly for the times when I was just way too overwhelmed. Both by my own forced overworking myself, and the constant stress of distrusting others and dealing with the treatment orphans receive in general.

Its a relaxing tune. One completely at odds with the air of the dome filled with the sounds of people chatting about the duels going on. Some of the people are even chatting about me right now, with a few straight up daring others to go up and talk to me.

Theres even one group thats trying to pressure some poor shmuck into asking me out on a date.

And another that Im gonna remember for later because theyre talking about sneaking up on me at one point to touch my ears. Or at least, they were until someone mentioned me biting their fingers off if they tried. Which has me smiling.

Until I hear someone mention how cute I am when Im smiling with my eyes closed.

Then I start scowling instead. Still with my eyes closed, of course. And still humming.

After who knows how long, I finally hear Tars voice in my head again, You finished the duels?

I stop humming.

Yep. A while ago in fact.

We fall silent again.

Eventually the rest of the first round passes without much more happening, with the only event of any note are Denise walking up and joining me against the wall at one point surprisingly without saying a word likely due to being tired. Since as it turns out none of the other students manage to get anywhere near as many points as me because a lot of them are already exhausted mentally and begin declining duels, or others are too afraid to fight. Then theres the fact that no one else here dominates the other students enough to win all of the duels they do participate in.

Makes some sense though seeing as all of the people in this room are only between 18 to 22 years old for the most part, and they're all newly contracted Guardians who were just civilians afraid of the demons a month or two ago.

As soon as the time runs out, were sent back to the main auditorium through another wave of fog that has me ending up back in the seat I was in before being sent to the first round. And just like when we left, the rules are up on the screen behind the vice-headmaster who is standing on the stage alone. But only seconds later, the screen behind him changes to show two different things one being the rules for the second round, and the other being a massive list of people, their grades, Classes, magics, and their point totals.

The only people who are shown on the list though appear to be the top one thousand. And even amongst those, most of the names are too small to read, so we can only really see the top one hundred which are shown in larger text.

And I cant help but look through them starting from the top, just searching for my name. And surprisingly, I actually do find my name at #22 on the rankings.

Holy shit. How did I beat out so many Class II students? And even some Class IIIs!

Well, remember that the first round was set up purely between those at the same class and category, and you got a bonus 50 points for challenging everyone in your dome and coming out on top in each challenge, whether through winning the duel or being declined entirely, Tar says, making me quickly understand before he even finishes talking, and I doubt many of the Class IIs were able to dominate their groups like you did, much less the Class IIIs. Where they will excel is after this point, in the second round.

I cant help but grimace at the thought of competing against Class IIs and even a couple dozen Class IIIs.

Although at least the Class IIs and IIIs get nothing from killing me. In fact, theyd be penalized for it, and Id actually be rewarded and respawned from it.

Just annoying that my only chance at getting a higher ranking is to go around killing the other students of Class I. But I guess thats not much different from what I did in the first round, and they wont stay dead.

Remember that you can just hunt the Class I demons and build up a bunch of stacks before attacking the students as well, Tar suggests, making me nod my head in agreement.

I just wish the timer on the stacks would reset when I got new stacks. But you did say that thatll probably be a future benefit to the skill, right?

Yeah, Tar answers right away, only for us to both focus on the vice-headmaster when he begins to speak.