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Part Thirty-Three

Watching Nick from the sideline pumped Matthew up. He was glad that Nick went up first as it allowed him time to read up on his movements. The two of them never fought each other, but Matthew knew enough about Nick’s style, it was like they fought countless times. Matthew wasn’t sure who would win if they fought one on one, but he couldn’t wait to find out.

The only thing Matthew disliked was that he himself did not know a fighting style. He just did whatever he fitted his situation, and that usually helped him win. Win or lose, after this competition is over with he’ll try to find someone to help him out.

Nick was an option, but Matthew already asked him for advice. There was no need to ask him for more when Nick helped him enough.

Letting out a sigh he rubbed his head just thinking about it.

Freya who was by his side grinned at him.

“Scared? Want me to hold your hand?”

She started teasing him as she saw his distraught appearance. How could she not mess with him? This was a golden opportunity for her, even if Earth was coming to an end, she would still tease him.

Rolling his eyes at her he scoffed.

“You wish. You dream of holding my hand every night, don’t you? Probably think about me when you do that too.”

Replying to Freya’s comments became a habit for Matthew. It didn’t matter what she said, he always had something to say.

They had a special connection with each other, he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. What he did know was that he liked it.

Freya wasn’t bad, she was cute and had an outgoing personality. Unlike the other females who fawned over him, she did not. She wasn’t even interested in him. If she was, she hid it very well.

That’s what he liked about her, however, he would never admit it. If he did… he could only imagine what sort of comments she’d make.

Freya’s cheeks turned pink with embarrassment as she listened to Matthew. Dream of him? Doing that at night? Ugh! How could he say something like that? Not to mention, it was to a girl like her!

There was no way she’d do something like that while thinking of him.

“How dare you say such a thing! I’d never dream of you while doing that!”

Freya burst out, not even controlling her voice in the slightest.

What she said did not deny she did it, it only denied she didn’t think of him while doing it. This small detail caused Matthew’s eyes to grow wide.

Nick who was on the sideline of the two scratched his cheek and pretended like he heard nothing. There was only so much a person could say about that, but it was best left unsaid.

Nick started to wonder who she imagined when she did such a thing. Dirty thoughts clouded his mind as he stayed silent.

Nick was not the only one having dirty thoughts, as Matthew was imagining a scene with Freya on the bed rolling around. Her face flushed red as she was panting and calling out the name of her dream boy.

“Well, if it isn’t me then who do you imagine while doing that? Because you surely didn’t deny it.”

Matthew was curious as a cat, he wanted to find out. He needed to find out, for… research purposes.

It didn’t take long for Freya to realize her mistake causing her to slap her hand against her face. It was such a small detail, but how could she let it out. This caused her to become even more embarrassed.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

Freya waved her hand at Matthew as she hid her hand behind her face trying to hide.

The other students in the surroundings was gazing at this peculiar situation. Most were trying to listen in while others only looked for a moment before going back to doing what they were doing.

Matthew felt proud, he finally had the upper hand over Freya.

Yet, he did not know if he should continue and torment her, or let it go.

‘What would Freya do?’ Such a question passed through his mind as he debated over what to do next. A second later he finally decided to drop the matter. At least for now.

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“Fine, but we will finish this discussion later.”

Matthew wasn’t going to give up. There were too many people around for a conversation like this but he wouldn’t mind it if there was only three of them.

“No! If you dare bring up this subject again, I swear I will make your life a living hell!”

She was not going to give in to Matthew. He may be a head above her now, but later she would be on top. This embarrassment, she would pay it back tenfold.

“Participants in Block B, head onto the stage.”

The announcement came preventing Matthew from replying to Freya. Three seconds later, if the announcement came just three seconds later. He would have left her in utter defeat.

Matthew turned from Freya and started walking towards the stage. He paused and looked back at her as he grinned.

“Wait for me.”

Freya shooed him away. What did he mean by ‘wait for him’? What was there to wait for?

“Bye! Hope you lose so I can rub it in your face.”

“Good luck.”

Nick was the opposite of Freya as he wished Matthew luck. Not that Matthew was one who needed it, but it never hurt to say it.

Just like Nick had done Matthew stood in the middle of the stage.

Unlike Nick, Matthew was actually known throughout the Academy. He was one of the four freshman royals, and was rated high as one to win this competition.

Students kept a distance from him, not sure whether they should approach or not. A few females took glances at him before giggling to their girlfriends.

Seeing them act in such a way caused Matthew to shake his head lightly. Why was everyone paying attention to him? Maybe he should have kept his name hidden like Nick. He made a mistake, and now he was popular.

If others knew what he was thinking they’d want to kill him. Who wouldn’t want to be popular? The people on the lower end of the popularity spectrum would jump at a chance to be popular for a day. Yet, Matthew wanted to throw it all away.

Katherine wasn’t too far away from him with her long straight purple hair and silver eyes. She did not seem to huddle in with the other students, nor talk to them. She kept to herself, even in the classroom most of the time.

It was hard to get her to join them for events. Freya seemed like the only one capable of having her join them. However, even Freya seemed to be struggling lately.

‘Eh, why not?’ Matthew thought to himself as he approached Katherine.

Nick teamed up with Isabel, so why can’t he team up with a beautiful girl as well?

“Hey, Katherine want to team up?”

Matthew smiled at her hoping she’d agree. What would she lose?

Katherine glanced up at Matthew with confusion plasted on her face. She was not wondering why he was approaching her. They were acquainted with each other, even if he did ogle at her body which disgusted her a bit. Yet she was questioning why he’d want to team up with her?

She has seen his ability and skill, there was no need for him to team up with anybody.

“No.”

Whatever, it didn’t matter to her. She could care less about this competition, it was stupid anyways. Fighting against others for a ranking that would only matter on campus? So stupid, whoever thought of such an idea should really be ashamed of themselves.

Matthew was already prepared to get shut down so he wasn’t stunned. He coughed lightly preparing himself for her next answer.

“Any reason as to why? It isn’t against the rules and no one would mind. Why not take this chance to survive, hang out and get to know each other better?”

Matthew knew Nick was interested in Katherine from what he learned previously and saw. Nick and Katherine was not really making any progress but then again they could be far past ‘that’ stage. Nick was engaged already, and Katherine was gorgeous. With Nick’s previous statement of interest in her, and his confirmation of being engaged. Putting two and two together, the lucky girl must be Katherine.

Since his best bud was engaged to such a woman, why not get to know her better?

Katherine’s eyes lowered a bit as she heard him. She might have misunderstood his intentions.

“This entire competition is stupid, there is no need to compete. I have very little interest in playing with others, especially for a ranking. What is there to gain out of this? Compare abilities? If that was the case, you’d want to put the lower ranks against each other and the higher ranks against each other. They’d fight and climb the ladder until the best one emerged. Just throwing everyone of different skill level into a survival match is very dumb. The weaker ones will lose, while the strong ones will smoothly sail through. If you have dumb luck you could easily wander around and run into no one, but still win as long as the number of people left are twenty. So no, I do not want to team up. I’m going to walk off stage the moment this match starts.”

Katherine explained her reasoning as to why she did not want to team up with him. After hearing what she said Matthew did not try to team up with her anymore. There was no changing her mind, it was set in stone.

A few minutes after their conversation the surrounding changed. Red sand emerged on the ground as dust blew in the air. Winds were raging about kicking up the dust and making it hard to see in front of a you.

Palm trees swayed to the side and a few small hut buildings appeared. The sight carried on and on, almost endless.

Matthew was expecting a stage like Nick had that was a forest, but instead he was in a dessert.

“The match will start in five minutes.”

The announcement came just like it had come for Nick. Five minutes, enough time for the students to go to specific locations or run away. Katherine started walking off and Matthew watched her until her back faded away.

No one wanted to be close to Matthew, the ‘Arena Prince’, someone who fought almost daily. That was just asking for instant defeat, and one one wanted to lose.

Matthew almost laughed at the sight of everyone scattering. He wasn’t that scary… was he?

Five minutes went by quickly as a sound echoed out on the stage telling them the match had begun.

Matthew never moved from the center of the stage, he stood there and gazed into the distance. He placed his left hand on his right shoulder as he moved his right arm in circles.

“Alright! I guess this will be a good warm-up.”