Chapter 58: Dark Horse
It was a tiny, average-looking room, but I was just glad that I didn’t have to share it with anyone. After placing down my belongings, I took a moment to settle in. The first-year boys were assigned to the second floor, while the second and third-years occupied the next two floors above us. The girls had the top three floors, arranged in the same order.
The next scheduled activity wasn’t until 10 AM, so I had some time to kill. At the desk, I noticed breakfast had already been prepared—just a simple pastry, nothing fancy. Still, I gratefully consumed it while pulling out my phone to check for messages.
It appeared that Kaede had left a message in the group chat: "Remember to take some pictures while you’re there!"
I was about to switch to camera mode when another notification popped up.
"Send your schedule to me when you get it.” It was from Kazen.
That was unexpected. "Feel like supporting us?" I replied.
"I’m curious to see how your opponents fare against you, that’s all," he answered.
I took this opportunity to ask him something which I had been curious about. “Why didn’t you volunteer for the tournament?”
“We should send the two strongest students from our class, no?”
I found that reply a little strange. “Does this mean you willingly admit that Scarlette is stronger than you?” I asked.
There was a brief pause as he thought of a reply. “I happen to not be in peak condition right now.”
I considered the validity of his statement. Was this just an excuse? Or did he suddenly experience side effects from his past injuries? I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Alright, rest well.”
After snapping a couple of pictures of the unremarkable room and sending them to the group chat, I decided to head down early.
It seemed that most students were either still settling in or decided to wait it out since the lobby area was still relatively deserted. As I stepped out of the building to catch some fresh air, I heard someone call my name. I turned around and was met with another surprise.
“Cadel,” the boy spoke again, raising a casual wave.
“I believe you’re Asher,” I acknowledged.
“You remembered my name?” he asked, approaching me.
“You kinda stood out at the arcade.”
“I guess I did.”
I frowned internally. Perhaps he wasn’t great with words. Not like I considered myself any better. “I’m more surprised by the fact that you recognised me instead,” I noted.
“You’re more famous than you realise,” he replied.
“Is fame a good thing?”
He shrugged. “Depends if you like it.”
“Well, I can’t say it’s all bad. It did lead to this… interesting encounter.” I gestured between us. “So, is there something I can help you with?”
“I’m just curious if you plan to win this event.”
“Does that affect how you’ll perform?”
He shook his head. “No. As always, I plan to do my best.”
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask… did you experience a significant improvement in your powers lately?”
Asher studied me thoughtfully. “You’re asking that because I performed better than my seed would suggest, right?”
After I nodded for confirmation, he continued, “Yeah, somewhat. I’ve been training almost every day at the Dome when it’s open. As you may have noticed, I tend to perform better when it’s dark. There’s little competition for night slots, especially those past midnight.”
That checked out. The school did leave some of its facilities open for students who preferred to practice their Abilities at night, and it seemed like Asher was one of them. But this large of an improvement?
“Anyway, I got pretty lucky with the arenas back then. I’ll probably have a much tougher time here, in a neutral environment,” he said, finishing the thought.
As he was speaking, I caught sight of Scarlette stepping out of the lift, her attention on her phone. When she glanced up and our eyes briefly met, her surprise was evident. But she quickly recovered, giving a small gesture that clearly indicated, “Ignore me and continue your conversation!”
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I turned back to reply to Asher, but he must have caught the minor distraction. He glanced over his shoulder, his gaze landing on Scarlette.
“Is that your friend?” he asked, tilting his head slightly in her direction. She awkwardly tried to look away.
Nice observational skills. Instead of replying, I gestured for Scarlette to come over.
“Hi, I’m Sc—”
“Scarlette Falcon, yeah? Pleasure to meet you,” Asher gave a polite nod.
“You know m—” Scarlette started, clearly surprised. She quickly caught herself, clearing her throat. “Yeah, hi. And you’re Asher? I recognise you from the arcade event.”
Asher nodded and quickly explained that our meetup was purely coincidental. “We were just getting to know each other a little.”
“Uh, cool,” Scarlette said as she took in the info. “Is your partner still in their room?”
“Give me a sec to message—oh there he is,” Asher said, pointing toward a large boy approaching from the lobby. “That’s Robert, though he prefers to go by just ‘Bob’.”
Bob reached us with a grin, radiating an easy-going energy. “Hey! I’m Bob,” he said enthusiastically. “Y’all probably already know each other’s powers, so I guess it’s only fair I share mine as well. Basically, I can alter the toughness of my skin.”
He followed up by turning his skin from a soft, almost puffy texture to one that was as hard as granite. “It’s nothing as extravagant as you guys, but it’s not too bad!”
“I mean, I think it's pretty cool,” Scarlette murmured, inspecting his skin.
We chatted a little longer, exchanging quick pleasantries before deciding to make our way to the auditorium together. While the mood was lighter now, I made sure to tread carefully around Asher. Something told me that he posed more of a threat than expected.
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“Good morning, everyone,” a well-dressed man took to the stage. “I will now begin the official briefing for this year’s Intra-District Games for District 4. My name is Dr Smith, and I will be the overall-in-charge for the duration of the event. Without further ado, let’s get straight into it.”
He proceeded to cover the rules and safety measures. Though the information echoed what Dr Connor had already explained, his deliberate repetition left no room for misunderstanding. It was easy to tell that they prioritised safety to the utmost degree.
“A more personalised timetable, including your opponent’s name and the specific location of your duel, will be sent to you via your school email. You should receive it by lunchtime today. Please check it promptly.”
He cleared his throat before continuing, “Starting from the round of 16, we will provide live commentary and broadcast the matches across the entire District. Unlike the earlier rounds, only one duel will take place at a time from that point onwards. This will ensure that the final fights are given the attention they deserve.”
Once he was done with more specific instructions for the first-years, he began addressing our seniors. It looked like their events were primarily team-based rather than individual fights. While there were a few 1 on 1 events, those started directly from the round of 16. More importantly, their events were set to begin today, and we first-years were encouraged to watch and spectate.
“While non-participants are only allowed to view events of their year level for the earlier rounds, all of you here are allowed to spectate any event, at any time. This staggered scheduling is to facilitate crowd control due to the sheer number of matches happening in the first few days.”
I see. This meant that my friends back at school were only allowed to spectate the first-year matches, at least till the round of 16, while Scarlette and I had free roam.
Dr Smith then gave a brief overview of the venue's layout before concluding his speech.
“Are we going to watch the seniors?” Scarlette asked me.
“Might as well,” I replied. “Asher and Bob, you guys coming along or are y’all heading to the gym?”
“Sure. I mean, the gym’s free to use, but we’ll have to share it with the Horizon High students. I doubt many students will be there anyway since they’ll want to keep their Abilities a secret, but on the off chance that there are people there, I’d rather avoid any unnecessary face-offs and save my energy for the actual games,” Asher rambled.
I wasn’t surprised that he had basically voiced out what I had been thinking. “Let’s get lunch then go check the seniors out,” I suggested instead.
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The rest of the day passed by in a flash, with the matches between the seniors being surprisingly entertaining. Watching them manoeuvre their Abilities with both skill and strategy gave me a glimpse of what the matches could eventually look like for us.
Now back in my room, I leaned against the desk, replaying the matches in my head. There were certainly some impressive espers out there, but none of them would pose as much of a threat as Soren would to me. Perhaps the truly powerful ones were conserving energy for the duels.
I took another look at the message sent to my email earlier.
--
Welcome to the Round of 128
Your opponent is: Robin Park
School: Horizon High
Venue: Block B, P213, Arena 1
Time: 2.30 PM
--
There wasn’t much information to work with. As expected, they didn’t disclose my opponent’s Rank or Ability. And while it didn’t matter, since Robin was a name commonly used by both genders, I wasn’t even sure if they were male or female.
Admittedly, I might have felt a little uneasy if I had been an average 4-Star. Likewise, I was sure many such students were already feeling the nerves upon seeing the names of their opponents.
I considered the Rank distribution. While District 4 mainly consisted of low-rankers, it wasn’t hard for a class to have at least 2 students that were 4-Stars, so they made up the majority of the participants. I didn’t know exactly where I ranked in terms of official seeding, but I estimated that I should be somewhere around the middle of the pack.
This meant that my opponent should be of around similar strength to me—just an average 4-Star, most likely. If this were District 1, the competition would’ve been vastly different. Every participant would undoubtedly be a 5-Star, with some pushing closer to 6.
Meanwhile, Scarlette was definitely seeded among the top participants. I wasn’t sure how many 5-Stars there were in total, but out of the 128 students, there were probably fewer than 10. Her match was scheduled before mine, just before lunchtime, against someone named Frank. Whoever he was, I just hoped he didn’t end up getting roasted to a crisp.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I prepared to turn in for the night. No matter how powerful you were, rest was something you could never have too much of.
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Administration Notes:
School: Waning Crescent
Name: Robert Bolton
Gender: Male
Year: First-year
Rank: 4-Star
Division: Combat
Ability: Robert can alter the toughness of his skin, making it nearly impenetrable for defence or reinforcing his strikes for offense. Softening it allows him to evade holds and slip out of restraints, making him a difficult opponent to pin down. His adaptability in both offense and defence makes him highly durable, allowing him to excel in close combat.
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