As I exited the arena with a blank look on my face, I wasn't sure how to feel.

Even back in my original world, I never lost control of myself like that. It was as if I was in the backseat of my mind while something else brutally murdered Carter.

I was used to killing people but I never had personal issues with other gladiators, it was just a rule of the arena. Something about killing someone who wasn’t an adult felt weird, but it also felt weirdly satisfying killing someone you hated with every fiber of your being.

“A bit gruesome, but good work.” Reiner patted my back which broke me from my daze.

“Yeah….” Before I could say anything Aaron appeared to begin closing announcements.

“We thank you all for attending this year's placement tournament, the exit is on the east side of the arena so please make your way.” Aaron imbued his voice with mana so everyone could clearly hear it.

“Dante, please come with me.” Aaron said with a slight smile on his face.

I merely nodded and followed Aaron back to the same room Yuna was in with Prometheus.

As I entered the room I felt an immense pressure coming from the headmaster.

“Blue ranked core at sixteen? Impressive.” Prometheus retracted his aura then motioned me to sit in front of him.

“This meeting is just to inform you of privileges associated with being ranked one in your year.” Prometheus pulled out a crystal and tossed it to me.

“This artifact has the points you have in your student account, our school doesn’t accept gold or outside currency. Merit points is the only currency we accept, since you won you’re awarded 100,000 merit points. Theoretically this would be enough for your entire first year if you don’t spend it all without a care.” Prometheus turned and opened a drawer on his desk before tossing another crystal at Dante.

“This one is for rankers at our school, only the top fifty get this crystal in each grade. This crystal lets you enter our training areas and miscellaneous areas in our academy that require currency to enter.”

“Is this all I get for winning first place?” I felt like the rewards were lacking.

“I will allow you to exit and enter the academy whenever you wish. Go through Aaron if you have any questions, good luck.” Prometheus waves Dante off before turning back in his chair.

“Jackass.” I thought to myself before waking out of the room.

“Dante, I believe you should go see someone.” Yuna said as she snuck up behind me.

“Creep.” I said before following Yuna back to the medical bay.

“Bay 2, I’ll wait here.” Yuna winked at me before walking towards the nurse.

As I walked towards the bay I started to get nervous, I wasn’t really “close” to this girl so I didn’t know how to act. She was much younger when I met her in a forest so it couldn’t have been that impactful, all I did was watch her fight and run off.

The only thing at first glance I had going for me was my good looks, she could be that shallow but I wouldn’t bet on it. Being raised by royalty wouldn’t make you that susceptible to just looks.

I walked forward to the curtain that was covering her bed she was resting in and raised my hand to move it.

“I can’t do it.” I started to turn back but stopped when I heard Ariel’s voice.

“Dawn….tay….?” It sounded like her but you could tell she was suffering immensely.

“It’s me…” I reached forward and opened the curtain to see her pitiful appearance.

She still looked much better then she did after the match but she still had a ton of bruising and swelling all over her face.

“Th..Thank.. yuhhh….you.” She said weakly.

Seeing her so feeble started to ignite my rage again but I didn’t want to flip my switch again.

“It’s nothing, figured I’d get revenge for ya.” I tried to force out a smile but it must’ve looked very awkward since she giggled a little before letting out a muffled moan.

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“Don’t laugh, I bet you feel terrible.” I walked forward and sat in the chair next to her bed.

Nothing was said but I felt like being around her calmed my nerves down finally, ever since I lost myself to the rage I hadn’t really felt myself.

For the next hour we sat in silence, I was never much of a talker but she seemed to feel a lot better after having someone around. Surely enough though her father appeared and he gave me a weird look when he entered.

“Oh? Fancy seeing you here.” Vaelir said.

I hadn’t directly met her father yet but I knew that he appeared during the forest incident, too bad I was asleep during the end of it.

“Would you mind giving me and my daughter some space?” Vaelir asked politely.

I just nodded in confirmation before beginning to walk away but not before Ariel grabbed my arm.

All she did was tug at it a little but I knew what she wanted.

“I believe she wants me to stay.” I knew the man in front of me was a king but Ariel was one of the few people I consider a friend in this world.

“She doesn’t get to make that decision, Dante.” Vaelir stepped forward and unleashed an immense amount of pressure on me.

I started to stagger forward but caught myself at the last second, I started enforcing my body with mana just to keep my legs from buckling under the pressure.

Vaelir looked at Dante with a baffled expression, the pressure he was exerting was enough to make any regular first year fold like paper.

“Oh? What rank is your core I wonder.” Vaelir started to channel more pressure into Dante but right before he increased it he felt his instincts screaming at him from behind.

“Vaelir, what do you think you’re doing?” Yuna appeared and boy did she look ready to kill him.

“I was merely testing the boy, I wanted to talk to my daughter in private.” Vaelir shrunk back like a child in the face of Yuna.

“Since when did you get that right?” Yuna walked forward and grabbed Vaelir by the shoulder, by simply applying a slight amount of pressure he fell down to one knee.

“Don’t let it happen again, also the girl is terrified so try to be considerate of your daughter for once in your life.” Yuna smiled before releasing her hold and going back to the nurses desk.

Vaelir stood up and fixed his robes before turning back to Ariel and I.

“My apologies, let’s keep this between us.” He said with a fake smile.

“Yeah, right.” I replied.

“Ariel my dear, I’m sorry for what happened to you. When we leave today let’s visit a healer and make sure there aren’t leftover effects from that disgusting fellow.” He walked forward to the other side of the bed and held her shoulder surprisingly tenderly.

Ariel shook her head and tried to formulate a sentence.

“Youuu… Nuhh.” She said but after trying for a few more seconds she looked over and as if sensing her gaze, Yuna appeared once again.

“I’m assuming he wishes to take you home to be healed? Yuna said as she directed her gaze to Vaelir once again.

“I don’t want her to have any leftover trauma from today, I’m trying to be considerate.” He genuinely wished to take care of her this time.

“Are you saying one of your private healers can do better than I can?”

“Of course not… I wasn’t informed that you had healed her.” Vaelir bowed profusely.

“I doubt going anywhere with you would do her any favors, leave the kids to themselves. We have matters to speak of anyways.” Yuna motioned Vaelir to follow, which the man sadly nodded and followed her away.

As soon as they left I looked over at Ariel and noticed she was slightly smiling, albeit slightly crooked since her jaw was still fucked up.

“You look goofy.” I said.

She stared at me for a few seconds before punching my arm lightly with her other hand, all this time she hadn’t let go of my arm. But strangely I didn’t mind it, unlike that brute Reiner.

“Dante!? Ariel!? My dad told me both of you were here!” Reiner shouted as he entered the medical bay.

“Shhh!” The nurse shushed him before he nodded and made his way to her bed.

“Look at you lovebirds.” He said with a giant grin on his face.

“You love showing up when you're not wanted.” I said.

“Nonsense, I’m the glue that holds our group together.” He said haughtily.

“For sure.” I said sarcastically.

“Anyways, I didn’t know you had it in you man! You really flipped a switch, I felt like you were a completely different person.” Ariel heard this and nodded her head to confirm she agreed.

“I… don’t know what came over me. I’ve never felt like that before, honestly, I lost myself…” It felt as if I had no control over my actions. By the time I came to I was already out of the arena next to Reiner.

“I understand.” Reiner patted my back.

“I too would lose myself if my girlfriend was beaten up by another man, you avenged her dignity.” Right after he said that I punched his chin as hard as I could without mana. But sadly he just shrugged it off and forced a hug.

“It’s okay best friend, you’ll come to terms with it soon enough.” Reiner just kept patting my back energetically.

As this was happening, Ariel had her face covered with both hands. But if you looked closely you could see the tips of her ears were slightly red.