“Look, Axel! Look!”

Hearing Dianne’s excited voice, I looked up at the scoreboard for the Hunter Games event to find ours standing at the top of the list. Beating second place by a mere twelve points.

“Huh. Closer than I expected.” I muttered to myself.

I mean, considering close to almost a hundred and fifty teams were competing, I figured it’d be close, but I figured it’d be at least forty points. So twelve is cutting it pretty close.

If I had to take a guess, we probably lost some points for turning in items late. And if I think about it in that sense, everything started to fall into place.

“Look! Xara and Riko are third!” shouted Dianne

“Really?”

I glanced a little bit below us and sure enough, Xara and Riko were sitting in third. Strange considering how much they had to collect when I last saw them. Perhaps I wonder if something happened to help them catch up.

Sadly, Roy and Ella ended up in eighty-fourth place. Not bad, but not good either. It's somewhat of a middle ground where you can’t feel happy or disappointed. But at least they tried their best.

Now in case you’re wondering, we had to wake up early in order to see what the scores were before things got too crowded. Because the event ended yesterday and I found myself feeling a bit tired after the whole ordeal, I figured it’d be best to sleep and come back and see the final results the next day. Though that was probably the case for most people so it was important to get here sooner rather than later.

But moving past that, according to what the pamphlet for the event said, all competitors if they were within the top fifty had to gather on one of the school’s smaller PE fields to be given medals and other trophy-like items on the day after the event is over. And while the medals are nice, they’re basically something akin to participation awards. And the only ones who get any real trophies are the top five teams.

But as the ceremony wasn’t supposed to happen until later tonight, I figured I’d get a bit more sleep beforehand.

Waving goodbye to Dianne, I made my way back to the dorm and thought about what was to come. Little did I realize though, how messy things were about to get.

Seeing Dianne’s name up there at the top filled Richie’s heart with pride. But spotting the commoner's name next to it irritated him. He had met the boy the week prior, but just the sight of him caused Richie to go on the defensive. Commoners really were repulsive.

Worst of all, the princess defended him. That frustrated Richie to no end. He just wanted to wipe that commoner off the face of the earth.

So, as he glanced at the ring in his hand, he looked out at the slowly darkening sky. It was almost time. As much as he hated to do this to Princess Dianne, he knew this was the only way to fix her thinking once and for all.

With that in mind, he made his way towards the spot where the awards were to be handed out and prepared to make his move.

As the ceremony was about to begin, I spotted Dianne in the crowd of people and sat down in the chair next to hers.

She gave me an excited smile and I tried my best to return the favor before turning my attention toward the front where there were several teachers standing around and watching over the students. Making it clear they would watch over everything and make sure thing's went smoothly.

A few minutes later, Haiko Ariyama, one of the main heroines as well as the student council president, walked up on stage as her long snow white hair shined in the fading sun.

“Greetings my fellow students. Today were gathered to celebrate your achievements during this year's Hunter Games. And as your student council president, I couldn’t be happier to be here with you all.”

She said that, but there was an empty stare on Haiko’s face. Her voice also lacked any emotion. She was almost robotic. I knew why, and even grew adjusted to hearing it while playing. But now that I’ve heard it in real life, I realize just how empty and lifeless it truly sounded. Making me wonder if there’s more to her than the game let on.

Haiko went on to talk about a few more things before starting to hand rewards out to the top teams.

“In fiftyth place, Fiona Dashervon and Donna Guruno of class 1-C.”

Fiona and Donna made their way on stage and were given what appeared to be golden ribbons before making their way off stage.

The list continued onward past Roy and Ella, all the way to Xara and Riko. Before long, it was finally our turn.

“And in first place, Axel Savoncho and Dianne Riosha of class 1-S.”

The two of us got out of our seats and made our way up on stage. All the while, I kept glancing around at the students giving me angry glares. But knowing that I managed to beat all of them, I couldn’t help but let an arrogant smirk slip onto my face.

Once we were on stage, Haiko stepped back.

“At the request of a close associate of the principal, someone else will be passing your rewards to the two of you.”

That was…weird. Who would have the power to do something like that?

At that moment, none other than Richie walked up towards us.

He gave me a disgusted glare before smiling at Dianne. She seemed quite surprised by Richie’s appearance meaning she didn’t know any more than I did about this situation.

Ignoring her confusion, Richie began to speak.

“Dianne Riosha. In order to commemorate your victory, I would like to present you with something made at the request of the king himself. Please accept this reward.”

Dianne’s eyes widened at the mention of her dad. But before she could respond, Richie presented her with a ruby-colored ring.

“I don’t…think I…could…”

Dianne tried to say something only for her eyes to glaze over as she stared at the ring.

“I’m…happy to accept it.”

As she said that, I glanced up at the moon. It was a bright red. Different from the normal blue I’ve come to know since coming here. Something I’ve been ignoring for a bit now. But now that we’re here, there’s something off about this whole thing. And I just couldn’t ignore the feeling nagging at me. That’s why I knew what I had to do next.

After hearing what Dianne said, Richie smiled and held the ring out for her and she began to reach for it.

“Hold it.”

I instantly grabbed Dianne’s hand and Richie gave me a furious glare

“What do you think you’re doing!? I’m just trying to give the winner her reward!”

“And I suppose a raja ring, a magic ring used only to alter a being's mind is supposed to be a suitable reward?”

Richie's eyes went wide.

“How do you-!?”

Before he had time to react, I kicked the ring into the air.

“No! The ring!”

Richie acted immediately as he jumped up into the air and the glaze around Dianne’s eyes vanished.

“What…was I…?”

She was completely lost on what was happening.

As Richie continued to reach out for the ring, he didn’t think for a second how to catch it and spread his fingers out wide.

“Wait! Don’t let it slip onto your fing-!” I tried to warn him. But it was too late.

The ring fell onto his finger and he landed with a thud.

The students in their seats all let out loud gasps at what just unfolded.

And then, out of nowhere...

"AWOOOO!"

Richie let out a loud howl as the ring glowed on his finger.

“What the-!?”

As Dianne tried to take a step back, I snatched her up and jumped off the stage.

“P-Princess Dianne!” Richie shouted as his body began to change.

First, hair started growing over his body, followed by his teeth sharpening up as well as his voice growing deeper and deeper with each second.

“Dammit. That wasn’t a raja ring. It was a wolfbane ring,” I said in frustration.

Allow me to explain, raja rings are a rare form of red ring that can alter someone's mind enough to a point they think completely differently from how they would before. Despite their rarity, many people in this world have used them to turn criminals into normal citizens, as well as turn normal everyday people into slaves or servants. Sexual or otherwise. They really are disgusting things and I honestly wish they weren’t in the game.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Then comes a very similar-looking ring known as a wolfbane ring. These rings, as you might have guessed from what just happened, can cause someone to transform into a werewolf-like creature that has an astronomical amount of magic power. The one catch is that the only time a wolfbane ring can be used is during a red moon which only happens once every ten years.

And I think it’s safe to assume Richie didn’t know about that since he tried to get Dianne to wear that thing.

While he transformed, students ran from the field as fast as they could. The teachers were trying to hold him using magic, but when claws appeared on his hands, he instantly sliced their attacks away. While letting out an inhumane roar.

Somehow in the span of a single minute, things went from zero to a hundred incredibly quickly.

After another moment, Richie’s transformation was complete and he let out a howl loud enough to shake the field around us.

He smashed his claws into the teachers and instantly sent them flying, leaving only Haiko who looked up to his face with a blank stare.

Ignoring her, Richie turned his head towards the sky and let out a sniff.

After he appeared to have found what he was searching for, he turned his head in my direction and looked at Dianne who was staring at him in terror behind me.

“Princess Dianne…Princess Dianne!”

Now twice his original size, Richie burst off the stage and ran at Dianne.

“R…Richie? What have you done to yourself!?”

Dianne, obviously lost on what was going on, watched as Richie got closer.

She was about to step forward, but I held out my arm to stop her.

“Axel?”

“That man isn’t in his right mind anymore. As he is now, I think it’s impossible to change him back.”

Dianne turned her head to the ground.

“No…”

As much as I hate to admit it, even I didn’t know a way to change him back. As this item never came up in the game other than as a simple mention, I never had the chance to learn anything about it.

With that said, I wasn’t about to let him take Dianne. After all, it was clear he wasn’t in his right mind anymore.

Now, if what I remember is correct, his mind’s been dumbed down to a point even I couldn’t guess what he was thinking. This means his moves could be incredibly unpredictable. So I made sure to keep Dianne as far as I could as I acted like a human shield.

Noticing how I was standing between him and Dianne, Richie growled at me.

“YOU DAMN COMMONER!”

As he screamed that, he tried driving his claw toward my chest.

“Nia!”

“On it!”

In an instant, Dianne and I vanished and appeared in front of the school building.

Dianne looked around confused. But now wasn’t the time to explain anything to her.

“Sorry about this Dianne, but I’m afraid I’m gonna have to take down that butler of yours.”

“Ah…Wait!”

Not listening, I instantly teleported back to the field where I’d been moments ago.

Confused as to how I vanished, it took Richie a second to notice me. And once he did, the first thing he realized was the lack of Dianne behind me.

“What the-!? Where’s Princess Dianne!?”

Instead of responding, I got into a fighting pose.

“If you want her so bad, you’re gonna have to go through me first!”

Hearing that, Richie let out probably what was the loudest roar he had given since he’d transformed and jumped into the air in an attempt to slam his fist down and crush me like a pancake.

“Too slow!”

Instantly dodging his attack, I ducked in order to avoid some flying debris before pushing some wind magic into my feet.

“Let’s do this Nia!”

“Right!”

Pushing some wind magic into my feet once more, I ran across the field at an incredible speed before jumping into the air.

Balls of fire formed in my hands and I shot them at Richie who immediately blocked them with his arms. The hairs on his arm didn’t burn in the slightest.

“What!? Fireproof fur is a thing in this world!?” I screamed in annoyance.

Well, that’s a pain.

Landing on the ground, I ran around the field once more as Richie threw handfuls of chairs my way.

“What the hell man!? You could’ve just asked me to take a seat!”

As I said that, I used blades of wind to chop up the chairs and they fell to pieces next to me.

Richie let out a loud howl of anger in response to my teasing. That’s good. After all, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from superhero movies, taunting is a great to throw off enemi-Whoa!

Barley managing to dodge an even larger onslaught of chairs, something dawned on me. Instead of getting thrown off, Richie seems even more focused than ever to take me out.

“What person decided heroes taunting villains was a good idea!? Now this is getting even harder than before!”

Finally running out of chairs, Richie dug his hands into the ground and pulled out giant chunks of dirt, and began flinging them at me.

“Okay. Now that’s just annoying!”

As small chunks of dirt hit me, giant chunks barely grazed me and caused me to suck in my gut.

The things in the dungeon were tough, but this takes it to another level. Just how strong did the wolfbane ring make this guy!?

Seeing a ball of dirt flying right at me, I held out a hand as the dirt crashed into a wall of air in front of me and clouded the area in dust.

Bursting through the cloud of dust, Richie jumped at me and pushed his fist forward only for me to barely dodge as his attack caused a scratch to appear on my cheek.

“Crap.”

Feeling myself growing tired, I tried to slow my breathing. Damn this stupid body! Why is it so freakishly weak when it came to physical activities!?

Steading my breathing, I moved out of the way just in time to avoid another attack.

“This isn’t looking great. Any ideas Nia?”

“...”

“Nia?”

…Silence.

What!? Come on!

“Uh…Nia? You in there?”

“Give me a minute!”

Oh. Guess she was thinking about an answer. I should probably buy her some ti- CRAP!

Ducking under Richie’s fist, I watched it fly over me as I tried my best to not pass out from the intense wind making it hard to breathe from under here.

As the attack finally finished passing over me, I pushed some wind into my feet and jumped away right before he got another attack in.

“All I’m doing is dodging right now! Got anything yet Nia!?”

“Give me more time!”

How much time did she freaking need!?

Trying to hold him off, I created a wall of fire only for him to instantly run through it without any issue.

“NIA!”

“A FEW MORE SECONDS!”

“Wait…a few more seconds for what!?”

Instead of responding, my grimoire grew a bright blue, and an unimaginable pain shot through my body.

“AAAHHHH!”

Screaming out in agony, I tried my best to stay on my feet. But with how much it hurt, that was almost impossible. I think this was the feeling I always had whenever Nia unlocked a new spell. However, it never hurt this much before!

Sensing I was defenseless, Richie tried to attack me only to be blown away by a wall of wind Nia no doubt set up.

After another moment, the pain started to subside.

“What the hell…did you do?” I growled.

“I don’t have much time to explain, so here’s the basic rundown.”

Quickly giving me a summary of what she had set up, I began to understand and clenched my fists tightly.

“Alright. I got it.”

Turning my attention to Richie, he was continuing to run into the wall of wind. No doubt wanting to kill me.

“Okay. Time to put my expanded thinking to work!”

Focusing my mind, I pushed my expanded thinking forth and had it scan the beast.

In terms of the spell Nia prepared, the following plan would be the best course of action.

“I see! Then let’s do this!”

Having decided on my course of action, I began pushing the wind magic into my feet as I charged at Richie. Responding in kind, Richie rushed forward ready to kill me where I stood. I couldn’t help but smirk.

“I’ve been looking forward to doing this for a long time!” I shouted.

Right as the two of us reached one another, I instantly ducked under him and jumped on his back.

“What the-!?”

Confused, Richie tried to grab me but struggled due to how small I was in comparison to him.

Frustrated he couldn’t grab me, he let out another roar.

“Now!” Nia screamed

Jumping over his head, I landed on the ground where Richie left himself open and my fist began to turn a steel grey

“Take this, you bastard!”

Putting all the force I could muster into my fist, I smashed it into Richie’s jaw causing his broken teeth to fly everywhere

The underjaw was the weakest point on his now transformed body. That was what my expanded thinking told me. Meaning a clean hit would no doubt put an end to this.

And as my fist hit his jaw, I heard the sounds of his other bones cracking apart.

“Go to hell asshole!”

With one last push, I sent Richie flying into the air. Higher and higher. And before I knew it, he had completely vanished from sight.

“Nia…hah…how far…hah...did he go?”

“From what I could see, he’s already passed Earth’s highest point.”

“That so? Damn, that spell is powerful.”

For those of you wondering, the spell Nia taught me was a spell known as reinforced steel. It apparently reinforces the body beyond its limit by tenfold. A good spell, but it seems to come with quite a toll. After all…

“Even if it is powerful…it still hurts like hell!”

Grabbing my hand, I tried blowing on it as much as I could. It looked like it was about to burst from how much force I put into that punch. No wonder learning this hurt so much. Something like this would rarely be useful against anything unless I was willing to give up my only working hand. So, note to self, if you ever do that again, use the robotic hand instead.

With that in mind, I sat down on the ground. Finally able to catch my breath.

A few minutes later, several other teachers arrived to take care of the monster only to find it gone. Knowing it’d be a pain to explain what happened, I teleported away before they noticed me. Moments later, I arrived in my room and collapsed onto my bed.

With that, the Hunter Games event was finally over. And now that everything is said and done, I can finally get a moment to relax.

As Axel teleported away, Haiko watched from the stage. She had seen the entire event transpire right before her eyes. She almost couldn’t believe it. A first-year student taking down a monster like that. It almost sounded like some kind of story you’d tell your kids to inspire them to go out into the world.

And as some teachers made their way over to her Haiko started explaining what happened. And as usual, with an almost completely blank expression on her face.