Chapter 25: The Aftermath of the Event
Bob’s perspective:
“As unbelievable as it sounds, Aria Brynhildr has completely dominated this event, holding the title of [King] for a total of 9 minutes and 55 seconds!” The announcer yells out.
I watch the lone girl standing at the top of the pyramid, covered completely in blood. Even with her body dyed red like that, she still seemed like a beauty. The girl just won the [King of the Hill] event, reigning over and killing everyone who dares approach the top of the pyramid, without exception.
“…another [Hyperion Human], huh?” I whisper to myself quietly.
The lone, distant girl on that [Hill] was already beyond the [Mortal Tier], perhaps in the higher ranks of the [Immortal Tier]. Recently, there’s been more children like her as humans gradually become stronger as a race. The [Hyperion Humans] are geniuses that are beyond normal prodigies, their experience gain is 4 times faster than the normal person, and they can naturally strengthen their stats faster than normal.
In this tournament, there has been 3 [Hyperion Humans] as far as I’ve seen, every single one of them a freshman. The first, is Pyrion Genada, from [Belsburg’s School of Adventurers]. He is a ruthless child who’s searching for someone strong for unknown reasons. He completely dominated the first three events, no one even once, wounded him. He has some knowledge of magic, but mainly uses a [Magic Gun] in battle.
Second, Thoth Farlite, from [Atalin’s Royal Academy]. Unlike most [Hyperion Humans], she is a social, energetic girl who doesn’t undermine everyone around her. During the [Team Events], she worked with her team efficiently, equally dividing the work amongst each other and never stepping out of her bounds to show off. She seems versatile in a large variety of weapons, and uses several instances of unknown magic. At first, I didn’t think she was a [Hyperion Human], but just a normal prodigy, until I saw her battle the lone girl just now.
The lone girl herself, was Aria Brynhildr. Attending [Krystalis Academy], she is beyond anything what I’ve seen before. [Hyperion Humans] are powerful, yes, but they still have their limits and can’t make a straight one versus ten. Yet, Aria just challenged over 100 students at once, and came out the victor.
At the beginning of the event, this unknown girl who has not participated in any other event, instantly appeared at the top of the [Hill] before anyone knew it. Declaring four words that stayed true to the end, she killed all her enemies mercilessly at the top of the [Hill], without suffering a single wound until the battle with Thoth.
Her combat style was unique, as well. She was a dual wielder, that wasn’t common with the younger adventurers. Add on to that, she’s using two different weapons at once, which is harder to do. With the fact that one of those weapons was a [Magic Gun], no, a [Magnum], this was a style that no one has ever used before. A dagger in one hand, and a [Magnum] the other. With these two weapons, she had the ability to kill from distance, or close combat.
From the weakest to the strongest, these three children would be very powerful assets. The boss told me not to come this event, because there wouldn’t be anyone worthwhile, but clearly, he was wrong. I leave the [Arena] with the crowd, and head towards the alleys in the city. When I find a place that was desolated, I pull out my phone, and dial a number, waiting for the receiver to answer.
“Hello there, this is Oracle Corporations, how may I help you?” A female voice answers.
“…the eclipse will open a door to the light.” I say to her. A second after, my call is redirected to a different person. After five rings, the person I’m trying to contact finally picks up.
“What is it?” The voice of the boss comes through the phone. His voice is androgynous, but we don’t know his true gender. We’ve never actually seen his appearance, but the group assumes he’s male anyway.
“…you were wrong.” I said to him.
“Wrong? About what? Don’t tell me, you actually went to the [Fall Tournament]?” He asks me.
“Three [Hyperion Humans], two of them with strength in the [Immortal Tier].” I immediately say to him.
“What was that!?” He yells in surprise. “Give me their names. Now.”
“Pyrion Genada, Thoth Farlite, and Aria Brynhildr. Listen, these ki–” Suddenly, the phone in my hand bursts into pieces.
“Hey, hey, buddy. I’m sorry, but I can’t have you bothering Aria.” A familiar voice comes from above, and I look up to see the man known as the principal of [Krystalis Academy]. He was standing on the roof of a building, looking down at me.
“I wouldn’t have minded if you went for Thoth or Pyrion, but Aria is something you’re not allowed to touch. So because you’re trying to turn her into an asset, I have no choice but to kill you.” He says with a smile on his face.
That was the last thing I saw, before my vision became black. After that, I feel something piercing my chest, and my body became numb as I fall to the ground. It seems like my life ends here.
Aria’s Perspective:
Warm water hits my body as I wash away all the blood on me. The [Duel System] can guarantee the fighter’s lives, but it won’t fix the aftermath of it. Meaning, all the blood that was spilled during the event still stayed, and I was completely soaked in it. I’m currently using the [Arena]’s shower rooms, trying to wash away the drying blood on me before it clots. If it does, it’ll be extremely annoying to remove.
After wiping the blood off my body, I begin to wash the blood off of my hair, using magic to help me do so. The red color slowly flows out of my hair, the red liquid flowing into the drain. The light blue color returns, and starts shines silver as the blood is removed from it. After washing off all the blood on me, I turn off the water and leave the shower stall I was in.
“Boo!” A familiar voice shouts, but I’m unfazed by it, and turn to the girl who tried to scare me.
“You’re no fun. At least show some sort of reaction, will you?” Thoth says to me, pouting her lips. All signs of her deathly aura and bloodlust was completely gone, replaced with the energetic personality that she had before. Just like before, it doesn’t seem like she minds dying to me again, but it must hurt losing twice to the same person.
“…sorry.” I apologize again, for killing her a second time.
“Huh? About killing me? I’m pretty sure I told you not to worry about that, dummy.” She says that as she flicks my forehead.
“Punishment, for every time you do something stupid like that, stupid girl!” She sticks her tongue out, and her cheerful atmosphere affects me, making me smile. As I finish wiping myself with a towel, I then realize, I didn’t bring any spare clothes.
“…Thoth.” I say to her.
“Wat”
“…clothes.”
And a moment of silent filled the air.
“Jeez, I was hoping this wouldn’t happen, but I did expect this situation.” Thoth sighs to herself, before grabbing a large bag she brought with her.
“When you told me you were going to participate in the [Free For All] events, I had no doubt that you were going to get yourself all dirty like this. So I packed a couple of spares just for you.” She pulls out a t-shirt and some pants for me, and I take them gratefully.
“…thank you…” I say to her quietly after I put them on.
“Keep your thanks to yourself. It’s not like I did it for you or anything…” She says, her voice getting quieter as she continued.
We both leave together, and exit the colosseum. It was 10 minutes past 5:00, so Thoth went home immediately to do something for her parents. On the way out, my parents were waiting by the main entrance for me. Upon seeing me, they smile and run to me immediately. Thoth leaves me here as my mother comes over to pick me up and spin me around, squealing as she does so.
“Oh Aria, how strong you’ve become! How long were you hiding your strength for? We knew you were more powerful than an average adventurer, but you took on over one hundred people on your own!” My mother was in an extremely happy mood after watching that, and her reactions make me smile as well. It’s nice to see someone like her in a joyful mood.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“You did well, little princess. It seems like you’ve inherited your mother’s genes over mine, because you did real well with that gun in hand.” My dad praised me, and my mother suddenly puts me down with an expression as if she just recalled something.
“That’s right! Aria, where did you learn such a thing!? You were so amazing! When I was 8, I couldn’t do any of the things you did, you know? Not only are you going around holding a [Magnum] in one hand, but you’re actually dual wielding with another melee weapon! That’s so cool of you!” She praises me as well, getting more and more excited as the conversation goes on.
“I don’t approve of some of the ways you fought, though. When you used that poor girl’s corpse as a shield, that shocked me, you know? That’s such a cruel thing to do to a dead person, even if she was going to be resurrected by the [System]. It’s not good to be treating bodies like ragdolls or weapons, you know?” She begins to lecture me about this, but my dad was able to stop her by bringing up another topic.
As we head home, they continue talking and praising me but I don’t answer them back most of the time. I did have a smile on my face, though, because it felt nice to make my parents happy. Again, we had a feast for dinner, and I was sent to bed early that night so I could wake up early for tomorrow. There was still two more days to go, after all.
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“Ladies and gentleman, today is the second day of the [Inter-school Fall Tournament]! Yesterday, we already had an amazing show of battles between large groups of people, but I think all of us here can agree that the last event was the most amazing one out of them all!” The principal of the school is making another speech before the events started, trying to hype the already excited crowd even further. This time, I wasn’t in a tiny little corner by myself, all lonely, because Thoth came over to stay with me during the waiting period.
“The one girl that captured our attention, she’s already been given several names by the other combatants. [Bloody Maiden], [Unstoppable Slayer], [Death’s Personal Reaper], and many others things.” Wow, it sounded like I’m just a living weapon that kills without discrimination. These titles are hurting my feelings a bit.
“But there was one that became my personal favorite after I heard it from a certain friend of mine. The girl who’s every aspect can kill, including her appearance, the [Angel of Annihilation]!” So I am now seen as a living weapon that indiscriminately kills everything.
That title should be on Thoth, rather than me, because she’s the one with the [Aura of Annihilation]. I mean, I know that I just killed over a hundred other people alone, but she’s the existence of absolute destruction here, not me. I’m your former [Hero], the one who saved your world, but now you’re treating me like the [Demon Lord]?
Well, whatever. They don’t know any of those facts, and it’s not like I particularly care about my reputation, so I’ll forget about it. What does it matter to me if my appearance is terrible enough to kill? It’s not like I’m a girl that cares about her appearance or anything.
“Aria, your mana is leaking.” Thoth’s voice enters my head, and I’m broken out of my thoughts.
As she said, my mana was leaking, and I was scaring the other students standing around me. I quickly stop the leak, and refocus my attention to the speech, but it seems like it’s already ended.
“Without further ado, let us begin the second day of the [Inter-school Fall Tournament]!” Just like yesterday, the crowd yells and cheers in excitement, excited for the upcoming events for today. By the way, the individual events were;
[Quick Strike]
[Obelisk Destruction]
[Free For All Deathmatch]
[1 v 1]
[Shadow Hunt]
Of course, I only took two events out of that entire list. The [Free For All], and [1 v 1]. I’m not interested in the unique event, and the other two events sounds like a competition between speed and strength, both which sounds boring to me. The only one that would actually give me a challenge would be Thoth, and possibly, Pyrion. Not that I found out who he is yet.
The tournament day starts, and I exit the battle grounds with Thoth, entering the underground area of the [Arena]. I managed to get a room within the second floor of the underground rooms, and Thoth follows me in. We lock the door behind us, and went to opposite sides of the room. Silently, the both of us gear up with our weapons. I pull out my [Magnum] and [White Edge], while Thoth pulls out some sort of plated armor and the magic armlet she used yesterday. I can guess where the armlet came from, but I’m still not going to ask where she gets her armor.
“Okay then, sparring match between the former [Hero] and [Demon Lord]. If you unseal yourself at all, I win by default, okay?” She says with a playful tone in her voice, and I nod in response. It’s a bit unfair if I do that every time I’m about to lose to her.
“Then, let’s go!” She creates a longsword of ice in her right hand, thrusts it at me despite being 10 meters away. Some sort of shadow lance emerges from it, coming right at me, and I fire my [Magnum] at the magic projectile, blowing it away with the force of the bullet.
Thoth was already gone though, with a shadow below the area she was previously standing in. I immediately use [Enhanced Detection] and enchant myself with a wind spell, [Light Steps]. I hear her footsteps behind me, and immediately react to it. I turn around while lowering my body, the sword of ice flying right above me, narrowly missing me. I activate [Arcane Strike] in my next attack, and thrust my dagger at the stomach of my opponent.
She manages to dodge, and in return, makes a kick at me while I was low. I catch her leg in between my arms, and managed to lift her off the ground as I stand. I swing her body around me and throw her at the nearest wall, but she uses a [Spectral Dagger] and goes right through the shadow, reappearing at the shadow she made behind me. This time, I was already facing her direction, so I was able to respond to it.
As she emerges from the shadow, I fire my [Magnum] at her position, aiming for the head. Just before it hits, her speed spontaneously increases, deflecting the bullet. At this point, I can finally determine that her spontaneous increase in speed comes from ‘absorbing’ the force of a previous movement, allowing her to add it to any movement she uses in the future. That’s how she can change her attack direction so fast, and move at speeds higher than I can anticipate. After the deflection, we both jump away from each other, creating distance between us.
“Well, I guess it’s a much more even fight when you’re not low on mana, huh, Aria?” Thoth says to me. I don’t reply, and keep my guard up.
“Whatever, as long as I make you unseal a mark, I win. Here I come!” She yells, and dashes right at me. We continue the spar until the [Free For All] event comes, no one being victorious during our spar. For some reason, her stats are increasing like crazy, and soon enough, I won’t be able to even win sparring with her without 2% of my power.
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Sorry about this short excuse for a chapter, but work’s been piling on me. My schedule’s pretty clear for tomorrow, so I’ll be able to throw a 4k word chapter or something. Sorry for making you all wait, and thanks for your patience!
By the way, my editor wanted to name the sacrificial character, therefore, he's 'Bob,' the guy who barely had any meaning to the story. :)