Chapter 043:

“Kick the prince off the edge,”

The three students standing behind Alexander froze in place, eyes wide and jaws on the ground. Graciously, Alexander allowed them time to process what he had just said, they looked like they needed all the time they could get.

By Alexander’s side, Rus had tightened his hold over the hilt of his sword but he did not retreat and Alexander liked him even more for that.

Ed sat on the ground, clearly exhausted and in no mood to do anything.

Tensions rose instantly and everyone was now on edge, each waiting for the other to make their move.

Clive’s expression was grave but determined unlike Mike, who stood beside him gulping nervously.

‘T-that bastard can’t be serious!’ The magician thought to himself incredulously.

Not only was he so brazen as to attack the prince while his royal self was weakened, but he also instructed the prince’s own citizens to do so instead of himself.

The three students who were subdued by Alexander looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

Seeing their reluctance, Mike screamed, “You oafs, what are you doing? You can’t seriously be considering betraying your prince?” He grit his teeth and readied his magic just in case. Inwardly he was cursing Alexander for his cowardice. It was clear that the low-life understood that he was no match for the prince and thus was employing other means.

“Come on you lot, I’m starting to grow impatient,” Alexander rebuked with a yawn. That being said, the sadistic smile spread across his face was quite an annoying sight to behold.

“Enough, gentlemen, we need not quarrel further,”

Fortunately, before things could be further muddled, a soft-spoken but stern voice interrupted the confrontation.

Alexander tsked before turning to Grim, who entered the fray with a sizable group of people following behind.

“Lo’ Grim,” Alexander greeted.

“Timothy,” Grim replied with a nod before turning to Ed, “You look like shit,” He noted out loud.

Ed flashed his friend the finger.

Mike stood before this interaction, sweating bullets. Their group might have had a chance when it was just Timothy and his team of ruffians, but now…

Clive was also on higher alert, looking at Grim with a terse expression.

“Why hello Prince Clive, a pleasure seeing you again,” the snake spoke.

“Grim…” Clive nodded back, not wanting to escalate matters.

By Grim’s side, Pricilla stood awestruck with stars in her eyes. It wasn’t every day that she could meet royalty, and to see Grim speak to such royalty so casually…

It was quite attractive.

The three factions stood silently for a bit. Clive looked tense, Grim looked calm and Timothy seemed bored out of his mind.

“Why’d you butt in?” The latter asked Grim.

“Nothing much, just thought I’d do us all a favor and end things peacefully,”

“Peacefully? What are you on about?”

“I mean, why fight? Have you forgotten the purpose of this exercise?”

Understanding what the conniving bastard was hinting at, Alexander snorted.

Clive seemed to be the last to understand after casually counting the number of people left in the ring.

“There are twenty-seven students left,” The prince announced. The ring was now small enough to be able to see everyone left within it.

“Exactly, which is why a full-on brawl at this point is inefficient. We should just decide on who to throw off the ledge,” Grim continued.

“Oh yeah, what about ‘em?” Timothy asked, pointing his chin toward Rebecca and Alec who were still embroidered in combat.

Grim shrugged, “Well, I’m not brave enough to step into that hot mess so how about excluding them from the equation,”

“We could throw that fucker off,” Ed commented, pointing toward Mark who was still writhing in pain on the ground.

“I disagree,” Grim shot back.

“Why?”

“Cause he’s hurt,” Timothy replied in his friend’s stead. “That makes him easier to take out later on in the tournament,”

“Oh,” Ed exclaimed in understanding. He Gave Grim the side-eye, “Twisted bastard,”

“I assure you, my overgrown friend, I had no such intentions,” Grim lied.

“Yeah right. Is that why Alec also refrained from tossing him off the ledge?” Ed asked Timothy.

“Maybe, what I know for sure is that that cunt wants Moore out of the tournament,”

“And is that something you want?” Ed asked again.

Timothy tilted his head in thought. “Nah,” He finally decided.

“It’ll be more fun if he’s in it,” Timothy continued, looking at Clive with a smile.

The prince, growing uncomfortable with how Timothy was looking at him gulped despite himself.

………………………………………………..

Prince Clive’s point of view:

‘They want me to decide,’ Clive thought as a shiver ran down his spine. Before him stood Timothy and Grim, each with people beside them. Though they were apart, it was clear that they stood together.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

‘I don’t know about Timothy but it’s clear what that Grim bastard wants. He wants me to choose someone to eliminate.

This was troubling for many reasons. He was obviously not stupid enough to choose anyone from his own kingdom, but picking someone from their side would worsen the already frayed relationships between the students.

Attacking head-on was also not an option. Not only were they heavily outnumbered, but Clive himself was also exhausted from his previous battle.

There was an obvious answer, Moore. But it seemed Timothy did not like that option, and frankly, Clive agreed.

The memories of last night came to him, most vividly was how Moore ruptured his own eardrums out of determination.

He, of all people, should understand how important this event was to Moore. Who was he to take that away from him? His prince? What kind of ruler would he be?

Unsure of what to do, Clive turned toward Mike who was still standing beside him. Despite the young man’s stern expression, up close, Clive could see how his hands shook within his long sleeves and how his feet shifted often as if ready to bolt at any given moment.

‘He isn’t going to be of much help,’ Clive remarked mentally after Mike tried to give him a reassuring smile.

‘There is also the option of jumping off the ledge myself,’ He thought. He had already done what he wanted to most by catching Alec off guard and one-upping the bastard.

But…he kind of wanted to do it again.

How awe-inspiring would it be to beat Alec once more in the finals?

A rematch of the ages ending with Clive dashing through his flames, sword at hand and intent to attack laid bare and declared.

He could hear the crowd’s applause now, their rabid cheering despite his calm smile. Faintly, he could imagine feeling his father’s gaze from among the audience. He wouldn’t be smiling, his father rarely smiled, but he would be proud and that would be enough.

Lost in his thoughts, he belatedly realized that someone was calling out to him for his attention.

“Hey Clive, wake up! The chick’s been tossed off the ledge,” Timothy’s loud and obnoxious voice finally brought him back to reality.

Realizing that the brute was referring to Rebecca, a brief look of surprise flashed over Clive’s face. Rebecca did not look like much and she was not as loud as her brother, but Clive understood her strength well. In fact, even if he was in peak condition, he was not confident in beating her, yet a tired Alec managed to eke out a victory?

“Come on, let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving,” Timothy declared before light-heartedly leaping off the ledge. He was followed by Ed, Grim and their people. Even the three oafs from his kingdom followed behind.

Clive did not fail to notice the looks of reluctance some of his people had as they watched Timothy leave. It seemed they wanted to follow.

“Fucking bastard,”

………………………………………………..

Rebecca clenched her jaw hard, feeling the fire singe her skin. But when she recalled the sight of Mark lying in a pool of his own blood…

“Allllleeeeecccc” She shrieked as she willed her body through the barrage of flames.

The red-headed magician had been in the middle of casting another spell when he was surprised by a fiery fist to the face.

‘She pushed through my spell?!’ He thought incredulously as he hurriedly retreated backward. He was barely holding on to his consciousness, painfully aware of the searing pain in his cheek.

Of course, Kingsley was not one to let him do as he pleased. She doggedly chased after him, ignoring the nauseous smell of her burning hair. She rained down a barrage of attacks, mercilessly pummeling the magician into soft mush.

Or at least she would have if not for Alec suddenly tossing his hooded outer robe at her. At first, she was confused, but then she noticed the odd pattern woven into the robe’s fabric.

‘Runes?!’ Her mind deduced seconds before her body automatically retreated away from the clothing.

BOOM!!

Her judgment proved valid as the robe exploded into thousands of threads seconds after she retreated.

“You are every bit of the monster I expected you to be Rebecca,” Alec declared with eerie calm.

Rebecca stifled a snort with some difficulty; she opened her mouth to reply when it happened.

‘Shit!’ Her eyes widened in realization after noticing the magical circle beneath their feet. In panicked haste, she hurriedly made a fist and attacked the circle.

“{Carcer}” Unfortunately, the calm chant let her know she was too late.

Before her fist made contact with the ground, pillars of fire erupted from the ground, surrounding her instantly, effectively trapping her and Alec in a cage made of flames.

Immediately abandoning her attack and holding her ground, she braced herself dutifully. Her guard was at an all-time high and her body was taut, waiting for any pillar to appear beneath her feet. She wanted to rush forward and continue her assault but at the same time, she knew that she couldn’t take another attack, especially one of the caliber she was seeing now.

Before her, Alec was barely standing, his breath ragged and his hair messy. He was now wearing a light shirt drenched in sweat and parts of his face were puffy and bruised. Despite all that, his eyes were still and calm. Blue and quiet like the endless sky or unfathomable ocean.

Seconds passed as the two held each other’s gaze.

Noticing that no new pillars appeared, she grew confused.

“You seem disappointed?” Alec asked between pants.

Rebecca did not answer nor did she let her guard down. She was unfamiliar with this spell and seeing that Alec was no longer casting anything else, it seemed she could afford to turtle through.

“I must say, you pack much more of a punch than that fool you call a broth-” Before he could complete his sentence, his vision was suddenly filled with the scowling face of Rebecca who had immediately dashed forward, intending to continue his ass-whooping.

Instead of fighting back, he opened his arms, seemingly welcoming her into his embrace.

This confused Rebecca greatly and she hesitated momentarily.

A second was all it took as before she knew it, Alec had wrapped his arms around her in a tight bear hug.

Even more confused, she was about to break out of his hold when she noticed him throwing himself, and consequently her, back and into the pillars of flame.

‘He’s gone crazy!’ She screamed to herself in fright. Alec, like most flame magicians, was resistant to his own flames but not totally immune. Thus his current action in his current state was tantamount to suicide.

He had been too close to the pillars and with him throwing his body back, Rebecca knew that she could no longer dodge so she braced herself for the pain of her flesh being burned.

However, that did not happen; instead, the pillars magically parted way allowing just enough room for both him and Rebecca to pass through unharmed.

Instead of relief she suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine as she noticed that Alec had tossed them both off the ledge.

She realized that this entire attack had led to this moment. He knew that she was too fast to be hit by the pillars of fire and that she was too strong to be defeated in close quarters. He must have also known that she would recognize what the Rune on his robes was.

So he had purposefully drawn her near the edge of the arena before obscuring their position with both the exploding robe and flashy spell.

She shuddered to think that he had orchestrated this entire thing all while getting his shit kicked in. And now here they were, hovering so close off the ledge with her back nearest to the floor. At this rate, she would be eliminated before him and if she guessed correctly then he must have accounted for this as well, maybe he planned for her to be the last to be eliminated, earning him a spot at the tournament.

‘Well played Alec, unfortunately, you still underestimate me,’ She thought fast and chanted faster.

A magical circle appeared in her palm and she immediately finished her casting.

“{Fire Bomb}!” She declared, pointing toward the sky. Her spell was by no means comparable to Alec’s, not in speed or power but it was still enough force to immediately pound her and the red-headed magician into the arena’s hard concrete ground, mercifully preventing their elimination.

Now with her back on solid earth and Alec straddling her, Rebecca found the leverage necessary to roll both their bodies away from the arena’s edge and place herself on top of Alec with her fist cocked back.

“You think too much,” She snarled.

“I do,” He admitted, coughing up blood, “And you forget too much,”

Puzzled by his response, Rebecca gnashed her teeth and struck him squarely in the jaw, likely knocking him out.

She spat on the ground and was about to get up when she was caught off guard by a sudden mad growl that came from her side.

Looking toward the sound, she came upon the horrifying sight of Zackery’s charred face growling at her and Alec with teeth bared wide.

Realizing that his eyes were too burned to notice who was before him, Rebecca panicked slightly and that allowed him the opportunity to tackle her off Alec.

The force of his lunge was so great that it launched both of them off the arena’s ledge.