Chapter 139
The match progressed rapidly,
With both teams reduced to less than half of their members, Class A’s main striker, Maelyn, was launching relentless attacks.
Her target was Serne, who was hiding in the corner of the court, smirking as if mocking everyone, but until now, Maelyn hadn’t landed a single proper attack on Serne.
“Argh!”
“Gah!”
Whenever the ball headed toward Serne, other Class C students would rush in and block it with their bodies.
Judging by the frustrated expressions of the students getting hit and collapsing, it wasn’t their intention, it was obvious Serne was controlling them with her feathers.
‘Ah, I really can’t stand her!’
Maelyn gritted her teeth, It annoyed her to see Serne treat fellow Keyzen students like chess pieces.
But what irritated her the most was.
Sway, sway.
Serne flaunting the outer coat that Simon had personally wrapped around her waist, as if it were some kind of trophy.
‘……I really want to tear her apart.’
Sometimes, she felt an overwhelming urge to hurl flames instead of the ball, but she knew that’s exactly what Serne wanted, so she had no choice but to endure it.
“Se, Serne.”
Class-C was also having a headache because of Serne.
The boy who was leading Class C’s attacks couldn’t hold back anymore and spoke up.
“I told you not to use Hideo as a shield, he’s an essential supporter.”
To that, Serne kicked the ball lying on the ground toward the boy and said,
“Just focus on attacking.”
“……,”
This was bad, Serne wasn’t interested in the match at all.
He had been relieved when, for once, she was diligently paying attention during the Magical Combat class with an Class A student, but now, she had gone right back to her usual self.
‘……Damn it, with Serne on our team, we have to win no matter what. How can I stand watching those Class A brats strut around?’
The boy turned his head.
The only Class A student who could draw Serne’s attention, Simon Follentia, unfortunately wasn’t participating in this round.
To be honest, feeling disappointed about that fact was already a sign something was wrong with him.
‘It’s tough being the leader when you’ve got a spoiled princess like her to serve.’
Class C was already completely under Serne’s control, the entire class was practically her faction.
Because of that, no one dared to say a single word against her indifference, they simply watched her mood carefully, hoping she’d be in good spirits.
But becoming close to Serne wasn’t easy either.
According to some of the girls who had eaten with her, they often found that all memories of those meals would completely vanish.
Or, after talking to her, they’d wonder why they had said such things in the first place.
Emotional manipulation.
She was the core of Class C’s faction, but no one in Class C actually considered her a real friend.
Serne herself was the same. She never wanted to form close relationships with anyone. If she felt displeased or uncomfortable, she’d simply send out her feathers to control them.
‘……I don’t know what happened in her past, but her personality is twisted to the core.’
The boy’s gaze shifted again.
He saw Simon Follentia, Class A’s Special Admission number one,
A hint of jealousy flared.
The fact that the only person Serne considered an equal wasn’t a Class C student who had been with her all this time, but someone from Class A. That fact alone was infuriating.
“What are you doing? Hurry up.”
Bred’s grumbling voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Ah, yes! Sorry.”
The aspiring Magical Combat student mustered all his strength and hurled the ball again.
Dick tried to crouch and receive the ball, but it bounced off his stomach and went out.
“Ouch! You idiot!”
He turned to see a girl yelling angrily.
‘Come to think of it, Class A also had an Ivory Tower student, Maelyn Villene, was that her name?’
Like all Ivory Tower types, she was individualistic and arrogant. But compared to Serne, she gave off a different vibe.
“You’re acting all fancy and can’t even catch that?”
“You’re failing because you don’t strike that ‘pose’ every time you succeed.”
“Die!!”
Hahaha!
The atmosphere in Class A was lively, Maelyn also gave orders, acted arrogant, and liked to shine, but strangely, Class A students didn’t resent her. Instead, they treated her with familiarity.
‘Same Ivory Tower, but… I envy that.’
While the boy was thinking that, Maelyn grabbed the ball and stepped forward.
“Anyway, I should at least avenge my teammate, right?”
She raised the ball in her hand and pointed it at Serne.
“How long are you going to hide behind meat shields? Step forward.”
At her words, Serne smirked mockingly.
“No thanks~ Seri is scared of getting hit.”
“Ugh! I seriously hate you!”
Maelyn lowered her stance, extending the arm holding the ball to her side,
Class C students all tensed up.
‘The supporter who was serving for her is down.’
‘What’s she going to do alone?’
Crack.
The ball in Maelyn’s hand began to change, for the first time since the match started, Serne’s expression shifted.
Crackle, crack, crackle.
The ball in Maelyn’s hand was freezing over, cold air swirled around, and some students on the court shivered, rubbing their arms.
“Hmph.”
Serne smiled slyly as she stepped forward.
“Maelyn, finally decided to throw away that useless pride of yours?”
“Shut up.”
The ball in her hand turned into a block of ice, Her arms trembled under the weight of the frozen mass.
And a thin sheet of frost formed beneath it.
‘Interesting.’
Serne smiled with satisfaction.
Excluding the effects of innate abilities, within the Darkness Dynamics category, Serne’s specialty was fire magic.
To put it simply, she could unleash twenty Dark Flares at once.
Meanwhile, Maelyn was slightly more proficient with ice magic than fire. But she rarely used it for offense.
The reason was simple, she was at a disadvantage against Serne’s fire magic.
Maelyn had even once openly declared that she would defeat Serne with fire magic.
“Haa.”
Maelyn’s breath came out in white puffs, then she bent her arms and gripped the ball with both hands.
The tension in the air grew.
“My mind hasn’t changed, I’ll become stronger than anyone, and before I graduate from Keyzen, I’ll defeat you.”
“Yeah, yeah! Do your best~”
“But, I don’t have to be obsessed with just you to become strong.”
Her gaze shifted slightly toward Simon.
“Oh my, how admirable~ Then I guess I should reward you.”
When she glanced behind her, Class C students nodded and stepped back.
“Haaaaaah!”
Maelyn shouted a battle cry, throwing the frozen ball with all her strength.
Serne leisurely pulled out a feather from her fingertip. She swung her arm, aiming to counter the incoming ball —
“……?”
Suddenly, her legs slipped, and her arm swung in the wrong direction.
It was because Maelyn’s ice magic had formed a slick sheet of ice on the floor.
‘Oops?’
As Serne stumbled, Maelyn’s ball struck her forearm and flew past.
“Wooooooah!”
All of Class A erupted in a huge cheer, Maelyn clenched both fists and shouted with joy.
Serne, who had slipped on the ice, blinked in bewilderment.
The shock among Class C students was even greater.
“Se, Serne got hit!”
“Just like that… so easily…!”
Serne scratched the side of her head with a dazed look. Then, meeting the eyes of her classmates, she stuck out her tongue playfully.
‘Ah…’
‘I swear, I’ll send her straight to hell one day.’
Serne dusted off her skirt and walked off the court without a fuss. While everyone on Class A’s side roared in celebration.
“Class A, Maelyn Villene, disqualified.”
Bred’s indifferent voice rang out.
Maelyn, her face turning red at the sudden call, snapped her head around.
“Ah! Why!”
“Didn’t you read the rules carefully? If you cause an effect on the opposing team, it’s a disqualification. The ice just made your opponent slip.”
“Aaaaagh!”
In the end, Maelyn was also ruled out. She shouted, “I didn’t do it on purpose!” but was subdued by Simon and Kamibarez and dragged off the court.
With the aces gone, the remaining 7:5 situation turned into a straightforward elimination match, with players going down one by one.
Beeeep!
Bred blew his whistle.
“Winner, Class A.”
Class A won by two players. Their morale skyrocketed as they jumped and celebrated.
Meanwhile, Class C was eerily quiet after the crushing defeat of their trusted Serne.
“Didn’t think the weakest would win.”
“Now we just need to win one of the next two rounds, right?”
“Let’s go!”
For the next round, both Class A and Class C sent out their mid-tier teams.
Class A’s team included Cindy, Jaime, Kamibarez, one of their strongest lineups.
But then,
Thud!
Smack!
“Wooooooah!”
An unexpected dark horse appeared,
“Who the hell is that!”
Class C’s Ivan Barshani.
A former boxer and aspiring Magical Combat student.
Self-proclaimed fastest in Keyzen,
She was also the one who had lost to Maelyn in his first evaluation match,
But now, she was dominating the court.
“Whoooop!”
Activating internal Darkness Divergence, she was catching every ball that came toward other students herself.
In this match where 'defense' was the key, Class A’s attacks were all blocked, which led to an increase in Class C’s offensive chances, resulting in successful scores.
The number gap widened dramatically in an instant.
This match was, without a doubt, Ivan’s stage.
‘You watching this? Maelyn Villene!’
Ivan’s gaze turned toward Maelyn, who stood outside the court with her arms crossed, pouting.
‘The defeat you gave me made me who I am today!’
Ivan blocked five attacks.
Eventually, she reached the time limit of what her body could endure, collapsed on the floor, and was immediately knocked out by Class A’s counterattack, as she couldn’t move anymore.
Still, her contribution was worth more than that of a single person, and applause broke out from all sides.
‘Haah, I’m proud, I really gave it my all.’
Ivan’s gaze wandered.
As she left the court, he saw Maelyn and Simon talking to each other,
“Did you see that, Maelyn!!”
Ivan stretched out her hand toward Maelyn and shouted.
“I made it to the upper squad after the last evaluation! Look forward to our rematch!”
She frowned as if to say, “What are you talking about?”
“Who are you, and why are you talking to me? Do I know you?”
“......!!”
Ivan’s face turned beet red.
“I was your first opponent in the evaluation match!”
“Oh, really? Sorry, I don’t really remember weaklings. Good job, though.”
Maelyn waved her hand dismissively.
Ivan, too stunned to say anything back, just stammered and eventually trudged back toward the Class C students. Though she was greeted like a returning hero, Ivan didn’t feel all that happy.
The tide had turned.
Cindy Vivace, unable to use spirit manifestation, was taken out in vain. Other students, too, were eliminated one by one as they overreached trying to catch the ball.
“Everyone, focus! Don’t give up until the end!”
Honorary class rep Jaime shouted, trying to rally the team.
At that moment, when a Class C student’s attack flew in from the side, her eyes darted to it.
“Watch out, Kami!”
Kamibarez, trembling with her legs shaking, was cowering and preparing to defend in a clumsy stance.
Thud!
Suddenly, a boy jumped out and took the hit in her place, collapsing.
“Guh!”
“Are, are you okay?”
Startled, Kamibarez ran over with teary eyes.
“Because of me…...”
Though the spot he was hit hurt, the boy’s heart melted, and his happiness level skyrocketed.
He grinned and gave a thumbs-up.
“Yeah, I’m fine!”
Class C continued targeting Kamibarez with their attacks, but every time, boys would pop out from somewhere to take the hit or defend for her.
When another one took a hit to the face and went down, Kamibarez began tearing up.
“Waah! I’m sorry!”
Seeing the bizarre sight, Class C students murmured in surprise.
“......What’s with her? Is she Class A’s Serne or something?”
“Maybe she can use mental-type black magic!”
“Mental-type? I heard her name is ‘Ursula’ or something.”
“But isn’t she kind of cute though?”
Kamibarez trotted over and picked up a ball that had fallen on the ground.
“I-I’ll avenge you!”
She shouted her resolve with a squeaky cry, and an explosive cheer erupted from the Class A students outside the court.
Kamibarez was truly a rare type of character at Keyzen.
Beyond cliques and rivals, 16-year-old Kamibarez had become everyone’s little sister in Class A before they knew it.
“Ha!”
Kamibarez tossed the ball high into the air, then she knelt on one knee and shaped her hands like a gun.
“I’m sorry!”
With a sharp recoil, a bright red bullet shot from her fingertips. It hit the descending ball dead-on, and the ball was propelled forward at tremendous speed.
The direction veered outside the court, but with the momentum of Kamibarez’s shot, it curved and struck another student, knocking them down.
“Ah!”
“She did it!”
“Kamiiiii!”
A louder cheer than ever rang out.
Kamibarez bowed to the student she knocked out and gave an awkward, bashful smile to the cheering students outside the court.
“Nice job, Kami!”
Simon also shouted a word of praise.
At that, her expression melted like spring snow and she beamed like a blooming flower.
“Simon~ I took one out!”
She bounced up and down in excitement, and Simon waved back with a smile.
‘Huh?’
Was it just his imagination, or did the back of his head suddenly feel scorching hot?
In truth, countless male students were glaring daggers at the back of Simon’s head.
“Alright, hurry up! Next attack!”
With an annoyed expression, Bred shouted and resumed the match.
Thud!
Whack!
Kamibarez and Jaime fought hard.
But the game had already tilted too far, Class C solidified their lead and took the point without much upset.
The total score was now 1:1.
The final round had come.
“Final round. Everyone who hasn’t played, get out here.”
At Bred’s call, the waiting students poured onto the court.
They should’ve been fired up for the match that would determine victory. But the Class C students’ expressions were stiff.
Understandably so.
At the very front of the court, the presence of two male students stretching was utterly overwhelming.
‘Whoa, crap……’
‘How are we supposed to beat them?’
A rare pairing, indeed.
Simon, special admission number one, and Hector of the Moore family, standing together on the same team, on the same court.
From Class A’s point of view, hoping for victory, it was an exhilarating sight.
But then, as they stretched, the two locked eyes.
“…….”
Hector glared at Simon with a look that could kill.
“Ease up a little, Hector.”
Simon said softly, and veins immediately popped on Hector’s neck.
He strode toward Simon, who didn’t back away and lifted his chin. Other students on the court panicked and tried to hold them back.
“Hey! Hey! Not again!”
“You’re on the same team today!”
An extreme mismatch.
Class A students were suddenly filled with worry.
‘Can those two even play as a team?’
Superb.