After getting his relics appraised by Hammond and squeezing in every bit of training he could, the day of the duel finally arrived.
This time, when he woke up, his chest was quiet.
No crushing weight.
No suffocating dread.
His heart was beating a little faster than usual, but it was steady, not frantic.
Soren sat at the edge of the waiting room bench, hands loosely clasped between his knees, and took stock of himself.
'...I'm not nervous?'
The realisation felt strange.
Every other time he had gone into a serious fight since transmigrating, his body had reacted first: tight chest, sweaty palms, stomach twisting into knots.
He had always needed to force himself forward in spite of it, bracing himself against panic and pretending he was fine.
Now, though, the feeling was different.
His thoughts were clear, and his breathing was even.
He stood up and checked over his gear one last time.
Bloodrop was clipped into his ears, dangling comfortably.
The new glove from the Goblin King's Nest snug on his left hand, the leather tight around his fingers.
Labrys, hanging by his waist, the faint weight reassuring.
He rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers.
His mana and health were in peak condition; he had made sure of that.
No lingering fatigue from late-night training, and no dull aches from overusing mana enhancement.
Physically, he was ready.
Mentally…
He took a slow breath and let it out.
He was in the best state he had been in for a long time.
The guilt that once made every action feel like a crime against the dead was still there, buried in the background, but it no longer choked him every second he moved.
He still had questions he couldn't answer.
He still had fears he couldn't do anything about.
But for this moment, those could wait.
Right now, the only thing in front of him was a duel.
A rematch.
He looked up at the translucent window hanging in the corner of his vision.
There was no quest notification, no glowing prompts, no lines forcing this battle into some prewritten role.
Just like last time with Alex, this duel had no attached system rewards.
No clear "reason."
It was just a fight between two people, testing their strength.
That was enough.
The duel timer in the corner of his vision ticked down toward zero.
Soren stood, straightened his cloak, and left the waiting room.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
The stone corridor leading to the arena felt longer than last time.
His boots echoed softly against the floor as he walked, the noise swallowed by the distant murmur of a crowd.
As he stepped out into the passage opening onto the arena floor, the sound hit him in full, voices mixing, the low buzz of hundreds of conversations blending into a single wall of noise.
He paused just before the entrance and lifted his gaze toward the stands.
He had expected to see a few familiar faces, but he hadn't expected this.
"Aren't there way too many people, though?" he muttered under his breath.
This wasn't the smallest arena where he had fought Ivan.
This was the next one up, a mid-sized arena that could hold just over five hundred people.
And most of the seats were filled.
Students from all four majors and a variety of years were packed into the stands.
Some were leaning forward with clear excitement, others whispering behind their hands, a few holding papers that looked suspiciously like betting sheets.
'What the hell…?'
Of course, Alex was popular; he was the hero, after all.
But popularity only went so far.
Alex still hadn't properly "proven" himself in the eyes of the public.
His defeat of Murmur had been widely spread as a group effort, and most of his "feats" so far had been rumours and fragments pulled from the mouths of impressed witnesses.
Even considering that, however, this crowd felt excessive.
It was nearly the size of an entire year.
Soren's eyes moved automatically, scanning the stands.
He spotted Olivia first.
She was sitting near the front, hands folded on her knees, expression serious as she watched the arena.
Beside her, he saw Esper waving a small piece of paper with an excited grin as Felix complained about something next to her.
Louise sat with one leg crossed over the other, hand under her chin, watching calmly.
Amelia was easy to spot with her ears, arms folded, golden eyes fixed on the arena.
Finally, Lilliana sat at the end of their row, pink hair tied back, her gaze worried yet trusting.
Seeing them all there made him smile.
'…Still, this is way too many people,' he thought as he finally stepped out onto the arena floor.
The cheers rose automatically, though he noticed something strange.
Alex was already standing in his place at the opposite end of the arena, checking his sword as he waited for Soren to arrive; a familiar calm smile rested on his face, the sort that made people unconsciously relax.
But the audience's eyes were not solely on Alex.
A large number of them… were watching Soren.
He felt the weight of their gazes slide over him.
'Did I do something…?'
Since the beginning of the second semester, he hadn't gone out of his way to stand out.
Sure, he had created his own club with a ridiculous name, and yes, the members were all people the academy considered noteworthy, but this level of attention still didn't make sense.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice from ahead.
"Did we discuss rules?" Alex asked, snapping Soren out of his daze.
Soren blinked, then walked to his starting position and faced him properly.
"Nope, but you already know this wouldn't be fair unless I could use relics, right?"
"Hmm…" Alex tilted his head slightly, tapping his sword against his shoulder. "I'm not sure if that's true, but I have no problem with you using them."
"Good. Have you got anything you want to add?"
Alex fell silent, eyes narrowing a fraction as he thought.
Then he lifted his chin.
"No forfeiting, we'll fight until one of us is unconscious or unable to fight. Deal?"
Soren frowned.
"What the hell are you planning? I don't want to be knocked out."
"But if I don't say this, you'll probably forfeit if you think you're about to lose, right?" Alex said with a faint smile.
Soren opened his mouth, then closed it.
…He couldn't argue with that.
He knew himself better than anyone.
In a fight like this, where no one's life was on the line and nothing tangible was at stake, if he saw a clear loss coming, he would absolutely choose the option that made him suffer less.
It was practical and efficient.
Alex clearly didn't want that.
"I don't want you to give up halfway through," Alex continued calmly. "I want to see how you'll do until the end."
Soren clicked his tongue.
"…Fine," he said eventually. "Just, if you use that, hold back a little, alright? Last time it hurt like hell."
Alex didn't respond directly.
He simply smiled, the kind of honest, straightforward smile that was annoyingly difficult to dislike, and shifted into a ready stance, sword held low at his side.
Soren let out a slow breath and mirrored him in his own way, sliding Labrys from his waist into his hand, feeling the weapon's familiar weight.
[Soren Arden, are you ready?]
The overseer's voice echoed through the arena.
Soren nodded silently.
[Alex, are you ready?]
"Yes," Alex replied.
The crowd settled.
[The duel between Soren Arden and Alex will commence in…]
The countdown began to ring out across the arena.
[3…]
He rolled his shoulders once more, grounding his feet against the arena floor.
[2…]
His heartbeat quickened, but in a controlled way, like a drum he was choosing to follow.
[1…]
He inhaled.
[Begin.]
The instant the word rang out, Alex moved.
He dashed forward with explosive speed, his sword glowing as it rose high.
"Not even giving me a moment to breathe," Soren muttered, though there was a faint smile tugging at his lips.
He stomped his foot into the ground.
"「Freeze」."
Ice burst from beneath his boot, spiderwebbing outward across the arena floor.
It was thin and brittle, hardly enough to bind anyone in place, but that wasn't the point.
Alex's charge faltered for a moment, his foot slipping slightly as he adjusted to the slick surface, and the glow around his blade flickered as his focus shifted.
That was all Soren needed.
"Do you always have to ruin the ground?" Alex complained as he swung his sword in a wide arc, shattering the ice near his feet. "It's annoying."
"Sorry, but I'm a bit weak, so I have to do things like this," Soren replied dryly, lifting his left hand. "「Shockwave」."
The magic circle unfolded in his palm and detonated with a roar.
An invisible wave of compressed force shot straight toward Alex.
Alex planted his sword point-down into the ground, his stance dropping low.
「Fialova Swordsmanship – Iron Wall」
Clang—!
The spell slammed into his blade with a heavy, metallic sound.
Dust and loose fragments of ice lifted off the ground from the impact as Alex took a small step back, shoulders tensing.
"Weak? Are you kidding me? Just a few months ago, I could shrug that spell off with my bare body," Alex repeated, looking up with an incredulous expression.
Soren lowered his hand.
"I never said I haven't gotten stronger," he said, shrugging.
Purplish-silver light began to gather in his hands.
"But you've seen the rest of our group."
"I know what you mean, but you're not normal either," Alex admitted with a quiet laugh.
Soren's brow furrowed.
"What are you on about? 'm the only normal one in our group. Everyone else is either a monster or strange in their own way. I call to you, goddess, hear my name and help thy champion. 「Minor Blessing of Agility」."
A faint ring of silver light spun at his feet, then rose up, dissolving into his body.
.
[ Minor Blessing of Agility has been applied! ]
.
His limbs felt lighter, his body a fraction quicker in response.
Across from him, Alex moved one foot back and lowered his stance, sword resting along his shoulder as his expression shifted.
Fwoosh—!
Golden mana flooded the air around him, dense and oppressive, as if the atmosphere itself had thickened.
"I'm sorry to say this, Soren…" Alex murmured.
His blade began to glow, aura flaring.
「Olfram's Fang – Lion's Claw」
"But you're not normal either."
Alex's body shot forward.
He crossed the distance between them in an instant, step carving a deep gouge into the ground.
Three sharp trails of mana followed his blade, like claws tearing at the air.
"「Shield」."
Soren raised his left hand and conjured a translucent barrier of light in front of himself.
At the same time, he pushed mana through his circuits.
A faint silver glow shimmered over his body.
It was barely visible compared to Alex's overwhelming gold, but it was there, mana enhancement, thinly spread but solid.
Gasps came from the stands as a few people noticed.
The fact that two class F students were using mana enhancement so freely was outlandish.
— Mana enhancement…? For a mage…?
Soren didn't have time to care.
He raised Labrys and angled it toward Alex, already knowing that [Shield] alone wouldn't hold.
Shatter—
Alex's technique ripped into his defences.
Two of the three mana lines collided with Labrys and the barrier, sending cracks splintering across the shield.
The last line slipped past his guard, carving into his thigh with burning pain.
His teeth clenched.
His feet scraped across the arena floor as Alex's strength bore down on him, forcing him back step by step.
"Okay, I know that I'm not completely normal," Soren muttered as his boots skidded. "But compared to all of you, how can there even be a comparison?"
Alex didn't answer.
He simply smiled, pressure never letting up, watching Soren's reaction with open interest.
"Are you really not going to answer me?"
"Hmm…" Alex's eyes narrowed, but his smile stayed.
Soren clicked his tongue.
'Fine.'
He stomped his foot again.
"「Gaia」."
The earth beneath his boots softened like wet clay.
The shift in terrain was small but sudden.
Alex's weight, still pressing forward, sank just a fraction, his stance dipping at the unexpected change.
For a split second, his balance wavered.
That was all Soren needed.
He dropped his guard.
Labrys lowered, letting Alex's sword slide past, scraping along the steel and missing his centerline.
The blade still caught his shoulder, slicing it open with a hot line of pain, but Soren ignored it; he twisted his hips, bringing his right fist back.
Just before his fist shot forward, he activated the skill in the glove.
The relic responded instantly.
A brief surge of power flooded his arm, dense, compressed strength filling his muscles for a heartbeat.
His punch slammed into Alex's side.
Thud—!
Alex's body jolted, knocked back a step, the momentum of his attack broken.
"I knew that skill sounded useful," Soren said, exhaling as he pulled his fist back.
He could already feel the glove turning "empty," the effect fading just as quickly as it came, but that short burst had done its job.
"Cough—" Alex winced, one hand going instinctively to his side. "Guessing that's a new relic?"
"Yeah, got it at the Goblin King's Nest. Didn't you go there too?"
"I wasn't as lucky as you," Alex admitted with a click of his tongue.
He lifted his free hand and muttered an incantation.
"Stitch thy flesh, I end thy agony. In the name of Aryn, 「Heal」."
Soft light wrapped around his side, knitting the internal damage with practised ease.
Soren blinked.
"Oh? Since when have you been able to do that?"
"Liv's been teaching me, I thought it would be useful. Shouldn't you do it too? You don't look so good."
Soren followed his gaze down.
His thigh and shoulder were bleeding heavily.
The cuts weren't shallow, and the blood was already soaking through his clothes, dripping onto the arena floor.
He rolled his shoulder once.
"It's fine."
Then he raised his left hand slightly.
Blood gathered in his palm.
"I have my own method."
Alex watched the blood pool on the floor, then lifted his eyes again, expression curious.
"Anyway, why don't you tell me what you meant earlier?"
"Do I really need to say it?" Alex replied, a smirk tugging at his lips.
The mana around him intensified again, golden aura pressing heavier against Soren's skin.
"I'd appreciate it. Since I think I'm pretty damn normal considering how insane this place is," Soren said dryly.
"Hmm…" Alex lowered his stance again, sword at the ready. "I'll tell you if you win."
"Bastard,「Hemokinesis」"
The blood soaking his clothes and the droplets staining the ground responded to his will.
They rose into the air, gathering at his side, forming a dense orb the size of his fist that hovered beside him, shifting subtly with his breathing.
He felt eyes on him again.
Up in the stands, a few students flinched when they realised exactly what kind of magic he was using.
He didn't care.
Alex continued to dash forward, but just before he reached Soren, he slammed his foot into the ground and stopped cold.
His sword lifted, tip levelling in a straight line toward Soren's chest.
The blade began to glow again.
Soren's brows rose.
He recognised that posture.
He immediately pushed off the ground, creating distance between them, his body lowering as he moved, Labrys shifting in his hands.
The compact form expanded, the axe's true weight unfolding as it grew into a two-handed weapon.
The metal gleamed, faintly glowing as mana flowed into it.
「Fialova Swordsmanship – Step-In Thrust」
Alex vanished.
No, that wasn't right; he moved so fast that to a normal eye, it might as well have been teleportation.
His thrust tore through the air in a straight line, golden mana trailing behind it.
It was so fast his human eye could barely follow it.
But Soren wasn't relying on that eye.
His other eye was already active.
[Chimera] had been silently watching.
Mana lines were clearer to him than ever now, every current, every twist, every density shift.
The moment Alex's blade twitched, Soren moved.
Labrys, in its full form, swung down.
「Einhardt Axemanship – Sundering Fang」
The axe's blade cleaved through the air with both hands behind it, the heavy arc tearing a line in the wind.
THUD—!
Their weapons met.
For a heartbeat, they were locked.
Soren felt the impact reverberate through his arms, the weight of Alex's thrust pushing against his swing.
Then Soren activated the glove again.
Another sharp burst of borrowed strength flooded his muscles.
Labrys's already-heavy weight intensified for that brief second.
Alex's standard-issue sword groaned under the pressure.
A spiderweb of cracks raced along the steel from the point of contact.
It couldn't handle it.
With a sharp, ringing snap, the blade shattered.
Fragments of metal scattered across the arena, glittering in the light.
The entire arena went silent.
"Oh…"
"Huh?"
Both of them froze for a moment, weapons lowered slightly, staring at each other with the same confused expression.
"Uh…"
————「❤︎」————