Chapter 37 - Pride Cos Before A Fall (1)
Soren Arden POV
Soren stared down at the pieces of paper in his hand, lost in thought as he rembered the teaching assistant's earlier explanation.
– These are duelling tickets. Each student will be given two of these, and they can be used to apply for duels against other students. However, students can not apply for duels against anyone of a lower rank for the sake of fairness.
– There is also another rule, usually, applying for a duel would only require a single ticket, but you can still be turned down. By using both tickets at once, however, you can force an opponent to accept your duel, granted that all of their slots haven’t been filled, of course.
The rules were simple, familiar to Soren, but Soren’s mind was tangled in sothing else entirely.
‘Who should I fight?’
Ranked ninety-six, there was almost no one who could challenge him aningfully, and even if soone could, the victory would be hollow, they were too low ranked to matter.
‘Maybe I should just fight so weak students…’
His desire to stay hidden, to avoid the main story at all costs, had only grown.
Every action he took seed to ripple outward, threatening to upend events he wasn’t even ant to touch.
Soren had seen the consequences of seemingly small mistakes before, back on earth.
The guilt he felt from thinking
“Why not use this as an opportunity to fight soone strong?” Lilliana suggested as she took a sip from her mug.
Soren tensed.
“But wouldn’t I just be destroyed if I did that?”
“Uhm… Think of it this way. If you fight soone a lot stronger than you, even if it’s over quickly, you can still learn sothing from being the one standing before them. You’ve grown, sure, but you still have a ways to go compared to the higher ranking students. This could be a chance to see your future rivals in action.”
“Future rivals…?” Soren asked, his voice tinged with confusion.
“Mhm.” She nodded confidently. “They’ll be your classmates in the future anyway. You’ll face them soday, so why not now?”
Soren rubbed his neck awkwardly at Lilliana’s words.
‘Will I ever be that strong?’
He appreciated her faith, but he couldn’t share it.
Soren knew he was weak; he had been reminded of that ti and ti again.
“There’s no harm in trying, is there?” Lilliana added, “Rankings won’t shift much either way.”
Soren exhaled slowly.
“That’s true… Well, why not?”
But the question of who he should challenge lingered.
He needed soone competent, but not overwhelmingly so, soone whose eccentric genius wouldn’t crush him before he even moved.
His thoughts circled endlessly, then his gaze fell on Lilliana herself.
‘Wait, why don’t I just ask her?’ He thought as he looked at his small pink-haired friend who was currently scooping honey into her mouth.
Because of everything going on lately, he had almost forgotten that Lilliana was, in fact, a professor.
“Who do you think I should challenge then?” he asked.
“Cough! Cough! Give a mont,” she said as she reached over and took a drink of black coffee.
In the end she nad a student, a student that Soren had never even considered.
And just like that, Soren’s only opponent for the second mock duel had been decided.
Or at least that’s what he thought until a particular person appeared before him.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
“I challenge you to a duel, Soren Arden!”
Soren froze, his eyes widened.
‘What the fuck?’
A tall boy who radiated confidence, with golden hair and piercing blue eyes strode through the classroom door.
It was Alex.
In other words, the hero.
The very person whose existence made the story tick.
The protagonist had just challenged Soren to a duel.
He tried to respond, to protest, but no words ca, his chest tightened as waves of anxiety ca crashing over him.
He hadn’t asked for this, he hadn’t wanted it, getting too involved could ruin everything, and yet it had already happened.
‘Why is this happening? I’m not ant to be a part of this…’
He was aware that the events of the story had already been ssed up, but this was a step too far.
Not once had he ever interacted with Alex; the only ti they had even been close to each other was the ti just after transmigrating, when Soren went to check whether Alex existed.
‘So why is he here?’
A smaller figure peeked out from behind Alex with brown hair.
It was Olivia.
His heart sank at the realisation.
‘I helped you, and this is how you repay ?’
Alex stepped forward, cutting through Soren’s thoughts.
“You, you’re Soren Arden, right?” Alex;s voice was firm and unwavering.
“...Yes.”
“Duel .”
Soren’s thoughts spun.
‘Why is this happening?’
‘Why now?’
The cracks in the story showed themself, the unintended consequences of his actions appearing before him, clear as day.
He had already ddled too much.
“Hmm… He doesn’t look interested, Liv.”
“I promise it’ll be fun!” Olivia said cheerfully.
He glanced at Olivia, who was beaming with excitent, and felt a pang of betrayal.
She didn’t see the pressure he was feeling, she didn’t understand the thoughts circling in his mind, it left a bitter taste in Soren’s mouth.
‘This… this isn’t just a duel. If I ss up, the story falls apart…’
“If that’s what you say, Liv… well then I’ll use both tickets, how’s that?”
Alex’s declaration sent waves through the class F arcane studies classroom.
– He’s using both tickets against Soren?
– Soren must be strong then!
– Eeek–! The hero is in our classroom!
But for Soren, it was just painful, he felt cornered.
Alex’s use of both ant there was no refusal, no escape, the choice had been snatched from him.
“...Fine,” he muttered, barely audible even to himself.
Alex nodded and stepped back, Olivia in tow, leaving Soren sitting there, the tickets in his palm.
Soren exhaled slowly.
‘This is going to be a problem…’
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
“What’s wrong?” Alia’s voice interrupted the storm of thoughts raging in Soren’s mind.
“The Hero challenged .”
Alia frowned.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Soren sighed as he rembered what Alia was really like.
“No. Not for .” Soren shook his head.
He turned his attention back to the small fla in his palm.
‘Should I just forfeit?’
The story was already fractured, Alia’s shifting interest, Olivia’s premature awakening, both caused by his interference.
If not for him, then the story likely would’ve gone on as he knew.
It was all his fault, every crack traced back to him.
What if the actions he had taken had ruined everything?
TKS wasn’t exactly the most challenging ga in the world, but it was still difficult, difficult enough that without a full party, it was next to impossible to beat.
What if Soren’s actions had caused a bad ending?
Or worse, what if Soren’s actions killed Alex?
It wouldn’t matter whether his choices had been accidental; at that point, everything would already be over.
If Alex were to die, the entire story would fall apart.
As shown in [Bad Ending - 1 : Fall of the Hero], if the hero died, not only would the Demon Lord win by default, as they had no rival, engulfing the world in war, but Aryn, the goddess of ti, would also stop watching over the world of Ivansia, thus taking away their divine power.
So what now?
Should he just give up and help with the main story using his knowledge?
Soren shook his head slightly.
‘That’s impossible…’
Every instinct scread at him to back away, to avoid the danger and hide from the consequences of stepping further into the story.
Unfortunately, however, his current situation was an unavoidable one; instead of challenging the class C student like Alex originally had, he had instead challenged Soren, a class F student.
This happened because of Soren’s greed.
If he had just ignored the quest he had been given, none of this would have happened.
But now it didn’t matter whether Olivia had instigated it or not; the damage had already been done.
‘So… What then?’
The fla flickered back and forth for a while before Soren abruptly closed his hand, crushing the magic circle as he raised his eyes to look at the sky overhead.
Sothing Lilliana had said was stuck in his head.
– There’s no harm in trying, is there?
If everything had gone as planned, Alex would have been thoroughly thrashed in the upcoming mock duel, which in turn pushed him to train harder, not wanting to disappoint those who were calling him a hero.
This was a crucial event that, if not completed, could have spelt disaster for the story's future.
What if, because Alex didn’t train hard enough, he died against the first boss?
What if, because Alex didn’t lose, he beca arrogant, and he was unable to find party mbers?
Could Soren fix this?
In theory, all Soren had to do was the sa: fight Alex and win.
‘Is it even doable though?’
He clenched his fist, the anxiety nearly immobilised him.
‘What if I screw everything up?’
‘Is it even possible for ?’
He wiped his face with his hand and looked back down at the ground.
‘I’m useless…’
It was only when he felt a warm touch on his hand that his thoughts ca to a halt.
Soren looked to his side, to the face of the person holding his hand.
“It’s okay,” she said softly, her calmness anchored him, though she didn’t know what was going on in his mind she still reached out to him.
A girl who had never had a friend in her entire life.
She had reached out to Soren.
A shaky breath escaped his lips as he felt her warmth.
Slowly, the storm in his mind subsided, he still trembled, still feared the consequences of his actions, but the edge of panic dulled.
He faintly smiled at the girl next to him
“I guess I’ll have to beat him,” Soren said quietly.
It wasn’t a declaration of confidence, not even a promise.
The fla of determination within Soren was non-existent, he was forcing himself forward, not because he believed he could win, but because he had no other choice.
————「❤︎」————
Author's Note -
Over the next week or so I will be going back through so older chapters and editing them to fit more in line with the chapters I've got stockpiled, mainly by making the emotional monts hit a little harder or making the action slightly better (I'm not sure it'll be successful), so any feedback about this chapter would be helpful.
(For reference I have up to the end of the first sester/ act 1 stockpiled at the mont so there's no risk of running out anyti soon.)
I know it's a little ssy for to retroactively go back and rewrite a bunch of stuff from older chapters, but at the end of the day this is my first novel, and It's not like I'm changing a huge amount, just how clearly my intentions co through on the page.
On another note, I finally got through the waitlist on my artist and now a Lilliana reference sheet is in progress! I'm not sure who's going to be next after Lilliana, but it will likely be a character who will be appearing in a few chapters as I really like the design and personality I've given her, well either her or Yvette, depending on how I feel :>
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