Chapter 38 - Pride Cos Before A Fall (2)
The day of the mock duel had arrived.
Unlike the first ti, the first-years were practically buzzing.
The air in the arena humd with voices and laughter.
There was, of course, only one reason for that.
[Hero Alex vs Soren Arden]
It was the headline duel for today, the one everyone wanted to see.
Students had even gone so far as to place bets on the outco.
On one side was the new hero, Alex.
Golden-haired with piercing blue eyes, the prophecies chosen one.
Despite being ranked dead last in martial studies, no one dared to look down on him.
Everyone here knew that one day he would beco a true monster.
On the other hand, there was a student nad Soren Arden.
If you had ntioned his na a few weeks ago, the most you would have gotten in response was a confused shrug, but now?
Now there were stories.
Even ignoring his beautiful appearance there were plenty of other things that had made waves throughout the first-years.
The first friend of Alia Indras Einhardt, the Wild Wolf.
The “moving mage” who fought like a warrior while flinging around spells.
The class F student who miraculously placed second in the midterm practical.
And while Alex was the star, Soren was the curiosity, the anomaly.
It was the first ti in the academy’s history that a duel between two class F students was the main event of a duelling examination.
So, how was the school’s “mascot” handling all the attention?
‘Fuck. Fuck, why did I agree to this? Should I just forfeit? There’s still ti. Maybe if I do it right before the duel I can sneak away…’
Soren’s chest tightened as his mind spiralled, panic clawing away at his mind.
Ever since Alia had cald him down days ago, he’d managed to keep himself together, just enough to function, but as the duel grew closer, the anxiety returned in waves.
He felt like a man walking towards the gallows.
And worse: the status window hadn’t given him a quest for this duel.
That absence gnawed at him, he couldn’t help but doubt himself even further.
Had he chosen wrong?
Beside him, Alia studied his face in silence.
She had been with him long enough to recognise the storm beneath his calm exterior.
Although his posture was steady and his expression controlled, she could feel his nerves like heat bleeding through the air.
The problem, however, was that Alia couldn’t understand his fear.
To her, battles were exhilarating, to him they were a trap.
“It’ll be okay,” she murmured, lightly holding his hand.
It was the only comfort she knew how to give, and besides, it had worked before, hadn’t it?
But Soren didn’t even register her touch this ti, his thoughts were too loud, drowning everything else out.
It was only when another voice cut through that he flinched back to the present.
“Hey-hey! Are you doing alright, Soren?”
Olivia’s cheerful tone crashed into his panic like cold water.
“Ah–! I’m fine, Olivia, are you?” He spoke too quickly, too stiffly, as though forcing himself into normalcy.
“...” Alia’s lips pressed into a thin line, he hadn’t noticed her attempt to ground him whatsoever.
“I’m good! Are you ready for your duel later?”
“...Yeah.” His reply lagged a beat too long, his voice thinner than usual.
Olivia, oblivious, carried on smiling.
Her presence twisted the knife further into his gut.
Olivia, the girl whose awakening he had interfered with, the one whose tiline was already off-track because of him.
She had no idea how much her involvent terrified him.
“Are you going to be alright?” Soren asked suddenly.
“With what?”
“Your duels. You’re… a priestess, aren’t you?”
“Oh…” For the first ti, her smile faltered. “I’ll be fine… haha…”
His mind replayed the last mock duels: Olivia darting around like prey until a single strike had ended her fight instantly.
“There you are, Liv, I was looking for you.”
Flinch
That voice, steady, confident and much too bright.
Soren stiffened.
“Ah! Sorry Alex! I was talking to Soren.”
Alex smiled and turned toward him.
“I forgot last ti, so I’ll do it now. Nice to et you. I’m Alex, no family na, class F, ranked 125th… and I guess I’m the Hero.” He held out his hand.
The gesture should have been simple, but for Soren, the world slowed.
His throat locked up and his chest squeezed.
The Hero, the very pivot of the story, was standing before him.
For a few seconds, he could only stare blankly at the offered hand.
“...Apologies,” he finally forced out, the word stiff and awkward.
He took the hand but released it quickly, as though it hurt to touch.
“Soren Arden. Rank 96th. Magician.”
His voice was clipped and formal, a world apart from his usual tone.
Olivia blinked at the exchange, confused by the coldness in his voice.
“Is sothing wrong, Soren?” she asked softly.
He shook his head too fast.
“No.”
Alex, undeterred, tried to continue.
“I’m looking forward to our duel, Liv’s told a lot about you.”
“Right.”
The single word dropped like stone, the conversation died upon impact.
Soren knew how strange he sounded, knew Alia was staring at him, her confusion clear, but the weight pressing down on him made words feel impossible.
He couldn’t breathe, let alone make small talk with the protagonist of the story.
Alex’s smile faltered, just slightly.
“Well… I don’t want to be a bother, so I’ll see you later, Soren. Liv, shall we go?”
Olivia glanced back at Soren, her expression was tinged with worry, before following behind Alex.
The silence that followed was thick.
Finally, Alia spoke.
“What was that?”
Soren’s jaw tightened.
“What do you an?”
She stared at him a mont longer, then sighed.
“... Never mind.”
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
[Rank 96 and Rank 5 of arcane studies, please co down to the arena.]
“It’s my turn.”
“Good luck.”
He nodded and walked down to the arena.
On the way, he grabbed a handaxe from the rack and muttered under his breath.
“「Status」”
.
[Status Window]
Na: Soren Arden (1★)
Age: 18
Race: Human
◈ Stats
Mana - 1.6 (E) [Increased by 0.2]
Divine Power - 0.8 (F ) [Increased by 0.3]
◈ Skills
- Basic Magic
└ Ignition (C) [Increased by 1]
└ Shock (C-) [Increased by 1]
└ Breeze (E) [Increased by 1]
- Blood Magic
└ Blood Absorption (E-) [Increased by 2]
- Pain Tolerance (F ) [Increased by 1]
- Basic Axemanship (F)
.
It had been almost a month since the midterms, and Soren hadn’t wasted that ti at all.
Between his tutoring sessions with Lilliana, his light physical training in the evening and his proficiency training that he does whenever he has mana or divine power, he had raised his stats and skills a decent amount.
Just the other day, he had made a significant breakthrough on blood magic upon reaching E- in [Blood Absorption].
That breakthrough was the ability to finally absorb blood through physical touch rather than just orally.
It wasn’t much, but the fact that he had already reached that point in such dangerous magic was a great sign.
However, despite all his growth since midterms, despite all the hours of training, all he could think when he looked at his stats was a single thing.
‘It’s still weak.’
Those words clung to him like chains.
“So why did you challenge , Soren Arden?”
Soren raised his head to find a mountain of muscle before him.
Carlen Frenun, ranked 5th of arcane studies.
A class A mage with the body of a warrior.
That ant this person was one of the strongest students in all of first year.
This was the opponent Lilliana had chosen for him.
– Well, if I had to give a na, it would probably be Carlen.
– Why? Uhm, if I had to give a reason, it would be because, unlike the other class A students in the magic major, Carlen isn’t as eccentric. As you know, most of the higher-ranking students have a few screws loose, and while Carlen isn’t an exception, he is better comparatively.
Her reasoning was nothing special, but Soren decided to trust Lilliana’s judgent and went to Carlen, both tickets in hand and after sizing Soren up, he agreed readily, even if he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Soren rembered Lilliana’s words, and another mory too.
– If he’s anything like his brother, he might just help you if you ask honestly.
Soren swallowed, throat dry, his nerves scread at him to shut down, but instead he forced the words out.
“I’m weak,” he said flatly. “It sucks to lose all the ti.”
The honesty startled even him.
Carlen raised a brow, folding his arms, his sharp gaze studied Soren closely.
“Hmmm…”
————「❤︎」————
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