I jumped forward. "Yeah, seems that way." I chuckled. 'Longsword.' My saber became longer and more streamlined. I sheathed my sword and held the saber with both hands. "Well, let's see if you can keep up." It was just more or less a bluff though.

Why the hell was I talking so much?

I actually didn't know. I didn't know why but this fight was strangely enjoyable like it was some sort of game. Was I so sure of victory that I already assumed I'd win either way?

I didn't know that either.

But I did know one thing, fighting felt a bit too natural. And I had the thought to destroy and stuff. It was easy to suppress though, at least now. I guess the shadow was rearing its head again. I really wanted to bury it deep inside my brain at times so it'd never come back up again, but oh well.

"We'll see about that." Well, Clyde sure was talking way too much too.

He intensified his speed some more with electricity and came at me with solid speed. I could trace him but blocking everything was impossible. Even with the particles and the dodges, I was still getting scratches here and there.

So much for him keeping up with me. Now I couldn't keep up with him. I guess the bluff backfired.

I did have a trick up my sleeve, but using it here wasn't going to net me anything and I had to wait for the right time.

"What's wrong?" Clyde taunted and kept on inflicting small wounds on me.

I guess he was finally going all out. He wanted to win that badly, huh?

Or maybe he just hated losing.

"Nothing." I kept on dodging but sure enough, this was getting kind of out of hand. And I was losing more and more stamina by the second. Not to mention the wounds just kept on accumulating.

Wasn't this a violation of the rules though? I guess not, since no one said anything.

But I needed Clyde to be more confident. After all, the more confident he'd become, the more arrogance he'd show.

And he didn't disappoint. He came straight for my neck this time!

He was intent on finishing this and so was I.

'Turn into a scimitar.' The moment he came near me, I switched to a scimitar and used its round edge to cut Clyde. He tried to deflect it while trying to cut me too: obviously, I used a barrier: why wouldn't I? I still got a cut on my left arm but Clyde's one was definitely deeper, and it was rather close to his neck.

He landed on his feet just behind me and fumbled. And that's when my secret move came into play. 'Barrier-'

My grin intensified beyond reason. This was the perfect opportunity!

Clyde fell on the ground on one knee. He wasn't hurt that bad and he was about to get up immediately. But it was all over.

"Match set! Helio wins!" Dick declared and the crowd cheered.

Well, this really was something and it would have been rather close if it weren't for that stupid rule of nothing other than feet touching the ground. The moment Clyde had fumbled, I kind of erected a large barrier behind the poor guy and shoved him straight at the ground. It probably wasn't the best way to end this fight but it sure didn't stop me.

I sighed in relief. Secret move was a grand success!

Clyde wasn't satisfied though. "Hey, we can't stop now! We haven't settled anything! And- and that wasn't fair!"

Sorry, but my fight was already over and I'd won. I didn't have any reason to fight.

I took a glance at the headmaster's seat and they were all getting up. My eyes met with the all of theirs even that Rock whatever guy. Everyone had a smirk, even uncle.

I guess they weren't going to create any problems today. It was actually strange how all those big names didn't actually cause a stir today. Were they waiting for something?

'Tomorrow's finals?'

"Well congrats!" Dick clapped his hands and so did the crowd. Next he proceeded to announce the details of tomorrow's match.

Apparently, it'd start at 10 rather than 3. I guess I didn't have school tomorrow then. I was actually both glad and a bit nervous. This was new. I was excited to have won but the fact that I had to directly fight with Marg and get my answer was nerve-wracking. But I wasn't going to back down. I already wanted to confront her and nothing was going to change that.

I did feel cold feet though. 'Get it together, you can't back out now.'

The crowd kept on cheering and eventually they started to walk out. Angelmen wasn't happy though. And I guess I wouldn't have been either if I were to be in this kind of situation, and in his shoes. But a rule was a rule and there wasn't anything he could do about it. It was never a contest of pure strength anyway.

In the end, he didn't create a commotion. The ones who lost all offered me their bittersweet praises. I guess some of them even hated me. Totally understandable.

Robert however offered his sincere praise and left: not a shred of animosity. He was probably an expert at hiding his feelings. Angelmen didn't even come near me.

And then there was Leilis. "Oh, my love, I never doubted you for a second." She almost jumped at me but I dodged. She fell flat on the floor. "Playing hard to get?" She winked.

"Sorry, but I'm not into all that."

And why the hell was she trying to get near me? I thought I told her to stay away.

She did smell good though. When'd she had the time to actually apply perfume?

Why'd I notice?

It was chocolate flavor.

"Hey! You said you wanted me to change and I changed. You better take responsibility!" Well, she sure didn't want to stay away, that was clear.

What the hell was she even saying? Were all her screws loose?

Yes!

I got weird looks from all the participants around me. "Calm down. She's just messing around."

I sure hope she was. Otherwise, this could get ugly fast.

"Oh, just messing around? So, our night together was also just messing around with you?" She sulked and I could see where this was going. I really could. "Back then you even said-" This woman wasn't as dumb as I thought. She used all her cards at exactly the right time.

If I did anything to her now, it'd only backfire.

There were footsteps coming towards us from behind and I really, really could see where this was going. 'Shit.'

I dared to turn.

Trouble spotted!

Initiate running procedures!

Failure!

Grabbed by a wild gorilla!

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, we want an explanation." Selene smiled.

"She's talking about how she almost assaulted me." I tried to be honest.

I could see Leilis blushing a little. What the hell was wrong with her?

There was a loud chuckle. "I'd expect no less from my nephew!"

"She was the one doing the assaulting, not me!" I broke free from Selene's grip and made myself clear.

No one was believing me though. Everyone just assumed it the vice versa.

"I-I don't have any problems with you ass-assaulting me," Raea said, shyly.

What the hell was happening and why the hell was it happening?

And why would I want to ass-assault anyone? Was that a new fetish I wasn't aware of or something? What did it even mean?

I really, really wanted to know more.

"Would you guys mind stopping this? Stop it, just stop it!"

There were faint giggles among all these people. This was totally intentional, wasn't it?

But that wasn't all. There were more people here. Eve, Rose, that pesky Battlesuin girl, Merin, Johnathan, the bunny girl. And that would have been fine. But there was a major problem. After all, Marg was among them in the back.

I swallowed and walked towards her, ignoring the rest. I didn't care what the rest of the world thought of me, but her opinion of me mattered most right now. "I can promise you-"

"You don't have to. I know you have no reason to lie to me: and I know you won't do anything that low. But I have my own questions and I don't need answers now. Think about them." She closed her eyes and opened them a second later. "Why me? Because I'm convenient?" I was about to answer but she just raised her hand and kept on going. "You can basically choose any other girl, so why me?" She again paused. "You know you'll have to contend with those fiends and my family too if you were to choose me. So, why me?" Her voice stuttered. For the first time ever, her voice stuttered. "As I said, I don't want an answer from you now." She sighed. "Lastly, will you really be content with me and not leave for another, discard me when the times over?" She turned around and disappeared.

Those were very good questions and I had just one answer for all of them. But I guess that one answer wasn't good enough and she wanted more. So, I smiled. If she wanted more, I was going to give her just that.

I turned around and the crowd was gone but my core audience was still here. "Listen up folks, I'm not the type to assault anyone. If I want to do something, I'll ask for permission first. And trust me, I will only do stuff to the person I love, nothing more and nothing less. That's all you need to know about me. So stop getting the wrong idea!" I had enough of this misunderstanding.

Selene was the first to crack up. "Sorry, but we already know that. We were just messing around, at least I was."

Followed by her a lot of others started laughing. Some of the people here weren't totally convinced though. Just how low did they think of me?

Leilis still kept on laughing though. I was definitely going to stay away from her.

But eventually, everyone congratulated me and basically, this was over for today.

I really hoped that was the case but unfortunately-