"Heh, for a second there I thought he lost." A man chuckled.

"That's not something an uncle should say!" Another man chuckled.

Both were villains. And their seat was right next to each other.

"How's it going to geezer haven't seen you around in a while. Oh yeah, heard you were going by Rock these days?"

"And all this time you were just ignoring me." The man mumbled. "And spare me that crap. It's Devrock! There's a difference." The man sighed. "Oh yeah, heard you took over after Julio. And what's this crap about a group named Albana?"

The man made an annoying face. "That was a long time ago. Where were you, under some Rock? And it's Alzana!"

Devrock grinded his teeth a little, cracked his neck but just smiled. "You wanna go?"

"I was just about to-" The man smiled.

Both were up from their seats and their grins were pretty iconic.

"Gentlemen, would you mind quieting down? It's finally getting to the good part." The only girl in the group spoke in an elegant tone. Her graceful smile was bewildering.

"Shut up vixen!" Both of them spoke at the same time and stared at each other, and a second later broke into severe laughter.

Strangely they were in sync when it came to hating a certain someone.

"Now, now, let's not forget our arrangement-" The headmaster finally spoke. "Unless you want to be kicked off this island that is." He grinned.

Both of the men laughed hard but took their seats anyway.

"Say, Excrucio," Devrock started. "You sure you wanna let the kid do that."

The man- Excrucio started. "I'm not his dad. As a responsible uncle, I'll let him do whatever he pleases. Personally, I really like it when the kid gets a little beaten up. Actually, I like it when everyone gets a little roughed up these days." He laughed. "Oh, look he's getting beat up again." He laughed some more.

Devrock laughed hard. "Where's the responsibility in that?"

Excrucio didn't pay much attention to Devrock anymore. His eyes were locked onto the seat to his right, behind the headmaster. Apparently, the only girl in the group- Hyora was staring at him. "What? You want to die?"

The phrase 'you want to die' was kind of an insult to Hyora, after all, she was immortal.

Her smile didn't falter. "How about we strike a deal?"

"Since when did tigers made deals with foxes?"

Hyora had fox ears, so the compliment kind of stung. Her smile still stayed though, albeit a bit forced. "But it would be in your best interest. After all, with this, everyone would win."

"Well, why don't you humor us?" There was one man among the five who hadn't yet spoken so far. He was a noble and didn't want to be part of vulgar words. But- finally, he chose to be a part of this anyway. "Then again, I never thought my daughter would be so capable. I might have underestimated her."

Excrucio snorted and just glared, ignoring the man altogether. .

While Devrock and Roger just chuckled.

"We've found it. The last chunk of Zurkomim." The girl grinned. For the first time, her elegant smile was replaced by something vulgar.

"Xurko wha-?" Devrock got tongue-tied.

The rest of the three pairs of eyes, however, were wide open in shock.

"And you're saying this to me because?" Excrucio grinned. Things just got a bit more exciting.

A Zurkomim ore was bad news and even Excrucio knew that.

"I'll let you have a piece of it."

"What?" Now everyone was confused.

Zurkomim was basically the only effective way of restraining powers and yet, she was going to halfheartedly hand it over to her enemy?

There had to be more and Excrucio wasn't dumb enough not to know that.

"I just have one condition." Hyora's smile again turned vulgar.

***

I was still kind of wounded and though my healing was a lot better, if I got attacked again, I was in some hot trouble. The same went for Marg. If she came after me halfheartedly, she wasn't going to get out unscathed either.

One part of me wanted her to attack so I could counter, the other part wanted her to not attack so I didn't get hurt

It was almost like I was waiting for her to come at me while also wishing she wouldn't. The feeling was weird. And I was just being a hypocrite.

She did attack me though. And fairly quickly too. But instead of teleporting, she just swung her sword. Left swing, right swing, uppercut! She was good but- with just one swing I knocked her saber off. Needless to say, she immediately teleported and picked up her saber.

She again came at me. Most of her attacks were kind of linear but her powers were kind of overpowered and she could easily attack me from my blind spots. Though my barrier was good at preventing any more wounds, at least kind of.

Her sword skills were good, there was no doubt about it, but strangely it was a bit too ceremonial. It almost felt like she'd learn the skills in some kind of class but never got to use them. Maybe that was the case, maybe it wasn't. I didn't know, and I didn't care.

There was only one thing I cared about.

I was going to win.

So, without thinking too much, I run for her, she didn't leave and met me with full force. The two sabers connected and I didn't realize but- apparently, she stole my sheathed sword. She was about to attack me from my blind spot again. I had to hand it to her, even if her style was linear she really knew how to damage me.

In a split second, I was pierced straight through my right lungs with my own frigging sword: the barrier didn't even put up a fight. I guess she made sure not to strike my heart.

I threw blood and stumbled. So much for winning. Marg didn't let me fall to the ground grabbed me. Both our sabers fell on the floor but my sword was still sticking out of my chest.

"I love you too," Marg whispered. "But- when you wake up next time, I will be gone. I love you and that's why I don't want you to get involved. If I were to hurt you, if you were to get hurt for my sake, I won't be able to forgive myself. Besides, even if you were to free me, my mother still remains captive." Her eyes sparkled but she didn't cry. "And I really can't forgive myself after this but- take care of yourself."

'That's all I need to know.' I smiled. Marg was close and I was going to make sure she stayed close.

I knew she had feelings for me and I had feelings for her. But since she wasn't being clear about it, I couldn't do anything, but it all changed now, right this moment.

"Sounds good to me. But- it's upto me what I choose. I won't give you up, not because I'm selfish, no, but because I'm crazy about you. And I'm serious." I grabbed her tight. "And I don't think I'll lose consciousness anytime soon." I winked and went straight for her lips.

She didn't see this coming one bit.

At first, she protested but a second later, she gave up, grabbed my upper torso, and her eyes leaked.

It felt weird to kiss her like this and there were now blood marks on her lips. Then again she still had that bruise from the first punch.

"Hey, someone stop that!" There was a moron yelling somewhere in the stadium. I knew mom was right next to her, so I just ignore it.

Her voice definitely wasn't calm though.

"Don't blame me for what happens next." Marg's eyes leaked but her voice was strangely calm.

"Yeah, I won't. Oh, and I win by the way," I winked.

"Fine." She half giggled half stumbled. "I give up." She raised one of her hands.

A sigh came from my left and the large barrier was gone. "Helio Romswell Jintel wins…" Rose said in a loud voice. "Somehow," She mumbled. Well, she sure was disappointed.

"Hey, I heard that-" I threw up some more blood.

Yeah, not my best day.

The reception was kind of mixed. Some were cheering way too hard, wishing and stuff. While others were booing and glaring at me like I'd murdered their pets in cold blood or something.

Humans were weird.

"SO," Marg grabbed my hand.

"So?"

"What will you do now?"

"I'll talk to your father about your mother later and…. Pass out now I guess?" I had a friggin sword sticking out of my chest, what else could I do?

And yes, I did pass out a second later.

But just knowing that I'd won in life was enough to make me feel good about even passing out.

Okay, maybe it would have been a bit better if I wasn't dying from the pain. And maybe it would have been even better if I didn't have a sword sticking out but I did feel a lot better. I had new responsibilities but- I wanted them and I was going to live life without regrets.