The chosen date is apparently the equivalent of Sunday in this world. There are no classes, giving the students a day to relax before the dreadful Monday comes once again. A break, heh? Sounds nice, but it’s too bad, because this day is also the day I can find myself literally “broken” if I’m not careful.

The battle arena is located at the south-west part of the castle. Of course, with the name Arena, obviously I don't come here expecting it to have the size rivaling the Roman’s famed Colosseum. This place isn’t exactly small, roughly the size of a small indoor futsal field, but it nonetheless isn't that impressive in term of size. From what I can see, the battle arena is round in shape, built from solid gray stones, with two gates located at the east and west respectively which act as entrances for the participants. Also, the amount of seats for spectators isn’t that astonishing either, it can barely hold about one hundred people at most. I have a feeling that rather than using this arena to serve a wide array of spectators, it was built for the castle’s lord own entertainment, for simple duels instead of wide scale chaotic fights. But that isn’t what I should concern about right now. I have a bigger fish to fry.

Today, I’m gonna have my duel with Amadia here. And depends on this fight’s result, Deborah will have to fight as well if I happen to lose this fight. Though should I lose this fight, I may not be able to keep my life to have a front row for their cat fight. So my only concern right now is to win and live for another day. Failure is not an option.

The challenger and the challenged are not allowed to meet before their big battle. I heard that it's an old tradition or such from the words of the Arena’s guards. Because of that, they told me to wait in a waiting room before my turn to fight arrives. Visitors are allowed, so Deborah, along with Caelan and Iola come to give me some words of encouragement. Well, mostly Caelan and Iola. Deborah just stands there watching us talk.

After both of them have said their parts, Deborah tell them to leave first and let her have a quick strategy briefing with me. They silently obey. Now, the only people in the waiting room are just me and Deborah.

“That girl…According to the intel I told Caelan to gather from gossips, that girl is the type who usually ends her fights within the first attack. Her lightning spells are fast, hard hitting and nigh-impossible to dodge. Also, there are no obstacles in the arena, which means no places for you to cover yourself. Of course, I know full well you’re the type of fool who would attempt to outrun lightning bolts on foot, so that isn’t exactly a bad news for you.”

I let out a brief smile in respond without interuptting her briefing.

“Even with that, if she is forced into a prolonged battle, the girl can still project powerful protective barriers to defend herself. There are no special gimmicks in her battle style. Either she defeats her opponents with the first attack, or she goes the cautious way and switches between defense and offense. A simple-minded girl, doesn’t make her any less dangerous though.”

“I see.”

Seems like Deborah’s report ends here. I gaze to her eyes and say my parts.

“Thank you for these informations.”

I quietly sit tight while planning for countermeasures. Despite the end of her report, Deborah doesn’t look like she has exhausted all of her conversations options with me.

“It’s still not too late to forfeit, you know? The worst thing that would happen is for me to fight that girl, but that's only for me. It won't take long for the battle to end, but certainly it won't be short for you to recover, should you fall before her.”

“Didn’t I tell you already? I don’t do things half-assed.”

I answer.

“Now you’re just being stubborn. I mean, what are you going to do out there beside being that girl’s punching bag? Are you content with getting yourself injured or killed? What good is honor, dignity, pride when you’re dead meat? Out of the many who put their lives at stake for the sake of glory, how many of them got remembered in history, and how many have their names lost to the endless flow of time?”

“Deborah…”

So that’s her way of view…

“I have no problem with cowards or being a coward. I think I even admire people who can throw away their honor, dignity, pride just to live another day. Even if you do so, I won’t judge you for this choice of yours. I won’t even mind if I have to go there and fight that girl instead. All I ask of you…is just think about this a little more careful and wisely.”

That girl sounds pretty worried. Well, her pet dog is gonna have a dog fight, I guess it’s natural for a master for not wanting to see their pet got hurts, right?

But it’s too bad, because i’m not her pet. I am myself, thus, I will decide how I want to live my life, not her.

“You’re right. Dignity? Honor? Pride? That doesn't mean anything when you’re dead. It is natural for people to throw away everything in order to live another day. I can understand that.”

“So you’ll reconsider!?”

“HOWEVER!”

Before her bright smile could shows itself on her lips, I interrupted Deborah with a big yell.

“I can't throw away what I never have to begin with. Dignity, honor, pride…I have none, in my own world, and in this place. That is why…I will go out there to take them and make them mine!”

That’s right. Everything starts with zero, it’s also my current status right now. I don’t want to live under another’s shadow anymore.

Deborah’s reaction begins with her enraged eyes and ends with a sadden frown. She turns herself away, without bothering to look back at me when she’s talking.

“Fine. Fine then! Do what you want. Go out there and get yourself killed if you like it that much! Your life and death isn’t of my concern to begin with anyway!”

For all of her big talk, if she doesn’t want to concern about me then she wouldn’t have said such words like that. This girl doesn’t know how to conceal her emotions, doesn’t she.

I let out a happy smile, knowing there’s still Deborah behind my back. Yeah, I’ll be fine living here if there’re people like her around.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I never go for fights I don’t have a shot at winning!”

“Even so…!”

Before Deborah can continue, a staff member of the arena comes inside the room and tells me I have to get ready, for the upcoming fight is only minutes away. That means Deborah has to leave right now. She looks a little disturbed, which isn’t exactly something I want to see on her beautiful face.

“I’ve told you once, and I will tell you again. I may not be able to defeat that girl within five seconds, but I swear, I won’t make it last longer than ten!”

“…You better make it happen!”

Says Deborah with a firm and solemn voice before she leaves. And when she does, I become the only one remaining in this room. However, the fight is gonna begin soon. I have little time left. But that’s enough for me to have a moment with myself.

I put my left hand on my right pocket, on the place where I keep that thing. My trusted insurance when I first came to this world.

I can do this. If everything I planned fall into places, I can win this! There’s no going back now. Either I take a risk with everything I have, or die trying.

When the staff member tells me the time is up, I stand up and walk to the battlefield waiting in front of me.

------------------------------

The crowd turn their attention to the fighting ring the moment a copper bell was rung. I walk from my side of the arena to the ring's interior, while Amadia emerges from the gate opposite of mine, with a smile full of confidence and her gaze fixated on the little crowd across the Arena. A person holding a staff and shrouded in a set of grey cloak, masking almost every inch of their body, has already waiting for us at the center of the fighting ring. When both of us step on the ring, Amadia stops her feets and just stand there, waiting. Naturally, I also do the same. I turn my head to the spectator’s seats. After several look, I finally find Deborah sitting on a bench along with Iola and Caelan, watching the battle unfold.

Of course, as per tradition across both worlds, Caelan is having some snacks bought from the Arena’s vendors while urging the two girls beside him to have some, only to be turned down.

“I will now explains the rules.”

The cloaked person speaks. The voice resembles that of an adult man. Maybe this guy is here to act as our match’s referee.

“The rules are very simple: Victory will be decided when one among you is unable to continue the fight, either through exhaustion, defeat, surrender, or death. Killing your opponent however isn’t recommended. You are free to use any magic or weapon as long as they are not classified as forbidden by the law. Also, there is no time limit, so keep fighting until a victor is decided. In order to ensure your safety, I will now cast upon you two a barrier armor to minimize the damage you may take.”

Killing isn’t recommended, that doesn’t mean it is prohibited. I see, this is the reason for Deborah’s worries. Well, even if I will get a magic armor of sort, with this frail human body of mine, I bet the minimum damage is enough to put an end to my life. She has every rights to get worried. And now I am worried as well. But it’s already too late to turn back.

The referee holds his staff high while chanting the spell. When he’s done, he knocks the staff to the ground, and thus, a faint light surrounds both me and Amadia before disappearing. I feel nothing strange, though. That certainly doesn't make my morale any better. Let’s pray that the spell worked.

“The two of you may have a word with each other before the fight begins.”

Says the referee. However, before I can say anything, Amadia has already took up the initiative. She points her finger toward the spectators - at Deborah in particular - and yells out loud:

“Deborah! The day has finally arrived! Our entangled destinies will be solved in this very day, right after this fight. Just wait there until I finish this battle!”

“A bold declaration, I see. However.”

Just as how she taunted Deborah, I also points my finger toward Amadia’s face as I myself announce my own intention.

“Your opponent right now is me!”

“You’re right. You are the one I should focus on right now…Deborah’s familiar!”

Amadia slowly turns to my direction. On her face, there is a smile of genuine happiness, but mixed with a bit excitement. Amadia is a very beautiful girl, she’s not the sexy type as her succubus origin suggests, but rather, she’s the cute type, especially when she has a warm smile that could melt the coldest heart. It’s too bad that right now, she had become an opponent I have to defeat. A stepping stone for me if want to prove myself to this strange world I found myself into.

“I have finally heard about your status as Deborah’s familiar. I wasn’t there the day Deborah had her summoning, so I expected her to summon an Ancient Dragon or something of sort. But to think you were the thing that showed up…You’re probably very strong yourself if you were summoned by Deborah. My apology to think you’re just an unremarkable man at first.” The girl closes her eyes before continues.

“That is why…I will take this fight seriously.”

Her cute smile turns into a serious battle mode grin. Electrons begin to gather around the air. Behind the back of her hips, Amadia’s bat-like wings begin to flap, which act as a sign that she’s ready for a fight.

“I’m glad you think so.”

I smile back as I reply the girl. The pieces have already fall into places. The conditions have already been completed. I will win this fight, I will!

“That’s why…you’ll have the honor to be my first!”

I flip my black cloak and put my left hand in my pocket. I can feel it in my hand, my trump card that I keep hidden from the start. But I will hide it…no more!

“Your first?”

As an answer toward Amadia’s confused looks, I give out my final warning before I take the thing inside my pocket out completely.

“Let me show you…the magic of my people!”

--------------------

The young teenager takes out a strange object from his left pocket. On his left hand right now is a black, L-shaped item which he holds at the shorter end. It looks like the strange item was made from some sort of metal. However, its identity and function are completely unknown to all the people in this arena, even Deborah, even Amadia. The only one who knows what it is, and what monstrosity it is capable of, is of course its own master, Akuma.

“Amadia Deveraux, the Thunderbolt!”

The referee suddenly shouts as he point his arm toward the girl, before doing the same to the other participant.

“Akuma, Familiar of the Flame Dragon!”

“May the Great Dargoth blesses both of you with victory. You may begin the fight!”

The referee claps his staff to the ground. His whole body becomes a white mist that instantly flies away from the ring. On the arena, only the young human man and the succubus girl remain. They exchange gazes, before taking their individual battle stances.

The invisible clock is ticking. Both sides want to end the fight as fast as possible. The question is how to achieve that objective, and both have their own solution to fulfill that.

A sweat drops from Amadia’s left cheek. Her go-to battle tactic has always been taking the initiative and defeat the opponent as swift as possible. Right now she does intend to goes the usual way. However, the enigmatic item in Akuma’s possession is making her feel anxious. Is it a sword? Is it an axe? Or maybe it is his magic wand, but she has never saw such an enigmatic wand in her life before. Amadia curses her limited knowledge on magical trinkets, but nevertheless, she forgives herself considering even the most knowledgeable scholar may not recognize the items carried by a familiar from another world.

I’ll be cautious this time then…

Such thought crosses Amadia’s mind as she finally choose her battle tactic. And so, she takes a cautious approach to this duel.

Amadia holds her arm toward the air in front of her. Her lips quickly chant a protective shield spell in order to solidfy her defense.

“Oʜ ƚʜɘ ǫob oʇ olb, ʜɘɘb my woɿbƨ ɒnb dlɘƨƨ mɘ wiƚʜ youɿ qɿoƚɘɔƚion. Ƨʜiɘlb mɘ ɒǫɒinƨƚ ƚʜɘ wiƚɔʜɘɿy oʇ my ɘnɘmiɘƨ.”

A faint light gathers in front of Amadia. Her gathered soul energy begins to take form as an intangible and nigh-invisible wall which transmogrifies the air around her. Her magic shield quickly takes form and will protect her from any magical harm coming from by her opponent. Amadia lets out a silent sigh of relief after she’s finished her defenses.

All of this have already took three seconds out of Akuma's self-imposed time pool.

Paralleling with Amadia’s preparations for her defense, Akuma also does some moves of his own. While she’s busy erecting her own shield, using his left hand, Akuma points the strange object toward Amadia, with his finger slipped into some kind of strange socket between the shorter and longer end of the black metal item. Despite Amadia's still in the middle of fortifying her magic shield, Akuma takes no noticeable action, except for his trembling hand as he handles his item, and his anxiety-filled gaze that he gives to the girl in front of him.

Back to the fight. After she’s done with her magic shield, this time, Amadia begins to switch to the offensive. She intends to finish this fight with a simple lightning bolt, just like how she always did in every fights before this. However, right now, Amadia feels safe knowing she is protected behind a strong magic shield she personally created. Along with her knowledge of the familiar in front of her being next to zero, Amadia feels like she has to go all the way in order to finish this fight with her as the victor. That means a bigger spell, a stronger spell, and an unavoidable spell. And she has such a spell in her disposal that can be readied in three seconds.

Amadia holds her right arm up to the sky. Lightnings begin to gather within her palm and is taking shape as some sort of spear or javelin.

“⅃iǫʜƚninǫƨ ɔomɘ. Tʜunbɘɿƨ ʇɒll. Hɘɘb my ɔɒll ɒnb ʜɘlq mɘ ɿoɒɿ. Ꭾɒƚʜɘɿ youɿ ƨƚɿɘnǫƚʜ ɒnb ƚɒʞɘ youɿ ʇoɿm. Ꭾivɘ mɘ youɿ oɒƚʜ ɒnb ƨʜow mɘ youɿ ƚɘɿɿoɿ !”

The purple lightning within Amadia’s palm begins to shine even brighter. From the bolts gathered, a spear was formed, almost twice the size of Amadia’s height. It is comparable to that of mighty Zeus’s famed lightning bolts from the myth of Akuma’s old world . And now, a girl holding such power in flesh and blood is standing before Akuma’s eyes, readily to throw such thing toward him in order to pierce through his mortal flesh to pieces.

If I were to take such a hit, I’ll die.

Although amazed by the sight, Akuma's anxiety has yet to escape from his eyes. The glasses on his face can’t hide everything his eyes showed. The fear of death readily pumps the blood inside his body to match the speed of his beating heart. The young teenager begins sweating and can't stop trembling. However, he still stands firm as he tries his best to keeps his morale from breaking with a faint smile on his face.

“THIS ENDS HERE!”

Amadia shouts. The girl gets into a throwing stance to prepare for her upcoming attack. The ten seconds limit is almost over. The next attack will be the deciding one for both of them.

“Yes…this ends here.”

BANG!

A loud noise comes out from Akuma’s strange item, at the same time when Amadia throws her lightning spear. A small light flashes from the top of the item. Within its barrels, a piece of molded lead comes out from the item, with speed bordering on breaking the sound barrier itself and velocity that can tear through iron plates. That thing pierces through Amadia’s powerful magical shield like it was butter and hits the right side of the girl’s abdomen, wounding the girl as the result.

The throwed lightning spear doesn't go to the intended mark when Amadia was staggered the moment she got attacked. The spear shoots straight to the audience behind Akuma – the students who are watching what was expected to be a boring fight with an already decided victor, at first. However, the very moment the spear gets near the audience, it hits into some kind of invisible wall and slowly disperses, leaving the spectators unharmed, but not unfazed.

However, the word unharmed…should be the last word that can be used to describe Amadia’s current state right now. Red blood flows out from her wounded abdomen, causing her fancy white shirt to get stained blood red. The strength of her limbs begins to fade. Yet, the girl has yet to fall. The pain may have already took control of half her body, but her will still persists on fighting. A glare, Amadia gives her opponent a frightful glare as an act of defiance.

But it also becomes the cue for Akuma to finish what he started.

BANG ! BANG ! BANG ! BANG !

Four more loud noises, four more holes appear on the beautiful, desireable girl’s body. The poor girl begins to cough out blood. The arena and the audience is frightfully silent in awe of what is happening before their very eyes. Mixing with the girl’s small puddles of blood on the ground are tears coming from her eyes. Amadia is crying, but she tries her best not to shatter her strong image she created ever since her enrollment here. Her legs are shaking, they look like they will fail her in any moment’s notice.

“No…it is not supposed…to end this way…”

Her teary face, her wounded body. The once mighty succubus right now isn’t any different than a pityful girl.

Victory has already been decided. However, Akuma lets out no triumphant smile, but only an uneasy, regrettable look on his face. Akuma lower his left arm and points his right’s to the direction of Amadia.

“It’s already over.”

Like a magic word a stage magician always shout whenever he show the audience his tricks, the very moment those words come out from his mouth, Amadia gives in to the pain and falls to the ground unconscious. The ten seconds mark also ends along with this.

“The fight has been decided! The victor is Akuma!”

The referee appears once again after confirming the winner. The audience just give out a small applause, still in awe of what just happened. Never before have they seen a fight that could give them so many questions and so little answers in such a short duration.

However, there is no denying the very truth before their eyes. An objective truth.

This is Akuma’s victory.