‘Where am I?’

I got up from the unfamiliar bed as I noticed my exposed front-side.

‘Did I pass out?’

My body was sore, but it wasn’t too bad.

I looked at the time-telling device on my wrist to see that at least a day had passed—and more importantly, I skipped all of my classes.

So I headed to the general office… No, I need a change of clothes first.

The ones on me currently were from yesterday I believe, and not only was it in tatters, but I’m pretty sure I rolled around on the ground a lot.

‘Did I lose?’

I did.

But strangely enough, I wasn’t disappointed.

Rather, I was motivated to fight again!

‘If I’m not wrong, the Magic Festival should be starting around now…’

A thought came to mind.

A genius thought.

‘I’ll go check it out and sign up for the Magic Tourney.’

Fighting was on the menu.

***

After getting my attendance sorted out and all that, I was basically done. The Magic Tourney was going to happen in a couple days, so there was that.

But with my current restless state, I was craving a good fight. I couldn’t put it off for a couple days just to wait for the tourney.

“Gather round folks! We have here some Mirror Fighting! Get some pearls while you’re at it and enjoy the match!”

‘Oh, what’s this?’

I headed in the direction of that loud voice to find a humongous crowd gathering.

Making my way through, the distinct smell of pearls filled the air as almost everyone had bags of them.

They tasted alright, but I heard they were unhealthy so I tried to stay away from them.

“Up here, we have a new challenger! Introduce yourself!”

“HAHA! I am Bergamot! Remember that name! HAHA!” shouted a giant man with bulging muscles.

On the stage, the contrast between this giant of a man and the announcer made the man appear that much larger.

“Here insert your—.” The announcer was cut off as Bergamot placed his hand on the announcer’s hand.

“Insert my mana, right! Haha!” With that final laugh, the object in the announcer’s hand started glowing.

I couldn’t see what it was since I was stuck in the middle of the crowd, plus, the man’s giant hands were covering it. From what it sounds like, it appears that he was channeling his mana through some artifact.

“Alright, now remember if you feel you are in any danger, jump—” The poor announcer was cut off again.

“That’s impossible! I’m Bergamot! Hah!”

“Yes, then I will start it now.”

And with that, the announcer hopped off the stage as a rift appeared at the center of the stage.

My eyes blinked and a mirror had already replaced it.

Now that I had pushed myself to the front of the crowd, I could see what was going on with my own two eyes.

‘What the heck is that?’

“WOO!” The people beside me and many others started wooing as they saw it too.

Coming out from the mirror, was a giant furry hand.

It gripped on the frame of the mirror as it pulled itself through, forcibly enlarging the already large portal.

“ARRRGHH!”

That loud roar startled many, but the man on the stage responded with another laugh as a smile broke out on his face.

With a swift movement, he drew the blade from his backside and rested it on his shoulder as though it was a pedestal.

Seeing that, the audience broke out in a cheer again.

“AGRAAAWWW!” With a final growl, the creature yanked itself through the mirror to reveal its massive appearance.

On the stage were two humanoid beings of great stature.

The masculinity of one of them was enough, but the presence of another one made it clear that this was a battle between two mammoths. They were beasts duking it out for their territory.

On one hand was a human too big to be called a man.

On the other hand, was a humanoid creature even greater than the man. It had fur all throughout its body besides its face, which was of an intrepid red. Red was the color of war.

And facing this beast head-on was an even more fearless man who wielded a giant sword the size of an average person.

“RUSHING THUNDER TAAAAAAAAP!” The man exploded forward with his sword pointing forward as he used his body’s running momentum to stab it into the humanoid beast.

The beast who had stood there clueless only realized what was happening when he had long been stabbed.

Lodged in its stomach was a blade large enough to make incisions straight through flesh and into organs.

“OWWWWAAAARRRGH!”

The beast came down with a roar of pain and anger as it brought its fists down on the man.

I had expected him to circle around the creature, but instead, he faced it straight on again as he ditched the sword to arm wrestle the downward smatch.

As palm met palm, the man exploded forward from his squatted posture as he pushed the creature’s hands back.

“OWWWAAAR!” The creature growled.

“HAAAA!” And he growled back.

It was a show of what brute strength could do to a man.

“ARRG!”

As the monster was blown away from the earlier bout, the man pursued it, not letting it escape.

The sword was still poking out.

With a single palm strike, he smashed the sword’s handle.

Saying that was a disservice though.

I likened it to a fist penetrating straight through the sword.

So like a spear, the sword poked through to the other side, making a disgusting tear from the back.

“ORRAAAKKSSS!” The beast hissed in shock, not having expected such acute pain.

Even if the creature defeated this man, it had become obvious that it wasn’t going to survive as it would succumb to internal bleeding or organ damage sooner or later.

Curiously enough, no blood spilled out.

The creature, unable to do anything else in its fit of rage would soon meet its end as the man started shouting something else.

“BERGAMOT FINAL SLASH ATTACK!!!”

As he shouted that, he blasted off from the ground.

I found my mouth open unconsciously as I watched him jumping through the air.

With another laugh, he landed on the handle of his sword when it was still lodged in.

“OOOAAAH!” The beast, as though knowing its end was near, let out its last cry.

It didn’t do anything.

Because it couldn’t do anything.

As the giant of a man stepped foot on the sword’s handle, the blade sticking out from the beast’s back shot straight up, cutting through its spine like pearls. Crisp crackling ensued.

The man was using his blade like a lever to cut straight through the creature vertically.

I was surprised to see it working because the concept was so absurdly ludicrous that I never thought such a move existed in reality.

‘So this is how you use a sword…’

It was a feat that I could not imagine myself replicating.

This man had reached a level of sword mastery that I didn’t even know existed.

‘Amazing.’

The man had reached the ground as he stayed balancing on the sword’s handle. The beast no longer talked, signifying the finale. And till its end, there was no blood spilt.

As for the sword, the middle section was still balanced on top of the beast’s pelvic bo—.

*Crrrkching

*Boom

And there it goes. Crunching through.

The sword fell faster than the corpse, but somehow the man retrieved it right before it cemented itself into the ground.

Like that, the beast laid there.

Glory and organs spilled out, but still no blood.

I hadn’t even noticed it as my attention was enchanted by the one-sided battle, but the mirror had disappeared some time ago.

Silent seconds passed as a blue aura manifested itself in the monster’s flesh, eventually turning finer and finer to a clear white.

No one was touching it, but that illuminated body started fading away as though someone was grating its flesh like cheese.

Dots of transparent glowing particles floated off as it was carried off by the wind.

When the creature’s remains had all cleared off, it was as though nothing had happened at all. No evidence of battle. And no sign of fatigue.

“REMEMBER MY NAME! BERGAMOT!!!” With that everlasting cry, the man stuck his sword up in the air.

“BERGAMOOOOOOOOT! YEAHHHHHH!!!”

I was clapping to this performance, as did everyone else.