Hello everyone.

Real life has finally caught up. The odds are high that there is not going to be a chapter tomorrow. I am hopefully going to sleep. As of this post I have nothing of chapter 19 written and I missed it in my planning, so I have a random chapter to write. If any of you want something special, (within reason) I can do my best to throw it in.

I'm feeling really tired today.

Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 18: The Tournament

Damion nods, “So he just randomly collapsed after winning a fight against Kelly. I see.” Damion then looks towards me, “So, why did you collapse?”

I smile, “I can’t tell you with Mr. Grey here.”

Mr. Grey frowns, “Then I will leave after I say one more thing. His face looked incredibly pale, he was sweating fiercely and wasn’t breathing.”

Damion frowns as Mr. Grey leaves the room. He takes a deep breath after the door is closed, “Ryu, what happened?”

I frown, “I was poisoned. Someone tried to kill me, but for some weird reason they used a poison that is fairly easy to survive. I was lucky enough to be given quite an easy time with it.”

Damion makes a complicated expression, “What type of poison was it?”

I laugh slightly, “Illusion poisoning.”

Damion looks around the room nervously, “That isn’t the kind of thing you should be telling me. Did you know the chances of surviving illusion poisoning are one in a thousand? It is such a unique poison that very few people know how to make because the poison has to practically have its own personality in order to properly work. It will read the memories of the person it has been put into and alter them. It will fabricate future, then give you a trial, then change your memories from the past. If you manage to pass all of them without getting injured. You live.”

I frown deeply, “I don’t need to know who poisoned me or why. What I want to know is it possible to survive it again?”

Damion smiles, “Illusion poisoning is a curse as well as a gift. Believe it or not, if you can survive illusion poisoning once, you will never be poisoned by it again, you will only feel slightly light headed for about five seconds. Maybe a bit more.”

I sigh in relief, “Thank goodness. Anyways, I’m going to head back to class as soon as I can stand up.”

Damion frowns, “No. Go back to your room and sleep… actually I’m going to force you.”

Damion walks over to me and puts me on his back. I try to fight, but my body is still feeling slightly restricted. I frown, “Why can’t I go back to class?”

Damion smiles, “You won’t be able to do much because of that poison. I can tell that you don’t have full control of your body. I will secretly take you back to your room. What will happen if the person who poisoned you is in your class, then you go back and they see that you are fine, won’t worse things come out of that?”

I laugh slightly, “Won’t I just be going back to class tomorrow?”

Damion smiles, “Tomorrow is the class tournament for your class. It will make it infinitely easier to find anyone who tries to kill you during the class tournament. I’ll talk to Mr. Grey about all this, but I will leave out the poison part because that is a serious matter. I will ask you about those illusions you saw at a later date if I can remember. Anyways, hold on tight.”

Damion leans forwards slightly. I grab on as tight as I possibly can, as I have a feeling that I know what he is about to do.

[Velocity]

He uses a skill that increases his speed for a short amount of time.

I wish I was still at the ninth realm.

Damion makes it to my room in seconds. He quickly opens the door and then tosses me in. He smiles at me, “Be good and stay here until I come and personally get you. Do not open the door for anyone. You should use your laptop… but be careful. I got a call from someone in the UKC and they said that you requested a visit to sell information. I approved… but they said they will be here in two weeks.”

I shrug my shoulders, “Yeah, I requested them to come. If I can get a higher ranking card I can look up useful information.”

Damion sighs, “Whatever. I’ll be back here tomorrow to collect you for the tournament.”

I frown, “Don’t treat me like an object.”

He laughs as he closes my door and I am left silently in my room.

Well then. I guess I can play games on my laptop.

-------------The Day of the Tournament--------------

I slowly open my eyes. My body feels much better after a night of rest.

I was playing games for the entire afternoon yesterday. Having faster reflexes from being at a higher realm really made some of the games easier to play.

Enough of that, I should get ready for the tournament. I have someone trying to kill me.

I have a quick shower and clean up my prosthetic.

I sit back down on my bed and attach the prosthetic.

I wonder how Jared is doing. I haven’t seen my mother in a while either. Is she a teacher along with being the vice principal?

I take a deep breath as I lay down onto my bed. I hope my plan for this works.

There is a knocking at my door, “Ryu, it’s time for the tournament.” It was Damion’s voice.

I stand up and walk to the door, “Awesome, I’m already ready to go.” I open the door and see Damion carefully looking down the halls.

He sees me and smiles, “Okay. Let’s go now. You have everything you need?”

I tilt my head, “Is something wrong? I already said that I was ready to go.”

He frowns, “I’m just trying to be cautious because of the poison. I haven’t been hit by it so I’m not immune like you. Most people are usually scarred for life after going through illusion poisoning. I had a friend who died because of encountering it.”

I make a complicated expression, “Is it really that scary? Was I actually that lucky to get an easy trial for the second part?”

Damion laughs lightly, “I don’t want to know what it was right now, as any distractions could lead to some pretty serious consequences. You should still be careful Ryu. If a person can get their hands on illusion poison, and get it into the school, and poison a student without anyone noticing, they should be pretty skilled.”

I nod slowly, “If, just by chance, I capture and kill the person that poisoned me. Would I get into a lot of trouble even if I can prove that they were the ones that tried to kill me? What about if I have a witness?”

Damion frowns, “If you have appropriate proof we can send them to somewhere else… but killing is a little, much. Is it not?”

I shrug my shoulders, “I just have a lot of things to do before I can die. I need to make sure my enemies stay quiet until I can do what I need to do.”

Damion sighs, “I wasn’t expecting such a dark thing to come out of your mouth. Please try and keep it to a minimum from now on please.”

I sigh, “I guess I can do that, but it won’t stop me from achieving my goals you know.”

Damion nods, “I realize that much. So what do you plan to do for this tournament?”

I give Damion an evil smile, “Oh, nothing much.”

He frowns, “That smile worries me greatly. Anyways, we are here. Go sit with your teacher and he will tell you when your first match is up.”

I nod as I walk towards Mr. Grey, “See you later Damion.” I wave behind me without looking as I walk towards where Mr. Grey was sitting.

The dueling platforms had been surrounded with stands like an old high school football field. When did they put those together?

Mr. Grey notices me, “Hurry up Ryu! You’re up first after the introduction from the judge.”

I sit down next to Mr. Grey, “What’s the rush? Oh, is my opponent still Girl A?”

He tilts his head, “Girl A? Is that what you call her in your head? At least learn her name.”

I smile, “Could you possibly tell me her name my wise teacher?”

He sighs as he places his hand on his face. He raises his head after a while, “Her name is Juliet.”

I laugh a little, “She doesn’t seem to have a Romeo around her. Her personality seems a bit off from what I remember.”

Mr. Grey makes a complicated expression, “You seem a bit off today Ryu.”

I shrug my shoulders, “No more so than usual.”

He sighs, “Very well then. Just quiet down and listen to the introduction so you can know what to expect from the judging.”

I sit back in my chair and take a deep breath. I am a bit tense after learning about the poison I was hit with. Any normal person would be tense after learning they had a near death experience after already dying once, right?

I take a deep breath as a middle aged man walks onto the stage. He smiles widely as he looks at all the students there. He takes a deep breath and starts to yell, “Welcome first year general arts class! I will be the judge for your group today! My name is Nathan! I have been judging these things for over five years! I will judge the winner based on performance and speed of the loss! Other variables may apply depending on the situation! Remember that winning does not equal the victory!”

Mr. Grey smiles at me as the last line is finished, “Okay, Ryu you should start walking up there now. Please. For the love of god, don’t kill her. She may be a mean person to you, just let it be a fair fight.”

I shrug my shoulders, “If something bad happens don’t blame it on me.”

He sighs as I stand up and start walking. The middle aged man on stage shouts once more, “First round of the tournament will be Juliet versus Ryu!”

I walk on to the stage as soon as he is done talking.

Juliet is not far behind me, she walks on stage almost five seconds after. Her weapon choice is a blue metallic scimitar.

The crowd starts to talk, “Isn’t he the harem guy?”

“The harem guy?”

“GO HAREM GUY!”

“Disgusting. What kind of girls would want to be in a harem willingly?”

I stare towards the crowd with the fiercest glare I can. Everyone stops talking. The middle aged man on stage laughs.

He smiles at me as I look at him, “I see you’re popular lad.” He takes a deep breath and starts to yell, “Okay everyone! The first round will now be starting! Participants! Shake hands before the match!”

I nod and extend my hand towards Juliet, “May we have a fair match.”

She smacks my hand out of the way, “I don’t intend to shake hands with a cripple!” She shouts this so that everyone can hear.

The only person who is confused is the judge. I roll up my sleeve and show him. He nods, “So that’s how it is.” He takes a deep breath once more, “The rules are simple! First one knocked out of the ring or to concede is the loser! Participants get ready!” I just stand on my side of the platform. Juliet leans forwards slightly, “Five!

Four!

Three!

Two!

One!

Fight!

The middle aged man who was judging the tournament steps off the platform as he yells to start the match.

[Boost!]

Juliet sprints towards me at an extremely fast speed. I stay where I was standing.

I cover myself with just the power of earth that was in the air, creating a solid barrier.

Juliet smiles with an evil grin as she arrives in front of me.

[Lightning Slash!]

I click my tongue. Damn, lightning affinity.

Juliet hits the barrier around my body. The barrier is about half an inch thick around my entire body.

The scimitar bounces off the barrier with a loud metallic sound. All my hairs are standing on end from the lightning elements in the air.

Juliet frowns. Wait. Did she not see my fight against Kelly yesterday? If not, I can use that to my advantage.

Juliet stares at me as I stand there. I smile, “If you won’t make a move I will!”

I lean forwards and aim to kick out her legs.

She jumps to avoid my sweep. I smile as I spin into a punch with my right hand aimed for her stomach.

She aims for my shoulder with her scimitar. It bounces off the barrier made with earth power. My fist connects with her stomach.

She stumbles backwards slightly after she hits the ground.

[Surging Strike!]

Juliet uses another skill on me. She jumps towards me and moves her arm to swing at my head. It will hurt even if I am protected, there is a chance the electricity might seep through the barrier too.

I tilt my body slightly too dodge her, but she changed the direction of the sword last second and chops towards my left shoulder.

The electricity causes my arm to go numb, but there was no damage done to my arm.

Juliet swings her sword at me again without using any skill.

I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel light headed. Have I used earth power to cover my body for too long?

Juliet grins evilly, “Had enough yet?”

I grin widely, “Never!”

Her sword swings towards my body from the right.

At the moment, the barrier of earth power around my body disappears. I can’t use my internal energy either. What’s happening?

The middle aged man judging the tournament frowns.

I don’t have control over the arm if I can’t use my internal energy!

Juliet’s grin never fades as her scimitar tilts towards my throat.

Do or die!

I grab the sword with my left hand ignoring the searing pain that shoots to my brain.

“AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!” I let out an unintentional shout.

The scimitar easily slices to my bones and cuts slightly into them. Juliet has a surprised look on her face.

I take advantage of the adrenaline going through my veins and twist my body and roundhouse kick her straight in the temple.

She immediately loses her balance as lets go of the scimitar. Chance!

I breathe deeply trying to ignore the pain coming from my badly wounded left hand. I throw the sword slightly into the air and grab onto the hilt.

Juliet is practically unconscious but as she is about to stand up, I shove the blade through her right hand, carefully avoiding the tendons in her hand to the best of my ability. I pin her hand to the platform.

“AAAAHHHHHH!!” Juliet screams right before her whole body goes limp.

The middle aged man runs over, “The winner is Ryu by knockout! We need a medical team stat!”

I laugh to myself. That went better than planned for the ending. However, why could I not use even my internal energy?

A few men carrying basic medical supplies come onto the platform. They look at Juliet’s hand pinned to the ground and check her breathing. She still is breathing.

They carefully remove the sword from her hand. There is barely any blood. Seems like I managed to avoid almost everything.

The medical team frowns as they look at my left hand.

I tilt my head, “What’s wrong? I can tell right now that nothing major is wrong with it that time can’t heal.”

One of them shakes his head, “I’m not so much worried about the injury itself. Rather, it’s that you seem way too calm despite being poisoned.”

I smile weakly, “Again. What is it this time?”

He frowns, “It isn’t anything serious. Just a restrictive poison. It should be out of your system in a few hours. Just remember to drink lots of water, this poison really seems to dehydrate people…”

He makes a complicated expression. I join him with a complicated expression of my own, “What’s wrong now? Anyways, how can you tell that I have poison just by looking at my hands?”

He grabs onto my wrist and feels my pulse, “I can tell that it is poisoned due to the courses that they drilled into me at medical school. But, you seem to have another poison in your system… but it doesn’t make sense… Illusion poison.”

I smile, “Illusion poison?”

He nods slowly with a grim expression, “I’m afraid all we can do is wait for the illusions to come and then wait. There is no antidote that we know of. I’m terribly sorry!” He bows to me.

I start to laugh loudly. I had been walked off the platform long ago and I was currently going towards the main building with the medical team.

He looks at me with a sad expression, “Why are you laughing so happily?” he makes a surprised face and then his jaw drops, “You mean…”

I nod figuring that he’s guessed it, “I’ve survived illusion poisoning once. I was lucky and received some fairly easy to break illusions. I also have things I need to do before I actually die again.”

The man laughs slightly, “That’s a relief.” He takes a few deep breaths to calm himself. After a few seconds we arrive at a room with many medical supplies for treating wounds already laid out. He sighs, “This is going to sting… well… a lot, so just hold on for a second.”

He grabs a gauze pad with a sterile solution on it to clean my wound. He starts to dab the wound lightly.

By this point the adrenaline had worn off, “AAAAAGGGGHHHH!!” I let out a scream as he treats my wound.