Jessabelle Morrison, a young genius out to conquer to world of magic.

Her main ambition? To surpass her father…

With her current skills that go beyond any other geniuses in this city, she was proclaimed to be quite a character in the story. With the way I’ve read about her, she had this obnoxious personality of always wanting to get the best out of everything. If she wanted a certain artifact in a dungeon, she’ll make it a priority to a point that she’ll destroy everything in her path for that item. If she hated someone, she will ultimately beat up this person until she is satisfied with the results. She always acts on her own self-interest as she lives the life of a genius.

With how talented she was, no one could easily go against her words. And this talent of her’s was the only thing that made her bearable throughout the story of the book.

Right now, what was in front of me was none other than her.

With her annoyed expression and impatient gestures of her tapping foot, she was simply waiting for the bell to ring so that the fight would start. While me on the other hand was barely staying up as my body was going through an intense build up of pain.

*Ring* the bell has rung and the fight has started.

“Don’t waste your time making a move, amateur, you’ll only suffer more if you do.” she said as she puts up a staff in front and started making a skill.

Just like mine, it was a mana spear and she had to do it by voiceless chanting.

I had carried nothing but a sword and shield on hand, it wouldn’t be long enough to use these weapons to fight her. So to counter it, I had to conjure the same attack at a fast rate.

*~Swissh~*

I fired a mana spear at a faster rate, and had to move in close with my sword to ready myself on striking her down.

and to her reaction, she finished making her spear and fired it down at my way to strike me down. She didn’t bothered to look at the incoming spear as she had already conjured a new skill.

*Boom*

My mana spear was able to come her way but it was blocked by a cover of a transparent shield.

“Mana Shield.” she said as she continued to raise her staff up to conjure a new skill while the incoming spear that she made was coming at me at a fast rate. I had to dodge, but as I jumped sideways, the spear somehow changed its trajectory and was successfully able to pierce my right shoulder. The attack had enough force that It threw me down to the ground.

“!!” the pain was unbearable and I could only ever look to her with a shocked expression.

“Surprised? Well, I can’t really blame you since the only people with a true talent for magic can make something of this calibre.” she said as she smiled ever so proudly.

As she finished speaking, two more mana spears was conjured and were thrown at me with no mercy.

I had to act fast and defend myself. So I stood up to a point that I was kneeling with one knee down pulled out my shield and sword.

The moment those spears were fired, I had to deflect them both by swinging my sword while defending myself with the spear.

The first spear came in and I immediately swung down to destroy it, and to my timing, I was able to get it, but the second spear however was thrown at a different rate, as I missed it by an inch and it threw itself down to my shield, I felt this heavy force face-front and was thrown off my feet the moment the spear shattered along with my shield.

*Thuhgg!!*

Rolling away from that attack, I stood back up and quickly made the effort to find Jessabelle.

But as I turned to find her, I was only meet with a rain of small mana spears from above.

It rained aimlessly down at me, where one by one, they were able to pierce themselves down to my body.

“!!!!!!” I only was able to hold my scream in as I felt the pain of each spear digging down my insides.

She was a brutal woman indeed.

The moment the rain of spears stopped, I could only move my eyes to the top and as I did, the light on the ceiling blurred my vision.

I could only hear a ringing noise in my ear, where it soon came to be recognized from that of the yelling referee.

“…NBIUJLKNKJbjkjkbjljnl” it sounded like gibberish…

“…ihbnkjnkOy oi….are …kbkbhweb…you okay?” I then heard a familiar word.

“…” and hearing it, I made the instinct to stand back up.

‘Are you Okay?’ was the question I kept hearing my brother asked as we sparred for over a hundred times…by then, each time I heard that question, I made the instinct to simply stand back up and ready my hands as we continued on our fight…

This was nothing different…

As I stood with my sword on my hand and with spears and blood dropping from my body, I only looked forward to the one person responsible for making me look like this.

“…Are you that desperate for a win?” asked Jessabelle as she looked rather uncomfortable with my state of body.

“…” without saying anything, I dashed in with the pain ever so numb from my body. As in this moment, I was filled with nothing but the simple instinct to attack again.

“Oi! Stop!” said the referee…but I couldn’t hear him.

And in reaction to this, Jessabelle made another set of mana spears. Four came out, twice as big. And they were fired.

*Swissh~*

*Swissh~*

*Swissh~*

*Swissh~*

One by one, they flew at my direction, and one by one, my body reacted to the notion of wanting to break those spears.

Using my sword, I struck them down one by one…

And one by one, they broke as easily as glass would.

“!?” she reacted cautiously by what just happened, but to her ignorance, I had already conjured my attack.

Due to the notion that I was given free will in this match, I had already made my decision to make it rain the same way.

Even as I ran closer and closer to her, I had the insanity to create the attacks by my will.

Not a second in and already, fifteen mana spears appeared on top of her.

‘Fall’ I thought as I made it rain down on her, and to her reaction, she unconsciously created a mana shield to protect herself.

“!!”

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

With the ring covered in smoke, I was still dashing forward with my sword on hand.

“You really are starting to get on my nerves here…”

Along with those words, a ball of flame appeared from that clouds of dust.

“…” in reaction to this, I fired a small mana spear.

*Swishh~*

When it contacted with the ball of fire, it caused the fire scatter like an explosion and seeing this, I used the chance to jump from the ring and on top of the ceiling, where I then bounced off to make my way to reach her.

“…”

“…”

But as I got through, she was already there, expecting me to attack again.

But I felt no fear in her presence. She was simply there with a rather cautious expression. And seeing her expression, I felt my struggles come to a fruition…

Her smug face was gone and her only reaction was the danger that I brought with my reckless actions.

As I swung down my sword, it clashed against her shield.

In the crackling noise of two attacks, Jessabelle simply stood there with a rather annoyed expression as she crossed her arms.

“Well, it looks like your more persistent that I could imagine…but this is it. You’re not going to taint my perfect record.” she said as she touched her mana shield and forced it to disappear.

As she did so, I made the decision to stab her where she stood, but to her reaction, she conjured another attack.

“Flamestral Vines.”

As she spoke those words, vines from the ground appeared and reached out to my arms and legs. I tried to slash them down, but their speed was superior to my reaction. So I ended up caught like rat. And right after, the vines were then consumed by a pinkish flame that ran up all to my arms and legs.

“…” I could anticipate what was to come, as when the flames reached my hands and legs, I was then engulfed by this flame.

Seeing my hopeless stature, she smiled and proposed an idea.

“Give up or else, I’ll burn you till you drop.” she said.

“…” but I only ever glared at her and didn’t say a thing.

And instead, I tossed my sword to my mouth and caught it desperately.

“!?” by then, as she saw this, she was too late to react as I went and swung my head with the sword to scratch her face.

“…Ahh!!” she screamed as blood drips from her cheeks, and glares at me to a point that she gestured her hands in the order to burn me alive.

As she closed her hands, that was when the flames grew intensely and started to burn my hands and legs, but I didn’t scream.

Although I felt the flames ever so painful, I could only look to her with a smug look on my face. I dropped my sword and spoke to her with a smile.

“…How does it feel? Does it sting?” I asked.

“!!” and in return, she gripped her hands tight and threw a punch down at me.

I received a weak punch, but I felt its hate.

“Your not getting out of this in one piece.” she said.

And with that, she conjured six big mana spears in the thin air and aimed it at me.

I could only ever smile as I felt the spears moving at a rather ungraceful speed.

*Ring*

But before she could fire, the fight ended and the referee interfered.

The spear was unable to reach me, as it simply stood floating by the front of my chest.

I could only look at this and think of what was supposedly me death.

“…You got fucking lucky.” she said as she turns her back and started walking off stage.

The vines disappeared and I fell to the floor on my knees.

“…” I could only ever look at the floor as I knew what the results were in this fight.

I lost.

“…C-can you call the medical team?” I asked the Referee nearby as my voice was shaking in the pain of it all.

“Their already on the way.” said the Referee.

And with that, I fell to the floor and lost consciousness.

I knew my body was way its limits and I couldn’t believe that I took it this far.

By the time I woke up, I was in front of an unfamiliar ceiling.

“…”

Feeling my body all over, I felt less pain than before and along with that, I felt more tired than ever. Tired enough that I couldn’t even raise my head up to look around.

By then, all I could do was wait for someone to come by.

It was clear on where I was at the moment I as I could hear the noise of the other people by my side. I was in the medical room.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.” said the nurse as he approached me.

“…What happened? What time is it?” I asked him.

“…it’s 2:00 in the morning, you’ve been unconscious for the past few hours since you’ve been brought here from the stadium.” he said.

“…I see. How long do I have to stay here?”

“Until your body gets better. Seeing how badly you were injured, it’ll probably take a few days before you get fully healed, so for now, just rest.”

“…Hmm, I see.” I said

“Do you have any family members I can call to inform about your condition? Any love one’s?” he asked.

“No, I don’t have anyone.” I said as I continued to lay on my bed.

“I understand. Well, I’ll check back on you later.” as he said this, he walked away, leaving me to my own.

“…Now then, what should I do?” as I stared at the ceiling, another person came in to check on my condition.

“…You look like shit.”

“…It’s you?” I asked as I saw a bandaged girl with bruises on her face. That person was none other than Jessica Young herself.

“…I heard what happened.” she said.

“Yeah, I completely lost.” I said.

“Yeah, sucks that you had to go against someone like her.” she said.

“…Why are you here?” I asked.

“I just came to visit and tell you that I’m being released tomorrow.”

“And?”

“…Listen, I know its direct but I just want to say that I like you.”

“…?”

“Your strong and good with the sword despite your low level. I wanna ask, how did you get so strong like that?”

“I don’t know…Perseverance I guess.” I said

“Is that it?”

“…You just have to get through all the pain and once you do, You’ll see that beyond all that pain, you can see strength.”

“…Hmm, that sounds like what a masochist would say.” she said.

“…”

“Anyway, since its kind of clear that we’re both getting into the academy, I wanna ask if you want to become my sparring partner.”

“Sparring partner?”

“You know, after classes we go to a ring and try to fight each other. Level ourselves up in the experience of crossing swords.”

“…I don’t know…”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Its just a spar.”

“Ask me that again, after we actually guarantee ourselves getting in.”

“So you’re not denying it?” she asked.

“No not really.”

“…Okay then, if your ever around, I’ll ask you again. Hope you get better by then.”

“Yeah.”

“I have to go now, my dad is coming over and I need to drink the medicine given by the nurse.”

“…It’s 2 in the morning though.” I said.

“My dad can be pretty persistent. Anyway, take care now.” as she waved goodbye, I was left to my own.