I walk down the stands and enter the waiting room— completely unmotivated to do this. As Pink said, there’s no way I can win against Zakira.   

I mean, if I had that Unnamed 01 skill, then maybe…?  

Ah, never mind, no need to think about using something that costs freaking 50,000 life points. How many points do I have right now?   

[3612. After removing the consumed points, you only earned about 212 points since you woke up at the hospital. Remember, your system is not glitched anymore— there’s a timer to level up. And if you don’t earn enough points by then, you will miss out on the Unnamed skill. And believe me, you don’t want that.]  

[So, you need to up your game, buddy.]  

True, but you know how the last few days have been like. All this matter about the Chaos magic and everything— I am actually surprised that I gained any points at all.   

Anyway, I hope I will get a decent number of points at Evelyn’s brothel today. And I can also ask her about the trip to the Elf Kingdom there.   

Let’s see…   

“Jacob!? There you are! Enter the arena, please!”  

I don’t even get to properly sit in the waiting room before my name gets called out by Miss Laura— my class teacher and one of the coordinators.   

“Alright…”  

Lazily, I get up and drag my feet to the arena. Though, to my utter surprise, the pitifully dull crowd suddenly starts roaring with excitement. While Zakira’s diehard fans jeer at me, others are actually cheering for me.   

“Wow…”  

It looks like I got more popular than I thought. Well, winning against the Elven princess was pretty cool (and unexpected for everyone), to be honest.   

Sigh… But now, my pathetic defeat is going to be even more embarrassing. I mean, all these people actually believe that I have a chance to win against Zakira. They are going to be so disappointed seeing me get knocked out in a second.  

Is it too late to dig a hole and bury myself?   

[Yes— Yes, it is.]  

…   

As I enter the arena, Zakira also stands up from her seat and walks down the stands (while waving back at her fans). Then, standing on the opposite side to me, she folds her hands and stares into my eyes with a serious expression.   

“That spell of yours worked against Ilyrana, but don’t think it will work against me as well. I will dodge it before it even comes close,” she says with confidence.   

…   

There we go. She already knows how to counter my spell. Great.  

[Well, if you really want to win, you can just order her to stay still and get blasted by your attacks. She’s your slave, after all.]  

I know, but wouldn’t that be a dick move?   

[… Yeah, it kinda would.]  

“Alright! We are in the quarter-finals! It’s a bit earlier than expected— but that’s all more fun!” The student doing the commentary says, getting his microphone back from Principal Winde.   

“Anyway, this is the last duel before lunch-time, and it’s also one of the most anticipated ones yet! The extremely beautiful, immensely strong, and mesmerizingly graceful Princess Zakira versus the plain-looking Jacob, also known as, “the guy who got lucky against Princess Ilyrana”!   

“Let’s see who will win! Though we already know who it’s going to be. You cannot get lucky twice, can you?”  

…   

Who is this fucking bastard!?   

I quickly and discreetly flash my middle-finger to the fucker before facing Zakira again.  

“Yeah, fuck you, too, you mother— Sorry! Sorry, Miss Laura! My tongue slipped— won’t happen again! I am sorry!”   

The bastard hastily apologizes to Miss Laura as she approaches him angrily.   

“A-Anyway, let’s start the duel! Three… Two— No, please don’t take the microphone, ma’am— one! Go!”  

Zakira immediately gets into a stance, ready to jump aside should I fire the Chaos-ball. But when she notices that I am not doing anything, she quickly raises her hand and waves it at me (like she does against other weaker opponents).   

The next instant, I sense something weird happening. Magic condenses around my body, trying to enter my head. I’ve actually seen Zakira cast this magic before. Every time, her opponents just lose their consciousness and fall down like a rag doll.   

I wait for the same thing to happen to me as well— but it doesn’t. While the magic is getting concentrated around me, it isn’t actually coming close enough to do anything.   

Even Zakira looks bewildered at this phenomenon. With a frown, she waves her hands again, repeating the magic. But there’s no result this time, either.   

She didn’t forget how to do it, did she?   

Nah, that’s impossible… Anyway…   

Taking advantage of Zakira’s confused state, I quickly launch a barrage of fireballs at her. She doesn’t even try to evade, taking the damage head-on.   

Of course, nothing actually happens to her due to Naomi’s wide-area barrier, but she does lose a chunk of her mana.   

Looking slightly pissed now, Zakira gives up on the spell she was trying to perform and throws back a fireball at me— or, well, she tries to. Instead of a fireball, just a few feeble sparks flows out of her hand.  

“Seriously!?” She shouts exasperatedly.  

Using this chance, I throw my second-most powerful spell at her.   

“Explosion!” I shout.   

*BOOM*  

A thunderous blast occurs in front of Zakira, loud enough to make me want to cover my ears. Its force is so powerful that even Zakira gets lifted off her feet— though as expected, she does land back safely without even losing her balance.   

This is the first time I’ve used this spell on a big scale (usually it’s just small pops), and it’s even stronger than I imagined.   

The crowd cheers vigorously, finally getting the loud and explosive duel they were expecting. On the other hand, Zakira looks exceedingly frustrated. She is continuously trying to conjure the fireballs, but all she’s getting are sparks.   

Wait, don’t tell me that I unconsciously ordered her to lose…   

*Woosh*  

All of a sudden, a fireball finally forms in her hand and gets lunched towards me with a whooshing noise.  

What the actual fuck!?   

The sheer size of this thing is terrifying. It’s nearly twice as big as I am! My fireballs don’t even compare to it.  

With a dreadful feeling, I thrust out my hand to erect an Earth Shield— already well aware that it’s not going to stop this monster.   

But well, I cannot run away either, can I? It will just follow me around like a guided missile.   

Just as I get ready to word out my spell and duck down, I notice something peculiar. The fireball is not actually coming straight at me. In fact, it’s greatly off the mark.   

Zakira is desperately trying to change its course but to no avail. The fireball is readily heading everywhere she wants except to where I am standing.   

Damn… What is happening? This is so weird…   

[Is it? I mean, there’s only one explanation for anything weird that happens between you and Zakira— the Blood Bond.]  

…   

True… I definitely didn’t order her to lose, though. Maybe, it’s because she cannot attack me, her master, at all?  

[That seems most likely.]  

I see… Well then… Ahem… Let’s continue.   

As Zakira tries (and fails) to direct her attacks at me, I also shoot back all the offensive spells I know (except the Chaos-ball, obviously).   

As this goes on, I realize how vast Zakira’s mana reserve is compared to mine. She’s constantly using powerful spells while her mana is getting aggressively eaten up by my attacks as well. But even with this, she’s still going strong.  

Maybe realizing how fast her mana is depleting, Zakira finally sets up a bunch of strong barriers to protect herself. But well, this fails terribly as well. I don’t know how, but my simple spells are simply passing through her barrier as if they don’t even exist.   

Seeing this, Zakira gets so shocked that she even forgets to continue her attack— simply staring at her useless semi-transparent barriers.   

But unlike her, I don’t stop throwing my spells. In fact, I am having a massive adrenaline-rush that is helping me attack even faster.   

And like this, after a few more minutes, Zakira’s knees finally buckles, and she loses strength. Though instead of falling down pathetically, she manages to sit down on the ground while breathing heavily.   

“Yes… Yes…”  

I finally stop conjuring spells— nearly exceeding my limit as well. To be honest, I am barely standing at this point. My mana is so low that it’s a surprise that I haven’t lost my consciousness yet.   

…   

“The winner… The winner of this duel is Jacob!” Miss Laura declares after taking a moment— as if coming out of a dumbfounded trance.   

And the crowd erupts in applause…