After lunch.

I, like the naive idiot that I was, expected that all I had to do was get in, beat some arrogant nobles up, and then leave. But no, I forgot to account for the fact that literally all of Avaron knew of the duel. Coupled with almost everyone wanting to see the capabilities of the "Void slayer," it wasn't a surprise to anyone with half a functioning mind that I had to push through crowds of people to even get into the arena.

As soon as I entered the arena grounds, the chattering of the people on the spectator seats ceased, and everyone's gazes were directed toward me.

'Dammit, don't look at me like that! It feels like I'm doing something wrong!'

Granted, I was going to do some very brutal things in just a few minutes, but still!

As I made my way closer toward the actual arena, the silent stares turned into murmurs. Soon, everyone was back to their noisy chattering. 

I stepped onto the stage and locked eyes with my opponent—Eran Bytros. As expected of a Duchess' son, he was devilishly handsome.

'Though, it's only for the sake of feeding his ego so much that he nearly forces himself on Lucy...'

Sometimes I had shudders just thinking about what this bastard nearly did to my half-sister in the novel. 

That asides, I was sure that with the ferocious green eyes that he inherited from his mother and his gray hair, he could get any girls he wanted... as long as they weren't member of Arthur's harem.

And, of course, he had gray wolf ears and tail, being Duchess Bytros' son and all.

"Heh," Eran chuckled, "to think that you actually showed up instead of running away... you're not the smartest Halfling out there, aren't you?"

Thanks to the very convenient artifacts that were installed near the arena, everyone could hear what Eran was saying.

I gazed back at his eyes that was burning with arrogance and confidence with my signature cold ones.

"Eran Bytros, this duel will mark your end. Soon, everyone will learn not to mess with—" I nearly coughed out loud in cringe as soon as I thought about speaking my next words out loud, but luckily, I managed to hold it in. "—the Void slayer."

After that, there were no more speeches. Our gaze told us everything that the other wanted to say.

'Actually...'

While Eran's gaze was full of vigor and determination, mine was...blank. I was thinking of ways to get the most out of this situation. Eventually, I came up with a brilliant idea.

"Hey wolf," I said calmly, my face portraying no emotion. "How about we make a bet?"

"A bet?"

"Yes. Wouldn't it be too boring if we just punch each other for a bit and then leave? We need to raise the stakes."

Saying that, I glanced around the crowds and saw that mostly everyone was nodding at my words.

Eran, similarly eyeing the crowed, quickly nodded. "Sure. What's the bet?"

"The loser has to do anything the winner requests."

"T-That..."

But he couldn't back out now, as the expectant gazes of everyone on the spectator stand were pressuring him.

'Serves you right, how do you like it when your tactics if used against you?'

Of course, Eran reluctantly nodded in affirmation just like I had predicted. "Fine. I won't lose anyway!"

Smirking, I then stared Eran down, trying to intimidate him. However, I was soon stopped by the referee's words. "So...are you guys ready?"

"Yes."

Only now noticing the referee's presence, I followed Eran's example. "Yes."

"Very well." he nodded. "Then I'll modify the arena to what challenger Eran requested."

'...What?'

Before I could even question him, the referee stomped his foot on the ground. Almost instantly, part of the arena containing Eran and I was lifted some 40ft into the air.

Surprised, I scanned my surroundings immediately, and found that the distance between us was short. So short, in fact, that I could probably arrive at where Eran was in just under a second. 

Not caring about my confusion, the referee explained the rules impassively.

"Standard dueling rules. The match only ends when one contestant yields, or when he is incapacitated."

'Well, that's to be expected.'

But I still had a question.

"What if we fall?"

The referee briefly flashed me a confused look before answering, "didn't you hear me? The match only ends when a contestant yields or is incapacitated."

'So he's basically saying 'fall if you can survive,' huh?'

With [Wind burst], I could get down to the ground safely. However, I decided not to bother even doing it since why would I want to get off from here? I didn't know what Eran was planning when he requested for this kind of arena, but it didn't matter. I wasn't trapped up here with him after all. It was him that was trapped with me.

Cracking my knuckles, I unsheathed my sword from my scabbard and pointed it at Eran.

"Start the match."

The referee looked at Eran, who gave him a nod. Similarly nodding, the referee raised his hand up.

"The duel between Eran Bytros and Theodore Gray will now—"

He slashed his hand down.

"—begin!"

***

As soon as he was forced to accept the bet, Eran's view that Theodore was a con-man was strengthened significantly.

'Why would he propose that bet?'

Was he that confident in his own abilities? Or was he bluffing?

Whatever the case was, the stakes were too high. Who knows what Theodore would take away from Eran if he won? Money? Status?

'There's too much to lose!'

As such, Eran decided to use his full power and end the match quickly. He had to scrap his plan of slowly defeating Theodore to humiliate him.

"—begin!"

As soon as those words were spoken, Eran's ears perked up, and he immediately used his Skill.

[Transform]

Eran felt a tingly feeling coursing through his entire body. Soon, the world around him got smaller, just a little bit. Though, he could definitely tell that he was towering over Theodore judging by how his shadow loomed over him.

Eran looked at his hands, which were furry now. Between his knuckles sprouted metal-like blades that looked like sturdy and sharp claws. Clashing them together and watching the sparks that came off the claws, Eran grinned at Theodore, fully expecting him to cower before his new form in fear.

However, that wasn't what happened. Instead, Theodore's cold face broke for the first time as he took on an amused expression.

"Going all-out from the start?" Theodore muttered as he removed his sunglasses; his voice could be heard clearly by Eran thanks to his now-enhanced hearing. "I like it."

Faced with Theodore's attitude, which seemed even relaxed than before, Eran tried to rationalize the situation.

'That's right, he's happy that it'll end quickly. No one wants to feel pain after all.'

Speaking of which, they had been staring at each other ever since the match started. Eran guessed that Theodore didn't want to make the first move for fear of angering him. Smirking, he leaped toward Theodore. It only took a split second for him to arrive before Theodore, and as soon as he did, he struck his claw down. 

However—

'W-What this feeling?!'

—fear.

Crippling fear gripped the entirety of Eran's body as his claws were just inches away from tearing his target apart. He tried to avert his eyes away from Theodore's, but the fear made him so petrified that he couldn't even move his eyes. Eran instinctively knew that if he moved another inch, he would be dead. He was only petrified in fear for a second, but it felt like hours for Eran.  

Theodore took a slow and deliberate step to the right, avoiding Eran's attack completely, before the mysterious feeling of dread and fear suddenly disappeared.

"Haaah... Haaah..." Eran gripped his chest as he hyperventilated. Despite his earlier irrational fear, he still managed to lift his head up and glare at Theodore, who was standing with his left hand stuffed inside his pocket.

"You know," Theodore said with that same even tone, "I overestimated you quite a bit. Looks like I don't need this after all." Saying that, he threw his sword off the platform and rolled his sleeves up. "Come."

Eran rushed in again, again, and again, but every time, he was stopped by that mysterious sense of dread. Thus, he decided to do something unexpected. He pretended to retreat, but it was actually a maneuver to kick some dirt and sand up toward Theodore's face.

'The fear comes from his eyes!'

And he was correct. As Theodore coughed and wiped his eyes, Eran leaped back with unprecedented ferocity and slashed his claws. 

However, Theodore managed to open his eyes at the last second and once again petrified Eran. Theodore's eyes then slowly drifted down town his left cheek, which was in the process of being cut by Eran's claws. 

"Y-You... wounded me?"

A cold voice that was somehow still full of rage came out of Theodore. 

Soon, the fear intensified even more, and Eran felt like he was literally being crushed. He watched in fear as Theodore grabbed his metallic claws with his hand and snapped it with ease.

Using the snapped claw parts as a makeshift knife, Theodore agglomerated Space mana into it. Then, he thrust it toward Eran's neck with the intent to kill. However, he barely managed to stop himself with a self-deprecating chuckle.

"For fuck's sake, first Marcos, now Mealter? Why do everyone want to turn me into this?"

Eran didn't understand Theodore's words. Even if he could, he was too scared to care right now.

Theodore chuckled some more before throwing the claw parts to the ground and kicking Eran right to the edge of the platform. Then, the fear pressure once again disappeared.

As Eran was again gasping for breath, Theodore said, "prepare yourself. I'm going to crush you with the power of gravity."

This sentence terrified Eran so much that he forcibly knocked the air back into his lungs to calm himself down. 

'H-He's a gravity mage?!'

Of course, why didn't he think of it? That bastard Theodore Gray was the disciple of professor Misha—one of the best gravity mage in the Empire! Why was he so stupid as to rule out the possibility that Theodore also had the same magic affinity as his master?!

As such, as much as he didn't want to do this since it would dishonor him, Eran cancelled his transformation and took out an artifact from his pocket, [Anti-magic sphere]. With this, no pure magical attacks under <C> rank could affect him.

Eran regained a bit of confident and grinned at Theodore.

'Heh, he can't use his Gravity magic now.'

Yet, Theodore merely yawned and stretched his arms. "Are you done preparing now?"

Without waiting for Eran to answer, he continued, "I guess you are. Well, here I go."

Despite having protection, Eran's body still tensed. 

'He can still hurt me...'

Even if pure magical attacks couldn't hurt him, if Theodore used his Gravity magic to hurl rocks at Eran, it would still work. As such, he braced himself for the attack.

'Where is it going to come from?'

As soon as he finished that thought, Eran felt Mana agglomerating above him.

'Above!'

He concentrated almost all of his Mana into his hands and punched up into the air, aiming to break whatever that was that Theodore threw at him. However, what hit him was a streak of red lightning that dispersed as soon as it hit his anti-magic barrier. Confused, Eran couldn't sense Theodore, who had arrived right before him. Only when Theodore grabbed his collar did Eran knew what was going on.

"W-What are you doing?!"

"Didn't I tell you? I'm going to crush you with the power of gravity."

"This is a physical attack! Bullshit—"

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not lying this time."

Then, Theodore leaned a bit forward. That slight motion was enough for both of them to fall off the platform and plunge for the ground. As they fell through the air, Theodore pointed his other hand upward, palm up, and conjured blasts of air that accelerated the fall even more.

Through the wind that was whooshing through his ears and the swirl of confusion that was in his mind, Eran could barely make out Theodore's shout.

"MANA REINFORCEMENT NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

'H-He's right!'

Eran forcibly snapped himself out of his trance and began to quickly run Mana through his entire body. The layers of Mana would absorb most of the impact, or so he thought until he realized that he couldn't direct any Mana toward his legs.

Confused, he looked up at Theodore, who was grinning dangerously. "Ah, you noticed? Would've been better to be in blissful ignorance until the impact."

'This bastard!'

Of course, Eran was in no position to anger Theodore even further now.

"PLEASE! I'M GOING TO DIE!"

"You won't."

"BUT MY LEGS!"

"Do you want me to block off your torso too? I'll keep your lungs intact so that you can still scream when you hit the ground."

Before Eran could say anything else, he—

Splat—!¹Return of the word-sound :D

***

'Well, that hurts,' I thought as I massaged my sore legs.

The fall hurt more than I thought—possibly since I used [Wind burst] to accelerate us—but still...

Before the dust that was kicked up by the impact could even settle, I could already hear the agonizing scream of Eran.

'Let's just hope she is skilled enough to fix him.'

As the dust finally settled, I could finally see Eran's state. It was... not good, not good at all.

Although upper body was fine, everything from his knee down was... utterly crushed. Of course, his skin hadn't burst... somehow, but I could still see fragments of jagged white bones protruding out of his crushed legs, which was dyed red in blood.

The referee, despite being a little bit creeped out by Eran's current physical state, still walked up to me and grabbed my hand. Then, he raised it up high.

"Theodore Gray is the w—"

"Hey." I snapped my head toward him with bloodshot eyes and jerked his hand off mine. "The wolf can still fight."

"But he—"

"Look." I pointed toward Eran's arms, which were thrashing on the ground in pain. "He can still very much hit me with these... if he still wants to after that."

Gulping, the referee tried to convince me again. "His legs are crushed! He's going to die of blood loss—"

"Nah." I chuckled as I pulled out a red packet that was filled with my own blood. Crushing it, I directed my blood to cover Eran's legs; it was very shoddy work, but it still managed to stop his bleeding regardless. "He won't bleed for the next hour. You can check it for yourself."

Out of options, the referee flashed Eran a pitying look before shutting himself up again.

Happy that the match didn't end so soon, I took out 2 potions, one that was supposed to numb pain, the other was the highest possible graded Recovery potion, from [Alternate storage] and poured the pain-numbing all over him. Then, I waited. It took 2 full minutes for this bastard to calm down somewhat and regain awareness of his surroundings. 

The first thing he did was stand up, but of course, he couldn't. Confused, he looked toward his legs. That was when he screamed a blood-curling scream that was filled with not pain, but fear and confusion.

Getting tired of all the screaming, I kicked his torso down to the ground again and dangled a highest-grade Recovery potion that would've costed well over 150 Platinums if I hadn't "borrowed" it from the auction house over his head, knowing that despite being a noble, he couldn't hope to afford anything like this any time soon. My mouth curved into a wicked grin as I watched his eyes light up with hope.

"Yield, and I'll consider giving you this."

"I yie—"

Before he could answer, I stepped on his face, shutting him up.

"Do you yield?"

"I-I YIEL—"

Smiling, I kicked his face again.

"Ah, I have to commend your courage. To not yield even when the only thing that can save you from the pain is right in front of your eyes, you really are a model soldier."

As I shut Eran up with my foot every time he tried to announce his defeat, I could hear the murmurs from the spectator stands.

-"Isn't this too... cruel?"

-"Eran's a noble, isn't Theodore afraid of what Duchess Bytros will do to him?"

-"I guess he has to be this... brutal to be able to kill the Void lords."

Still, I wasn't discouraged by this. Instead, I was basking in the fear of my fellow students.

'Now no one will even think of messing with me.'

It would be significantly harder to make friends now, but let's be honest here, did I really want to make friends with worthless people?

Eventually, my knee got a little bit tired from raising my leg and stepping on his swollen face too much.

'I guess that's enough.'

Sighing, I reluctantly got off him and gave him a final disconcerting smile.

"Wolf, this is your final chance. Do you yield?"

Though he was afraid that I would just shut him up again, Eran still jumped at the chance.

"I-I-I SURRENDER!"

Eran, the referee, and almost everyone watching all collectively heaved a sigh of relief as the "duel" was finally over.

However, they all tensed up again as they saw me approaching Eran again.

Now towering over him, I crossed by arms and flashed him a smile.

"I hope you do remember our bet."

"Y-Yes! What do you want?! Money? Power? Status? Slaves?!"

Grinning, I answered.

"Eran Bytros, I want you."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

'What is this? Why did the atmosphere turn strange all of the sudden?'

The fact that Eran was openly making a disgusted face despite having experienced... that earlier was surprising, but didn't tell me much about the current situation, so I looked around at the spectators for clues. Some were hanging their mouth open in shock, others were stifling their laughter.

Then, I spotted someone familiar—Adel, who, surprisingly, went to see the duel in person.

'Well, at least she took her time to come here, unlike Raun and his...harem.'

I didn't blame them. If it were me, I would also choose watching the duel through my phone in the comfort of my own dorm room instead of being here in this cramped arena. 

Back to Adel. She was doing something strange. Her eyes alternated between Eran and I as she fervently scribbled something into her notebook.

Suddenly, I had an ominous premonition. Focusing my senses near Adel, I could hear the conversation of the students that were peeking at her writing.

-"Ah! Is that the notes for your next book?"

-"Is it a sequel?"

-"Ooooh! Is Eran going to be Theodris' love rival?!"

Instantly, I realized what was going on. Coughing loudly, I quickly shouted before things could get worse.

"Umm uhh... just to clarify, I like women."