Nicole faced Jordan with tenacity and ferocity.
It was now the last day of the academic tournament and they were facing each other in the final.
However, Nicole did not have it easy.
Jordan was a swordsman focused on pure speed, and he was also someone experienced who used his experience and technique to take on his opponents.
Not having been able to move up the ranks for quite some time, he improved his technique and sword art, making him a very troublesome opponent.
His sword would try to cut through Nicole’s reinforcement, and she would fight back by throwing hard punches, trying to get close to Jordan.
As a B-Rank, Jordan had no sword aura, but he used the distance to his advantage.
His sword could hit Nicole before her fists could reach him, and without letting her get close, he kept his distance by retreating.
Pragmatic and calm, the two faced each other and slowly Nicole’s disadvantage was shown.
It wasn’t recklessness or nerves, nor was it resistance, it was technique.
In a fight where their forces were evenly matched, techniques could become the defining reason for the battle.
And here that advantage was showed.
Nicole had some experience and an impressive ability to fight with very varied styles, both agile and fast, but Jordan, who had reached his limit, had become a master of his technique.
His sword was swift and his movements clear, while his footwork allowed him to move about the battlefield with ease.
Taking fine, quick steps that allowed him to dodge Nicole’s blows.
Each attack he made was in such a way that it weakened Nicole’s reinforcement, and he was slowly cornering her, even though he was the one who seemed to lose to the ferocity of the fighter.
Nicole tried to change the pace of the battle and, to her regret, she could not do so.
No matter if she used the surrounding medium in this single combat where she couldn’t wear her combat suit and everything was average equipment given by the academy, it made it difficult for her to change her situation.
However, she did not give up and continued to the end.
Until Jordan could break through Nicole’s reinforcement and created wounds on a fighter’s body.
The sword was sharp and in Jordan’s hands it was a lethal weapon, but otherwise, a fighter’s body was both a weapon and a shield.
With very high resistance and reinforced with their magical energy, they were ‘tanks’ with powerful armor.
Jordan produced cracks in that armor that slowly built up until, finally, the barrier activated when he made a more lethal strike.
When that happened, Nicole fell to the ground exhausted and breathing heavily.
“At last we have a winner - Jordan Wood B-Rank tournament champion!” Frank, who was acting as host, exclaimed.
Most of the attention during the bouts was focused on the first years.
Nicole had taken all the attention, but so had Alexey, who placed fourth.
Frank himself had placed third, but also Cristian with his fifth place was eye-catching.
Three first-year students took all the attention, demonstrating their excellent performance and the talent of the first-year students.
They showed how effective this year’s program change was.
Moving the practices forward led to the students learning even faster, to the point where they now showed the ability to outperform the upperclassmen.
There was no denying that Nicole, Alexey, and Cristian were talented.
Also, Marc was the same way if he hadn’t ended up so injured last time, he would surely be in the top ten.
“A magnificent match. I felt hard-pressed,” Jordan said, putting his sword away.
Nicole gave a faint smile as she waited for the healers.
“I just did what I could...” she muttered in a weak and exhausted voice.
If Jordan felt pressured, she felt exasperated at Jordan’s defense and skills.
Pressuring him to get a hole in his defense or a flaw was very difficult, and when she succeeded, Jordan recovered immediately.
Nicole remained calm and rational, as she did not like to go crazy, however, it was possible that any other fighter would have been frustrated and would have attacked with everything, wanting to get some advantage.
Although she lost, she was not upset.
If before she surprised her enemies with her tenacity and attitude, now she faced an opponent whose greatest defense was his technique and moves.
Even as a fighter, the ability to keep going forward-facing every enemy was not the only thing she needed to keep training and improving her skills.
As for being the runner-up?
She didn’t care too much when she had learned quite a bit.
******
In a private room of the academy, the senior students were present, including Edward, who was in charge of the tournament.
“Edward, we have to deal with the different matters related to Alice’s rank,” Niels said, giving a serious expression.
Edward hesitated as he heard those words.
“His strength is terrifying. If there was a doubt before that she was an S-Rank, now there is a proof,” Gregorio said, pointing to Oliver, who was sitting with a hard expression.
For the audience, that last blow of Alice against Oliver seemed scary and very strong, maybe some would have doubts and those doubts could be answered revealing nothing.
However, they as those who faced Alice knew how scary she was and with that last blow, they realized that glutton was stronger than she said.
They weren’t angry that Alice hid her strength, as she beat them with A-Rank strength and it was only when Oliver took the last blow that they discovered the truth.
Edward sighed.
He already knew.
First, he had worked for both sisters for a while and knew the strength of both of them, or at least had seen a part of it.
They were not supposed to be here as mere students.
This was a farce; they were both veteran mercenaries who, at a very young age, were already performing dangerous tasks.
However, Edward kept silent and looked at those present.
Gregorio, Oliver, Rachael, and Niels.
They were the favorites for the international tournament and who would be fighting for a position against one of the first years.
Now, as Oliver moved up in rank, Clémentine and Alice would not be facing the stronger students.
Although in a sense it was already pointless, since they were both the semifinalists of the academic tournament and thus the ones who held a spot for the international tournament.
“What do you guys think?” Edward asked Rachael and Oliver.
It wasn’t as if he was the person running the entire tournament, as those present in this room were helping him to take charge of the ins and outs.
“Participating in the international tournament is a great opportunity. Whether it’s becoming known as a hero or to be hired by a country or enter a society or group,” Rachael said, and when everyone nodded, she added. “But if we took a supposed A-Rank student who turned out to be an S-Rank, it could get us in trouble or disqualify us.”
Edward nodded.
Any job needed recognition, and it was that reason why he himself took part.
He wanted to join the Heroes Guild next year and even though he had a good relationship and had worked with them, having public recognition would help his image.
Now as the leader of this group, if he turned a blind eye and took an S-Rank student among the A-Ranks.
Once they found out, others might view the academy in a negative light or even get into trouble and be disqualified.
“Who cares? No one knew about Alice until I asked her to fight with all her might,” Oliver commented and, with a smile, announced. “We have to take her to the tournament. It will be a hidden card. Well, I’d even like to go myself if it weren’t because they have already found me out.”
An S-rank as a hidden card sounded very tempting.
“We don’t know if the international tournament authorities will test to see our strength or let us through, anyway. However, there is no doubt that she is a hidden card,” Niels commented, smiling just as animatedly as Oliver.
They were both voting for a bold decision to hide Alice’s strength and use it to their advantage in the international tournament.
“I think we’re missing an important point - why doesn’t she reveal her strength in full? If she were to register with the mercenary guild, surely many would seek to hire her. With that strength, she’s even capable of creating her own adventurer’s guild,” Gregorio said, pointing at Alice’s thought.
Edward’s expression trembled.
It wasn’t that he was hiding; it was just that she didn’t require that much strength to defeat the students.
As for registering with the guild... What would she gain by registering?
The recognition and benefits of the mercenary guild were nice, but not for Alice or Aurora, who could get the same benefits from somewhere else.
As for creating a guild, they already had their own mercenary group.
Edward knew that very few things interested Alice, so he could understand her reasons for not signing up and the biggest cause of all was probably laziness.
It was quite possible that if someone offered her a few bags of chips to sign up, she would do it right away.
“It’s best to let Director Vincent handle it. It’s possible that with that last hit, the teachers will realize her strength,” Rachael said, taking the simple and easy way out.
There was no doubt it was the wisest decision and there was a problem.
“Director Vincent let the international tournament authorities take care of that matter,” Edward replied with a strange expression.
There was silence for a moment.
Usually, those powerful individuals were encouraged to upgrade their ranks, and while it wasn’t like it used to be where some heroes wore masks, there was no doubt that some people hid their strength for various reasons.
Some did it because they didn’t want their enemies to know about it, others because they didn’t like to be recognized and there were some who even disliked official registration organizations.
Director Vincent didn’t make a big deal out of it because Alice and Aurora posed no danger.
“That solves everything. Let’s hire her... I mean, let’s ask her to join. I don’t think the international tournament will have tests to identify her rank or promote her,” Oliver said, and giving a sly smile, he added. “Besides, there is no rule about strength. They have asked for five official A-Ranks. It’s not our problem if one has a higher strength than what it officially says.”
Edward looked at him strangely because that answer was quite problematic and, at the same time, astute.
They were just using a loophole in the rules to get more chances to win the international tournament.
“We are heroes. We have to respect the rules,” Gregorio said, shaking his head in rejection.
“True, but being a hero means nothing in the face of victory. I don’t know about you, but if I have to win by cheating to save other people, I wouldn’t mind,” Niels refuted with a tone full of contempt.
He was comparing the international tournament to a matter of utmost importance, where ‘hero’ values wouldn’t help at all.
There was some frowning, but...
“I think Alice should decide. She was the one who went into A-Rank combat and she must have her reasons for doing so,” Oliver said, and giving a smile, he asked. “And if she wishes to enter the international tournament as an A-Rank, do you think you can stop her?”
They all remembered how Oliver and Jordan stole her bag of chips when she entered the academy and they had to admit that at that time Alice didn’t care about any of the students and did as she wished.
Now it was the same.
The Director didn’t care how they were organized and they couldn’t deny her participation, for the fact that the positions were there to be won.
That meant that if they wanted to keep her from going to the tournament, they had to beat her.
Even as an S-Rank, Edward himself doubted his victory if he went up against that young lady.
He also thought like Oliver and Niels, though there was a reason for that.
“Let’s let Alice decide what to do. As for what I am sure of is that we are not the only ones who will think this way. Other academies have powerful students and will most likely try to hide them as A-Rank,” Edward said in a serious tone.
The hero academy was famous, but in the world, there were also other famous academies with skilled students.
That they thought to overcome this gap meant that others would also have the same idea.
They had a resistance to the idea of using loopholes because they were heroes.
It was their duty to follow the rules and keep the heroic ideals pure, however, Edward knew that reality was cruel enough to keep that way of thinking.
Perhaps this matter was not very important, but those values were not very useful in the cruelty’s face of lunatics.
All his companions nodded as they let Alice decide.
It wasn’t a lie when Oliver said they couldn’t stop her, even if they tried to rat her out, Alice could sneer in their faces and stay hidden, as she had been doing for half of the academy.
Edward understood better than anyone that they were skilled at hiding and the proof was that his master, a mage of SS-rank, had difficulty seeing what the strength of both sisters was.
If an SS-rank with keen senses had difficulty, there was no artifact or scanner to imagine.
“Well, let’s see the final.”
There was only one last bout to go and everyone was eager to see it.
******
In the midst of the battle, a tension was slowly building as Clémentine and Alice watched each other from a distance.
“Let the battle begin!”
Clémentine, as soon as she heard the signal to begin, she moved.
Using her telekinesis to break the walls, she ripped off giant chunks of concrete and then, without hesitation, threw it at Alice, not giving her a chance to open the bag of chips.
*BOOM!
A cloud of dust spread as the rocks hit Alice’s position and, although the dust cloud hid what happened, Clémentine continued.
Controlling her psionic energy to form a powerful psionic cannon, she fired it into the center of the dust cloud.
*BOOM*
Even though using psionic energy directly was the simplest way a psionic had to attack, that didn’t mean it wasn’t powerful.
It was, and very much so, as the blast was disturbing.
She had not seen Alice show her full strength, for even though she was on the Ark and Assault mission, that young lady always used the strength needed to defeat her opponent.
The fight with the Smilodon Fatalis was inside a powerful barrier from Liam and it was the same when they faced the Somali Terror.
However, she knew Alice was very strong and more so when she was serious.
That her black arms went through the armor of a tank when Aurora was shot in Kenya was just a small proof of that idea.
It was for such a reason that even though there was no movement, Clémentine kept moving.
Generating dozens of daggers with her psionic energy, Clémentine fired those daggers that seemed to have no corporeal form and were slightly translucent towards Alice’s location.
The clattering of the daggers was heard by Clémentine, and this time she saw how a dozen tentacles waved, stopping all those attacks.
The cloud of dust slowly disappeared and Alice revealed herself frowning as she closed her bag of chips to keep dirt and dust out.
Clémentine controlled her expression, hiding that a part of her was slightly scared that Alice was mad about the chips, and it was scarier when she remembered the day that glutton trained them.
She couldn’t deny that on that day, Alice made her feel like bugs being crushed by some terrible creature.
Still, that day had passed.
“STOP!” Clémentine commanded, extending a mental wave to affect Alice.
That was the secret card with which she beat Rachael, and it was a powerful mental attack that paralyzed her enemy.
With that attack, she survived in the Assault mission and now she was using it against a person she respected.
Alice frowned and before the mental wave reached her, she covered herself with her black arms, being surrounded by a black cocoon.
It was a mental attack so theoretically it would go through that cocoon, and despite that, Clémentine had no confidence.
Whether it passed or not, Alice would be protected in that cocoon for those vital seconds.
And Clémentine didn’t waste it.
Using her mental strength to shatter the wall and the earth lifting gigantic masses from the ground, her nose bled.
She was overtaxing herself, and although the headache was overwhelming; it was necessary.
Raising her hands, the gigantic masses of stone rose into the air, forming spheres.
“Ugh...”
The blood in her nose became more intense, as that attack was very demanding, and she gritted her teeth, continuing.
It wasn’t out of arrogance or pride, she just wished to show Alice and Aurora, who were watching her, how strong she was.
How strong she became because of them.
Maybe for some, it was exaggerated, but Clémentine knew that going to Africa was the best decision she had ever made because it laid the foundation for what she wanted and what she was looking for.
It showed her that there was more to it than what the media said than what happened in the big cities and revealed to her that to be a ‘hero’ she didn’t need popularity or to have thousands of fans in a city.
Prestige was unnecessary. A hero would be found in many places, helping in her own way, quietly.
They called her a ‘genius’ and the ‘perfect student’, but she wasn’t.
For Clémentine, it was Aurora and Alice who led her to become what she was now.
That was why she wanted to show them what she could do and what she would be capable of in the future.
Lifting dozens of rocks across the stage, destroying most of the arena, Clémentine brought her arms down directly towards Alice.
A tremendous force of gravity pushed all those rocks while with her telekinesis, she sent them directly to the position of that black cocoon.
She was pushing with all her might to further increase the power of that attack and halfway through the rocks falling, Clémentine’s smile grew.
Dozens of tentacle-like arms extended everywhere, catching the big rocks one by one, like gauntlets catching a ball and then...
“Shit...” Clémentine muttered as she saw the rocks come shooting out at her.
The first one she split using her telekinesis to separate it, the second one she deflected to another place, and the third one she cut it away.
Then she did the same with the next one and the next one, so on and so forth until she didn’t have time to deflect it and was hit with her barrier.
“GUhh...”
Behind each large rock was a terrifying force that made her groan in pain as she was pushed backward, and Clémentine extended her barrier even further to receive the subsequent blows.
*BOOM*
She whimpered and recoiled.
*BOOM*
She fell to the ground on her knees and coughed up blood.
*BOOM*
Clémentine kept her psionic barrier to protect herself, no matter how many rocks fell on her.
Inwardly, she regretted sending so many rocks and, greater than regret, she was amazed that Alice caught all the rocks, destroying none of them on impact.
However, amid those thoughts, she remembered that when she touched those black arms; they felt soft and spongy, realizing that Alice’s control was deeper.
Those thoughts came to her mind as she was kneeling on the ground with her head aching and in a completely lost state.
Since becoming an A-Rank, she had never spent so much psionic energy and neither had she reached her limit as she did at this moment.
As painful as this state was, she knew she had pushed her limit a little further.
Wiping the blood from her nose, Clémentine raised her head in pain from that simple movement and found Alice walking towards her across the destroyed stage.
“That was impressive. I have to admit,” Alice said and giving a smile, announced. “I almost lost my bag of chips.”
To other people, those words would sound like contempt, but Clémentine understood the importance Alice placed on her chips and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Someday I’ll make it...” Clémentine muttered, unable to help but chuckle in the middle.
Alice gave a big amused smile, and giving her hand to help her up, commented. “You can try.”
Clémentine’s lips quivered, but she only let out a smile as she stood up with Alice’s help.
Cithrel and other healers rushed over to help her, though it wasn’t necessary, as she didn’t take that much damage and the biggest pain was internal from expending so much psionic energy.
So she was just tired and although her head hurt, she smiled at Alice’s victory celebration.
“With this grand finale, we have finished the combat! And we have already posted the positions of all the students! Remember to sign up this weekend if you wish to challenge a student!” Frank announced, appearing in the projection.
All the holographic clocks vibrated and revealed the students who filled the combat slots.
The students who won the tournament occupied most of them, but with the app, they could sign up to challenge one of them.
The international tournament was getting closer every day.
Nicole faced Jordan with tenacity and ferocity.
It was now the last day of the academic tournament and they were facing each other in the final.
However, Nicole did not have it easy.
Jordan was a swordsman focused on pure speed, and he was also someone experienced who used his experience and technique to take on his opponents.
Not having been able to move up the ranks for quite some time, he improved his technique and sword art, making him a very troublesome opponent.
His sword would try to cut through Nicole’s reinforcement, and she would fight back by throwing hard punches, trying to get close to Jordan.
As a B-Rank, Jordan had no sword aura, but he used the distance to his advantage.
His sword could hit Nicole before her fists could reach him, and without letting her get close, he kept his distance by retreating.
Pragmatic and calm, the two faced each other and slowly Nicole’s disadvantage was shown.
It wasn’t recklessness or nerves, nor was it resistance, it was technique.
In a fight where their forces were evenly matched, techniques could become the defining reason for the battle.
And here that advantage was showed.
Nicole had some experience and an impressive ability to fight with very varied styles, both agile and fast, but Jordan, who had reached his limit, had become a master of his technique.
His sword was swift and his movements clear, while his footwork allowed him to move about the battlefield with ease.
Taking fine, quick steps that allowed him to dodge Nicole’s blows.
Each attack he made was in such a way that it weakened Nicole’s reinforcement, and he was slowly cornering her, even though he was the one who seemed to lose to the ferocity of the fighter.
Nicole tried to change the pace of the battle and, to her regret, she could not do so.
No matter if she used the surrounding medium in this single combat where she couldn’t wear her combat suit and everything was average equipment given by the academy, it made it difficult for her to change her situation.
However, she did not give up and continued to the end.
Until Jordan could break through Nicole’s reinforcement and created wounds on a fighter’s body.
The sword was sharp and in Jordan’s hands it was a lethal weapon, but otherwise, a fighter’s body was both a weapon and a shield.
With very high resistance and reinforced with their magical energy, they were ‘tanks’ with powerful armor.
Jordan produced cracks in that armor that slowly built up until, finally, the barrier activated when he made a more lethal strike.
When that happened, Nicole fell to the ground exhausted and breathing heavily.
“At last we have a winner - Jordan Wood B-Rank tournament champion!” Frank, who was acting as host, exclaimed.
Most of the attention during the bouts was focused on the first years.
Nicole had taken all the attention, but so had Alexey, who placed fourth.
Frank himself had placed third, but also Cristian with his fifth place was eye-catching.
Three first-year students took all the attention, demonstrating their excellent performance and the talent of the first-year students.
They showed how effective this year’s program change was.
Moving the practices forward led to the students learning even faster, to the point where they now showed the ability to outperform the upperclassmen.
There was no denying that Nicole, Alexey, and Cristian were talented.
Also, Marc was the same way if he hadn’t ended up so injured last time, he would surely be in the top ten.
“A magnificent match. I felt hard-pressed,” Jordan said, putting his sword away.
Nicole gave a faint smile as she waited for the healers.
“I just did what I could...” she muttered in a weak and exhausted voice.
If Jordan felt pressured, she felt exasperated at Jordan’s defense and skills.
Pressuring him to get a hole in his defense or a flaw was very difficult, and when she succeeded, Jordan recovered immediately.
Nicole remained calm and rational, as she did not like to go crazy, however, it was possible that any other fighter would have been frustrated and would have attacked with everything, wanting to get some advantage.
Although she lost, she was not upset.
If before she surprised her enemies with her tenacity and attitude, now she faced an opponent whose greatest defense was his technique and moves.
Even as a fighter, the ability to keep going forward-facing every enemy was not the only thing she needed to keep training and improving her skills.
As for being the runner-up?
She didn’t care too much when she had learned quite a bit.
******
In a private room of the academy, the senior students were present, including Edward, who was in charge of the tournament.
“Edward, we have to deal with the different matters related to Alice’s rank,” Niels said, giving a serious expression.
Edward hesitated as he heard those words.
“His strength is terrifying. If there was a doubt before that she was an S-Rank, now there is a proof,” Gregorio said, pointing to Oliver, who was sitting with a hard expression.
For the audience, that last blow of Alice against Oliver seemed scary and very strong, maybe some would have doubts and those doubts could be answered revealing nothing.
However, they as those who faced Alice knew how scary she was and with that last blow, they realized that glutton was stronger than she said.
They weren’t angry that Alice hid her strength, as she beat them with A-Rank strength and it was only when Oliver took the last blow that they discovered the truth.
Edward sighed.
He already knew.
First, he had worked for both sisters for a while and knew the strength of both of them, or at least had seen a part of it.
They were not supposed to be here as mere students.
This was a farce; they were both veteran mercenaries who, at a very young age, were already performing dangerous tasks.
However, Edward kept silent and looked at those present.
Gregorio, Oliver, Rachael, and Niels.
They were the favorites for the international tournament and who would be fighting for a position against one of the first years.
Now, as Oliver moved up in rank, Clémentine and Alice would not be facing the stronger students.
Although in a sense it was already pointless, since they were both the semifinalists of the academic tournament and thus the ones who held a spot for the international tournament.
“What do you guys think?” Edward asked Rachael and Oliver.
It wasn’t as if he was the person running the entire tournament, as those present in this room were helping him to take charge of the ins and outs.
“Participating in the international tournament is a great opportunity. Whether it’s becoming known as a hero or to be hired by a country or enter a society or group,” Rachael said, and when everyone nodded, she added. “But if we took a supposed A-Rank student who turned out to be an S-Rank, it could get us in trouble or disqualify us.”
Edward nodded.
Any job needed recognition, and it was that reason why he himself took part.
He wanted to join the Heroes Guild next year and even though he had a good relationship and had worked with them, having public recognition would help his image.
Now as the leader of this group, if he turned a blind eye and took an S-Rank student among the A-Ranks.
Once they found out, others might view the academy in a negative light or even get into trouble and be disqualified.
“Who cares? No one knew about Alice until I asked her to fight with all her might,” Oliver commented and, with a smile, announced. “We have to take her to the tournament. It will be a hidden card. Well, I’d even like to go myself if it weren’t because they have already found me out.”
An S-rank as a hidden card sounded very tempting.
“We don’t know if the international tournament authorities will test to see our strength or let us through, anyway. However, there is no doubt that she is a hidden card,” Niels commented, smiling just as animatedly as Oliver.
They were both voting for a bold decision to hide Alice’s strength and use it to their advantage in the international tournament.
“I think we’re missing an important point - why doesn’t she reveal her strength in full? If she were to register with the mercenary guild, surely many would seek to hire her. With that strength, she’s even capable of creating her own adventurer’s guild,” Gregorio said, pointing at Alice’s thought.
Edward’s expression trembled.
It wasn’t that he was hiding; it was just that she didn’t require that much strength to defeat the students.
As for registering with the guild... What would she gain by registering?
The recognition and benefits of the mercenary guild were nice, but not for Alice or Aurora, who could get the same benefits from somewhere else.
As for creating a guild, they already had their own mercenary group.
Edward knew that very few things interested Alice, so he could understand her reasons for not signing up and the biggest cause of all was probably laziness.
It was quite possible that if someone offered her a few bags of chips to sign up, she would do it right away.
“It’s best to let Director Vincent handle it. It’s possible that with that last hit, the teachers will realize her strength,” Rachael said, taking the simple and easy way out.
There was no doubt it was the wisest decision and there was a problem.
“Director Vincent let the international tournament authorities take care of that matter,” Edward replied with a strange expression.
There was silence for a moment.
Usually, those powerful individuals were encouraged to upgrade their ranks, and while it wasn’t like it used to be where some heroes wore masks, there was no doubt that some people hid their strength for various reasons.
Some did it because they didn’t want their enemies to know about it, others because they didn’t like to be recognized and there were some who even disliked official registration organizations.
Director Vincent didn’t make a big deal out of it because Alice and Aurora posed no danger.
“That solves everything. Let’s hire her... I mean, let’s ask her to join. I don’t think the international tournament will have tests to identify her rank or promote her,” Oliver said, and giving a sly smile, he added. “Besides, there is no rule about strength. They have asked for five official A-Ranks. It’s not our problem if one has a higher strength than what it officially says.”
Edward looked at him strangely because that answer was quite problematic and, at the same time, astute.
They were just using a loophole in the rules to get more chances to win the international tournament.
“We are heroes. We have to respect the rules,” Gregorio said, shaking his head in rejection.
“True, but being a hero means nothing in the face of victory. I don’t know about you, but if I have to win by cheating to save other people, I wouldn’t mind,” Niels refuted with a tone full of contempt.
He was comparing the international tournament to a matter of utmost importance, where ‘hero’ values wouldn’t help at all.
There was some frowning, but...
“I think Alice should decide. She was the one who went into A-Rank combat and she must have her reasons for doing so,” Oliver said, and giving a smile, he asked. “And if she wishes to enter the international tournament as an A-Rank, do you think you can stop her?”
They all remembered how Oliver and Jordan stole her bag of chips when she entered the academy and they had to admit that at that time Alice didn’t care about any of the students and did as she wished.
Now it was the same.
The Director didn’t care how they were organized and they couldn’t deny her participation, for the fact that the positions were there to be won.
That meant that if they wanted to keep her from going to the tournament, they had to beat her.
Even as an S-Rank, Edward himself doubted his victory if he went up against that young lady.
He also thought like Oliver and Niels, though there was a reason for that.
“Let’s let Alice decide what to do. As for what I am sure of is that we are not the only ones who will think this way. Other academies have powerful students and will most likely try to hide them as A-Rank,” Edward said in a serious tone.
The hero academy was famous, but in the world, there were also other famous academies with skilled students.
That they thought to overcome this gap meant that others would also have the same idea.
They had a resistance to the idea of using loopholes because they were heroes.
It was their duty to follow the rules and keep the heroic ideals pure, however, Edward knew that reality was cruel enough to keep that way of thinking.
Perhaps this matter was not very important, but those values were not very useful in the cruelty’s face of lunatics.
All his companions nodded as they let Alice decide.
It wasn’t a lie when Oliver said they couldn’t stop her, even if they tried to rat her out, Alice could sneer in their faces and stay hidden, as she had been doing for half of the academy.
Edward understood better than anyone that they were skilled at hiding and the proof was that his master, a mage of SS-rank, had difficulty seeing what the strength of both sisters was.
If an SS-rank with keen senses had difficulty, there was no artifact or scanner to imagine.
“Well, let’s see the final.”
There was only one last bout to go and everyone was eager to see it.
******
In the midst of the battle, a tension was slowly building as Clémentine and Alice watched each other from a distance.
“Let the battle begin!”
Clémentine, as soon as she heard the signal to begin, she moved.
Using her telekinesis to break the walls, she ripped off giant chunks of concrete and then, without hesitation, threw it at Alice, not giving her a chance to open the bag of chips.
*BOOM!
A cloud of dust spread as the rocks hit Alice’s position and, although the dust cloud hid what happened, Clémentine continued.
Controlling her psionic energy to form a powerful psionic cannon, she fired it into the center of the dust cloud.
*BOOM*
Even though using psionic energy directly was the simplest way a psionic had to attack, that didn’t mean it wasn’t powerful.
It was, and very much so, as the blast was disturbing.
She had not seen Alice show her full strength, for even though she was on the Ark and Assault mission, that young lady always used the strength needed to defeat her opponent.
The fight with the Smilodon Fatalis was inside a powerful barrier from Liam and it was the same when they faced the Somali Terror.
However, she knew Alice was very strong and more so when she was serious.
That her black arms went through the armor of a tank when Aurora was shot in Kenya was just a small proof of that idea.
It was for such a reason that even though there was no movement, Clémentine kept moving.
Generating dozens of daggers with her psionic energy, Clémentine fired those daggers that seemed to have no corporeal form and were slightly translucent towards Alice’s location.
The clattering of the daggers was heard by Clémentine, and this time she saw how a dozen tentacles waved, stopping all those attacks.
The cloud of dust slowly disappeared and Alice revealed herself frowning as she closed her bag of chips to keep dirt and dust out.
Clémentine controlled her expression, hiding that a part of her was slightly scared that Alice was mad about the chips, and it was scarier when she remembered the day that glutton trained them.
She couldn’t deny that on that day, Alice made her feel like bugs being crushed by some terrible creature.
Still, that day had passed.
“STOP!” Clémentine commanded, extending a mental wave to affect Alice.
That was the secret card with which she beat Rachael, and it was a powerful mental attack that paralyzed her enemy.
With that attack, she survived in the Assault mission and now she was using it against a person she respected.
Alice frowned and before the mental wave reached her, she covered herself with her black arms, being surrounded by a black cocoon.
It was a mental attack so theoretically it would go through that cocoon, and despite that, Clémentine had no confidence.
Whether it passed or not, Alice would be protected in that cocoon for those vital seconds.
And Clémentine didn’t waste it.
Using her mental strength to shatter the wall and the earth lifting gigantic masses from the ground, her nose bled.
She was overtaxing herself, and although the headache was overwhelming; it was necessary.
Raising her hands, the gigantic masses of stone rose into the air, forming spheres.
“Ugh...”
The blood in her nose became more intense, as that attack was very demanding, and she gritted her teeth, continuing.
It wasn’t out of arrogance or pride, she just wished to show Alice and Aurora, who were watching her, how strong she was.
How strong she became because of them.
Maybe for some, it was exaggerated, but Clémentine knew that going to Africa was the best decision she had ever made because it laid the foundation for what she wanted and what she was looking for.
It showed her that there was more to it than what the media said than what happened in the big cities and revealed to her that to be a ‘hero’ she didn’t need popularity or to have thousands of fans in a city.
Prestige was unnecessary. A hero would be found in many places, helping in her own way, quietly.
They called her a ‘genius’ and the ‘perfect student’, but she wasn’t.
For Clémentine, it was Aurora and Alice who led her to become what she was now.
That was why she wanted to show them what she could do and what she would be capable of in the future.
Lifting dozens of rocks across the stage, destroying most of the arena, Clémentine brought her arms down directly towards Alice.
A tremendous force of gravity pushed all those rocks while with her telekinesis, she sent them directly to the position of that black cocoon.
She was pushing with all her might to further increase the power of that attack and halfway through the rocks falling, Clémentine’s smile grew.
Dozens of tentacle-like arms extended everywhere, catching the big rocks one by one, like gauntlets catching a ball and then...
“Shit...” Clémentine muttered as she saw the rocks come shooting out at her.
The first one she split using her telekinesis to separate it, the second one she deflected to another place, and the third one she cut it away.
Then she did the same with the next one and the next one, so on and so forth until she didn’t have time to deflect it and was hit with her barrier.
“GUhh...”
Behind each large rock was a terrifying force that made her groan in pain as she was pushed backward, and Clémentine extended her barrier even further to receive the subsequent blows.
*BOOM*
She whimpered and recoiled.
*BOOM*
She fell to the ground on her knees and coughed up blood.
*BOOM*
Clémentine kept her psionic barrier to protect herself, no matter how many rocks fell on her.
Inwardly, she regretted sending so many rocks and, greater than regret, she was amazed that Alice caught all the rocks, destroying none of them on impact.
However, amid those thoughts, she remembered that when she touched those black arms; they felt soft and spongy, realizing that Alice’s control was deeper.
Those thoughts came to her mind as she was kneeling on the ground with her head aching and in a completely lost state.
Since becoming an A-Rank, she had never spent so much psionic energy and neither had she reached her limit as she did at this moment.
As painful as this state was, she knew she had pushed her limit a little further.
Wiping the blood from her nose, Clémentine raised her head in pain from that simple movement and found Alice walking towards her across the destroyed stage.
“That was impressive. I have to admit,” Alice said and giving a smile, announced. “I almost lost my bag of chips.”
To other people, those words would sound like contempt, but Clémentine understood the importance Alice placed on her chips and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Someday I’ll make it...” Clémentine muttered, unable to help but chuckle in the middle.
Alice gave a big amused smile, and giving her hand to help her up, commented. “You can try.”
Clémentine’s lips quivered, but she only let out a smile as she stood up with Alice’s help.
Cithrel and other healers rushed over to help her, though it wasn’t necessary, as she didn’t take that much damage and the biggest pain was internal from expending so much psionic energy.
So she was just tired and although her head hurt, she smiled at Alice’s victory celebration.
“With this grand finale, we have finished the combat! And we have already posted the positions of all the students! Remember to sign up this weekend if you wish to challenge a student!” Frank announced, appearing in the projection.
All the holographic clocks vibrated and revealed the students who filled the combat slots.
The students who won the tournament occupied most of them, but with the app, they could sign up to challenge one of them.
The international tournament was getting closer every day.
