The Protagonist Already Knows

As the name echoed throughout the arena, the entire student section went silent for a moment.

*CLANG*

Of course, this first-year’s name was known by practically everyone at the school, even the second and third-years, at this point.

The serial killer, psychopath, and drunkard...was now on the elven team, somehow.

The pen in Lily’s hands fell from her fingers, landing softly on her notebook.

Evangel’s glasses slid off her face and fell into her lap as she looked down, suddenly recalling their stretches from earlier in the morning.

"..."

She hadn’t told him good luck, had she?

Behind them, Leon narrowed his eyes and simply clicked his tongue, being the first to speak and break the silence.

"Really, fighting against his own species? Doesn’t even surpris-"

Carissa, barely managing to even stammer out a few words through the astonishment, eventually said, not even noticing Leon speaking.

"H-how did he even!?"

Behind Carissa, the other students also burst into uproar.

"WHAT!?"

"That bastard didn’t make our team, so he got onto their team!?"

"After everything, how does he deserve to be down there, while I’m up here!"

Eventually, all their yells were drowned out by the commentator.

"Please take your positions!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"BEGIN!"

...

...

...

Standing at the border of our semi-circles, I took a deep breath and glanced to my left at Grayson.

This wasn’t the usual wooden-sword spars I was used to.

Anything went.

Most of the students in front of me had likely reached the second stage of mana manipulation, so I would be facing mana spheres and mana sword slashes.

Additionally, there was also the randomness of gifted abilities.

Meeting my gaze, Grayson waved, taking a moment to scan the audience full of thousands of heroes, and simply said.

"You know, if we win, I think you’d become an honorary elf."

I tilted my head and said back, feeling dozens of piercing gazes locked onto my figure.

"I want a flying deer."

"...a flying deer?"

Seeing me nod my head, Grayson stood still and blinked for a moment.

"Why?"

"Sounds fun."

Cupping his hands around his mouth, Grayson suddenly turned around and yelled back at Charlotte, who was standing just a few feet behind us.

"PRINCESS, HE WANTS A FLYING DEER!"

Probably not even hearing him, Charlotte just gave Grayson a thumbs-up before continuing to speak to Angel.

Finally, after what seemed like ages...

"BEGIN!"

As the yell echoed throughout the coliseum, five students immediately approached us from the other side of the semi-circle, spreading out to prevent us from crossing.

Not skipping a beat, I instantly...turned intangible and phased right through the students, entering enemy territory.

Then, canceling the ability early, I immediately reappeared behind the rightmost student, my silver Dao aimed at the side of his stomach.

*CLANG*

Only being able to barely parry my sword, the boy was thrown to the side a few moments later, as I rammed my blade forward into his parrying sword.

Another student ran toward his body on the ground, preventing me from dealing the finishing blow.

With some space cleared, Grayson and Reed advanced into the red semi-circle as well, surrounded by the three other students.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

Facing the remaining two students, I calmly gestured for two of the claimers to come forward.

As they knelt on the red ground, which began to take on a leaf-green color a moment later, I calmly...remained still, standing between them and the two students.

Gritting his teeth, the student still standing charged toward me, leaving behind his friend, who was still recovering on the ground.

*CLANG*

As our swords met, I didn’t even attempt to fight back.

Cleanly disengaging, I side-stepped around him before he could notice and continued sprinting forward, right at his defenseless friend.

Shell-shocked perhaps by the fact that I had just left my claimers to die, the boy paused for a moment before eventually...chasing after me.

However...at that moment, the injured student lying on the ground before me suddenly yelled.

"SWITCH!"

As his scream echoed through the air, his entire body suddenly vanished...replaced by a male with white hair and blue eyes.

I instantly recognized him...how could I not?

He was Ren’s... counterpart.

Ner.

Raising the broadsword in his hands, Ner smiled and scanned me for a moment, his light-blue pupils eerily still.

"....Well, at least if I take you out, the match will just be normal."

Clicking my tongue, I glanced behind me, only to find my escape route blocked by the other student behind me.

He was...completely ignoring the elven claimers behind him.

If I took even a step back, he would be able to jab at me.

"..."

They had planned around Ner’s gift, attempting a bait-and-switch to trap an enemy in their territory and eliminate them, putting the opponent down a person.

Not skipping a beat, Ner immediately raised his broadsword and sliced downward at my left shoulder.

*CLANG*

My silver Dao instantly flew across my chest, parrying his slash; however, with pure strength, he continued pushing downward on my sword.

Feeling my knees start to buckle, I took a deep breath and disengaged, taking a step backward.

However, without skipping a beat, I raised my sword above my head...and simply thought of the point on my lower back that was directly perpendicular to the boy’s sword behind me.

My sword surged downward across my back, and in the next moment, the boy’s jabbing sword met the middle of my blade.

*CLANG*

With my hand over my shoulder and sword pointed downward, I managed to blindly parry the jab.

Spinning around, I immediately took the moment to sprint past the boy and his outstretched sword, leaving Ner behind as well.

Gasping for air, I stepped onto the newly claimed green land and slowly looked to the left, where Grayson and Reed were still engaged in a 2v3.

Alternating gazes between the two elves still claiming land behind me and them, I paused and glanced around, making sure no one was nearby.