[S1] Chapter 14: Fight

MIKO

Quite unsurprisingly, Elliot also successfully completed the final match relatively swiftly. Now he has some time to relax before he has to face me.

I don't know exactly how long it's been since I prepared for a fight like this. There's no such thing inside a dungeon. You have to be ready to fight and defend your life at all times. Not that I want to compare Elliot to a monster that could pose a threat to me; I've just seen him in action, and I have little doubt that I'll beat him.

According to Lilith, the main reason for the fight is to make everyone watching this realize there is still a difference between magic students and a witch like me. I don't know who came up with this idea, but I don't care. Hopefully, I'll deliver what they were hoping for.

As I sit on the floor and perform a split to stretch, I feel several eyes on me, but one stare in particular. It's Kayla, of course, who is sitting obediently in her chair next to the magical field that protects the spectators from any spells that might miss its target.

"Are you ready?" asks the referee, who is apparently also just a student. In the meantime, Hannah introduces me as the final opponent over the speakers. To my surprise, the spectators start applauding as if they are excited to see me.

I look over at Kayla with a slightly disbelieving expression, and we both start chuckling. Then the crowd starts cheering again as Elliot walks onto the field, shooting me a judgmental look.

"What's going on?" I ask him as he arrives near me.

"Why are you showing the seals all of a sudden? Am I supposed to take pity on you and back off?"

"Elliot. What are you doing? Why would you try to provoke me?"

"Don't complain later."

"I won't."

After our brief exchange, we walk to our appointed positions, the referee makes eye contact with us and asks. "Are you ready?"

I nod, and Elliot gives a thumbs up. I let my mana spread throughout my body and build a barrier over my skin. My senses are heightened, and my muscles are strengthened. This form of magic is the first thing you learn in a combat-oriented guild, so Elliot will do the same.

Being able to surround himself with this magic was also why he couldn't lose his last battles, even if one of his opponents would have managed to hit him. Of course, there are other reasons why the others didn't stand a chance against him.

However, he should realize that he is now in the role of the one who doesn't exactly have a chance. Let's see what his first move is.

"Come on, the fights on. What are you waiting for?"

The spectators are so quiet and tense that they can probably hear our voices.

"Have you missed fighting so much? You just can't wait?"

I can tell by his stance when he wants to jump at me. What I ignore a little is that he can also use other magic. Seeing mana is not my specialty, but I notice how it suddenly gathers some in his hands. He then shoots a wall of fire in my direction. Someone seems to trust the barrier Nada has built.

I dodge it by jumping to the side, covering ten meters in a fraction of a second. It is probably Elliot's plan to get me moving, but instead of following me, he stays still and smiles at me.

He doesn't plan to chase me around the arena until I'm so annoyed that I attack him, does he? If that's what he wants, I'll give it to him right now. I run towards Elliot at a similar speed to the one I used to dodge. To ordinary eyes, this must look close to teleportation. Still, he manages to follow, which doesn't necessarily mean he can dodge the coming attack.

My fist lands in his ribs. I feel how I penetrate his magic shield, which unfortunately takes a lot of power out of my attack, but it's still enough to tear him from his stance. Before I can follow up with another punch or kick, he tries to drive his elbow into my face too slowly. He throws a barrage of punches, but he simply lacks speed. I dodge relatively effortlessly.

The thought of making fun of him shoots through my mind, but I can see how his frustration grows from his expression alone. I can imagine that he has thought about how he could get back at me every day. I can't remember exactly how I treated my subordinates. As harsh as it sounds, Elliot wasn't special enough for me to remember a single word we exchanged back then.

Maybe I should stop dodging. That must be embarrassing for him. After his next blow, I attack. I have to admit that he keeps up his pace quite well. Despite the long succession of his punches and kicks, I don't notice any signs of exhaustion on his part.

I duck at one of his attacks and counter by hitting him in the gut with my palm at full speed. Instantly after that, I shoot wind magic from my hand, which at first should feel like another punch to his stomach.

But my goal is the effect that follows. The magic spreads out from the center of his body, briefly letting him float in the air. At this moment, I turn with full force and give him a spinning kick that sends him flying across the arena.

Instinctively, I push myself off the ground and arrive almost at the same time as him at the spot where he fell to the floor. But I can refrain from giving him a final punch. After all, he makes no great effort to get up again.

I glance over at the referee, who should end the fight, and before I fully realize it, I get a fist right on my nose. With the loud crack and the blood that begins to gush out of it, I lose my composure.

As Elliot heaved himself onto his knees for the blow, he holds this position briefly and cannot possibly avoid my coming kick to his face. I have my leg bent so that the force pushes him head-first towards the ground. If he's lucky, he'll be unconscious now.

Without giving it a second thought, I sit down on his lower body, pull his torso up with my left hand, and punch him repeatedly in the face with my right.

KAYLA

We've all seen fights in movies, and I've also viewed a few authentic ones from clips online. But witnessing it in real life is a completely different story. One part of your consciousness wants to jump up and end the situation, but the other doesn't even dare to blink.

Miko sat on Elliot for less than ten seconds and punched him in the face countless times. The ground around them is covered in blood splatters. The referee takes far too long to stop the fight, but with his whistle, Miko gets off Elliot, moves a little to the side, and stands there staring at the floor.

I can hear the spectators shouting, some expressing concern, others hurling insults at Miko that I've never heard before. My heart is racing. I don't know what worries me the most right now. But it doesn't matter. I have to do my job as a healer.

Arriving at the two of them a moment earlier than Hannah, I turn my full attention to Miko. I put one hand on her cheeks and lift her head to take a good look at her face. There's not as much blood on her skin as I expected, but I can see at first glance that her nose is broken.

"Are you alright?" I ask quietly.

"It hurts pretty bad."

"It'll be fine in a moment. Hold on." My healing magic begins to take effect, and her nose literally springs back into its original shape. Miko has tears in her eyes, a picture I never expected to see.

"Thank you. Can you check on Elliot? I don't think he's feeling too well."

I look over at Elliot, who is lying with his head on Hannah's lap, being healed. With that treatment, he'll definitely pull through. "He'll survive."

◆

The two days after this fight were, well, tough, you could say. On the one hand, Miko was happy with her performance. Every spectator should have recognized the difference between her and Elliot. But the problem is that she no longer dares to leave the room.

Normally, she didn't care what others thought. Still, now that she has almost beaten Elliot to a pulp, she suddenly develops a guilty conscience? It's quite adorable that she shows emotion, but it's a bit annoying that I have to work out all by myself!

Outside, I'm regularly approached and asked how Miko is doing and whether everything is alright. Of course, there are a few toxic Elliot fangirls who give me nasty looks, but most of the students are impressed by the fight and understand Miko's outburst.

"I promise you, hardly anyone is angry with you. Most of them are completely understanding and call Elliot sneaky for hitting you when you were looking the other way."

"He didn't do anything wrong. I just wasn't paying attention."

I've never seen Miko so whiny. I want to be there for her and support her, but everything that comes out of her mouth is beyond reason. I would like to slap her and drag her out of the room, but I am aware that my reason for doing so is rather selfish.

"Come on, today is the last day of the festival. And we haven't done anything yet." Apart from squeezing into a photo box and sharing a crêpe.

Just before I'm about to give up trying to convince her, there's a banging on our door, followed by murmuring from outside that I can barely understand. I open our room and find Elliot standing in front of it. Next to him are several female students giving him deadly stares. "Men are not allowed on this wing!" one of them complains.

"I know, I know."

Without giving it much thought, I pull him into the room and close the door. If he had stood out there any longer, it probably wouldn't have ended well. He nods his thanks, walks past me, and looks at Miko, who is sitting on the bed.

"You look like shit."

"Still better than you."

He laughs, "Do you mind if I sit down?"

"Do what you want."

What exactly is happening here? I feel a bit like I'm out of place. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"You stay right here," Miko orders me with a serious look in her eyes.

"So, what do you want?" she then asks Elliot, who is sitting on the edge of the mattress while Miko leans against the bed frame. Meanwhile, I stand next to the bathroom door and watch them silently.

"First of all, I want to apologize. The fact that I hit you when the fight was actually over was disrespectful. Frustration over the skill difference between the two of us led me to do it, which is by no means an excuse."

Miko says nothing but seems to be listening attentively.

"I'm pretty sure you were never interested in what I used to talk about during our time in that guild back then. So, if it's okay, I'll remind you."

Her expression reveals that he has hit the bull's eye.

"In the beginning, when you became our troop leader, I was as pissed off as everyone else about being subordinate to a child. As a person, you were also unbearable, but your skills more than justified you in filling the position. But I couldn't help thinking that there were plenty of witches and mages your age who weren't up to the task and ended up losing their lives because of it. I wanted to campaign for introducing a minimum age and other regulations for allowing children and teenagers in guilds."

Such a thought had never occurred to me personally. When I wrote my license exam, I was surrounded by many young people, but not for a moment did I think that they could be signing their death warrant by obtaining this certificate.

"The Ministry didn't care. After all, more and more dungeons appeared, and the number of mages needed increased constantly. Only the director of this school here responded to one of my open letters and offered me a meeting."

"What's your point?" Miko asks in a rather annoyed tone, making me almost feel sorry for Elliot.

"I was offered the opportunity to study here and become a teacher afterward. The school principal has always given interested students the opportunity to take a break from their studies in order to gain work experience, but only if he feels that they are ready for it."

Elliot pauses for a moment and sighs heavily.

"But we still received messages from former students who were seriously injured in dungeons or died on their first mission. When I heard that you were visiting our school, I suggested that you should fight. I was also the one who leaked information to students about what happened in the past. I used you to scare my classmates, to scare my friends away from the idea of going into dungeons. I'm sorry."

There is absolute silence for a moment; my mouth hangs open, and I don't know where to look. Elliot's confession was like something out of a drama series. He's that character where you always think that someone like that can't exist in real life.

"Apology accepted."

Elliot turns to Miko, and without seeing his face, I can imagine his expression. The serenity in her voice and the slight smile on her lips are insane.

"What are you looking so stupid for? I can understand him, and somehow the role of the villain suits me quite well."

I get goosebumps when Miko calls herself a villain, but I get what she means. It's precisely because I understand that it was so surprising that she cared so much about the opinions of anyone else.

Ever since I've known her, she's always done whatever she wanted, regardless of what others might say or think. Miko is a bit the opposite of me since I would describe myself as a bit of a people pleaser.

"Thank you, Miko. And now you're coming to the festival. I'll buy you something to eat or drink, both if you like."

Miko's gaze wanders to me, mine to Elliot, his to Miko, then to me.

"Of course, Kayla can come too."

"All right. I'm ready." Miko gets out of bed on her side, walks around, and holds out a hand to Elliot. She pulls him up, and the two of them seem to enjoy a moment with each other that I don't seem to understand, so I just walk to the door without comment and open it.

Outside our room, I'm greeted by a group of schoolgirls who, unlike before, no longer look angry but rather meek.

"What's going on here?" Miko asks, approaching me from behind.

"No plan." I shrug my shoulders.

Then I hear another door open in the hallway and peek around the corner. Hannah comes out and waves at me with a smile while the girls in the hallway continue to stare at the floor.

"Is this going to be a walk of shame, or why are they all standing there?" Good question, Elliot. I have no idea, to be honest.

When he appears behind Miko and me, the group in front of us looks up and says, "Sorry!" in unison. Hannah nods her approval and makes a hand signal. The girls start to split up and disappear into their rooms.

"Impressed?" Hannah crosses her arms in front of her chest and seems to expect some praise.

"I wanted to ask how much it costs? But yes, I'm impressed, too." Elliot says as we go into the hallway and close our room door.

"I don't know. A pizza and a refreshing drink might do the trick."

"You're making me poor."

I do feel sorry for him, but who can say they can make three women happy at the same time?