Chapter 55. Setup

“Ken. Whatever your plan is. Please make sure you succeed, okay?” Clare asked as the pair relaxed in the backstage of the stadium during the 3rd day of the tournament where Ken’s entire plan rested on the fact that he hoped he was stronger than Luke.

“Clare. You know what happens when you put extra pressure on me right?”

“You will rise up and meet the challenge of course.” Clare replied confidently.

“I mean, when you are this confident in me, how can I let you down right?” Ken replied, feeling the pressure slowly disappearing with the encouragement from Clare.

With Ken skipping the finals and Clare having a hard time focusing. Luke for the first time overtook the overall ranking and was happily gloating that he had finally reached rank 1 above the elf after years of dedication.

Not only had he caught up to Clare in the written classes, he has also surpassed her in all of the practical subjects and shockingly, it would seem that his personal training with Julius had really paid off and he even surpassed Lovetta in physical enhancements.

During day 1 where the students showed off their powers, Lucia went on much longer than normal hyping up Luke and how amazing he looked and how awesome and proud she was to be from Darrumburgh and for him to finally reach the top of the class after 3 years.

Obviously, the elves were not happy with the extra attention Lucia was showering Luke and not giving their elf princess nearly as much attention but Ken and a few knew that she was only hyping him up to draw more money into betting on the Darrumburgh noble so her payout would be that much greater if Ken ends up winning.

For the third year students where the class had lost no one so far, passing advanced level proved to be difficult for most of those that have spent the past three years partying and socializing and in one swoop, the number of students moving on to the next year dropped by 300. According to Vincent when Ken was chatting with him, by year 5 where one had to pass expert level, only around 20 to 30% of the students would remain.

For those that had to drop out, this tournament was their last chance to stand on the stage for the world to see and the number of students that signed up was much higher for their class compared to the previous tournaments.

Sadly, most of those students ended up getting destroyed without ever making enough of an impression to get featured unless they lost to one of the top favorites and day one of the matches ended without much excitement for the likes of Ken where each match ended without any challenge.

Day two offered little challenge to Ken as his growth so far was exponential compared to the linear growth of the rest of the students. From absolutely zero just three years ago, he is now without a doubt one of the favorites due to both his confident personality and his flashy fighting style to back up his confidence.

With all the fodders taking care off, those still left in the tournament are the ones that actually studied hard and had talent. While everyone at the academy had potential, Ken has learned that just because someone has the potential doesn’t necessarily mean they have the talent.

People like Genesis are the definition of gifted and like her, there are other gifted individuals who are wasting their talent from not doing anything school related for the past three years. But on the other end of the spectrum, there are quite a few students who might have the potential to achieve greatness, but they simply could not reach that potential either due to lack of talent or not getting the correct training.

People like Ken, Luke and Clare are the most rare combination of having the potential of getting selected, having the drive to become great and also having the talent to actually improve at a rapid pace and obviously, Ken is by far the most talented from the pure speed of his growth.

Interestingly as well, Indra has slowly creeped up in the rankings and gotten much stronger from her simply studying and training hard while also having great potential and talent.

“Let’s have a good match, Indra! I have been so busy myself, I didn’t even realize you have climbed all the way to top 10 in overall!” Ken said happily to the merman girl before their match to determine who gets to be in the top 4.

“Thanks Ken.” Indra replied softly. Even though the two had known each other for over two years and have even lived in the same suite for the past year, unlike with the other girls, the two really haven't progressed in their relationship at all due to Indra’s shy personality and Ken being too busy with the more dominant girls.

While Indra put up a much better fight than anyone Ken had fought so far, both Ken’s overwhelming strength and her reluctance to go full out against a friend and love interest made it an easy fight for Ken to win without having to spend too much energy.

“Come on Indra. I knew you could have put up a much tougher fight.” Ken said to the girl as he helped her up after defeating her and waved to the cheering crowd before the pair headed backstage.

“Sorry. I just can’t go all out when I am fighting against a friend.” Indra apologized as the two reached backstage.

Wishing Ken good luck, Indra decided to head for the stands to watch the remaining of the fights with Emma and Genesis as Ken sat back down trying to recover as much stamina as he could for the final two fights.

Even though Alice said she wasn’t going to try and compete against Cecilla or Clare, she ended up trying rather hard to get back into the top echelon of the class and since she was no doubt extremely smart and talented. With her natural born strength and power as a vampire, she was back into the top 8 and faced off against Luke for a spot in the final 4.

“Good job Alice. I bet Luke didn’t expect you to try this hard again and put up such a good fight against him!” Ken said happily as he welcomed Alice backstage after she put up an amazing effort against Luke before eventually losing to the Darrumburgh noble due to her pretty much taking 2 years off from training.

“He really has gotten strong hasn’t he. Are you sure you can beat him in just 10 minutes?” Alice questioned as she sat down to rest while Ken brought her some water.

“Alice, just go relax up in the stands and cheer loud for me when I destroy him.” Ken replied confidently.

Saying goodbye and wishing him the best, Alice left backstage after Clare and Lovetta both won their matches and the top 4 for the class was determined.

“Lovetta, try your best to tire him out for me please. If you think you can beat him, please lose on purpose but with how strong he has gotten, sadly, I don’t think you can.” Ken asked Lovetta as she returned backstage.

“I want to beat him to get my revenge. But I don’t think I could in this environment so I will do my best to tire him out for you.” Lovetta replied with a nod.

“Clare. I want you to attack me for 7 to 8 minutes and I will save my energy and try to end the match while you pretend to defend. But do put up a believable fight please, I don’t want people to question the outcome and us get in trouble with Lucia and the underground people”

“As long as you win against Luke and whatever your plan pans out, I will do as you say. But what happens if you lose to Luke?” Clare asked, obviously still on edge as she pretended to follow her father’s order during the week so far per Ken’s instruction and had not acted any differently while with her family.

“Clare! Stop worrying! I got a plan. It might not work out as grand as what I imagine but just trust me alright.” Ken reassured Clare as the two headed back onstage to fight out their fixed match.

The match was exciting for those at home to watch. Clare went on the offensive from the moment the match started and charged at Ken with a barrage of attacks enchanted with her ice magic. To the untrained, the match would seem like a one sided affair with Clare having the advantage and with Lucia hyping the princess up, only the skilled could see that match was obviously fixed.

While Clare seemed to be attacking furiously, her flashy attacks were in a simple pattern and unvaried. Against someone like Ken, her attacks took almost no effort to defend against and was simply all for a show with the explosion and style but no substance.

After defending for around 8 minutes with Lucia hyping Clare up, Ken finally went on the offense and just as they planned, Clare put up flashy ice shields and looked like she did her best to dodge and block but just like her attack patterns where it’s all flashy and no variance, Ken was easily getting hits in left and right as Lucia suddenly started hyping him up for the comeback and with 30 seconds left before the match would get called, Ken was declared the winner after destroying Clare’s protection spell with a flashy double spin explosion slash.

With Lucia’s commentary and the general public’s lack of actual combat understanding. While the match fixing was obvious to the top tier fighters. Most of the bidders and gamblers around the world betting on the outcome hardly questioned the validity with the losers upset at their luck while the winners feeling relieved of Ken’s last minute reversal win.

“What is that boy playing at? He is going to make some powerful enemies with such obvious match fixing.” Lovetta’s father Boris commented as he watched the tournament with his family.

While Ken waved happily at the crowd after winning his fixed match, Luke also won his match against Lovetta to set up the finale that Ken had hoped and prepared for.

“Good job Lovetta. You sure put up a great fight against Luke! Now go with Clare and watch me destroy Luke for you as payback.” Ken said while hugging the two girls before saying goodbye as they wished him luck and headed up the stadium.

“You really think just because you use your dogs to tire me out that you could win?” Luke said with a sneer as he approached Ken.

“Luke. I think I am way stronger than you are but I am a commoner while you are a Darrumburgh so I have just endured you. But I have to make sure I do everything possible to guarantee this win and it’s more than just to settle things with you and get back for what you did to Lovetta.”

“HAH! I know you think just because you can boost it makes you special but at the end of the day, you are nothing but a filthy commoner and I will fucking crush you.” Luke said before heading away to rest before the finale starts.

“Darn it Lucia! You really had to put our match as the finale for the day? Can you not give Luke any more time to recover.” Ken murmured to himself as he sat backstage and watched the other finals where obviously, Cecilla and Seraphina both won their class easily.

After all of the other matches ended. Lucia proudly announced Luke Darrumburgh to the overwhelming cheering crowd from the human side while Ken got nice receptions from every race.

The moment the match started, both Ken and Luke went into full enhanced mode and started dashing around the arena while sending different elemental spells at each out.

“Fireball!” Ken screamed as he sent a ball of fire at Luke as the Darrumburgh noble blocked the blast with an ice shield before sending an ice spear at Ken which Ken was able to easily block with a flame shield.

As the two dashed around sending elemental spells at each while blocking at the same time, Luke suddenly charged at Ken as the two started clashing with blades drawn and sparks flying.

For two minutes, the two went at each other seemingly on even footings until Ken suddenly stopped attacking and released his enhancement all together.

“What’s wrong, commoner? Are you trying to save up your energy so you can boost and think that will be good enough to defeat me?” Luke shouted as he kept up the fully enhanced attacks while Ken simply defended.

“Sorry Luke. I know you trained hard and think you are talented but after that exchange, I now understand the difference between us.” Ken replied while blocking the constant barrage from Luke.

“What’s there to be sorry about? It’s good that you finally understand how inferior you are, mutt. Maybe after I destroy you, you will learn your place in this world.” Luke smirked as he continued the onslaught.

“Luke, you need to get your hearing checked out after the match. I will only say this once so better listen up. I will let you show off and pretend this match is close so you don’t lose face as a Darrumburgh. After this match, I will be joining the open tournament so you can play around with the students and be the second strongest. However, if you ever try anything on one of my girls ever again, I will make sure to embarrass you in front of the entire world.” Ken said calmly as he continued to block Luke’s attacks.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!” Absolutely losing his cool for the first time, Luke started swinging wildly as Ken calmly blocked most of the damage while only taking minor blows even when Luke was fully enhanced while Ken was only expanding the minimum amount of stamina to block the major blows.

“You know Luke. For the longest time I thought you were right about me. When you told me I am nothing but a commoner who’s all words but no action, a nobody without the protection from Clare.

I truly believed you were right about me and even when you threw your disgusting tantrum that ended up hurting so many people. I did nothing because I didn’t think I could and even when you acted like a total piece of shit to my girls, I did nothing and only tried to keep things from escalating while they are the ones that ended up standing up for me.”

“SHUT UP MUTT!” Luke screamed as he continued the onslaught.

While Luke was no doubt furious and his swings more exaggerated than his normally composed self. His attack pattern was varied and based on fundamentals and impossible for Ken to fully block as Ken only selectively enhanced to block the major hits.

“You know Luke. From now on, I won’t let you walk over me anymore because I have realized something. I think I have what it takes to make it to the very top and this match against you has made it clear to me.

You are talented but you don’t have Cecilla’s insane talent, you are strong but you don’t have Seraphina’s raw strength. You are good but you aren’t special. You don’t have what it takes to reach the peak.” Ken said calmly.

“You think having your mutts trying to wear me down and taunting me is enough to beat me? You are underestimating me, commoner.” Luke replied as he continued his endless barrage of physical attacks enchanted with magic while Ken just kept on defending.

“It’s the opposite, Luke. I have either way overestimated what you were capable of or have greatly underestimated my own talent. I will give you a few more minutes to pretend that you are my equal than I will show you what I can do after only 3 years of training compared to your entire life’s worth. And as time goes on, the gap between us will only grow larger.” Ken said confidently as Luke let out a scream and started charging forward once again.

To the average viewer, it would seem that the two were on equal footings until Luke started overpowering Ken and with Lucia adding in favorable commentary for Luke, most of the crowd and people at home believed Ken was on the verge of losing as the minutes passed by.

After over 9 minutes has passed, those betting on Luke are getting excited while those betted on Ken are starting to lose hope. Even Lucia’s voice begins to show slight signs that she is not happy with Ken’s performance and after 9 minutes and 45 seconds and only 15 seconds left in the match, Lucia’s absolute professionalism was the only thing that’s keeping her from screaming and cussing Ken out.

“Active!” Ken said with 15 seconds left, went into full enhanced mode and quickly got to the opposite side of the arena from Luke with 12 seconds left.

“Double boost.” Ken said calmly as the entire world stopped moving for the young man.