Professor Virelle was sitting in the highest row of the stands, calmly observing the battlefield. As soon as Enrico entered the arena, she noticed Tolen walking beside him, and a small smile appeared on her face.
'Heh... what is he planning? It looks like he managed to convince Tolen to teach him some magic.'
"May we sit here?"
Hearing the voice, Virelle looked away from the arena and saw the other two Class D teachers approaching.
"Sir Drenholm... Borem."
"Hey, I sense a certain lack of respect in that tone, young lady."
Virelle turned her attention back to the arena without even changing her expression.
"Really? I tried so hard to hide it. Where did I go wrong? Was it by underestimating this old man's intelligence?"
"First, I'm only thirty-nine years old. Second, I'll need to have a conversation with your father later."
Borem kept complaining, but Virelle simply ignored him as if he wasn't even there. Sir Drenholm merely sighed at the all-too-familiar scene and sat down beside her.
"You two really never stop arguing. Anyway, I'm curious to see Kai move up in the rankings. That boy deserves it."
Realizing it was pointless to keep arguing, Borem gave up on scolding her and sat down as well.
"I agree. In my opinion, he's the one who deserves to move up the most in the class."
"Hehehe..."
Virelle's quiet laugh caught the attention of both teachers, who immediately turned to look at her.
"I don't think it'll be that easy for Kai to move up the rankings against Enrico."
The two frowned almost at the same time. Sir Drenholm was the first to speak.
"What do you mean? Enrico can barely train properly."
"Exactly. That boy is lazy."
Virelle let out a small sigh before answering.
"Pff... that's why the two things I hate the most are weaklings who don't understand their own weakness... and idiots who can only look straight ahead."
The two teachers stared at her seriously.
"Are you saying Enrico has something special? Sorry, but I simply don't believe that."
"Want to bet? I bet ten gold coins on his victory."
Borem immediately stood up.
"I accept. In fact, I'll go even further. I bet twenty gold coins that Kai defeats that boy in thirty seconds."
He spoke with such confidence that Virelle merely rolled her eyes. Beside them, Sir Drenholm preferred to stay out of the bet.
At that moment, Valença and Elaris climbed the stairs of the stands. The two quickly greeted the teachers before sitting directly in front of them.
"Don't worry, Valença. I'm sure Kai will defeat that trash."
"I know he will... it's just that when I saw him entering the arena, I had a bad feeling. That's all."
Virelle listened to their conversation for a moment before turning her attention back to the battlefield. That was when she noticed Enrico cast a quick glance toward where she and the other teachers were sitting.
'What's your plan, Enrico?'
On the opposite side of the arena, Kai was also carefully observing his opponent. According to everything Elaris had told him, Enrico only possessed Fireball magic and had barely trained during those weeks.
'If that's really the case... I'll end this quickly.'
Kai drew his sword and assumed a firm stance, gripping the weapon with both hands while pointing the blade at Enrico.
"Begin!"
The judge's shout marked the start of the battle.
At that very instant, Kai disappeared from the sight of much of the audience and appeared behind Enrico. Since this was only a ranking match, he struck with the blunt side of his sword to avoid causing serious injuries.
However, just before his attack connected, an intense pain shot through his stomach.
Kai's eyes widened.
Looking down, he saw Enrico's palm pointing backward.
A fireball had hit him squarely.
"Just as I thought. At the beginning of every fight, you always use your speed to appear behind your opponent. You know, that's nothing like a true knight."
A dark smile appeared on Enrico's face as another fireball slowly formed above his hand.
Kai raised his sword to block the next attack, but Enrico completely changed the spell's direction and fired it at the ground instead. The explosion raised a thick curtain of smoke. Without hesitation, Kai jumped backward and escaped the fog, but in the very next moment, another fireball shot out from inside the smoke.
He instinctively tried to cut it before it could hit him.
However, the flaming sphere suddenly split into six smaller fireballs, which changed direction and struck him almost simultaneously, sending him flying backward.
'Damn... a second spell?'
Kai tried to get back on his feet immediately, but Enrico had already closed the distance between them. A kick struck his hand with precision, sending the sword flying away. Before he could react, a punch hit his face and knocked him down once again.
Without giving him time to breathe, Enrico mounted him. Flames enveloped his fists as an unrelenting barrage of punches rained down on Kai. He raised his arms as much as he could, blocking part of the attacks while being pinned against the ground.
'I won't...'
"You're not going to surrender, are you?"
Enrico slowly raised the palm of his hand. An enormous amount of mana began to gather above it while his eyes remained completely empty.
"I know this very well."
His hand came down like a blade toward Kai, who closed his eyes out of pure instinct.
'I'm going to die.'
However, the attack never came.
A hand grabbed Enrico's arm before the strike could be unleashed, while the tip of a sword gently rested against his throat.
When Kai opened his eyes again, he saw Sir Drenholm calmly holding the sword pointed at Enrico's throat, while Borem firmly restrained the arm he had been about to use for the attack.
"Enrico, you won. You can stop now."
Sir Drenholm spoke as he sheathed his sword, while Borem released Enrico's arm.
"I'm sorry, Professors. I got a little carried away."
Enrico scratched the back of his neck with a sly smile, as if he were genuinely embarrassed for getting too excited. Around the arena, however, the atmosphere was completely different. The students remained in absolute silence, still trying to understand how someone everyone considered a lazy idiot had defeated Kai so overwhelmingly.
"Getting too carried away can cause problems, boy."
As Borem spoke, Kai remained lying on the ground for a few seconds, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Soon afterward, Valença ran over to him and helped him sit up. Elaris came right behind her, but her eyes remained fixed on Enrico, unable to hide her disbelief.
'He was only supposed to know Fireball... then how...? Has he been hiding his true strength this whole time?'
In the stands, Virelle continued watching Enrico in silence. Little by little, she recalled the brief glance he had cast in her direction even before the fight had begun. For several seconds, she simply put all the pieces together in her mind.
Then, suddenly...
"Hahaha..."
Her laughter echoed through the stands, making several students look at her without understanding why.
'That boy... used us to win the battle.'
She covered part of her face with one hand while continuing to smile.
'No one noticed...'
Everyone was focused on Enrico's victory, but Virelle had been paying attention to something else. Every attack he launched consumed an absurd amount of mana, the very resource he possessed the least of. Especially that last attack. The amount of mana gathered in that hand was completely incompatible with Enrico's current level.
Then she finally understood what Enrico had done. From the very beginning, he knew Kai would never surrender of his own free will. That was why he had gathered every last bit of his remaining mana into an attack that looked fatal. His true goal had never been to hit Kai, but to force the teachers to stop the fight before his lack of mana gave him away.
'What an absurd boy...'
At that moment, there probably wasn't even a single drop of mana left in his body. Even so, he remained standing, pretending he still had the strength to continue fighting. Anyone else would have believed that performance.
But not Virelle.
She realized Enrico could barely remain standing, and that in a prolonged fight, he would never have defeated Kai.
'I hate the weak. I despise them. But there's one kind of weakling I like... those who understand their own weakness and surpass their limits to evolve. Those who would do anything to become stronger.'
Virelle squeezed her own face between her fingers as she watched Borem scold Enrico. Little by little, a green aura began to leak from her body and her eyes, while an almost sinister smile appeared on her face.
'Enrico... if you keep this up, you'll become my favorite student at this academy.'
She paused for a moment.
'And you're already very close to it... you just need to surpass two more students who are truly interesting.'
The aura disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Virelle returned to her usual expression, calmly stood up, and began walking down the stands toward the arena.
'Now... I'm truly expecting great things from you.'
Borem noticed her approach and crossed his arms.
"Did you come to scold him too? Great."
Virelle simply held out her hand toward him.
"The twenty gold coins."
"What? Weren't they only ten?"
"Don't you remember? You were the one who doubled the bet."
Borem covered his face with one hand and let out a long sigh.
"Damn... why did I have to come up with that?"
Without hiding her satisfaction, Virelle smiled faintly before discreetly glancing at Enrico, who remained watching Valença help Kai back to his feet.