Hani got ready for the battle. She hyped herself up.
You can do it, Hani! You trained from the best and were even able to beat three C-rankers on your own. I even got Emma's dagger. Stella even specifically cheered me on. It's now or never. Hani pumped herself up.
"Next battle! We have F-rank? Eh... please wait a moment, I think there is a mistake" The announcer saw Hani's rank and got confused. He took a couple of minutes to recheck.
Hearing this, Hani got pissed and, among the laughter, she screamed, "What's wrong with bringing an F-rank? I don't see anyone taking my spot!" She stomped onto the stage.
Flustered, the announcer got back and spoke again, "F-rank Hani Jin VS B-rank Ryusuke Kazehaya!"
The flag was swung as Ryusuke looked at Hani with a smug face. "Just give up, F-ranker. Idk how you managed to get a spot, but this is a no-kids game."
"You should not talk like that until you win the fight. You never know what types of unexpected things an F-rank can do." Hani spat back at him.
This caused him to get irritated. She's got an attitude for a F-ranker. I'll put her in her place. I've never had an easier fight than this before. Basically, a free win for me.
Hani prepared as she shielded herself with magic. Ok, the only scary thing is his speed. Just one hit, like Emma said. I just need one hit!
Hani took her dagger out and got into a defensive stance, but before she was in a stable position, he had already attacked with extreme speed as his blade ricocheted off Hani's dagger.
The start of the battle was already intense. Even though Ryusuke was B-rank, he was still a highly skilled hero, basically being on the top level of B-rank, even some A-rankers would find him difficult to deal with.
Without letting Hani rest, he kept coming at her, again and again. Hani was able to dodge his attacks just about. Hani started to get tired, which allowed him to break through, with one small cut here and another slice there. Frustrated this time, Hani decided to attack using the wind blade as his sword connected to her dagger. As he came for her again, inches away, she moved her dagger towards his blade and retaliated, causing him to get pushed back and make distance between them. Quickly, she jumped backwards to the edge of the arena. She needed as much space as she could get while Ryusuke collected himself.
The whole time he was attacking, Hani was reading him and his attack patterns. At the start of every attack sequence, he follows a specific route. Ryusuke's sword style was not that complex, as he relied heavily on his speed so that people would not be able to see it.
But for Hani, who had gradually increased her stats to a point where it was better than most people could see his attacks. She saw him start his attack, and instantly she knew how he was going to move. Without even waiting for him to get to the position, Hani dashed towards a space that was empty. Ryusuke, whose attack pattern followed the space Hani had dashed to, had already moved towards the same space. Hani used immense force to send magic running through her dagger as she jumped and, believing in her prediction, stabbed down in a downward thrusting motion.
Instantly, the strike hit with raw power from her, which was amplified by the magic. As Emma had said, Hani only needed to make one hit land. The dagger was stabbed into the ground right between his body and arm, her left hand on his heart, to show that if it were a real battle, she would have been able to reach it.
The crowd went silent as they witnessed history here. An F-ranker had beaten a B-ranker. The flagbearer, also in shock, had not waved the flag yet. Hani was still on top of Ryusuke, who could not even move due to the utter disbelief of the position he was in.
"Um... I believe that I have won?" Hani told the flagbearer, who in turn fumbled as they waved the flag towards Hani's side for her victory.
The silence was cut through by Stella screaming over the screen, "We have our winner! Hani Jin, congratulations!... I knew you could do it, Hani!" Stella waved with her arms high at Hani. Following that, Ivory and Emma also cheered for Hani. Slowly, some people joined in one by one, but there were still some people who did not join in. They did not want to admit a F-ranker was capable of beating a B-ranker. If so, what would be their excuse for losing to a B-ranker?
In the midst of all this, there was one particular person who became highly interested in the skill Hani had shown. The headmaster of the school is Henry Hawthorne. Sitting in the midst of the crowd, he had become amused at this hidden diamond that seemed to be in his school.
Hani made her way back to her seat, forgetting about Ryusuke due to her excitement of winning.
One thing was for certain due to this match, Hani had made a new enemy. With Ryusuke joining in with Leo for their hatred of Hani, both gloated at the result of this battle. Both thought an F-ranker never deserved a spot in first place, not in this match, not in this school, nor in society itself, so they made their plans to destroy Hani one way or another.
As she made her way back, Emma basically jumped on her as she hugged Hani. "Congratulations, Hani, you did it! See what I told you, just one hit!" Emma carried a proud grin on her face.
"Nice one, kid!" Ivory said as she ruffled Hani's hair.
All the attention Hani was getting made her shy, she hid herself behind her hands with her head facing the floor, letting her hair fall on her face. She gave a mini scream into her hands and calmed down a bit before sitting up, uncovering her face as she shouted. "I did it!"
"What the hell are you doing, you weirdo?" Emma said jokingly as she looked at Hani, wearing a goofy smile on her face.
Still with a few minutes left before the next match started, the crowd was split into two. A couple behind them whispered loudly so that Hani could hear, "She probably paid him off for something, I mean, even I can't beat Ryusuke, and I am a B-ranker too. I mean, Ryusuke comes from a low-class family, and the F-ranker probably wanted some attention."
Hani, who was used to hearing this, completely ignored this, but Emma and Ivory turned their heads back and simultaneously looked at the couple. "Hah?"
"Are you saying the person I trained is a fake?" Emma shot at them.
"Well... how else can an F-ranker beat a B-rank?" The guy was sure that it was a fake battle. The girl sitting beside him suddenly realised who Emma was, silently nudging him, she tried to whisper to him, "Babe, that's Emma Wang."
The dude hearing this went pale. "Nothing to say? You were squeeking real loud, saying she was a hack, why so suddenly quiet?" Emma sneered at the guy.
Hani was feeling awkward at this point since she had never confronted people before. "Emma, just leave it, it doesn't matter. They are just dumb people, and you don't need to listen to their complaints. You will lose your little remaining brain cells you have." Hani attempted to distract Emma from the couple, "Let's just enjoy the win as it is and watch the next fight! Gotta plan for the strategy for the next round."
The couple went mad as Hani called them dumb, but unable to do anything in front of Emma, they just ran away from the situation.
"Oi! I have a lot of brain cells, alright! I am a very smart person." Emma pouted and huffed, turning back around to watch the next fight.
"Of course you are, Emma!" Hani says as they all joke around.
As they watched a couple more fights, it was finally Leo's turn to fight. Just before he stepped into the arena, he stared towards Hani's direction with a devilish glare. Hani shivered at the sight of this as she tried to make herself as small as possible.
You better last till we face each other, F-ranker, cause I want to beat you in front of everyone. Leo thought to himself as he stepped in, getting ready for his fight.