3 bar menu

Chapter 136

“I’ll give you one chance to know your place, admit your folly, and leave the stage.” Fate continued. “Otherwise, you’ll face the consequences.”

Her words came pretty close to slander. It seemed like her words were enough for those listening to connect all of the dots. Naturally, there were plenty who were curious about me at first. Most assumed I had only gotten to my level by luck, but even luck was a kind of success. They were sending out messengers to figure out my history as someone relatively unknown.

Whether it was Fate connecting my identity or just proper timing, people were quickly being updated on my history, and that history was being spread across the spectators who seemed ravenous for such drama. Other than the battle, it seemed like the history and aspirations of the fighters were nearly as much a sport to those watching.

“According to reports, he tried to enter the Capala household when he first arrived, then he clung to the Lou household’s young miss after. He’s spent most of his time trying to pawn off random farm junk and spend it all on booze. He probably became friends with the broken prince just to be able to mooch off him too. This guy is nothing but a wretch.”

Those words seemed to sum up most of what people were saying about me at that moment. Only three people didn’t seem to be buying the rhetoric. Sammuel wore a small smile but seemed unaffected by the rumors. Mara looked a bit unhappy, shooting looks at Abigail while Penny made a few disparaging remarks about me on purpose to continue to upset her. Then, there was the lady of the Stride household, who seemed to be considering things. Although I had changed my face by the time I was riding the infernal wolf king, she couldn’t help but associate us together.

However, being seen as trash suited me fine. The more people overlooked me, the easier my investigation could continue. If people knew I was extremely powerful, they would be guarded against me, and if the people who targeted Mara knew my intent, they would bury all proof and I’d never find the guilty party. This was what my background in a gang told me. The first thing you did when a cop was knocking on the door was flush all the evidence.

A smirk formed on my face. “What place do I belong? Perhaps, at your place?”

My words caused a lot of the chatter to freeze. Fate’s eyes widened, and then her cheeks grew red before she pulled out her sword.

“You dare profane me?”

I looked down at her chest, which was quite large compared to many of the other girls I had met in this city. It was at a level where I wondered how she was even able to fight. She was quite beautiful. She had none of the immaturity of her little sister, and while Abigail had a regal beauty to her, Fate had a more sultry look.

“Doesn’t that body profane itself?” I raised an eyebrow, allowing a bit of lewdness to meet my eyes.

“I gave you a chance.” She growled. “Since you don’t appreciate it, die!”

She attacked immediately. Her body moved with extreme speed. Her speed was even faster than those I previously encountered, which told me she must have had a mutation in speed. Her sword was light and thin, more like a rapier. This further caused her movements to be ferociously quick. I had been goading her on purpose, so naturally, I had been prepared for her attack. I danced back, avoiding her strikes. Fate’s eyes widened as she found I was able to avoid her strikes, but before she could think too much about it, I bridged the distance between us, my arms wrapping around her body as I pulled her into an embrace.

“Or, perhaps, this is the place you want me…or is it more of a position?”

She couldn’t attack me, her arm was trapped in mine, but she pulled back as her face grew flustered. “You… how dare you!”

Destiny let out a snicker, finding her sister’s predicament amusing, but her father had a frown on his face. A moment later, Fate’s body grew hot. It wasn’t hot enough to bother me, but I knew that it was hotter than a paragon should be able to handle. I let out a false cry and pulled back like I had been burned. Fate jumped away as soon as her body was freed. She had a look of rage on her face.

“You will pay for that desecration!” Her face was filled with rage.

“Kill him!”

“He’s a creep!”

“How dare he!”

Fate Lou had a lot of fans, and by touching her, I had filled many of them with jealousy and rage. I seemed to have angered the entire crowd. Fate seemed angry enough on her own. Her body glowed with a powerful light, and her face was painted with fury. Her eyes burned red, and I realized the head on her body seemed to cause fire to erupt. That fire swirled around her until it concentrated on your sword.

“You may have a powerful physical body, but you have nonsense mana. It’s time someone showed you just how far the moon is above you.” She spoke, her voice quivering.

“Show me.” I continued to wear the same mocking smile.

She rushed at me, her body covered in flames. I watched her calmly, as I felt it would be easy to avoid. When the two of us clashed, her body burned like the sun, the flames lashing at me, but my skin was impervious. Had I not worked on creating heat resistance in my cells, I might have taken some damage, but since I survived the natural flames of that chasm, there was no way her little bit of fire could hurt me. Still, I had to act like I was avoiding her flames, so I did the most obvious thing I could think of. I pulled out a bucket and then I threw the contents at her.

A bucket of water slammed into her face. There was an explosion of steam that covered the stage in mist, as well as the prolific sound of sizzling. The steam didn’t last long, quickly dispersing. What was left behind was Fate, standing there wet. Her flames had gone out, and she seemed completely stunned. Her clothes were now wet and provocatively clinging to her body. Her body shivered for a second, and then she glared at me.

“You… you…”

“Who keeps a bucket of water in a storage ring?” Someone muttered.

“This guy is full of tricks.”

Thankfully, the crowds made their assumptions again. I naturally kept it all in my luminal space. I had a lot of water in there, and the bucket was part of the farming supplies from Mara’s farm.

Before Fate could say more, I made a squeezing gesture with my hands while staring at her breasts, now nearly exposed behind her armor. She seemed to realize where I was staring and gasped. I leaped at her, making a grabbing motion for her chest. Fate instinctively leaped back, avoiding by strike. However, she hadn’t noticed where she was standing, which was dangerously close to the edge. As she jumped back to avoid my grab, her feet landed on the edge of the platform, causing her to lose her balance.

I went to grab it again. Fate wasn’t able to use her blade and she was barely able to stay on the stage. Her only choices were to allow her chest to be grabbed, or for her to jump back again. She could only shoot me a hateful stare as she pushed back, landing off the stage. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then the crowd broke into boos. I blinked as hundreds of people cursed my name. Some even threw stuff at me. I was forced to retreat to the stage quickly, but the victory was mine.

“He’s nothing but a perverted scoundrel!” Penny snorted.

“I-is that… important to brother?” Mara looked down at her chest, an unhappy expression on her face.

Everyone had their thoughts about the battle, but I was still in the top six. Most felt that I hadn’t earned the position and had only reached it through despicable means. I wouldn’t disagree with them. I used poison in one match and sexual harassment in another. Fate was still glaring at me hatefully. She had been eliminated, only because she had conceded one previous match against another Stride who had come to lose. Had her family not favored him, their rankings might have been even higher. Her body was steaming with heat, and it quickly dried, although, from a certain perspective, it looked like she was steaming mad, which only caused me to smirk more.

“There are seven of you remaining.” The magistrate declared. “From now on, every battle is an elimination.”

Those remaining were Sammuel, Brandon, Jordan, the Rockford paragon, the one with the famous master, and me. The first match put the Rockford Paragon against Jordan. Although their battle was hard fought, Jordan won in the end, eliminating them. The next match put Sammuel against Brandon. To almost everyone, the conclusion was already decided, but it was still a match I wanted to see.