"Alright, I'm up next! I'm all fired up, gonna give it my all! Wish me luck!" Proclaimed Vi, as she headed out.

  "Uh, good luck, Miss Lou- er, I mean, Vi," Replied Persia awkwardly.

  "Her opponent is totally screwed," I remarked, as both fighters made their way to the arena.

  Suddenly, I felt an ominous presence approaching.

  "We're gonna be up next to fight, finally! I can't wait to make you scream out in agony, it's all I've been thinking about since we last fought," Smirked Gela, walking over next to me.

  What did I do to deserve this?

  "Uh……I have no idea how to respond to that. Seriously, I'm hardly worth obsessing over, you crazy."

  "Oh, but you are. I could feel it when I fought you. You were restraining yourself in our last fight, but during the final exchange of blows, you let something slip out for a tiny moment, and right then, it felt like you wanted to kill me, without a shred of hesitation. I'd never felt anything like it. That's when I knew I had to fight you again! That feeling was terrifying, yet intoxicating. I want to feel it again, as well as to make you feel more pain than you've ever felt in your life! Our fight will be beginning soon. Make sure to give me everything you've got."

  And with that, she walked away, as the fifth match began. Had she been talking about bloodlust……I'm pretty sure I didn't enter Bloodlust Mode in that fight though.

  "You sure are popular today, aren't you?" Said Persia, raising an eyebrow.

  "……leave me alone," I sighed in reply.

  Did I really let my bloodlust slip out during that fight?……

  wait, that's right. When I noticed her left hand, or rather, talon swiping up towards my arm, I might have lost my cool just a bit, forgotten about the rules, returned to my base assassin instincts, and added more intensity to my lightning blast than I had initially intended to.

  But that had all happened in an instant, yet she had still been able to sense it?

  I had assumed that I was the only one, at least among the first years, who could sense bloodlust, after all it had taken years of assassinations, practice and trial & error before I could properly sense and identify it.

  Persia probably couldn't because her killings had been done for self defense and survival reasons. Gela didn't seem like she had any experience with killing, but she definitely had a strong infatuation with inflicting pain and torture, so I guess it was possible that she'd be able to identify feelings like murderous intent.

  Wait, she also said that it was intoxicating when she felt my bloodlust……was she a sadist or a masochist?

  Both?

  Ugh, forget it, I'll just avoid her after our upcoming fight. I was starting to get a headache just by thinking about that freaky girl, let's focus on the current match instead, it had just begun.

  It didn't last very long, as Vi went all out just like she'd said she would. It went pretty much the exact same way that her round one match did, over with a single kick. This time though, she cracked the barrier a lot more than in her previous match.

  Gela had rushed out of the waiting room and towards the arena immediately after the fight ended.

  "Well, guess I should go too. It's weird, I'm looking forward to this fight and dreading it at the same time, but not because I'm afraid of losing. That girl just creeps me out," I sighed, as I began heading out.

  "You'd better win. Um……good luck," Said Persia, a bit awkwardly.

  "Right! I don't plan on losing this early in the game."

  With that, I walked out and approached the arena, where an impatient looking Gela was already there. Her armor was very light, there didn't seem to be any metal, she wore black full body tights under a reinforced brown leather armor that consisted of a shoulder-less top, bottoms that went just past her knees, arm guards and ankle high boots.

  As I entered the arena space, the barrier went up around it, the fight was to begin any second now.

  "I'm going to have you begging for mercy by the end of this fight," Smirked Gela, with her trademark sadistic expression.

  "You're more than welcome to try, Featherhead," I replied, getting ready to activate Lightning Boost.

  Should I enter Bloodlust Mode?

  No, not yet. That's exactly what she wanted from me, so I'll hold off on using it until it became necessary. Besides, I had plenty of tricks up my sleeve even in my normal mental state.

  Both literally and figuratively.

  "Ready……FIGHT!"

  She immediately used Flight to go up, and then swooped down at me like an eagle, slashing at my face. I countered and blocked her talon with my dagger, and then drew my short-sword and swiped across aiming for her throat. She jumped back to avoid the blade, the tip grazing her neck.

  "What's the matter, aren't you going to use the tactic you used in your last match?" I inquired, referring to her attacking while airborne, out of the reach of her opponent.

  It would be pretty hard to attack her if she stayed up there, even running up the barrier wall to reach her wouldn't be an option, it wasn't like a normal wall, the surface was completely smooth. I'd noticed that during Rai's fight, when he had run up the wall to jump over Ekai's attack, his feet had been slightly slipping despite his speed.

  I could probably go up to about a few meters, but the lack of friction would kill my momentum before long and I'd just fall back down.

  "Oh, I only did that because I wanted to make sure that I'll get to fight you. But it really wasn't that fun after the first few seconds," She replied, charging towards me with wind around her left hand.

  She swung at my head, I dodged out of the way, she then drew back her left arm and slashed at my arm, which I parried with my sword. What the heck were those talons made of, they felt as strong as steel, maybe stronger. Even as they clashed against my blades, it felt like I was blocking strikes from a metal weapon.

  Still, I had the advantage.

  I was using Lighting Boost at full power and I was much faster than her right now, so reacting to and blocking her attacks were pretty easy. Plus she only struck with her left hand, she hadn't even tried to attack me with her right hand or legs so far. This might be easier than I thought.

  Time to end this.

  I blocked her strike with my sword and then began to drive my dagger straight towards her heart. I felt my bloodlust stirring.

  Die.

  She suddenly stiffened up and hurriedly jumped back, before using Flight to glide backwards and get some distance. What the……?

  Was that……an instinctive reaction to my bloodlust? She really could sense it.

  "Hehe……I felt it again. The murderous intent of yours……amazing!"

  I hadn't been in Bloodlust Mode, but it was impossible to completely suppress my bloodlust in the instant that I go for the kill. She had picked up on it in that instant, and got away just before it was too late.

  "Well, I suppose I can't hope to match you in close range combat at your speed. So, I'll get creative," She mused, as she circled above me.

  So, even a crazed sadist like her knew when to play it cautious. If she had attacked the way she did before again, I would have defeated her in no time.

  She began to fly up higher, was she going to use that tactic again after all?

  No, it didn't look like she was going that high. She stopped when she was halfway up and then swooped down towards me with her claws in position to strike. I parried her attack, but before I could counter, she was already back on her way up.

  Damn it, the momentum of her attack after swooping down pushed me back a bit, and while that only only delayed my counter by a fraction of a second, it was just enough for her to get out of my range again.

  She was attacking just like an eagle, hawk or any other type of bird of prey.

  She swooped down again, slashing at my shoulder, I blocked most of the impact but one of her claws grazed my skin. As she flew up again, I held my dagger in my teeth and drew out a few poison needles and flung them at her, as she responded by knocking them away with that wind blade attack from her talon.

  She then swooped down yet again, as I parried her incoming strike with my sword. Before I knew it, she was back up, and swooping down again.

  Damn it, was she getting faster? No, not quite……she wasn't flying back down, she deactivated Flight to drop down as fast as possible, before reactivating it as she neared me.

  Her expression was getting more and more excited with every strike, and while I was able to block her talons, she was wrapping them with her wind blades, which spread out upon impact and resulted in me getting cuts. While they were barely even minor injuries and were little more than ant bites to me, they were slowly eating away at my stamina as my Healing Factor kept repairing the wounds.

  Enough, it's time to try out the other thing I'd been working on.

  As she began to drop down towards me again, I extended the lightning streaming through my body into my blades. This technique was possible with all Elemental Magic except for Earth Magic. Running your Mana through your weapon to enhance it, to engulf and extend it with your Elemental Magic.

  It was called……

  "Stream."

  Lightning spread along the lengths of my two blades, engulfing them. I could also extend the length of each blade with lightning, but I didn't need a longer reach right now, so I'll focus on strengthening the lightning wrapped around my blades instead. Key and Rai both heavily relied on this technique for their fighting styles……let's see how it works for me.

  Gela struck at me again, I blocked her talons with my sword, the impact electrocuting and stunning her.

  I then slashed at her head with my dagger, but she was able to recover and react in time to get out of the way, as the blade cut off a bit of her feathery hair.

  She quickly flew back up, this time going as high as the barrier would let her.

  I intensified the lightning around my blades and braced myself. She straightened herself like an arrow as she swooped down, with wind rapidly swirling around her left hand. As she neared me, she struck down as I simultaneously slashed up as fast as I possibly could.

  As her talons clashed against my dagger, the blade cracked and then shattered, her strike continuing on and leaving a deep gash on my chest.

  What the……?

  Damn it, I really liked that dagger!

  I swiped at her with my sword, the blade nicking her arm as she once again flew out of my range. She couldn't match my speed or technique in a normal hand to hand combat bout, but by closing the speed gap by using the momentum from swooping down from a high point, she was slowly chipping away and wearing me down.

  Alright, time to stop messing around, I decided as I healed my chest wound. She began her rapid descent towards me again……

  Now then……time to enter Bloodlust Mode.

  She suddenly stopped when she was halfway down, froze and then quickly got more height, as I felt myself get immersed in my murderous instincts.

  She reacted so fast……she might actually have a better feel for sensing bloodlust that I do.

  But no matter……

  she can't beat me.

  She swooped down from the top of the barrier again.

  Focus.

  Block out all unnecessary thoughts.

  Clashing against her strikes with my blades wasn't working. In that case……

  I stayed still as she swiped her talons down at me, moving my left hand in the way of her strike at the last second. Her sharp claws pierced through my palm and came out the back of my hand.

  Gotcha.

  I tightened the muscles in my left hand and clamped down on her talon with it, grabbing it as tightly as I could so that she wouldn't be able to withdraw her hand. As our eyes met and my cold murderous intent pierced through her, she flinched, as fear began creeping into her expression.

  "L-let go."

  I spun around and pulled her over my shoulder, swinging her down and slamming her onto the ground as hard as I could, hearing a couple of her ribs crack.

  Now die.

  I began to stab down at her with my sword, but she then burst out wind blades from her talons still embedded in my left hand, ripping and shredding my hand off, leaving my left arm ending with a stump. She then rolled out of the way and began to fly up in desperation.

  A futile effort.

  I shot forward and swung my bloody left stump across at her face, showering her eyes with my blood, forcing her to close them. It distracted her for a split second, briefly halting her ascension.

  That was all I needed.

  I bent my knees, increased my Lightning Boost to x2.5, and jumped up as high as I could, rising above her and grabbing her throat, before slamming her into the ground again, with my knee pressing down on her chest, breaking a few more of her bones, as she coughed up blood and her expression twisted with pain.

  It's over.

  I plunged my sword down towards her head……and pierced nothing, as she got teleported out of the barrier. With my killing blow once again stolen from me, the bloodlust dissipated in no time, and yet again, I felt blueballed.

  Well……that's that, I guess.

  As the barrier disappeared and my hand began growing back, I started to head back to the waiting area.

  "The winner is……first year student, Kuro Black!"

  I walked past a now unconscious Gela, as a couple of instructors jogged over to take her to the infirmary. Streaks of blood was flowing down from her nose and mouth, guess all that light armor had backfired.

  In total, I had probably broken about four or five of her bones when I slammed her onto the ground. Twice.

  This was the first time I had injured someone to this extent without killing them. Most of my old assassination targets had been taken out in a single strike before they even realized it, but there were a few that had noticed me and fought back.

  And every now and then, if I was assigned a target who could fight, I'd deliberately let myself get spotted so that they'd have the chance to fight back, and I'd get to test out my combat abilities. There had been a few close calls with some unexpectedly skilled targets, though I had never actually failed a mission as an assassin, nor had I ever suffered any major injuries until I became a lab rat.

  Then there was that one time I was forced to work with another assassin, but halfway through we got into a fight because he was being condescending towards me since he was older and more experienced, and I ended up killing him and finishing the mission myself.

  That had probably been the most intense fight of my old life, and the most that I'd ever injured someone before killing them, though it was his fault for avoiding my lethal strikes and getting stabbed elsewhere.

  Ah, good times.

  Anyway, back to the present, I felt pretty discontent right now. It's not like I still want to kill her, I had only felt that way while I was in Bloodlust Mode, and my desire to kill her had faded as soon as my body got immersed in that blueballed feeling.

  It's not like I actively hated her or anything, she may be pretty unsettling, but I had only wanted to kill her in the heat of that moment. And that moment had passed, and it wouldn't come back unless we fought again while I was in Bloodlust Mode.

  In my normal state, I just couldn't care less whether she lived or died.

  I re-entered the waiting area as Gela was carried off, and the penultimate match of the second round began. Fuo was fighting a guy with Earth Magic, and it looked like it was going to be another one-sided encounter.

  "Hey, way to go. That was a pretty intense fight. You look kinda down though," Remarked Persia, as I walked up next to her.

  "Yeah, the barriers' teleportation safety net just leaves me feeling unsatisfied. Plus I lost my dagger. I really liked that one too, I had to search all over the Rustlands to find one that had just the right length, weight, sharpness, and a whole bunch of other factors, and I went through so many that didn't quite feel right, but that one was just perfect," I sighed remorsefully, as the seventh match began.

  "Um……sorry for you loss……I'm, uh, not sure what to say right now," She said, awkwardly patting my shoulder.

  A for effort and cuteness, Cat Girl.

  "Guess I'll need to find a replacement before the rest of the tournament continues tomorrow," I muttered to myself, as Fuo's ice arrows didn't take long to earn her her second win.

  The eight and final match of the second round soon began……and ended rather quickly with Siert's water tails easily overwhelming his opponent.

  "Day one of the Brawl of Glory has concluded! We shall begin the third round tomorrow, at the same starting time as we did today, and the tournament will also conclude tomorrow, with the fourth, or semi-final, round and the final round also taking place. Thank you all for attending, we hope to see you tomorrow as well!" Boomed the Headmaster, as the crowd applauded before beginning to slowly flow out of the stadium.

  Instructor Tabbs then entered the waiting area.

  "I know it hasn't been that long since you all had lunch, but we've prepared food and refreshments in the upstairs lounge for the eight of you, so feel free to help yourselves!"

  Sweet, I could go for some more free food to drown away my discontent.

  As we headed upstairs, we were greeted by quite a pleasant sight, there was a row of cold refreshing-looking drinks, a variety of fresh fruits, and a bunch of fried stuff too.

  Hmm, hold on a sec……what was that at the end of the fried food cluster?

  Wait, was that……?

  "Y-you know what. I'm gonna head out now, I should go look for a replacement dagger, not to mention two pairs of my battle outfit were ruined and need to be replaced. I-I'll see you around, Persia," I said, turning and leaving before she could reply.

  "Hey, watch where you're going!" Snapped Arg, as I bumped into him in my hurry to leave.

  "Yeah, yeah. My bad," I impatiently replied, as I left the lounge and headed for the exit.

  Yeah, I know they were considered a delicacy in French cuisine in my old world, and they probably did taste good too. But even though they weren't even alive anymore, I just couldn't do it.

  I just couldn't eat frog legs.

  Guess my phobia wasn't limited to live frogs, even dead, even as food, they still made my blood turn cold. The last thing I need is for any of the tournament competitors to notice my weakness. Yeah screw that, I'll just head home.

  As I made my way out of the stadium, Gela walked out of the shadows and stood in front of me. I could see the outline of bandages wrapped across her chest and rib areas.

  "Heh……I suppose I got a bit more than I bargained for. Towards the end, it felt like you flipped a switch, and the murderous aura that was emanating from you didn't even feel human anymore. It was nothing compared to the sample I felt against you in the mock tournament. I'd honestly never felt anywhere close to being that terrified before in my life," She said with a laugh.

  "Well, I suppose you'll stop obsessing over inflicting pain or torturing me or whatever now, right?"

  "Yeah, I could tell……no amount of physical pain is going to make you scream in agony, at least not within my capabilities. But……"

  Oh, God. What now?

  "……but?"

  "But, that fear you instilled in me……I did say it was intoxicating, and while I definitely felt a lot more than I'd ever expected and that certainly overwhelmed me……I wouldn't mind facing it again sometime in the future."

  "……what is wrong with you?"

  "Well, I probably won't challenge you to a real fight. If it wasn't for the barrier, I'd most certainly be dead right now, you didn't have a shred of hesitation for even a second. And if I had to pick, I would definitely prefer to stay alive. I'm not quite sure exactly how I want to proceed, but for now, let's just say that I'll be keeping a close eye on you and leave it at that," She smirked, walking up to me and tracing my face with her fingers while wearing a sadistically seductive expression on her face, before turning to leave.

  "I……would prefer if you didn't, actually."

  She ignored me, as she continued walking away from the stadium. What had I gotten myself into?

  Ugh, the fact that I had failed to kill her was starting to feel a lot more regrettable.

  I miss the time when she used to keep to herself for the most part and payed no attention to me. Ever since she had taken notice of me after our first fight, she just kept interacting with me more and more, and definitely not in a good way.

  As an assassin I had run into plenty of messed up individuals over the years, but she's a lot harder to deal with than any of them were.

  For now……I'll pretend like this conversation had never happened, and go look for a replacement dagger.

  Yeah, just focus on the tournament.

  The first day had been full of one sided encounters, but looking at the match-ups for tomorrow, things were looking like they were about to get interesting.

  The first match of tomorrow would be Persia vs Ekai, and while the odds were against her, I was curious to see how she'd fare against the strongest fighter of the Academy. After all, she and I were pretty evenly matched.

  The second match up was Arg vs Misen……that one would probably be one sided.

  I'd be facing Vi in the third match, and there's no way I can deny the fact that she's stronger than me. But……she wasn't so strong that I had no hope chance of beating her, and at the very least I had no intention of going down without a fight.

  And then the fourth and final match of the third round would be between the two water type users of The Big Five, Fuo Wesroh vs Siert Huet, I wonder which of them is stronger?

  Tomorrow promised to be very interesting indeed……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.