Chapter 60: Boiling Point

  Ignoring the stares, I navigated my way through the crowd back to my friends.

  Jonah mimicked a yawn. “Make it exciting next time, please.”

  Kaede, on the other hand, gave me a bright smile. “You made that look way too easy. At this rate, you’ll win the whole tournament!”

  I shrugged, taking a seat beside them. “Best not to get overconfident,” I replied while my eyes drifted towards the remaining matches. From what I had observed so far, the level of competition was relatively close among most participants. While the majority of them looked like they would be easy pickings for someone like me or even Scarlette, there were a few interesting individuals who I wouldn’t mind matching up against.

  I scanned through the crowd, looking for a particular individual. I had informed Kazen of my match as requested, but I was curious if he had actually followed up with it. But from what I could see, he was nowhere in sight. Maybe he had already left?

  A couple of games later, we decided to grab a quick bite at the enormous cafeteria. Unfortunately, it appeared that students from both schools were to share the facility, and the tension in the air was so thick, you could almost swim in it.

  Thankfully, the area was chock-full of school staff and guards. I caught the sleek glint of Esper-Nullifiers strapped to a few of the guards, ready for use in case anyone tried something funny. It wasn’t exactly the most relaxing environment, but at least no one looked eager to cause trouble. For now.

  “Reminds me of a prison,” Kaede murmured as we found a table.

  “I mean, at least we’re safe,” Scarlette shrugged. “Not just from each other, but also from any potential intruders.”

  “Who in their right mind would storm a place like this? There are, like, 300 high-ranking espers and a small army of guards!” Jonah exclaimed.

  “If they did, we’d be fine. We’ve got Cadel,” Mira added, earning nods from the group.

  “I mean, I don't—” I started to say before a commotion caught our attention.

  “Back off. We were here first.”

  “Are really looking to square up here?”

  While I recognised the second voice belonging to Asher, the other voice sounded familiar. I peered through the crowd to catch a glimpse of the culprit.

  “It’s him…” Kaede whispered.

  It was him. Ignar Maximus. It appeared our faceoff in the woods had done nothing to humble him in the slightest. A whistle cut through the air as a bunch of guards came scurrying over, locking the confrontation in a stalemate.

  I immediately sized the two of them up against each other. Asher had already secured his spot in the next round with an impressive performance earlier, but Ignar hadn’t competed yet—his match was likely one of the last for the day.

  “Calm down guys, it’s probably just a misunderstanding,” Bob tried to interject. Asher’s classmate was clearly trying to diffuse the situation, but his words were falling on deaf ears.

  “They’re trying to snatch our table away from us,” Ignar complained to the guards. What was he, an elementary schooler?

  “IS there a reason you're lying?” Asher countered.

  Ignar looked to be in the company of several of his fellow schoolmates. They all stared daggers at Asher, but he didn’t seem the least bit intimidated.

  “Gentlemen, understand that any further disruptive behaviour will disqualify you from the rest of the tournament,” one of the guards said.

  “Come on, let’s sit somewhere else,” Bob urged. Asher didn’t react for a few seconds, but he ultimately relented.

  “Alright, suit yourself,” he said, gazing intently at Ignar. He then walked away as if he had gotten bored of the whole thing.

  “Wait.”

  Asher paused, turning back.

  “Do you know who Cadel Ren is? Tell me where he is and we’ll leave.”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  My eyes narrowed. He’s looking for me?

  At the mention of my name, my friends turned to me in concern. Around the cafeteria, I noticed a few curious glances in my direction, but no one spoke up.

  “Sorry, I don’t,” Asher said in response. Before Ignar could question him any further, he left, leaving Ignar to claim the table as his own.

  “Damn right,” Ignar growled, plopping his butt down.

  “What was Asher doing?” Scarlette gave me a nudge.

  For once, I was a little puzzled. His behaviour was indeed confusing. Didn’t he say he was trying to avoid confrontations? Perhaps I’ll ask him about it the next time we crossed paths.

  The remaining matches of the first round passed by uneventfully. I had made a mental checklist of the progress of the people I was familiar with in the tournament. So far, with the exception of Kerri, everyone else had progressed to the second round. Her opponent, some guy who used seismic attacks, had been a bad matchup for her. Even though she was blessed with speed, she couldn’t outrun sound itself.

  In the meantime, I had also received an email with the details regarding my next match.

  --

  Welcome to the Round of 64

  Your opponent is: Trevor Gan

  School: Horizon High

  Venue: Block B, P211, Arena 4

  Time: 10.30 AM

  --

  It looked like I had a morning match this time. Trevor Gan. I felt like I had heard his name mentioned in one of the earlier matches, but I couldn’t remember what his Ability was. Oh well, if couldn’t remember it, it probably wasn’t all that impressive anyway.

  Scarlette however, had drawn an interesting opponent. She would be facing off against Jessica Chase, the girl who had outmanoeuvred the weapon-wielding fellow from our school with her plasma attacks. While Jessica was noticeably stronger than Kaede, she didn’t hold a candle to what Kazen offered, despite all of them having somewhat similar Abilities.

  Speaking of which, I had noticed several other plasma espers participating in the tournament—not just from our grade level, either. It seemed plasma Abilities were a more popular branch of esper powers than I had previously assumed. Whatever the case, I was sure Scarlette could handle Jessica without much effort.

  Since our matches were slated for the second half of the round of 64, I had made sure to catch some of the battles happening in the first half. Some key matches included Zara’s, Asher’s, and Bob’s. All three of them secured decisive victories, much to my satisfaction. The tide of the competition against Horizon High also seemed to be shifting in our favour, with the majority of our representatives securing wins. If I had to guess, the current win ratio stood at around 60-40.

  One thing I noticed during Asher’s match was how effortlessly he adapted, even without the darkness he had relied on in the DreamVerse. The brightly lit room still provided shadows from the surroundings, and he made full use of them, landing devastating shadowy slashes on his opponent.

  Another student I found took note of was an ice-esper from Horizon High named Elara Grace. Her attacks briefly reminded me of Soren, but hers was noticeably less potent. Still, it was an interesting insight as to what a normal competitive ice esper could offer.

  Soon, it was the second half of the round of 64. By the end of the day, only 32 contestants would remain. Coincidentally, Scarlette’s match was set to take place at the same time as mine, in the arena right beside mine.

  Since my friends and I had arrived early, we decided to lounge in the spectator stands. Scarlette was hunched over, casually inspecting her nails.

  “Not nervous?” I asked, glancing at her.

  “Oh, I’m nervous,” she replied with a smirk. “Nervous I’ll finish too fast. Someone’s gotta give the crowd a show, especially since yours is bound to be a snooze fest with how overpowered you are.”

  “Classic Scarlette,” Jonah chimed in. “Show-off in the making.”

  “Some of us have reputations to maintain, you know,” she shot back, flicking her hair dramatically.

  For a moment, I caught a glimpse of the old Scarlette—the brash and arrogant Scarlette. But I understood where her composure stemmed from. Unlike the first round, she knew both her opponent’s identity and their Ability. That kind of knowledge could drastically boost one’s confidence.

  But under the guise of her inflated bravado, was experience. She had grown a lot as a person over the past couple of weeks, and I knew that she would never underestimate an opponent.

  “We should probably get going,” I said, getting up from my seat.

  She got up and followed. “See you guys later!”

  “Don’t blow it,” Jonah called after us.

  A few minutes later, Scarlette and I found ourselves in the holding room. Our opponents stood directly across from us, sizing us up in silence. Scarlette was just behind me, her usual poise emanating from her posture, though the atmosphere here made small talk nearly impossible.

  Finally, the announcer called our names, and the murmur of the crowd turned into an eruption of cheers as we stepped out into the arena.

  “Good luck,” Scarlette whispered, just loud enough for me to hear, before we split off to our respective arenas.

  I made a beeline for my platform with Trevor, my opponent, trailing behind me. He had a cocky smirk plastered across his face as he caught up. “I hope you’re as good as they say, Cadel.”

  “Did you spectate my previous match?” I asked.

  “Nah, but I did hear about it. You ended it in an instant, right?”

  “It was pretty fast, yeah.”

  Our conversation was cut off as the announcer began his usual routine. The bell rang moments later, signalling the start of the games.

  At the edge of my vision, I saw a burst of flames in the adjacent arena.

  In front of me, my opponent thrust his hand out. Suddenly, an intense force lifted me up in the air. Before I could react, I was sent flying in the direction of the far wall.

  Nice—free energy.

  I absorbed the kinetic energy mid-flight, halting myself in the air before gently lowering to the ground.

  Trevor’s expression faltered for a brief second, but he immediately launched another attack.

  But telekinesis was easy to counter. All I had to do was simply resist the forces he was applying to me.

  Trevor clenched his teeth as he started straining. Yet I continued strolling towards him as if I was taking a leisurely walk in the park.

  “Why isn’t it working?” I heard him grumble desperately. “You can’t possibly—”

  With a flick of the wrist, I unleashed the energy I’d been absorbing, redirecting it back at him.