Chapter 67: Curb Your Appetite

  The final-match of the quarter finals began shortly after. Zara’s opponent, Elias Mercer, wasted no time summoning the rock golems he had been relying on throughout the tournament, sending them charging toward her.

  With a casual display of her air powers, Zara effortlessly lifted herself above their reach. In response, the golems merged into a massive rock giant, towering even larger than Ignar’s lava form, and took sweeping swings at her.

  At the same time, Elias was on a time limit. From my estimates, it would probably take about 2 minutes at the max to drain the arena off most of its oxygen.

  To an average air manipulator (not that there were many of them anyway), they might have still struggled against Elias’s rock attacks. At a baseline, air just wasn’t a good element when facing resistant elements. But aside from the oxygen drain, Zara’s air control was potent enough to cut through even solid rock. Elias was by no means a weak esper, but this was by far the most one-sided match of the day. It wasn’t long before they had to call a technical knockout as Elias started asphyxiating.

  While it was an anti-climactic end to the quarter-finals, it had still been the most intense and exciting day so far. However, this also meant that all first-year Horizon High representatives had been knocked out of the tournament, and the mood among them was understandably sour. Arguments and scuffles broke out in the crowd, prompting security to step in and restore order.

  A while later, as we were watching some of the senior duels, my phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a reply from Scarlette to my text asking if she was okay.

  “Yup, I don’t know what the medics did, but I feel super refreshed! Like, I could legit run a marathon now!”

  She followed up with another text. “But still, they advised I take it easy for the rest of the day, so I’m gonna head back to my room and chill for a little bit. Enjoy the rest of the matches for me!”

  As I relayed her messages to my friends, they all heaved sighs of relief.

  “I’m glad she’s okay! She looked a little worse for wear there, but they must’ve healed her back up—Oh! Maybe I should’ve headed to the medical bay myself. I’m actually so curious how the pros do it!” Mira rattled. It was amusing seeing her so worked up.

  Still, I agreed with the medics. Both the semi-finals and the finals would be happening tomorrow, in the morning and afternoon respectively, so it wasn’t a bad idea to recover for the rest of the day.

  Once the senior matches for the day were over, we decided to meet up with Scarlette at the cafeteria for dinner. The place was absolutely packed.

  It was there that I first overheard the rumour that was apparently spreading through the Horizon High students.

  “That Cadel guy isn’t playing fair.”

  “He’s clearly cheating.”

  “The matches are rigged in his favour.”

  My friends heard it too.

  “Ignore them, Cadel!” Kaede hissed. She glared at two students who were whispering among themselves, glancing accusatively at us.

  “They have no idea what they’re talking about,” fumed Jonah. “Just because he isn’t on their side!”

  “Whatever. It doesn’t change the fact that he wiped their asses.” Scarlette had made sure to emphasise the last 3 words, which further incensed the Horizons students in the vicinity. With two out of the four remaining participants eating together, we had caught the attention of the majority of the cafeteria.

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  Meanwhile, I frankly didn’t really care what other people were saying about me, as long they didn’t actively bother me. Unfortunately, as I attempted to have my meal in peace, a boy wearing a Horizon uniform approached me. I looked up. It was Felix.

  “May I help you?” I asked.

  “You aren’t doping, are you?” he asked.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard what I said.” Despite the intent behind his words, he was dangerously calm.

  I looked around the room. All eyes in the cafeteria were on us. I spotted security guards on high alert, ready to step in if things escalated.

  “Doping?! He beat you fair and square!” Scarlette butt in.

  “I apologise, miss, but this is between me and him,” Felix softened, giving her a slight bow.

  “I’m clean,” I answered.

  “Your powers aren’t normal. Since the start of the competition, you’ve made a fool out of every single one of your opponents. There’s no way anybody could be that powerful.”

  “I don’t know what else to tell you,” I shrugged.

  “Hey, guards!” Felix yelled. “It’s fine if we do a little practice match at the gym, right?”

  “Sparring between students of different schools is forbidden,” one of the larger guards moved in.

  “Come on, you can supervise us!” Felix moaned.

  “I’m sorry, but rules are rules,” the guard stood firm.

  “I’m willing to let this one slide.”

  The room went silent as a new voice entered the conversation. Dr Connor walked towards us, looking particularly interested. “I was just walking by the cafeteria when I heard a commotion. It seems the two of you wish to spar? As I said, I’ll personally supervise this match. How about it?”

  “But sir—” the guard started.

  “Are you talking back to me?”

  “I…no sir.”

  “Very well, if that’s the case, you two," he said, turning to me and Felix, "Come to the gym in an hour. This’ll give you time to digest your meals.”

  “Understood, thank you, professor!” Felix bowed to Dr Connor.

  “Hold on,” I said, raising my hand. “I didn’t agree to this.”

  Dr Connor frowned. “Is there a reason why?”

  “I wouldn’t gain anything out of this duel. Besides, we’ve already fought.” But that was only half the reason. I couldn’t be sure if the professor had a hidden agenda in supporting the duel, so avoiding it felt like the safest option.

  Felix clenched his teeth. “Backing out now? Seems a little suspicious.”

  “I assure you that my powers are genuine,” I said.

  “Then fight me again!” he insisted, before his expression changed. “Or are you busy with your girlfriend later tonight?” he smirked, glancing at Scarlette.

  The crowd around us began whispering animatedly.

  Scarlette abruptly stood up, knocking over her spoon. “I’ve just about had enough of you!” She turned to me. “Can I fight this guy in your place? I’ll show him—”

  “You still have the semi-finals tomorrow,” I reminded her. “Don’t waste your energy here.”

  “Fine,” she said, glaring at Felix. “Now if you don’t mind, we’d like to enjoy our food in peace. And I’m not his girlfriend,” she added hurriedly.

  Felix suddenly seemingly no longer interested in me, gazed into her eyes. “Are you single then? Perhaps we could—”

  Dr Connor cleared his throat. “Please refrain from such barbaric questions within the premises of the sports facility. In any case, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave now.”

  With that, he left casually, our eyes following him until he disappeared from sight.

  I could tell my friends were getting extremely riled up by Felix’s actions. I had to intervene before they did anything extreme.

  So I quickly absorbed the surrounding heat in the area. In just a few seconds, the temperature of the cafeteria dropped by 10 degrees. Students glanced at each other in a panic, confused by what was going on. It was one of my favourite tricks in my book.

  The guards immediately tensed up. “Hey! Who’s doing this?” the big one barked.

  Felix shivered. “Is this your doing?” he whispered, staring at me.

  I nodded. “Now, if you wouldn’t mind…” I gestured with my head, indicating for him to get a move on.

  Felix hesitated, then huffed, storming off. As he left, I gently restored the temperature to normal, and the tension in the room dissipated.

  Scarlette exhaled, her hands glowing a slight orange as she warmed herself up. “I think I lost my appetite,” she gagged.

  Mira fidgeted uncomfortably. “Um, I’m not exactly comfortable with everyone watching us eat…”

  “Let’s finish quickly and go somewhere else,” I suggested.

  We finished our meals a few minutes later, and with some time left before non-participants had to exit the compound, we took a roundabout route to the main entrance to enjoy a bit of extra time together.

  After dropping our friends off, Scarlette and I walked back to our accommodations.

  “Ugh, I can’t wait to go back to our school! I miss my room…” Scarlette pouted.

  “We just have two days to go,” I assured her. “The finals and the award ceremony the day after.”

  “You know, Horizon High has some of the vilest people I’ve ever met,” she lamented.

  While she was generalising, our experience with them had certainly been less than pleasant.

  “On the bright side, we won’t be dealing with them anymore.”

  She smiled, the first real one I’d seen from her today. “Mhm. Yeah, you’re right.”

  Just as we reached the lift lobby, we got our notifications.

  “Looks like our next matches are in,” I said, noting the email.

  “Whether it’s you, Asher, or Zara, I’m not really looking forward to any of y’all,” she giggled, pulling out her phone as well. “Alright, let’s see who each of us got.”