"If… if you still refuse to fight me…" Alicia whispered and her voice was barely audible beneath the hum of the arena.
The words came out unevenly, fragile in a way that it did not belong to someone of her noble upbringing.
"Then… I will tell everyone… about when I slept on your lap…"
For a moment, Baston thought he was still dreaming.
His mind had been drifting somewhere far away, caught in the haze of idle thoughts. But the instant those words reached his ears, his consciousness snapped back sharply.
He turned his head and Alicia was still standing beside him. Her expression was composed and she was almost calm yet he noticed the tremble in her fingers.
The noble girl had threatened him but it was clear she had exhausted all of her courage just to say those words. Her gaze avoided his but her posture remained straight.
Anyone who was looking from afar would assume she had spoken confidently but he could see through it. This was not confidence. What she had done was pure desperation.
Baston studied her quietly for another moment. It was strange for someone like her to behave out of her polite manners.
Alicia Xavierius was someone who was raised inside one of the most powerful noble families in the kingdom. From the childhood, she would have been trained to speak confidently, to negotiate calmly, and to maintain dignity even under the pressure.
However, the girl who was standing beside him now looked nothing like that polished image. She looked human and her threat had not been calculated. It had been impulsive and almost reckless.
He wondered what had pushed her to that point.
The academy tournament was important but it should not have been important enough for a noble daughter to gamble her reputation with such an absurd threat.
Unless, she truly wanted this match. Unless, there was something she wanted to prove. Or perhaps, she had another reason she could not say.
He glanced at her again. Perhaps, she simply wanted to test him. The thought lingered in his mind longer than expected before he dismissed it.
Trying to understand the noble girls was far more exhausting than fighting them.
Luckily for both of them, her words had been whispered softly enough that no one nearby could hear.
If the boys in the arena stands heard something like that, he could already imagine the chaos. He sighed quietly while accepting her request.
"Alright…" he said lazily, "If you truly want to fight…"
Her eyes lit up and the excitement flashed through her expression before she quickly suppressed it.
The noble girl straightened her posture again, regaining the composure that was expected from someone of the Xavierius family.
Still, Baston had already seen that moment. That brief spark of excitement that looked almost childish.
The two of them fell silent afterward and neither of them attempted to continue the conversation. The air between them felt strangely calm.
Alicia did not dislike this silence. In fact, she preferred it. For most of her life, people had surrounded her constantly.
The boys tried to impress her while the girls whispered the gossip. The nobles exchanged polite conversations filled with hidden intentions. Every interaction required the careful words, the careful gestures, and the careful smiles.
Being a noble meant performing endlessly but Baston was different.
The fat boy never tried to impress her. He rarely started the conversations. Most of the time, he simply sat quietly like a lazy cat who was basking in the sunlight.
Strangely, that made things easier because being around him felt peaceful.
She didn't need to perform and she didn't need to entertain anyone. That quiet comfort made her slightly reluctant when the announcer's voice echoed across the arena.
"Next match! Baston versus Alicia Xavierius!"
The crowd immediately stirred.
The students leaned forward in excitement while the nobles whispered curiously. Some people even laughed toward this arrangement.
The two participants stepped into the arena. The moment they stood facing each other, the audience erupted.
"Beauty and the Beast!"
"Look at them!"
"Alicia versus that fat guy!"
Baston blinked slowly. He didn't even need to ask who the beast was supposed to be since it had been clear from the beginning. He scratched his cheek while chuckling sheepishly.
"So… I'm the villain today…" he murmured quietly.
He could already feel the shift in the audience.
The moment Alicia stepped into the arena, the crowd's mood had changed. It was subtle but he noticed it immediately.
The students leaned toward her side of the arena while the nobles whispered many encouraging words. Even the attendants near the walls looked more attentive.
It was not intentional hostility since it was simply an instinct. People naturally supported such beauty and they naturally supported the nobility. As for himself, he was neither. To them, he was an outsider who had wandered into a stage where he did not belong.
However, he found the situation was kind of amusing rather than frustrating because the arena was the only place where the titles did not decide the victory.
Inside this circular battlefield, only two things mattered. It was skill and strength. Everything else was a noise.
Across the arena, Alicia tried to suppress a smile because many people called her opponent as the beast.
Her shoulders trembled slightly but she managed to maintain her noble composure until the referee arrived between them.
The man raised his hand, "Begin!"
The moment the signal sounded, Baston attacked.
A burst of freezing air surged forward as an Ice Blast shot across the arena. Alicia reacted instantly and she did not attempt to block it.
Instead, the wind wrapped around her body and pushed her aside, allowing her to glide smoothly out of the attack's path.
The ice slammed into the arena floor behind her. Before the frost even settled, the audience exploded with protests.
"BOOOO!"
"How dare he attack first?!"
"What kind of gentleman does that?!"
"Let the lady attack first!"
"He is just a coward!"
Baston ignored them. He had long since stopped caring about his reputation. If the crowd wanted a gentleman, they should have chosen someone else. He was already labeled the beast after all.
Why would a beast follow the noble etiquette?
Back in the arena, Alicia countered, "Wind Blade!"
The thin crescents of compressed wind sliced through the air toward Baston.
He responded calmly with another Ice Blast that was formed in front of him, creating a wall of frozen energy that absorbed the attacks.
The wind blades shattered harmlessly.
Alicia's expression sharpened slightly. Without hesitation, she cast another spell. This time, the wind gathered near Baston's feet.
"Mini Tornado…"
The air beneath him suddenly roared to life. A spiraling current of the wind surged upward, threatening to lift his entire body into the air.
For someone with his size, losing a footing would be disastrous so he reacted immediately.
The ice spread across the arena floor beneath his boots. The frost anchored him firmly and the tornado howled violently but failed to move him.
Alicia narrowed her eyes. She jumped backward, creating the distance between them. He quickly understood her plan.
She wasn't trying to defeat him directly. She was trying to push him out of the arena. The moment someone left the arena boundary, the match would end.
For a wind mage, that strategy made perfect sense. After all, the wind excelled at the displacement.
Meanwhile, he had surrounded himself with ice magic earlier during the battle. Those defensive structures limited his movement but it also anchored his body to the ground.
She was using his own defenses against him.
Baston watched her movements carefully. Her steps were light and her wind magic responded instantly. What interested him the most was not the spell itself yet it was the timing.
Alicia never cast a spell half a second too early. She waited and observed before she moved at the exact moment required. That level of precision did not come from talent alone. It should come from her discipline.
Someone had trained her well, very well to the point of perfection.
For a brief moment, he wondered what kind of teachers the Xavierius family hired for their children.
Because if their training produced several fighters like this girl, then the family's reputation was not exaggerated.
He smiled faintly, thinking the girl was clever. Among the nobles he had encountered, Alicia was surprisingly sharp.
The fight soon continued with Baston who fired several ice blocks while Alicia moved like a feather that was carried by the wind.
Each time the ice neared her, the wind propelled her away. Her movements were efficient and precise. She avoided the unnecessary magic consumption.
Meanwhile, he kept attacking. From the outside, it looked like he was wasting his mana recklessly. However, he wasn't that careless.
He suddenly bent down and picked up a fragment of the ice from a shattered blast. Without warning, he threw it.
The ice shard flew toward Alicia. She barely managed to dodge it since it was unpredictable. Before she could stabilize her footing, another shard came flying. By then, several shards followed soon.
Her eyes widened slightly since Baston had completely changed his tactics.
Instead of casting the spells, he simply began throwing the ice. The audience gasped, and then, the outrage erupted again.
"HEY!"
"Are you serious?!"
"You're throwing ice rock at a lady?!"
"Disqualify him quickly!"
The referee glanced at Baston but he could only shake his head. It was crude method but it did not break the rules.
*****
Meanwhile, inside the VIP room above the arena, Claire Versance burst into laughter.
"Ha… ha… ha!"
Principal Viral sighed tiredly, "Miss Claire… Please control yourself."
Claire wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.
"But, look at him!" she said between the laughs, "That boy is supposed to be a wizard, and yet, he's fighting like a street thug by throwing the rocks!"
The principal watched quietly. After a moment, he spoke calmly.
"Well, he just adapted to his own situation."
Claire tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
"He noticed that Alicia was conserving her mana, so he switched to a method that required almost none."
Claire stared back at the arena. The laughter slowly faded from her face.
"Interesting…"
*****
Back in the arena, Alicia crouched behind a large ice wall. The ice shards kept striking the surface around her. The fat boy had completely disrupted her strategy.
She clicked her tongue. This was not how she imagined the fight would go. After several minutes, she reached a decision.
If Baston wanted to fight like that, then she would go with the same method too. She grabbed a chunk of ice from her cover before she threw it.
The shard slammed against Baston's ice shield with a loud crack.
"BAM!"
Baston blinked nervously. For a moment, he was genuinely surprised and then, he chuckled. Apparently, the noble lady had decided to abandon her elegance as well.
Soon, the arena turned into something bizarre.
Both participants were throwing ice fragments at each other. The audience stared stupidly before some people began laughing. It looked less like a magical duel and more like a childish snowball fight.
The crowd's reaction remained unfair anyway. They cheered at Alicia and they still mocked Baston. However, he had already expected that.
"It won't work like this…" he murmured.
Suddenly, he rushed forward. The Ice Armor quickly formed around his body. A thick layer of frozen plating covered him as he charged directly toward Alicia.
The ice shards she threw shattered harmlessly against the armor. Seeing this, Alicia changed the tactics immediately.
"Wind Cannon!"
A compressed blast of wind exploded forward.
The impact slammed into Baston. The force threw him several meters backward. The cracks spread across the armor, and a few seconds later, the entire ice protection collapsed. The audience soon roared after seeing such hope to win.
"THAT'S IT!"
"KICK HIM OUT!"
"YOU CAN DO IT!"
Baston stood up slowly. His armor had shattered but his expression remained calm. He advanced again with another Ice Armor and Alicia fired another Wind Cannon.
But this time, before the spell reached him, he released an Ice Blast. The two spells collided and both shattered into the fragments of frost and wind.
The path between them was cleared.
He kept advancing while Alicia retreated hurriedly.
The ice shards flew again, limiting her movements. The distance between them shrank rapidly.
Soon, they stood only a few meters apart.
Alicia clenched her teeth, "Wind Cannon!"
Baston answered instantly, "Ice Blast!"
The spells collided again. The mist exploded between them, and then, something unexpected happened. A second Wind Cannon appeared instantly, making the crowd gasped.
Casting such a spell twice in rapid succession required such incredible talent. The second blast struck the ice armor. The frozen plating shattered instantly and the audience quickly erupted.
"FINISH HIM!"
Alicia gathered her magic again. Another wind cannon formed and she aimed directly at Baston. However, she froze because the space where he had been standing was empty.
Behind one of the ice walls nearby, Baston suddenly emerged. He had never been inside the armor because he had slipped away earlier. The armor had been nothing more than a distraction.
Before Alicia could react, he grabbed her wrist. The crowd gasped. With a sudden movement, he pushed her out of the arena.
Alicia soon was thrown into the air.
The wind surged around her instinctively but he was still holding her wrist. Both of them began falling and the crowd held their breath.
If Alicia dragged him down, both would be eliminated. Just before the ground approached, he released her. With a final motion, he threw her back toward the arena.
A gust of wind caught her and she landed inside the boundary. Meanwhile, Baston crashed at the outside.
The silence fell across the arena and the referee blinked several times before he finally raised his hand.
"The winner is…" he paused, "Alicia Xavierius!"
The crowd erupted but Baston simply lay on the ground outside the arena.
He was staring at the sky. A faint smile appeared on his face. The beast had lost, but somehow, it still felt like he had won.