116: A Protagonist’s Aura

Words : 806 Updated : Sep 28th, 2025

116: A Protagonist’s Aura The dueling tournament, in its brilliant show of colors and explosions, ended with a certain Class Zero second-year being crowned the new dueling champion: Conrad. Much to the slight annoyance of his fellow second-year, Celeste, who now sat beside Nyssa with a slight crease in her eyebrows. “Like... good for him, but I hate how he looks so cool. He’s such a dork in real life, but he looks like the true protagonist he keeps hyping himself up to be.” Having just dispatched the now second-place finisher, Conrad sheathed his sword with a flick of the wrist and a stony expression. The click as his sword slid into place seemed to fill the entire stadium as the last of the shining light it emanated disappeared into the sheath. With his hair blowing into a messy, but styled manner, he turned to the stands and bowed his head before striding off the stage. His black coat billowed in the air behind him, matching his dark hair to create the image of a hero coming back victorious from a difficult war. The entire stadium, on the other hand, exploded into cheers. Every passing second seemed to mark the creation of a new fanclub. Celeste held her face in her hands, leaning against Nyssa. Nyssa, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend, comforted her as laughs came slipping out between her words. “At least he didn’t say something like, ‘dedicated to my female supporting lead, Celeste’ like he has in the past...” Celeste tried to look on the brightside. “So, I’m free from this...” “Well, that’d subtract from this cool persona he’s trying to build, right?” Nyssa patted Celeste, running a hand through her hair. “If he says anything, it’ll dispel his image. Which is good because he’s... a very different person once he starts talking.” “You’re very right for that,” Celeste sighed. “At least I’ll be free from all of this.” Not a second after the words left her mouth though, a group of Class Two students behind them began theorizing aloud. “What do you think is the reason for the all-black outfit? And the ‘no talking’! It’s like he’s being driven by love!” “Ohhh, that’s such a good point, I wonder who he’s fighting for! Does he have a secret boyfriend or girlfriend?” @@@@ “They already got to you!!” Ryker cupped his face in his hands. “How could Celeste do this to you...” “I... don’t know,” Nyssa mumbled as Celeste wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. A second later, Celeste whispered a “don’t worry about it” in her ear with a laugh. --- Once the dueling tournament and its crowning ceremony finished, the very same announcer took the stage once more to announce the next event. “THE CAMPUS WIDE RACE! OHHH YEAHHHHHHH!” The announcer shouted into the microphone, spreading his arms wide. “As usual, there will be TWO races. One for all of our guests, and one for the students. The starting point will be this stadium and anyone is free to join. We will obviously start the race in two waves, students first, then guests. But everyone, right now, is free to begin coming down to the pitch to pick up a number! YOU MUST WEAR THESE NUMBER TAGS! THEY HAVE TRACKERS IN THEM, and are how we ensure you passed all the checkpoints and didn’t cheat.” While he spoke into the microphone, the emcee pointed towards the row of booths now set-up in front of the stage. The stadium, still packed from the dueling tournament, began filing down the stairs, jampacking every pathway out of the stadium as they all funneled into the stadium’s giant center area. “This can’t be safe, once the race starts, you might get trapped for an hour before you can even leave the stadium...” Nyssa trailed off as she and Celeste sat still on the bleachers. Unwilling to do the race, but also unable to leave the stadium, they watched as the race preparations came underway. “That’s just part of it. The ability to fly really helps in this, but even then, since you can fight people, and because a lot of the checkpoints are in buildings, it’s still quite fair,” Celeste sighed, leaning back and resting her elbows on the empty bleacher behind them. “Both of us would probably do well though. You can transform into something stealthy enough to disappear, and I can just... blast other people out of the sky.” “Certainly seems like a useful skill,” Nyssa mumbled as she watched the giant mass of people down on the pitch separate into two groups, the guests and the students. “It’s going to be a bloodbath once this starts, isn’t it?” “Yep.”

116: A Protagonist’s Aura

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