"Too bad it wasn't Raven Blackheart and Claire Victoria. But Amy Ashfield is a good catch."
"Yeah, good job, Seth."
From the entrance, the words of two of the figures reached Amy's ears, a man and a woman.
Seeing that they had no weapons, they seemed to be mages.
Seth and Red fixed a battle stance, swords out forward, facing Brandon and Amy.
Tszzzzzz–!
Instantly, Brandon flashed forward, abruptly stopping in front of the two, as blue sparks left his trail.
The two wore shocked expressions, while Brandon just stared at them closely. He was too close.
"Fast... But is that all?"
Swoosh–!
Seth swung down his sword to cut Brandon horizontally.
However...
Tszzzzzz–!
Brandon disappeared, leaving a spark of lightning from where he stood.
"...!"
"Kughhh...! H-Help..."
Brandon instantly appeared beside him, gripping Red's throat. He lifted him up.
"Raghhhhh!"
With a battle cry, Seth tried to help him out, swinging his sword at Brandon.
Tszzzzzz–!
"Wha–"
Once again, Brandon disappeared, leaving trails of blue sparks.
He'd thought he had land a hit on Brandon, forcibly swinging his sword.
But...
"S-Seth–"
Kszzz–
Seth's sword struck Red instead, as Red instantly dematerialized. White particles fluttered from his figure.
"Fuck..."
Fast.
Brandon was too fast.
It seemed like he was playing with them.
Even Amy stood frozen, shocked at what Brandon just did.
'He doesn't even need me...'
Brandon stood behind Seth, facing the crowd from the entrance, as he coldly muttered to Seth,
"I pose no threat to you. So you can deal with Amy instead."
"Bastard!"
Swoosh–!
Tszzzzzzz-
As Seth swung his sword behind him, Brandon had already blinked away.
'What can I even do in this situation?'
Brandon was doing everything.
But...
"Amy, I'll take four and you take three, including Seth."
"...Got it."
Amy immediately nodded at his words, conjuring a bubble of water.
'At least he knows how to share...'
In front of Amy, Seth locked his gaze with her. His eyes mixed with terror and rage.
He must've been terrified.
After all, he had only seen Amy as a threat, completely disregarding Brandon.
And that was his mistake.
Amy could tell that Brandon would easily surpass her in the rankings.
'He's stronger than me...'
She clenched her teeth.
'I don't like this.'
Annoyed.
If Brandon was that strong in the first place, then what was the point of being his partner?
"Ah."
She remembered.
'Because of that night.'
She'd forgotten the reason why she approached Brandon in the first place.
To assess whether he had any connections to Moriarty.
Or whether he was the man himself.
'He's strong, but...'
Not as strong as Moriarty.
Of course, she'd never actually seen him fight. But she could tell with a glance.
Moriarty's strength was unparalleled.
Thus, she concluded.
Brandon isn't Moriarty.
But did he have any connections to him?
Unsure.
She clenched her teeth once again.
Frustrated.
'I just can't connect the dots together.'
Just where did Brandon go that night?
If he isn't Moriarty, and the ashes belonged to Felix, then where the hell was Brandon?
"Ah."
Moriarty must've let him go, just like he did with her.
Finally it was all starting to make sense.
'So Moriarty saved him from Felix.'
She had finally reached a conclusion.
Indeed.
If that was the case, then Moriarty must be a righteous person.
A really strong one at that.
A Deviant.
Thinking back to the night, seeing Moriarty's figure, something warm welled up within Amy.
Whatever it was, she didn't know.
Maybe idolization?
Regardless, she wasn't afraid of Moriarty anymore.
In fact...
'I want to see him.'
She then dismissed her thoughts, focusing on Seth in front of her.
A ranked 4th and a ranked 1,590th.
The results were obvious.
As if comparing night and day.
At that, Seth charged towards her, aiming to swing his sword.
An admirable attempt.
But...
With the bubble behind her, Amy instantly contoured it into small myriads of water droplets.
Then...
Drip– Drip–
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
The droplets cut through the air towards Seth in a manner of rapid bullets.
Water bullets.
Fast enough to pierce through flesh.
"AGHH—"
A myriad of water bullets continued to mercilessly pierce through Seth.
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
Clank–!
Seth continued to twitch spontaneously at each bullet, dropping his sword.
The bullets were long and extremely thin. And due to the darkness of the cave, it was barely visible.
Swshh– Swshh— Swshh—!
Seth couldn't even react at how fast each bullet was going him.
Kszzz–
Seth dispersed into white fluttering particles. Blood splattered everywhere on the ground, the walls, the ceiling.
A gruesome sight.
Redirecting her attention in front of her, three more figures became visible, walking towards her.
But...
As she scanned each and every one of their expressions, all of their eyes were wide open, seemingly terrified.
Was it because of what she did?
Or...
Was it because of Brandon?
Her question was then answered as one of the figures spoke up, a woman.
"P-Please kill us instead, anyone but him."
"What?"
Amy was puzzled, tilting her head.
Him?
Brandon?
Just what did Brandon do for them to be so terrified?
Thud–
It was then when the three of them slumped down on the ground, kneeling.
They clasped their hands together and pleaded,
"Please, I don't care if I get expelled. I don't want to be in the same Academy as that... monster."
"Kill us, I want to go home already... Please!"
'What the fu–'
It was then when Amy noticed one of the mages only had one arm left.
"..."
What the hell did Brandon do?
She then redirected her gaze at the cave's entrance, trying to look for Brandon.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Haa..."
She breathed out a heavy sigh, conjuring a line of water in front of her.
Step–
As she stepped forward, one of the figures spoke up,
"T-Thank y–"
Slash–!
***
"Maybe I'll take Amy Ashfield as my protégé."
"Mhm."
Vanessa's words barely reached Evelyn's ears as she blankly stared at her.
It had been quite a while since the Battle Royale started, and the whole time, Vanessa didn't stop stuffing pastry in her mouth.
She was eating way too much.
"You'll get fat with all the sweets you're eating..."
"Nope, I try to maintain my figure as much as I can."
Vanessa then stood up, placing her hands on her waist and flashed Evelyn a sly smirk.
"See?"
Scanning her figure, she adorned the Astrea Academy's uniform for women.
A sleek sleeveless black dress that accentuated her curves.
Her long flowing brown hair cascaded down her back, just stopping just right on her butt.
She was fairly slim, and her figure was well proportionate.
She was a model through and through.
Vanessa turned to look at Evelyn as well–who was seated, as she spoke,
"Still... Your figure is way better than mine. Maybe I should stop eating this much..."
It wasn't a lie.
They were the same height, and their figure was almost the same.
Only that...
Evelyn's sleeveless dress seemed to wrap tighter around her, compared to Vanessa.
Vanessa seemed to notice something as she placed her hand on her chin, pondering.
She bent forward, leaning close to Evelyn as she thoroughly scanned her.
Evelyn could see Vanessa's face up close.
"What are you doing?"
"Your chest."
"Hm...?"
"Did they get bigger?"
"..."
What is this woman talking about?
"No, no. They definitely did get bigger."
"..."
No response.
What was the point of this conversation?
"If you sign with my agency, you'll definitely rake in more money than me."
"Ah."
So it was to market her modeling agency.
"Not interested."
"Eh... Come on! Lots of guys would buy a magazine with you on the cover."
"Nope."
Despite her refusal, there was a tinge of truth in Vanessa's words.
Ever since Evelyn started her Professor career, there were countless of male Professors who tried to court her.
But in the end, she refused all of them. She had no time for such nonsense.
She had one goal in mind.
To reach the top.
To become the pinnacle of all mages.
But if she were to settle down, then she wanted a man who didn't see her for her beauty.
A man that could see her for who she really was.
She may seem cold and stern, but it was mostly because she was introverted.
Because of her introversion, she severely lacked in the communication skill department.
To avoid a blunder, she'd put on a stern demeanor so people would avoid approaching her.
Glancing at Vanessa, who had already sat back down, she reached out for the remote.
Switch– Switch–
As she redirected her attention back to the screen, the boy with the pale-white hair was displayed.
Brandon Locke, the boy she set her sights on as a potential protégé.
"What...?"
"This–"