Alright, it's time to push back,' Arthur commanded, his mental voice hardening with authority. 'The scum has had his fair share of fun. Let's show them a real baseline. Use Shield Bash!'
'Understood, my King,' Arne whispered, her playful demeanor vanishing in a fraction of a second, replaced by the cold, terrifying focus of a legendary vanguard.
The Ape turned, roaring as it swung its massive, ice-hardened right fist down to crush her. But this time, Lady Arne didn't dodge. She planted her sabatons firmly into the dirt, her core flaring with a sudden, explosive burst of radiant golden mana. She brought her shield forward, meeting the twelve-foot monster's fist head-on.
BOOM!
The Ape's massive, ice-hardened fist struck the center of the golden shield, but instead of shattering the guard or driving her back, the giant beast hit an immovable wall. The golden mana coating the shield rippled violently, absorbing the kinetic force entirely.
The Ape's glowing blue eyes widened in mammalian shock as the recoil sent a shockwave traveling back up its own arm, fracturing the icy armor encasing its elbow.
Before the beast could even register the pain, Lady Arne's eyes flashed with a lethal golden brilliance.
"Now," Arthur muttered under his breath.
Lady Arne leaned into the stance, her shield flaring with a blinding, concussive burst of radiant light as she unleashed the skill. With explosive, terrifying velocity, she drove the heavy edge of the shield upward, straight into the Ape's exposed jaw.
The sheer, concentrated impact sounded like a thunderclap.
The twelve-foot, Gold-tier monster was violently lifted completely off its feet by the five-foot-seven knight. The Ape's head snapped back, a spray of saliva and shattered fangs flying into the air as its massive body arc'd backward. It crashed onto the arena floor with a catastrophic thud that caused the reinforced concrete outer walls to vibrate.
The stadium fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
Sidwig's jaw dropped so low it looked like it might unhinge. His breath hitched, his cocky posture completely evaporating as he stared at the holographic leaderboard display. Above the twitching, semi-conscious Ape, the Fortitude gauge had plummeted straight into the flashing red critical zone from a single, unassisted counter-strike.
"W-What..." Sidwig stammered, his hands shaking as he looked from his broken beast to Arthur. "What the hell did you do?!"
Arthur's smile was slow, sharp, and entirely devoid of warmth. "My summon just put your Ape's ass on the dirt, Sidwig. You don't need a high analytical stat to see that."
Down in the stands, the silence finally broke as a wave of absolute disbelief swept through the crowd. Christoffer stood frozen, his mouth hanging wide open as he stared at the cratered arena floor. "No fucking way..." he muttered, his brain completely short-circuiting. "No way in hell..."
Over on the sidelines, Isoreth crossed her arms, her lips curving into a genuine, highly satisfied smirk. She leaned back against the railing, her sharp eyes locked onto Arthur. He was entirely controlling the pace of the arena.
Up on the VIP podium, the reaction was far more calculated. Principal Kalik had risen completely from his seat, his fingers adjusting the bridge of his glasses as he peered down at Lady Arne's golden silhouette.
"Don't tell me you're suddenly regretting your decision to advocate for the boy's enrollment, Principal?" Mrs. Alger asked quietly, her eyes remaining fixed on her data pad as she logged the staggering kinetic output of the shield bash.
"Not at all," Kalik murmured, a strange, possessive glint reflecting in his lenses. "In fact, quite the opposite. That beautiful creature has completely caught my attention."
Mrs. Alger glanced up, her expression tightening slightly. "An unclassified entity with suppressed variables might soon prove entirely too difficult to control, sir. For both the boy, and the academy."
"Hmph." Kalik let out a soft, arrogant scoff, settling back into his chair with absolute confidence. "Do not underestimate my prowess, Alger. There is nothing in this institution, or this city—that I cannot control."
Down on the field, Sidwig was rapidly losing his mind. His face had turned a deep, humiliated shade of purple as he pointed a trembling finger across the dirt. "You're cheating...!" he screamed, his voice cracking under the weight of his shattered ego. "There's no other explanation! I'm a Gold-tier legacy! I cannot lose to trash like you! How the fuck are you pulling this off?!"
"Cheating?" Arthur let out a dry, mocking laugh, taking a single step forward within his command circle. "My summon is breaking your beast fair and square, Sidwig. If you're looking for a profound philosophical reason why your precious ape is losing to a 'civilian' dud, it's actually pretty simple."
Arthur's eyes narrowed, locking onto Sidwig with absolute, crushing disdain. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
"Your summon is losing because it's weak. And it's weak because it belongs to you."
"Don't get ahead of yourself, you pathetic punk!" Sidwig screamed, his fists tightening so hard his knuckles turned white and bled a faint, erratic blue mana.
He locked his gaze onto his struggling beast, his face contorting into an ugly mask of desperation. "Don't you dare embarrass me, you bloody Ape! Get your ass up and tear that whore apart!"
With a agonizing, wet grunt, the Frost-Fang Ape began to force itself back to its feet. It leaned heavily on one massive arm, its broken fangs dripping a mixture of blood and melting ice onto the dirt. The beast's sheer resilience was undeniable; it was a Gold-tier summon after all, bred for extreme durability.
The Ape is still very much in the fight, Arthur noted, his eyes tracking the creature's jagged breathing before shifting straight to the boy across the field. But its master is running on empty.
The psychological and spiritual strain on Sidwig was stark. Sweat poured down his face, his chest heaving violently as his posture began to slouch. Unlike Arthur, who had tempered his mana core through the grueling, life-or-death trials of a real dungeon, Sidwig was experiencing his very first high-output combat link. He was burning through his reserves at an unsustainable, reckless pace.
Yet, he refused to call back his beast. He was completely driven by raw, toxic pride, willing to push himself to the brink of a core rupture simply because his fragile ego couldn't accept defeat, especially not from the boy he had spent the entire semester treating like dirt.
'Master,' Lady Arne's voice glided back into Arthur's mind, entirely untroubled as she effortlessly spun her heavy longsword into a reverse grip. 'The loud one is trembling. He's pushing his little monkey past its breaking point. Shall I put them both out of their misery?'
‘No, you are not allowed to attack the summoner,’ Arthur commanded smoothly through the link, a faint, warning edge in his mental tone. ‘The barrier would block it anyway. Just put the Ape out of its misery... but don’t kill it. The academy won’t let me hear the end of it if you permanently break a legacy beast.’
‘As you wish, my King,’ Arne purred back, though her disappointment was palpable. ‘A shame. He has such a punchable face.’
Across the field, the Frost-Fang Ape let out a desperate, ragged roar. Driven by Sidwig's commands, it lunged forward once more on all fours, its remaining fangs bared as it kicked up a storm of shattered dirt and ice. It was a final, reckless all-out assault.
Lady Arne’s eyes flashed with a dangerous amusement. Instead of raising her shield or leveling her longsword to meet the charge, she did the unthinkable.
With theatrical motion, she let go of her weapon. The massive golden longsword plummeted, burying itself deep into the arena dirt with a heavy thud. A second later, she unclasped the towering vanguard shield from her forearm and cast it aside, letting it crash heavily to the ground.
Arthur’s eyes widened in his command circle. ‘Arne? What the hell are you doing?’
She stood entirely unarmed, her posture relaxed and fluid as the twelve-foot mountain of muscle and ice bore down on her. Through the Soul Link, Arthur could feel a wave of pure, unfiltered confidence radiating from her core, accompanied by that same playful, teasing warmth.
‘I’m merely making this a fair fight, Master,’ she whispered back, her lips curving into a breathy, devastatingly beautiful smile as she lightly bounced on the balls of her feet, flexing her gauntleted fists. ‘Let’s see if this brute can handle a proper hands-on experience.’
The Frost-Fang Ape threw its entire remaining weight into a desperate, earth-shattering right hook. The wind pressure from the strike alone whistled through the air, carrying a flurry of sharp ice shards meant to turn Lady Arne into a bloody paste.
But without the weight of her heavy shield and greatsword, her speed was terrifying.
With a fluid, hypnotic sway of her hips, she slipped completely inside the Ape's guard. The massive fist grazed empty air, the sheer momentum pulling the beast forward and throwing it entirely off balance.
‘Watch closely, Master,’ her voice echoed in Arthur’s mind, low and breathy. ‘This is how a true knight handles an unruly pet.’
Before the Ape could even begin to pull its arm back, Arne dropped low, her gauntleted right fist compressing a localized vortex of pure golden mana. She pivoted on her heel, channeling the explosive rotational force straight up into a brutal, rising liver shot.
CRACK!
The impact was sharp and concussive. The sheer kinetic energy bypassed the beast's thick, frost-hardened fur entirely, rupturing its internal mana flow. The Ape’s eyes instantly rolled into the back of its head. The massive twelve-foot monster froze mid-air for a fraction of a second before collapsing forward, crashing face-first into the dirt at Lady Arne's feet, completely unconscious. This story is hosted at g.com.
The glowing holographic leaderboard flickered violently before the Ape's health bar completely flatlined into absolute zero.
A second later, the giant beast's physical form began to fracture, dissolving into a massive cloud of swirling, cerulean mana particles that snapped back across the field, forcibly retreating into Sidwig's soul rift.
The backlash was instantaneous. With his summon forcibly desynchronized and his mana core entirely drained, Sidwig let out a choked gasp. His knees buckled, and he dropped hard onto the dirt, clutching his chest as he violently gasped for air.
"Winner: Arthur Cole," Mr. Touchimani announced, his voice echoing into a stadium that was still entirely too stunned to make a sound.
Lady Arne casually rolled her shoulders, her golden armor gleaming flawlessly without a single scratch. She turned around, letting her gaze linger on Arthur with a slow, sultry wink before extending her hand to recall her discarded sword and shield.
‘I do hope that was satisfactory, my King,’ she purred through the link, her voice humming with a teasing, victorious warmth. ‘Now... about that reward.’
Arthur couldn't help but chuckle, though a bead of sweat rolled down his neck at her sheer boldness. ‘Come on now, my Lady,’ he thought back through the link, keeping his expression neutral despite the heat rising to his face. ‘You wouldn't actually want to have sex in front of an entire stadium of teenagers, would you?’
Lady Arne paused, casting a slow, sweeping glance over the stunned crowd before her eyes locked back onto his. ‘I wouldn't mind them at all, Master. Let them watch perfection.’
‘I will pay what I owe as soon as we return home,’ Arthur promised. ‘Just hold on until then.’
‘A binding vow, then. I shall hold you to it.’ With a final, lingering smile that promised absolute trouble later, she dissolved into a beautiful flurry of golden particles, retreating back into his soul rift.
Arthur turned on his heel, casually shoving his hands into his pockets as he prepared to walk off the field. Before he could take three steps, a shadow fell over him. Sidwig stood there, his face completely flushed a furious, mottled pink, his chest heaving as he leaned heavily on a crony's shoulder just to stay upright.
"This is not over, scum," Sidwig hissed, his voice trembling with a mixture of raw exhaustion and unadulterated hatred. "I'm coming for you. Mark my words, I'll tear you apart next time."
Arthur stopped, looking down at the utterly defeated legacy heir. Instead of snapping back, he just let out a quiet chuckle. "Well... I'll be waiting."
Without giving Sidwig the satisfaction of another second of his time, Arthur walked right past him and made his way back up the stairs to the sidelines, where Isoreth was already waiting for him.
"That was a brilliant fight," Isoreth said as he approached. A rare, genuine gleam of admiration shone in her sapphire eyes. "You have an incredibly cool summon, Arthur."
"Thanks," Arthur muttered. Despite his calm composure on the field, her direct praise made his cheeks burn a faint pink.
"You really put him in his place," she continued, her lips curving into a satisfied smile as she watched Sidwig limp off the arena floor.
The two of them stood side-by-side for a moment, watching the arena crew begin to clear the frost and cracked earth from the field. The silence between them felt comfortable, a stark contrast to the chaotic whispers echoing around the rest of the stadium.
After a little while, Isoreth spoke up again, her voice dropping into a softer, quieter register. "I'm really glad I chose to hang out with you today."
Arthur blinked, turning his head to look at her. The sudden vulnerability in her tone caught him completely off guard, making his heart skip a beat. "Oh.... I, uh... I am too."
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