Royal Flush and the Joker

James stood in front of the orb, getting ready to show everyone his status.

Last semester he had shocked everyone with his monstrous stats, accompanied by the fact that he was already at a three-star [Middle] mana grade.

It had been absolutely ridiculous comparing mine and his statuses, a difference like heaven and hell.

'I wonder how far he got...'

I was still not good at reading people's mana signatures to determine someone's grade, thus I had no idea how far he had come during the time I was away.

As I laid my eyes on the handsome young man I had to deal with some complicated emotions.

To be honest, I would be quite disappointed if he didn't make any substantial progress, he was still the one who I needed to save the world.

It was still a part of my priorities, although I didn't think this world had all too much value, some people did.

Misa, Sophie, the principal, and Mike was among the people who I wanted to save, and so I wanted James to get strong enough to fight off the dangers of the future.

Finally, he put his hand on the orb and the screen behind him started flashing while it was calibrating values.

After a couple of seconds, we all got our answers regarding the golden boy.

===Status===

Name: James Luminary

Rank: ★★★★

Strength: V

Speed: V

Stamina: V

Intelligence: V

Mana grade: ★★★★ [Lower]

==========

Everyone was just standing there in silence, trying to grasp what they were looking at. James had done something that had never been done before. He had somehow managed to raise his rank from a three-star [Middle] to entering the ranks of four-stars.

For me, it wasn't all too unexpected. Of course, I was genuinely impressed as it showed how hard he must have worked during his time at the academy, probably never taking even a single day off.

The golden boy turned around, but instead of taking his spot in the line he stood still and stared straight at me.

'So this is how you decided to do it? Very dramatic, isn't it?'

Opening his mouth, he decided that this was where he would make his stand and spread his protective wings over his little lambs, "Miren, I challenge you to a ranking match!"

My stoic face started to warp and I was unable to contain the smile that developed on my face. I was so incredibly excited, not just to get some payback for his betrayal, but also because I wanted to see how far I had come.

The inferiority complex that had plagued me was already long gone, and I knew that even though I was the weakest, I was powerful. I might not be valuable as a teammate or a party member, but after killing that wyvern there was one thing I was sure of. I was good at killing, and in a duel that was all that mattered.

There was also another part of all of this, something great that was only possible because of the fact that James tried to make his issue of challenge into something grander than it was.

Before I could give my answer, Mike intervened, "James, what do you think you are doing?! Miren just came back to the academy for god's sake! He shouldn't..."

"Teacher, it's fine."

His face warped a bit with worry, he probably felt like I had gone through enough trials this last year, "Miren, there is no reason to accept this. James himself should know how silly this challenge is!"

James flinched a bit at his words but held his stand. He wasn't about to back down now.

With a grin still plastered on my face, I rejected his words, "Mike, it's fine. This was already decided beforehand." I looked around the room to make sure everyone could hear my words.

"Even though Mr. Luminary wants this to look like an epic of a movie where he had just proved his power to the evil villain before issuing his challenge, he already talked to me about this yesterday over coffee."

'Although I was the only one drinking it.'

Though James appeared to have gotten a bit more mature than the last time I saw him, he was still quite dense. Why would I not tell everyone about what had happened during our little breakfast meeting? We weren't friends anymore, why would I care about his pride? Nonsense. If kids act like kids you should treat them like kids.

His face started to heat up a bit, so although he kept his poker face his flushed face gave away the fact that he was embarrassed by my little commentary.

Our teacher appeared to also cringe a bit at hearing our little story. He couldn't bear to look at the young man who had just been made a fool of, instead he just scratched his head and looked away, "Is that so? Then I guess you were already ready for this..."

My other classmates had also started to wince a bit because of the extremely awkward situation, but there was one who couldn't take it anymore.

"Miren! We get it! Just stop, please!"

Sarah had come to rescue her lover, wanting me to hurry up and either accept or decline so James wouldn't have to force himself to stand tall even though he must've wanted to kill himself at this point.

Putting my hands up in the air, I acted like I had no idea what she was getting at, "Oh, just take it easy Sarah. I just wanted everyone to know that he wasn't all that disrespectful when he challenged the student who had just gotten back from getting kidnapped for a couple of months."

Looking at Sarah, she seemed ready to explode. Tears started to form in the corner of her eyes and she had to bite her lip in order to control herself.

'Ah, this wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want Sarah to feel bad... Maybe I am acting a bit too immature...'

I was still, mentally, a lot older than these kids. It wasn't fair that I stooped down to the level of a class bully just to embarrass James. It just felt too good to finally be the one in control and reciprocate the humiliation I had to endure when James openly betrayed my trust. With a small sigh, I ended up quitting my charade and looked back at the young man.

"James, I accept."

He could finally start to move, but he didn't say a word as he went back to his place in the line, right next to Sarah who immediately took his hand in hers, trying to comfort her man a bit.

The rest of the class was dead silent, not quite understanding how the fuck this could have happened. This wasn't how a classic villain would act. A villain should just accept the challenge and then lose when it was time to do so, not make a joke out of the hero in front of his friends.

Our teacher was still a bit bewildered about what had just gone down. There had likely been no situation like this during his teaching career so far. The process of challenging someone was most often quite pleasant in his eyes.

One hot-headed youth would challenge another hot-headed youth and then they let their swords decide who was better, a concept that Mike appreciated a lot. Men should talk with their fists after all!

With a sigh, our teacher decided to just let it be and move on with their class, "Last one, Miren!"

It was time to see how far I had come. Having already confirmed I had entered the ranks of three-stars I couldn't help but get a bit excited about the prospects of maybe having advanced another minor mana grade. I knew it was unlikely, but my progress so far had also been incredibly monstrous.

Last time we were here I was just a measly two-star [Lower] grade who was compared to the biggest geniuses of my generation but now I was no longer below them.

I steadily walked forward to the orb and put my hand on it, unable to contain myself. I also didn't want to make it so dramatic as James had done.

===Status===

Name: Miren Porter

Rank: ★★★

Strength: I

Speed: VII

Stamina: III

Intelligence: IIII

Mana grade: ★★★ [Middle]

==========

'Oh! Already at the middle stage! My intelligence also went up a point!'

It had been worth it to not check my status even after the restricting bracelet was gone from me.

If James was a monster then I was now a devil. The progress I had managed to make during this half year was unprecedented, unrecorded throughout history. I knew that it was most likely because of the absurd state of my element inside of me, somehow making me able to have these short bursts of enlightenment.

Although I was incredibly excited about how far I'd come, I kept up my poker face, not wanting to act like a little child.

Once again, the room was silent with everyone trying to determine if they were awake or not. The small, little kid of a classmate had gone from a weakling to a villain to a devil.

Not minding them, I just started to walk out of the room, leaving without a word. And, for some reason, Lindsey followed me.