I’m a coward

The air rippled as drops of rain fell on Astin's blood-stained black suit, diluting the sweet smell of blood.

The renowned demon king, a being that saints and heroes couldn't possibly hope to defeat in his previous world.

If he hadn't dropped his guard, he would never have died. Astin Buer looked down at the last one of the sneaky villains he had found.

Astin stood on the back side of the mountain, just a few meters away from the sea; he crouched among many corpses that were cracking and crumbling away like black mud.

"Please don't kill me, I'll do anything," the man begged.

Astin's face didn't change as he held the man's finger.

Crush--

The man's screams were lost in the rain as Astin crushed each of his fingers, one by one.

His indifferent face was filled with boredom and dullness. His eyes were deeply apathetic, looking at the man who was a miserable mess of snot and tears, trying to crawl away from him.

Astin's smile was shallow while moving over to him with faint steps. He could hear the slow dragging of his prey's heartbeating.

He could smell the borderline panic in the air. He liked the smell of fear those humans exuded; however, he didn't like to toy with weaklings.

Crack--

"Ah!?" A muffled gasp accompanied by the loud sound of bones cracking echoed, covered by the sound of rain and waves.

"Please spare— hu... my life, I'll do anything, ha... don't kill me," the man cried in despair, wiggling in pain. "I... I have a family; I have a wife and a child, spare me."

Astin's hand easily penetrated his chest, wrapped around the man's heart, and yanked it hard.

"I was planning to ask this guy, but a low-ranking member of Abaddon couldn't possibly know."

The rain increased, pouring down heavily. Lightning struck through the dark sky, like the roar of a desperate beast in pain, illuminating the previous scene of an Unknown Massacre.

Ring ring---

Astin's eyes on the mountaintop toward the castle covered with mist shifted when he heard a ringing noise from his phone.

"Lisa," checking the time, Astin knew why she called; his eyes darted back toward the direction of the stadium.

A clear, melodious sound was heard from the other side of the phone. "Our match is in ten minutes; I can no longer cover up for you."

"Mhmm, I'm on my way." Light scattered from the dark clouds gathered in the sky, and Astin's body vanished from sight, eaten by the ravenous darkness.

***

"It took a long time to arrive here," Ryan commented, clearly tired. "I feel like my physical condition is getting worse."

Sitting in a designated area for Erou students and personnel, he looked at Noah, who was stuffing his mouth with food. Clearly busy, he didn't hear him.

The stadium is protected by a dome that prevents the rain from landing and the ominous sound of lightning from reaching them.

They had been surrounded by reporters and fans for a long time because Noah's voice had attracted attention, and they were given a lot of food as a bonus.

[Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the last Battle Game. It's my pleasure to be here tonight to introduce you to an incredible evening.] The MC's excited voice didn't diminish even after more than five hours of talking.

[In the same arena in which the last eleven matches have taken place, the final battle of today's event is going to start.]

The large screen showcased the inside of the dungeon, and the two teams getting ready.

'Astin must have already dealt with the villains that entered the Island,' Ryan thought inwardly, looking up at the screen where Astin, Lisa, and Steve teamed up against Jacob and Amanda's team. He wouldn't have come if not for Noah pestering him. "Knowing Jacob, the outcome of this match is predictable anyway."

"I still can't believe WC didn't tell me a Space magic user exists." Ryan sighed.

His eyes focused on Jacob's frame, and coincidentally, their eyes met through the screen.

"Haaa…" Ryan took the last sip of his boba drink, massaging his temple. He said in a low sighing voice, "Children are so troublesome."

"Huh, does Ryan have a child?" asked Noah, whose mountain of snacks had ended.

"No, I don't," Ryan answered shortly, handing a napkin to Noah and wiping the biscuit crumbs off his face.

"The child here is Jacob," Professor Ania, who was sitting behind, said, her eyes gleaming with interest.

"Yesterday, Jacob declared war on Ryan and promised in front of the entire first year that he would expose his secret if he lost on purpose during the games. Ouch--."

"I can only see one big child here, and it's you," Laila said, rolling her eyes at her friend's antics. "Do something about your friend, Daniel."

Daniel shook his head helplessly. 

"You know Ryan is so lazy; this young man spends most of the time in my class dozing off. How else would he make an effort to win?" Ania said, half-wronged, half-anticipating, a hand supporting her chin, she beamed, "I can't wait to see him lose. I wonder what kind of secret that is."

"Huh? That's not true," Noah said proudly. "Ryan and Noah promised to both win first place in the tournament together one month ago."

"... I did say that," Ryan said, looking back at the screen. "By the way, Professor, where is Ash?"

"Ash is now recuperating in the Infirmary," Daniel took a dry gulp.

"He's sick?" Ryan asked.

"Ash has been in the rain for so long looking for his friend; he's now sick," Daniel sighed with a guilty conscience. He couldn't bring himself to tell them that their friend Catharina had died.

"So, to not cause a delay, Amanda next in the ranking has taken his place," Daniel said, scratching his head, his eyes darting around.

"Due to the big four leaders being here, the events must end quickly, as they can't stay away from their duties for long." He had been called by both the seer and Professor Lucas telling him not to no get involved. He didn't know why the seer suddenly called him again, but he just attributed it to Lucas wanting to take revenge for Alfred's death.

"Hmmm…" Ryan hummed in understanding; his mouth was occupied by food.

The crowd cheered and the MC's announcement ended the conversation.

[The game would start in 3... 2... 1... Start,]

Projected by the giant holographic screen, inside the dungeon.

The first to make a move was Amanda, charging toward Steve at a speed that was unseen by the naked eye. Her punch packed terrific power, sending him backward.

Steve reacted quickly by erecting ice walls behind his back, cushioning his retreat as his foot left scratch marks on the ground.

Crack--

Lisa supported her teammates by enhancing their abilities. Ice rocks sprung from under Steve's feet, stopping Amanda in her tracks.

The fight went on with both sides seemingly on equal footing, as 'the Ice Storm' from Cloo, his ability matching his name, found it hard to assist due to space constraints, and Astin, the only mage in the group, lay back offering assistance from time to time.

However, Jacob appeared behind Astin, his outstretched hand passed by the flag that was wrapped around his wrist, rolled back, balancing his weight on his left foot, and threw a curved punch at his temple.

Astin, who seemed so relaxed, never let his guard down. The strength with which he kicked him upward sent saliva trickling down Jacob's throat.

"I'm not that interested in winning, I have better things to do than be here and play with you," Astin said. Throughout the entire interaction, his hand never left his pockets. "If you manage to land one hit on me, I'll give you the flag."

He was interested because he didn't expect Jacob, the one who always hid behind Ryan, to start a fight against him. In his impression, Jacob was always a coward.

"Air shift," Jacob whispered a spell. The space shifted a little with the tiny amount of mana that had been used, and a stream of kicks landed as he blocked what he could with his elbows and forearms, but he still got another kick from Astin.

Space magic had never had any precedent in the history of this. Jacob found it extremely hard to control. Still, the preferences he found in novels and fantasy were endless.

"Instant transportation," Jacob appeared in front of Astin before retreating.

No one noticed him, not even Astin, except for Ryan, who was able to see the space warp.

Astin frowned, finding himself almost using his black magic, which is extremely absurd to use on someone as weak as Jacob.

'I'm afraid,' Jacob told himself. He smiled self-deprecatingly, feeling death hanging on one chance of minuscule mis-decision.

'I'm a coward,' Jacob said to himself in self-loathing. 'I always blame others for the inability to make decisions for my own life. I blamed Ryan for something out of both of our control.'

He was hit again, his attack interrupted without a chance to make a move, the amount of damage his body took increased, and his face was hot and stinging like boiling water.

'I'm extremely childish, locking myself in my comfort zone for years, but I'm not planning to just back away, not this time.' Jacob thought, his eyes a blurry blur.

Propping himself off the ground, blood trickling down his mouth, he thought of every spell he had ever memorized, "If I can't let people know my real magic, then I'll just fake one."

Swoosh—

Multiple wind blades surrounded Astin to no avail. Astin looked at Jacob in amusement, "Hmmm, a wind blade?"

Boom—

Jacob's legs finally collapsed from under him, as he could no longer withstand the pressure and pain his wound gave him.

'Over and over, I told myself, if I ran away, I would never be able to stand up for myself ever again.' Jacob opened his mouth, smiling nervously with the opposite team flag in his hand. "I won."

Distracting Astin with multiple wind attacks, he used the magic of equivalent exchange to swap their flags.

Jacob said with a toothy grin, "The master of ceremonies never said losing your flag means defeat."

[Ladies and gentlemen, this is unprecedented, what a great friendship. To help their Academy move toward the last event, the 'Mysterious Mage' and 'Dark Age' have unknowingly used their fight as cover to exchange flags.]

The MC's voice thundered, genuinely impressed that someone finally discovered the deception in the rules.

[And hereby declare the two teams would be moving up to the last event of the tournament.] The MC smiled in front of the camera.

[That was it for today. See you tomorrow.]