Bully's second chance

In the VIP section where all renowed knights from various knighthoods are present. Among them, heads of powerful organizations are seated in the front rows. Those who sponsored the teams are seated in the last three rows. Lastly in the middle not known but strong knights occupy the seats.

Rick holding a sandwich and a soft drink in hand walks in the venue in a hurry. "Excuse me. Just going through. Sorry about that." While causing an inconvenience to others, he finally reached Ken who is sitting in the second row.

"You missed two rounds."

"Sir Ken, can you hold this sandwich?" Rick hands the sandwich to Ken.

Ken takes a bite from the sandwich. "What were you doing? You missed the fun."

"The line for this Ice sweet Kola was too long. I tried my best and even ran all the way to here." Ken hands the sandwich back to Rick.

"Is the package here?" Ken asks in a whisper, careful not to be heard by anyone.

Rick takes sip of the drink before taking a bite of the sandwich. "Yesh! Ewvythik iss woll."

"Eat first."

Rick swallows his food and repeats once more. "Yes. Everything is well."

Suddenly a hysterical laugh echoes in the entire venue. Rick turns back to see the source of such demonic laugh but he couldn't see the person as the laugh came from the last row.

"What was that? Did a beast snuck in or something?" Rick asks in sarcasm.

"It's the principal of Black Pegasus academy."

"You mean Estha Kaminari?"

"Yes."

Rick makes an unconvinced expression. "Are you sure that it is Principal Estha? When I went with Chief to the Black Pegasus academy, I saw her. She looked beautiful with those bright blond hair and mature figure. My mind refuses to believe that voice came from her."

Ken could see the sparkle in Rick's eyes. "You are hitting on my boss you know?"

"What? She is your boss?"

"Yes. I told you already that I became an instructor in an academy."

"You teach at Black Pegasus academy? T-Then introduce me, can you?....Please?"

Ken chuckles and grabs the drink from Rick's hands to take a sip. "I guess you are not a newbie anymore. Well, you should set your eyes on some other woman. Estha is a high maintenance woman and her personality will not suit with you. Trust your teacher."

Rick makes a sad face. "If you say so."

"Don't be discouraged. There are plenty of fishes in the sea. Who knows you might catch a bigger fish?" With these motivating words Ken pats Rick's back.

"Haha. Anyways why is she laughing in such…..unique way." Rick asks.

Ken makes an awkward face and looks ahead. "Well, it started with-"

20 minutes earlier.

Estha is sitting in her seat. Her pose straight and elegant. She looks perfect in her black sparkling one piece. Red highlighter under her eyes makes her look like an angel straight from heaven. Not to mention, her bosom is perfect to wear such revealing dresses. Those perfect proportions can make any male drool. Almost everyone in the entire VIP section is glancing at her from time to time. But Estha's eyes are fixed on only one individual on the ground.

'Mikaela. I have poured all of my resources for your growth. You must yield appropriate results.'

"Oh! Hello my dear." An old granny calls out which frees Estha from her own thoughts.

"Huh? Big sister, Vivnena! How are you?" Estha bows a bit in respect.

The old granny who is wearing a long sweater with a simple gown laughs softly. "Good. This old body is giving few nuisances but aside from those everything is good and you don't need to bow. We are in public place." The granny takes a sit beside Estha.

"It doesn't matter. Are you here for some work?"

"What makes you think I am simply not here to watch my grandson's fight?" Vivnena question back.

"Heh! If you were that kind, you would have also come to watch the fights of your other 74 grandsons."

"Seems like I can't fool my favourite student."

Estha smiles in pride.

"Seeing you smile like that made me remember my days as principal at Midussa academy. You were summoned almost every week in my office because Sarita's actions."

The smile on Estha's face vanishes in an instant. "Don't mention that lunatic's name."

Vivnena laughs in an elegant manner. "No need to get upset, my dear. Listen, I tell you the reason that I am here. I was invited along with few other elders from different sentinel families for a deal offered by federation. They say this deal will change our fate and turn tides on the Red border."

Estha's ears perked up at the mention of Red border. "Red border? Is this some kind of weapon to defeat those nobles? Judging from the fact that they called multiple elders from various sentinel families the weapon or a piece of armour which we can mass produce?"

"They haven't disclosed what the artefact actually is yet."

"Whatever it is. I hope it works. I don't want to serve at Red border. That was the whole reason that I took teaching as a profession, to avoid being drafted to the war."

"Nobody wants to go. Even I was like that when I got drafted." Estha looks at the Vivnena's old body, she resembles dead more than living.

"You went and came like this." Estha looks Vivnena's old body. She has nothing but skin left. Her nose cut off, every limb in her body is amputated to extend her lifespan even by a small margin. To perform a simple task she needs always needs someone's assitance.

A pitiful way of living.

The atmosphere suddenly becomes gloomy. Then a loud voice disrupts the atmosphere. "Eek! It is the big headed principal and her obedient favourite dog."

Estha looks at the person who said such disrespectful words. "Sarita!"

A woman in her late 40s glares at Estha. Sarita is wearing a proper suit with a tie which looks good on her ocean blue hair and brown eyes. Despite being so old, her face glows and her body is still slim with good figure. She looks good considering her age.

"She is your senior show some respect!" Estha snaps.

"Respect? She was annoying before and she looks even more annoying."

"How can you say that her?"

"Truth is often bitter. But look at you. Such dress. Are you here to watch your students or to party? Is this how you set an example?"

Estha's eyes blazed with anger. "What will you know about fashion, you old hag?"

Sarita goes and takes an empty seat beside Estha. "Old? We are the same age."

Estha smirks with arrogance. "And you still cannot ascend to Intermediate rank?"

"Oh, shut up. I have other responsibilities as the principal of the Groover and Aquilae academy. Oh! How would you know? Your academy reached the final phase like three times." Sarita mocks her and starts laughing in an exaggerated tone.

"Are you questioning my abilities as a principal and mentor?"

"Maybe? I heard that your disciple lost to a commoner in a duel." Estha clenches her jaw in anger.

Suddenly the referee announces that the first is between Black Pegasus academy and The Groover and Aquilae academy. Estha and Sarita quickly glance at each other. A single thought in their minds. 'I am not losing to this dog/fool.'

Few minutes later, Sarita laughs loudly as Serena is being taken away in stretcher. "We can't blame the students if their principal is like this. OHOHOHOHO!"

Estha looks down in frustration. 'What is happening? How could Serena lose to a nobody? And why is she even going first? Shouldn't Mikaela go first to show our dominance? This isn't what we planned!'

"Are you hoping that your disciple, the star player would win in the next round?" Sarita easily predicts Estha's thoughts as she has become quite skilled at reading her over the past few years.

Estha remains quiet and hopes that Mikaela would do something. 'Can she win against all 12 of them?' And then instead of Mikaela, Karl stands on the stage to fight. Sarita turns to see Estha's frustrated look. She having fun seeing her getting stressed. Estha is biting her nails, her elegant self from earlier is gone. 'I don't know what is happening anymore.'

Karla gets disqualified.

Sarita's mood takes a full 180 turn. Estha turns to Sarita. "WAHAHAHA! What happened? Did your student got scared?"

Sarita quickly accuses Estha. "You rigged this match. I know you did. Everyone is saying that you rigged it."

"Huh? They are your students! How can I-" Estha clicks her tongue. "Just accept that your students are useless."

"Huh! How dare you! You- You fat breasted cow!" Sarita went ahead and said it. Everyone's eyes are now turns to Estha's chest and everyone can confirm that Sarita is in fact not lying. Estha covers herself in embarrassment.

"How can you say that? Do you have no shame?"

"Like I said, truth is often bitter. I even heard that few students go hungry in your academy because eat their shares of food."

Many people laugh and gasp at Sarita's words. Estha looks around with red cheeks. "If-If you want to play it like that then fine. Your chest is actually A cup and you wear multiple bras to compensate."

"You are making things up. I can't imagine her saying such words." Rick says.

"Ask anyone. Women are scary creatures."

"So that laugh was-"

"They are still arguing but it is less heated now. When I said you missed the fun, I wasn't talking about the match."

Rick stares blankly at Ken's smug face for solid 5 seconds.

Suddenly Rick grabs Ken's neck. "You could have called me! ARGH! I wanted to watch that."

Meanwhile, most of the people are showing their displeasure.

"BOO!"

"IS THIS ANOTHER RIGGED MATCH FROM THE PHIRSECOTS?"

"HOW MUCH DID THEY PAY YOU?"

Karl ignores such shouts and carefully stands up. Mikaela walks up on the stage. "What did you tell her? That she walked away from the stage."

"Nothing much." Cough! Cough!

Mikaela looks up at the crowd which are cursing Karl. "Ugh! I should have never let you go. Your actions are making our academy's reputation poor."

Karl rubs blood off his nose. "Is this 'Wow! You won against her. You are amazing.' Then no need to mention it."

"You fool!" Mikaela is trying very hard to suppress her urge to hit Karl.

The referee appears in front Karl. "Do you want to continue?"

"No, I will-" "Yes! Yes, I want to." Karl quickly cuts in.

"Very well." The referee notes Karl's decision.

"How is this fair? I said-" The referee looks at Mikaela in a threatening way. "The decision of abandoning the battlefield falls entirely on the Knight who is standing in it. Outsiders have no opinion."

Karl summons his magic circle and opens up the void storage. "Can I drink this?"

The referee looks at the mana regeneration elixir in Karl's hands. The referee instantly recognizes the bottle from the cravings on the sides. "Mana regeneration is allowed. But use of any type of strengthening elixirs are strictly restricted."

Karl quickly opens the elixir and drinks it. Seeing the referee leaving, Mikaela glares at Karl. "I really hope that you have plan to defeat the Jereom. Or are you that afraid of losing against me that you want lose against these nobodies?"

Karl puts the empty elixir in the void storage. "Afraid? Keep dreaming. Look at them." He points at a bench where students of The The Groover and Aquilae academy are sitting. "Not a single one of them has weapon in hand. Remember what the judge with green hair said."

"You mean Lady Treypin?"

"Yes, she said that those who acted disrespectfully earlier has to fight without weapons."

Mikaela ponders at Karl's words. "You are not wrong. If you played your cards right, you could win. Also, show some respect to the Overseer."

"Sure. Sure."

Suddenly the fat kid from the bench stands up and walks towards the stage. "That's Jereom. As expected, they sent him." Mikaela glances at Karl before leaving. "I don't know if you will win or not. But if you do, please do it in a dignified way for our academy's reputation and yours."

Karl doesn't answer her and looks ahead.

"State your name!" The referee's voice shows that a new round is going to start, the constant chattering from the crowd quickly dies out.

"Jereom Delta."

"The third round between Leonard Aviritia from Black Pegasus academy and Jereom Delta from the Groover and Aquilae academy will begin now!" The referee announces.

Karl summons his magic circle and his Talwar which was lying on the ground disappears and reappears in his hands. He takes stance, waiting for his opponent to make a move.

'Serena and Mikaela, both were acting too cautious about him. Is he really that strong?' He notices that Jereom is trembling. 'Is he going to summon his circle?'

In response, Karl quickly spreads mana throughout his body, ready to phase.

"How? HOW COULD MAKE QUEEN KARLA CRY??? AHHH!" Jereom runs towards Karl.

"The fuck?" Karl gets startled as Jereom runs at him which looks ridiculous because of Jereom's fat body.

"MY-MY QUEENNNN!" Jereom summons two blue coloured circles and launches a jet spray of water. Karl phases through the water, he looks back and sees that the water cut through a solid wall.

"I KILL YOU!!!! UWAHHH!!"

Karl quickly uses levitating steps to dash away from the trajectory.

"MY QUEE- Oi? Where did you go?"

Karl taps on his shoulder. Jereom turns back and gets hits by a pressure punch in the face.

BOOM! The punch launched the fatty kid into the wall.

"Well, that was easy-" He notices Jereom's saliva on his hands. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!"

He tries to shake it off.

"Jereom Delta cannot fight anymore. The winner of the third round is Leonard Avaritia from Black Pegasus academy." The crowd still does not look convinced as the fight felt biased and rigged.

"How shameless can they be?"

"How can the judges overlook this? It is simply rigged!"

"Disqualify him!"

"I knew that he was a fraud since the second phase."

Many people were outraged because of Karl's questionable performance. Some people went straight ahead and called him a fraud. Even Mikaela is looking at him with suspicion.

The referee appears in front of Karl. "Do you want to continue-"

"Yes! I will."

The referee narrows his eyes at Karl before turning to the Groover and Aquilae academy's students. Jereom is taken away in stretcher while the wall was repaired by Karlos in an instant.

In the VIP section Estha is jumping in happiness after witnessing flawless victory against Sarita's star player. On the other hand, Sarita is simply staring at Karl. 'So, this is the kid that we have to kill. No wonder that man from Dandelion family was so generous with the photons.'

She closes her eyes in confidence. 'His victory against Jereom was unexpected but now he is exhausted. Next round would be his last.'

This time a student wearing glasses stepped on the stage. His build was lean and healthy unlike Karl's previous opponent. His hands empty, without a weapon. Again, Karl takes a stance with Talwar in his hands.

"State your name."

"Luke Blake."

"The fourth round between Leonard Aviritia from Black Pegasus academy and Luke Blake from The Groover and Aquilae academy will begin now!" The referee announces.

Without wasting any time, the guy runs at Karl's in a frenzy. "MY QUEEN! MY QUEEN! MY QUEEN! MY QUEEN! MY QUEEN! MY QUEEN!"

BOOM! Again, Karl punches him off the stage.

Sarita's eyes are opened wide in shock. 'What is happening? Why is acting everyone weirdly? After Karla was disqualified, everyone started acting weird.'

"After all these years, you learned nothing. Oh! I feel bad for your students." Estha says it in a mocking tone.

Sarita glares at her. "Just you wait. I still have 9 students left and you have only two."

"Yeah? Bring it on!" Estha roars.

"Do you want to continue?" The referee asks.

"Yes!" Karl answers. Another student from The Groover and Aquilae academy steps up on the stage. Karl looks at the student who looks like a normal average highschooler. "I just hope he isn't a weirdo like those two."

He was a weirdo.

BOOM!

"Do you want to-" The referee asks.

"Yes." 'Please. A normal human being.' Karl hopes.

Another weirdo.

BOOM!

Another weirdo.

BOOM!

This cycle continues until the last student from The Groover and Aquilae academy fell. Karl is panting heavily, his hand covered in blood and saliva of his opponents. He exhales and a blood stream comes out of his nose.

'I just feel like I fought an army of Asian pop idol fans. Ew!'

In the VIP Section, Sarita is sitting disconnected from reality. "This isn't reality. Someone wake me up." She murmurs.

Estha is standing on her chair, cheering for Karl. As the last student from The Groover and Aquilae academy fell she steps down and looks at Sarita. Her face curls up creating the most disgusting and prideful smile. "So, do you still doubt my abilities as a principal and mentor? For your information, your students lost to commoner. A COMMONER! HEY! SAY SOMETHING! HUH?" Estha raises her voice.

Sarita looks at her, tears falling from her face. "Y-You cheated. I know did something! Everyone agrees with me."

Estha grabs her collar. "Still doubting me? Want to take it outside? I show you the power of an intermediate knight."

Sarita, a low knight twitches as Estha asks for a fight. Knowing that she will lose, She looks away. "is fighting all you can think of?"

"You scared?" Estha's tone was completely different from before, everyone sitting in the VIP section can tell that she is serious. Small sparks begins to generate from Estha's body and blond hair glows as electricity flows through them.

Just few rows ahead of them, Rick and Ken are observing the quarrel between two ladies with great interest. They are sitting on chairs in backward position, they are facing ladies instead of the giant screen.

"Are they really going to fight?" Ricks asks as he takes the last bite of the sandwich.

"Looks like it. Here." Ken reaches his pocket and grabs a pair of black sunglasses.

"This would protect your eyes from intense flashes." They both wear the glasses.

Sarita really looks troubled as Estha really seems eager to fight. A part of Sarita wants to accept defeat but her ego refuses admit defeat even if she was burned to a crisp by Estha. The situation gets so tense that majority of crowd is looking at the VIP section instead of the stage.

"All right. That is enough. Estha back down." Vivnena says with a calm voice. Estha immediately calms down and sits down.

Sarita is stunned on the place because the amount mana was just too much for her.

"Sarita always takes fights that she cannot not win and Estha always get affected by Sarita's smallest action. You two really haven't changed." Vivnena scolds them.