Rising Against Fate

15th February 3068

The Eastern Academy, First-year ranking tournament, was still underway. At this point, there were only eight participants left. The battles were getting tougher, and anyone of these eight participants could become the winner.

The arena was completely filled with an enthusiastic audience cheering in anticipation and excitement. The stage was already prepared for the first match, and now, everyone was waiting for the announcements to begin.

"Ladies and gents, welcome to the quarterfinals of the First-year ranking tournament! Today, we will see four matches between the participants who were able to come this far after winning one battle after another."

A loud cheer echoed throughout the stadium as the announcements started. The screens around the stadium were now displaying the pairing for the duels.

"Now then, without further ado, let's welcome the participants of our next match — Kat F. Nerdy and Richi Shindo."

The two participants walked towards the stage from two opposite sides of the arena. A loud continuous cheer was heard as they took their position.

Kat's hands were still in his pocket, and he looked as slothful as ever. While in comparison, Richi seemed as energetic as ever and had a smug look of confidence on his face.

"Hey, Nerdy, are you in the right place? Or did you accidentally find the stage?"

Kat yawned. "Well, I would have preferred if it were a napping contest, but since it's not, I might as well give them what they want."

Unlike Richi's insulting tone, Kat's reply was surprisingly normal. He was doing that intentionally to make Richi more irritated.

"Just wait, I will send you to a nap the hard way."

"Thanks, but I don't think I will be able to sleep with this many people watching me."

Richi looked more pissed off by the reply, but instead of responding to those words, he just clenched his fist and waited for the announcer to signal the start of the match.

He realized his usual way of proving things with his strength was better than debating with words.

"The participants look ready. What are we even waiting for here? Let's begin the countdown."

All the screens around the stadium started displaying the countdown, and with that, the audience started shouting the numbers that were being displayed.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Let the battle begin!"

As soon as the battle began, Kat leaped backward. Richi was a close range fighter so distancing himself from Richi was a wise move. But the goal of this action wasn't just that. The earlier provocations and this action were intended to lure him into charging forward.

"Not that fast! Earthquake!"

A series of shockwaves were felt throughout the stadium, but it barely served its purpose of creating a diversion. That was because he had already used this move in the last match, so it was not that much of a surprise, and since Kat was naturally slow when it comes to responding if the threat didn't directly affect him, he didn't react to it.

Richi's 'Vibration Punch' could easily break through Kat's 'No man zone' as his magic specialized in breaking through barriers, so Kat had to look for another way to defend himself while still maintaining the distance.

Kat used his telekinesis to lift the cemented blocks from the stage and attacked Richi with them. Still, Richi used his vibration magic with physical enhancement and broke them into pieces one after another.

Kat leaped towards his right and distanced himself, but as if he already knew what Kat was planning to do, Richi smiled and leaped towards Kat.

Kat's eyes widened in surprise. Richi's move here was unexpected since Kat was hoping he would use a Vibration punch on the floor to crack the stage right below him as he landed. Kat could use his marbles, but he would need to spin them around in spiral motion to give them enough momentum.

At this point, Kat was within Richi's range of attack, so wasting even a second here was fatal.

"No man zone!"

"Vibration punch!"

Kat used the spell in an attempt to repel Richi, but since Richi countered it with a vibration punch, it sent him flying backward instead.

Kat crashed on the floor, but since his barrier reduced the impact, the injuries weren't that severe. But he had no time to rest or even think about it because, by Richi's gesture, it was clear that another Vibration punch was coming towards him through the floor.

"Vibration punch!"

Instead of trying to stand, Kat used his telekinesis to push himself aside and avoided the attack. He then quickly raised himself and pulled out several metal marbles from his pocket.

As he started spinning those marbles around himself, Richi dashed towards him using physical enhancement.

The marbles needed little concentration to maintain, but it somewhat restricted his movement making the counter-attacks hard to dodge. So, instead of waiting for them to gain enough speed, Kat started firing them one after another.

Richi easily dodged them using his speed and kept on charging forward. Kat was significantly slower than him, so he could quickly close in. But before he could reach Kat, he pushed himself aside using his telekinesis.

It was apparent that Kat knew that a touch from Richi would mean game over for him. He had analyzed Richi's abilities, but he couldn't develop a plan of attack because Richi's moves were unpredictable.

As it went, plans were only effective against those who think before acting, not against those who act first. Richi's moves were unpredictable as he didn't put much thought behind them. And since he had the right amount of strength to back himself up, in this tournament, it acted as his strength rather than a weakness.

Kat was still feeling the pain from earlier, but he was showing no reaction. That was because his sense of pain had also dulled alongside his activeness due to his abilities.

"I guess I will need to go a bit beyond what I was expecting to."

Kat put his hands back in his pocket as he brought the marbles back to himself. He then closed his eyes for a few seconds, which confused the audience and even Richi, and when he opened them, the shape of his pupils had changed.