Inverse System

Sho summoned his weapon. A pair of large, black steel nunchucks connected by an iron chain. He spun it around his head, Rein simply standing there as he heard the principal declare the beginning of the match.

They stood there, staring at each other for a good 10 seconds before Sho spoke out.

"Well? Are you going to summon your weapons?" Sho waited, not wanting to attack until it was a fair fight.

"I don't need weapons," Rein showed his hands, which had no weapon rings, making sure to hide them from the crowd.

He could've entered the arena with the weapon rings and lost the match regardless, but he feared that his ego would take over and he would accidentally win. This ensured his loss before the fight even began.

"Cocky aren't we? Whatever, it doesn't matter to me. This fight isn't for honor or anything. It's for 1 thing and 1 thing only," Sho braced his legs, then leaped towards Rein, who didn't flinch.

He swung his nunchucks at full force at Rein's face, swatting his cheeks away with great power, making him bleed from his mouth. The crowd wowed in amazement as the hit connected. Rein felt and gauged his health dropping.

Health: 2457/2490

A full force strike to the face from his nunchucks did about 33 damage to him. He spat out a clot of blood and assumed dual sword stance as he pretended to wield them, putting up an illusion that he was wielding swords, to which Sho couldn't see.

"What the hell's that stance? Are you trying to scare me or something?" Sho remarked as he flipped his nunchucks between hands.

"Don't mind me, you can keep attacking at your leisure," Rein said in a low voice so the audience wouldn't hear him.

"Hey Clyde, how'd he get those swords?" Xenia tugged on his shirt.

"Swords? Don't tell me he's making illusions now?" Clyde said, Rein's illusions not working on him.

"You're tellin' me this is an illusion? Damn, the hell is this guy thinking! We can't even tell Chloe since she's sitting in that seat up there," Quint spoke, bummed out.

"Rein…" Chloe uttered worriedly, Emria's mood joining hers with a worried expression.

Saphrilla continued listening in to the conversations of Clyde and the others, her eyebrows furrowing in nervousness, her red eyes focused on the match as she prayed for his victory, knowing the stakes.

Sho resumed his attacks, with Rein showing signs of slow attempts to dodge, but ultimately being hit by Sho's swift attacks. With each hit, he felt his health drop further and further, yet he still felt that it wasn't fast enough. He began fighting back slightly, swinging his fist at him swiftly, which just barely missed their target.

He was trying to force Sho to activate his Spring so that the battle would end earlier, and to make it believable, Rein ramped up his attacking speed slightly, some attacks now grazing Sho's cheek as he struggled to retaliate.

Rein was surprised. This was supposed to be the strongest student in the class, and yet, Rein was outmaneuvering him easily without the use of his Spring. He wasn't even trying, and he was somehow winning.

"The hell… You… Are you really at the top of the class?" Rein mocked him as he rolled his wrist around, loosening his joints as he connected a punch, sending Sho dragging his feet across the ground.

"I have to admit, you're stronger than I thought you'd be. Though, I don't know what I was expecting from the winner of the entrance tournament," Sho chuckled, wiping away the vibrantly crimson blood that excreted from his smiling mouth.

He held his nunchucks horizontally, eye level to his face. Suddenly, Rein could feel the temperature of the arena increase drastically, the audience members not feeling it because of the solid magic barrier surrounding the fighting stage. Visible flames could be seen highlighting Sho's body, flickering into sparks of inferno that wisped into the air.

Suddenly, Sho blasted off his feet, leaving a pool of fire in his wake. Rein could barely track his movements, the fire coming off of his feet propelling him to unspeakable velocities. Rein instinctively turned around and defended, crossing his arms over his face to block his accelerated nunchuck attack.

Even though he defended, he still felt a sharp pain where the attack connected, sending him flying backward, dragging his feet across the dirt to stop his acceleration. As Rein uncrossed his arms, he felt them reverberating from the impact, unable to stop them from shaking. He felt a searing pain where the collision occurred, seeing his skin slightly burned as he shook it off.

Health: 2046/2490 (Burned!)

311 damage was dealt to him in one strike, and the burning status effect was applied to him as the lingering sear of the attack persisted. Rein now remembered the reason he was ranked number 1. He even got a hint about it when he copied his Spring. The prince of Econica was an incredibly powerful Spring user.

"Huh..? N-no way, is he the prince?" Xenia reacted.

"The hells up with his name? Anagi is not the Econican royal family name!" Quint exclaimed.

"It was most likely to hide his identity until he needed it to fulfill the reason he came to this school. Chloe and I already knew since we had battle strategies with principal Julianne, but we were sworn to secrecy along with the other students in class S. His real name is Sho Econ, the 45th crown prince of Econica," Clyde explained as a fiery blaze erupted from the arena, battering against the magic barrier with unfathomable force, testing the limits of the barriers grit.

As the flames that covered the barrier dissipated, they could see that Sho was back on the offensive, Rein doing almost nothing to defend. He was continuously battered as he stood his ground, Sho using his enhanced speed to blitz around him, delivering swift strikes against his body as his health continued to drop.

Health: 1735/2490 (Burned!)

Health: 1424/2490 (Burned!)

Health: 1113/2490 (Burned!)

Health: 802/2490 (CRITICAL CONDITION!) (Burned!)

Health: 491/2490 (CRITICAL CONDITION!) (Burned!)

"Hey, Rein! What are you doing?! You'll die if you don't fight back soon!" Versys screamed in Rein's head, making him jump back out of instinct, avoiding Sho's next attack.

"Heh… I just need to get incapacitated… Man, purposely losing is harder than I thought…" He thought to himself as his vision and hearing blurred, seeing the scruffy outlines of the crowd, hearing some of their excited screams.

He looked ahead, blood flowing out of his mouth as he saw a blazing blur slowly walking towards him, spinning flame imbued nunchucks held in his hands, his heels excreting a trail of fire that followed him as he walked.

He smiled to himself, accepting the situation that he'd put himself in. Though suddenly, for a brief moment, he felt his consciousness slip away. It was only for a split second, but what he experienced felt nothing less than a dream.

He awoke in the usual, white, hazy void that he was used to being in. He looked around, and once again, Versys was nowhere in sight. He heaved a breath and exhaled, looking down in discouragement, his eyes hollow and cold, lifeless as he couldn't even cry. Suddenly, he saw a pair of familiar boots enter his sight as he continued looking down. They were brown boots that felt somehow nostalgic to him, filling him with a feeling of comfort. The world around him began glimmering, a wooden house forming, replacing the white void as he looked up, his heart fluttering with excitement.

"No way… Is that really you, sis?"