"d.a.m.n it, Lily actually…" Perspiration running down his face, Cody Crosby muttered a curse under his breath. However, calm as ever, Harrison turned to him.

"Can we leave the second match to you, Cody?"

"No problem!" the a.s.sa.s.sin wannabe replied somewhat confidently. "Leave it to me!"

I raised my eyebrow at Harrison's choice. Was he trying to be w.a.n.g Zhong or something? Of all the people to send for the second match, he chose Cody. What did he intend to do?

"Hey, what's up with Harrison?"

"Who sends an a.s.sa.s.sin type for the second match after already losing the first?!"

"What's going on?"

The spectators were also murmuring in confusion, their skepticism at Harrison's tactical selection visible and audible.

"Eleanor." In response, Cain made his choice. A girl with short, shoulder-length purple hair stepped forward, smiling confidently. Cain didn't even glance at her – such was his belief in his teammate that he issued only a one-word instruction. "Win."

"Adorno Academy also sent out their main a.s.sa.s.sin! They seem really confident of winning!"

This wasn't good. Biting my lip, I watched the match unfold before us, feeling uneasy. As the two a.s.sa.s.sins stepped up onto the stage and faced each other from opposite ends, Eleanor smirked as she drew her pair of daggers.

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

"Uh, what?" Cody raised an eyebrow at that. "You do realize that this is a match, right? How are you going to win if you don't hit me?"

"No, I mean…never mind." Eleanor looked like she gave up when she realized that her psychological baiting wasn't working. She was trying to be condescending and enrage him by mocking him, but she only succeeded in getting a stupid question in return.

Cody shrugged and waited for the buzz to signal the start of the match. The moment it did, he charged forward. Drawing his own twin daggers (wait, a.s.sa.s.sins didn't necessarily use daggers, so why was he using them?), he closed the distance in a single bound and slashed at Eleanor from two different directions.

"Cody is charging forward and launching a fierce a.s.sault!"

The two a.s.sa.s.sins exchanged several dozen of blows in the s.p.a.ce of a few seconds, their weapons ferociously clanging against each other. Eleanor effortlessly parried strike after strike, and then retaliated with a slash here or there, which Cody deflected to the side. The both of them virtually danced across the stage, locked in a deadly waltz as they moved and swayed to the tune of death. Trading another blow here, they continued to press against each other, their daggers a blur of silver that collided in a shower of sparks.

"Seems like a pretty even match right now!"

"Phew." Hearing that, Cody couldn't help but sigh in relief. "Cody might just be able to win this match."

"Is that what you think?" Harrison asked neutrally.

"What do you mean?" Sheila asked, turning to him with a worried expression. Our team captain merely shrugged, a mysterious smile on his face.

"Look closer. What can you observe from this match?"

"Eleanor's movements are just half a beat faster than Cody's," Theodore spoke up ominously, his eyes never leaving the scene. "The gap between their skills isn't that big, but…at this rate, Cody will eventually lose."

"That's not good!" Yue Chu exclaimed. Then he scowled. "Hey, you seem like you expected this. If that's the case, why did you send him out?"

Harrison turned serious as he turned to us. "Both Lily and Cody, being third-year students, wished to fight today. They were hoping to set an example for their juniors and pave open the path for victory. They were also confident because they have achieved excellent results in their recent training. How can I deny them that request?"

"…ah."

The rest of the team fell silent. It also helped to remember that both Harrison and Theodore were also third-year students, but I was sure Harrison would put aside his emotions and select someone over himself for the other matches. He had already told me of his decision to lead the team match, and I knew he wasn't lying.

However…

"We would be down two matches at this rate," Bu Fan said, but as usual he didn't seem like he cared. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah."

Harrison nodded. "Even if they didn't request to go first, I wouldn't have chosen much differently. Experience is key, after all. And it's not a given that Cody would lose. He's our teammate…so I believe in him."

"I believe in him too," Theodore declared quietly.

Unfortunately, Cody himself was having trouble fighting against Eleanor. He was feeling pressured as he struggled to keep pace with her deadly dance, often finding his movements just half a beat slower. Her daggers lashed out at him, occasionally nicking him and drawing a trail of blood here and there.

In contrast, he hadn't left a single injury on her.

"d.a.m.n…looks like I won't be able to keep up."

Taking a deep breath, Cody began to draw more mana within himself to begin casting a spell. An a.s.sa.s.sin was still a mage in the end. Magic would be the deciding factor in combat.

"Shadow Clone technique!"

"Did he just rip off Naruto?" I complained. "And that's a ninja technique, not an a.s.sa.s.sin technique?!"

"What's the difference?" A wizard who was a skeleton asked, startling me. He raised his bony arms in a shrug. "Don't mind the little details. It's not as if you keep track of them either."

"The h.e.l.l?! Don't scare me like that!" I shouted before smacking the skeleton wizard so hard he fell apart into many bones.

"Where did that guy come from!?" Craig demanded, drawing his spear.

"Ignore that fella and focus on the battle before you," Harrison ordered, an edge in his voice. We obeyed without question, returning our gaze to the battle. Craig had split himself up into several clones and was attempting to surround the faster Eleanor.

"There are flaws!" Eleanor exclaimed gleefully. In a moment, she also divided herself into several clones and used some sort of flash step to disappear from sight, only to appear behind each of Cody's clones.

"!!"

Cody wasn't able to react in time, for Eleanor's daggers slashed toward his throats in a beautiful arc.

"?!"

The moment she did that, all of Cody's clones exploded into smoke, obscuring her view. Eleanor staggered, coughing as she batted away the black smoke. Her clones faltered and flickered, disappearing from existence from the weird spell, leaving only her real person behind. Her eyes widened when she realized that she had fallen into a trap.

A long blade sliced outward from a shadow, cutting her thigh and leaving a deep wound. Eleanor hissed and retreated, clutching her leg. Her reflexes were good, I had to give her that – the reappearing Cody was aiming for her back, but she had instinctively s.h.i.+fted a fraction of a second before she got punctured and avoided a fatal injury.

Cody emerged from the shadow, and raised his head up, grimacing when he realized that he failed to take her out with his trump card. Twirling his sword, he struck again, but Eleanor deflected his blade away with her daggers.

"Oh…that's pretty impressive. I didn't expect you to pull something like that off. Was that a new spell?"

"Who knows?"

The a.s.sa.s.sin wannabe wasn't interested in conversing with his opponent. He parried her daggers and withdrew a few paces before disappearing into the shadows once again. Eleanor frowned and glanced around warily, knowing that her foe could erupt from any location and catch her off guard.

And he did just that.

"!!"

Popping out from a shadow behind Eleanor, his sword sliced toward her neck. However, Eleanor spun around and parried his blade with her dagger before counterattacking with her other dagger. Cody just barely managed to draw his dagger with his left hand to block the deadly blade and prevent it from plunging into his chest.

"Attacking from behind? How very predictable."

Cody realized his mistake, and he disengaged, retreating rapidly into the shadows. Eleanor shook her head and raised a hand.

"Don't forget…you aren't the only one who can use spells."

The entire place erupted in light, blinding the spectators and the other team members in the technical area. Even Cain was forced to s.h.i.+eld his eyes with one hand as he stood resolutely, his gaze fixed upon the stage. As for me, the lenses of my gla.s.ses automatically darkened to protect my sight, and I cursed when I realized Eleanor's intention.

With such bright illumination, the shadows throughout the entire arena had been reduced to an absolute minimum. Cody was forcibly thrown out of a rapidly shrinking shadow, his potential spots for cover completely flushed out. Rolling on the ground and still somewhat blinded, he found himself under a.s.sault by Eleanor.

"It's over!"

The purple-haired a.s.sa.s.sin slashed at him with both her daggers, but amazingly enough Cody managed to recover enough to parry both blades. Despite being blinded and having his senses confounded by the blinding light, he reacted on instinct and whirled around, bringing his sword up and clas.h.i.+ng his weapon against Eleanor's.

"Oh? Impressive. I didn't expect you to be able to defend from this."

"You talk too much."

Saying that, Cody then flipped upward and kicked Eleanor. She managed to withdraw half a step, but it wasn't enough for her to avoid getting her temple grazed by his foot. A small line of blood trickled down her face.

"You…!"

She kicked back, but Cody was already spinning away on the ground and springing back to his feet. His eyes finally recovering and adjusting to the blinding illumination, he then charged forward to finish this battle once and for all.

Eleanor didn't budge an inch and held her ground, smiling nefariously as she awaited her opponent's approach.

"!!"

Too late, Cody realized something was amiss, but he wasn't able to pull away in time. The moment he got within an inch of Eleanor, his foot stepping onto the ground, he triggered a golden magic circle that materialized and expanded rapidly under him.

"You're not the only one who can set traps. Don't forget…I'm also an a.s.sa.s.sin."

Smirking smugly, Eleanor fell back. Cody tried to, but he was too late.

The magic circle exploded, a golden pillar of destructive light that engulfed his body and knocked him out. As his smoldering body toppled over from the fading colossal beam that extended all the way to the ceiling, the commentor quickly followed up by announcing the outcome of the match.

"The second match has been decided! The winner is Adorno Team again!"