The Mysterious Black Magician

The javelin shot like a comet!

Seeing the fast-approaching javelin, Bob did not waver and ran towards it.

Yman smiled.

Before the javelin could hit the Metalloid Gorilla(Bob), it suddenly disappeared.

"Wha--!"

Yman heard a shock utterance from the girl beside him.

He already expected it to happen. Even before Bert used his artefact, he already wasted too much mana by eating those shining apples and reproducing.

He wasn't even a person who was gifted with lots of mana. His mana was only a little above Bob.. But because Bert was an idiot, he didn't notice that it could lead to his demise.

Right. Bert exhausted his mana. So while Bert was making over his vines into javelin, Yman noticed that it wasn't a perfect transformation. It lacked mana. In short, Bert had a mana shortage in his javelin.

Bert widened his eyes when his javelin suddenly turned to light particles and disappeared. Even Bert himself did not expect it to happen. He soon grimaced upon seeing the approaching opponent.

Bob leaped into the air to shorten the distance much faster. Then he attacked him using his hammer punch.

After receiving Bob's attack, the Minotrent was buried under the debris of the remains of the stage.

Dust arises, blanketing the broken stage.

Then everyone heard consecutive pumping noises coming from the stage. 

Yman's mouth broke into a voiceless laugh. "Looks like Bob is celebrating his win, fufu," he chuckled.

"....."

However, the girl beside him remained silent. Fufu, probably shy to speak. Yman wanted to mock her. But since it was unprofitable, he decided to let her be.

But, 

Let's see what her reaction will be: anger, shyness, fluster? Fufu.

"Uh, Yman, what are you smiling at?" He suddenly heard Almina calling at him.

"Eh?" Yman touched his face and noticed that he could not figure out if he was subconsciously smiling. "Uh, no-no. Just happy for Bob," he said in his casual voice.

"Oh, I see…" Almina said.

"Honestly, it surprised me when Bob pulled out such an item."

Yman noticed that Almina wasn't a bit worried that she lost the bet. Aside from that, she looked happier instead.

Girl.

That's a weird reaction after you lost a bet! Yman thought inwardly. Though, he didn't voice it out.

The smoke was gradually dissipating and the loud pumping noises had already stopped. 

When the smoke fully subsided, everyone was dumbfounded.

Bob and Bert were lying on the broken stage.

Yman himself gawked in disbelief. How the hell did that happen?! He wanted to shout.

The referee Instructor Goki announced the result of the match.

And yes… it's a fucking—- DRAW!!!

Yman shook his head.

No need to count if they could still stand up. No matter if they could continue the fight or not. The timer already hit zero.

Beside him, he heard a chuckle. "Fufu. Looks like it's my win, My Prince."

No need to guess who this is coming from.

Yman could only fall silent. Not only him, but Kesha also fell silent. 

Unexpectedly though, Almina finally showed an expression befitting of a loser.

She wanted to shout— NooooOOOOO!!!

It was her chance to have a date with Yman. Why does Bob have to die?!

She wanted to run to the stage and beat Bob or Bert to wake them up. Whoever among them would win is also a win for Almina. But it's against the rules to come up onstage to beat them so Almina could only lament in silence.

Seeing Almina's expression that looks like a dead fish, Maena shook her head.

Yman sighed. "Well, that was unexpected…"

He wondered if it was a coincidence or what— that Keremi was able to guess right.

"Tsk! That damn Bert," Kiko clicked his tongue.

Some people ran to the stage with stretchers in their hands.

After retrieving the two of them, they brought them to the infirmary.

After knowing that the next match was not his, Yman went to check for Bob.

When he arrived at the infirmary, Bob was already awake, though still weak and barely able to move.

He learned the reason why Bob lost consciousness.

It was an idiotic cause that Yman had to cover his face with a palm. He didn't want to accept Bob's reason. Bob said he suddenly felt weak after pumping his chests.

But Yman believed the real reason that Bob lost consciousness was that he was yet to have a perfect control on the shapeshifting ability of the artefact. Also, their fight was so intense. So it was reasonable that he was exhausted. It was just unfortunate that it happened a second before the referee announced the winner. 

However, the intensity of Bob and Bert's battle put a smile on some of the VIP's faces. Not because they were amused by them, but because they found potential from them.

Controlling the shapeshifting artefact was not an easy task. It needed lots of effort and concentration. Also, if one's mentality wasn't high enough, there was a high tendency that the beast's soul on it would take over the wearer's body instead. So it was a risky gamble to use. Not all would be willing to use it. Especially that it was only an inside competition. There wasn't much merit against the demerit.

But of course, it was a different talk if one was able to control it flawlessly. Shapeshifting was truly a powerful ability. It was a shortcut to becoming stronger. Though as already stated, not all were compatible with it. So not all were willing to use it because of the harm that it may cause to the incompatible user. One could only decide if they were compatible or not after using it.

So you need to risk first to acquire its power. Fair enough. After all, there were no shortcuts to acquiring true power without risking something in return. Also, Artefact was truly too expensive for ordinary students.

In this case, the Growth Artefact of Jugo was much safer compared to the Shapeshifting Artefact. 

Regardless, the result of Bob's match raised the morale of those from low section participants. These students from section D were truly unexpected. How did they do it? Regardless, how was Bob able to acquire such an expensive item? No one knew. 

When Yman came back, Kiko had just finished his match in an overwhelming and flashy victory against an opponent from section A.

Most of the students in the waiting hall were talking about Kiko's strength, singing praises to it. Like some bootlicker followers. 

Now Yman's time had come. And his opponent was, unexpectedly, Marco. Kiko's closest friend.

"HEhe," Marco grinned menacingly. HE could finally send the frog to where he belonged.