A few minutes before Silvie won her match, most of the students were still in a dead-lock battle. But like with Silvie, there were also those that were toying with their opponents– one of them being Bella Jackson, aka, Black Bell.
Unfortunately for Bella’s opponent, the material he was using with most of his costume was metal. The only thing he could do was stop himself from puking as Bella waved his body in the air like he was on some sort of roller coaster.
A few hundred meters away from them, Riley still had not started his match and was instead busy being curious as to why his opponent was looking at him like he killed his whole family. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was one of the students involved in a somewhat violent debate last night– one of the African students that Katrina questioned.
He shouldn’t have any resentment against him since they didn’t really follow through in the investigation and apprehend any of them. So… why was he looking at him like that?
…Wait. Did he really kill his family back when he visited Africa as Darkday?
But which one? He killed so many there.
“Y–“
“To think that you will be the first opponent I face in this tournament– truly, this is a mission from god.”
“…” Riley could only squint his eyes as his opponent started rambling. He was about to ask him if he killed his family, but it would seem that was likely not the case. But… a mission from god?
“You… talked to god before?”
“Of course. I, Jamba, will be the one to eradicate the One Cursed by God from the face of this earth!” Jamba then let out a thumping roar as he beat his chest numerous times.
“I see,” Riley then let out a small but deep sigh as he slightly looked to the ground, “Then this is only a misunderstanding, Jamba. I have never met god for him to curse me as such.”
“You are not fooling anyone, Ghost!” Jamba waved his hand violently, and soon, the bones in his arms started to protrude… No, to change shape as they seemed to tear the flesh of his elbows and knuckles open, “Your skin and hair is the only proof that you could only be The One Cursed by God.”
“Ah,” Riley then clapped his fist, letting out a hum as he raised his eyes, “I thought that custom was abolished a long time ago. But it seems your kind still hunts creatures and people that have pigmentation loss.”
“No,” the bones continued to protrude from Jamba’s skin, “Our mission is to hunt only a single entity, the One Cursed by God…
…You, the harbinger of ruin.”
And with that, Jamba disappeared from his spot, leaving some sort of large claw marks on the ground as he dashed towards Riley. He then dug his hands on the ground, allowing the protruding bones of his knuckles to sharpen even further as it plowed through the ground;
and as he was only a meter away from Riley, he lifted his hands from the ground, using the tension from it to snap his hands even faster; creating some sort of erupting sound as his claws went straight towards Riley.
The dust flew first, but it stopped an inch from hitting Riley’s face. It was then shortly followed by Jamba’s sharp knuckles; but like the dust floating in front of Riley, an invisible force was stopping it from gouging Riley’s eyes out.
“…” And although not even a single thing had hit his face; Riley, however, still moved his head back and allowed his back to fall on the ground.
“Die, Ghost!” Jamba then crouched and pinned Riley on the ground, continuing to hit him on the face, “With this, the destruction of the world will be stopped and the prophecy that my ancestors have told for centuries would be prevented!”
Jamba’s hands were fast, almost a blur from the screen in which the audience was watching. Only a few had their eyes on Riley’s match, as Silvie and the 6 other Mega Students caught all the attention of the students.
Those who were watching Riley’s match, however, could not help but close their eyes.
“N… no, Riley! Stop the match! Stop the match!”
And one of them was Hannah. She was about to explode from where she was sitting, but before she could do so, Tomoe stood on her path.
“Master Riley should be fine, big sister,” Tomoe muttered, “His strength is almost immeasurable, a measly Super who has not even fully tapped the potential of his power could never hope to even harm a hair on his body.”
“Does he look alright to you!?”
“Y–“
“He is fine, Nuclear Baby.”
And before Tomoe could answer, a woman sat on the empty slot beside them; her silver hair almost as light as air as it slowly flowed down to her shoulders.
“Miss… Scarlet Mage,” Tomoe muttered; her eyebrows slightly raised.
“All the combatants have a monitoring device attached to their ankles that would instantly alert us if someone’s life is in danger,” Katherine calmly said as she too, started to watch Riley’s match, “He is fine.”
“…Should we even be calling you Scarlet Mage now?” Hannah slightly started to calm down from hearing Katherine’s words; but as soon as she did so, her eyebrows quickly showed her subtle hostility against Katherine, “Your hair is far from red now.”
“You’re not a baby, are you?” Katherine then let out a small giggle, “So should we be calling you Nuclear Nosy now?”
“…” Hannah glared at Katherine for a few seconds, before letting out a small scoff and turning her attention back to Riley’s match; although with the way it is, it was hard to see what was happening anymore from the thick cloud of dust covering the entire area.
Jamba continued to release a barrage of punches, creating clouds of dust from the ground from the sheer force of his every hit. There were also moments where he slammed both his fists, causing the crater beneath them to go deeper and wider.
But even with all of this; even with all the blood covering his opponent’s face, there was a look of desperation and dread on Jamba’s face, growing with each strike. He had been hitting his opponent for more than a full minute now without pause, and yet Riley’s face… was still completely unscathed.
The blood was not flowing on Riley’s face, but rather hovering less than an inch above it– and as for the blood? It was from Jamba, his knuckles already bleeding profusely from hitting what felt like a wall of steel.
“You…” Jamba then breathed out, “…So, you really are the One Cursed by God,” he then said as he looked at Riley’s eyes, unmoving and just looking at nowhere in particular.
“You… do not seem to be enjoying this anymore, Jamba?”
And for the first time, Jamba could feel a pressure pushing him up as Riley finally moved; slightly lifting Jamba away as he sat up,
“You came all this way from Africa, so it would be a waste for you to at least not have fun. But if you’re no longer enjoying this…
…then I suppose it is my turn?”
“K… Gah!”
And without even warning, Jamba slowly floated from the ground, his arms stretched to the side; the long sharp bones protruding from his knuckles were trembling as it seemed to be being bent to the side; even the long and thick bones from his elbows were starting to curl.
“I… I will k… kill you!” But even with the uncomfortable pain starting to crawl throughout his entire body, Jamba still managed to lash out his fangs towards Riley; his saliva trailing from the invisible wall that seemed to be protecting Riley.
“There truly are a lot of disgusting powers in the world.”
And even with Jamba’s roars reverberating through the cloud of dust, Riley only whispered as he picked up some stones from the ground, “But I always wondered…”
Riley then opened his palm, letting the stones and pebbles softly fly towards Jamba; or more specifically, towards the sharp bones that were protruding from his body.
“…It always used to hurt when my sister and I got our teeth cleaned by the dentist. Will…
…it feel the same for you?”
“!!!”