Paragon of Skills

Chapter 238

Jacob Cloud walks slowly back back to the seats. Yet, this time, he leaves behind the hat and the costume that he used not to be recognized and walks toward his fellow Champion, Vyrrak, and his Squire, Lancelot.

“You know,” Vyrrak says, smiling toothily at him wih his scaly maw, “for a second I thought you wouldn’t show up. Or worse, that you’d drop from the sky like a bird. On fire, maybe.”

“Yeah, that was my first plan, of course,” Jacob smiles, putting a hand on Vyrrak’s shoulder and smiling at both Lancelot and Cecilia. “Hey, there. Your friend had a hell of a match.”

Jacob’s talking to Cecilia about The Sacrifice.

“Baal was incredible!” Cecilia says, completely forgetting about her emotions from basically just a few minutes prior when Marcel Valemont managed to make her cry. “He’s so strong!”

Jacob ruffles her hair for a moment and laughs, “he is, isn’t he? And I’m sure he’s still got a lot hidden away.”

Cecilia frowns, “really?”

“I think he’s close to being the strongest,” Jacob says, smiling at her.

“Wait, who’s the strongest?” She asks.

“Well…” Jacob smiles to himself. “We’ll find that out by the end of the tournament, I suppose.”

* * *

Queen Matriarch Maelthra Drazhal is looking at Jacob Cloud and grasping the railing of the VIP box so tightly the metal is groaning.

“Vice Principal Baalrek was a hero,” a voice comes slowly from the side, with Maelthra suddenly turning toward a hooded man.

Several VIPs in the room turn to see who’s so crazy to speak to the Queen of Infernals like that, but there’s such an impenetrable spell around the man’s features and aura that it is absolutely impossible to tell.

The woman slowly walks up to the hooded man and narrows her eyes.

“Baalrek the Mad was a fool. He ruined generations of Infernals with his foolishness.”

“You might think whatever you want, kid,” the hooded figure says, shrugging.

Everyone in the room suddenly freezes.

Kid?! A minor King thinks. Does he even know whom he’s talking to?! The Queen Matriarch is not known to be merciful! She’s one of the strongest Infernals in existence! She’s several hundred years old!

“What did you call me?” Queen Maelthra feels her blood boil, but she can’t act yet. She knows better than this. One doesn’t get to her own position without meeting some hidden monsters of the world here and there. And it’s not like Infernals themselves don’t have experts above her hidden away.

“Master,” the voice comes so unexpectedly that a few people drop their drinks as the Headmaster gets up to the hooded figure and bows to it.

“Master?” Queen Maelthra is confused.

“You kids nowadays,” the hooded figure says. “Get me a chair, D—wait, are you still doing that stupid thing of hiding your name?”

“Yes, Master,” the Headmaster replies, adjusting his golden spectacles. “I would really appreciate it if you could just go along with it for now.”

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“Heh, whatever,” the hooded figure says, suddenly breaking in a coughing fit. The Headmaster conjures up a chair in the meanwhile. Several people move aside as the strongest man in existence, the Headmaster, and, apparently, his own master, take to the railing.

Sitting on the chair, the hooded figure points a finger toward Jacob Cloud, and then sends a whisper that only the Headmaster can hear.

“That kid is going to bring a lot of trouble to you.”

* * *

Everyone enters two more matches and they go on until the rest of the day, so that the competitors have been weeded out. Neither Jacob nor Vyrrak have found any particularly strong opponent and have easily won their respective matches.

However, the most anticipated fights were the one of The Sacrifice, who showcase his terrifying combat abilities twice more for the delight of the onlooking Cecilia.

Once all the rounds have taken place, the Headmaster voice reaches everyone again.

“And this is it for our first day of the tournament!”

The man makes a small pause.

“Rest well, competitors!” the Headmaster’s voice booms. “The details of the next step of this tournament will be revealed tomorrow! Soon, the brackets will tighten once again!”

Jacob and Vyrrak ignore the clamoring of the crowd, hungry for more, and walk Cecilia out of the gates.

“There you go,” Jacob smiles. “Can you find your way from here?”

Jacob is quite surprised by the nimbleness of the crippled, who just nods and smiles back. “Yes, yes! Thank you!”

“Jacob Cloud,” a voice comes and Vyrrak, Jacob, and Lancelot turn.

“Baal,” Jacob says, using the name that Cecilia gave him.

The Sacrifice does not respond, she just briefly looks at Cecilia and then walks past Jacob.

“We shall meet soon in the tournament,” he says. “Good luck.”

But before The Sacrifice can fully walk off, a mighty and heavy aura stops him in his tracks.

Jacob, appearing in front of him, pats his shoulder.

“I’m sure we’re going to have lots of fun together.”

* * *

“Did you have to provoke that guy?” Lancelot laments, as he, Vyrrak, and Jacob enter a dorm.

“It’s going to be alright,” Jacob smiles, very self-confident.

“You said things didn’t go as planned with Iskara,” Vyrrak says. “So, did she—”

Jacob’s face suddenly darkens.

“She flipped to the Dark Champions. She… she monsterified. Her whole body turned into this… I don’t even know how to describe it. It was terrifying.”

“How strong is she now?” Vyrrak frowns.

“Not enough,” Jacob replies curtly, taking his seat on a chair. “As for the Dark Champions, I expect they’ll make their move when the tournament is coming to an end. That’s when most of the people are going to be watching.”

“Until then, let’s just worry about the brackets,” Vyrrak agrees. “I’ve been training and following your instructions. I’m confident.”

“I know,” Jacob nods briefly. “By the way, do you have any idea what the next trial might be?”

“It’s very common for the first part of the semester tournament to be just direct matches—and usually that’s the case for the last part too. But in the middle, there’s usually two steps before that. There are many students this year who are very dangerous, too. I’ve heard some people say that even non-Champions have been spotted using Rainbow Skills. But that might have been a rumor.”

“It’s probably not,” Jacob mutters. “What about the next trials for the tournament, though?”

“Quests, most likely. But each one is different. Sometimes, there are some eradication Quests, but those are the absolute easiest ones. The absolute worst you can get is a Guardian Quest. To escort something or someone through some kind of monster-infested terrain.”

“Got it,” Jacob nods back to Vyrrak.

“What’s your plan, Jacob? I know you said you’d get stronger, and you do look stronger. But is it going to be enough? Nimirea and the Dark Champions are monsters. From what you just said about Iskara, they might be literal monsters. And now they have one of our Champions.”

Vyrrak does not know if Jacob is going to be ruthless enough to deal with a threat of this magnitude. However, when the Leader of Champions looks at the Dragonkin, all doubts slowly evaporate.

“There are nine of us now, Vyrrak. Iskara’s gone. She’s made her choice. And she’s going to pay a dear price for it.”