Oliver Berdon could not accept his defeat.
Him, losing to a well-known trash such as Rotsard Vallhall?
Simply impossible.
There was no doubt in Oliver's mind that Rotsard cheated during their duel, and the vice headmaster was involved in it too!
It was all a masterfully crafted plan to bring him down!
Those kinds of thoughts kept gnawing at Oliver's sanity, but they might not ever truly win over his reason if not for a single event he witnessed one morning.
That trash Rotsard approaching a girl and the commoner student who became Oliver's junior only that month, stepping between them, acting like some wanna-be hero.
The trash swung first, and the fight erupted…
…and without any judge or teacher around, the trash's skills were all subpar…!
The commoner student beat him up!
Completely, utterly, and one-sidedly!
While others watching it all cheered, Oliver felt his sanity slipping away.
The commoner student wasn't anything special.
How could he? He was just a commoner with a miserable amount of talent!
Insignificant!
But he defeated the trash who stole and cheated the victory from him, Oliver Berdon!
What was the difference between that fight and the duel Oliver had against that trash then?
Why, the absence of a supervisor who would help him cheat, of course!
Well, then, in such a case, a solution to all of Oliver's woes was rather simple, wasn't it?
Fight with the trash named Rotsard Vallhall while there are only students around, amongst them, there is no one who would be willing to help him!
That was the basis of it, but in just a few short days observing how Rotsard humiliated other challengers, Oliver's plan evolved, or rather devolved, into an ambush.
Wait out for Rotsard and attack him from behind with all of his might!
The most amazing part was that once Oliver decided upon going with it, training specifically for delivering as much power into a single thrust, his aura changed.
And not just the general atmosphere around him, but his sword aura.
Its normal pure whiteness was dyed with veins of murky blackness, turning it into muddled gray.
Wasn't that… the awakening of a sword's will…? The realm above the sword grandmasters, the sign of Oliver becoming a sword baron?
His malice and killing intent grew explosively since that change occurred, and already after a week of training in secret, there was no training dummy or armor that Olvier's sword thrust couldn't pierce through.
The only thing left was to find the perfect moment to strike.
That bleached trash was keeping a rather annoying schedule where, despite being alone, he wasn't actually alone…
Others kept their distance from him, but not to the degree that the hallways he walked would be empty, which meant that witnesses were basically always there.
Even at night, an ambush was out of the question, as soon after sunset, the vice headmaster would show up to Rotsard's room, for whatever reason... Most likely receiving bribes or something that only cemented Oliver's conviction that he got cheated out of a victory by some outrageous scam!
But the more Oliver Berdon waited, the more he began losing his patience.
Overhearing that the trash was going to have an official duel with the commoner the next day, and everyone was so convinced that the commoner would win again, despite everyone else suffering humiliating defeat, was the last straw.
Other students might not want to be disrespectful, but the fact that they were so convinced that some commoner would win despite the blatant cheating from the bleached trash shattered the remains of honor Oliver was clinging to.
…
He didn't get the chance in the morning when that trash was walking from the dormitory to the main building…
During the lunch break, that trash went only to the cafeteria and didn't even consider going somewhere without people…
"..."
As he didn't manage to get him as he walked back to the dormitory, Oliver's desperation got the better of the scraps of his reason.
His only chance to get Rotsard before the duel was when the bleached-haired trash was on his way to the training grounds... And Oliver was going to take it whether there were witnesses or not!
Standing behind the corner of the dormitory and facing the way that the bleached trash always took as he took to the training ground, Oliver began muttering both internal and external spells while the murky gray aura enveloped his sword.
The color wasn't the only factor differentiating Oliver's aura from a normal one.
While the normal one was more like a glow or condensed smoke, Oliver's was a viscous goop, close to tar...
It was almost dripping down off the blade, and, for some reason, it looked as if it would be highly compatible with fire… just like Oliver was.
As seconds and minutes passed, Oliver began to shiver.
Not from fear, but anticipation so intense that his body was about to break, just like a bow string pulled back to its utmost limit.
The attack that would come out of that wasn't going to be a simple stab or even an impaling.
Oliver was going to rip right through that bleached-haired trash and tear him in half!
"...!"
"...of course Justin would win!"
He was so on edge that he almost unleashed an attack when two second-year students showed up, clearly going to the training ground for the show.
But... this time there will be no show.
That trash will die before he can set foot there.
Oliver was so focused that he didn't even pay attention to his own thoughts.
…he didn't know whether they were actually his own, or was there some other creature, some other voice, whispering them sweetly into his ear…
*thump*
"!!!"
At the sound of another person approaching, all of Olvier's senses sharpened. He recognized their sound!
Rotsard Vallhall was about to show him his back!
All of his muscles tensed up to their absolute limits, not a single spell more could be stacked on top of all the prepared ones, and the murky gray aura enveloping his weapon was set aflame, swirling around the blade, turning it more into a spear than a sword.
All for that one full-powered attack!
And then…!
He showed up!
There he was, the bleached-haired trash, Rotsard Vallhall, completely unaware of what was about to happen to him!
"..."
Walking in silence, showing his back to his personal grip reaper!
"!"
*WHAM*
Oliver simply couldn't hold back anymore! He kicked off the ground with enough power to create a crater, kicking up enough earth and dust for a makeshift smokescreen from which he emerged the very same second, launching himself with a bloodthirsty grin at the easiest target in his life!
He gave his everything into the thrust, the torrent of murky gray aura about to swallow it all, and the moment it touched the bleached-blond-haired youth…!
"...?"
Everything turned to white, confusing Oliver to no end.
He looked around… and saw he was surrounded by bluish-white light…
He looked up and…
"???"
He saw an endless starry sky.
When he looked down, he saw himself down below...
A single smudge of gray on an endless canvas of bluish white.
"?!?!"
As if something was pulling him higher and higher, even that tiny smudge turned first into a dot, then a speck of dust, and then finally disappeared completely, while the sensation of flying higher and higher never stopped...
The sense of scale was so horrifying that Olvier couldn't even scream...!
That was all he was, all he amounted to...!
A single droplet against an ocean...!