Killer Weather #105
The rain poured down without mercy, turning the arena into a slick, bloody mess. The crowd's murmurs grew louder, but Kang Sian stood tall, utterly unapologetic.
“Y-you crazy bastard!”
“If anyone's crazy, it's you lot. Who the hell picks a fight with a random passerby?”
Kang Sian was completely confident. He held the moral high ground and the tactical advantage. No one could dispute that.
“You son of a bitch! That guy's dying! At the very least, you should let us heal him before the next duel—!”
“If I were the one bleeding out, would you have said the same thing?”
“……”
“Cat got your tongue? Where'd all that bravado from earlier go? You were spouting all kinds of tough talk before.”
A massive wave of denial swept over them. They acted as if the truth didn't exist.
“Th-that vile piece of trash!”
“Yeah, I'm vile. That's exactly why I'm not stepping aside.”
Polite words lead to polite answers. The same applied to actions. As long as neither side yielded, this standoff showed no signs of ending.
That was why Kang Sian stomped on Robin's guts once more.
“GAAAAAH!!!”
“You... you fucking bastard...!”
The scream wrapped their hearts in urgency. The urge to act immediately grew stronger by the second. But the question was how.
They could launch a mass charge, take him down, and rescue their friend. Or they could accept the duel as the bastard demanded.
“Aren't you all supposed to be big strong men and women? Why are you just standing there shuffling your feet?”
A mass charge would put them at a disadvantage morally and likely get a lot of people killed. On the other hand, accepting the duel the way he'd framed it wounded their pride in every conceivable way.
It was an incomprehensible dilemma, but they took it seriously. To people who treated discrimination as their very lifeline, life and pride were equal in value. It was only natural.
“Damn it, can't I just go out there instead?”
Ines spoke up around that time. She was one of the people horrified by the brutal fight. Even if Robin had shown pathetic skill, he was still a high-ranking member of their community. Meanwhile, Kang Sian was clearly a villain who might do anything based on his behavior so far.
Judging by how he'd fought them, he was probably an anti-Christian who disrespected God. An elf with filthy blood. A savage Asian. The atrocity of dragging around a Reptilian who had appeared in this world as an acquaintance.
“That gay bastard. I'll crush him in a way that'll make him regret it.”
“……”
On top of that, while his face looked decent enough, from their perspective he might as well be a sexual minority. The faint streaks of makeup running down his face were proof enough. It sounded like nonsense, but according to traditional American physiognomy, men who used cosmetics were usually gay. And if his hair wasn't that American-style silver-blonde, it made the label even more certain.
If Kang Sian heard this, he'd probably rage about judging sexual orientation by cosmetics and appearance. He'd ask if he should dye his hair black instead, but sadly, in America that would actually be the smarter move. At least then the suspicions aimed at him would decrease somewhat.
Of course, the suspicions might lessen, but the discrimination wouldn't. Expecting too much from people whose mental universes were worse than a junkie's was pure luxury. And Ines was a wholesome, pure-hearted southern citizen raised in exactly that kind of universe.
“Please, Chief.”
There was no other choice. She bowed her head and begged. If they didn't save him soon, there was no telling what might happen. He might even get stabbed in the back and have his pure blood spilled across the ground.
“No. I have no intention of burdening a prospective first-year with something like this.”
It sounded considerate, but there was no real warmth in it. It was basically saying that rather than sending in a freshman who was likely lacking in skill, they'd send someone else instead.
“But—!”
“Besides, he's not the next opponent anyway. Just wait. I'm looking for a way to win this somehow.”
She couldn't press any further. Ines lamented the reality that, as a freshman, she couldn't personally punish that villain. She felt like she could win easily enough. Even with her average abilities, she didn't think it would be impossible.
She was sinking deeper into those thoughts when she noticed Kang Sian looking at her—at Ines, the beautiful woman.
“……?”
There was something familiar about her. But he couldn't quite place it. In the end, he brushed it off, thinking she was just another crazy Dixie type you'd only see on TV.
“Ugh... uuuuugh...”
His gaze returned to the man beneath him—Robin. He'd lost a lot of blood, and his internal organs were getting worse by the minute. It felt like he'd be dead in under thirty minutes. But Robin's death was none of Kang Sian's business.
Anyway, even if I kill him by accident, there are plenty of ways to get out of it.
Even if he died, it would just be one discriminatory asshole who happened to die at the end of a duel. It had been a fight for survival under coercive circumstances that somehow ended in death. That was all there was to it.
If anyone tried to sue or press charges, he'd just expose the guy's dirty secrets to the media. Once public opinion was shaped properly, getting out on bail would be child's play. It didn't matter whether he had money or not.
This was only possible because the justice systems of the Academy, Arecibo, and Puerto Rico operated separately from the American mainland.
Kang Sian immediately gestured to Cheon Mari. Soon after, Cheon Mari rolled up her sleeves and stepped out into the rain. Her white shirt, with its top buttons undone, grew soaked. Even though the fabric was thick, her underwear faintly showed through. Cheon Mari didn't seem to care as she cracked her knuckles.
Her blood-red eyes turned toward Robin and the pool of blood.
“Not bad.”
It was a short assessment. She immediately bit down hard on her thumb. She bit so fiercely that blood welled up. Cheon Mari let the rain-diluted blood drip onto Robin and the puddle. One drop. Two drops. A steady stream.
After dripping a sufficient amount, she coldly licked her thumb. Even as the rain grew heavier, the warm blood stopped flowing. That was all the preparation she needed.
Kang Sian left the area as if to say good luck. Now alone, Cheon Mari looked up at the sky.
Blood Magic — Coagulation and Manipulation
“Killer weather today.”
She then put on the black sunglasses that had been hanging from her shirt pocket. It was a bizarre thing to do right before a duel in the pouring rain. A self-imposed handicap. The kind of behavior only a truly insane person would engage in.
Unfortunately, Cheon Mari was indeed an insane woman. She made a short, simple gesture with her hand.
“I'll give you a proper funeral, so come at me. One at a time.”
The club members sneered. She might have a decent build, but she was still just a skinny woman. No matter who stepped up, the outcome seemed obvious. Even though they'd lost the first round, they felt certain they could win the second.
Besides, Cheon Mari's body proved that despite racial and species discrimination, a human was still a human. Some of the women even felt hidden emotions stir again when they looked at Kang Sian. Of course, if Kang Sian knew, he'd have called them all lunatics.
Still, since these people knew nothing about Cheon Mari, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible. Of course, emotions were one thing and fighting was another.
After some discussion, one man stepped forward. A giant standing at 1.9 meters. A body packed full of muscle. He looked like a football player.
But Cheon Mari snorted as if to say is that really the best you've got?
“Last chance? Don't regret this later, okay?”
“You whore, don't you regret it.”
“Me? You really think so?”
“Of course. Bitches like you are all the same.”
Cheon Mari smiled brightly and nodded. Soon the duel drone began watching everything from the sky just like before.
— Prospective second-year, Jonathan Klinsmann. Do you consent to the duel?
“I consent.”
— Prospective first-year, Cheon Mari. Do you consent to the duel?
“Yes, yes, I consent.”
They drew their weapons and removed their Hunter Watches. Just like before, various questions and explanations followed. And in the blink of an eye, the timer reached zero.
The number 1 had already been displayed, but almost nothing had changed.
“Begin!”
The only thing that had changed was the fact that the duel had officially started. They were supposed to fight fiercely, but both sides seemed to have plenty of leisure.
“You've got a lot of nerve. What, is your girlfriend watching or something?”
“Girlfriend? Ha! I'm giving a lowly worm like you a chance! Come at me right now!”
He was full of bravado. Cheon Mari didn't even have any proper weapons. Just her body. So he looked down on her.
When she continued to take no action, he changed his mind. Instead of waiting for her to come to him as promised, he slowly began advancing.
It was utterly pathetic, but a human blinded by victory would do anything. He poured strength and magic power into the mace in his hand.
“Blunt Strike!”
With the self-suggestion, he charged forward. Magic power swirled around the mace and his entire arm, making it obvious this was some kind of reinforcement spell.
It was when the giant human had closed about half the distance with heavy steps that Cheon Mari, with an utterly calm expression, snapped her fingers.
“Structure.”
The blood flowed out from the puddle and from Robin's body. The extracted blood flew rapidly toward Cheon Mari. The blood caught in her hand transformed into the shape of a sashimi knife. Though it was liquid and looked like it would have terrible durability, it was surprisingly quite solid.
“HAAAAAP!!!”
The mace rose high. That was when Cheon Mari kicked off the ground. She spun the blood sashimi quickly and gripped it in reverse. While her opponent focused on the frontal attack, she moved like the wind.
Flawless, rapid movement. It was a sword dance.
Clang—
His mace fell to the ground. Both of his arms hung limply. There was pain, but it didn't feel all that important. Instead, fear arose from the attack he couldn't even track. Just as he was about to scream at the realization that his muscles and tendons had been rendered useless, the woman who had sliced through everything with blood mocked him.
“It's a great day for filleting, don't you think?”
Blood droplets fell along the rim of her sunglasses.
The duel between Cheon Mari and the giant was utterly one-sided. Cheon Mari held perfect dominance, and the giant couldn't lay a single finger on her. It was a rather boring, completely one-sided fight.
That was how it would have been if everything had gone smoothly. Whether it was fortunate or a nightmare, Cheon Mari was a woman who understood entertainment. The attention-seeking power she'd accumulated countless times through regression had reached the level of creating fun out of boredom.
It was the driving force that kept a one-sided duel from becoming dull. Thanks to that, everyone's attention was focused in one place.
However, even in the midst of things going smoothly, there was one regrettable aspect. It was that Cheon Mari also possessed enough chaos-inducing power to turn peace into pandemonium.
“S-save... someone save me... please...”
“This spot I'm stabbing right now is the erector spinae! Got it?!”
Surgical Simulator 2055. A snuff film that shouldn't even be broadcast was unfolding in the middle of the city. The drone could have stopped the duel, but since he was 'somewhat' still alive and moving, and since the word 'surrender' hadn't even been uttered, there was no justification to halt it.
Uselessly strong pride. In the end, the opponent only screamed his surrender after his innards had been exposed to the world and thoroughly mangled. It was, in every sense, a very belated choice.
[Jonathan Klinsmann VS Cheon Mari]
🏆 Winner: Cheon Mari
The club members fell into chaos at the reality of suffering two straight losses. On the other hand, Kang Sian let out a sigh of relief at the fact that he could finally go home.
“Don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look, don't look...? H-hiiiik?!”
And a certain faint-hearted lizard was still trembling even after her allies had won.