Pikachu
Pikachu
Caitlin was not a favorable match-up for Viktor.
The stock of the [Mask of the Evil God], which hadn't diminished even when facing vampires.
There was a reason why that very stock was reduced twice in a duel with Caitlin.
'Fast.'
Caitlin's speed.
She was a Sprinter considered among the top in the academy.
If one were to grade that maximum speed, it would be a whopping A+ grade.
Mid-tier students couldn't even follow it with their eyes.
Of course, because her other stats were lacking, she couldn't surpass the wall of Class A and remained the top student of Class B, but...
'She's the worst match-up for me.'
Caitlin is fast.
Even after using the Slowdown bug, the barrage of attacks was overwhelming to react to.
While her movements could be followed with the eyes, reacting in time to match them was a separate issue.
The magic she wielded was also Electric Shock, making it wide-ranging and tricky because she was strong both in close and long-range combat.
'Of course... this technique wouldn't even work against the lower ranks of Class A.'
The damage, the firepower Caitlin could deal was at best around the lower ranks of Class C.
In terms of pure firepower alone, she was even below Shariel, who was the top student of Class C.
'It's because she invested everything in speed, she lacks finishing ability.'
Therefore, high-ranking students with sheer superior caliber simply endure.
They just take a defensive stance and hold out until Caitlin discharges.
Since even her stamina wasn't good, that method worked all too well.
Even if she tried to unleash a large, hard-to-block attack, at those times Caitlin's speed also slowed down considerably, so one could just notice it, dodge, or counter, and that was it.
'After all, from Class A onward, it's a class where only real monsters gather.'
Caitlin was such a being.
An unmatched opponent up to the mid-upper ranks, but a character who becomes ordinary the moment you reach the top ranks.
No wonder her nickname among users was the A-rank detector.
It was like: if you can break her technique, you're A-rank; if not, you're B-rank.
'I don't have that kind of caliber.'
Viktor merely extracts A-rank or above performance by utilizing bugs.
If you only count his basic stat caliber, it's merely E+ grade.
An opponent who presents a much higher level of difficulty compared to the low-level cultists and vampires he had dealt with so far.
'Moreover... my body is still weak.'
He had found a way to grow it, but his body was still no different from being weak.
Even if Caitlin lacked finishing ability, she could electrocute and kill someone like Viktor in one hit.
At least from the boy's perspective, each of her attacks was an instant-kill move, and she was also a powerhouse ranked among the top ten in speed within the worldview.
She was a more troublesome opponent than most faculty members.
'In the original work too... there were only a few characters faster than Caitlin.'
The worst match-up.
However, that was a statement that applied to the other side as well.
For Caitlin, the boy was also no different from poison.
'Sang-Sang Parrying.'
A bug that strips options applied to an opponent.
It can remove them regardless of whether they are debuffs or buffs.
'Caitlin is a Battle Mage who employs martial arts based on her own buffs.'
Her speed comes from those buffs.
In other words, it means if you succeed in landing a proper parry, you can bind her feet.
'Just need to catch the timing right.'
Two people holding the worst key for each other.
Then, the point where the match is decided is who uses the situation more cleverly.
Caitlin was swinging her fists around thoughtlessly, while Viktor was waiting for the right moment from beginning to end.
He observed the situation.
"Fufu."
That was all.
The gap between the two was created in such small details.
"......?"
Caitlin blankly stared down at her own hand.
Sparks were crackling in her tightly clenched fist.
However, after crackling a few times, they soon failed to condense into a single point and scattered.
Even the beams of light that had been enveloping her entire body were stripped away, and the girl stood blankly in the center of the training ground.
"What is, this..."
Crackle, crackle—
Caitlin clearly seemed flustered.
The magic that was working perfectly fine until a moment ago had turned off as if a switch had been flipped in an instant.
If likened to our bodies, it was like legs that were moving briskly just a moment ago had frozen stiff.
"Why... why is this happening?"
The girl kept muttering as she clenched her fist tightly.
Viktor stood nonchalantly before her.
"Has some problem occurred?"
"You, you...!"
Caitlin's eyes widened sharply.
The pupils boiling with murderous intent seemed to resemble those of a bird of prey.
The girl, still unable to raise the voltage, merely clenched the residual sparks at her fingertips.
"Damn it... what the hell did you do to me!"
"What are you saying I did?"
"Don't dodge the question! Just now, something, like you tore my magic apart..."
"I really don't know. I just performed a normal defensive stance."
"You damn bastard...!"
Caitlin charged with her fist still clenched.
However, compared to before, her speed was painfully slow.
Because the electric current that compensated for her movements was gone.
"Slow."
There was no need to press the stopwatch.
Simply by stepping and leaping through space, it was enough.
The girl couldn't react to Viktor's movement, resulting in a composition where she exposed her back.
Thud—!
"Keugh...?!"
"Oops, my foot slipped."
A low kick planted without hesitation.
The girl, struck squarely in the thigh, staggers her body.
Timed with her turning to look, a tightly clenched fist strikes her abdomen.
Thud—!
"This time, the hand."
"Guh, keuhk...!"
A healthily muscular physique.
The fist collides against well-defined abs.
Though it was a strike from mere E+ grade strength, it was more than enough to topple an unsteady posture.
A sharp gasp escaping between her lips. Caitlin stumbles and falls face-first on the spot.
Thump—!
"Haa, haa..."
She fell in a rather clumsy shape.
Perhaps her discharged stamina held her back.
An attack that normally wouldn't have fazed her landed as a critical hit.
The backlash from continuously pushing to raise the voltage and speed had returned.
"Keuhk, guh..."
The girl retched and braced herself against the floor.
For a while, Caitlin couldn't get up and just staggered.
Viktor had no intention of approaching, simply watching her quietly.
No.
To be precise, he was making her be watched.
By the wide spectator stands, by the students densely filling the seats.
"......"
"Guh... lug..."
A pitiful appearance. As if defeat was imminent. That undulating moment.
He ensures all of it is captured within their gazes.
The kneeling girl and the boy looking down at her.
The briefly staged composition swallows the atmosphere within the training ground.
The buzzing spectator stands.
Admiration, doubt, suspicion.
All sorts of reactions mixed together and burst forth.
That sound reached the girl's ears as well.
"......"
Caitlin didn't hold her breath even slightly.
She only clenched her bronze-colored fist, her slender shoulders trembling.
Among them, Class A students also added their comments.
Indifferent looks. Or looks that seemed to sneer.
Words disparaging her lacking talent.
"......"
Her head facing the floor.
Blood seeped from the corner of Caitlin's mouth.
It was torn from biting her lips too hard.
Regardless, the boy opposite stood leisurely.
"Miss Caitlin."
"......"
"Are you alright?"
"......"
Masked Boy.
He knew the words that would most wound Caitlin's pride.
Sympathy from others, or urging her to give up by saying it's enough.
"Perhaps you should concede now?"
"......"
"I believe I've sufficiently shown you the gap."
"......"
Such words.
"I don't have a hobby of tormenting the weak."
"......Ha."
Spit—
The girl spat out bloody phlegm.
Behind a low, stifled laugh, her bronze-colored, healthy legs stood up.
She staggered a few times but barely caught her balance and raised her head.
"......"
Her bright yellow eyes were filled with murderous intent.
Nails dug into her tightly clenched fist, blood dripping steadily.
"Hey."
How did she manage to hide such venomousness while living?
Inside that brash, delinquent-like girl seethed ugly things.
Inferiority complex, envy, contempt, disgust, resentment... all sorts of negativity.
Perhaps the leash had come undone due to the boy's few provocations, as a murky, ominous aura began to spread around her.
"Damn it, why..."
Crackle—!
The electric current, extinguished for a while, bloomed again.
Above the yellow flashing sparks, the black that had spread like paint mixed in.
Soon, something indistinguishable as light or dark stained the girl's entire body.
"Miss Caitlin."
"Don't look at me like that..."
Kwachijijik—!
She squeezes her non-existent mana to its limit.
A form of magic casting that wrecks the body.
A force incomparable to before surges forth.
"Don't, look down on me with those eyes!!"
A voice gritting with malice.
Viktor instinctively knew this was her last desperate struggle.
With the resolve to discharge completely, she explodes the electric current she harbors.
Kwaang—!
The girl kicks off the ground.
Her body rises into the air.
Between her bronze skin, black and yellow flashes flicker.
'Vicious. Vicious.'
A physical condition where fainting immediately wouldn't be strange.
Yet, with eyes wide open, she stubbornly kept clenching her fist.
He couldn't help but marvel anew at how twisted a person's insides could become.
Viktor quietly raised his hand.
"Come."
Yes.
I'll accept it.
"Uwaaaah!!"
One of the few techniques Caitlin possessed with B-rank or above destructive power.
An attack that sacrifices speed to maximize power to the limit.
Since her movements became sluggish, one could simply dodge, but Viktor intended to clash with her head-on.
'Retus-style Lightning Magic Secret Art'
A bronze-colored fist.
It transforms into a bright yellow spear and descends from above.
Fluttering hair, and the black paint left behind like a trajectory.
The stir in the spectator stands.
But, Viktor merely stood his ground until the end.
"Dieeeeeee!!!"
A shout driven by malice.
Caitlin's fist exploded toward him.
The next moment, a flashing brilliance brightly dyed the inside of the training ground.
That flash of light lasted for nearly 30 seconds.
Around the time the spectators buzzed amidst the obscured view.
As the light subsided, the two people standing at the center of the training ground were revealed once more.
"Hmm."
Around them, large holes were gouged out due to the aftermath.
Amidst the swept-away debris.
Caitlin had stopped, having thrown her punch at Viktor.
Whether she had truly run out of stamina, it looked like she could lose consciousness at any moment.
"This is the end."
And, Viktor stood before such a Caitlin.
His hand was gripping the girl's fist.
He had blocked the earlier ferocious attack with just one hand, effortlessly.
The spectators scrutinized the boy with disbelieving eyes, but of course, there wasn't a single scratch on his body.
Ding—!
[The item 'Mask of the Evil God' has been activated.]
The blue screen floating before his eyes.
Before that window even disappeared, Caitlin lost consciousness and collapsed.
Crash—.
Her bronze body sprawled across the training ground floor.
"......"
Everyone in the spectator stands stood with their mouths agape.
For a brief moment, silence hung in the training ground.
What broke that thin stillness was none other than the referee's voice.
《Th, the exam has concluded...!》
《Caitlin Retus is incapacitated!》
《The winner is student Viktor!》
The converging gazes.
Regardless, Viktor tilted his head toward the fallen Caitlin.
Toward the top student of Class B, who had now become his underling.
"From today, your name is Pikachu."
Chunsik... no, Pikachu.
It was the moment he acquired a convenient, top-tier slave.