Chapter 146: Wrong Time to Hug

Ravena attacked again, and this time, Zac answered properly.

His sword shifted from defense to offense in one smooth turn. He tapped her dagger aside, stepped into her guard, and drove his shoulder forward with controlled force.

Ravena’s eyes widened slightly. She twisted away before the hit could land, but the pressure still pushed her back two steps.

The crowd gasped.

Mimi leaned forward. "Zac pushed her back! Even under Ravena’s aura, he still has enough strength to force her away. Terrifying, handsome, and deeply irritating!"

Ravena spat to the side. "Ptuh...not just pretty, huh? I see."

Zac lowered his sword slightly. "I know I’m awesome."

"Don’t flatter yourself." Ravena clicked her tongue and attacked again, and this time, she was faster.

The black mana surrounding her daggers turned thin and sharp, looking far more dangerous than before. Whenever their weapons touched, Zac could feel it trying to bite into his coating.

Her mana had already reached the second stage and taken color, making its quality and purity even more dangerous.

But Zac’s mana was not ordinary either. For one, he had far more mana than a normal person. Worse than that, because of his Fallen Bloodline, his mana was rich and pure. Almost comparable to her second-stage mana.

So every time Ravena’s black mana tried to dig in, Zac’s coating held.

Still, to keep up his act, he made small mistakes on purpose. His movements slowed here and there, and his face turned slightly pale, just enough to make everyone believe Ravena’s aura was slowly dragging him down.

Zac’s sword flashed forward in three strikes.

Ravena blocked the first, deflected the second, and ducked under the third with a curse under her breath. "Annoying bastard."

Zac immediately followed her, stepping exactly where her retreat should have been. "Hey, I’m not a bastard; I have a happy family."

[Is that comment really necessary here?]

Ravena’s smile slowly started to vanish.

His swordsmanship forced her dagger into an awkward position. He did not give her wide swings to slip under or reckless charges to punish.

His blade controlled the center line, cutting off her angles before she could fully form them.

Ravena jumped back. "You’ve been hiding your swordsmanship until now."

"Correction," Zac said. "I wasn’t hiding it. I just didn’t have a chance to show it."

"Smart mouth," Ravena sneered. "Shame. I was starting to think your face was your only useful feature."

[If she thinks that counts as a joke, someone should tell her tickling people is still an option.]

"You think your jokes are better?"

Before the system could respond, Ravena’s aura suddenly pressed outward. The pressure around the stage thickened, and several monitoring devices flickered.

Students in the first few rows leaned back the moment the curse brushed against them.

Matilda’s eyes narrowed. "She’s losing control."

Ravena sucked in a deep breath. A moment later, the aura pulled back and stabilized again.

Zac looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"I don’t need your damn concern, and why didn’t you attack when you had the chance?"

"I was going to," Zac said. "Then you suddenly turned into some dark nightmare thing, so I waited until it settled. I didn’t feel like jumping into something I don’t understand."

Ravena’s expression darkened. Without another word, she launched herself forward.

The next exchange was brutal and short. Her dagger slipped past his sword and grazed his sleeve. Zac pivoted, struck the flat of her blade, and forced her wrist wide.

Ravena tried to duck under his sword arm, but Zac dropped his weight and blocked her path with his body. She cursed and twisted away, but Zac’s sword was already there.

The blade stopped beside her throat, and the arena froze. Zac held the position for a breath, then stepped back.

The referee leaned forward, ready to call the match, but backed away seeing Ravena had not been struck hard enough to be considered unable to continue.

She stared at Zac with darkness gathering in her eyes.

[Well. Now she’s furious and humiliated.]

"What did I do?"

[You’re asking me now? Why didn’t you finish the match when you had the chance?]

"I was enjoying the spar. I thought extending it a little wouldn’t hurt."

[Clearly, she did not receive your kind gesture in the spirit of sportsmanship.]

Ravena’s voice cut through their silent exchange. "You think you’re being generous?"

Zac looked at her. "What?"

"Why the fuck did you pull that noble crap with me? Are you pitying me? You think I’m not strong enough for you to take me seriously? You think I’m some damn toy you can play with?"

[Too many questions.]

"I didn’t mean that."

"Yeah. That’s what people say after doing it."

[Zac, she has completely lost it.]

Ravena’s black mana surged out of her body. The pressure around the stage buckled, and this time, it was not a small leak.

Her aura spilled outward violently, thick and choking, swallowing everything around her. Some of the students closest to the stage could barely even breathe.

The referee stepped forward. "Ravena Voss!" But even he was caught inside the edge of the cursed pressure.

Mimi’s voice trembled through the arena. "Something is wrong. The cursed girl is becoming... more cursed."

In the upper stands, Matilda, Simon, and Murphy stood up at once, ready to intervene.

On the stage, Zac clenched his jaw. "Yeah, this is bad. Can I do something? Is there anything I can do?"

[There is; cover her with your Divine Aura.]

"And how the hell am I supposed to do that? I don’t even know how to control it."

[For fuck’s sake, just touch her hand. Make contact.]

Zac moved instantly.

Before anyone could see what he was doing, mana exploded through his leg, and he slammed his foot into the stage with maximum force.

Dust shot upward in a thick cloud, swallowing the center of the stage.

"What happened?"

"Did he attack?"

"I can’t see anything!"

Mimi grabbed the microphone. "It seems visibility has dropped, and there is dust everywhere around the stage! Your lovable Mimi would like to remind everyone that breathing dust is not good for your health!"

From the stands, Marty stared at her. "Really? Did she actually say that right now, or am I the only one who heard it?"

No one answered him, because everyone’s eyes were fixed on the stage.

Inside the dust cloud, Ravena’s curse pressure thrashed wildly, and Zac suddenly appeared behind her.

But instead of grabbing her hand, he wrapped both arms tightly around her waist and pulled her back against him, locking her in place before her unstable mana could lash out any further.

Ravena immediately started struggling. "Let go of me, you fucking bastard!"

"Please be faster."

[Already on it.]

Suddenly, Zac felt something rise from within him. [A/N: It’s not what you think.]

It spread out from his body and surrounded both him and Ravena.

"So this is the aura?"

His Divine Aura wrapped around Ravena like an invisible shield, and the black, ominous curse energy crawling out of her body began dissolving the moment it touched the aura.

Ravena’s breath caught. For the first time in her life, she felt the weight of her curse loosen. Not disappeared but loosened.

But even that small relief was enough to make her freeze for a moment.

"Did we cure her?"

[Of course not. Life is not that generous.]

"Then what happened?"

[I stopped her from going berserk this time. You can thank me now. And I will be charging you horribly once you have the Info Points.]

"Like you’ve never done that before."

[I have. This one will be worse.]

After a brief moment of that strange relief, Ravena opened her eyes. "If this is your idea of helping, you’ve got the manners of a street dog."

"Well, I don’t exactly know how else I was supposed to..."

[Zac.]

"Wait. I’m not done with her."

Ravena turned slightly in his grip and looked at his face. Her expression was still furious, but Zac saw something else in her eyes.

Relief.

[You should probably look around before either of you says anything worse.]

Only then did Zac look around and see the dust had already cleared and the entire arena was staring at them.

Zac’s mind went blank.

"Oh shit."

For a moment, silence covered the arena. ["..."] ["..."] ["..."]...

Then chaos exploded. The entire crowd broke into shouting, whispering, and bickering all at once.

"What the hell did I just see?"

"Did the trublemaker just hug the Hexed Rose?"

"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!"

"To embrace a girl in front of the whole academy. Does he have no fear of heaven or earth?"

"Forget heaven and earth. Does he not fear getting stabbed?"

"That cursed girl nearly killed Daniel, and he still hugged her from behind?"

Mimi, of course, poured more oil onto the fire.

"Dear audience, a new scandal has just been discovered! Our brutal tournament has suddenly transformed into a romantic battlefield!"

Zac immediately released Ravena and moved away from her.

Marty shot to his feet. "You dog, Zac! Can’t you leave at least one girl for your friends?"

Shobin looked at him. "Is that really what you’re concerned about?"

"Not exactly," Marty said. "But aren’t you a little annoyed? Just look at him. She beat Adrian and Daniel to a pulp, and now he’s hugging her."

He pointed at the stage. "And that too in front of the entire academy!"

The crowd was still losing its collective mind.

Up in the instructor’s stand, Simon watched the stage with his arms folded. "Well, this seems like an improvement."

Matilda turned toward him with a mocking look. "When did you become interested in children’s romance?"

Simon did not even glance at her. "Don’t tell me you didn’t see what happened inside the smoke."

Matilda smiled faintly. "Fine, fine. I was just trying to tease you."

Murphy’s eyes remained fixed on Zac. "Honestly, how did that kid do it?"

His voice carried a rare seriousness. "He just hugged her, and her curse energy suddenly vanished. That boy is even more interesting than I initially thought."

Simon said nothing. "Of course he is. He is his son, after all." But not a single trace of that thought appeared on his face.