433 Chapter 433: Elimination

"Ugh…"

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the white ceiling of the infirmary. That was becoming quite the familiar sight by now, given this was the second time in as many days that I found myself back here.

Sitting up, I winced at the phantom pain that surged through my chest, even though I was aware that my injury had been fully healed by now. There wasn't even a scar left, courtesy of magic, but somehow the psychomatic pain continued to linger. It was probably a psychological thing.

Glancing around the hospital room, I then slumped back against my pillow. If I wasn't mistaken, I had lost the match against Charles Lacroix. Even though we were already 3-1 down, my defeat made it 4-1, and extremely difficult for us to claw our way back in the team match. The chances of us making it past the semifinals were looking very bleak.

"Weak."

Looking up, I saw a bunch of unfamiliar people walk into my room, sneering. Frowning, I tilted my head as I studied them.

"Who…?"

"We're the readers," one of them replied scornfully. "Who regret reading your story."

"So pathetic."

"Can't even win a single match."

"When are you going to become strong? Why are you still so weak after 430 chapters?"

"At this rate it'll take you another thousand chapters to win a tournament."

"Can't stand what a weak, pathetic loser the MC is. Dropped."

"This stupid MC always bleeds so much whenever he fights. Might as well call him the bloody MC."

"MC is spineless, weak, and not ruthless enough. Dropped."

I tried not to roll my eyes. So these were the readers wanting me to be an overpowered protagonist for some stupid reason. I didn't know why they deluded themselves into thinking I was in some wish fulfilment power fantasy story where the protagonist curbstomped whatever enemy he came across with nothing more than an effortless flick of his finger. That was completely unrealistic, moronic and plain boring. If they wanted to read those stories, go read urban cultivation or other xianxia stories. My life was not the kind of wish filfilment or escapism they were seeking, and I was not going to be strong-armed and forced into pandering to these juvenile edgelords' wet dreams of an uber, godlike MC who did whatever he wanted, where absolutely nothing in the world could threaten him. That was just unrealistic and stupid as hell.

"If you don't like it, then get lost!" I snapped. "Leave me alone. Go read something else. I don't exist just to cater to your personal preferences. My goal is to be a hero, not to win a tournament, so fuck off if you are complaining just because I can't win one. There are so many stories that are right up your alley, so don't poke your noses into my life and try to demand that I conform to your twisted version of what a 'story' should be, or project your filthy desires and unrealistic, ridiculous wish fulfilment onto me. Stop reading and get lost!"

"NO!" the readers roared. "If you don't write what we want you to write, then we will continue harassing you until you either stop writing forever, or bow down to our pressure and write what we demand of you!"

Jesus Christ, the sense of self-entitlement of these fuckers was just over the roof. Also, I couldn't believe they actually believed the ridiculous hyperbole they were uttering. I had won more than I lost, but just because I lost a single match, or get severely injured every time I fought, I was considered "weak" and a "loser." And since when was this story going to last for a thousand chapters? What the fuck is wrong with them? I held my head in despair, trying not to blow up at these childish, spoilt, screaming whiners, but fortunately I didn't have to endure their nonsense for long.

"!!!"

Red streaks of demonic light surged into the room and impaled the shrieking readers, ripping them apart into shreds. I watched, astonished, as they disappeared, their bloody corpses thrown back past into the fourth dimension, and sighed in relief.

"Wow, they were making such a din that I had to shut them up." Craig strode in before retracting his spear and keeping it. Sheila followed him in, and he placed an arm around her. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, thanks. You saved me."

"Uh, I think Craig is referring to your injuries sustained during the match," Sheila pointed out. I nodded.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fully healed now. What about you guys?"

"I'm good. We received healing treatment too, and our injuries were lighter than yours, so we were discharged earlier."

"That's good news." I caught sight of Theodore and the rest streaming in. There was no sign of Harrison or Yue Chu or Lily yet, so I began to grow a little worried. "Uh, what happened…?"

"We lost," Theodore declared simply. He caught sight of my expression, and quickly waved his hands. "No, it's not your fault. We fought as a team, and we lost as a team. All of us shoulder the same amount of responsibility."

"So…even the team match, huh?"

Despite already anticipating our defeat, I couldn't help but feel dejected. Of course. It was only natural. To come so far, only to fall just short before the final…anyone would feel bitterly disappointed.

"We've been eliminated from the tournament?"

"Hey, at least we made it all the way to the semifinals. We are fourth placed, at least." Bu Fan also joined in, along with a heavily bandaged Cody. Easy for him to say. Bu Fan was the only one who won his match.

"Harrison and the others did their best during the team match, but…this is Pendragon Academy we're talking about here." Sheila looked glum. "They wrecked us."

"At last Harrison and the others took out 2 of them, thanks to a combo from Yue Chu and Lily." Craig smiled wryly. "So the final score was 9-3. Still a pretty big loss, but at least it wasn't 9-1…"

"Yeah…" I wasn't sure how to respond to that. No matter what the score was, a defeat was still a defeat. It didn't change the fact that we had been eliminated from the tournament.

"Your efforts made a difference." Cody stepped forward, his voice as quiet as ever. "I think you should at least know that."

"What difference could me losing possibly make?" I scoffed, but the Assassin wannabe shook his head.

"You did enough damage to Charles Lacroix, to the point where he couldn't participate in the team match. He had to leave it to Gawain Pennyworth and Claudia Enfield to lead." He squared his shoulders. "You achieved your goal of keeping their most valuable player out of the team match. You gave us a higher chance of winning…and it was our fault…our weakness that led to our eventual defeat."

"The combo that Yue Chu and Lily pulled off was really sick, though." Craig chuckled. "I didn't think they could amplify his inferno spell in such a manner."

"For now, you should rest." Pearl was ushering everyone out of the room. She smiled at me. "Don't dwell too much on it. Even if you had won, we would have lost eventually. The team match showed just how vast the gap between our teams were."

"Well, it's Pendragon Academy we're talking about here," Sheila added. "They're not last year's champions for nothing."

"Ugh, but we gave them a run for their money, didn't we?" Craig raised his hand, looking a little frustrated. He turned to Pearl. "You said the gap between us is vast, but I personally think we were close to beating them. Just a little more…next year! We'll definitely beat them next year!"

"Next year," Bu Fan echoed with a nod. "We'll crush them when we see them in the tournament next year, for sure."

I personally wasn't so sure about that. Half of the team would be graduating by the end of this year. Harrison, Pearl, Theodore and Cody. Yue Chu, Lily, Craig, Sheila, Bu Fan and I would be third years by then, and the reins of leadership would fall to us. I wasn't sure if any among us had the same tactical nous that Harrison possessed, and I didn't know any first year students capable of replacing the third year students who would be graduating.

It might quite possibly be a lot more difficult for us to make it this far again next year. Honestly, this was what they called a fairy tale run. A team that had surpassed all expectations and emerged as this year's dark horses. In the end, we fell to the favorite, and clearly it was not meant to be, but as Pearl pointed out, there was still a wide chasm between our abilities and those of Pendragon Academy.

"Anyway, we should leave Richard to get some rest." Pearl's voice was gentle but stern. Craig sulked but complied, with Sheila tugging him. Bu Fan had no wish to stay in the same room as me for any longer than what was necessary, and Cody and Theodore were considerate enough to leave me be. They looked a little concerned, wondering if I would be moping around and blaming myself. Pearl forced a smile. "Get discharged by tonight. We'll probably be returning to Jing Tian City tomorrow morning, so best to get everything packed and ready by tonight."

"I understand."

The teams that were eliminated had no reason to stick around in Southampton City. We were often sent home almost immediately after we were eliminated, mostly because of budgets and to save money. Why spend money to continue accommodating so many teams when there was no real reason to? I knew some readers would question this, but I had best raise the World Cup as an example – the teams who were eliminated didn't tend to stick around.

There were exceptions, though.

"What are you talking about? We still need to determine third place." Craig was giving Pearl a strange stare.

"That's right." Theodore struck his palm with a fist. "And the third placed team will have to stick around for the awards ceremony anyway."

"Oh, you guys are right." Pearl looked a little sheepish. "I forgot about that. In any case, Richard still needs his rest, if we want him to participate in the third place match."

"Any idea who our opponents are?" I asked, already moving on. A new challenge was what I needed in order to take my mind off brooding over the defeat.

"Oh, it's someone you're very familiar with." Cody turned back to me, a dark smile on his grizzled face. "It's the Porter lady from Vermillion Academy and her team. We'll be counting on you to eliminate their captain."

*

Shortly after my friends left the room, I received a new visitor. To my surprise, it was none other than Fergus Franklin. The Duke stepped into the room and inclined his head.

"Sorry to impose in you while you're still recovering."

"I'm almost fully healed," I assured him. I was sure I knew what this was about. After my abject display and defeat by Charles Lacroix in front of everybody, Fergus must be terribly disappointed and was here to cancel his request that I be his daughter's instructor. It was only natural. I had proven myself inept and weak. I didn't have the qualifications to train his daughter, especially if you listened to all those insults that the earlier readers leveled at me.

Honestly, that would be a relief for me. I didn't have time to train anyone, nor did I have the qualifications or skills to teach anyone. I was barely able to fight by myself, so how could I help another person improve?

Fegus smiled warmly at me. "Ah, I see. That's good. Well, I'll cut to the chase then."

"You wish to cancel the request?" I asked when he paused. "I understand. I'm sure you'll find a better teacher for your daughter."

"Ah, no. You misunderstand." Fergus looked a little startled, and the he chuckled. "It's precisely the opposite. I'm here to tell you not to let the defeat get to you. I still want you to train my daughter. In fact, I can't think of anyone more suitable."

"Huh?" my jaw dropped. "Are you sure? But I lost…"

"So what?" Fergus shrugged. "You put up one of the most impressive displays against the young man known to be the strongest of your generation. Short of hiring Charles Lacroix himself – and he will never agree to this, given his status and responsibilities to his clan, what with being groomed to be the successor to the current family head – you're the next best person to teach Melina."

Well, at least he was honest about me being second best, and not the first choice. But he had a point. One did not simply ask someone of Charles's status to lower himself into a teaching role, not when he had clan affairs to manage.

"And don't mind the comments from those juvenile, mentally retarded incels who claim to be readers." Fergus waved a hand dismissively. "I've read them, and I'm honestly shocked at the rubbish they spout. They clearly have no sense of how reality works. Nobody is perfect in real life. Nobody is invincible. Everyone loses at least a few times. Even Serral isn't unbeatable – Innovation bested him in a Starcraft 2 Tournament. Brazil didn't win all their games at the World Cup. Failure is the mother of success. In fact, I'm confident that you'll come out of this stronger than before. Everyone fails at one point or another, and it's extremely common. For those retarded incels to mock you over a single loss and resort to ridiculous hyperbole…as if they had never suffered a setback or failed even once throughout their entire lives – and if they really are that perfect, they wouldn't be wasting their time reading webnovels online anyway. They are deluded if they think every story conforms to their twisted version of godlike main characters who curbstomp every enemy in their paths…probably read way too many urban cultivation stories or isekai stories or reincarnation stories with Mary Sue protagonists. Don't worry, I don't have such unreasonable or unrealistic expectations of you. I just want you to do your best. I'm confident that you'll groom Melina into a fine swordswoman in her own right, and I'm not deluded enough to expect you to turn her into an invincible world beater."

"Uh, right."

I didn't expect Fergus of all people to go off into a rant like that. But I was glad that he agreed with me. Then again, unlike self-entitled, juvenile readers whose mentality was stuck at their early teens, he was a grown man with lots of life experience, and thus knew how the real world worked. Of course he would be more inclined to follow common sense, unlike those caricature, shallow characters in urban stories, and the incel readers who loved those type of things.

"Thank you."

I felt really grateful for his words. Even though there was a significant number of readers who resorted to insults because I didn't write my story the way they wanted me to, there were still a fair bit who were calm and rational enough to know that it was absolutely stupid to project their own desires onto my life and expect me to be a godlike Mary Sue.

"Good. Hmm, I shouldn't disturb your rest. I'll leave for now." Before he exited the room, he turned back to me and smiled. "Good luck for the third placement match. And don't worry. Regardless of the outcome of that match, I will still want you to teach my daughter."

Then he was gone, leaving me to dwell on his words by myself.