Chapter 319 318. Event.

A minute after Isha and Frostine left the room.

GASP-!

I jolted awake in the room Isha and I were living in; everything after Luna, aka Frostine, revealed herself had been a daze for me.

'I can't believe Frostine's alive-' While I was about to sigh in relief, a mind-numbing pain assaulted me as a tonne of information forcefully flooded into my mind. With all the information about the "truth" in my mind, my indifference seemed to get deeper as an unquenchable rage bottled up in my very existence itself.

DING

[Title: Murderer activated]

BA-THUMP-!!!

My heartbeat sped up to an unbelievable degree as the bottled-up rage was gradually seeping out bit by bit.

DING

[Title: One from the Infinite activated]

"I can't believe you were able to stay sane with everything bottled up in you like this...." I mumbled, speaking with my omniscient half, that the rage bottled-up in me was at such extreme degrees that my indifference itself seemed to be unable to cope with it, even though it's said to be at the level of a true god.

"Will all these things truly happen?" I asked, because, as he has said, he hasn't only given me information about the truth but also a flash of the entire world burning.

[I have been through those things; if you don't want to be in those that are burning, then get stronger.] A familiar, advisory voice sounded in my mind. The flash that appeared in my mind had the entire Antinoüs burning in an inextinguishable pure white flame that, for some strange reason, felt familiar.

In that flame, everything in existence was being burned alive, yet none of it seemed to be able to die; no, it was more like that they didn't have the "permission" to die.

Amid the screams and wails of the living, a silhouetted being sat in mid-air with many space cracks surrounding him, as they oozed those inextinguishable pure white flames.

"That silhouetted being definitely wasn't me." I mumbled under my breath.

BEEP-!

With a subtle beep, my pocket system blinked bright blue twice before a triangles-filled abstract orb appeared above the wristband.

[Match 10: Eshwar vs Vinny]

"Right, the matches." I mumbled, remembering Grace's promise to give me a greater reward than what I had previously asked for as compensation; of course, the "greater reward" was only applicable if I won and became a cadet-professor.

"Let's get going then."

*

In the seats around the 1,000-foot coliseum, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, the media, guild scouts, mercenary scouts, parents of the cadets, higher-ups of the academy, and a few random, verified people sat, gazing at the interesting matches taking place.

'What's so interesting about a few kids playing tag?' Grace thought, gazing around at the cheering people.

'I guess the parents are proud about their kids, though minor, achievements.' Grace thought.

Glancing at Neal and Reynolds, who were sitting with solemn expressions on their faces, "You guys too can enjoy the event for a bit." Grace said, as her dark brown eyes glimmered bright blue for a split second. In her eyes, she could see a gigantic purple and blood-red magical aura oozing from Neal and Reynolds, respectively.

"Haaa, surveillance can't be done half-a*sedly." Neal said with a sigh. They were responsible for looking after everything that was happening in the coliseum, so they didn't even have a second to spare.

"Hmm. Do as you wish." Grace nodded her head in understanding, because what he said was true too, but she hoped they would at least enjoy the event a bit.

'I hope that the matches end soon; I want to see what the winning candidates have in their arsenal that makes them unique.' Grace thought inwardly: the candidates that had the highest chances of becoming the winner of this event were Isha, Vinny, Katline, Seo Hana, Charlie, Eshwar, and Dremin Strurt.

'Isn't Dremin Strurt the heir of the most influential noble household of the empire? Why is he participating in the event when he is already a level 20 player?' Grace frowned because many of the chosen candidates had withdrawn from the fight, like Gang Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine, Seol So-Young, and a few heirs of the noble households. Isha had also only agreed to participate because she had nothing else to do.

'Do these noble households have no shame at all? Do they really have a kind of fetish to bully the weak?' She thought, frowning in disgust.

While she was pondering, the announcer's voice resounded throughout the coliseum, saying something about the winner of the matches from before, moving on to the semi-finals, as the announcers announced the arrival of the last batch of today's matches, the last two matches that were going to take place now.

'Making two pairs fight was the right choice, since the time it consumes is also lesser and the excitement in the crowd is also maintained properly.' Grace thought, nodding her head in satisfaction.

"Edvin Irvine vs Charlie Rowse and Eshwar vs Vinny. Let's see how it plays out." Grace mumbled under her breath.

'Aren't Eshwar and Vinny friends? I hope their friendships won't have a problem due to this fight.'

*

"Hah." A hysterical chuckle filled with malicious intent escaped Vinny's mouth when he looked at Eshwar walking towards him.

"How dare you look so indifferent after killing everyone that's precious to me..." Vinny mumbled under his breath as his glare intensified, the horns protruding out from his forehead twisting dangerously, slowly.

"Hello, Vinny. Long time, no see." Eshwar said in an indifferent tone as he walked towards Vinny with a broadsword in his hands, unintentionally pissing off Vinny even more.

"Eshwar....." Vinny said in a cold tone.

Vinny, who had been teleported directly to the academy's entrance two weeks ago, was suspected of being a demon due to his protruding horns, which were there due to him selling his soul to the devil of kindness, Vassago.

He had made an excuse of him being an hybrid between a bull beast-man and a human woman, after connecting his excuse with his aura which had shaped into a perfect neon green bull, his excuse was bought under suspicion, though he was being under a constant watch, he was able to have a uncomfortably comfortable life in the academy, well, he needed none of that as long as he was allowed to avenge his pitiful self.

He, who was there when the tournament was taking place in the elven kingdom back on Earth, had seen Eshwar taking off his White Swan's mask; no, it wasn't that he took it off; the mask on his face at that point had just dematerialized.

After learning that Eshwar was indeed White Swan, everything that had happened to Vinny due to White Swan flashed back in his mind as a rage that was on an entirely different level bottled up in him, and the "kindness" and "comfort" he received from Vassago when he was at his lowest helped him a lot.

Which was also a time when Vinny decided to sell his soul to acquire a demonic trait, due to which Vinny was able to grow stronger at an extremely fast rate, even though he hunted low-level monsters. With this unexpected gain, he remained as strong as he was, if not stronger, even after arriving at planet Antinoüs, where all the other humans' strength had lowered, bringing them to the bottom of the food chain while Vinny stayed at the top, like an apex predator.

"How weak you have become Eshwar." Vinny mumbled in an audible enough voice, to which he received an indifferent gaze as a response.

[Start]

"Prepare yourself to die." Vinny said and disappeared from the spot he stood, reappearing right in front of Eshwar and kicking him in the abdomen.

BAM-!

Coughing out a mouthful of blood as he slid across the coliseum, Eshwar gazed at Vinny with an apathetic expression on his expressionless face after he stopped himself, enticing rage in Vinny.

"How long are you going to stare at me with such indifference? Don't you have any emotions?" Vinny roared, disappeared, and reappeared in front of Eshwar, punching him in the face.

BAM-!

THUD!

SHUFFLE

Eshwar, who flew back due to the hit, slumped on the ground before standing back up with the same indifference on his face. Wiping off the blood trickling down from the corners of his lips, Eshwar cracked his neck.

"Do you know how it feels to regress while being unable to save those that I deemed precious? Do you know how it feels to be stuck at the level of your previous strength, even though you are giving it your all, just to get even a bit stronger than I was previously? Do you know how it feels to have a person, whom you thought of as if they were your world, taken away from you? Do you know-" Vinny continued to ramble and blame Eshwar for his own incompetence, which he was unable to acknowledge even though he himself knew about it. He punched and kicked at Eshwar with each word he spoke, yet he couldn't bring out a single groan from Eshwar, who had become a punching bag for Vinny. Finally, Vinny's attack was blocked with his broadsword.

BANG-!

"Do you have any emotions?" Vinny asked coldly, glaring at Eshwar, whose head was behind his broadsword.

"Haaaa...." With a deep sigh, Eshwar glanced at Vinny.

"For humans, I have no emotions left, and there is only 'me' for myself and for those that I deem mine. I have been through a lot of f**ked-up things. I have seen and been through everything you just mentioned, and I know what it means to regress.

There is simply nothing one can do after they have regressed once. A regression carves bad luck into your soul and kills your loved ones right in front of your very own eyes.

I have been through the things you mentioned at least a billion times; you could even consider the number as me being modest. Don't you dare lecture me while you haven't been through sh*t compared to mine." Eshwar said calmly, with his indifference plastered on his face.

'What? What bullsh*t?'

"You have experienced regression?"