"...3"


    "...2"


    "...1"


    "...Begin." Teacher Milena announced themencement of the battle.


    Both of the contestants stared at each other without starting the fight.


    Rio had his hands in his pocket and stood as if he was enjoying the view in a casual manner.


    Talia, on the other hand, felt irritated by his proud action. She wanted to defeat this trash as soon as possible. He insulted the youngdy for N in front of many students. This tarnished her reputation among her friend circle and at the school.


    "Arrogant..." She snorted in annoyance and rushed towards him while summoning her weapon.


    A Spear appeared in her hand that she usedst time during the battle training ss, the triangr tip with purple stripes and thorny edges.


    Talia was close to the crimson-haired boy but he was just standing there with his unwavering calm posture of keeping his hands in his pocket stylishly.


    ''Hahaha...good that he wants an easy defeat and not waste my time.''


    Her lips turned upwards as she saw Rio still didn''t budge from his ce.


    Those who were supporting Rio in the audience were yelling for him to shift away while his haters wereughing at his foolish act.


    "What happened to him? Why is he stagnating on a ce?"


    "Rio...move away..."


    "Don''t stand there Rio. Dodge it..."


    "Look at that trash. He has be so frightened that he can''t even move."


    All thesements were made in a very small amount of time as Talia was on her way to strike him.


    When Talia was about to stab her Spear into Rio''s chest, Her Spear pierced the air and hit nothing.


    Talia had her eyes wide open with scrunched eyebrows as her target disappeared all of a sudden.


    Rio had vanished from his spot using the [Devlin Movement Technique] right before the attack was going to touch his body.


    This fine detail and timing were done by his Heaven''s Eyes as he could see her in slow motion.


    She cursed outwardly, "What the hell is this?"


    A gust of wind appeared right behind Talia to answer her call.


    Before she could turn around, A de had already passed through her slender body, cutting her in two.


    A deadly silence enveloped the stadium as the audience stood up to see this unforeseen development.


    Their jaw almost dropped to the ground along with a look of disbelief stered on their faces.


    Most of them knew that Rio was going to lose this battle but those, who believed in him, because he was from the Havenglow family, didn''t imagine he would finish this battle with a single strike.


    The crimson-haired boy had simply used mana enchantment to strengthen his body, eyes, and Silver-Bloom king sword.


    It enhanced his single strike to a fatal one that went through Talia''s body like a de cutting through a tofu.


    One of the reasons for her instant defeat was that she underestimated Rio from the start. Talia didn''t even use her armor beast soul at the start of the battle.


    This caused her opponent topletely destroy her using a single swing of his silver-bloom king sword.


    The downhearted brown-haired girl appeared outside the battle arena beside teacher Melena.


    "Talia has been defeated. Rio wins the Battle." Judge''s voice resounded in the stadium which woke up the dazed students from their amazed condition.


    Amotion started among the students in the stadium.


    "How did he do that?"


    "Maybe he also advanced to the purple stage."


    "That trash was just lucky that Talia didn''t use her armor-type beast soul."


    "What are you talking about? Rio would''ve defeated her even if she used more beast soul."


    "I wish he was my boyfriend. He is so cool."


    "N Mailon is really lucky that she has this boy."


    "But where is N Mailon?"


    The conversation continued and Rio appeared beside teacher Milena.


    "It''s time for her to fulfill the bet." He spoke in aposed manner, which was heard by the audience as the contestants'' and judges'' voices were broadcasted to everyone.


    "Okay... but we would need to call N, first." Teacher Milena said and started inspecting the audience list to see if she was present.


    Talia''s face was disying the bitterness to its full glory. She was defeated with a single strike.


    Who could''ve known this was going to happen?


    ''Oh...damn it...''


    She was cursing her ancestors and heaven for giving her thought to approach Rio that day. If Talia didn''t bother her sister, she wouldn''t have be theughingstock today in front of everyone.


    "Hey, look... N Mailon is there." Someone from the audience yelled who was sitting on a seat nearby the judges.


    after hearing about her arrival, Rio turned around as his eyes searched for the cheerful girl.


    N was walking towards him from the audience''s seat.


    Her Magenta hair was falling down to the ravishing milky shoulder that was drowned in a purple dress. Her signature happy smile was painted on her adorable face, which was a little rosy.


    N''s friends were shipping her with Rio all this time while she was watching him from the audience. It caused her heart to flutter in ecstasy.


    After Rio went to thend of Asura, N finds out from her friend how Rio had taken a stand for her after she left in tears.


    N also discovered that Rio had epted a desperate challenge where he would lose with his current strength.


    She knew very well that the boy was only at the yellow stage.


    N danced in joy thinking about the stake of the battle.


    A boy was going to duel with Talia just to make her apologize to Na in front of everyone for insulting his only ''friend''.


    The Magenta haired beauty felt butterflies flying in her heart and jumbled up as she closed the distance with Rio.


    She stopped beside him and indicated with eyes to look in front as he was kept gazing at her.


    N didn''t know that Rio was thinking about the 10 possible future visions in which she was along with La.


    "Talia...go ahead." Teacher Milena spoke to her.


    "I''m sorry," Talia said in a bitter voice as her face was flickering with annoyance.


    Saying that she exited from the ''1 A Golden Seal'' private room.


    The audience all cheered after Talia apologized.


    Rio didn''t wait further and exited after bidding farewell to Milena via [Whisper].


    N, who was waiting beside him, called out hastily, "Heyyy...wait.."


    Seeing that he already left, she pouted in a cute manner before logging out to depart from the stadium.


    ***


    Rio took off his VR helmet and went to get a ss of water from the kitchen area.


    *Ding-Dong!*


    Someone rang his doorbell while he was filling a ss with water.


    ''Don''t tell me...''


    He raised his eyebrows as he had a fine idea who it could be.


    Rio went to open the door as he took a sip from the ss of water.


    A girl in a blue dress was standing there. She had her both fists on her waist, making a pout face.


    "Why did you leave without even saying hello?" Sheined and barged into his room.


    Rio didn''t respond as he saw her grabbing the ss of water from his hand before gulping down all the content in one go.


    "Oh...thank you. I was thirsty since the morning." N replied.


    "That was already half drunk by me," Rio said in a calm voice.


    "Don''t worry about that. A wise man once said drinking or eating the leftover of a partner increases love between them." She threw a punchline with a bright smile.


    "Why are you here?" He wasn''t bothered by her presence but still inquired about the vibrant girl.


    "Can''t I evene to my friend''s room? We are neighbors, Rio." She spoke as if it was a normal thing to do.


    "Who was it that closed the door on my face?" He crossed his hands and looked at her in a cool-headed manner.


    She avoided his intriguing gaze with abittersweet smile.


    "Why didn''t you respond to any of my messages?" She changed the topic and walked into his bedroom shamelessly.


    "I was at thend of asura." He responded in aposed voice and followed her in.


    N took his phone from the bed and handed it to him, "here."


    Rio took it in his hand and gave her a puzzled look. He went through the long list of notifications.


    [7% battery left]


    [321 missed calls]


    [410 unread messages]


    He rubbed his forehead seeing a lot of notifications. His battery was also almost down although thetest phone was equipped with longsting rechargeable Batteries.


    Rio hurriedly moved to check them up one by one.


    [318 missed calls from N]


    [3 missed calls from Second Mother]


    [410 unread messages from N]


    There was a heart shape beside her name which was set by herself.


    ====////====


    [SnowNote]


    _____________


    Dear Esteemed Readers, You can show love and support towards our Lia and N by gifting a castle, golden tickets, or anything you prefer. Castle just gives more exposure to the book.


    It''s not necessary as just your presence would be enough anyway.


    I have gone premium a few days ago and I''ll try to write more often. I thank you all, for being with the story this long, I hope you stay longer at least until the end of this novel.


    ________________________________


    Edited By: TheWhiteSnow


    I''ll add the important character images on:


    https://discord.gg/Ed5JDPXawG


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