Chapter 14: Thicker than blood

“Fudo, you’re in the wrong place right? You’re not one of Kaori’s minions right?!”

There aren’t a lot of spectators in the arena, probably because it’s just a ‘wood class dual’.

I spot Kaori sitting in the VIP area together with his cronies, he’s smirking and holding an orange cartridge. There’s also Miss Sato and Lance in the crowd. Sara’s nowhere to be seen, figures, she doesn’t have much faith in me anyways…

Fudo suddenly pipes up:

“Kaori, you bastard! You didn’t tell me I had to fight Reo!”

“Ai, what does it matter? Do you want the money or not? I heard your sister’s going to high school soon, school’s not cheap you know.”

That asshole, using Fudo’s sister like that…

“I… I won’t cripple him…”

“Sure suit yourself, but you’ll only receive half the money we agreed upon, that is, as long as you win of course.”

“Goddammit… I’m sorry about this Reo, I really am. I don’t expect you to forgive me for this either, but… I have no choice…”

“BOTH CONTESTANTS GET READY!”

“F-Fudo, I don’t want to fight you…”

“THREE!”

“How can you follow that asshole Kaori like this?”

“TWO!”

“Fudo…”

“ONE! START!”

Fudo looks determined, I won’t change his mind with just some words… Fine, if he wants to do it this way, I won’t give up either.

Fudo’s stomach begins to glow, and after a while, both his hands get engulfed in red flames.

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do Reo.”

His stomach glows again and before I know it he’s suddenly right in front of me, I didn’t even have time to put up my hands in defense or fire an explosion.

*SMACK*

He hits me in the chest and I fly across the battleground.

*COUGH* *COUGH* “Fuck…”

When I finally stop and smash into the wall of the arena, I cough up some blood and can hear Kaori jest from the stands:

“Heh, for a peasant in wood class, he’s pretty strong. That’ll teach that Reo-bastard not to touch my possessions!”

At least I won’t feel sorry about attacking Fudo with my magic now…

I put up my hand in front of my face pointing my palm at Fudo. My chest begins to glow as I activate my explosion magic. I can hear Kaori make fun of my again:

“Heh, was that supposed to be a fireball? Nothing even came ou-“

*BANG*

A huge ball of fire suddenly envelops Fudo, everybody looks shocked, especially Kaori:

“What… What the fuck was that?!”

Hopefully this is enough, don’t fight back anymore Fudo…

The flames slowly subside and I can see that Fudo is still standing, his arms in a defensive position. He clearly did take some damage though, his clothes are charred and his arms are almost black.

“Phewww… nice one Reo, I really thought I wasn’t going to make it for a second there, did you get that fireball from Lance?... I’m sorry Reo, but I can’t give up yet, I know you’re out of mana after that one shot, but I have to continue this.”

His hands aren’t burning anymore and he didn’t teleport to me either. He’s just running straight at me, looks like he’s also out of mana, he wants to end this in a fist fight…

“I’m sorry for what I’m about to do Fudo.”

I fire another explosion near him, and this time, finally take him down…

“Ooh man Fudo, You’re strong…”

I fall to my knees and catch my breath. Lance comes running on stage and helps me up.

We walk towards Fudo who is already being healed by miss Sato, looks like he didn’t receive any serious injuries either since he’s already conscious again.

“I lost huh?” *SIGH*

He actually looks a bit relieved.

“Guess I really messed up our entire friendship-thing eh? For what it’s worth, I really did enjoy your home-cooking Lance…”

His relieved expressions changed to something more melancholy.

*SIGH* “Don’t be so dramatic, I’m not going to hate you over this or anything. I’m just disappointed you didn’t first go to us for advice. Even if it’s a money problem, we still could’ve helped you know.”

“I… I know, I just didn’t want to burden you guys. This is probably weird coming from, but… I’m not the smartest guy ever, I don’t really know how to raise my sister either, It’s a lot of responsibility and I only really know how to fight… I… I wanted her to have the best education possible… so she wouldn’t end up like me… that’s why I took that bastards money, even though I knew it was wrong…”

Miss Sato suddenly speaks up:

“Don’t worry Fudo, Reo still considers you a friend, otherwise he wouldn’t have aimed that last fireball at the ground.”

“R-Really Reo?”

She saw that? I can’t help but blush a little…

“Y-Yeah. Don’t worry about it Fudo, of course we’re still friends.”

Suddenly Kaori storms the field:

“You incompetent swine! You can’t even beat a weak peasant with an almost non-existent mana-pool?! And you Reo, don’t think getting my stuff is that easy, a dead man can’t receive any equipment or cartridges at all! *SIGH* Like always, If you want a job well done, you’ll have to do it yourself!”

His shoulder starts to glow as a huge fireball suddenly starts to form in the palm of his hand.