“Derek.” Alexandra called out. “Fight against him.”
Alexandra knew very well what had happened the last time I had fought against him, and she knew the same thing would happen once again. However, we were in front of the Emperor, and we couldn’t act without a single care in the world.
The reputation of the Royal Capital could potentially depend on this fight. We needed to make a show of strength, and what was happening right now was absolutely unacceptable.
“If you don’t. Then, you will become an assistant professor.”
I frowned when I heard that because I didn’t even know that was a thing. I had been all along ever since the semester started…the director hadn’t even talked to me about it.
I clicked my tongue. ‘It’s probably too late to find one now.’
I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts as I focused once more on what was happening around me. Derek was still not moving; he just stared at me with a plain look in his eyes.
He muttered something, but I couldn’t hear it. Still, I could only guess that it was an insult being thrown at me.
“Are you going to fight me now?” I teased again.
“Yes.”
He moved forward. However, everyone could tell that he wasn’t giving his absolute best against me. Only doing the minimum. This annoyed me greatly, but I couldn’t take control of his body for him to fight against me. I needed him to lose control.
Apart from angering him, there was another plan in my mind. I wanted him to turn into a demon while he was fighting against me. But for that to happen, I needed to keep teasing him and angering him, so that he would reach the turning point.
I started tapping him around his body without actually attacking to injure him. Simply showing him that I could have beaten him a million times already. However, there was no reaction. It seemed physical actions didn’t work. My words would be my best tool in this situation.
“You’re not even going to try, huh?” I laughed. “Are you that scared of me?”
“I’m not.”
His voice was clear and concise. However, his actions reflected the complete opposite of his actions.
The tone of his voice had become a lot colder compared to before. My taunting was working. It was only a question of time from now on.
“Then, why aren’t you trying to fight me?”
“Because if I fight at my full strength…I’ll die.”
He muttered those words. However, I heard them loud and clear. It only made things clearer about his real identity.
“You weren’t at your full strength last time you lost against me?” I made sure to speak loudly as I uttered those words to make sure everyone in the stands heard it.
And the reaction was immediate.
“Professor Derek lost against Professor Caedrel?”
“But…all the professors said the complete opposite.”
“He’s probably lying. Let’s continue to trust Professor Derek for the time being.”
I glanced at those naive little kids and simply sighed. There was no point in arguing with them as they were simply influenced by the man in front of me. I just needed to show them that I was the one who was right about all this.
“When did I even lose to you?” He smirked. “Didn’t you hear from the students? I was the one who destroyed you.”
He seemed happy that his rumors had worked out well. However, rumors are only rumors; they do not represent the reality of things.
“Then, show them how you destroyed me?” I smiled back at him. “I’m interested in seeing how you’ll manage that.”
“I can’t.”
“You can’t.” I turned to face the crowd. “Did you hear that? He can’t show you his strength. He’s too scared of me to even lift a finger.”
His head snapped up once more. “Shut up.”
I laughed in his face. “Are those the only words you know? You keep repeating them every time I’m right.”
He clenched his jaw. “You lucky son of a bitch.”
“What’d you say?”
He closed his mouth. His jaw seemed to be on the verge of breaking from the looks of it. His face was all red from restricting his envy from punching my face.
Everyone watching us must have been wondering what the hell was happening since we hadn’t even launched a single strike against each other. We were simply talking, which was weird, considering my request was a spar. It was so long that even some parents were starting to get bored.
“If you were planning to talk, then you could have done it inside!”
I recognized that voice in an instant. It was Vladimir speaking up. As much as I hated him, he was right. We were supposed to be fighting, not talk. But it wasn’t my fault that Derek didn’t want to.
“Did you hear that? They want us to fight. So fucking hit me.” I approached my face and pointed at my cheek. “Right there. Hit me right there.”
I knew that he was on the verge of breaking down. Just a little more, and I would have done it.
-Boom!
That was the sound of his fist hitting against my face. I flew all the way to the other side of the Arena because of the strength of his punch.
I stood up and rubbed the dust off my pants. “Phew. I thought you would have never hit me.” I laughed. “Still, was that it? That barely hurt.”
“Shut up!” He dashed in my direction, his punch fully winded up. It seemed I had managed to make him react a little. However, his anger was making things a little too easy for me. There was no precision in his movements. I moved under his arm without the slightest problem.
“Oh, close one. Maybe the next one will hit!” I encouraged him as he once again tried to hit me, but none of his attacks hit me. “Does it remind you of our last fight? Do you remember? You never even landed a hit on me!”
“ROAR!”
I smiled. That was it. Just a little more, and I would have done it. His breath was getting rougher and rougher. If I continued to push him to his very limits, then he might just transform right there.
“What kind of human even roars…I didn’t know you were into that kind of stuff. But sorry to disappoint, but I’m not a big fan of role-playing.”
Right after I uttered that sentence, his eyes changed colors.
