SSS- Rank: I awakened a 100,000 Roulette Return System
Chapter 50: The Academy Duel
Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Academy Duel
"Be The die is cast." — Julius Caesar, at the Rubicon
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The Academy’s private portal hall received Joel with a stamp and a formal greeting, just as it had sent him away.
Then the Merit board behind the duty clerk, It chimed as the numbers went up.
DING.
A huge slate hung above the portal queue. It ranked three thousand students by Merit Points and updated every hour.
While the clerk was still stamping Joel’s return form, his results appeared on the board.
CARROW, J. — FOURTH STRATUM (SOLO) — MERIT +8,400
The ranking beside his name began to climb. It passed the third-year students, then the second-years, before stopping in the top two hundred of the entire Academy.
The hall fell silent.
"Level 1," a second-year student said, staring at the board as if he were reading a weather report from another world. "His file says Flesh-Guide, Level 1."
"The file," Joel agreed, retrieving his plate, "has been very busy this month."
[Ding!]
[Merit transaction logged: Fourth Stratum, Solo Clear.]
[Standing: top 200. External file consistency: Level 1.]
[System Note: the house has never been so highly ranked in a category it officially does not qualify for.]
Joel left the portal hall and walked onto the evening terraces. His hood was down, and his coat still smelled faintly of smoke from the Iron Wastes.
The story spread quickly. Three thousand students had seen the Merit board do something they thought was impossible. By the time Joel reached the second terrace, people had already told the story four different ways.
Iron-tier students stepped onto their balconies to watch him pass. Hall Nine’s residents and other scholarship students came out to see him.
They looked at Joel with pride. One of their own had made it into the Academy’s top two hundred.
The Merit board didn’t care where a student lived.
That was the problem, of course. And it was waiting for him in the main courtyard.
•••
Victor Kole stood in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by his followers. This time, he didn’t bother approaching Joel. The courtyard was the perfect place for what he had planned.
"You survived the Wastes," Victor said. His storm-grey eyes no longer held any warmth. All that remained was cold anger, as carefully controlled as his perfect appearance.
"Alone. With a lower level than your enemies. And now you’ve ranked above six of my seniors on a public board, even though every scanner in this Academy has confirmed your Level 1 file."
He lowered his chin slightly.
"You’re a fraud, Carrow. I’ve let you keep up this act for three weeks because I found it amusing. But now you’ve climbed above my own people in the rankings. That ends tonight. Here, in public, under the Academy charter."
"Good evening to you too, Mr. Kole," Joel said.
"The Apex Coalition calls for a formal duel," Victor said.
His words changed the mood of the courtyard. A legal challenge was serious, and half the students nearby stopped walking to listen.
"Under Article Duel of the Academy charter, this will be an official match. It will be public, protected by wards, witnessed, and binding. Victor Kole, Third Year, against the outer city’s miracle. I set the terms."
He smiled. It was the same cold smile Joel had seen in the mess hall.
The gauntlet on his arm crackled softly.
KRAK.
"When you lose and you will, you’ll wear the Coalition’s pin and pay the special fee my collectors have prepared for you. Then you’ll stand in the Iron halls and tell every outer-city student here what your so-called miracle is worth in the Inner Cities."
Victor’s followers formed a loose ring around them. Within a minute, the crowd had doubled in size and was still growing.
Joel looked around at the students, the balconies, and the glowing Merit boards overhead. He calmly thought through the whole situation from start to finish.
A public, legal duel against a Level 35 opponent. And lightning is the one thing my Frame cannot absorb, he thought.The entire Academy will be watching, and the rules will stop the Coalition from collecting from me by any other means during the duel.
He thinks he’s leading me into a trap.
A cold smile slowly spread through Joel’s mind, though he fought to keep it off his face.
He’s actually giving me the one chance I need to legally charge a founding family for every blow. And he’s volunteered to throw them all.
"Accepted," Joel said.
The word was simple, but the silence that followed was huge. Victor had expected Joel to argue or bargain. Instead, Joel had agreed without hesitation.
"Terms accepted," Joel continued with a pleasant smile. "But I have one small condition, Mr. Kole. I’m sure someone of your standing won’t have a problem with it.
"When I win, the Coalition’s fees for all Iron-tier students in this Academy will end. No percentages, no first claims, and no more threats. The outer-city students will be free of your control for good. And I want that promise written down, here in front of all these witnesses."
Laughter spread through the crowd. That was exactly what Victor wanted. He laughed louder than anyone else, clearly enjoying himself, and clapped once.
"Done," he said. "I’ll write the surrender papers myself, in my best handwriting. Meteor Hall, at the night bell. Be on time, fraud. The audience hates waiting for a sacrifice."
He walked away, and the crowd parted to let him through. The air crackled with the storm that followed him.
Joel remained in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by students already spreading the news. The duel was only hours away, and the entire Academy was openly choosing sides.
[Ding!]
[Formal Duel Invoked: Kole, Victor (Year 3, [Storm-Caller]) vs. Carrow, Joel (Year 1, [Flesh-Guide, external]).]
[Venue: Meteor Hall. Terms: submission, boundary, or incapacitation. Lethality: capped by ward lattice.]
[Stakes: as verbally contracted. Witnessed.]
[System Note: the house has been challenged to a legal fight, in a warded room, by its own landlord’s volition. The house’s counsel has no notes.]
•••
The Ward office processed the duel contract within an hour. The Duel Warden himself signed it. His name was Master Ferrin, an old sword instructor with a grey topknot, a scar across one eyebrow, and a wooden cane he used to point at things instead of giving his opinion.
He read the clause about ending the Iron-tier fees twice. Then he looked at the Level 1 candidate standing before him for a long moment.
Without saying a word, he stamped the contract.
At dusk, Joel held a war council in the deep shadows of his room in Hall Nine. His two generals stood before him, one two and a half meters tall, the other four meters. Both were against his plan.
"The storm-brat uses lightning, Architect," Nyx said. Her blades opened and closed in the dark as if she were shuffling a deck of cards. "Lightning is the one thing you cannot handle. Let me hide in the rafters, and I can end the duel in eleven seconds. No one will ever prove I did it."
THMM, the shadow rumbled in strong disagreement.
THMM-THMM.
[Translation: ’The forge requests targets.’]
"No. Both of you," Joel said firmly.
He had spent the walk home thinking through the plan, and he was sure of his reasoning.
"Meteor Hall will be full of scanners, wardens, instructors, and three thousand students. The moment a Mythic blade or a walking fortress appears from a Level 1 student’s shadow, the Academy will stop treating me as a student and call the Inquisition."
He paused.
"But that’s not even the main reason. Neither of you has guessed what I’m really trying to do, so let me explain."
He sat in the room’s only chair and explained his plan as calmly as if he were laying out a treatment plan.
"Caelmont taught me how costly it is to become a rumor. Tonight, the Inner City will learn how costly it is to ignore the truth. And I’ll teach that lesson in the one place where it’s legal.
"Vulcan will fight for me, in person, while I keep the Null-Band on. Every scanner in the hall will read Level 1, and three thousand students will watch me face Victor.
"They’ll see the lie fall apart with their own eyes. That’s how an empire begins.
"Victor asked to fight a fraud. The fraud is taking the night off."
He moved on to the next point. He had already planned everything for the night.
[Ding!]
[Observe: Victor Kole. Level 35. Class: Storm-Caller (A-Rank).]
[Element: electrical. Frame jurisdiction: NONE.]
[Arc-walking speed: superior. Ground footwork: academy-drilled, mirror-perfect, never blooded.]
[Storm-brand gauntlet: recharge cycle, 11 seconds, countable.]
[Combat history: 61 sanctioned duels. Damage sustained in total: negligible.]
[Assessment: the storm has never once bled, and has therefore never once learned.]
Joel moved on to the next part of his plan.
The gauntlet needs eleven seconds to charge, and Victor’s fighting style depends on his first strike, he thought. So I’ll use the same plan I used in the Wastes, only better.
His lightning is real, but Phantom Tread will help me avoid it. Everything else he uses the thunderclap, the wind, the storm he throws, and his fists, is force. And force is food for my Frame.
I’ll let him spend all his strength on me for eleven rounds if he wants. Once my energy is full and the crowd stops laughing, I’ll release Kinetic Bastion in one public blast.
The Coalition’s fees will end in front of three thousand witnesses, and the Outer City students will spread the story for me. I won’t need to look for new recruits. They’ll come to me.
"The odds are forty to one against you, Architect," Nyx said softly. "That’s what they’re saying in the lobby."
"Sounds about right," Joel said, standing and picking up his battered coat. "In Caelmont, the odds were five to one. At least people are finally taking me seriously."
•••
Meteor Hall was packed that night. The crowd waited in silence, holding its breath.
The galleries were full, and the floating meteor cores hung overhead in strange patterns. Golden lines covered the dueling circle, forming a protective barrier that hummed softly.
VMMMM.
Odette Bellamy sat with the twelve students from her group in the second tier.
Miss Albright sat in the instructors’ row with her arms folded. As Joel passed below her, she leaned over the rail.
"Forty to one, Carrow. I’ve bet a month’s salary on you, and I’ve never gambled in my life. If you die, I’ll be annoyed."
"Ma’am," Joel said, "the house has never failed to pay its teachers."
Victor entered through the far gate in his storm-grey dueling gear. The gauntlet on his arm was already fully charged, humming loudly.
HUMMMMM.
The crowd roared and held its breath.
Master Ferrin stood between them at the edge of the circle, his cane raised. Everyone watched as he lowered it.
The Academy’s duel bell rang through the hall. Its sound was clear and formal, but Joel heard something else in it.
It sounded like the shift bell of a dead factory, ringing one last time.
DOOM.
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