When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 139: Shall We?

The fight with Eselin in the arena was still waiting for me, and fuck, it was for nothing too. I’d thought Pix might have lied about where she had been that day, but she hadn’t. That meant I was going to have to entertain Eselin’s ego for a while and then lose anyway, because if Null had not been able to beat her, what chance did I really have? I was still just an F-class student who barely understood spells, let alone this world.

When I looked back, I saw the seats filling up fast. The arena in the boys’ dormitory was packed with students, and there were even a few civilians among them too. Null had also let the girls come over to watch, which only made the whole thing feel more like an event than a sparring match.

"Eselin!" a boy shouted from the stands. "Beat him up, girl!"

"Yeah!"

"Come on, Ace! Bust her butt!"

"Woo!"

Since this was apparently an important fight, Professor Kroua was acting as referee. She stood between Eselin and me with both hands resting on her waist, waiting for us to get ready. This was probably going to be an agonizingly boring match for anyone who came here expecting something exciting.

"Ready your weapons," Professor Kroua said. "Plunge them into the ground."

I drove my dagger into the floor, and the blade turned into wood while the handle stayed the same. Eselin did the same with her sword, and it changed into wood too, though it still looked solid enough to use. Then a golden barrier rose around the arena, enclosing us inside.

"You better be ready, Ambly-blessed," Eselin said, lifting her sword into an aggressive stance. "I won’t show mercy."

"Could you show a little mercy, at least?" I said, shifting into a defensive posture with my arms close to my body and my knees bent. "Pretty please?"

"On my mark," Professor Kroua said, raising one hand. "Ready."

She brought her arm down.

"Go."

Eselin moved first, rushing straight at me. I backed away quickly and got ready for whatever she was about to throw at me. That turned out to be two fireballs, one after the other. I raised my dagger and knocked one aside so it hit the ceiling of the arena, then dodged the other while keeping my body tight and focused on her movement. She had already closed the distance by the time I finished reacting, which was exactly what I should have expected from someone like her.

She swung her sword, and I jumped backward just in time, pulling my stomach in as the wooden blade passed inches from my school uniform. Then I saw the circle forming under my foot, which meant she had dropped a trap spell while closing in.

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> Shadow Leap Cast: -17MP

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Cooldown: 1 seconds

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I turned into dust and reappeared behind her, and just as I raised my dagger to strike, she shifted her arm back without even looking fully surprised. My blade hit her sword instead of her body, and she glanced over her shoulder with a disappointed expression before tightening her grip on the hilt.

"Same trick again?" Eselin said with a small exhale, clearly annoyed that I escaped it.

Then her wooden blade exploded outward with a burst of force that sent me flying across the arena. I hit the other side of the golden barrier hard enough to feel it through my back and then crashed to the ground, groaning as I rolled once and stared up at the ceiling.

"Maybe I should stop treating this like a joke."

Yeah... definitely.

"Alright," I muttered while pushing myself up. "Guess I’m doing this for real."

I combined Ranger and Rogue and felt my body shift with the class change. Three new spells surfaced in my mind at once, and all of them felt useful in a way the others had not. One of them, Crowshape, would let me form a crow and see through its eyes, which sounded useful enough later but not right now. The other one, Murder of Crows, was the one I wanted. Eselin was already walking toward me with slow, confident steps, clearly convinced this fight was already hers, and that made her a perfect target.

I pointed at her and snapped my fingers.

"Go."

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> Murder of Crows: -18 MP

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Cooldown: 30 seconds

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Black smoke erupted from the floor beneath me, thickening almost instantly until I could barely see through it, and then I heard movement inside it before a huge flock of crows burst out and shot upward toward the arena ceiling. They circled once overhead and then dropped all at once toward Eselin.

"What kind of spell is that?" she asked, shifting her stance into something more defensive.

The birds hovered above her for a second before diving down together, and Eselin bent her knees further while raising her sword to brace herself. But once they got close, the flock spread out and swarmed around her, filling the air so completely that they blocked her vision without actually touching her. From the stands, the crowd immediately erupted.

"Yoo! What is that?"

"Gods, look at it!"

"Eselin, come on! Fight it off!"

"Ace! Ace!"

I switched back into Rogue and cast Wall Runner, since it cost less than Shadow Leap and was probably the better option for what I wanted to do next. The spell took hold immediately, and suddenly I was moving up the arena barrier like it was just another wall instead of a magical gold surface holding the whole match together.

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> Wall Runner: -10 MP

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Cooldown: 15 seconds

Duration: 10 seconds

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Once I was high enough, I pushed off the barrier and dropped into the space above Eselin, where the crows were still obscuring her view. Then I changed classes again and cast Grave Step, aiming myself directly where I wanted to land, which happened to be right on top of her.

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> Grave Step Cast: -15MP

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Cooldown: 10 seconds

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I came down dagger first.

For a split second, I thought I had her.

Then the crows disappeared into smoke, one after another, and the blade in my hand slammed into her wooden sword instead of her head.

"Shit."

I’d misread the angle completely. She’d managed to lift her sword at the last second and caught my attack cleanly.

"That was sneaky, Ambly-blessed," she said, still holding her sword up against mine. "How is an F-class using spells like that?"

I kicked her in the stomach and forced myself backward a few steps. "You talk too much, Eselin."

**** Unbothered, she let go of her sword, which just hovered in the air like it was levitating on its own. She then dusted the spot where I had kicked her, and then grabbed the hilt of her sword again, then met eyes with me once more.

"When I first saw you," She said calmly. "I was sure our paths crossed before."

"Oh?"

"You were at the tavern." She said. "Watching the poor old man getting beat up."

"No idea what you’re talking about."

"You were scared." She said, walking toward me with small steps. "A coward who has been blessed by Ambly. Where’s the punchline in this joke, huh?"

"Hmm..."

I combinaed another class. Mage and Rogue. The result was Nightweaver. Again, three new spells. All useful than the other. This could help me here, surely.

Veilstep. It worked like Leap skill the rouge class had. But this one only let me move within the allowed area in the shadows. Looking up, I saw that Eselin’s shadow was flailing to her behind. There were a fwe shadows in the arena, too. Quarter of the one side with the boys’ dormitory building. But it was far away. Still useful.

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> Veilstep: -15 MP

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Cooldown: 5 seconds

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For a split second, everything went blank. Then, blinking, I appeared right behind her back, while the spot I was standing only a second ago had only now a small black smoke mixing with the air.

Eselin heard me move and turned back, but she was too late. The last thing she saw when turning back was my cold and boring face, coming up with a punch... which it landed right across her face. She took a few steps forward, stumbling and groaning in pain.

I didn’t give her a rest.

"Let’s finish this," I said, exhaling. "Shall we?"

Eclipse Shroud. Black smoke began to appear under my foot, inside my clothes, under my fingernails. The smoke thickened enough to cover the whole section of that arena into pure darkness. The only thing I could see was the black smoke moving along the ground, the side as if acting like a wall, and on the ceiling a few metres above me.

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> Eclipse Shroud: -35 MP

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Cooldown: 5 minutes

Duration: 40 seconds

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A wolf formed within the smoke and lunged itself toward Eselin. She simply cuıt the wolf, but her sword just cut through the air and the damage made the smoke disappear for a second. Then that smoke formed a crow, which she flew right at her head, hitting her straight on.

The spell worked was simple. Her vision would be reduced to nearly zero in the area. And illusion would come up at the smoke and attack her.

"What..." She exhaled, panting. "What is this!"

Finally. I heard her none other han her calm voice. Guess I was winning this one.