Chapter 30 - Danger Part 1

A battered M-Armor stood in the middle of the field.

[Quel: Wow! I think this victory goes to the Golden Knight! But let's make sure.]

With that, the host made several gestures on the portable holo-terminal that appeared in front of him. A quick scan of bio-signatures was performed and displayed on the screen.

<Vorst: Alive>

[Quel: It's official now! In this Single Tournament - Lower Division Year 13251, the winner is Vorst! The Golden Knight has bested the Witch of Restriction, who has reigned supreme in the Single Tournaments for the past five years! This is definitely the birth of a new Champion! Congratulations to the Champion!]

With that, the program moved to the post-tournament commentary.

[Quel: Mistglan-sensei, it seems like you are as surprised as we are!]

[Mistglan: Haha, that's right. The Golden Knight's performance surpassed all of my expectations.]

[Victor: He is just incredible. In the last attack, there was a sonic boom. That was a perfected Accel—he surpassed the complete Accel! This generation is full of surprises. Not only do we have Nova Aria with immeasurable talent in operating the Psychic Barrier and utilizing Circle Tier (Restriction), but also the Golden Knight, who easily surpasses basic HST level techniques!]

[Quel: It must be noted that right now he is just 2nd HST! In the past, the lowest power ranking to win the championship was none other than our guest here, the Athena's Institute’s Mistglan Dex with 8th HST! Mistglan-sensei, Vorst just beat your old record!]

[Mistglan: What can I say? He surely deserved that win. You have to add that he did it while being only 11 years old. Namely, he also became the youngest champion of the Lower Division Single Tournaments.]

[Quel: I had that sentence on the tip of my tongue, Mistglan-sensei. Also, I couldn't help but notice the black sword that the Golden Knight used. Where did the Athena's Institute find such a great alchemist?]

[Mistglan: Haha, that sword was conjured by Vorst himself; we didn't provide it for him.]

[Victor: Wow! Not only is the quality outstanding, but the craftsmanship is absolutely amazing. It looks more like a decoration than a weapon.]

[Quel: Is that really true? The quality of the Golden Knight's M-Armor is not even close to that of the blade. I can't believe they are both made by the same person.]

[Mistglan: Vorst is full of mysteries. Even we didn’t know about the Golden Knight before the LIBT (inter-school tournament).]

[Victor: Haha, it’s that famous freedom that the two major cadet academies give to their students.]

[Quel: Well, they are supervised by Claire-sama, after all...]

What’s more, only Mistglan and Claire knew that Neo-Aris was still holding back a lot. He hadn’t used any major Psychic Powers or Runes, just as he had agreed. Marc didn’t mind the burden because overpowering his opponents might seem fun at first, but it quickly gets boring, and Marc dislikes boredom. By giving his opponents a handicap, he could play with them longer, but that only applied to interesting ones. Others were moved down in an instant.

[Victor: Mistglan-senpai, I’m curious about Vorst's tail. We all hear about how hard it is to move an ‘extra’ limb that is attached to a M-Armor, but Vorst moves his tail as if he was born with it.]

[Mistglan: Indeed, for that, I do not have any answers, just mere speculations.]

[Victor: Please share them with us.]

[Mistglan: Well, since the emergence of sub-races millennia ago, it clearly shows that New-Aris had all of the sub-races' genes inside them. With the emergence of sub-races, genetic memory was released. We all know that most of the sub-races have tails, and Neo-Aris, though some might disagree, are still very closely related to us. Maybe that’s why he is capable of such things, just from his genetic memory.]

The two others were nodding in agreement...

---

Nova Aria was a Witch.

Since early childhood, Nova had been different from all the other children.

Ironically, she had been dropped at an orphanage by her parents because they were afraid she was a Neo-Aris.

The witch lineage is known as a pureblood line, which meant there were no hybrids in that sub-race. Elves were similar before the emergence of Mersa. It is also a hidden lineage, which meant that a blue-haired, blue-eyed baby could just pop up from anywhere. What’s more, the baby would be completely different from her parents, showing no animal characteristics.

One witch would only appear once every few centuries, making them one of the rarest races. Unfortunately for Nova, the last witch before her had passed away several centuries prior, so knowledge about them was very limited. One must also understand that there is enormous prejudice against Neo-Arises, who are widely known to be completely useless and the weakest among all.

Claire Vira, the 'Elven Queen,' had a mischievous personality, but she was actually very hardworking—within the Kollos Alliance, she was supervising all of the orphanage organizations. And though the Alliance Council was supposed to be a ruling party, no one dared to refuse her ‘requests.’ The first pilot of Kollos, the first owner of a God, and the true founder of the Kollos Alliance.

The azure-haired girl wasn't even 7 years old when Claire found her and took her in. One must understand that there are billions of orphaned children in the vast Kollos Alliance, and any other person would not even try to go through it. Not to mention the Elven Queen had a ridiculous amount of other affairs too.

As for Nova, at first she wished to change her name to that of her benefactor, but the Headmistress convinced her to acquire the surname of the Nova Clan, a witch clan that was quite strong in the past.

Even now, she still remembered all those disdainful gazes from the past, the kind of despair she experienced... and how all of them changed right away after her sub-race test result was announced...

Vorst...

When she heard about the Neo-Aris arriving at the Athena's Institute, she instantly recalled her past and felt sorry for him.

Then she saw him walking out of the shuttle with his head held high. He didn’t look like a child bullied from birth; he walked with arrogance as if the gazes of the surrounding people were nothing to him. And it wasn’t because of Mersa. Nova’s insight told her so. Completely shrugging off everything else, he had that insurmountable confidence. Confidence in himself. That was the first time her heartbeat quickened.

...

A genius engineer. Surpassing the famous Celina Za. He was capable of manipulating two Controlled Bots as if it was nothing. Nova Aria would sometimes casually watch him do some maintenance work as he helped out the tiger girl with her M-Armor...

She even mustered enough courage to ask him to be her personal engineer, only to be turned down. Well, it couldn’t be helped; he already had his White Wolf Princess. There were many occasions to see them together, and those children didn’t even try to hide themselves.

...

Lower Inter-school Tournament Battle.

Again.

She lost.

Azure eyes were observing the battlefield from the sky.

The 'dead' communication channel that was available only after the GAME OVER was bustling with various discussions about the state of the game and what improvements to formations they could make.

Nova closed her eyes as she replayed the scene of her ‘death.’ It was in the main battle, Mars' side launched a full frontal attack... As usual, the strongest trio attacked her together. She didn’t want to, but she was forced to restrict Vera, and then Celina broke through her barrier. Then Renves once again appeared with a lightning dash to finish her off...

The other girls couldn’t protect her; all of them were already engaged in battle with others...

If only she had someone to protect her. A Knight.

[Wow, look at the White Wolf Princess.]

[Oh, she is even capable of dodging Vera's attacks.]

[Amazing!]

[As expected of a White Wolf, group hunting is in their blood.]

[Haha, Celina got a psychic bullet from point-blank range.]

Nova was somewhat envious of Mersa. The White Wolf's close combat capabilities were among the highest. What’s more, she was also an Elf! A Psion!

[Still, her power level is not high enough...]

[Right...]

The battle was nearing the end.

Just as the Red Bear was about to finish off the last elite fighter on Athena's side, ‘he’ made his move.

A Knight.

A Knight in Shining Golden Armor.

The Knight went to protect his princess.

The White Wolf Princess's Knight...

His ability completely outclassed all of their opponents. If she had that Knight...

She wouldn’t have lost. With him protecting her, they would be invincible...

The Neo-Aris that was supposed to be completely powerless...

He surpassed all of his limits just for his princess...

She needs that Knight.

She wants him...

...

Her obsession with the newly named ‘Golden Knight,’ which easily turned into love, was increasing exponentially every passing minute, every hour, every day. She would observe him. Casually. No one noticed, because right now everyone was stealing glances at him...

That White Wolf Princess... She sure is lucky. To have that Knight...

He is joining the Single Tournament... That’s where Nova will take him away. Because she will show him how powerful she is. And how much he NEEDS her. That’s right...

...

<Alert! Barrier status: 3%>

3%...

<Alert! Direct damage to body detected.>

<Alert! Injecting painkiller.>

<Alert! Injecting HNP (healing nano-photons).>

What will that do?

3%...

3% will be done in one hit...

He...

She needs him...

She wants him...

But he...

He doesn’t need her.

...

Then let’s see if you can take THIS!

...

It’s true that she could have used it earlier, but it requires a charging time... And without the psychic barrier and (Restriction), she would have lost way earlier. At his full power, he would survive this move, but now his armor was in complete tatters. There is no way for him to survive that...

A blurred figure emerged from the flames...

He’s still moving?

How?

Why?

What?

Why are you still standing?! WHY?!

*Shut down*

Hm?

He...

I see...

I know you don’t need me...

In fact...