Mistaken for a Masked Munchkin

Pikachu

Caitlin was a bad matchup for Viktor.

The charges on the [Evil God's Mask] had not dropped even while he fought vampires.

There was a reason those charges dropped twice in his duel with Caitlin.

'Fast.'

Caitlin's speed.

She was one of the academy's top sprinters.

If you gave her top speed a stat grade, it was a full A+.

Mid-tier students could not even track her with their eyes.

'For me, this is the worst possible matchup.'

Caitlin was fast.

Even with the Slowdown Bug active, her attacks still poured in so hard that reacting was a struggle.

He could follow her movement with his eyes, but responding correctly was a separate problem.

Her magic was Electricity too, with wide coverage and strong power at both close and long range, a nasty combination.

'Of course... those tricks stop working around the lower half of Class A.'

The damage and firepower Caitlin could output was, at best, around the lower end of Class C.

In raw firepower alone, she was below Shariel, who had been Class C's top student.

'She went all in on speed, so she lacks finishing power.'

That was why true top-tier students with overwhelming base stats could just endure her.

They took a defensive stance and held out until Caitlin ran dry.

Her stamina was poor too, so that approach worked frighteningly well.

Even when she launched a large attack that was hard to block, her speed dropped heavily in those moments, so all they had to do was read it, slip away, or counter.

'Class A is full of real monsters to begin with.'

That was Caitlin.

Untouchable up through upper mid-tier, then instantly ordinary the moment she reached top tier.

Players even called her an A-rank litmus test.

If you could break her technique, you were A-rank. If not, B-rank.

'I don't have that kind of base stats.'

Viktor only pulled out A-rank or higher performance by exploiting bugs.

If you counted only his base stats, he was just E+.

Compared to the minor cultists and vampires he had been dealing with, this was a far more advanced level of difficulty.

'And... my body is still weak.'

He had found a way to grow stronger, but right now his body was still close to a weakling's.

Caitlin might have lacked finishing power against monsters, but against someone like Viktor, one clean shock could kill him instantly.

From the boy's point of view, every one of her attacks was a one-hit kill, and her speed was top ten in the whole setting.

She was trickier than most staff members.

'Even in the original story... there were only a few characters faster than Caitlin.'

Worst matchup.

But that description applied to the other side too.

To Caitlin, the boy was almost pure poison.

'Status Effect-Parrying.'

The bug that stripped options off an opponent.

It could erase both debuffs and buffs.

'Caitlin is a battle mage who fights on self-buffs.'

Her speed came from those buffs.

In other words, if he landed Parrying cleanly, he could pin her down.

'All that matters is timing.'

Two people each holding the key that was worst for the other.

At that point, the match came down to who used the situation more intelligently.

Caitlin swung her fists without much thought, while Viktor waited for the right moment from start to finish.

He watched the flow.

"Heh."

That was all.

The gap between them had opened on details that small.

"...?"

Caitlin stared blankly at her own hand.

Sparks were still snapping over her clenched fist.

But they only crackled a few times, then scattered before they could condense at a single point.

The flashes that had wrapped her whole body were gone too, and the girl stood dazed in the center of the arena.

"What is this...?"

Crackle, crackle-.

Caitlin was clearly flustered.

The magic that had worked perfectly a second ago had suddenly shut off, like someone flipped a switch.

If you compared it to a human body, it was like legs that had been moving fine moments ago suddenly locking up.

"Why... why is this happening?"

She kept muttering and clenching her fist.

Viktor stood calmly in front of her.

"Did something go wrong?"

"Y-you...!"

Caitlin's eyes snapped wide.

The murderous glare in her pupils looked almost like a bird of prey.

She still could not raise her voltage, only clenching the residual sparks clinging to her fingertips.

"What the fuck... what did you do to me?!"

"What do you mean I did anything?"

"Don't play dumb! Just now, it was like you ripped my magic apart..."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about. I simply used a normal defensive stance."

"You bastard...!"

Caitlin rushed him with her fist drawn back.

But unlike before, she was painfully slow.

The current that corrected her movement was gone.

"Slow."

He did not even need to press the watch.

One step and one leap through space was enough.

The girl failed to react to Viktor's movement, and exposed her back.

Thud-!

"Ugh...?!"

"Oops, my foot slipped."

A low kick slammed in without hesitation.

The direct hit to her thigh made her whole body lurch.

As she turned back toward him, his clenched fist struck her abdomen.

Thud-!

"This time, my hand."

"Kgh, urk...!"

A healthy, muscular frame.

His fist slammed into her hard eleven-line abs.

It was only an E+ Strength blow, but it was more than enough to break her already shaken balance.

A broken gasp leaked through her lips. Caitlin staggered and dropped to the ground.

Thump-!

"Haa, haa..."

She had fallen in a clumsy sprawl.

Maybe her drained stamina had finally caught up with her.

Attacks that normally would not have moved her at all landed like critical hits.

She had kept forcing her voltage and speed higher, and now the recoil came back all at once.

"Kgh, hk...!"

The girl dry-heaved and braced one hand on the floor.

Caitlin wobbled, unable to stand for a while.

Viktor did not move in to close the gap. He only watched her quietly.

No.

To be exact, he made people watch.

The wide stands, packed tight with students.

"..."

"Cough..."

A pathetic posture. A figure right before defeat. A moment bending and breaking.

He let all of it burn itself into their eyes.

The kneeling girl, and the boy looking down at her.

That briefly staged scene swallowed the arena's atmosphere whole.

-What... what just happened?

-No way, she got pushed back? And she even took clean hits.

-My god. The Class B Top Seat, kneeling in front of Class E's top student...?

-This is insane. Is he really winning? Class E's top student against Caitlin?

Murmurs spread through the stands.

-I thought he was just barely hanging on... I did not expect him to knock Caitlin down outright.

-The Class B Top Seat suddenly froze up, then got beaten one-sidedly...

-Did he use some kind of Dispel-type sorcery?

-But I did not sense any sign of sorcery at all.

-Was he timing it the whole fight? The second he got the angle, he swallowed her whole.

Awe, questions, suspicion.

Every kind of reaction burst out in a mix.

Those voices reached the girl's ears too.

"......"

Caitlin did not say a word.

She only clenched her bronze fist tighter, her slender shoulders trembling.

-Well, that is why she cannot make Class A.

-She burns out too fast. Her mana pool is tiny by birth, she cannot sustain it.

-But she always strutted around acting tough... never thought she could not even beat one Class E student.

-Wow... but that Class E top student is the real deal too. Countering that speed and winning like this?

Even the Class A students added their comments.

Flat eyes. Or mocking eyes.

Words cursing her lack of talent.

"......"

Her head bowed toward the floor.

Blood ran from the corner of Caitlin's mouth.

She had bitten her lip too hard and torn it.

Whether that happened or not, the boy across from her stood at ease.

"Caitlin."

"......"

"Are you all right?"

"......"

The masked boy knew exactly which words would humiliate Caitlin most.

Pity from others, or words telling her it was enough and she should quit.

"Why not forfeit here?"

"......"

"I think I have shown the gap enough."

"......"

Words like that.

"I do not have a hobby of bullying weak people."

"...Ha."

Ptui-.

The girl spat out blood-mixed phlegm.

A low, dry laugh escaped her, then those healthy bronze legs pushed her back up.

She swayed a few times, then barely found her center and raised her head.

"......"

Her bright yellow eyes were full of killing intent.

Her clenched fist dug nails into flesh, blood dripping down.

"Hey."

How had she lived all this time hiding that poison inside?

Under that loose delinquent act, ugly things churned and bubbled.

Inferiority, jealousy, contempt, disgust, resentment... every kind of negativity.

Maybe the boy's few taunts had snapped the reins, because thick black murk spread around her.

"Fuck, why...!"

Crackle-!

The current that had gone out rose again.

Over yellow flashes, the black that had spread like paint started mixing in.

Soon it dyed her whole body in something you could not even tell apart as light or darkness.

"Caitlin."

"Do not look at me like that..."

Kzzzzzt-!

She squeezed mana she did not have to the absolute limit.

A style of casting that consumed her own body.

Power surged out at a level beyond anything before.

"Do not look down on me with those eyes!!"

She screamed it.

Viktor sensed this was her last struggle.

Ready to burn out completely, she exploded every thread of current she had left.

Boom-!

The girl kicked off the ground.

Her body shot into the air.

Black and yellow flashes sparked across bronze skin.

'Stubborn. Really stubborn.'

Her condition was so bad she could have blacked out immediately.

Even so, she kept her eyes wide and forced her fist closed.

It almost made him admire how twisted someone could become inside.

Viktor quietly raised his hand.

"Come."

Fine.

He would take it head-on.

"Aaaaaaah!!"

One of Caitlin's few techniques with B-rank or higher destructive power.

An attack that gave up speed in exchange for pushing force to its limit.

He could have dodged it easily because she had slowed down, but Viktor planned to meet her head-on.

'Lettuce-Style Lightning Magic, Secret Art'

-Thunder Spear-

A bronze fist.

It became a bright yellow spear and dropped from above his head.

Hair whipped through the air, black paint streaks trailing like afterimages.

-Wait... is he seriously going to take that head-on?

-He is crazy! Caitlin's attacks hit harder the slower they are...!

-Why is he not dodging? At that speed he could dodge it twice and still have room!

-That is dangerous even for Class A! Why is he doing something that reckless?!

-Damn it! The professors need to stop this, quick...!

The stands churned with panic.

But Viktor stood there to the end.

"Dieeeee!!!"

A scream driven by madness.

Caitlin's fist exploded toward him.

In the next moment, a blinding flash flooded the arena.

-What the hell...!

-W-what happened...!

That brilliant glare lasted almost thirty seconds.

As the crowd kept murmuring through the blocked view.

The light faded, and the two figures in the center appeared again.

"Hm."

All around them, huge pits had been gouged out by the aftermath.

Among the swept debris.

Caitlin had stopped with her fist still thrown toward Viktor.

Now she really looked out of stamina, like she could lose consciousness at any second.

"This is the end."

And Viktor stood in front of her.

His hand was wrapped around the girl's fist.

He had blocked that monstrous attack with one hand, as if it were nothing.

The crowd stared in disbelief, but of course there was not a single scratch on the boy's body.

Ding-!

[Item 'Evil God's Mask' has been activated.]

-Remaining charges: 0/3

-Time until next charge: 47 hours 46 minutes 41 seconds

A blue screen rose before his eyes.

Before that window could even fade, Caitlin lost consciousness and collapsed.

Crash-.

The bronze body sprawled across the arena floor.

"......"

Everyone in the stands stood with mouths wide open.

Silence hung over the arena for a short moment.

That thin quiet was broken by the referee's voice.

《Th-the exam is over...!》

《Caitlin Lettuce is incapacitated!》

《The winner is Student Viktor!》

All eyes converged on him.

Viktor ignored them and tilted his head toward the collapsed Caitlin.

Toward the Class B Top Seat, now his underling.

"From today on, your name is Pikachu."

Chunsik... no, Pikachu.

He had just secured a tier-one slave, perfect for running errands.

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