My System Doesn't Give Power

You Did Good

Marty’s POV:

"I only had A-rank potential."

"At first, I’d brushed it off. A-rank wasn’t bad. Hell, in most places, it would’ve been considered exceptional."

"Back home, Mom and Dad had celebrated my awakening like it was a festival."

"But here?"

"I was surrounded by people with monstrous potential, walking around in academy uniforms and pretending to be ordinary classmates."

"Every day they trained, they improved, and every day, the gap between us is getting wider and wider."

"I’d seen it myself during training. Zac’s unpredictability. Sabrina’s control over mana and Daniel’s clean and ruthless spearmanship. Shobin’s intelligence. Kelly’s summons. Even Adrian’s ridiculous speed."

"And me?"

"I had a shield and a loud mouth."

His fingers tightened around the handle until his knuckles turned white. "If I can’t push myself now..."

Daniel’s spear slammed into his shield again, and his heel skidded backward, stopping barely short of the boundary.

"If I get comfortable just because A-rank is already good enough..."

His knees trembled beneath him.

"I’ll be left behind."

"Mom’s smile surfaced in my mind again. So did my own voice, proudly telling her I’d finally made more friends."

"Real friends."

"People I didn’t want to watch from somewhere far behind one day, laughing along and pretending it didn’t hurt while they kept moving forward without me."

My grip tightened.

"I don’t want that."

End of POV.

Mana erupted from Marty’s body. It surged down his arm and flooded across the shield with enough force to make the coating flare violently.

A stir swept through the crowd.

With a hoarse shout, Marty drove his shoulder forward and threw his entire weight behind the shield.

Daniel’s spear ground against its surface. For the first time since the match began, Marty pushed back.

Daniel’s foot slid half a step across the stone, and his eyes widened in surprise.

So did Kelly’s. "He pushed him back! Come on, Marty!"

Daniel recovered almost immediately. His grip shifted, the spear twisted, and the shaft whipped across Marty’s ribs.

The blow landed hard, and Marty staggered, but by now, pain had become such a constant presence that his body almost seemed to have stopped keeping score.

He caught himself and turned back toward Daniel.

Whispers rolled through the stands.

"How is he still standing?"

"Just how much can that guy take?"

Even the students who had wandered in merely to kill time were leaning forward now, completely drawn into the fight.

High above, Simon’s eyes remained fixed on Marty.

Matilda watched him for a moment before murmuring, "I didn’t know he had this much willpower."

Daniel stepped back, opening some distance between them.

His spear rose. "You’ve earned my respect, Marty. It would be disrespectful if I didn’t show you what I’m truly capable of."

Mana began gathering around him. "Let’s end this."

"Come on!" Marty charged with the shield forward; he poured everything he had left into his legs.

Daniel didn’t move; mana condensed around the tip of his spear, tighter and tighter, until the air around it seemed to tremble. The instant Marty entered his range, Daniel thrusted.

The spear struck the center of the shield, and the compressed mana erupted, and Marty was blasted clean off the stage.

For a heartbeat, his body hung weightless in the air before his back crashed into the arena wall.

What little breath remained in his lungs vanished on impact. Then he slowly slid down to the floor.

The referee raised his hand. "Marty Williams has left the stage. Winner, Daniel Martel!"

For the first time since the tournament began, cheers erupted from the stands.

Kelly rushed forward, but the medical staff were already surrounding Marty by the time she reached the edge of the arena. Daniel jumped down from the stage as well and hurried over.

Marty lay against the wall, staring blankly at the ceiling while the aftermath of Daniel’s final attack still rattled through his head.

"Are you okay?" Daniel crouched beside him.

One of the healers ran mana through Marty’s body. His expression tightened almost immediately.

"Broken ribs. One punctured his lung. Multiple fractures, severe internal strain along the meridians, and mana exhaustion."

He looked over his shoulder. "Get the stretcher. Now."

Marty slowly turned his head toward Daniel, and a weak grin tugged at his lips. "Looks like I’m haunting you for the rest of your life after all."

Daniel’s face fell. "Sorry."

"Don’t be." Marty wanted to say more, but nothing came out. Instead, one thought crawled through the haze in his mind. "Even after all that... I still couldn’t win."

Somehow, that hurt worse than Daniel’s spear. The medical staff carefully lifted him onto the stretcher. As they began carrying him away, Zac stepped forward.

He reached down and took Marty’s hand. "You did good."

Marty stared at him. Those three words were all it took to break the dam.

Tears spilled down Marty’s face, and this time, he didn’t bother trying to hide them as the medical staff carried him out of the arena.

Back in the waiting area, Kelly rounded on Daniel. "How could you do that?"

Daniel blinked. "Do what?"

"You could’ve gone easier on him! He’s our friend, Daniel. You didn’t have to hit him that hard. Look what happened to him!"

She spotted Zac approaching and immediately pointed at Daniel. "Right. Zac’s here. Let’s see what you say to him."

Daniel turned toward Zac, guilt already creeping into his expression. "Zac, I..."

Zac placed a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

Daniel froze, and Kelly stared at him. "What?"

"He needed that."

"Zac, what are you talking about? He just beat Marty half to death!"

"I know." Zac glanced toward the direction Marty had been taken. "Marty put everything he had into that fight. His fear, his frustration, all that worry about falling behind."

His gaze returned to Daniel. "If Daniel had started holding back after Marty made it clear he wouldn’t surrender, that would’ve been the greatest disrespect he could’ve shown him."

Kelly looked between them, utterly baffled. "I genuinely don’t understand how you boys work."

She threw up her hands. "Stupid boys." With that, she marched over to the seats and dropped into one with an angry huff.

Zac and Daniel exchanged a look, shook their heads, and followed.

Sabrina glanced at Kelly once she sat down. "What happened?"

"You watched the match, didn’t you?" Kelly folded her arms. "Daniel nearly broke Marty in half, and now Zac’s thanking him for it."

Sabrina gave a small nod. "Daniel did the right thing."

Kelly whipped around. "What is wrong with all of you? Am I the only sane person here?"

Adrian raised a hand. "What about me? I’m perfectly sane."

Kelly didn’t even hesitate. "You’re the worst one here. Keep your mouth shut."

Adrian slowly lowered his hand.

Nearby, Shobin wisely kept his thoughts to himself. "I didn’t know Kelly could get this angry."

At the top of the stands, Murphy turned toward Simon. "What do you think about him, Sir Simon?"

"He did well."

Murphy nodded, though his attention remained on the arena below. "But don’t you think his mana control is still rough around the edges?"

"It is. But for a shield warrior, that isn’t everything." Simon folded his arms. "More than strength, someone carrying a shield needs the sturdiness and willpower to stand against whatever comes at them. You saw him do exactly that."

"He knew he had almost no chance of winning, yet he refused to give ground. That’s not something we can teach a student."

Matilda and Murphy both nodded in agreement.

The remaining matches moved along at a steady pace.

Zac’s opponent was already nervous before the match began. The moment he saw Zac climbing onto the stage, whatever composure he’d managed to gather disappeared entirely.

The fight ended almost as quickly as it started.

Sabrina advanced as well.

Her mana coating was as clean and precise as ever. She deflected a heavy strike with barely any wasted movement, slipped behind her opponent, and ended the match with an almost gentle push that sent them over the boundary.

Which looked suspiciously familiar, and the moment she returned, Zac glanced at her. "You copied me."

Sabrina’s eyes narrowed. "Do you have a patent for it?"

Within seconds, what started as an accusation had turned into another argument, and Shobin and Kelly had to step between them before it escalated any further.

Shobin won his own match not long afterward, relying once again on timing, redirection, and precise movement to overcome a blade user without wasting mana.

Kelly had a harder fight.

She relied on her mana shield to weather the pressure and fired short, shaky bursts of condensed mana whenever an opening appeared.

The technique was still unstable and nowhere near polished, but it worked well enough to secure her victory.

As for Adrian, he naturally advanced too. By the time the final match of the morning ended, only eleven students remained.

Matilda stepped forward. "Congratulations to the eleven students who have advanced to the fourth round."

"The next round will take place this evening. Since there are eleven participants, five matches will be held, while one student will receive a free pass."

With that, Matilda left the arena alongside Simon and Murphy.

When the six of them eventually headed out as well, the mood among the group was noticeably subdued.

Zac glanced around before suddenly changing direction.

Kelly noticed first. "Where are you going?"

"To visit Marty."

Her expression immediately softened. "I was thinking the same thing. Come on, Snow."

"I..." Sabrina hesitated for a moment before following.

Shobin joined them without a word, and Daniel came along as well.

Adrian sighed with theatrical resignation. "Well, I suppose even nobility must occasionally visit the wounded."

And with that, he followed the group.

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