Let's Make A Bet

6 Years ago - 

"Excuse me, young man, can we have a moment of your time?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure."

"What year are you in?"

"Third Year."

"Third year. Ah, I see. If you don't mind, can you tell us how you are feeling about today's special event?"

"Well, erm, I guess I'm feeling nervous about it. It's obvious that many of us are nervous, especially us Lander. Haha, but we all trained hard and did our best to prepare. I believe that we can prove that Lander and Spire are no different from each other."

"That sounds wonderful. I'm sure all of you trained really hard to prepare for today's events. I have no doubts about that. Do you think you can win any match today?"

"Haha, I'm not sure, but I will try."

"Haha, certainly, Well that's great. One more thing before we leave you be: who among the third year are the strongest of all?"

"Ah, I, erm, I guess I could say it's our student body president. His spearmanship really left a great impact on me. I could say that he is our strongest student in the third year."

"Oh, wow, he sounds wonderful. But, correct me if I'm wrong, there's a lot of rumour that's going around at your academy that your strongest student isn't a top student but a troublemaker. Can you share a bit of his name and what kind of this 'troublemaker' person is?"

"I'm sorry? Rumour student?...I'm not exactly sure what you are talking about; obviously, our student body president is the strongest of all at the Lander Academy."

"Really? But our sources say otherwise. It says that a student with violet-coloured spiky hair is the strongest student here in Lander Academy."

"Violet-coloured hair? You mean Jackson!? Are you talking about him? How the hell do you know him? Where did you hear of him?"

"Ah, it seems you know him well." The female reporter smiles, finally getting a reaction from the young student. The camera zoomed close to the young student's face, and the young student got more nervous when mentioning the name, Jackson. "So do you care tell me about him?"

"I, I, don't know, really, I don't."

"Oh? And why is that? Please, can you give me at least a bit of information about him? Anything at all that I can work with."

The young student looked around, appearing to be a bit sweaty as he was looking for something. Then in a low voice he said it on the mic, "...That guy is just a monster. And I don't want to be involved with him. That's all I can say. Goodbye." He said and left in a hurry.

When the young student left, the reporter glance back at her cameraman, who immediately cut the recording. The reporter chuckles and lets out a grin on her face. She feels like she is almost close to finding out about the rumour student. 

Even though her primary goal is to broadcast about today's match, the female reporter couldn't help but be curious about the mysterious violet-haired student. She first overheard this from her nephew; eavesdropping is the correct term; that there's a third-year student around the academy that her nephew should avoid meeting. The third year has a violet-hair with crimson eyes; he is around 180 cm, having a fit and slender body, and he looks like he often glares at people.

While eavesdropping, the nephew laughed it off, saying how ridiculous that sounded, but her friend warned her to be careful since the rumoured third year student is one of the strongest students in the school. Someone once witnessed the student fight around 20 students and won with little visible scratches on him. The student even grinned at the sight of blood. A troublemaker that's what he is.

Obviously the reporter finds it to be a funny rumour, but even rumours have to come from somewhere. It didn't change the fact that when it comes to rumours, there is always a 90% chance that it might be true. The reporter can't just dismiss the rumour since she might have an opportunity to interview a future climber, maybe even a future ranker. This could boost her career and the reporter is looking forward to it.

The reporter decided to interview any student of Lander Academy, hoping to discover more about the rumour and maybe strike gold when she gets the chance. Every one of the students has their own unique set of personality traits. 

When asked about today's match, some of them are cheerful, some of them are timid, and some of them are even cracking jokes, probably due to peer pressure. But when mentioning the man name Jackson, their reactions are interesting.

"Jackson!? How do you know him?"

"I, I don't want to talk about it."

"Is he here? Is this a setup?"

"He's fucking terrifying."

"Oh, him? He's cool."

"I think he is a nice person... I don't know. The rumours of him really paint him as an awful person. But then again, if you see him fight, you couldn't help but think he is.

"His fighting style is wild. Oh man, you have to see it in your own eyes."

Each student has a different view about Jackson, but even then, most people find him terrifying. But none of them deny that Jackson is the strongest student in the academy.

He is a delinquent, a troublemaker; in academics he is average, while in combat, he is a genius. The strongest Lander around his peers, a monster, Jackson Clover.

With that said, the rumours made the reporter even more curious about the existence of Jackson; if she could, she would want to find the student and interview him, but she didn't have the time for that since she had to get ready to broadcast for today's event.

She walks back with her cameraman towards the stadium; it's a shame she can't have the chance to interview him, but it doesn't matter. Because of today's event, everyone will see if the said rumour is true or not.

It's a showdown between students of different academies: Lander vs. Spire.

The reason as to why the match is so important is because of their history. Landers are people born outside the tower, while Spire are people born inside the tower. Even though 'Spire' aren't people who get an invitation from the tower, 'Spire' view themselves as greater since they are much closer to the effect of the tower. And they view 'Lander' as lowly because of their difference. 

Though this match presents as an event where Lander and Spire can show a healthy relationship with one another, in reality this event was simply to show how much better the Spire really are.

The event is held at a large stadium inside the tower; it is held on the first floorbreak. Thousands of people came to watch; some of them simply view this as entertainment, and some want to cheer their respected faction. This event isn't simply to show how much better the Spire is; it is also an opportunity to recruit future climbers to their guild.

It's more like an opportunity for both sides.

A showdown between 20 students. First year between first year, second year between second year, and third year between third years. Each year, they will appoint their top 20 students for the match. When one of them loses, they will go back to their seat while the victor remains; the victor will continue to remain at the stage until he loses; that's the rule of it. 

Students can use any type of weapon, and the event will provide those weapons. There is no risk of harming each other since the arena is laced with a magical barrier that is prepared by arcana users, this makes any form of 'death' temporary. When students suffer 'death', the barrier will break showing who won and who loses.

The stadium is crowded with people, both 'Spire' and 'Lander' alike. While the Spire Academy students were much calmer, the Lander Academy students couldn't help but be folded by the pressure. It is nerve-wracking, and what's worse is that everyone will see this, and it's live on TV.

The reporter began broadcasting the event, "I am quite excited to say this is the first-ever event where a showdown between students from Spire Academy and Lander Academy is having this kind of event. It's certainly exciting to see which of the academies perform their best."

The first year, 40 students walk out and enter the stage, each one of them appearing nervous, some still trembling, but the group of 15-year-olds has no choice but to accept their situation. The announcer calls their names, and both Spire and Lander enter the magical barrier.

While looking at the match, some people placed their bets on which would likely win, and sure enough the match folded exactly how people would expect it to be: the 'Spire' won, but what was surprising was that 'Lander' managed to hold an equal ground with the 'Spire.' This shocked the audience since they assumed that 'Spire' would sweep 'Lander' off their feet and win by a landslide, but no, the first year Lander did their job well and managed to be on equal ground with them.

08-12, it was a close fight for the Lander, and despite them simply being students, it was quite exciting considering that the student was using a cold weapon instead of a wooden one. It made the battle feel thrilling.

The reporter was even more excited than them all; being a Lander herself, she was hoping that Lander could be on equal ground, and she was glad they did. She managed to contain her excitement since she had to be on equal ground and show favouritism.

Because of the first-year performance, people began to be more excited to see the second year next, but alas, it was simply a disappointment, 04-16. What is worse is the fact that a single student won 10 times in a row. This left a bad taste for the Lander.

A single student won 10 times in a row; sheathed his sword away in a proud manner, he had blonde hair with blue eyes, and everyone already knew which family he was from without him outright saying it: Orion Lancaster, the son of the prestigious Lancaster guild. A son of the biggest guild inside the tower, a royalty; not only that, he is a genius. People chanting his name, praising him, not only that, they found it to be expected for a son of Lancaster.

Orion shows the difference between 'Spire' and 'Lander,' and quickly more people sided with the 'Spire' more. Some even consider this event to be a waste of time since they assume 'Spire' will emerge victorious anyway.

Some Spire residents began to sneer at the Lander, saying as to how the Lander had no chance. The sound of mockery really left the second year in poor taste. It's the third year turn now, each student began to warm up and headed towards the stage.

The second year left the stage with a defeated expression on their face. They lost badly, and with the combined mockery, it just demoralises the second year.

The reporter saw the dejected face of the student and couldn't help but be saddened as well; she could simply give a word of encouragement on camera, hoping the second year would rise up again and not be too discouraged.

The group of third years enters the stage, and one student stops the dejected second year and whispers something to them. The second-year student, at first, looks scared, but when the student lets the second year go, the second year has a confused look on their face. 

The student has violet spiky hair and is grinning as he looks at his group member; his group member flinches while the violet-haired student puts his hand on their shoulder and forces them to make a circle.

They appear to be whispering about something, and some argument is being made, but the violet-haired student doesn't seem to care. When the announcer calls for the name James, the violet-haired student walks up to the stage instead. When he appears, the announcer looks confused, but the student simply took the announcer's microphone.

"Ah, testing, testing, you guys can hear me right? Haha, apologies everyone, but there will be a change of plans. James won't be fighting for this match first. I will."

Numerous murmurs echo through the stadium; some thought the violet-haired student was simply an attention whore, while some thought what he was doing was simply unnecessary, but the student simply had a smile on his face.

"What the hell is he doing?" The reporter murmurs as she looks closely at that familiar-looking student.

The announcer was also giving the student a weird look; he took back his mic away from the student hand. "I see, then may I ask what your name is?"

The student smiled and cracked the air of his neck, "Jackson. Jackson Clover. I hope all of you will enjoy the show."

The reporter's eyes widen at the name; it's Jackson, the troublemaker. The reporter can't help but think it's his own brand since he is making trouble right now on the stage.

The announcer appeared to be talking to staff, and after a bit of delay, they agreed and let Jack fight.

Jackson was grinning, and it made his opponent disturbed by the sight of it. The two of them enter the magical barrier and stand at their respective places. Jackson's opponent began to observe Jackson, looking at him up and down, but he ended up with the conclusion that Jackson is an idiot. Jackson appears to be unprepared and full of openings; Jackson even yawns and scratches his chin, and that simply annoys the opponent more.

When choosing the weapon, the opponent went ahead and grabbed a sword and a shield from the inventory, a weapon that the opponent has been mastering over the years.

Jackson chuckled at his opponent's choice of weapon; he didn't say much and simply chose his choice of weapon in the inventory, but what Jackson chooses is the exact same weapon of his opponent, the shield is the exact same on his left arm while the sword is on his right. "Let's be quick, ok?" Jackson said as he began to taunt the guy.

Jackson looked like he was simply enjoying his time here; he wasn't even in his battle stance. He continued to look around while the opponent got annoyed that Jackson wasn't ready yet or even taking this seriously.

Having enough of Jackson's insult of the matter, the opponent charged forward towards Jackson; he wanted it to end this painfully for Jackson and so he swung his blade towards Jackson's neck.

The tip is nearly reaching Jackson's neck, almost connecting to it, but, "Slow, your swing is too slow, mate." 

A loud sound of metal being deflected, Jackson swung his sword upward; it shocked his opponent as his hand was now up in the air, "W, what?"

Slash.

A single side slash, Jackson swung his blade to the side and the magical barrier disappeared.

The fight didn't last one minute, and Jackson's opponent was already kneeling down on the ground trembling as he looked at how fast everything was.

The crowd was stunned; it left them with a huge shock. Jack gazed down at his opponent, and then he looked at the group of third-year 'Spires' with a wide grin and pointed his blade towards them. "Next."