The Gigolo System in the Academy of Magic-Chapter 29: The Strange Match

The arena was unnervingly quiet, the sun beaming down with unwavering intensity in the cloudless. Its light cast two long, stretched shadows on the dusty stone floor—one belonging to James, the other to the hulking figure of the stone-armored demon.

There was no real way to use his Abyss Walker abilities right now without being noticed, but James didn't think he needed any bloodline abilities to deal with this person.

The match started. James followed the same pattern as the previous people and immediately started to retreat. The stone demon grinned, and massive rocky limbs launched forward with a thunderous charge.

The crowd began to whisper.

"That's the right move."

"Even if the demon was pretending to be exhausted he shouldn't be too far off, right?"

"Yeah, if it is a battle of attrition then we'll have the upper hand."

The demon students listened to everyone's confident analysis and began to smile.

The pale snake-like demon turned to Amon, "They really underestimate him, I think Gorran will end this even quicker than before."

Amon still ignored him, but this time he was playing close attention to the match unlike before.

To his left sat a beautiful demon girl. She was the most eye-catching of the demon students, aside from the red-skinned demon. Unlike the other demons, she was the one who looked most like a normal person. She might have even passed for a human, if not for the long fluffy white tail that slinked behind her.

If Professor Helene was full of the sensual beauty of a mature woman then this girl had a bit more girlish innocence. Many of the boys from the crowd were secretly peeping at her.

She was striking, not in a fierce or intimidating way, but graceful. A silver-haired girl with pristine human features, save for her fluffy fox-like ears and long, snow-colored tail. Where Helene oozed carnal maturity, this girl was the quiet flame—subtle, soft, but mesmerizing.

At this time, she glanced at the snake-like demon, and a trace of disdain flashed in her eyes, but she still agreed:

"Everyone thinks Gorran is only good at close combat." She shook her head, and covered the smile on her face with her palm, "He looks and acts like a fool but he's actually quite insidious."

Back in the arena, only a dozen seconds had passed, and James finally cast a spell:

"Wind Blade!"

The curved blade of compressed air howled across the space and...missed completely.

A beat passed. Then another "Wind Blade!" - but it missed again, fizzling out into the ground behind Gorran. The aim was so bad it was almost laughable.

The crowd erupted into confusion.

"What is he doing?"

"Is he blind?! How could he mis?"

"Missed again?! Was the win against Darien just a fluke?"

"Once a loser, always a loser."

However, unlike the human crowd which was filled with skepticism, the demons had fallen silent.

Amon narrowed his eyes, and spoke for the first time since the tournament began, "Not bad."

In the arena, Gorran frowned, his earlier smirk vanishing. He charged again, arms raised high, ready to smash James into the arena floor. But James simply retreated further, launching another series of Wind Blades—none of them hitting their mark.

Occasionally when James noticed that the demon's stone armour was trying to retreat he would throw a fire blast at him, as if reminding him that he was still a threat.

After a few minutes, Gorran's pace began to slow. His stony limbs, once firm and precise, became sluggish. His breaths came harder, deeper. His stone armor, already cracked in places, chipped further with each movement.

Now even the stupidest members of the audience could tell something was wrong.

Unlike the stone demon, James was still in good shape. He seemed to have cast a lot of spells, but he was actually quite measured, and the wind blade was not meant to actually attack, so reducing the lethality also reduced the mana cost.

Finally, with a last desperate bellow, Gorran rushed toward James. But his steps faltered halfway. His knees buckled. He collapsed mid-run, slamming into the ground with a heavy crash. Stone armor flaked away from his body like bark from a dead tree.

Silence.

No one cheered immediately. The crowd didn't quite know how to respond. The fight hadn't been flashy or explosive. They didn't know how to react to this strange match.

But a win was a win. Many students couldn't help but look at James with new eyes, even though everyone knew he had used the limit breaking potion and wasted his potential, he still did win against the demons.

In the arena, James exhaled slowly and then began walking towards the stone demon's collapsed body.

The dust around Gorran was still settling, and his groans echoed faintly in the quiet arena.

Then James stopped - and raised his hand.

"Ice Spear."

A sharp spike of frost condensed in his palm, and in a blink, he flung it toward the demon's limp body.

It soared toward Gorran's head.

At the last second, Gorran's eyes shot open and he twisted away. The spear crashed into the floor, exploding into frost.

Gasps filled the arena.

Gorran scrambled to his feet with surprising speed and rushed at James once more.

"Ice Spear."

Another spike tore through the air and embedded itself in Gorran's shoulder, spinning him mid-run and throwing him back down.

James gleaned towards the crowd, and then walked forward again, conjuring another spear, his expression cold.

"Stop! He gives up!"

At this time, a shout came from outside. It was Helene. The beautiful woman had walked up to the edge of the arena at some point and was now looking at James.

But James ignored her, and kept walking towards the demon who was groaning in pain.

Everyone was stunned. The crowd looked towards Professor Selena but she didn't say anything as if acquiescing to James' actions.

Helene's face twisted in anger and her magic aura burst out like a tidal wave. Black flames began to burst forth from her body. The pressure made many of the students dizzy and some of them even felt like they were about to collapse.

James walked over to the stone demon...and kicked the spear lodged in his shoulder.

"Stop pretending, you already lost. Now get out."

The stone demon immediately stopped crying in pain, and got up somewhat energetically. He looked exhausted but his eyes were bright.

The crowd was stunned.

"This demon is too shameless!"

"His face looks stupid but he's too cunning!"

Helene's aura retracted but her face was dark as she stared at the stone demon with daggers in her eyes.

But the demon didn't seem to care. Gorran limped across the arena without any embarrassment leaving behind the words:

"You're lucky I was exhausted, human. Next time you won't -"

Shhh~

The chilling sound of another Ice Spear condensing in James's palm echoed through the air. Gorran stiffened, then without finishing his sentence, leapt out of the ring.