Prince of The Abyss

October had come faster than expected, but at the same time, September had been a pretty hard month; now that he actually had to worry about classes and stuff, Academy life wasn’t as fun as it was before.

The worst part was that even studying and actually trying, he had gotten close many times to failing a class, because the teachers were against it; it was evident, even the other students knew, he had tried to talk to Avius about it, and he had told them to stop.

’But you can’t expect them to change so fast when they’ve been like this their whole life without any consequence, and continuing to cry about it won’t do anything, so the only thing I can do is keep going. Trying my best to actually pass, even with them being more harsh on me than they should.’

His Anchor was going nicely, slow, but at least Atlas had actually started training inside it, which had him excited; he had even helped him with the blade. He wasn’t a master when it came to other sides outside his own, and he actually wasn’t that good with any blade other than the Rapier.

But at the same time, he had enough knowledge to help a beginner.

He had also sent Inky to see what Rune was doing, giving him paper and a pen to write on, and from what he read from him, is that everything was fine; his uncle was taking good care of him.

He was happy to see he hadn’t died, since he really didn’t know what to say to Maeve when she finally came back if he died.

Speaking of it, Maeve had still yet to return, though; it wasn’t that big of a surprise, he would have been really surprised if she managed to actually take care of her trial in a month with barely any experience.

There was still some time until Winter, so she had time to come back before he left. So he hoped fate had that in store for him.

...

But until then, he had something else to take care of.

After all, with October, the tournament had also come, and he had really underestimated what the tournament was going to be like. Classes had fully stopped; there was nothing to do. People all over the Blue Rose had started speaking of it.

In the Merchant Ward, people had even started to sell merch of it; the most popular stuff was scarves of the challengers and people that have participated in the past. From what he noticed, the most sold out of all were the ones with Lilith and Keres. Which was interesting, knowing that some time had probably passed since Keres participated in the event.

Lilith, however, he expected; though it was interesting that he was not participating. He looked over the list, but he wasn’t on it.

Interestingly enough, there were even scarves with him, and just like any other scarves from the event, it was designed around him, having a Withered theme, which might have been the reason that actually no one had bought it.

The most sold that had someone from the current event on them were with Orion.

Which was to be expected; he had also heard the rumors, his story with Iris and such, he was insanely famous, so of course when he competed in a huge event, he would be the most marketable.

And he was sure he was going to finish high, if not actually winning the whole thing; he was confident he could get far, but at the same time, what Sena said to him worried him slightly, about there being many people stronger than him.

Though, at the same time, he didn’t care that much about it; sure, he wished to win to get the prize, but he didn’t lose anything by getting out early. No one has high expectations for him either way, and he definitely doesn’t have fans. Maybe some girls from the Academy, that is, if he hadn’t made it public that he had no intention of dating at the moment.

And so the fan club he used to have and had been unaware of before had almost vanished.

Winning could actually hurt him even more than losing; after all, he knew that most people hated him with all their hearts, people who considered him living inside the Withered disrespectful. After all, how could someone from the Withered live inside the Academy and the highest Ward while they didn’t?

He was a public enemy. He was surprised people didn’t buy his scarves just to burn them.

It was something that happened quite a lot. But it seems like they didn’t even want to waste their money on him to do that.

...

And yet, it only made him want to win even more. That way, he wouldn’t just get his prize, but he would also win despite everyone wanting him to lose in the first round, despite them wishing he was humiliated and beaten up badly.

That way, he could show the Blue Rose that the Withered wasn’t what it used to be anymore; it was growing, and it was going to continue to grow until it surpassed the Blue Rose

...

Maybe he actually wished this more than the prize itself.

...

Tomorrow was going to be the first round, in a special arena built in the Merchant Ward; his opponent was a Celestial child... a lot of them entered the competition; there were 64 competitors, some Knights, some normal students, well, not really normal, just like lower on the noble ladder, and of course, like he said, Celestials.

Was he scared?

...

Well, he had said that Sena’s words worried him slightly.

But he wasn’t scared; at least, he wasn’t going to let himself fall in the first rounds, since if he did, he would just prove everyone who was against him right... and that was the opposite of what he wished to do.

...

A part of him was excited about it even... after all, he knew that there would also be some people like Atlas, from the Withered, and seeing him... would maybe make them dream.