40. He is Dead!

Two weeks went by swiftly and the dust of everything about the stolen plaque seemed to have settled, no one talked about it anymore.

Life had gone back to being normal at the red falcons academy. If there was anything Christopher knew, he had a goal and he was determined to achieve it.

The second semester classes had started earnestly and their first semester results had been released. As expected Christopher came out as the best student in the semester. His friends also preformed exceedingly well.

This made him even more popular at the academy as the new name on everyone's lips was Christopher Sylvester.

As the saying goes, “with fame comes great responsibility.” Despite winning the hearts of many disciples of the academy, there were still people that felt threatened by him.

****

It was a beautiful sunny day and Christopher was on his way to class that morning until someone bumped into him.

“Oops…” he started before raising his face up.

He was supposed to see him.

“Zane.”

“Yes it's me.”

“Did you miss me?”

Christopher looked at him weirdly.

Now that he thought about it, he had not seen Zane in the past two weeks if not more.

Christopher ignored him walked straight ahead until he got to his class for the day.

*****

Christopher was finally done for the day and as he was walking to his dorm, he could see some of the disciples gathered.

He wondered what was going on and this piqued his curiosity, in a bid it, he approached them.

He was surprised to see Evangeline there. As soon as she saw him, she ran towards him before he could say anything.

“Big bro…”

“Isn't it weird that you keep calling him your brother especially when you are not related by blood?”

On hearing this Christopher’s eyes turned red.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Little one, isn't that right?” Zane asked now facing Evangeline.

“I wonder why you are still clinging to him especially since he's elementless.”

“The order must have changed so much in red falcons that even those who are not worthy are now being named top students.”

Everyone around him burst into laughter.

“Zane what do you want?” Christopher asked getting agitated.

“I want to change this order once and for all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let's have a match. We'll fight. Whoever wins has to step down.”

If you sin I'll believe that you deserve your position.

“If I win I get to take my rightfull place as the top student I've always been.”

“You will also give up the private training room “

“That's ridiculous,” Christopher sighed.

“Are you backing out because you are scared?” Zane taunted.

“Or aren't you just a coward?”

Christopher took one long look at him before speaking up.

“I'm done here,” Christopher finalized and dragged Evangeline along.

Just as he was about to leave Zane rang the bell in the convergence hall point.

At exactly this time tomorrow, Christopher and I will fight.

Christopher looked at him with burning fury

“You know what this means right?”

“It's finalized since I already rung the bell.”

“No going back.”

“I didn't consent,” Christopher defended.

“You don't have to.”

“You know what? Let's get this over with.” Christopher answered beginning to get annoyed by his gimmicks.

“Oh I love that cockiness.”

“Be rest assured that I will take you down.”

*******

If there is anything Christopher did not understand. It was how someone would deliberately stir trouble everywhere he went.

On top of that, Zane still thought that he didn't have an element. Maybe no one told him yet, he must have not been around then.

Christopher felt really uneasy about the whole fight but he needed to put Zane in his place once and for all.

“Don't do it,” he heard Milady say to him.

“But I don't have a choice, it's already been finalized.”

With that he didn't hear anything again.

******

Compared to other days Christopher could feel this strange weariness. He didn't want to leave his dorm but he knew the consequences of deciding not to fight Zane. As long as he rung the bell, it meant that it was final.

He walked into the hall and loud shouts of hooo could he heard. The crowd was urging him on.

He himself did not know that he had that much supporters. That alone gave him a form of assurance.

Zane had already been waiting for him before he arrived.

As Christopher approached,Zane plastered on his face a devilish smirk showing that he was up to no good.

“Don't go easy on him,” he heard Milady say.

“Weren't you against it last night?”

The system didn't respond anymore so he focused on what he had to do.

He walked into the circle the disciples had created and there were different shouts from the onlookers. From Zane's supporters and his.

Compared to his, the people supporting Zane were very dramatic. He even got a referee to supervise.

Christopher on the other hand wanted to put him in his place and get it over with.

The bell rang and they started.

“Rule number one, you are not allowed to use any weapons.” the referee started.

“Number two, you can't use your fists.”

While the referee mentioned all these, Zane kept on grinning from ear to ear.

“You made those stupid rules, didn't you?”

“Ouch, you know that hurts, right?”

“I would like to see how you would fight”

“Me too,” Christopher immediately replied as he kept both hands behind him.

Zane moved backwards and waited for Christopher to attack but he did not move an inch. Noticing that he did not bulge, he tried to send him a flying side kick when he least expected it but Christopher had already anticipated him using his legs since fists were not allowed.

Christopher dodged his kick gracefully. He continued sending kicks which Christopher was able to successfully dodge. Seeing that his tricks were not working he changed his style and sent him a back kick which he tried to dodge by bending low.

This action of his made Zane to successfully send him an axe kick which hit his chest. This was quite painful for Christopher as he staggered backwards.

Zane already began to rejoice inwardly. Before he could regain his balance, he sent him a front kick that was strictly targeting his chin.

Now seeing that Christopher was becoming weak Zane began to use his elbows.

“Fists aren't allowed, rule breaker.” Christopher spat.

“Fists are not the same as elbows.”

Hearing that Christopher’s eyes turned red and he regained his composure.

Zane must have thought he was such a weakling.

“I wasn't going to do this at first but……”

He paused and closed his eyes allowing his water element to take over. It began to rain on him which made Zane shocked.

“You ….. you ... have an element” he stammered, taken aback by this.

Just as he began to approach Christopher, Christopher sent him a roundhouse kick which made him fall flat on the floor with his back.

The referee began to count and at the count of three, Zane did not get up which symbolized that Christopher had become the winner.

Evangeline rushed into the ring as she wrapped herself tightly around him.

“We did it.”

“You will still be the top student.”

Christopher was all smiles but he was still in pain because he didn't want to show his moves too quickly. He knew he could defeat Zane in a matter of seconds but he decided to stall for a bit.

The fight was over and his supporters cheered him on.

Zane's supporters already left after seeing that he did not even win.

Their shouts of celebration were interrupted by the referee calling Zane repeatedly since he refused to get up.

Christopher ran towards him and felt his pulse. He was very pale and cold. His energy level was very low as well.

Christopher was now scared at the moment as he knew the words but he suddenly went dumb.

“What's wrong?” a loud voice from the far end of the room spoke.

Christopher lifted up his face and realized that it was Derrick.

He ran towards them and touched Zane.

"He….." his voice suddenly trailed off as disbelief clouded him.

“HE IS DEAD.”