Chapter 234: Fated Meeting with Sora
"Holy shit, it\'s Karl…"
"Karl Spikeford?"
"Yeah!"
[Attempting to defeat the year president is futile!]
"Yeah, yeah, my ass," Karl, who was the person Stark had already defeated once back at the \'ClassiTop\' event, positioned himself.
If Stark remembered right, he was a [Warrior], but his power consisted in his body being able to generate sharp spikes from any and all directions, as well as using them as sharp weapons.
He seemed to be stronger than back then when he fought Stark, maybe the beating actually forcing him to take his training more seriously?
"COME AT ME!" Karl dashed toward Sora without wasting a single second, "SPIKE SLASH," he summoned two spikes in his hands, ready to slash Sora.
But in the end…
"Evergreen Resilience," not even giving him a single look, her face emotionless and looking at the ground, Sora activated her [Legendary] skill, and the ground underneath her began to radiate with a vibrant green aura.
Much like against the Warden, her surroundings instantly grew grass, taking aback Karl as he was still dashing toward her.
But… it was too late for him.
"Boring…" she mumbled in a low voice.
~FWISH, FWISH, CRIWK~
Dozens upon dozens of vines came out of the ground and
wrapped around Karl in a matter of seconds, not even letting him come close to her.
"What the–" Karl tried to struggle against the vines, even attempting to cover his entire body in spikes using [Spike Armor] and [Spike Eruption], but they were too powerful and constricting, and they kept regenerating even when he broke them.
"I think you get it now, right?" Theodore smiled as he saw Karl pitifully try to remove the vines from himself.
Even though his body was renown to be extremely sturdy, and it was impossible to chain him because of the spikes that could come from anywhere, Sora somehow managed to do that, and with a single attack too.
This fight was not fair to begin with, and people all around the room could finally understand why Sora was the strongest, no wonder she was a prodigy.
Even Karl, who was also someone people even in this room respected and feared because of his massive strength, was beaten this easily, after all, meaning that they never stood a chance to begin with.
"…" Sora was kind enough to use the [Evergreen Resilience] vines to slowly sent Karl back at this position in the room, placing him exactly on the square, then deactivating the skill.
He had learned his lesson, and he wouldn\'t try to fight her anymore, that\'s for sure, nor anyone in this room for this matter, as they didn\'t want to risk humiliation or putting her on their bad side.
And yet…
"Pftt~" after the initial shock, Stark couldn\'t help but laugh at this entire situation, "Hhahahahahahahaha!"
And it wasn\'t a chuckle or him trying to hold it in, he was straight up laughing like a maniac, unable to contain it anymore.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" he pointed at the stage with Sora on it, while holding his stomach and trying his hardest to stop himself from leaving the white square, otherwise he would be expelled, "HAHAHAHAHA…!"
Even Stark didn\'t know why he was laughing so hard, but after this fight and the chairman describing Sora as this impossible-to-beat opponent, the sole memory of Sora on the ground after being beaten by the boss brought tears to his eyes, and they weren\'t sad ones.
Of course, the ENTIRETY of the room started staring at him, as his laugh echoed from every direction.
"…?" Theodore seemed confused, but once he saw who the person that was laughing was, his eyes widened, and he let a quick smile, "Hey, you," he pointed at Stark who was still holding his stomach as it began to hurt.
"Hahahah… w-what?" Stark tried to answer between two laughs.
"If you think this is so funny, then please come on stage and fight Sora, we\'ll see if you laugh more afterward," this wasn\'t actually a proposition, but an order from the chairman, and everyone could sense it.
"S-Sure, hahahahaha," Stark wiped some tears from his eyes as he got out of his square and began walking toward the stage, still ominously laughing while people looking at him as though he was the biggest weirdo in the world.
"…Weird," Even Sora mumbled such a word, she didn\'t see the face of that person, but if they were mocking her, then she would make sure to teach them a lesson.
She had learned something important during the [Domination] trial, and she wouldn\'t let those teachings go away after being so close to death, and more than once.
Well, she couldn\'t imagine Stark\'s pain though as he had literally died twice, but she wouldn\'t forget him, and hopefully one day…
\'Maybe… we\'ll meet again,\' she sighed as she looked to her left, the person that had been laughing now on the stage.
"BOOOOO!"
"GET THE FUCK OUT, LOSER!"
"Stop laughing!!"
People were shouting at him as he got on the stage, and it\'s at that moment he could finally stop.
"W-W-W…What?" Sora\'s eyes widened so much you couldn\'t even imagine she was emotionless, and she took a few steps back.
"Hello, Sora, the name\'s Stark, nice meeting you for the first time," Stark approached Sora, and he bowed down, his face with a giant smile full of malice.
"Sora? What\'s happening, come on, teach him a lesson," the chairman wanted to judge Stark\'s powers as he had managed to sense their auras even through their secret room.
If Sora defeated him, then he wouldn\'t be much, and if he did defeat her, then this year would become much more interesting.
But what he didn\'t expect was…
"Nice to meet you," Stark repeated as he extended his left arm toward the white-haired girl, who looked at it for a few seconds, unable to comprehend what the hell was happening, she quite literally had the same reaction as Stark, and although it didn\'t show much on her face, her mind was in utter chaos.
"Don\'t worry…" this time he whispered just low enough for only him and her to listen, "I was just as shocked as you," he smiled gently, his arm still extended.
"What are you two doing?"
"Come on, Sora, kick his ass!"
Both students and teachers awaited the clash between the two, but it had been around one minute, and all they did was stare at one another.
"She won\'t shake your hand, dumbass, just leave!"
"I do agree with them, Mr. Laughter," Theodore finally intervened, "You might already know it, but Sora never touches anybody-"
He was about to say something everyone knew: Sora was NEVER seen being close to anyone, and even her powerful family had a hard time touching her or getting her to touch them, even a hug was already a miracle if it ever happened.
People called her the "Untouchable Rose" because of her flower powers, her emotionless condition, and her personality which didn\'t allow her to touch anyone, especially guys.
She even said it once herself in a quick interview: "I just don\'t feel comfortable touching people I don\'t know, it\'s like some sort of reaction from my body I cannot control that makes me immediately back away if someone gets too close."
And yet…
"Nice to meet you, Stark," in front of everyone\'s astonished gazes, Sora returned the handshake, not a single sign of discomfort in her actions, "I\'m sorry, chairman," she turned toward Theodore, "But this is my friend, I won\'t be fighting him," she said in her emotionless voice, although there was a strange hint of happiness in it, one that was NEVER present normally.