"Students! We will go over the rules one more time!"

Lupin's voice was being amplified by some kind of magic, washing over the students standing in the arena once again. This time, though, the crowd was much smaller. There weren't nearly as many students as there'd been back at the entrance exam, and this time, the atmosphere was different. They weren't nearly as nervous, nor were they as chatty. This time, there was a sense of professionalism, a sort of mutual respect among the soon-to-be test takers.

Interestingly enough, Hikari, the magic circle teacher, was also there. It made sense, though. Someone had to set up that imaginary battlefield, and something like that likely required some sort of specialty magic. Since it was a spell of such a large magnitude, magic circles did seem like the tool to use.

"Remember, any ranged weapons that have not been cleared by me will not be allowed! Banned weaponry will not be usable once the exam begins, and if that is your only defence… well, I wish you luck. Otherwise, a few things will be different from before."

There was a low hum that was quickly silenced.

"You will only have one life! Once you are eliminated, you may leave or continue to watch the remaining examinees. The field is consequently much smaller! Be prepared for anything."

The Mythic's strict voice paused before taking on a slightly kinder tone.

"And remember. Your placement means nothing. Of course, one should aim for the top, but ultimately, it is your performance and improvement that we are judging. With that being said, I wish you all the best of luck."

Destiny looked at John, who once again had a ridiculously large bag.

"Are you sure about this?" the hero whispered.

John frowned. "What?"

"You don't need me to defend you?"

John grimaced. "Well, I mean… if you see me struggling, I wouldn't mind getting a bit of assistance."

"But- well, I don't know what I'm saying."

Destiny smiled, putting his hand on John's shoulder. John flinched but was soon soothed by his friend's warm smile. There was a very tangible trust in his eyes.

"I'm sure you know what you're doing. After all, you wouldn't be this confident if you didn't have something ridiculous planned, right?"

John nodded slowly. "Yeah, something like that."

~~~

Prota watched the screens nervously. Once again, their group of friends had shown up with the addition of Briar, who was casually munching on a snack. Prota was distracted enough that she didn't even think of wanting some.

John hadn't revealed his plan. Up until the end, he'd seemed distracted, ever since that one night when he'd come home late. Muttering to himself, pulling at his hair, seemingly stressed over something. And in the end, she'd never figured out what was wrong. She never asked him what was bothering him. But she knew he was struggling.

And so she'd grabbed his hand. And without a single word, she'd told him it would be ok. Because he was John. And in the end, whether he won or lost, he was strong.

After all, that was what he'd taught her.

"Do you know what he's got planned?" Danjo said nervously.

None of them were worried about Destiny. All of them had seen firsthand just how strong he'd gotten. If anything, they'd be surprised if he lost at all. So the one they were worrying about was obvious.

"Des never told me anything," Celeste said quietly. "But… I'm sure he has something, right? Otherwise, Des would've been worried, too. But he wasn't."

"Destiny wasn't worried?"

Briar laughed, kicking her feet up. "Well, if that powerhouse wasn't worried about the weakling, then we don't need to be worried either, right?"

"I guess…"

Prota ignored all the chatter, watching John intently.

What did he have planned?

~~~

John's eyes snapped open to a clear blue sky. His body, flat on the ground, was surrounded by swaying tall grass, preventing him from seeing anything else. With a grunt, he sat up to find himself surrounded by flat plains filled entirely with tall grass. It was a strange setting, but one far better than something like a mountain or lone island.

"Alright, what do we have here…"

John reached into his storage, and a standard training sword came out, the same kind he'd always used against Destiny during class. It was nothing special. But that didn't matter.

He'd just lose anyway, right?

With a sad smile, he looked at the blade in his hand. If he was lucky, maybe he'd get a kill or two. There was also the backup plan, but did he really want to use it? He wasn't entirely fond of the idea.

"There! There's someone over there!"

John flinched as two voices slowly grew louder, forcing him to drop back into the tall grasses. Now that he thought about it, hiding didn't really matter anymore, did it? They'd seen him. It wasn't like they were just going to think he'd teleported away.

"Ah… so soon, huh?"

With a sigh, he stood back up, pulling yet another sword out of his storage. Again, he had no intent of failing the exam and getting expelled. He had to try a little, and if that meant putting in a little work, then so be it.

"Oh. It's you."

Two boys approached John carefully, the swishing of grass rustling in everyone's ears as the boys pushed through. One was wielding a spear, while the other held a broadsword. They weren't anybody John recognized. [Side Characters], probably. Maybe he had a chance, then. Unfortunately, these weren't cocky nobles, meaning they weren't living punching bags.

And that meant he had a decent shot at losing.

You are neither favoured to win nor favoured to lose. You're just using the [Author] as an excuse to avoid fights you'll lose.

John grit his teeth. Was he really in the wrong for that? It was, after all, his greatest strength. The ability to [Read] the situation. The ability to analyze what people were, not as "people," but as [Characters]. He appeared reckless and hotheaded, but he'd never really taken a fight he thought he'd lose.

Wasn't this the way he was supposed to think? Wasn't this what the [Author] had intended for him? To use his knowledge to his advantage, to take this curse and do something useful with it. The [Author] was bad at their job; that much was true. But they at least understood the fact that a character being a cure-all to every problem was bad for a [Story].

Wasn't that why his powers had been removed? Wasn't he meant to play the role of the bystander? The underdog? Destiny was the [Protagonist], the powerful one. Hell, even Prota fit the role of [Protagonist] more than he. It was even in her name.

But what did he have? A power that barely worked and a bullshit arsenal of abilities.

"What do you want from me?" he cursed under his breath, holding his swords out before him.

Thankfully, the two boys seemed to be wary of him. John was thankful for that. His reputation as a madman seemed to linger, even months after the initial incident. But eventually, they'd go on the attack. They wouldn't just stand there forever. Unless…?

"Now!" the spear boy yelled, charging in.

John cursed. They weren't the bumbling idiots the nobles had been.

The boy with the spear kept John at a distance, thrusting over and over, forcing John to parry attack after attack. Whenever John tried to get in close, the broadsword wielder would counter with a mighty swing, something John couldn't block with his relatively fragile weapons. If the boys didn't have mana, this might've been doable. They were good, but not yet at John's level. Their technique was decent, but their aptitude for battle was not.

But it was that stupid mana that made all the difference. The sheer gap in power was something John couldn't overcome, not without cheap tricks.

"Tch… they're [Side Characters]. Come on, you can win," he muttered to himself.

John threw both swords, catching his opponents off guard. He was weak, yes. But only weak in terms of raw power. Even if he didn't remember most of it, he still had thousands of years of experience and his body.

And these were children.

Reaching into his storage, he pulled out a spear, chucking that as well. It was reminiscent of his fight against Lupin, using weapon after weapon in a sort of barrage of poorly executed attacks. It was a strange play, but it was working. His opponents, who'd once been calm and composed, were now panicking as this unorthodox strategy assaulted them. They'd never been trained on what to do against something like this. In the first place, what kind of opponent came with a literal sack of weapons?

John could feel his heart beating in his chest. He regretted not using any of his drugs before the exam. Even if he could somehow outwit these two, he would eventually lose the battle of attrition. As mana-reinforced beings, they'd obviously have way higher stamina than he.

Eventually, it seemed they were adjusting to this new attack pattern. Their panic slowly dissipated as they realized that John's attacks were barely a threat to them. With renewed vigour, they started their attack once more. Even worse, the spear was now coated with flames. John wasn't sure why they hadn't done this since the start, but it didn't matter. A spear through the heart was still a spear through the heart, flaming or not.

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Either way, he couldn't afford to get hit.

Both parties could tell, though, even at this point in the battle, that John would lose. Nick after nick, scrape after scrape, and John was slowly but surely going down.

"Just a little more!" the broadsword wielder yelled. "We can do it!"

Suddenly, a burst of mana washed over them, so strong even John could feel it. The tall grasses whipped back and forth as a figure bolted toward the fight, a long, curved blade gleaming in the light.

"Ah… he's late. I guess I'm the real [Side Character] here, huh?"

Destiny burst out in full force, his first stroke immediately cutting down the spear-wielding enemy. His teammate was quicker to react, blocking Destiny's next blow with his sword, but there was so much force to the attack that the metal actually began to dent.

"Why are you getting involved?!" the boy yelled in frustration.

"He's my friend. And I did say I'd help," Destiny grinned, pulling the blade back.

It began to turn white with heat as flames coated the sword.

"You- with him?!"

"Yeah," Destiny frowned. "Don't ask why. Even I don't know."

With one clean strike, Destiny's weapon cleaved right through the enemy's blade, eliminating the last visible enemy. Both of them looked down as the bodies faded into light, returning to the real world. No words were offered as Destiny allowed John to regain his breath.

"...thanks."

"You don't seem super grateful for a guy who just got saved."

"What do you think? I was getting my ass handed to me," John grunted, grabbing Destiny's extended hand.

The silver-haired boy looked at John curiously.

"So? Your plan. Did it work?" he grinned.

John looked away. "What do you think?"

Destiny's smile slowly faded.

"It's that bad?"

John took in a long, deep breath and sighed. "Again. What do you think?"

The two stood there awkwardly.

"Well… I'm gonna keep going. Good luck."

"Yeah. Good luck."

Destiny bolted off and was soon out of sight, leaving John to watch the trail the [Protagonist] left in his wake.

~~~

"Hm…"

Lupin frowned. Everything was going well. He'd been exceptionally pleased with the way those two boys had handled John's strange fighting style. The students were implementing the lessons with wonderful results, which was to be expected. Destiny was especially successful in his battles, putting the private tutoring he'd been receiving to good use.

The only outlier to all this was John.

"I thought you had more bravado than that, boy," Lupin muttered. "Come on. Show me something interesting."

But John continued to stand still, sword dangling in hand.

"That boy is interesting, isn't he?"

Lupin turned around to see Hikari Dormier watching the exam. He was mildly surprised to see the cat Mystic taking any interest at all in another class's exam.

"He's an interesting boy," Hikari repeated, stepping out of the shadows to take a closer look.

Lupin grimaced, unsure of where the cat Mystic was going with this. "What, do you sense something?"

"Nyo. Nyone of my magic circles are reacting to anything at all," Hikari shrugged. "But still. He seems so weak."

"...is that so?"

"Mm. I mean, just look at what happened to him."

The cat's tail swished back and forth. Hakari's sharp teeth slowly revealed themselves as their mouth spread into a wide grin.

"But that's the most interesting thing of all, isn't it? That boy's sister fights like an assassin. And you know what's the deadliest thing of all in that field? Getting your opponent to lower their guard."

"Are you suggesting-"

"It's possible, is all I'm saying. He could just really be that weak, you nyow. You should lighten up."

Hakari shrugged once more, moving back into the shadows.

"I'd keep an eye on that boy if I were you. Not for his potential. But just in case. You never know."

~~~

Prota watched, stunned. What'd happened to John? Why did he look so defeated?

"Hey, I mean… he's alive, right?" Danjo said anxiously.

Celeste nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! He can still fight."

Celeste's words felt empty to Prota, though. She knew how her brother fought. She'd seen John get back up and try again. But he always had a certain bravado to his attitude, a certain swagger to his step. To put it simply, he was confident in his abilities.

He was showing no such signs at the moment.

"What happened?" she muttered.

~~~

John still hadn't moved. He wasn't sure how many students had been eliminated by now. Probably a decent amount, since no one had come to challenge him.

"Maybe… maybe I'll get second, just by hiding here?"

As soon as he said that, someone entered his field of view.

"Oh, great. Of course."

The enemy was holding a mace, her muscles bulging as she swung it back and forth, sauntering forward with confidence.

"John, right?" she called out. "I'd recognize that scarf anywhere."

"Look, I'm not so keen on fighting, so can we-"

"I challenge you!" The girl's expression was bright as she pointed her weapon directly at John.

Great, an enthusiastic opponent. He didn't want to fight, but before he knew it, there was a giant spiked ball rapidly approaching his skull. There was a loud clash of metal as John parried the attack, but the sheer act of defending sent aches down his arm, his hand shaking along with his sword.

"Shit! Why the hell are you so freakishly strong?" he gasped.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

The girl continued her unending assault. Swing after swing, smashing through swords, spears, shields, everything John had. He was pulling out weapon after weapon, but without the strength to defend, he was slowly going to burn through his reserves. Soon, there was really only one thing left.

"I've got you now!" the girl yelled, weapon raised high.

John squeezed his eyes, reaching into his sack one last time. "Ah, fuck it!"

Out came… a large, red baseball bat. It looked like a standard aluminum bat, but there wasn't even a scratch as the mace bounced off.

"Seriously, to use it here… well, it's not a special weapon or anything," John grunted. "Just made of good material."

"So you were hiding your trump card? Wow, I'm impressed! Then I'll show a little something myself!"

Dirt rose up from the ground to surround the girl's hands, creating rock-hard gauntlets that had merged with the handle of the mace. John grimaced. She'd be able to swing that stupid weapon way easier now, especially without having to worry about something like her wrists or hands being attacked. In any other fight, that'd be just a minor buff, but here, in a fight like this, it was the worst thing that could've happened for John. He'd planned on aiming for her joints since he likely wouldn't get damage anywhere else, but now, there was nothing to aim for.

"Here we go!" the girl exclaimed happily.

Clash after clash rang out, like the sounds of metal being hammered in a forge. Sparks flew through the air as John blocked attack after attack; the quality of the bat absorbed the shock, allowing John to hold on just a bit longer.

But that was all he was doing. Holding on.

Take away your tricks, your toys, and what are you?

"Yeah… I'm just a normal human, aren't I?"

Maybe it was time to give up. He'd given enough of a show here, right? The old wolf should be pleased by now. He wouldn't get expelled. Right. This was enough. He could sit down, get killed, and—

"What the- a message?"

~~~

Prota couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't bear seeing John like this. He was strong. Ridiculously so. She didn't care how much of a handicap had been put on him. She didn't care that he had no mana, no means of fighting back against those with absolute power. He was someone who'd paved the way for her.

[John is strong.]

She sent the message with a shaky breath. She didn't know if the distraction would kill him or save him, but she couldn't just sit by and do nothing.

[You need to decide what 'victory' is to you. Right?]

Those words, uttered so long ago. Victory. What did John want? What was his definition of 'winning'? Prota knew what her victory was to some extent. She'd discovered what it meant for her to reach for what she wanted.

But what did John want?

[Please win.]

~~~

John stared at the messages, letting his body take over to defend. Something like this was showing up now? Those words. He'd said something like that to encourage her, right? Now that he thought about it, he hadn't really thought about what he'd been saying. How ironic. Those same words were being used against him, but even more than that, they were working.

For someone like John, victory wasn't as simple as growing. He didn't grow. He didn't care to grow, and he really had no need to. No, victory meant truly winning. It meant being the last one alive.

But since when had he gotten so depressed over… over what? Being called a coward? Being given the knowledge that he wouldn't be able to beat Draco?

This wasn't like him. Since when did he let things define him so easily? Sure, he might be a coward. He might run away from things. But since when did [Characters] become such a threat? His efforts to view these puppets as equals had somehow made him forget that he was once a puppet master.

"Piss off!" he roared, swinging the bat as if aiming for a home run.

The sudden change in pace was enough to throw his opponent off guard.

"That's it! That's the guy I was hoping to fight!" the girl yelled, her grin growing even wider.

Right. The feeling of blood pumping through your veins, electricity running through your nerves, the elation of a fight where one didn't know where they were going to lose. He'd done this against Elfin over a year ago. He'd been forced into the fight, knowing he would lose, and yet despite that, he'd never had a stronger urge to win.

"If the opponent were to use mana, it might give me a little trouble. But would you lose?" John muttered to himself, as if he were going insane.

"Nah, I'd win."

Tossing the rock up into the air, he swung with all his might, sending the rock hurtling toward his opponent at the speed of an arrow. The girl had no way of knowing what John was planning, so the attack caught her completely off guard. The rock caught her in the shoulder, leaving nothing more than a bruise on her mana reinforcement, but it was an attack. It'd gotten through.

"Right. You didn't think of all the loopholes, did you?"

John picked up another rock, tossing it up and down as if trying to figure out whether or not it was truly a good rock.

"Come on!"

The girl charged in, but she was prepared this time. Reading the rock's trajectory, she managed to bat it away with her weapon, unrelenting in her attack. Swinging down, she met John's bat, clashing weapons once again.

"That's it! Keep going, John Quarta!"

Once again, blow after blow was exchanged, but there was a different energy to it. John wasn't taking the attacks head-on. He was using his weapon to redirect the force of the attacks, letting them slide off his bat, reducing the stress on his own body. Every little trick. Every little bit of advantage he could get, he would take. Toys? Tricks? Even if they were taken from him, he'd still have something, anything.

It was merely a matter of how creative he could get. He'd been a [Writer], right? That couldn't have been possible if he weren't creative.

Probably.

"You're an honourable fighter, right?" John gasped as he blocked yet another attack.

"Of course!"

"Well, damn, that sucks. I'm not."

John bent down for a moment, picking up a handful of dirt. The next parry was followed up by a toss of said dirt right into the enemy's eyes.

"Gah-!"

There was no time to waste. John quickly took charge of the tempo, swinging his bat with full force, right into the enemy's head. Unfortunately, it was like trying to bash someone's head in with a foam stick. It might sting a little, but ultimately, the damage really wasn't that much. Still, John didn't give up. Swing after swing, hit after hit, an unrelenting barrage of hits that, while on their own never amounted to much, started to hurt.

"You- how interesting-"

There was a loud crack as a stone was sent hurtling straight into her face. John wasn't letting up. Unfortunately, it just simply wasn't enough. No matter how determined he was, no matter how much he wanted to win, there would always be a difference between an ordinary human being and someone who could survive shots from a pistol. Still, that didn't stop him from picking up another stone and hitting another swing deserving of a home run.

"That's enough playing around," the girl grinned.

With a cry, the ground began to shake as she charged forward like a wild animal, her mace coming up in a crescent arc, smashing John right in the chest. He flew back a good distance, bouncing off the ground like a stone skipping on water. As his body crumpled up, his chest heaved as a glob of blood came out of his mouth. Just like that, it was over. One attack, and John was down.

All that, and for what? He watched as the enemy slowly approached, ready to deliver the killing blow.

"It was a good fight, but-"

The girl didn't get to finish. A flaming sword pierced her chest, and her body disappeared as she was eliminated from the exam. John could barely see, but he already knew who it was.

"You look like hell. Seriously, how did you make it this far?"

John wanted to tell him to shut up, that he was late, but he could barely breathe, let alone speak. Destiny just shook his head, sighing as he looked John over.

"I couldn't find anyone else, but the exam isn't over. So I came back here, but… it looks like you handled it on your own. I mean, as best you could."

There was a sort of awe in Destiny's voice.

"Well, if it's just me and you…" he continued awkwardly.

John sighed. Right, this was how it ended. The [Protagonist] would win it all. That was how it was supposed to be. He closed his eyes and waited for death.

"Here. Drink this."

John's eyes snapped open, and he was met with the familiar sight of Destiny's hand extended, handing him a potion. He frowned in confusion.

"They never said they were removed. Come on, get back up."

John didn't fight it as Destiny tipped his head back, pouring the bitter drink down his throat. In a moment, he could feel his bones solidifying, his muscles and punctured flesh knitting itself back together. He was still tired, but he wasn't out just yet.

"...hey, Destiny," he muttered, wiping his mouth.

John sat up, shaking his head to reorient himself. He'd probably lose this fight, too. It was a logical assumption to make. He'd almost gotten his ass handed to him by some random girl, and this was the one who'd pierced through her defence like it was made of paper mache.

But still. Just out of curiosity. Just for fun. He wanted to try. He pointed his bloodied bat at Destiny, the red metal gleaming in the sunlight.

[Anomaly]. You don't have a preset role. You are neither favoured to win nor favoured to lose.

"Don't go easy this time, ok?"

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