The Academy's Strongest Undercover Professor

It was the first time in my life that I was facing such a creature alone.

Our professor had made us face a Cyclops on the first day of school, which was much stronger than this creature; however, I was alone this time... so it was bound to be a little more complicated compared to before.

I looked to my left, where Caedrel was sitting next to Oliver. For some reason, he didn't seem to worry about me whatsoever, which meant that he was confident in my abilities to defeat the Titan.

"Why aren't you moving?" The guy facing me muttered with a smirk. "Your first mistake was letting me summon my creature without attacking me. It made things a lot easier for me, I must say."

I just clenched my teeth when I heard those words, as I knew that he was right. If I had known of his power beforehand, I wouldn't have let him summon a Titan since it made things a lot more complicated.

Still, it was only a Titan. That much wouldn't be able to stop me.

I laughed a little. "Is that all you had to say?"

"You'll see who'll be laughing last."

After those words were said, I did as usual, dashing forward with only a slight difference: I was holding my sword this time. I would need it to defeat him.

Nevertheless, what truly annoyed me was the fact that this guy didn't have any power of his own.

He was just reliant on his creature to defeat me, which meant that I didn't even need to pay attention to him.

Made my job a lot easier, I'll tell you that much.

I jumped up and gracefully dodged the Titan's attacks, counterattacking every chance I got.

However, it wasn't too effective. I couldn't slash him, or rather, I couldn't damage him, and even if I did, he would get healed by my opponent, who used his energy to do so.

'Tsk, should I attack him and ignore the Titan instead?' I suddenly thought to myself.

After all, if I were to make him lose his consciousness, then the Titan would disappear since it constantly relied on its summoner's powers.

Realizing this, I changed my strategy in an instant, giving my full attention to the summoner. I realized that there was little to no point in defeating the Titan as long as I could attack the caster.

After all, it was much easier to deal with the caster, and since he didn't have anyone with him considering the nature of the duel, it took only a few moments for me to close the gap between the two of us. However, there was something that made me uneasy when I looked into the summoner's eyes.

He was smiling as if he had prepared something exactly for this situation.

"Did you think attacking me would be easier?" He laughed for a moment. "Well, I can't blame you. Most people fighting against summoners for the first time think the same. However, you couldn't be more wrong."

—Boom!

Suddenly, I looked behind me, and I was mindblown by what had just happened. It was absolutely crazy. It was a good thing that my reflexes were really good, or else I would have been smashed to death.

Because I had given my full attention to the summoner, I had forgotten that the Titan could still attack me while I was busy attacking. I had forgotten the most important part about this duel, the fact that it was a two versus one.

***

POV: Caedrel

On the sidelines, I smiled a little, noticing Ariel struggling. It was a good thing for her to struggle since it would make her stronger.

Oliver, who was sitting right beside me, looked quite confused about it as he couldn't help but frown.

"Why are you smiling? If this continues this way, then you might lose the bet we made."

I shrugged. That bet didn't mean much to me; it was only a simple request that the other had to accomplish. Truth be told, I had no clue what I would even ask of that man since I had little to no use for him. I had simply agreed to the bet for fun.

"If she loses, then it might be a good thing for her. Defeat can sometimes be crucial to growth, and truth be told, I want to see one of my students fighting. I'm interested in his potential."

Oliver frowned at those words, clearly confused. "Who are you talking about?"

I pointed toward the only student of mine who was sleeping away, waiting for his turn—the loner of the group.

"Him? You want to see his potential?" Oliver repeated, clearly confused about him. "He's not even paying attention to everything around him. He's just a lazy bum who got put in your class."

I laughed. I once had those thoughts about my dear friend in the past, but everything changed when I saw him get serious. It might seem like nothing is going through his mind, but that couldn't be further from the truth. If that boy was truly related to the one I know, then he might be even more powerful than the Emperor's daughter.

Actually, scratch that. He would be more powerful than the Emperor's daughter.

"You're not looking at him enough. He's special. I also thought the same as you at the beginning."

Still, before Oliver could say something else, another loud noise resounded from the stage.

"Hm… strange. I thought she would have lost that one. Well, I guess this is the end of our match," I said without much thought as I stood up with a shrug.

Ariel had won. However, it hadn't been without difficulty; she was hurt as she had multiple injuries all over her body.

Oliver gritted his teeth as I said those words. I knew that even if Ariel was injured, there wasn't any other student who could defeat her. He had lost. After all, all of his students were scared to death of Ariel right as they spoke, looking away from her every opportunity they could get.

"We forfeit," Oliver declared with a sad look on his face.

And just like that, we had won our very first match in the tournament.