45 Ch 44 – Is to Control the World

Watching her walk up to the stage, everyone gulps in fear as Amber could be considered one of the strongest in class, maybe even the strongest considering she is a Level 4 Esper and is almost a Level 5 already which made her a formidable foe.

"It seems like Freidrich would be defeated now, especially that he is tired from fighting two times already,"

"How cunning, to think she would exploit Freidrich's exhaustion"

Many in the class start to murmur with one another, their eyes shining at the upcoming spar between the two.

Grinning, Braun walks to the other end of the arena while a small hole opens up from the barrier covering the whole circular arena at the opposite side he was standing as Amber walks through it.

"Good morning, Amber!" Braun said while he showed off his toothy grin, his hair slightly fluttering with the invisible force surrounding his body.

"Good morning, Freidrich," Amber said, finally returning his greeting while looking at him with a cold gaze as if she wants to uncover his secrets and inspect them to the fullest.

"3!" Vergil shouts, in response, both contestants have their eyes light up, Braun glowing crimson while Amber glows fiery red.

"2!" Upon the second shout, their esper abilities start to unconsciously affect the reality around them, from an invisible pressure emanating from Braun while the air around Amber heats up.

"1!" At the final second, an explosion erupts from Braun while sparks of flames surround Amber, their hair flowing from their AIM field towards the air.

"GO!" as the final mark came from Vergil's mouth, the fight finally started.

Pointing his hand forward, a telekinetic barrier was formed in front of Braun while a beam of fire shoots in front of Amber towards Braun, her pillar of searing hot orange flames being blocked by Braun's barrier while the flame swish beside Braun's body after being redirected by the barrier.

Enlarging the barrier a few meters long and wide, Braun punches his right hand forward and watches the barrier shoot straight towards Amber.

Calmy responding, flame shoots out of Amber's soles and shoots into the air with a single burst of flames, dodging the barrier and pointing both of her arms towards Braun, she mercilessly shoots two beams of flames that divide into 10 individual beams of searing hot light beams.

Waving his left hand forward, the 10 individual missiles of flames halts in midair and was redirected towards Amber, watching his attempts with calm, analytical eyes, the beams of fire that were redirected towards her encountered a searing hot barrier of flames unnoticed to the naked eye, only showing itself for the first time upon making contact with the barrier.

But that one single moment disrupted her vision from the slight flashes of light, and without her noticing, she felt her barrier suddenly being pierced through by something akin to a fist that punched her straight in the gut, letting saliva out of her mouth and her eyes bulge out.

Clutching her stomach, she shoots out a wave of flames forwards and flies further to the back to make distance between her and Braun.

Taking deep breaths, she watches Braun in the distance having beads of sweat all around his forehead, indicating that her plan was succeeding and the strength of her pyrokinesis showing itself, in long-term and short-term battles, she would likely win when it's one to one.

As a slight grin forms on her face, the light in her eyes glows brighter while the flames below her feet erupt with stronger force, shooting straight toward Braun whose vision was disrupted by the continuous fiery ball shooting towards him.

Appearing right in front of him with fiery fists, the fire around Braun finally disperses and he looks at her with wide, shocked eyes.

As Amber watches Braun's eyes dilate, she watches the crimson glow around his body glow further and he suddenly moves to the left at inhumane speeds without even moving his legs nor his body, it was as if a force has grabbed his whole body and moved it to the left to dodge her devastating fists.

But with her intellect, wits, combat experience, and processing power, the flames at the soles suddenly changed direction towards the left and her body rapidly rotates to the right.

As her legs appear directly right beside Braun's head, he rapidly raises his right hand to block her oncoming kick that comes from his right, the flames enhancing the force of her kick that made Braun fling to the other end of the arena in the distance, slamming the left part of his whole body into the wall.

As smoke covers Braun's whole body, Amber drops down to the ground while her long, flowing blond hair drops down to the ground, the fiery orange color at the tip of her hair recedes along with the glow in her eyes dissipating.

'Sigh, he's a lot weaker than I thought.' Amber thought, shaking her head in disappointment, thinking that she already defeated Braun.

But soon, she watches an explosion of pressure erupts in the distance while the white smoke around Braun goes away as he clutches his right arm with gritted teeth, slight trickles of blood dripping from the left side of his forehead while his eyes wince in pain.

Sighing, her whole body lights up in fiery orange light, pointing her right index finger at Braun, multiple spheres of blazing hot flames appear in the air around her, and as she metaphorically pressed the trigger with her right hand, the balls of searing hot flames shoot forward towards Braun who looks at her flaming attacks with rapidly dilating eyes that moves from one place to another in rapid succession.

"I… see!" Braun shouts as the balls of fire finally arrive in front of him, and as she makes them explode, smoke once more covers the area around Braun, nodding her head, she was finally sure that Braun was defeated, even making sure to lessen the impact of her fireballs to not bring fatal damage to Braun's body.

Turning her head around, she prepares to walk off the arena but out of nowhere, she felt something hot whiz past her cheeks and subconsciously touch her right cheek to feel the temperature around it rising enough to make it slightly painful to touch, and when she saw the spark of flames colliding with the barrier in front of her, she widens her eyes and turns around to see Braun surrounded in an inferno of flames, his eyes wide and his mouth smirking in glee.

And as the crimson glow around his body turns into crimson orange, the color of hellfire, she watches the crimson flames around Braun gather at the tip of his open right palm that was pointing at her.

"I can finally see your trick! HAHAHA! I CAN SEE!" Braun shouts, his eyes full of maddening glee as if he just understood something that made him insane.

With a boom, she watches a pillar of crimson flames shoot towards her with disbelieving eyes, her body standing there in shock without moving, as if her mind couldn't comprehend what she was currently looking at.

There he was, Braun standing at the opposite side of the arena with his suit covered in scorch marks and his hair tinged with burnt ends, but his mad, toothy grin and eyes that turned from bloody crimson to crimson orange made her feel as if she was looking at a monster in human skin who achieved something that they weren't supposed to learn.

As her long blond hair fluttered with the wind pressure produced by the pillar of crimson flames shooting straight at her, she suddenly regains back her clarity when a void black barrier forms in front of her while the silhouette of Vergil appears in her vision, the field of space around him bending upon the activation of his ability.

Watching the wisps of flame that appear from the ends of the barrier that went around her, she clutches her rapidly beating heart and calmed herself down, her mind trying to analyze the implications of Braun's new ability.

'He's… He's going to be a new King.' Was the thought that everyone had in the class, it was not just an opinion, it was a certain fact, for the Immortal King of Zenith Academy holds the same ability, or something similar to Braun's current ability.

With wide eyes of disbelief, she felt her stomach drop at what she had done, the irony of the current situation causing her mental fortitude to shake.

Her brother, her poor little brother who was in a coma due to a nameless disease he received upon turning the age of 10 and has been in a coma for years now has made her the person she was right now, with the goal of becoming a King being the only thing in her mind since the day her brother went into eternal sleep, to receive the backing of the world's greatest city and produce a cure for her brother.

But now… that dream just went from probable to near impossible due to the existence of the new potential King, Freidrich Braun. Just the ability to wield 2 different esper abilities would definitely allow one to become a formidable esper, but he was different, he learned it from her, learning, the exact same ability the Immortal King holds.

Redirecting her focus back to Braun, she watches the barrier Vergil made was now gone and looks at Braun in the distance who stands on both feet with closed eyes, his chest heaving up and down indicating he was calming himself down.

"Are you okay now Freidrich?" Vergil asks, slowly walking up to Braun with slow, but steady steps to not suddenly make him go mad or anything of that sort once more.

"Yes teacher, sorry for the earlier outburst, the fiery nature of her ability just made my mind cloudy and the feeling of destruction just filled my mind for that split second, along with the euphoria of gaining a new ability, it led to that traumatic moment for the both of us," Braun said, opening his eyes that regained his usual calm.

"And I must say my sorry Amber, that was unbecoming of me," Braun said, walking towards Amber and stretching his hand out to help her stand, and from that, conflicting emotions erupts from Amber's chest.

Past interactions, past actions, the bad blood between her and Braun that might have formed due to her cold attitude towards him, anxiety soon wells up in her mind.

What about her brother, would he stay in eternal sleep now that she had made a great enemy in front of her? Are all the effort she had done now worthless upon the broken ability the man in front of him holds? Questions filled her mind like no other as her emotions rioted, wanting to be released in their rawest forms that she had kept to herself for years on end.

And just like that, the dam in her mind breaks loose, from the constant act of coldness, the stress of striving for the peak, the lack of friends, her lack of familial love due to her cold attitude towards them, everything that she kept to herself was shown to the world when slight tears start to form in her eyes, and from slight tears, it became a raging river of sadness.

"H-huh?" Braun said, his face suddenly turning into shock at the sudden actions Amber did, the sobbing and tears dripping down her cheeks made his brain unable to process her sudden actions, but Vergil knew that he need to protect his student's pride and reputation, so with a stomp to the ground, a dome of void-black space was quickly formed around the trio.

"I-I'm sorry!" Amber said, snot flowing down her nose as she desperately wipes her face, the cold demeanor around her melting away into a sad maiden.

"W-what?" Braun said, looking at her with confused eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, for acting the way I did to you, I'm sorry for being so cold to everyone around me, I'm sorry for being so harsh and cold to you!" Amber shouts, her voice becoming a sobbing mess while her chest heaves up and down in a chaotic manner.

"I'm sorry for being such a mess!" Amber shouts, gone was her haughty aura, now was only a girl full of regret.

"What are you sorry for Amber? You didn't do anything wrong against me, in fact, I should be the one sorry to you for almost fatally damaging you," Braun said with a slight grin on his face, crouching down to the ground to make eye contact with Amber.

Grabbing both of her arms covered in tears and snot, she trembles at their hands making contact, and with a swish, she felt soft warm arms enveloping her whole body from chest to back, widening her eyes at the sudden hug, she struggled to push him away.

"There there, you don't need to act so cold right now, I know you have a reason for acting that way, so just tell me and I'll try to find a way to help you, whether it be through thick or thin, so can you just please grant me my one request?" Braun said, his soft, soothing voice entering her ears that stopped her body from trembling and just melting into Braun's hug.

"Please be my friend, Amber Phoenix," Braun said while pulling his head back from her neck and looking at her straight in the face, her face becoming a blushing mess while Vergil smirks by the side.

'Damn! I didn't know Freidrich of all things could be this smooth!' Vergil said in his mind, shaking his head, he turns his body around to let the two have their privacy.

"I-I will!" Amber said, her eyes once more producing a fountain of tears as she finally took Braun into a tight hug.

But all of that, this beautiful scene of blooming romance, the aura of youth and vigor! All of this, this very pleasant romantic scene ripped straight out of a corny romance shoujo something something stupid dumb mc always helping fair maidens in their times of need without getting anything in return anime/manga/novel, it was all a ploy, a theatrical play done by yours truly, Freidrich Braun!

'Amber Phoenix, part of the Phoenix family, a family who owns a very famous and successful pharmaceutical family. If I get that family under my control, then jumpstarting my domination over the economic world would be hastened by years, how wonderful!' Braun said in his mind, the moments leading up to this were ones that made him rack his brains for a good while, using everything his memories has to offer and the final result was finally in the grasp of his hand, Amber Phoenix, you would truly be my phoenix when I make you and your family reborn anew within my control.

AN: This is 2512 words, you're welcome.

Now you are thinking, why didn't he just charisma his way into her heart? Well even if that worked, that's basically just more risky, but now, he has Vergil on his side, Amber now has a valid reason to be in love with him, he showed off his new ability, and all that stuff that basically brought the optimal solution into reality.

But also, I'm going to ramp up the pace of this volume now because Academy City is only a part of the volume.

(June 8, 2022 – 196th day of writing)