Present time…
Ryan's mind was still reeling from the emotional rollercoaster of last night.
However, fate as always, had other plans.
The bitch didn't want to just kick him while he was down, no—she wasn't satisfied with that.
She was determined to bend him over and fuck him in the ass—raw.
"Ryan Reidus. Giuseppe Castellano. Step forward!" Mavena's clear voice entered his ears.
Ryan looked over at Giuseppe whose eyes were scanning the class, muttering something along the lines of, "Who the fuck is that?"
Then their gazes met. Just for a second.
And Giuseppe knew.
He had found his opponent.
But something was off.
It was like staring into the eyes of a blind man, you may be looking directly at each other. But you can tell that he isn't seeing you.
And Giuseppe's exceptional perception didn't fail him. He was correct, that fear didn't entirely come from him—in Ryan's vision, he saw his system screen appear, and what it said was enough to make a pope turn Satanist.
{Ding! Mission Acquired!}
- Mission Details -
- Objective: Defeat Giuseppe Castellano in an official duel.
-Reward: ???
-Penalty: Death / Permanent loss of the system / ???
***
Before he realised it, Ryan found himself already standing in the middle of the arena.
His heartbeat felt like a war drum in his chest.
His mind was so clouded, that he couldn't even register the Simulation Core changing the surroundings.
'I'm fucked.'
The thought hit Ryan like a truck.
He had read the novel. He knew exactly what kind of person Giuseppe Castellano was—The kind that had no patience for cowards, no mercy for the weak, and no hesitation when it came to violence.
The look in his eyes now. That quiet, deadly glare.
It was all the confirmation Ryan needed.
And he wasn't deluded enough to believe that transmigrating into Ryan Reidus's body had somehow bestowed him with a fighting spirit. No. His soul was just as spineless as it had always been.
He wasn't a fighter.
But the mission didn't care.
To fulfil the conditions, one thing was clear.
He had to make it an official duel.
'And to do that…'
The mere thought made him shiver.
Mavena, mercifully, seemed to be stalling the signal. Giuseppe also knew that which only seemed to make him more annoyed.
'A grace period, for me?'
He wasn't sure if it was luck or pity—but at this moment, he didn't care.
He used it.
{Status}
-Name: Giuseppe Castellano
-Age: 16
-Species: [Human (Type 8)]
-Class: [None]
-Title: [None]
-Statistics: [Click to Expand]
-Traits: [Sage's Divine Instinct(???)], [Battle Spirit Eyes(EX)]
{Skills: None}
Ryan wanted to cry. Or scream. Or flip off the heavens.
Instead, he just swallowed the lump in his throat.
And then, as if possessed by some suicidal part of his subconsciousness, the words tumbled from his lips uncertainly before he could stop them—
"Hey, Castellano! I think we should make this an official duel?"
Ryan felt like his body didn't belong to him.
The silence afterwards was deafening.
Even Mavena stared at him as if he was mentally challenged.
'This didn't happen in the first cycle. What is going on?' Evelynne's brows furrowed ever so slightly.
She sat silently near the back of the spectator area, legs crossed, chin resting against the back of her knuckles as her eyes scanned the scene before her.
The duel hadn't even officially begun, and yet the flow of events had already diverged from what she knew to be true.
In the first cycle, Ryan Reidus had never spoken. Never challenged Giuseppe. He had been paralyzed by fear, barely able to stand upright—let alone initiate anything remotely resembling a duel.
He had even fainted as soon as Mavena gave the signal to begin.
'I remember that clear as day… I was his next opponent. He took out all his frustrations on me,' A small shiver ran down her spine at the memory—not entirely unpleasant.
And yet, now?
He had spoken. Aloud. To Giuseppe Castellano, of all people. There was hesitation in his voice, sure—but he had still done it.
This wasn't simply out of character. This was a complete deviation.
'What does this mean?'
Her thoughts spun, trying to find a thread, a reason—something to explain the anomaly. But no answer came.
Not yet.
Still, she filed the moment away, locking it deep within the meticulously catalogued shelves of her Mind Palace.
***
Due to his overactive mind, Ryan didn't notice the screen that appeared briefly in his vision.
[Skill: "Assimilation Duel" activated]
Beads of sweat trickled down Ryan's face.
He braced for anything—laughter, mockery, a trademark insult.
Despite reading the novel, he couldn't predict how Giuseppe would react.
Actually, it was because he had read the novel—that he couldn't predict how he would react.
He was just that chaotic of a main character.
But Giuseppe didn't laugh. He didn't speak.
He just stared.
Not even a trace of anger, no amusement, just an eerie stillness.
And that was far, far worse.
'This…This is the worst-case scenario…He's in stage 3.'
He watched as his opponent wordlessly tapped a button on his connecter, and at the moment—
[Challenge Accepted.]
A smooth mechanical chime came from both of their connectors.
Ryan's heart clenched.
There was no reason for Giuseppe to agree. Nothing to gain. But that was the problem.
He wasn't someone who needed a reason.
Ryan saw Giuseppe silently walking towards him—he couldn't see his face, it was covered by the shadow of his bucket hat, and that made him all the more terrifying.
His mind moved for an answer.
'How can I win? He outclasses me in every aspect…' And so, he turned to the only thing that might be able to help him.
His cheat, his system.
{Would you like to open the beginner package, host?}
'WHY THE FUCK DID YOU WAIT TILL NOW TO ASK ME THAT?!' He internally screams—before recomposing himself. He mentally ag—
BAM!
A thunderous impact exploded across his jaw.
POW!
Followed by an absurdly powerful punch to his ear.
Ryan's vision cracked. His head snapped sideways.
His brain felt like it had just been detonated inside his skull.
He stumbled back, staggering like a ragdoll.
Giuseppe simply stared at Ryan's swaying figure, silently.
Before he could recover—
SWEEP
Giuseppe's leg slipped behind his. Followed by a rough shove.
CRASH
Ryan hit the floor. Hard.
The arena spun above him. His mouth tasted like iron.
What followed was silence.
Arthur, Tandav and Daniel stood frozen in their seats, eyes wide with disbelief.
They had never seen Giuseppe like this.
No wild shouting, no freaky jokes, no manic laughter.
The usual hot-blooded maniac was nowhere to be seen.
So silent, so…Cold.
Giuseppe's face looked…Calm, almost serene—but the look in his eyes burned with something else.
A rage so quiet it felt ancient.
They watched as Giuseppe straddled Ryan's limp body, fists crashing down with mechanical rhythm—each blow heavier than the last. He continuously rammed into Ryan's skull, smashing his head on the ground.
SMASH
CRUNCH
CRACK
Even when his opponent's skull began to cave in, flesh giving way to fragments of bone and blood-soaked brain matter—he continued. Ryan's body jerked with every impact, but he was long past resistance.
POW! POW!
POW! POW!
POW!
Marcus watched silently with his arms crossed, he was one of the few people who had seen him like this before.
***
Five years ago…
Marcus moved through the dim, labyrinthine alleyways of West Selinith, the narrow streets twisting like veins beneath the skin of the ancient city. The flickering streetlights above did little to cut through the gloom—casting long, uneven shadows that danced along crumbling brick walls and weathered cobblestones slick with moisture.
'Ugh, good lord… why is Casteloro Italia so damn hard to navigate?' he grumbled inwardly, frustration mounting with every wrong turn. The unfamiliar streets wrapped around him like a maze, and his patience was wearing thin.
Suddenly—
POW
POW
POW
The distinctive sound of flesh meeting flesh cracked through the night's silence like thunder—followed by quick, sharp grunts.
Marcus froze.
His eyes snapped toward a side street cloaked in even deeper darkness. The rhythmic blows echoed again, closer this time.
Faint shapes flickered in the dark.
He saw a young boy, no older than 11.
His long, messy black hair clung to his face in the damp night air, obscuring part of his expression, but not the cold intensity burning in his obsidian eyes—so dark that they seemed to swallow the very light around them.
He wore a simple black and red tracksuit, dirt-streaked and slightly torn, hanging loosely off a frame so thin he looked like he hadn't lifted a weight in his life.
But that couldn't be possible.
Because right now, that same wiry kid was facing down seven grown men—burly, scarred, muscle-bound thugs with arms like tree trunks and faces carved from a lifetime of street violence.
And he wasn't just winning—he was butchering them.
One man lunged at him with a pipe raised high. With a blur of motion, the boy sidestepped like smoke and slammed his palm into the man's jaw.
A sickening crack echoed through the alley as the man flew back three meters and slammed into a dumpster, out cold.
Another charged from behind—he didn't even look.
With ruthless precision, the boy twisted, grabbed the man's wrist mid-swing, and snapped it backwards like it was made of twigs.
The thug screamed, but it was cut short by a spinning back-kick to the throat that dropped him like a stone.
The others hesitated, but only for a moment.
Bad choice.
He closed the distance between the two of them, moving like a phantom. One caught a fist to the solar plexus so hard he vomited blood.
The other had his knee shattered with a sideways stomp, falling to the ground screaming. But he was silenced by a bite that tore his throat out.
It was ruthless. Efficient. And inhuman.
The boy fought like a wild animal, guided solely by his instincts and emotions.
Marcus stood frozen, watching in stunned silence.
Throughout the fight, the boy didn't say a word.
Not a grunt, not a taunt, not a breath wasted. Just pure silence. His face stayed blank—as if he was watching a movie play out in front of him.
'This is unreal…'
Marcus could only stare as the last of the men tried to run.
Tried.
The boy vanished from sight for half a second—just a blur—and reappeared right in front of the runner, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against the alley wall with enough force to leave a crack in the brick.
Seven men.
All down.
In under a minute.
Marcus blinked. His heart thudded in his chest.
'Who the hell is this kid?'
Then—just like that—a switch seemed to flip in the boy's head.
The cold, emotionless warrior vanished, replaced instantly by a smug, overconfident brat with the swagger of a guy who just beat the final boss using one finger. His posture shifted, head cocked slightly to the side, a sly grin tugging at the corner of his lips.
Casually kicking the body of one of the thugs, the boy fished out a black bucket hat with red accents—surprisingly pristine.
"There you are, my baby~," he cooed, cradling the hat like it was a long-lost child. He blew off some imaginary dust and flipped it onto his head with a flourish.
Finally, his attention snapped to Marcus. And he gave him a look like Marcus had just asked him to split the bill on a date he didn't know they were on.
"Who the fuck are you?" The boy asked bluntly, squinting as if Marcus were some poorly written side character that had wandered into the wrong scene.
"Uh—" Marcus blinked, but he never got to finish.
Because the boy immediately lunged at him like a chihuahua with a vendetta, shouting, "Stranger danger!" as he flew through the air with a flying kick that had absolutely no build-up or context.
"WHAT TH—" Marcus yelped, barely dodging out of the way as the kid sailed past him like a missile in human form.
The boy hit the ground, rolled like an action movie star, popped back up, and pointed at Marcus accusingly.
"You're not a cop, are you?" He demanded.
"No!"
"Secret agent?"
"NO!"
"Jude?"
"We're the same age, bro."
"…Debt collector?"
"What?...No!"
The boy squinted again, clearly unconvinced, tapping his chin thoughtfully as if solving a murder mystery.
"Hmph. You look like a debt collector," He muttered suspiciously.
Marcus stared in disbelief. "What does that even mean?!"
"I will not be fooled. You are part of the IRS."
"What..?"
The kid paused. Then nodded sagely.
"Alright. You pass. For now."
He gave a thumbs up. With both hands.
Then turned around, tripping over one of the unconscious men, stumbled for a moment, and acted like it didn't happen.
Marcus just stood there in stunned silence.
'What the fuck just happened?'
***
Marcus shook his head, he didn't want to remember that time—lest he get an aneurysm.
"Hey…The match is over…His opponent is dead…Should we, stop him?" Arthur suggests, though his tone is uncertain.
"…"
The others remained silent, they didn't know what to do either—but since Mavena still hadn't intervened, they decided to wait it out.
Eventually, Giuseppe finally stopped his bloodied fist.
Nobody could see it, but in front of Ryan's face—multiple screens emerged.
{Mission Failed}
{System termination in progress}
{Effects of the skill: "Assimilation Duel" are reacting}
{Transferring to new host}
The screens then suddenly disappeared without warning.
Ryan Reidus is dead.
"Winner! Giuseppe Castellano!" Mavena finally announced, the rest of the class erupting into a crescendo of fake cheers.
They were already scared of the Giuseppe who behaved like a mad animal—but this? This one was much worse.
Giuseppe stands up, getting off of Ryan's corpse. He feels a light prick in his spine as if a bug bit him, but he ignores it.
He sweeps his bloodied hand on his face as if to dry some sort of non-existent sweat—but that only serves to cover his face in his opponent's blood.
Turning his head to the spectator stands, he takes a good glance at his fellow students—before announcing calmly.
"If any single one of you without a fighting spirit, challenges me…" He doesn't bother finishing his sentence, merely kicking at Ryan's mangled corpse.
The sight of Giuseppe's blood-covered face and his empty black eyes, the students would remember forever.
As the day that Giuseppe Castellano became truly angry.
The sight of his blood-soaked face caused Evelynne to react slightly. She felt her face heating up, she covered the growing smile on her face with her trembling hand.
___________________________________
Author Note:
;)