《The French Conflict》 Chapter 1: The Beginning of a Big Conflict A gun fires, a cannon destroys a house, people scream. I stand amidst the chaos with a confused look. People are dying all around me, I look around and see an empty field with houses here and there. I look into the distance, I see a village. Right when I confirmed that it really was a village in the distance a stray bullet almost hits me, but by the skin of my teeth I dodged it. I stand confused and terrified but there''s no time for that so I run to cover. A soldier approaches me he suddenly starts speaking "What are you doing!? Go and Fight!" Is that French!? But I don''t speak it, how could I understand what he said then? I start speaking "Excuse m-" Oh my god, I just said something in French. But I have never taken French classes, in school I have Spanish. What the hell is happening? The soldier runs away prepared for battle. I guess I''ll have to figure out what''s happening later, right now I have to fight. It seems as though I''m on France''s side in some conflict. I rise up and rush towards the other side, Maybe I could try sneaking around them and attack from behind while they''re distracted. I don''t really want to fight and I certainly do not want to kill somebody, I might lose my sanity in that case, I could just knock them unconscious and let someone else finish the job I guess. I lay on the ground to start crawling towards the enemies. The tension is high as I crawl, at any moment I could be discovered and that would be the end of me. While I''m crawling I try remembering what I did before "this". I remember that I was in school, specifically a history class I think. We were talking about something and I felt dizzy so I went to the toilet to freshen up, I can''t remember any more than that. I crawl slowly and eventually enter a house. I hear some footsteps in the distance, I slow down and try to locate them. I see someone''s back in the distance, This is my chance! I run as fast as I can and try to drop kick the person. But it failed, the person turns around and looks me in the eye, I get a very surprised look. The person grabs my legs in the air. He uses the momentum I built up and throws me with a lot of strength into a wall, The pain I felt was like nothing before, I almost passed out. The person moves towards me, but weirdly slow. I look up and feel some blood running down my cheek. I''m exhausted but I have to get up and win, otherwise, I''m gone from this world. I gather some energy and stand up, I start running and gather all my strength into one punch and throws it at the guy. BOOM, The guy grabs my fist and punches me in the stomach, I cough up blood. I have to think fast or I''m screwed, I try to analyze the situation. If I don''t do anything best case scenario he''ll have me captured as a war prisoner, worst case scenario he''ll kill me right here on the spot. The person grabs my collar and hoists it, I try to identify him but I can''t see his face everything has become so blurry. Damnit! If I could just somehow get out of here. The guy starts talkingYou might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "ho-ho-hoo, well well well, What do you think you''re doing, sneaking up on the general like this?" Shit, is this the enemy general!? I glance down and sees his medals and sure enough, he''s a general. Now when I think about it, it sounds like this guy is speaking German or something similar. A conflict where France and a German-speaking nation is at war. It couldn''t be WW2, That''s too modern. I don''t think it''s WW1 either, what could it be? Think, I have to think, something a long time ago... At that moment it all made sense, This is the Napoleonic wars! The weapons they use, swords and guns. This option makes the most sense. That means this guy''s probably from Austria. The guy pushes me into the wall behind me and continues "Looks like I''m going to have to teach you how to play nicely". He took up his arm and started strangling me. I tried to struggle but I could barely do that. I could see half of his face, He made an evil grin and said "What are you going to do!? You''re gonna die at this rate, heheheheheeeee" That line pissed me off a lot, but I couldn''t do anything. My vision started going dark, I guess it''s my time to go. Too bad I had so many things to do and dreams to accomplish, but I would at least die struggling and with hope. KABOOOOOOOOM. The roof of the house flew off and a loud explosion followed, The explosion was so strong that the Austrian General lost his grip and fell down. I was so surprised, Yeah I can''t die like this! With new determination and hope I started running, the fastest I have ever. My hate for the general who almost took my life away from me burned stronger than the explosion that had helped me survive. I was determined to defeat the general that had taken my hope and will to live away from me for a couple of minutes. I didn''t have the time nor the strength to do it right now, The Austrian soldiers stormed the remains of the house that once existed, One caught eye of me and started shooting at me. But I was rescued by a squad of French soldiers who had rushed towards the explosion to investigate if there were any survivors. In the middle of all this, I had lost my gun, I searched around and found one on the ground. I picked it up and looked out towards the vast battlefield, it seems as though an Austrian cannon had shot the house for whatever reason. Did they not know that their own General was inside of it? The only thing keeping me from collapsing and maybe dying was the big amount of Adrenaline pumping through me. I went around the house to help that French squadron by attacking the Austrian''s flank. After I would fire some shots to throw them off I would run away to safety. I crept around the corner and snuck a peek. I heard "General, We need to retreat! French reinforcements are coming in larger numbers!" An Austrian soldier said to the general "We can''t retreat! My target just slipped away, He''s an important piece in this war! -----" The general said but I couldn''t hear the last part because of the loud noises that the guns firing made. I decided that I would shoot now. I reluctantly took aim with the gun and closed my eyes and took a shot. "OOOOOOOOOOOOUCH" Is what I heard directly after that "Shit, they''re attacking our flank! Fall back" The general said with an extremely angry expression I felt very bad about shooting that person. But for the victory, it had to be done. The French started had started an assault that was very successful, the enemy was forced to retreat. We had won Everybody was celebrating the victory out on the battlefield, But I was scarred from the recent events. Barely having escaped death and being saved by a machine made to kill, Having gravely injured a person for the first time in my life, This was a big mess for me. After all this, I still had one unanswered question in my head "Why and How did I get to the Napoleonic wars?" Had I time-traveled to the beginning of the 19th century or is this one big elaborate joke. Either way, I had to find a way to get back to my home. But for now, I had to go with the flow and blend in for a while. I rushed around the house to see if the French squadron who had saved me was okay, I turned the corner where the hole of the explosion was. I saw five people, 3 women, and 2 men. Now when I thought about it, I think I saw a lot of women on the battlefield today. Maybe this is an alternate version of History and the Napoleonic wars. "Hey, are you guys okay?" I exclaimed "Yeah, We''re fine, How about you?" A rather tall girl said I moved towards them and said "Yeah, I''m okay noo-" I couldn''t even finish the sentence, The adrenaline in my body had stopped and I fell down on the ground. "Hey! What''re you doing!? Wa------" Is the last thing I heard before losing consciousness. Chapter 2: The Reveal of the Situation I open my eyes to see 2 businessmen in the corner of a room, my mom and dad on the side of the bed. Had I gone back to the "real" world or? "Mom, Dad. You''re here!" I smiled and went in for a hug. The two businessmen went to intervene and said "What do you think you''re doing?" I looked at them very confused, mom and dad stood up and started rushing to the exit "what a weird kid" "is he crazy or what?" I heard them whisper to each other I reached out my hand in desperation, I had a sad and confused look on me. My vision got darker and darker and eventually completely dark. Suddenly I saw a light in the distance and a woman standing by it, almost as if she''s waiting for somebody to come. I slowly started moving towards it. The woman turned towards me and I could see her clearly thanks to the light. She had long blonde hair, Quite tall at around 175 cm, She wore a weird outfit, It was all black with some blue details along the side. It looked like some kind of battle suit you''d find in an Anime or manga. Even though it looked like a battle suit it still revealed quite a lot, including her rather big bust. I tried not to look at that area too much. Apparently, you shouldn''t wear any shoes in this place because she didn''t have any on. While I slowly made my way there she started walking towards me, She walked in a special way. "Hello, Welcome. How was it on the battlefield?" She asked me. It seems as though this woman knows that I was in the battle. I have no clue where I am nor who this woman is. "It was pretty painful, But how do you know I was there, who are you and where am I?" I said "Slow down, One question at a time. I''m your guide, I''ll explain the situation to you now. So calm down and sit down" I looked around to see if I could sit anywhere when suddenly a chair popped up behind me "How convenient" I mumbled to myself. She continued "You have been transported into an alternate world during the Napoleonic wars period, There are more people than just you who have been transported. Your goal is to defeat all the other people who have been transported here If you do you''ll get to go home. A---" I interrupted her "What do you mean!? Did you summon me here just so you could enjoy yourself, watching people die, having no way to survive the battles. This is crazy, are you a sadist or what?"Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I was outraged, How could they play with lives like this? "Let me continue, You''re all given powers to fight each other and to bring victory to the nation you''ve been summoned in. I''m not the one who did this, I''m just your power and have been instructed to tell you all this" she said. "What powers? I haven''t gotten any powers yet, and where are these other people anyways" I said having calmed down a bit. "It seems like you haven''t gotten your power yet but I''ll get to that later. The other people have been summoned to the different countries in the war. One has been summoned to Spain, One to Austria, One to the United Kingdom, One to the Ottoman Empire, One to the Russian empire and one to the kingdom of Prussia" she said. That''s pretty much all the big powers during the wars, but I''m at a big disadvantage. France may have been successful but pretty much all the other people are against me in this. But that depends on what year it is right now, if it''s 1808 We''ll probably have Spain as one of our client states so the person from Spain will hopefully help me. But even if, it''s still 2 against 5. "You sure are analyzing the situation a lot, aren''t you. You know I can read your thoughts right now, right. We''re inside of your mind." She responds to my thoughts "Oh, that''s kind of interesting" I said "Well, the one who created the game thought he would even out the numbers a little and added another person to France. So it''ll be 3-5, best-case scenario." She said "Wait so I have an ally in this, nice. But can you tell me about the powers now" I asked "Yes, sure. All you 8 have been given powers to use against each other or to the success of your nation. I can''t tell you what kind of powers the other 7 have, And I don''t know what power that will manifest in you even though I am your power in the form of a human." She answered "How do I get the power then?" I wondered since I wanted to beat up that goddamn general. If my theory is correct, that general was probably one of the people who was summoned considering the strength and how he could almost sense my movements. That would also explain why I was considered an "important target". That means I have confirmed one of the people, only 6 left "That''s what we''ll do now, All you need to do is grab onto the light here. The power will grow along with you, so you''ll need to train if you want to beat up that Austrian general. Do note that you and the 7 other people are the only ones in this world with powers, that''s what the creator told me at least." I nodded and proceeded to walk towards the light, It had a faint blue glow. I grabbed onto the light and it flew quickly inside of me. I felt new powers grow inside of me and when I glanced at my hand I saw some blue aura flowing around it, I felt my right pupil change somehow. "You should be able to turn it off now" She said. I turned the power off somehow, I can''t explain how but I managed to do it at least. Directly when I turned it off I saw the aura go away, The power I felt while having it on went away and it felt like my right pupil went to normal again. I raised my hand and stared at it. With this power, I could get revenge, Make France win the war and get rid of all the monarchies in Europe, even though Napoleon made himself an Emperor in 1804. I looked onwards into the darkness and felt myself waking up for real this time. I''ll never lose again. Chapter 3: The Fresh Start If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chapter 4: The Speech of Hope Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Chapter 5: The Recruitment Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ?ois, Karl, Sofia, Chlo¨¦ and...¡± ? I looked around the room to try and see if I could find her. I saw her a couple of rows in front of me. Sweden, because that''s where I''m from. ¡°Hikari, would the students who were named please step up on the stage¡± Charlotte finished. ¡° Along the way I heard comments about me, most of them were pretty negative. ¡°Good job, considering you''re so weak¡± Sofia said and raised her hand for a fist bump. Slightly annoyed I bumped her fist. ¡° Chapter 6: The Squad 95 Tournament; Information ¡° Battle 1: Battle 2: Sofia Veronique Battle 3: Hikari Jean-Pierre Battle 4: Chlo¨¦ Fran Semi-finals match 1: The winner of battle 1 VS the winner of battle 4 Semi-finals match 2: The winner of battle 2 VS the winner of battle 3 Finals: ¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡° not looking forward to this duel. ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° ¡° Chapter 7: A Friend in need of Rescue nd birthday which she cherished. But things took a dark turn when French revolutionaries stormed their house and kidnapped Camille and her parents. They were taken to ¡°Place De La R¨¦volution¡±, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been executed a year earlier. They threw Camille to the street because "She was just a kid" and took the parents to be executed. Camille did not yet understand what was happening. Some kids ran up to Camille and started kicking her, calling her "Stupid Noble" and similar stuff. The parents were brought up to the guillotine, The father was the first one to be executed. When Camille saw her father get decapitated while smiling at her was life-scarring, something she would never forget. Her mother''s turn was up. Camille ran towards the guillotine the best she could, She couldn''t lose both her parents on the same day, right? That''s want she wanted to believe but Life had a different thing in mind. Camille had miraculously almost reached the guillotine and reached her hand out to save her mother. Right at that moment the executioner dropped the rope. Her mother died and her head fell in front of her. The different thing was that the executioner now took up the head and showed it to the whole crowd, The whole crowd cheered in happiness. How could they be happy? Camille thought in her head. This whole thing would later be known as the Reign of Terror led by Robespierre, where around 40.000 people would be killed in panic because the first coalition had just begun. The thing ended in 1794 when Robespierre himself got executed by a guillotine. But Camille''s unhappiness didn''t end there. After everything Camille had lost everything and lived on the street for a couple of months, stealing and doing petty crimes to survive. She was living for the sake of living. That all changed when a "peasant" family took her home and adopted her. For the first time she saw hope again. She would enjoy many years with this happy family until a couple of months ago when the father requested to talk with Camille about something. They had decided to marry Camille away to earn a lot of money. Camille found out that the real intention of them adopting her that she could be married away for a lot of money because she was a noble in blood. Camille decided to run away a couple of days later after meeting Karl and his family. She ran from her house and onto the streets again with only the doll she''d had for 15 years of her life. A couple of days later she saw Napoleon''s army march back after a victory in battle. She had nothing so she decided to join the army to protect the country that had taken everything from her. After hearing this I was determined to save Camille. It seemed as though this Karl guy came from a pretty powerful family. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. "Come on, I''ll escort you to your room" I said Camille opened her mouth to say something but I held my arm in front of her to say that I''ll handle it. Chapter 8: Time to Train and get Strong After we escorted Camille to her room, I say my final goodbye. Of course, I would come back in 2 weeks but I wouldn''t see them until the school start. I had decided to go and train by a couple of mountains very far away. I went around asking for places where I could go and not be disturbed. A lot of people mentioned a forest that was not too long from here. But then I stumbled upon an older man who said I could go to a place called the Morvan Mountains. I got a map to the place and he said it would take around 50 hours to get there! I decided to do it. I went back to my room and lay on my bed, the room is unexpectedly roomy. I have a desk, a chair. The weirdest of all is that I have a toilet. I didn''t think they invented the toilet until the 1850s. There is a possibility that this parallel world has modern inventions like the toilet but is stuck in the politics of the 1800s for whatever reason. I think back to what has happened the last couple of days. Me losing to the Austrian general, passing out and finding new friends when waking up. Fighting Sofia and making an alliance, the Squad 95 tournament, the whole conflict with Camille and Karl. I''ve been through a lot the last couple of days, both emotionally and physically. But I had no time to rest, I had to go and train so I could beat everybody in the tournament. I throw myself out of the bed and go outside. I lock the door and start walking. It''s late now, maybe 8 pm. All the contestants got money to use for equipment and similar stuff, I bought a knife and tried to buy gloves but I could only afford one so I bought it. The only clothes I own are the ones I came to this world with, a hoodie, pants, socks etc. I was probably going to get some kind of uniform at the school start. I walk out of school grounds and say a silent good-bye for now. After a couple of hours of walking, I''m really tired. I didn''t think I was this out of shape, but to my luck, I see a forest where I can camp. I enter the forest with breeze. Are there no animals here? I take a right after walking and observing, I see a big tree and a big empty space underneath its leaves. I build up a small tent with the help of sticks and stuff I found in the area. I go to a nearby tree to chop some wood, I bring up my knife and swing it. It takes me a lot of time until it finally falls down. I should''ve bought some more tools. I carry the really heavy wood and try to get it back to my "tent". But it''s too heavy to carry in one go, I spend some more time to half the tree. I carry the first half back and put it next to the really big tree. At this point, I would believe it''s around 2 am. I get back to the other log, I lift it up and instantly hear something in the bushes. I try to sneak away but the thing in the bush starts to move more and more until it suddenly jumps towards me. *CRUNCH*, by the nick of time I managed to lift the log high enough so that I blocked the attack. I look at the log and see a wolf biting the wood. It lets go of the log and I drop the log and take a few steps back. I had decided when I fought Sofia that I wouldn''t use my power against anyone or anything that''s able to feel pain. Only to others who also had powers. The only choice I have is to try and fight this wolf. Besides I need food, don''t I? I reach behind my back to grab my knife, the wolf is smart enough to see that this is an opportunity to strike. But I pull out the knife and hit its leg. The wolf squeal in pain as I walk towards it to put it out of its misery. I take up my knife and swing it downwards. Something bites my arm right before I reach the wolf.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "OOOOOOOOOOOUCH" I scream as I try to throw the thing that bit me away. I successfully flung the thing away and move back at least 10 meters. I look at my arm and it''s completely red, I raise my head to see that "the thing" that bit me was another wolf. I take a look around me and see multiple wolves surrounding me. "Looks like I''m going to have to fight for everything I have" I say to myself and prepare for the giant battle that is about to commence. This time I go on the offensive, my battle plan is to kill the injured one who seems to be the leader, If I do that they''ll probably lose morale and run away. I fly forward fast and in the corner of my eye, I see a wolf starting to move towards me. I elbow it out of my way, it hurt a little because my elbow landed right on its teeth. I forget the pain I have in my left arm and now my elbow. I''m almost at the wolf, all the other wolves start attacking me. Every time they attack I manage to dodge by lowering my head or jumping. But sometimes they succeed and manage to give me a scratch here and there. The wolf that bit me in the left arm moves towards me when I get really close to the leader. It jumps up towards me. It''s almost like time stops as I see the wolf get close to me. The other wolves are all around me, biting me and whatnot. I look into its eye and silently apologize, I take up my knife and stab it in the stomach. I don''t have a problem with seeing blood but I do have a problem with seeing people and animals hurt. The wolf falls down quickly and bleeds a lot, The other wolves almost stop and look at each other in fear and shock. I keep running and look back. What I see in these wolves eyes is hatred. Hatred for the person who hurt their friend. They start running extra fast. I''m super afraid at this point. I''ve reached the wolf, I try to stab it but the thing suddenly jumps away and the only thing I manage to stab is the dirt on the ground. One of the wolves in the back reach me and bites my leg harder than the other wolf bit my arm. I scream in agony, until this point I had avoided pain with the help of adrenaline but this surpassed what adrenaline could help. I get a hatred filled look in my eye. In reality, I had no right to be mad at these wolves. after all, I was the one who killed their friend. I snapped. I go fully berserk and start a counter-attack. I couldn''t die here! I made a vow to never lose again, didn''t I? Dark aura summons around me. I grab onto my knife extra hard and launch towards the wolves, I grab the wolf who bit me and stab it ruthlessly. This wasn''t me. I throw the dead wolf away and look into the other wolves eyes with a psychotic look in my eyes. I grab another wolf and throw it into the injured wolf that was trying to attack me. Both of them got fell on top of each other. I try to grab the last wolf but it runs away, so does the "healthy" one who just got thrown. I halt towards the injured one with a grin on my face. It cowers in fear as I stab it multiple times. I stand in the bloodbath with a grin on my face and dark aura around me. After that, I pass out, again Chapter 9: The Dark Side of Hikari The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Chapter 10: The New and Improved Hikari Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Chapter 11: The First Day of School I reach the "B" building and turn to the classroom. I open the door to find everybody already there. That makes me really nervous. Am I late? That''s impossible. Everybody glares at me, I scan the room to see if I know anyone in there. I see, Sofia!? I didn''t expect her to be in my class. I continue scanning only to see nothing but new faces, until I look to the top-left corner of the classroom. It''s Karl. I get a spiteful look on my face, he looks at me the same way. I move towards an empty desk that''s in the top-right corner of the classroom. I was surprised it wasn''t taken. Didn''t anybody want the seat the classic harem protagonist always have? Well, I''ll take it. I sat down and waited for the teacher to enter the classroom, Meanwhile, I greeted the people around me. The person in front of me is called Marie and was from southern France, the person 45 Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. English!? I''m pretty damn sure England was the one who started the whole conflict. I look around the room to see if there are any reactions. Nothing. Except for Sofia who is just as surprised as I am. The homeroom is over, Frank just talked about upcoming events, including the tournament, and gave us our lesson schedule. "So then I say..." I stop talking because the others are looking behind me surprised. I look behind me to see that Squad 95 is standing there with their lunch in hands. "Okay then!" Camille says and takes a seat right next to me, the others sigh and sit down at the table. Marie and Giovanni whisper to each other "I can''t believe we''re eating with the best squad". After a couple of minutes, the mood is back and everybody is enjoying themselves again. But I have a slight issue because Camille is sitting pretty close to me, so it''s awkward for me. Even though I''ve always thought that this would be super nice, having a girl sit very close to one, but it''s more awkward than I would''ve thought. Charlotte notices this and drags Camille away and smiles at me stiffly. We finish our meals, We say goodbye to each other and I, Sofia, Marie and Giovanni walk towards our dorms. The dorms are divided into grades and genders. We reach the dorms and Giovanni and I say goodbye to the girls. To our surprise, it turns out we live next to each other. I enter my room and throw myself onto the bed. I suddenly remember a thing Sofia said to me today She does have a point, I can''t tell nor show them anything about my situation. I must hide this from them. I decide to train the rest of the night, what else is there to do? While training I realized that I can''t use all my power in the first match. That seems like an obvious thing, but still that meant that I needed to be able to defeat Jean-Pierre without using too much energy. I started training harder and more intensely. The tournament was approaching at a rapid speed and I was determined to win. Chapter 12: The Sparring Match If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Chapter 13: A Transfer Student Appears, on the Second Day. The combat class is over and we assemble in front of the teacher. "Good job today everyone. Tomorrow our two own Hikari and Karl will fight to join Squad 95. That''s all, after lunch we have French and I''ve got word that a transfer student is coming." Everybody leaves in excitement. Sofia, Marie and I walk towards the cafeteria. I sit down at the same seat as yesterday and we start eating, but today Catherine shows up "Can I sit with you guys?" Catherine asks us "Yeah, sure" Sofia says Catherine sits down next to me, and I start talking about my training trip. I don''t like to brag about things, but she did ask for it. "And that''s how I got these scars" I explained "Oh, god. That must''ve been awful." Marie says "Yeah, you could have just trained back here at campus." Sofia says "Are you okay?" Catherine says and pulls me in for a hug. I resist but lose in the end. Sofia and Marie get red "W-What''re you doing!?" Sofia exclaims. I can already feel the hate stares I''m getting. "Hikari!?" I hear someone say. I get pulled out. What luck I have, I mean it was really comfortable there but I was choking. That luck doesn''t last very long, I get pulled into another girl. That someone was apparently Camille. The rest of Squad 95 stand in shock. I get pulled out once again. Jesus christ, At this rate I''ll die. I get pulled into Charlotte who was blushing and was pretty quiet, then Juliette and then accidentally into Sofia. She gives me a slap. With a slap-mark on my chin, I say "Can I eat my food now?" "Yeah, do that" Maxime says. Catherine giggles at my misfortune followed up by the other ones. Apparently, a lot of people have feelings for me of some sort. What am I supposed to do? I mean a harem is kind of a dream of mine. But I feel like that only works in fiction, in real life people are a lot different. But when thinking about it I realized that I was in a parallel world, anything was possible. Maybe I should pursue the harem route. While I would think about it, I decided to treat everybody as friends to start with. Yes, even the teacher. After conversation and awkward smiles we finish eating. I''m sitting at my desk, waiting for Catherine to start the French lesson. "Hey, Sofia" I whispered "Yeah?" Sofia answered "Aren''t we already fluent in French? Because of our situation, you know." I asked "I''m certainly fluent in it, but considering the power you have you probably only know the basics" Sofia says and giggles. "ha-ha-ha, very funny" I say with a sarcastic tone. "Time to begin class! Everybody sit down" The teacher yelled. Everyone quickly sat down and a classmate raised his hand "So, when is this transfer student coming?" "Calm down, I was just going to talk about it" Catherine said and stared at the student. The student shrunk in his seat.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "I''m going to bring in the transfer student now" She continued. "Come in!" She commanded. Time almost slowed down as the you heard the clock tick. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The door opened, slowly. People started freaking out at the front, I couldn''t react since I couldn''t see the person. The person walks to the whiteboard, picks up a pen and writes it''s name. "Amanda" it says. It couldn''t be. "Hello everyone, my name is Amanda. Pleased to make all of your acquaintances." A feminine voice said to the class. I took a look at the one talking, there''s no mistake. That''s Amanda, my power! Although she looks kind of shorter. How did she get out without me noticing? You would think I''d be immune to shock so many times I''ve been surprised, but you''d be wrong. I was sitting in my chair trying my hardest not to show my surprised face, pulling a stupid smiling face. "I look forward to being in this class with all of you" She said and pulled a smile that could make her popular enough to rival our new teacher. The whole class is pretty excited, Even the people around me. "OK everybody, calm down. We''re going to have French now, so pull up your textbooks. Amanda, you can sit over there." The teacher said and pointed to a seat in front of Marie. Amanda sat down and was immediately greeted by the people next to her. "Look, She''s in front of me!" Marie says with excitement to Sofia and me. I smile awkwardly, what can you do? Amanda and I make eye contact, she smiles and continues to talk to her neighbours. The french class starts. It''s super easy, I''m guessing we got some special ability because I can understand every language I''ve heard so far. I even understood Italian before when I heard Giovanni talk to some girl called "Aurora", they were kind of suspicious so I''m going to be a bit more observant of Giovanni later. Not that I expect he did something but better safe than sorry. We finish up the French lesson and we got our first piece of homework, We''re supposed to write a short story of around 1000 words, we have 2 weeks to do it. It''s kind of annoying that we got homework on the second day though. Knock Knock Somebody''s knocking at this time? It''s around 9 pm right now, the lesson ended around 2pm. I open the door and who do I see? Jean-Pierre. I had already seen him today, after class I, Marie and Sofia went past class 1-D''s classroom to visit Giovanni. Some other people from our class were walking the same way probably because our dorms are that way. While walking I took a look inside the classroom and saw that Jean-Pierre was basically the king inside of there, everyone was serving him, he was giving out orders and similar stuff. He looked at the people walking outside and saw me, he went down from his throne and walked towards me. His class followed him, Jean-Pierre stopped a couple of meters in front of me and started talking "What do we have here? Little Hikari, isn''t it?" "What do you want, Jean-Pierre?" I said with a tiresome expression. I was tired of all these cocky people at this point. "Whoa, aren''t you a bit aggressive Hikari? Maybe you''re acting a little aggressive to compensate for your strength. Are you scared that you won''t even win the first match? Good" Jean-Pierre said and had his whole class cheering and helping him. I started walking because there was no reason for me to anger myself with another person. He continued "I''ll definately win over Karl too, You''re so weak. While you spent your week of training goofing around and harassing Camille, I actually trained and got stronger. You have no chance against me now" Karl was among the people who were walking toward the dorms, he stopped and looked at Jean-Pierre with hatred. He said "Do you really think your puny week of training can match my month of intense exercise in China? I''ll wipe the godamn floors with you, and fot your information I didn''t spend my week on nothing." Jean-Pierre and Karl stare at eachother for a couple of moments. Then Jean-Pierre said something to make me respond "I bet I could beat Sofia too, She''s so weak. It would probably be a fluke if she even made it to the finals." Everybody stops and Sofia, as expected, opened her mouth to respond. "---" I stopped her by again taking up my arm in front of her. I didn''t even turn around and I said with a calm voice "We''ll see tomorrow if your biting can match your barking" I took my arm down again and just continued to walk. Sofia stood very surprised and looked at me. "Come on Hikari, just resign" is what Jean-Pierre said to me at the door. "Is that all?" I said and prepared to close the door. "Wait, wait. We all already know who''s going to win the fight tomorrow. Just resign and everybody will save time." Jean-Pierre said pretty desperate, weirdly so. I looked him into the eyes and said "I must win no matter what, I''m not going to let you intimidate me." I close the door. I didn''t talk to Amanda at all during the day, I guess that''ll have to wait until after the tournament, maybe before, it depends. I must win tomorrow no matter what, the finals are the day after tomorrow. The first 2 matches are tomorrow and I must win them both, but if Sofia wins over me I think she''ll be able to beat Karl in my place. I threw myself onto my bed and fell asleep, I dreamt about my friends and the people I care about. How fitting. Chapter 14: The Start of the Squad 95 Tournament Like the past two days, I wake up in my room. But something''s different today, it takes me some time before I remember that the tournament starts today. The contestants are allowed to wear whatever they want, So I put on my what I would usually wear. A black hoodie with some red details along the sides, some jeans that were surprisingly flexible, and some sneakers I had with me from my original world. We''re supposed to assemble in the big hall at noon. Before I get out of the room I grab my damaged glove from my training camp and put it on. I also pull up the hood from the hoodie, the hood has some cool details on it. I go outside and see Giovanni also leaving. "Good morning!" I greet him. He looks confused for a second but then sees me and says "Good morning, Hikari! Are you excited for today?" "Kind of, but not really. By the way, are your injuries okay? Again, I''m really sorry for hurting you." I say "Yeah, they''re okay now. Thanks to that armor, the injuries were minimized." Giovanni answers. We start walking together towards the exit, we''re joking around and stumble upon Antoine and Maxime. "Good morning guys. How''re you doing?" I greet them "Good morning, Hikari." The two of them answer "We''re doing pretty good, how about you guys?" They continue. We answer their question and continue to walk towards the big hall, we''re joking and laughing along the way. The sun is strong today and it''s at least 25 C. We''re walking through the long hallway that leads to the big hall. I look into the distance and see the girls, they wave their hands and moves towards us. "Hey, wassup?" I say in a cool tone. "What are you doing?" Juliette asked. "I thought it would be funny." I say. "hahaha, that was stupid." Charlotte says and laughs. "Whatever, you''re just jealous of my comedy genius." I say, it almost sounds as though I have a superiority complex. The girls join us and we continue to walk. It''s even warmer here, It''s insane. I look over to my right and see a Camille who is smiling awkwardly. Don''t worry, I''ll win this no matter what I have to do. I arrive at the big hall and it''s just as big as last time, of course, why wouldn''t it be? I see Jean-Pierre in the distance. He''s talking to his friend, probably someone from his class. He seems to be some kind of king in his class, everybody''s under his influence and do every single thing he orders them to. "By the way, Hikari. Why do you have your hood on?" Charlotte asks curiously. "Because it looks cool, especially with this single glove I have." I respond. Everybody looks at me with shock for a couple of seconds, except for Juliette who just stared at me. They start laughing, again. As I sit down with Sofia, Marie and Giovanni the others go to the stage. Maxime approaches the podium and starts talking.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. "As we announced before, we will be hosting the recruitment tournament to decide who''ll join our squadron. Could the contestants please join us on stage?" Everybody who was in the tournament rose up and walked up on the stage. We line up and I look around me. I take a look to the right and see Karl making a face towards Camille, who was looking pretty sad at me. Anger filled up inside me, but I quickly suppressed it. I needed to save all anger I had for the actual showdown, I just pulled a quick smile. "We will now move towards the arena where the first battle will take place, in approximately 2 hours. But before we do that, let''s get some comments from our contestants." Maxime says and points at Karl who is at the very right. "I''ll win this contest, no matter what it takes. I have personal stakes in this." Karl says, and immediately after he said it, a lot of people applauded. It''s weird because that''s kind of a standard thing to say. Maxime smiled and continued to the next person, who was Frederic. Frederic kind of looked like a martial arts enthusiast. "My only goal in this tournament is to get some battle experience, and if I win it''ll be a plus." Maxime now pointed towards Sofia "I''m looking to improve my battle techniques and, of course, join the best squadron, Squad 95." She had a more noble goal than what I would''ve thought. Next up was Veronique. Veronique had blonde hair and lipstick on, she had an intimidating look. Now when I look at her I remember seeing her in my class. Maxime pointed towards Veronique and she proceeded to speak. "My main goal is to join Squad 95." That''s a very standard, but reasonable, goal. "... But my other goal is to crush Hikari." Excuse me, What? Why would she want to crush me!? I''ve never interacted with her before, and now all of the sudden she wants to destroy me? "Well, well. That''s an interesting goal, Veronique." Interesting, really? Thanks a lot, Maxime. Veronique stares at me intensely, I feel very awkward especially since she''s right beside---. OH NO, She''s right beside me. That means I''m next, I have no clue what to say. Guess I''ll have to do some improvising. "Next up is the most surprising candidate, Hikari!" Maxime says and points right at my face. "Hmm... My goal in this tournament is to win no matter what, I have some personal motivations for this and I won''t let anyone stand in my way." I say. The room turns quiet for a moment, I notice Camille looking at me in a special way. "Okay, next up is Jean-Pierre." Maxime says and breaks the silence. The big hall has large windows along the side and a painting in the back, I can''t identify what''s on it though. "I have no choice but to win this, otherwise I''ll get expelled." Jean-Pierre says. The room falls silent, even more so than when I talked. After some moments I hear something. It takes a moment until I realize that it''s someone crying. I look towards the back of the room and see 2 dozen people crying in the far left corner, Immediately I knew it was his class. I couldn''t help but dwonder how Jean-Pierre got that amount of power and authority in his class. Pretty much everybody else looked pretty mad. That meant that Jean-Pierre had a bad reputation outside of his own class. But still, I''m pretty curious as to why he would get expelled if he lost. This explains why he was so desperate for me to resign yesterday. "That''s wouldn''t be very good at all. Well, good luck to you. Next up is Chlo¨¦." Maxime continues. "Like everybody else here, I want to join Squad 95 and lead France to victory." Chlo¨¦ says. I can respect that. Maxime points to Fran?ois next. "I''m here to hone my skills and bring glory and success to my country." Fran?ois says. "Okay, Thank you for participating. We''ll now let you prepare for the battles. Everyone else, please come back in 2 hours for the main tournament." Maxime says and finishes the motivation quiz, if you can call it that. The tournament is finally here, after all hard work and events leading up to this. It''s finally time to help my friend and join Squad 95. I won''t let anyone defeat me, I already made a vow to never lose again, didn''t I? Chapter 15: The Inexperienced Master; The First Battle Led by Maxime and Juliette. Hikari, Karl, Jean-Pierre and the other contestants had been led into separate rooms where they could choose their equipment for the battles. They had a lot of time to prepare because there was still 1 hour and 50 minutes left before the first duel started. Hikari stood in his room thinking hard about what equipment he should use and what tactics to use against his opponents. Hikari knew that Jean-Pierre and Karl were probably stronger than him, despite his harsh training, so he had to think of a way to win. Jean-Pierre had already chosen his equipment, he chose the weapon he''s the best with, the spear. He also took some light armor. Jean-Pierre was thinking about the room itself, it was a decently roomy room and had no windows. Jean-Pierre thought the room felt like a prison cell of some sort, because he couldn''t leave until someone opened it for him. Karl sat on a bench in his room annoyed. The only thing he could think about was Camille and Hikari. He had come so far with getting together with her and suddenly some guy shows up tries to ruin it all, all his hard work and effort. Karl considered Hikari a real threat to his plan and was very angry because of it. But Karl was determined to win, he couldn''t let it all go away. Suddenly, memories of his training trip in China showed up. "Your stance is all wrong! As punishment, you''ll have to run 3 laps around the forest." His teacher said. "Yes, sir!" Karl responded and proceeded to run with all his might. Karl had done all that just for her. Why did it turn out like this? All he wanted was to impress and get closer to the girl he loved. Somewhere along the line he had gotten more aggressive, and finally he talked to Camille''s foster parents and basically forced her to marry him. If he could just win this, He''d be able to marry her and live a happy life together with her. Karl stood up and stared at his choices. He reached out his hand and grabbed a long stick. Everyone was in their rooms deciding what to do, except for Karl. He was overflowing with confidence and thought that there was no way he could lose. Sofia was practicing with her choice of weapon, nunchucks. Veronique was practicing with her sword while cursing Hikari''s name. Suddenly, Hikari sneezed. "Did someone speak ill of me?" Hikari thought to himself and continued to contemplate as to what he should do in his battles. The other contestants also continued to train, including Frederic. Frederic had said during the "motivation quiz" that he was here for the battle experience, but in reality he had no choice but to win, otherwise, they would take his sister away. His beloved sister would be taken away by that goddamn person. Memories of her popped up in Frederic''s mind "Brother, Brother! Let''s go there!" his sister exclaimed "Yes, yes. Let''s go." Frederic responded with a smile "I love you, brother!" His sister said and hugged him. Frederic smiled at the thought of those times. But his smile quickly went away as he remembered the god-awful person. "Mr. Frederic, We''ve gotten word of you doing some... illegal things lately." The person said with a mocking grin. "I haven''t done anything! Please, let me go! I''m begging you, let me and my sister go." Frederic said while crying and begging. "How about this, We''ll get you into the upcoming Squad 95 tournament. If you win it, We''ll release you and your sister. If not, your sister goes poof." That person said and started laughing maniacally. "What!? You were the one who force-----" is all Frederic managed to say before getting escorted, violently, by the security guards. All while That Person''s laughter got more and more intense. Frederic squeezed his weapon at the thought of the person. Just like everybody else he was going to win, to liberate his sister. The clock was ticking, it was now 10 minutes left before the first match kicked off. Everyone was sitting in their rooms, anxious. Especially Frederic. He had heard the rumors about Karl and his abnormal strength. Karl, on the other hand, was overflowing with confidence. 8 minutes had passed and Suddenly, the contestants heard a voice from the outside. While Juliette was starting up the tournament, Antoine and Charlotte were taking off the covers on the doors. Every door had a cover on the top half of the door, it was kind of like a window but when you took it off, there was still metal bars. This existed so that the contestants who weren''t fighting still could watch the "show". Antoine and Charlotte also let out Karl and Frederic, the combatants for the first fight. Hikari took this chance to analyze Karl''s and Frederic''s fighting styles, because they were opponents after all. "Hello everyone in the audience." Juliette started. The tournament took place at the same place as Hikari had his sparring match, but it was slightly modified. They had kind of combined the stages into one giant one, and added a podium on the side of the stage where Juliette stood and spoke. The rooms where the contestants were waiting were on the side of the arena, and everybody could see them. Hikari looked outside and saw a huge amount of onlookers on the sides. Karl walks up the stage with confidence and cockiness oozing out of him. Meanwhile, Frederic walks normally up to the stage.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "We are going to start the tournament with this first battle, Karl vs Frederic. But before we start the actual fight, I''m going to explain the rules of the battle. 1st, when one of the contestants are in a critical condition, is outside the stage or concedes the battle, The match will stop and the other contestant will win. 2nd, as tradition there is one way to win immediately, We''ve placed a thing on the shirts that will break on impact, If it gets destroyed you''ll lose the battle. But it will only break if you use your weapons. 3rd, and most obvious, No cheating in any way. That''s it for the rules, when I blow this whistle the match begins." Juliette explains. Hikari and Sofia stood surprised about the 2nd rule, they had no idea that was going to be in it. Hikari sat down to rethink his strategies a bit. Karl pulled a stance to prepare. Frederic reacted "That pose... It couldn''t be! Have you trained in one of the 3 Legendary Martial Arts?" Karl started laughing lightly "Hahahaha, Yes I have. I''m impressed you were able to tell. While I was in China I trained in The Tigers Fang martial art, You stand no chance against me." Frederic jumped back a pace. The 3 Legendary Martial Arts were nothing to take lightly, but he couldn''t give up now. Upon remembering his sister''s smile, he pulled a confident smile and said "If I were you, I wouldn''t be so cocky." and pulled a stance. Juliette filled her lungs with air, and started bringing the whistle to her mouth. The audience was cheering, Karl was preparing, Frederic was sweating. "Phweeeeeeeeeeet" The whistle sounded A millisecond after hearing the noise, Karl flew forward. Frederic noticed it and dodged it in time. Frederic took the opportunity to strike, He prepared his stick and ran towards the now flying Karl. Karl landed on the ground and jumped up quickly and did a move with his hands. Air flew towards Frederic who jumped up in the air and directed his legs towards Karl. Frederic landed a small hit on Karl''s right arm and he flew back. Karl landed on his feet and glided back a few meters, he prepared his staff and jumped forward. Frederic countered the stick and striked back, Karl dodged it in the air and hit Frederic on the side. Karl spun around and hit him another time in the back. Karl spun around once again, but Frederic managed to get up and counter the attack. Frederic used his stick to hit Karl right up the chin. Karl fell down annoyed. Why was this guy creating so much trouble? Frederic grabbed his stick and swung it at Karl and hit his shoulder. Karl flew back 5 meters, they were now very close to the edge. Frederic ran in excitement to finish this and save his sister, but Karl was not about to let that happen. Karl flew up with anger and took a hard grasp of his stick, He ran forward and prepared his stick. He swung the stick towards Frederic who pulled up his stick to block, but Karl stopped halfway through and pulled a cocky smile. Frederic looked confused at Karl, He couldn''t move the stick because of the momentum he built up. Karl takes the stick over his head and throws it the hardest he can in Frederic''s face. Frederic moves back a little and tries to recover. Karl runs up to him and knees him right in the face again, then he throws him up in the air and starts punching and kicking him. This was Karl''s ultimate move, it was like a combo you''d use in a fighting game. He continued for a couple of seconds and then he kicked Frederic in the stomach. Frederic flew into the ground and threw up blood. He had injuries all over his body, especially his face. Karl started laughing. "Looks like you won''t be able to save your sister after all." Karl said. The reason Karl knew Frederic''s real goal was because Karl is That Person''s little brother. "Looks like this was another victory for me." Karl said. Frederic clenched his fists and slammed them against the floor in anger. "I won''t let you." Frederic responds quietly. "What was that?" Karl said mockingly. Frederic jumped up and shouted "I WON''T LET YOU!" He picked up his stick and swung it at Karl''s legs, Karl started falling. In the air, Frederic striked with his stick towards Karl''s heart, but Karl managed to block the attack with his hands. Frederic spun around with his stick to gain momentum and struck Karl''s back head. Karl fell face first on the ground. Frederic was just running on passion at this point, he could barely stand up after that. Karl rose up, slowly. He was more furious than ever, How did this peasant dare to hurt his beautiful face? Karl looked Frederic right in the eye. Karl let go of his stick, so did Frederic. They both ran towards each other and started exchanging fists. This went on for 20 seconds, The punching got slower and slower on both''s end. Karl took at look at Camille and instantly got some more energy, He used all of his last energy to do a last move. They were both very hurt at this point. Karl collected all of his energy into one last uppercut and performed it. Frederic didn''t have enough energy to dodge it so he took a clean hit. He flew 2 meters into the air, landing a very hard fall. Frederic was still conscious. When he realized he had lost the duel, He started crying. "EMMA! EMMA! Emma. Emm---" He shouted out very loudly while crying furiously, until he ran out of energy and morale and passed out. Karl stood up, barely, smiling and laughing at his victory. He was still annoyed that Frederic caused that much damage, but to him a victory was a victory. He smiled at Camille and did a thumbs-up, he said to Frederic "Hahahaha, you''re worthless. You couldn''t even protect your own sister." while he was still conscious. Karl then fell down and passed out. Hikari stood in his room, grasping the metal bars so hard they almost broke. He didn''t know the full situation but from what he could hear and see, he knew Karl had done something terrible and gotten away with it. He got sick to the stomach. The last line Karl said pissed him off especially much. The contestants in the rooms could hear everything from the stage, but the audience couldn''t hear anything they talked about on the stage. Karl''s fans were cheering as usual, like he hadn''t done anything terrible. Hikari was more furious than he''d been in a long time. The last time he could remember was back when he was 12 years and someone was bullying his friend, He wanted to help but someone was holding him back. Hikari was ready to teach Karl a lesson he never would forget.