I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 138

“Brandon is the victor and will be placed in third. Sammuel will be placed in 5th.” The magistrate declared. “The defeated of this last round will be placed in 4th, and the 2nd place can choose if he wishes to fight Jordan for first.”

His words caught everyone off guard, and the crowds of spectators began murmuring in dissatisfaction. Brandon said he’d defeat Sammuel in three moves, yet he was unable to perform the third attack. This should have meant that Sammuel got third place. As the voices grew louder and louder, the magistrate spoke, his voice becoming amplified to cut through everyone else.

“Private agreements decided by the contestants are not considered in an official tournament. It is stated in the tournament rules that in the event of a tie, I have the right to decide on the winner. Although this match was a dual knockout, Sammuel suffered more injuries in the final exchange. Also, one must consider a person’s future potential. Brandon has not only advanced further down his evolutionary path, but he has only begun. In a year, the outcome of this tournament would be obvious. This is my decision.

Brandon’s father, who despite being a Capala appeared to be in a separate box from Abigail, Mara, and Penny, nodded as if this was an obvious conclusion. There was still some discontent muttering, but no one was willing to directly argue with the magistrate. After all, he was just a step below lord and a powerful paragon on his own. His words had some logic to him, and most of those who considered them unfair didn’t have the power to argue back.

“This is just how things are?” One such spectator sighed. “The nobles will always decide on the victor.”

“Scumbag!” A voice came out while I was still listening to the conversations. “Get up here! All I need to do is defeat you, and then I’ll be in second.”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about me. The second to last round still wasn’t over. I had a match against the last one standing, and it would decide which of us reached 4th and which reached 2nd. Since the match between Sammuel and Brandon had resulted in both of them being knocked out, they couldn’t compete in the next round. Both were being looked at by a group of what I assumed were doctors, although they had seemingly fed Brandon a medicine that caused his body to recover physically quicker, and he was already starting to show signs of regaining consciousness. Meanwhile, Sammuel was being left to recover on his own.

I went up onto the stage, facing off against the one with the mysterious powerful master. I hadn’t paid much attention to his previous fights. He had been considered one of the dark horses of the tournament, so reaching 2nd place for him was already an unexpected marvel.

“Shall we begin?” I asked.

“You need to learn your place. Your scoundrel-like actions must be stopped. In what world would you be able to marry Miss Abigail.”

I blinked. “I don’t care to marry anyone. I just need some money. Although the top prize is 50,000 kilowatts, the second still gets 25,000 kilowatts. That’ll have to do for now.”

“You…” He seemed more offended that I wasn’t interested in the girl.

“Isn’t this her choice anyway?” I cocked my head. “Even if she said she’d marry the first place person if she doesn’t like them, she can just say no.”

He sneered. “That’s just like a commoner to not understand. To nobles, our word is a bond. She will follow through and marry the person who reaches first.”

“There seems to be some misunderstanding here.” the uncle suddenly spoke up, a small grin on his face. “Miss Abigail promised to marry a top contender, not the top contender. She can choose anyone from the top three in any of the tournaments.”

Jordan’s eyes opened where he was sitting patiently. “That wasn’t what I was told.”

A bunch of eyes ended up turning to Abigail. She leaned forward and nodded, although her face held no expression.

“It is as uncle says. Since there are those competing who may not have the Capala family’s future in their best interest. I will select among the victors my ideal husband.”

The uncle grinned. “Of course, my sweet niece. Of course, my sons would have the Capala family’s best interest and both of them are among the top three. One has reached first in alchemy, but if it’s the martial talent you favor, Brandon is in third place. However, I do not feel that expresses his true talent.”

The uncle’s voice sounded slightly unhappy as he glanced over at his son, who had finally woken up. Although he had won third, he didn’t look particularly satisfied. He had a deep expression of shame on his face, and when he looked at Sammuel, his face contorted to rage for a moment before he hid it.

“We shall see…” She responded tightly, a displeased expression on her face.

Suddenly, a lot of mysteries made more sense to me. It looked like her uncle was pressuring her to marry, but he wanted her to marry one of his sons so that he could take over her branch of the family and control two branches. She eventually compromised with this tournament, but even then, he pushed both of his sons into it and even made deals to ensure that they both reached the top three. Jordan had Brandon aside so that the younger brother could shine in alchemy, and Brandon still managed to get third place. This was why the magistrate had been willing to offend people with his call. If Sammuel had been in third, then he would have had the potential to be selected.

On that note, a supposed commoner like me, even if I had no chance of being selected by Abigail, was probably just as much of an eyesore. The man standing on the other side of me seemed to think as much.

“You may have been able to use tricks on your previous opponents, but here is where you fall!” He declared. “Prepare yourself! Baryon Strike!”

He wasted no time, using a mana-fueled attack. They believed my physical status to be in the lower third realm. This guy was in the upper third realm, but he planned to leave nothing to chance, immediately summoning mana, the thing I couldn’t use, to amplify his attacks. The power-up for this attack was quite short, and he lunged at me with three strikes that seemed to be composed of one triangle. I dived to the side, narrowly avoiding his attack.

He didn’t stop his attack. It seemed to have some kind of honing function, and using the three strikes he was able to change his attack in a way that seemed to defy the laws of motion. The triangle twisted and his attack came at me without losing any momentum. I could only continue to dodge, and if it wasn’t for my extremely high agility, I would have already been struck by him. Of course, I could probably take the hit, but such a thing would ruin the image I had built up in everyone’s hearts.

“Quit running, you bastard!” he was annoyed.

It seemed like with my level of agility, I was able to avoid his strike long enough that the force of it went out. The triangle flickered out, and he had an expression of annoyance on his face. Since that was the case, I decided to attack. Since I had been escaping before, he hadn’t expected me to suddenly change directions. He could barely bring his sword up, but I slid by him. My finger turned into a blade for a fraction of a heartbeat, and then I stabbed into his side.

This time, I didn’t use any of my cells. Rather, I just injected him with a pure dose of poison. As soon as he felt the prick, his face turned white. It was already too late though. I leaped back, taking my distance from him. He grabbed onto his side, but he had an ugly expression on his face. The spectators seemed to understand what was happening too.

“He poisoned another one?”

“To think, his trick would even work on a top three.”

“Well, he’s not top three material, is he? It was a mere chance that Brandon and Sammuel were both removed from combat. He was probably just lucky. In another tournament, he would have only at best been in the top ten.”

He tried to stimulate mana, but then he grimaced, and with a reluctant voice, he conceded and left the stage. This poison was something I had gotten from those miscreants. One of their daggers had been coated by the stuff in small quantities. When I realized it was doing me damage, I quarantined it and then started doing tests. The poison wasn’t deadly, but it would incapacitate someone. It was most effective against mana consumption. I learned how to replicate the poison, and thus added it to my repertoire.

“In that case, I suppose we can declare the victors.” The magistrate returned to the stage, “The victor of the martial tournament is-”

“Wait just a moment,” I spoke up, causing everyone to glance my way. “I still need to fight Jordan, right? 1st place isn’t decided yet.”