The indivudiual rewards like the all-expense paid vacation and private chef that the three of us were receive weren''t cheap.
The school needed some way to get back a portion of the money they had spent on this massive event.
So...they gave the cleaning staff and janitors a week-paid break after the Winter Wondend event was over.
During this week, the year with the lowest amount of points would be forced to clean the school.
These tasks included mopping the floor, cleaning walls, picking up trash, rearranging chairs... and even cleaning the bathrooms.
After school, every single student in the year would be forced to clean for over three hours a day.
Needless to say, no year wanted to do it.
And staring at the scoreboard, which disyed the first and third years tied for first with ten points and the second years at zero, I could see tensions were growing.
Shaking my head, I patted my two friends on the back before standing up.
Everyone in front of us on the bleachers was already standing up to see the stage more clearly, so it wasn''t abnormal.
There was one more event until the emergency rm was pulled, so I needed to sort some things out.
Looking down at my two confused friends, who were still sitting, I said.
"Can you take care of my friend for a second?"
Staring at each other in unison with annoyed expressions, Han sighed before asking.
"Are you really nning on leaving your clone here with us and just taking off?"
During the battle royale, I had introduced and acquainted Jin and Han with the corrupted figure as it was necessary for the n to seed.
Shaking my head at the two''s annoyed gazes, I exined once again.
"No, it''s the opposite, actually."
Lily had known about my corrupted figure from the start, as in our dream, I had used it to fight Zach, who at that time was possessed by the spirit.
And, by now, she had probably noticed that I had used it during our fight in the battle royale.
She had seen me above ground on the surface, fighting Kevin and Jin, and Alya had seen me in the underground space.
Leaning down and hiding in front of the standing figures in the row in front of me, I manifested a small physical piece of corruption in my pocket.
After a second, I ced that small piece of corruption on the ground before sitting back down.
Then, I manifested two more pieces of physical corruption before turning to Jin and Han.
After gesturing for the two of them to open their arms, I ced the piece of physical corruption into their hands.
"Could you ce it in your pocket?"
Seeing them reluctantly ce the piece of corruption in their pockets, I said.
"Well, it''s quite simple from here. When I say "GO!" take the thing out of your pocket and throw it on the ground."
Manifesting a detailed clone of me with the exact same structure required a lot of corruption and energy.
But... manifesting a couple of undetailed figures that barely resembled me did not.
And with this many people around, the two would basically be the same to anyone''s eye besides mine.
Jin, nodding his head, raised his hand before saying.
"One condition."
"And that is?"
"Tell us what it''s for."
Leaning back and resting my hands, I simply shrugged my shoulders and replied.
"Today just feels like one of those days, you know!"
Han, with a suspicious and confused expression on his face, slowly asked.
"You still haven''t answered the question, Ren."
Looking upwards at the sky-high ceiling of the multipurpose building, I calmly replied.
"Han, you know, if you don''t take risks, you can''t create a future."
From beside me, Jin immediately responded.
"That still not an answer, Ren."
Extending both of my arms in opposite directions, I wrapped my hands around the shoulders of both Jin and Han.
Pulling them closer to me, I quietly whispered into both of their ears.
"You know, Principal Serpahina has been pissing me off recently...so it''s about time for some revenge."
"..."
"..."
"...you''re talking about Principal Seraphina, the world-ss magical and top-ranked hero in the entire world, right Ren? That''s the person who you''re nning to get revenge on, right?"
Bringing their ears to my mouth, I slowly nodded my head before replying to Han''s troubled expression.
"Someone has to stand up for what''s right, Han! And...if no one else will, I will!"
Jin, honestly thinking this was a joke, yed along and asked.
"What exactly did Principal Serpahina do... to incur your might wrath, Ren?"
"...she forgot my name."
Recalling a moment from long ago, when I had just returned to the Celestial Academy from my suspension, a prickling feeling appeared in my chest.
When I was turning in my apology letter, Principal Seraphina was there.
And, instead of saying "hi" or "hello," she walked right past me!
In all reality, I wasn''t mad or anything, but I needed a reason to convince Han and Jin... and that was the only realistic one I coulde up with.
What else could I say?
She killed my dog, so I wanted to get revenge on her.
Han, knowing from the piece of corruption that I had given them that I wasn''t being sarcastic, sighed.
"There are over eight hundred students in the school, Ren; why would she r-"
Shaking my head, I patted Han on the shoulder before swiftly replying.
"Han...this is why you''re hardstuck gold in Mystic Brawl."
"...AND WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING WE''RE TALKING ABOUT!?"
Looking down at the piece of corruption I had left on the floor, I grinned and replied.
"Honestly, I just wanted to bring it up; I can''t lie. You''ve been getting way too cocky since that whole trivia thing win."
"..."
"...IT HASN''T EVEN BEEN FIVE MINUTES SINCE I WON!?"
Jin, seeing my vision like a true friend, chimed in from the other side.
"See, here you go again, bringing it up. Like we know you won, alright, Han?"