Revenge

Elion was standing in the center of the arena, surrounded by a menacing aura. When they looked at the boy, everyone in the stands had the strange and inexplicable impression that they were about to see something amazing. Standing in front of Elion was his opponent, Marcus Reinoc.

Marcus looked at Elion with a smile on his face. He had been waiting for this day since they had fought. When Elion looked at him, his eyes were filled with disgust.

"Your eyes are filled with such confidence as if you were superior to everyone around you. I cannot wait to stomp you as I did to your little friend. I want to see you on your knees as she was" Marcus said with a sadistic smile.

"You are all talk, but when it comes to action you're nothing but trash. Apparently, you've forgotten the last lesson I gave you. Do not worry though. Because you were nice enough to attract my fury, I will make sure that the humiliation that you will feel today will never leave your head" said Elion with a threatening tone of voice.

"You son of a bitch. You just got lucky last time, but today I'll show you that you cannot look down on the heir of the Reinoc Clan" said Marcus. He was clearly irritated by Elion's response to him.

When Malakin announced the start of the battle, Elion raised his two swords and pointed them at Marcus.

"I do not need these to win against trash like you" he said with a smile as he let go of his swords.

"You'll regret this you bastard! This is the last offense I take from you!" seeing that Elion had let go of his weapons, Marcus exploded in fury and ran toward his opponent.

Marcus approached Elion and dealt a series of blows with his scythe, Elion dodged all of them with minimal movement, only moving in the last second to make the blade miss him by a few slight inches. As Elion continued to dodge, he finally saw the opening which he was waiting for. He threw his body against the handle of Marcus's sickle and punched him in the face. Marcus crashed to the ground due to the impact of the punch.

"Get up. Your lesson is just starting" Elion said with his usual smile.

"You bastard, I'll kill you!" Marcus said. Where his face had been hit, there was a deep red mark.

The Black-haired boy got up and started to attack Elion again. After dodging a few more strikes, Elion saw another opportunity. He quickly dodged one of Marcus strikes and kicked his right leg behind his knee. As Marcus lost his balance, his right knee fell to the ground. Elion took advantage of the position of his opponent and quickly struck Marcus's face twice. The boy once again fell to the ground with his back on the floor.

"Was it not I who was supposed to kneel this fight?" said Elion in an ironic tone. "Listen to my advice. Do not get up. Trash like you should always be looking up at me from below" continued the blond boy.

"I swear, even if it's the last thing I do, I will kill you! You bastard!" Marcus said as he stood up. His dark eyes blazed with anger.

Again, Marcus started a string of attacks with his scythe. Because of his anger, his attacks were faster but also more predictable. His rage made Marcus lose his mind. People from the stands could not believe what they were seeing. First, Elion had dropped his weapons as if he had given up the fight, but then he dodged all of Marcus attacks while dominating his opponent completely.

While Elion continued to dodge blows, he again saw another opening and countered. This time Elion kicked Marcus belly. The impact of the kick made Marcus lean forward exposing his already swollen face. Elion struck a sequence of punches to Marcus's face. The Reinoc clan boy swayed from side to side, but Elion would not let his body touch the ground as he continued to beat his face mercilessly. Suddenly Elion stopped, letting Marcus's body hit the ground.

As Marcus fell to the ground with his disfigured face, he looked at Elion. His eyes gave off a terrified look. Elion was holding the sickle he had dropped.

"Stop looking at me as if you're asking for mercy. Are you telling me that you'll give up? You will be the first student to yield at the semifinals in the history of the tournament. Even more, for I did not use my weapons? Does the Reinoc clan really have so little pride?" Elion said with a smile. "Listen to me! This is what happens to anyone who messes with my friends. The next time you or one of your colleagues touches a single strand of hair of one of my friends, I will not let you escape so easily" said Elion in a threatening tone.

Elion then moved closer to Marcus and whispered in his ear.

"Congratulations garbage. You are now the joke of the whole College. But this humiliation does not end with only this much. It still lacks the finishing touch. As I recall your fight with Adalind ended with you using her weapon. Now you will experience your own poison" after saying that, Elion hit Marcus's neck with his own scythe, causing him to faint.

Seeing that the fight had ended, Malakin picked up Marcus to take him to the tent for medical care. He rebuked Elion for excessive use of force, but he couldn't do anything as Elion had acted according to the rules. Everyone in the stands had conflicting opinions. Some of the older students were impressed with Elion's skills, while other students were shocked at the state that Marcus was at the end of the battle.

As Elion walked through the stands in the midst of silence, people cleared the way to allow him to pass. When he reached Cain, Cain said with a smile on his face

"You were amazing, if I was in your place I would have continued to beat him until he lost consciousness. You did well"

"He should not bother any of us from now on. After this fight, everyone must have forgotten what he did to Adalind" said Elion. The yellow haired boy was ecstatic after punishing Marcus.

"I'm sure he will not unless he really wants to die. But you lied to me. You said you'd give it your all, but I did not see you using your weapons" Cain said in a teasing tone.

"You'll have to wait our fight to see. I could not show you everything I have, I would be disadvantaged when I fought you" Elion said while laughing.

The battles continued into the afternoon. Cain and Elion had another fight each, both won it easily. Again, it was Cain's turn to fight. The boy walked to the arena with a confident look. His arm was covered by a bandage to prevent too much blood from leaking out.

His opponent was Caitlyn Reinoc. She was 14 and had black eyes and black hair. Her skin was white, and her face had a soft look. Her body was thin, but muscular. Cain did not pay much attention to his opponent though. He now knew that he was much stronger than most people his age, so he did not need to worry.

As the Master of Weapons screamed the start to the fight, Cain ran towards his opponent who also carried a spear. As he thrust his spear forward, Caitlyn, who was also running, stuck her spear into the ground and somersaulted over him. It was the same move that Cain had used in the previous fight. Thanks to the Doppelganger Lineage, Caitlyn had to only see a move done once to be able to perform it. Cain was impressed. He had trained for months to be able to use that move in battle while she just needed to see him do it once to copy it perfectly.

While Caitlyn pulled her spear from the ground to attack, Cain pulled his spear back and dropped to the floor, turning his body in a counterclockwise direction to face Caitlyn. The two started their attacks at the same time. As Cain thrust his spear forward, his superior agility made it possible to hit Caitlyn's head while blocking her attack using his left arm. Caitlyn instantly fell to the ground unconscious as Cain lost control of his left arm. Being so overconfident had almost lost him the fight.

People in the stands shouted Cain's name again and again. He had seen his own attack be used against him but not only he had defended it, he countered it perfectly. As Cain walked to the tent of the Master of Healing to regain his movement in his left arm, Elion joined him.

"Dude you were amazing! You managed to reverse a situation that seemed lost. When she used your movement against you everybody thought the fight would end with her victory, but you defended very well" Elion said excitedly.

"Please, let's not talk about this fight. I was overconfident and almost ended up ruining everything. If I wasn't so overconfident, I could have defeated her without suffering any harm" Cain said while looking down. He was visibly annoyed with himself.

The boys went into the tent. The Master of Healing was already caring for Caitlyn and would be able to see Cain in a few minutes. As they looked around the tent, they saw another stretcher with an unconscious boy on it. It was Marcus. The Reinoc clan boy's face was swollen and had a deep purple color thanks to the beating he took from Elion. At that moment the Master of Healing had finished taking care of Caitlyn and came to Cain.

"Hello boys. Cain, you came to heal your left arm, right? And you Elion, be more careful with your actions, I understand that you wanted revenge for what he did with your friend this morning, but what you did was unjustifiable. It will take him a few weeks to recover completely. Marcus is still unconscious even after I passed the solution to counter the Orichalcum effects" Evelyn said with a look of disapproval. After taking care of Cain's arm she left the tent to go back to watch the battles.

Cain and Elion also left the tent and went to the stands to watch the last fight of the quarterfinals. On the way Cain turned to Elion.

"If he's hurt like that, it's his fault. In your place I would have done the same" Cain said while looking at the fight that was going on in the arena.

"Do not worry. I'm not sorry for what I did, not one bit. He deserved it" said Elion.

The two boys watched the fight to the end to see who Cain's opponent would be. Jorg Plutz had won the battle. The boy was 14 and had received his lineage during the winter. The year before he had been ranked 39, but thanks to his unique Lineage, the boy was doing much better than expected in the championship.

"Oh, someone interesting has appeared" Elion said with a smile.

The last battle had taught Cain to not be too confident. The opponent seemed to be extremely strong.

"Finally, I have an interesting fight!" exclaimed Cain.

"Don't you dare lose though. Remember our promise of facing each other in the finals" Elion said.

"Oh, don't you worry about me. But will you be able to keep the promise?" asked Cain. He was already laughing knowing what the answer would be.

"Of course! Have I ever broken any of my promises?" asked Elion while laughing as well.

"No, you always keep your promises" Cain said trying to sound serious.

"I would not be a man if I ever broke one" said Elion. He then left and went to the arena. It was his turn to fight once more.

Cain looked at Elion's back as he moved to the arena. He was his greatest friend and Cain suspected he would also be his greatest adversary.