Bet

The arena. But unlike the day of the tournament, the stands were completely empty. Only three people composed the entirety of the audience- Instructor Bell, First year student Isabella Hunt and Instructor Tirov, a white haired old man- who were sitting in VIP room 2.

"Little girl, you should learn to accept defeats." The old man laughed.

"It is not about my defeat, instructor Tirov, it never was. I just want to end this." Abegail shook her head.

"I would have understood if this lass here were to fight him. But you are pitting a potioneer against this year's champion, this is nothing but a farce." The old man snorted.

Abegail remained silent. But Isabella did not miss her chance to give the grumpy old man a death glare.

The old man acted as if he did not notice it and turned towards the platform, so did Abegail and Isabella.

There were two young men on the stage, standing 5 meters apart- facing each other. One was an elegant looking young man with black eyes and silky hair. And the other was blessed with otherworldly looks- his eyes even darker.

"Honestly, the fact that I was not able to fight you during the tournament did not sit well with me. Thankfully, the opportunity came fast enough." The silky haired young man, Sirius Blue assumed a fighting position.

"This is nothing but a bet between two instructors. Let's get it over with, shall we?" Unlike his opponent, Adrian took his hands behind his back and closed his eyes.

Sirius scowled. He took one step forward and then charged towards his opponent. He decided to crush the target with superior speed and strength. He threw a punch with all of his strength.

But he did not feel any impact on his fist as he punched through. He looked back and found out that Adrian was in the exact same place with the exact same pose.

Adrian slowly turned back, his eyes still closed.

Both of the instructors in the audience leaned forward. Their eyes wide open. Only Isabella stayed calm.

"Did you see that? His movements were minimal and footwork- mysterious." The old man looked at Abegail.

Even she was shocked, even though she knew of his previous accomplishments.

"Well, he is a dark circler. Mysteriousness is their core virtue." She sat down, assuming a haughty pose.

"Now I see, little girl. Why you are so confident in that brat." The old man too, leaned back again.

"But don't think you've already won. You were there in the tournament; you know that he is fast and strong, but they are not his strongest points." He continued.

Abegail remained silent, she was curious; even though she knew her victory was set, she wanted to know what he was capable of.

Back at the stage, Adrian smiled at his opponent- a clear sign of mockery.

Sirius again approached Adrian. But unlike before he began to throw some short bursts of punches. Adrian dodged them through twisting and turning his body, foot movements were not even necessary.

Sirius became serious, he began to use the art that made him survive against four tier 4s at the finals. He began to throw punches and kicks; these attacks were strong, fast and most importantly- unpredictable.

Sometimes he would throw a straight punch, but then change the direction midway- catching the target off guard. Normally that would be inefficient as changing direction of punches midway took away much of the strength; but that was not the case for water circlers with their essence <Flow>. This essence enabled the magical energy inside the body to flow even more smoothly and efficiently. Hence, water circlers could make unpredictability attacks without losing much.

And for Sirius, who was arguably the most proficient <Flow> user this year, making these moves barely had any cost. But still, he was unable to connect a single shot.

Adrian dodged each and every one of Sirius's attacks. But Sirius's strange martial art techniques forced him to use his foot. Adrian was now using fast and mysterious footworks along with his flexible upper body movements. His hands- still behind his back, eyes- yet to open.

Sirius had a twisted expression on his face. He bellowed and increased the speed of his attacks. But that was futile as Adrian began to dodge faster.

The spectators could not take their eyes off.

"I know he is a dark circler, but isn't it too much?" The old man complained.

"I know, right?" Her eyes were still glued to the match.

Isabella was nonchalant. Her young master was her sparring partner. She knew that he was just playing with his opponent. Because she had been played with, like that- a lot.

Sirius could not take it anymore; none of his attacks were working- neither punches, nor kicks. They have been moving through the whole platform, but not a single one of his attacks connected. So, he decided to make his next move.

He stopped attacking. He just stood there, staring at his opponent.

Adrian finally opened his eyes and looked at Sirius, who was standing there- doing nothing. Adrian moved his hand forward and clapped.

Both of them stood there, staring at each other.

"Nice. The best move someone could make against a sneaky dodger like that is to not make a move at all." The old man laughed.

"Bold of you to assume that dodging is all he could do." Abegail smiled.

"Ahem. At least, there will be a 'fight' from now on." The man's skin got thicker with his age.

Abegail shook his head but inside, she knew the old man was right. She wanted to see what was so special about her 'owner' that enabled him to kill a circler not weaker than her.

Adrian began to walk towards him- not too fast, nor too slow- at a normal pace. Sirius took a defensive stance, ready for any type of attacks.

Sirius watched as his opponent stopped in front of him, only two steps away. He saw Adrian's right shoulder twitch.

He knew it was going to be a punch. And he was right. A jab came right into his face- unimaginably fast. It was already too late to dodge. But his solid defensive stance wasn't just for show. He guarded his face with both of his fists.

But their fists- they never met.

Sirius, who did not even have time to be confused, felt a strong impact on his stomach. He was sent flying away, barely landing in the boundaries of the platform- a few steps away from the border.

He somehow got up on his feet, his legs shaking from the piercing pain in his guts. The first thing he saw when he got up was Adrian who was still in that place, but one of his legs was up in the air as if he just kicked someone- in the abdomen.

Sirius still wanted to fight, but his body betrayed him; his vision grew blurry as he coughed out blood, his trembling legs could hardly support him anymore- he slumped to the ground.

"WHAT?!" The old man in the warm VIP room stood up.

"What? Can't accept a defeat?" Abegail was still sitting, smiling. She was smiling because the torturing process of cheering for the torturer who tortured her for the last half year was finally over.

"You… even you couldn't sense it?" He looked at her, the shock on his face became even more evident.

"Sense what?" She squinted.

"He is a monster, I tell you- a MONSTER!"

'You don't have to tell me twice.' She thought.

"Why? That was a good move but nothing that spectacular. In fact, I thought that your student was a bit careless there." She shook her head.

"Little girl, you are just a level 6. So, you couldn't sense it. But I did." 'Somehow'

She looked at him with curious eyes.

"That kick- he managed to conceal 'only' that kick."

"WHAT?!" It was her turn to stand up.

Dark circlers with <Conceal> essence could enable users to hide their presence. But like all other essences, it also had its limitations. One of the major ones was 'all or nothing' meaning- one either had to conceal all of their body or none at all, and there was no in between.

But the anomaly in front of them- defied that. He was able to conceal only his leg. That further enhanced the effectiveness of the essence. For example, when that fist was targeting Sirius's face, the majority of his concentration was on the punch- making the stealth of Adrian's kick even more effective.

"But how come I did not sense it?" Her mind was still in jitters.

"Don't you get it? He could make it so that only his essence only works on 'selected targets'." The disbelief on his eyes had yet to disappear.

"WHAT?!" She almost jumped.

Another limitation of <Conceal> essence was 'everyone or no one' meaning- either one had to hide himself from everyone- friends and foes alike, or nobody at all. But the abnormality in front of them- did.

"Judging from your reactions, even you did not know of these. But you were still confident."

'If you knew that he was the one who killed instructor Astler, you would also have been this relaxed.' She smiled wryly.

"It's my loss. I won't 'disturb' you anymore." He sighed as he left.

A few moments later, the remaining Isabella and Abegail also left the room as they approached the platform, upon which Adrian was still standing.

Isabella rushed to him; there was a fur coat on her hand.

"Congratulations, young master!" She got behind him and positioned the coat for him to wear.

Adrian wore it and gave her a smile. He then looked at the old man carrying away the wounded student, his smile grew wider. His eyes followed them till they left.

"Now that you won the bet, he won't propose his son's marriage to you anymore."

"Ye- HOW DID YOU KNOW?" She took a step back, her eyes wide open, sweat perspiring through her skin.

"You 'used' me to get rid of him, didn't you?" He took a step forward, and held both of her shoulders.

"Nonononono. How could I even think of it?" She shook her head strongly- so strong that her neck could have snapped at any moment.

"Worry not, dear. Your mother should have already told you. I don't mind being used." He brought his mouth to her ears and tightened the grip on her shoulders.

"As long as you pay the 'price'." He whispered.

A chill ran down her spine. She panicked, she already began to think about all the 'punishments' she could face.

"It is not that hard. You will just have to run through the corridors of gents dorms at night."

She sighed, still a bit doubtful.

"Naked."