Rivals

Before Julius, Sloane, or even Licht could leave the arena, Frances had landed at the center. He adjusted his glasses, and then he spoke.

Okay, Midas, it's time to settle our rivalry. Let's go"

Midas smiled, looking at someone he could call his brother in arms after one fight together. Midas nodded. He walked to the center of the stage too. Taking off his hooded cloak, all he wore were rags all over his body. He looked like a handsome, tanned beggar. Talia, Scarlet, Gayatri, and Davina were all wondering why Licht's first disciple dressed like he was wretched.

Frances immediately froze over. Azure ice covered his body, while his eyes were orange like a flame. He formed a greatsword made of glacial ice and was ready. Midas sighed, and green miasma poured out of the ground. In the past, Midas used his manticore as his amor and weapons, but after his wandering, he encountered several beasts, including a beast that was very covered by scales, causing its durability to be near indestructible, and since it was its scales that were its main form of defense, the creature was not slow. Luckily, Midas killed it with the help of Daren's poison, and it had a weak soul.

A lightweight armor covered Midas slowly from his hands all the way till it covered his entire body, leaving his face uncovered. A helm with two curved horns formed, giving Midas a menacing but handsome look. A long katana called an odachi formed in his hands.

Scarlet's eyes sparkled a bit, but she still kept her usual cold stare. Talia said, "Oh, he looks so hot."

"Are you ready?" Midas held the odachi parallel to his body.

Frances smiled, and BOOM!

A huge flare occurred below Frances feet, catapulting him to where Midas was. The speed was almost on par with Julius, but Midas was not fazed. He redirected the attack like it was nothing. An explosion occurred behind Midas.

Midas slashed with his sword, and Frances blocked. It became a slash, pierce, and block kind of dance, except for the fact that the attacks were increasing in pace. You have to remember that Midas did not have insane physical strength like Sloane, and Frances was not as fast as Julius, so it was a crazy thing to watch a battle of this proportion.

They separated, and the great sword dissolved back into Frances' body, and gauntlets formed. Midas smiled, but he still held the odachi in his hands. He had trained with several weapons, but he was more used to long swords.

Frances blasted forward with twice the speed, now surpassing Julius' speed (obviously not full speed). He appeared behind Midas and punched. Midas' sword blocked the punch, but then an explosion happened directly in front of his face. This explosion sent him flying but barely injured him. Midas stood up with a laugh, but once again there was another explosion. Frances was using the blast to increase his speed.

"Bakusaidama: Triple Impact"

Frances created compressed, exploding spheres on his palm and threw them at Midas, who was still trying to recover. There were a series of explosions that blinded everyone as they were too bright, and they took half of the coliseum with them.

Frances stood panting; that attack had taken a lot from him. He looked at the spot where Midas was before. He took bated breaths in hopes that he had finally won. But fate had a different game to play. There was a green wyvern where Midas ought to have been. Pride covered Midas with his wings, but there was obviously damage all over its body. It was soon sucked into Midas, who looked relatively okay except for the soot that covered some parts of his body.

Midas got up and looked at Frances. Frances was about to move when he saw that he was surrounded. Wrath was behind him, her claws poking his back. Lust's legs were raised, and the blades at her heel were set on Frances' neck, while Envy's tail was facing Frances' abdomen. Frances wanted to scream that it was not fair because even if he managed to escape these three, he was still surrounded by hundreds of soul summons, imps, soldiers, archers, and even the manticore that looked like it was now standing on its two feet.

Frances sighed and admitted defeat.

"You're a monster; you know that, right? How do you keep getting stronger?" Frances managed to speak when all the soul summons were sucked back into the miasma and back into Midas' body.

"I am my master's disciple." Midas laughed and held Frances by the shoulder as they went back to where the other disciples were.

"Shouldn't the two first disciples battle it out?" Scarlet's voice resounded through the entire coliseum, making both Midas and Frances turn back in surprise. Frances laughed and patted Midas on the back.

"It looks like you, my friend, are quite popular." He walked away, leaving Midas a bit confused. Midas shook himself out of it and walked towards Scarlet.

He gestured, causing the same armor to cover his body once more. This time, though, his weapon of choice was a small sword and buckler. He knew Scarlet was an archer, so he was not going to take any risks.

Scarlet drew her bow, and flame arrows materialized on the string. She immediately fired them, and Midas also moved. He moved like a ghost. He was utilizing the lightning speed of Lust and dodging the arrows, or at least he thought he was dodging them. They turned around and chased him like heat-seeking missiles. Three of them were before him, so Midas did the rational thing. He chose to block with his buckler.

Screechhhh

The buckler screeched in pain after it was enveloped by Scarlet's crimson cinder.

"Flames that cleanse the soul? You are like my natural-born enemy," Midas chuckled. "This might even be more fun than facing Frances."

"Heyyyy, I heard that," Frances yelled from the crowd.

The armor on his body went back into his soul, and he held only the sword in his hands.

"I just have to try not to get hit. Sounds easy enough."