Duel[1]

'Do you really think… one lucky day means you get to talk and act anyhow?' He said inwardly.

Justin was the son of a popular beast core dealer, his father supplied beast cores to the academy and even the AMO.

Although he was from a prestigious family, he lacked two things: talent and potential. He was born with a low-grade wind affinity, and his mana core foundation was very weak.

Because of his low talent and potential, his mana core had been stuck in the first stage for about five years.

He could have broken through to the second stage if he simply absorbed beast cores. Unfortunately, his father felt that would be a huge waste of resources as his mana core would never develop past the third stage.

Though Justin was weak, no student dared to bully or intimidate him. This was because of his background which was quite powerful. Although his talent was very low it didn't mean his family loved him less. They still spoiled him with money and other necessities of life.

However, that didn't stop him from developing a hatred for talented students. He hated the fact that they had the chance to grow and get stronger while he would only be stuck at the third mana core stage.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything against the talented students of the academy. Not only could they squat him like a fly, but they were also protected by the academy.

So he transferred that aggression unto the regular students, he bullied both Elementalists(those at the first mana core stage) and regular students.

Due to his background, some students followed him around in order to get close to him, hoping to curry favour from his family.

Harry had always been one of his victims, in fact, he was one of Harry's worst bullies.

"You only got lucky with Han, that doesn't give you the right to walk into this hall," Justin said. "You're still the same trash…"

Harry's brows furrowed slightly when he heard Justin's words.

"Yeah… I got lucky, I know that." He said. That was what Harry honestly felt, if Han had used his tier-two spells from the start, he might not have won. Though he might be able to dodge them using his Lightning skills, that would lead to him exposing himself which was something he was trying to avoid—at least for now.

The frown on Justin's face deepened as he heard Harry's words, he found this new behaviour of Harry extremely annoying.

The fact that Harry wasn't shaking in fear, and was even staring at him boldly—nonchalant even—really made his blood boil.

A strange glint suddenly flashed through his eyes as a twisted smile spread across his face. "Okay… since you're here to train… why don't we have a duel?"

Harry slightly squinted his eyes as he stared at the purple-haired student. He was confused as to why Justin would challenge him, a 'normal student' to a duel. "I refuse." He said.

Justin's shoulders trembled slightly when he heard Harry's reply, he was barely holding himself back from blasting a spell at Harry.

Fighting in the training hallway was against the academy rules, as much as he would like to attack Harry, he would have to hold it in as he didn't want to get suspended.

For some reason, after the issue with Han, the academy stopped taking issues like bullying and fighting in hallways with levity.

A lot of students caught using spells in the middle of hallways were suspended, it was also why the parent-teacher(instructor) meeting was conducted earlier. A lot of parents were angry about the sudden suspension of their children, so the academy decided to conduct the meeting and settle all misunderstandings.

Justin stared at the indifferent face of Harry for a few seconds before finally turning around. He noticed their 'conversation' had attracted little attention among other students in the hall as some curious eyes were directed towards his direction.

A taunting smile appeared on his face as he said, "Scared?"

"I still refuse," Harry said calmly. He didn't understand why Justin wanted to duel with him but there was no way he would accept. Not only was it pointless, but it would also pull more attention towards him—more attention was what he least needed.

He turned around and continued walking towards the rods. He placed his hand on one of them and was about to lift it when he heard Justin's voice again.

"How about we have a wager… a bet?" Justin said, still with that taunting smile on his face

Harry's brows furrowed slightly as he thought about Justin's words. 'That sounds good.' Harry mumbled inwardly.

He slowly withdrew his hand from the rod and faced Justin. "Fine… I accept." Harry said, shocking everyone that heard him.

"Let's have a bet on the winner of the duel." Harry mumbled, and the edges of his lips curled into a slight smile

The eyes of Justin and some other students widened when they heard Harry's reply. What they expected was for Harry to refuse the challenge, after all a human going against an Elementalist was nothing short of stupid!

Even though Justin challenged Harry to a duel, he hadn't expected him to accept it. He was only trying to get under Harry's skin—and maybe push him to accept the duel so he could deal with him accordingly. However, Harry accepted too easily. This only verified his thoughts—Harry was looking down on him!

Other students also had similar thoughts to Justin, chatters soon started rising among the students.

—"Did he really accept the duel?"

—"Yes… he thinks he is stronger than everyone after that 'Han incident'

—"Justin should crush him… Did he think we Elementalists are jokes?!

—"What if he… wins the duel?"

—"Impossible! you regular students could never stand against us."

It didn't take long before everyone turned against the student who said Harry could win.

Most Elementalists weren't present when Harry defeated Han and his friends, for them, it was just impossible. They felt the regular students were just exaggerating. The thought of a normal person defeating three Elementalists just seemed impossible.

Justin's face turned dark as he stared at Harry. The confidence that oozed from Harry's voice when he accepted the duel really irked him. 'So you think you have a chance Huh? I would put you in your rightful place… as trash!'

***

-A few minutes later

Two students could be seen standing on a large stage that was half the size of a basketball pitch.

Justin glared daggers at Harry as he made his stance on the left side of the stage.

Harry had a nonchalant look as he stared back at the purple-haired boy standing across him. He was sure that he would win this duel, although his current speed might not be enough to dodge tier two spells, it was more than enough to dodge tier one spells.

When he was fighting with Nell and Ace, he was able to follow their attacks quite easily with the use of accelerate, so dodging tier-one spells would definitely be easier now that his stats had improved considerably.

A brown-haired man stood in the middle of the stage, a strange expression flashed through his eyes as he glanced at Harry. He raised his brow while staring at Harry and mouthed the words 'are you sure about this?'

Harry gave a slight nod to the instructor before focusing his attention back on Justin.

The instructor sighed as he finally gave up, there was nothing he could do anymore since Harry stood on his decision to partake in the duel.

Since duels needed the supervision of an instructor, the two students came to meet the brown-haired man. He was extremely shocked when he found out that a regular student accepted the challenge of an Elementalist.

He tried his best to convince Harry to give up on the duel, however, Harry's mind didn't budge. Although he felt pity for Harry, there was nothing he could do. 'I don't know if he's just extremely greedy or stupid… it must be the latter.'

Some students were gathered around the stage, most of them were simply here to witness the inevitable loss of Harry. Some didn't even bother to come to watch the duel, they felt it was a complete waste of time.

However, at the end of the room, a black-haired student stared at Harry. His dark brown eyes flickered slightly as he waited anxiously for the fight that would soon take place. 'I don't know why… but I don't think you'll lose.' He said inwardly.

The instructor moved to the edge of the stage, he brought out a small remote and pressed the green button above it. Immediately he pressed the button, a pale yellow barrier erupted from the sides of the stage. It took a semi-circular shape as it covered the whole stage.

This was to prevent the spells from reaching the audience and also to avoid any possible shockwave—though he was sure that wouldn't be happening.

He stared at Harry once more to see if he still wanted to go through with this, but he only for a slight nod in return. 'Fine… I tried my best.' He mumbled inwardly.

***

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