Duel

"There are two types of energies circulating in the air..."

Lucas's voice reverberated in the classroom as he spoke in a low tone.

"There is Mana we all use and then there is also Aether..."

His eyes traveled around the room and he smirked, seeing the confusion on his student faces.

Mana has existed since hundreds of years ago, brought to the world by a massive meteor that collided with the planet, unleashing a powerful surge of magical energy through the atmosphere.

By now, the Mana has become deeply ingrained in the fabric of our existence and only those who possess a Mana Core can wield it.

"Aether, on the other hand, is a more elusive and mysterious form of energy..."

Lucas continued.

Not too long ago, scientists discovered that Aether exists in parallel to Mana. While Mana is accessible to those with a Mana Core, Aether isn't.

Aether is a pure form of energy that exists all around us, it is the essence of creation itself.

Some speculate that Aether makes up the main laws of the world, of the entire universe even.

Three fundamental forces - time, gravity, space are believed to be the manifestations of Aether.

Many had tried to bend these forces with Mana, but nobody has been able to. Even SS Rank beings cannot manipulate Aether.

Ding... Dong...

As Lucas finished his explanation, the school bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

"Class dismissed!"

Sneering to himself, he closed the book and everybody scrambled to gather their belongings and leave the classroom.

I, as per my usual routine, waited until everyone else had left before making my way out of the classroom.

"Interesting..."

For the first time in a while, I enjoyed the theory lecture, which is rare because I kind of already know most of this information due to being a transmigrator.

Lucas did quite an impressive job as a teacher, I must admit.

Yawn...

I stifled a yawn as I made my way down the hallway, moving toward the academy cafeteria.

As soon as I entered the cafeteria, I noticed the usual hustle and bustle of students grabbing their meals and finding tables.

The noise was deafening.

Yet, I simply let out a heavy sigh, grabbing a tray and joining the line to get my own meal.

While waiting for my turn, I couldn't help but overhear snippets of conversations from nearby tables.

"Hey, have you heard about the Root Dungeon..."

"Almost everyone died... My father says it is because of Demons..."

Glancing at the group of students from the corner of my eye, I felt my lips press into a thin line.

It seems that the story of the Root Graveyard dungeon massacre was spreading across the students. Well, it was not a private matter, considering how significant the event was, so there was no need to be surprised that the news had reached the academy.

Nodding, my head I took another step forward in the line, however, I almost dropped my tray as I heard something unexpected from the group of students nearby.

"Hey... Did you hear, Orion challenged Eldric to a duel."

"Is he crazy? Orion is a second year student, does he have no shame!?"

"I don't know, but Eldric accepted, apparently it will happen right after the lunch break."

"..."

...

At this point, I didn't even hear the rest of their conversation.

Grabbing a sandwich and a bottle of water, I hastily headed toward the exit of the cafeteria.

As per usual, this event was not mentioned in the novel. Orion's bullying was supposed to be done by his own lackeys, not by him challenging one of the protagonists to a direct duel.

The plot is, once again, going off the rails.

'This is getting repetitive...'

Muttering to myself with a grimace, I hastened my steps.

***

"Are you stupid?"

A cold, yet concerned voice echoed in a quiet room that smelled faintly of sweat.

A beautiful woman with long, black, flowing hair and piercing blue eyes stood before Eldric with her hands gripping his cheeks, her fingers exerting a firm pressure.

"-O, Noa, I-m ok-ay, I think."

Eldric made a stupid smile, which made Luna even more irritated and she increased the pressure on his cheeks.

Eldric glanced at Adela and Lily who stood behind Luna, with a pleasing look, hoping they could intervene on his behalf, however, they also wore cold expressions, their arms crossed over their chests.

'Stupid!'

For a moment, it even seemed that Adela released a small smile, but it was quickly replaced by a stern expression.

Realizing that they were not going to help him escape the wrath of his sister, Eldric turned toward Arthur.

"Don't look at me like that, man. You brought this upon yourself."

However, he didn't plan to help him in the slightest, Arthur even had a slight smirk, enjoying Eldric's predicament.

'Traitors...'

Hissing internally, Eldric accepted his fate and endured Luna's scolding, vowing to think twice before accepting any more duels in the future.

Well, it was not like he could refuse it anyway.

It has been more than a few weeks since he first collided with Orion at the cafeteria and from that moment on, his academy life had turned for the worse.

Constant harassment, threats and physical confrontations from Orion's lackeys made him very annoyed, however, this wasn't the end of it. What annoyed Eldric the most was that he wasn't the only one facing this treatment.

Arthur, Adela, Lily and even Luna had all experienced these petty acts of bullying from Orion and his lackeys.

And one day, out of nowhere, Orion just came and challenged Eldric to a duel, which was quite surprising.

Orion didn't strike Eldric as the type to initiate a fair fight, so this invitation was unusual.

However, Eldric would be dumb not to accept such low hanging fruit. He knew that something was off with Orion's sudden interest in a duel, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to teach him a lesson and put an end to the constant harassment.

'I'll make sure he can't walk for a month...'

Gently grabbing Luna's hands he clenched them tightly and smiled.

"Don't worry, I will be perfectly fine."