Raven and Antonio stood in a duelling ring, one of them on each side, Antonio had a wild smirk on his face, while Raven seem to be bored as he stood there picking his nose.
'He might be a level lower than I am, but that doesn't mean I have to underestimate him...but this level of disrespect I cannot condone' Raven thought as he suddenly frowned at Antonio.
Since his path converged, the king's Path was already having an effect on his personality, he couldn't accept the fact that he was about to be used as a stepping stone. With that thought, he immediately equipped himself with his demolition gloves and wind boots.
[Attack +100, Speed +50]
Seeing the familiar notification, Raven's eyes hardened and his aura changed.
Seeing this, Antonio's smirk turned into a grin, "Wouldn't it be boring if we just fought like that?"
"What do you mean?" Raven's frowned deepened as he wanted nothing more than to just hit the guy right across the face.
"Well, I'm just saying we should stake something, if you win, I'll give you a skill of the third order, if I win, you just have to be at my beck and call, no matter what, what do you say?" Antonio said as he equipped himself with his items. It was full body armour, it's colour was metal black, in his hands were two small daggers, the helmet fitted his face and the visor only allowed one to see his eyes.
"No problem "Raven agreed since he saw no problems, hearing his response, Antonio smiled though no one saw it due to the mask.
"Are you both ready?" Zhang Que asked.
The two battle ready fighters didn't respond as they looked at each other, Zhang Que looked at the two and expressed their silence as approval, he jumped out of the ring, in the process of jumping he immediately screamed, "FIGHT!!"
Antonio immediately disappeared from his position which immediately made Raven's eyes to widen.
He's fast...he's faster than I am!
Raven increased his senses, and immediately he felt a cold chill around his neck, he immediately took five steps to the right as Antonio appeared and just slashed the air. The latter didn't continue in his attack as he stared between Raven and the dagger on his right hand which he used to attack.
"Did I miss?" Antonio muttered.
Raven felt a chill run through his spine, and immediately changed his evaluation of Antonio, "he isn't arrogant for nothing!"
His heartbeat quickened as he looked down at his shaking fists, his body was reacting to Antonio's attack, he was scared, but his mind was calm.
When Raven and Antonio looked at each other, Raven noticed that the latter's eyes were completely savage, he knew that that the duel was no longer a normal spar. Antonio suddenly grinned as he sharpened his daggers against each other.
"I must defeat you!!"
Raven sighed inwardly, 'at least he's honest'
So Antonio immediately attacked as Raven kept dodging and blocking most of the attacks, but he was getting little cuts from time to time, he hadn't even managed to land a hit on Antonio. But luckily for his regeneration skill which was active, the cuts immediately healed.
He blocked an attack and immediately jumped high up as he balanced himself in the air, he looked down at Antonio who was looking up at him with a frown.
[Emperor's Aura - ACTIVE]
Once he turned on the aura, Raven frowned as he looked down, the ruler path he walked on immediately began to affect his state of mind. (A/N: I changed the King's Path to Ruler's Path)
'was I scared because of this guy?'
'was I beaten up by this guy, isn't that humiliating?'
"Hah, what a shame!" Raven said and threw his head back in laughter, Antonio looked up as his frown deepened. The surrounding people noticed the change in Raven, but Zhang Que's eyes twinkled as he wanted to know the outcome.
"I allowed you to have fun enough, now it's my turn" Raven said as he landed back in the ring raising up dust. He clenched his and jumped towards Antonio and threw out his fist, then another one and another one.
[Origin Barrage - 10% barrage]
Ravdn pubches became faster but Antonio seem to still be able to keep blocking them with his dagger, but his hands were getting numb. He looked at Raven who was s looking at him with serene eyes and he immediately felt he wasn't worthy to fight such an opponent.
'No!!!' Antonio immediately cancelled such thoughts, in those serene eyes of Raven, he could make out a hint of disdain and this angered.
[Thousand Empyrean Strikes]
Raven's eyes gleamed as kept throwing punches and Antonio kept swinging his daggers, the shockwaves from their attacks was small and not to excessive but it was oppressive.
"That's the first year ranker for you, but I never believed the third ranker would be a monster too" someone amongst the spectators said.
"Yeah, that makes me curious as to what sort of monster is the 2nd ranker" another added causing some of them to look towards Zhang Que who was watching the fight with enthusiasm. Feeling several gazes on him, he turned to look at the owner of the gazes, seeing it was just some of his classmates and the second years, he smiled and retutned back to watching the fight which seem to have reached its climax.
"He just smiled and I just don't feel like fighting him, he's scary" they all had the same thoughts.
Back in the dueling ring, Raven stood in his position as Antonio jumped around him trying to strike him with his dagger, Raven continually flicked his fingers in every direction to which Antonio dodged, then his eyes immediately hardened as he muttered, "here goes nothing"
Raven was about to throw out a punch when he paused in mid air even Antonio didn't do the same as they stared at the man who stood in between them.
"How lively" the man said with a slight smile that immediately disappeared. Raven and Antonio immediately unequipped their equipments as they stood rooted to the spot, even those on the spectators' stand were standing also.
Cause the man standing there, was none other than Micheal.
"A little rivalry is healthy, don't let it blind you" Micheal looked towards Antonio who looked away in embarrassment.
"And you, why do you rely so much on the system?" Micheal asked and Raven rose and eyebrow.
"If there was no system, how would you survive in this world then" Micheal stated and Raven immediately widened his eyes in realization.
Micheal ignored him and turned to look at those who had come to watch, "all you first years have been selected to join a society, which are all managed by the board members"
"Your society has been sent to your bands, even the general area of where it is located, the society is in charge of assigning you missions and also other miscellaneous things"
The first years around immediately began to browse through their bands as the chattered lively. Seeing this, Micheal frowned as he coughed sending the room into silence.
"Due to the fact that you cannot leave the premises, in order to access the market either physically or through your band you would need points, and this points can be gotten through missions or during duels like this!"
"Those who made it up to the top 10 ranks have been gifted with 5000 points"
Micheal having finished what he was saying he disappeared. Leaving the room in cacophony as students whined about the point system.
Zhang Que immediately jumped into the dueling ring and approached Raven with excitement. But he saw Preeya checking on the latter with a worried look, while the latter was grimacing as he blushed. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oi...Raven, which society did you get into?" Antonio walked up towards them, Raven now had a better impression of the guy.
"Flood Dragon"
"Woah...me too" Zhang Que squealed as he jumped towards Raven who shifted to side causing Zhang Que to crash to the floor.
Zhang Que looked at him offended, "I just wanted to hug and enjoy our moment"
Hearing this, Raven twisted his face and took a step back, "I only make moments with girls"
Preeya growled at Zhang Que, "moments with who?". Seeing her expression, Zhang Que knew he had f**** up.
Raven ignored them and looked towards Antonio who had fiery eyes as he looked at him. He rose an eye brow in confusion. "Ugh.."
Antonio sighed, "Bat... I declare here and now, Raven you have become my rival!" and he put his hands out for a handshake.
"Uh...Okay" Raven accepted the handshake with a wry smile, that's when he saw the figure of Elizabeth walking past the room.