Edmund picked up a picture with a solemn expression on his face, the picture was a family picture with his mother in it she was a beautiful strong woman who always comforted and spent time with Edmund. When Edmund's mother passed his father became increasingly distant despite living in the same house Edmund never talked to his father who was the Prime Minister of the Central Empire.
Edmund simply wanted nothing but his father's attention, his father was a very busy man he often met up with ambassadors from other Empires and kingdoms, one, for example, was the ambassador for the Holy Empire Yuruisu a strict religious Empire that was xenophobic towards everyone but humans and had equal fighting power compared to Central.
In his depression, Edmund found some sort of enjoyment in belittling others and he was thoroughly prepared to crush Rei in a fight the next day.
Edmund soon heard footsteps approaching his door, after a knock, he put down the picture and called them in.
"Young master, the lord has called for you."
'What could my father have called me for?' Edmund wondered, his father had hardly ever interacted with Edmund in recent times. Edmund assumed the worst and was probably in trouble for his actions at the academy... After all, he had harassed many people and even picked a fight with the Ven-August family.
Following the servant Edmund was led to a door that led to his father's office a place he hardly ever visited, the servant then gestured for Edmund to enter and began leaving. In the office were his father and a man with shaggy black hair, red eyes, glasses, and an ominous black robe that gave off a feeling of death,
"Come on, take a seat beside my guest."
"Yes, father."
Edmund walked over glancing at the man to his left, he felt strange feelings one of them was fear and he didn't know why. Glancing back at his father who had the exact same features as him but had a mature grown face. Sitting down the man beside him introduced himself.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm known as Ithral." Ithral stretched out his hand with a wide smile.
This calmed Edmund's nerves down a bit and he met Ithral with a similar smile, "It's good to meet you, I can tell you are a man of high class."
"Yes..." Ithral had a simple response.
Edmund's father Melvin Hein cleared his throat, "Ahem-ahem." After clearing his throat the two locked eyes with Melvin and focused their attention. "My close friend Ithral has a task for you my son... And if you can complete it well I'll reward you."
Edmund's eyes glistened and he could hardly hold his excitement, "What do you wish of me, honored guest."
Ithral chuckled and looked at Edmund bowing his head, "You can call me Ithral, and my request is simple." Ithral put his hand into the air and a small black cloud appeared, soon it dissipated, and a small bottle appeared. " Are you familiar with Dawn Leviea?"
"She's quite popular in the academy I could recognize her easily." Edmund proudly said
"Could you manage to sneak this into a food or drink that she consumes?" Ithral had a calm expression.
Edmund looked at his father, his father gave him a nod of approval and he looked back at Ithral. "What uh... What is that?"
"It's an expensive concoction that allows us to track whoever drinks it for about a month." Ithral smiled back before adding, "Yes...I just said it's very expensive so if you fail your father plans to reimburse me, I suggest you do it right if you are doing it."
Edmund went into deep thought for a few seconds then with a prideful and determined look he said, "I accept."
******
Hearing footsteps throughout the dorm was my alarm, since I was hardly human now sleep was something I rarely needed I could go at least a week before feeling the slightest bit fatigued probably, I haven't tested it yet but those are my predictions.
Leaving my training room I headed to the bathroom to take a quick bath, before the school day... Today wasn't going to be a fun day though.'That bastard Edmund has me stressed out, if I manage to lose to him this matter will not be put to rest.'
Shaking my head to clear my paranoia I hopped into the bath the warm water hit me and a slight moan escaped my lips. It was the perfect temperature.
******
"Focus Rei! We are limited on time, in about 40 minutes you will be fighting Edmund, and if you lose, I will personally beat you to a pulp!" Mongar yelled in my face.
I was currently being tortured by the committee, they were forcing me to watch videos of previous fights Edmund participated in so I could gather data with him... With only 40 minutes left, they were playing these videos on repeat and forcing my complete attention.
'Maybe I shouldn't have acted like I wasn't confident in fighting him...'
Time passed by quickly and I was heading to the arena, unlike the fights we had in classes in the arena we were allowed to use our own personal weapons rarely anyone died but 'rarely' still means someone has died...
'I'm not worried about Edmund, I have a few strong artifacts in my sub-space, even without mana with my Draconic Physique alone I can probably keep up with him in terms of speed, probably not raw power... My trump card is Zenith and my left hand had scales that could break the hand of a high-ranking demon on impact.'
I decided to name the sword my mother gave me Zenith, it only made sense after all it was originally Zenith's blade... 'Probably.' Ending my thoughts was Dawn walking into the waiting room I was in.
"How did you get in here?" I skeptically looked at her.
"Being a mythical legend has its perks I guess."
I laughed at her response for a bit then after clearing my throat I looked at her. "So uh did you come to wish me good luck?"
"Yes I forgot to do that last night, and I have a personal grudge towards Edmund I've been hit on him a few times but after a while, he stopped... Malkeith probably said something, as for you hearing you proposed to a princess you met the first time it seems you share some things with Edmund." Dawn joked
"Whatever." I scoffed, even though she was joking hearing about that still made me cringe to the depths of my soul, I would be meeting Princess Reyn at a banquet soon so I plan to apologize to her for my past war crimes...
A few seconds later the alarm went off and I walked towards an exit on the other side of the waiting room that led out to the arena.
"Good luck."
"I won't need it... Probably."
I walked out after those words, adjusted my collar, and took in the sight before me the arena looked like a colosseum the ground was dirt and circular, it was massive, and across from me was Edmund I could feel a slight bloodlust so I instantly steeled myself and got into a stand, I was planning to embarrassingly beat him here, but after seeing his previous fights... He really isn't that bad.
Looking up towards the audience seating around I saw Malkeith watching, many teachers and staff, as well as hundreds of students. Glancing back at Edmund I tried my best to contain my excitement for the match as well as enjoy his loss, I decided to be confident and try my best.
Taking a deep breath I heard the announcer start counting down.
"3-2-1... BEGIN!"
I immediately began closing the space between me and Edmund, he was a mage who relied on spells and I was someone who could hardly control mana currently so getting hit with something would be bad for me.
Prior to this fight I trained with my right hand my left hand was the one with scales so I decided I'd use it to block any attacks, this may be a handicap but in a way it was an advantage for me if I push comes to shove... But I didn't really want the fact that I had dragon scales on my hand to get revealed after all It's a material that anyone would kill for... 'I'll probably have my hand chopped off again.' I chucked
"What's so funny Ven-August." Edmund raised his hands and hundreds of magic missiles began condensing in the air.
'Fuck' I cursed in my mind.
The missiles shot off each one of them having a beautiful blue color, using my sub-space I pulled out a shield and began rushing through the missiles, after about 30 missiles the shield broke into pieces, and immediately after that I pulled a golden sword out of my sub-space and began deflecting them.
I wasn't planning on using Zenith here, it was probably overkill.
With a few more magic missiles left Edmund began casting another spell, this time a giant fireball the size of a house began forming above his head.
'That's not something I can block, dodge, or parry... To think I'll have to use this so early.'
Slashing the last magic missiles Edmund's spell was nearly prepared, I began closing the distance between us.
"Scorching Sun!" Edmund shouted and the massive fireball began descending upon me rapidly.
"Huuu" A deep breath escaped my mouth. 'Don't fail me Mana Heart.' I began channeling every small bit of mana my Mana Heart could give me I got into a familiar pose and the fireball was closing in. "First form," I muttered.
My sword thrust forward putting a massive hole in the middle of the fireball and the sheer force of the thrust going through the fireball struck Edmund sending him flying back.
An iron taste began forming throughout my mouth, and blood leaked out of my eyes. 'I can't do that again.' The rebound of just using the small amount of mana I had was great, even though it seemed not too great after all I was still standing strong, the pain I was in was immense. Despite my pain, I rushed toward Edmund taking advantage of the opening I gained, I jumped up into the air rose my sword above my head, and began flying down... My plan was to take his right arm, it wouldn't matter much after all Malkeith was here to reattach it immediately, but a kid like him won't be able to resist the pain and continue.
Right as I was closing in a smile spread across Edmund's face. "Ever heard of Unique Magic? Bastard."
A Chain made of magic shot out I couldn't stop myself in mid-air so I was bound by the chain.
"Binding Chain!" Edmund chanted
The chains froze me mid-air in the sky, and more chains began flying out of his arms. "Crucifixion! " Edmund shouted, the other chains flying out of his arms flew towards me and began digging into my skin.
"Grhhhk!" A loud groan came from me
"Judgement!"
The chains began glowing brighter, Edmund started swinging his arm around and the chains extended, I began flying around the arena like I was on a high-speed Ferris wheel, I began getting dizzy, spinning around I blurs of people I knew... The chain stopped right as I was in front of the Disciplinary Committee, a grim smile spread across my face and I began flying high into the air.
I lost consciousness flying up and at the peak of my ascension I regained, right as I regained it I felt the organs in my body flying around I felt gravity pressing against me, and I began flying down towards the ground loud booms went off in the air as I flew down at the ground.
'They said this guy was fucking weak!'
I collided with the ground at the speed of sound, Edmund looked tired as he approached me the chains had vanished completely and he looked pale. Right as he stepped within my range I shot at him at great speeds with my golden sword, right as I was about to pierce through him he screamed.
"Flicker!" He instantly teleported backward.
"Sub-space magic... You're good" I grunted
"H-how are you conscious after that? Are you a demon!" Edmund screamed
"Are you that shameless to cause me of being a demon, if you wanted to know you could have just asked." I stabbed my sword into the ground then pulled the black glove off my left hand revealing a hand covered in shiny white scales, I caught myself using this hand. "Are you happy?"
Edmund looked at me with disbelief, "You're telling me a few scales saved you! Do you take me as a joke?" Edmund raged
"They're dragon scales!" Malkeiths ecstatic voice rang throughout the arena, his expression was one of surprise and excitement.
"How do you have dragon scales on your hand!" Edmund squealed
"My bond was a dragon... I thought everyone knew this by now."
Loud gasps came from the crowd, and it went silent.
"Anyways... Let's finish this, looks like you won't be able to use those chains again." I laughed and picked up my sword getting into position. "Don't worry even if you did I won't fall for it again."
I dashed at him at the highest speeds I could possibly move at as I expected he moved accordingly and began dashing back while shooting out magic missiles, I cut through the spells with the sword in my right hand, and with anything, I couldn't cut I caught with my left hand.
'This feels like a cheat.' I thought
We were basically dancing through the arena, he had kept his distance using all types of spells and I was constantly closing it.
Cutting through a rock he sent at me the air pressure from my blade made me stumble, and I dashed at him point taking advantage of this.
"Binding Chain!" Edmund's eyes became bloodshot and a chain shot at me at high speeds.
Expecting this chain I reached for it with my left hand, I grabbed the chain pulling Edmund he fell over and I held my sword at his neck. "It's my win."
I was planning to cut off one of his arms... But after fighting him I couldn't help but appreciate his effort so I decided to let him off
"I submit." Edmund breathed hard.
The crowd began cheering and I looked up at Malkeith he had been staring at me with a smile but upon further inspection... He was just staring at my left hand.
'I'll probably have to talk with him after this...'
I was annoyed by the thought I couldn't rest.
Walking towards the exit I let loose a sigh of relief. 'I got lucky... I would have lost terribly if I didn't catch myself with my left hand, seriously though I wasn't expecting to hardly take any shock when I caught myself... These scales are tougher than I expected, although I shouldn't rely on them.'
With a tired face, I walked out of sight of the viewers, wrapping up my biggest problem.