*Yawn*
Orpheus stretched his body while he stood up from the bed with his eyes covered with a sleeping mask
~Why does my bed feel weird ~
He began to feel the bed trying to find out what was 'weird' about his bed and felt something soft. Removing his mask, he saw a white-haired girl sleeping below him
"The f***!!" he screamed and jumped down from the bed
[What's going on... Oh, hehehe]
~Don't laugh you m.f~
"*Yawn* what's going on?" Aella rose up from the bed while rubbing her eyes
"Wh... what... are y... you doing on my b... bed?" Orpheus stammered
"Oh, you cried yourself to sleep on my shoulder and wouldn't let me go. So, I had to sleep on the bed with you" She said
"Oh" Orpheus looked down with a red face "Where are the others?"
[There was no bed for'em so they returned to your body]
"Okay, I… I have to go prepare for class" Orpheus ran into the bedroom
"Costas, what's wrong with him?" Aella asked
[Well, apart from being embarrassed about crying, he kinda felt your front by chance. Mistake I mean]
"Wha…" Aella hugged herself with a red face
[He he he]
"Damn you Costas!!"
------
"Students," Mr. Stylianos addressed the students before him "Of course, yesterday's incident was not a nice one, but that shouldn't put you down. Keep on thriving and keep your chins up"
"Stylianos," Mr. Zissis called out "Get straight to the point please. Class has to begin"
'Yes sir," Mr.. Stylianos said "The academy took a lot of damage because of the war and will need a lot of time to repair. Some parts of the dormitories were destroyed, making many people roomless. To take care of that, the academy has decided to introduce the shared-room system. That is, y'all will have roommates. This can…"
Mr. Stylianos was interrupted by the uproar made by th students
"C'mon man, that's invasion of privacy"
"Stop being a selfish brat"
"Yeah, what's going to happen to those of us without rooms?"
"That's your business. Y'all can sleep in the classrooms"
"Shut the hell up"
"You…"
"Quiet!!" Mr. Zissis ordered "We never asked for your opinion on this. This is how your room arrangement is going to be. Magi of the same kevel will be put in the same room. One room would contain at most 4 magi or at least 2 magi"
"That's just going to increase the rate of bullying in the academy"
"Yeah, we've had enough already'
"That's your business" Mr. Zissis said to the complaining students "if you don't want to be bullied, become strobe. Your new room keys will be handed to you at the end of the day. You can now return to your classrooms"
The students left the main hall with most of the junior level magi grumbling in frustration.
…
"Hey Costas," Aster said "Why are those two behaving weirdly?"
[how do you mean?]
"Like, they're just stealing glances at each other with red faces" Aster twitched his brows
[Oh, about Orpheus and Aella…]
"Costas!!!" Aella and Orpheus yelled with red faces
"ho ho, this seems interesting" Tana smirked "Aella is never embarrassing. Spill it Costas"
[you see,… c'mon]
Seven boys with familiar faces blocked their path
"Hey Orpheus," Marios walked up to Orpheus "I see you have found some new friends. Why don't you introduce them to us?"
[You're so impulsive. Fine, just go]
"You see, Orpheus, after what you did to me that day," Marios cracked his knuckles "I met my parents and they gave all their blood and sweat to make me an advanced magus"
"He he he, that's why he's our boss" Alex snickered
"Shut up" Marios shot a glare at him before turning back to Orpheus "As I was saying, why don't we settle the score in a duel right now"
"You brat, why don't you…" Aster began to walk towards Marios but was interrupted by Orpheus' voice
"Sure. Why don't we make it a little spicy? How about a bet?"
~Relax. I have a plan~
[Do you mean the 2nd stage of…]
~Not that. He'll just be a low-level advanced magus with no knowledge of his elements. I have another trump card~
[Okay, do as you wish]
"What kind of bet?" Marios raised his brows
"If I win, you give me three ability orbs for the sound, telekinesis and telepathy elements" Orpheus said
[How badly do you want to become an advanced magus?]
"What are you trying to do brat: Ignatios walked forward
"I mean, if his parents could afford to make an unknown weak brat an advanced magus, he should have no problem with that" Orpheus raised one brow "Right, Marios?"
"You will pay for calling me a weak brat" Marios growled "Fine, but if you lose?"
"You get all my body guards" Orpheus gestured at the quad "fair deal right?"
"Hehehe" Marios chuckled "let's go make it official then"
The students along with Orpheus' bodyguards began to walk towards the reception
[Orpheus, what are you planning?]
~Relax man. I'm going to win this shit~
Andrian said
"We're here" Marios and the others stopped at the reception entrance "Orpheus, get ready to relinquish your contracts with them. Hehehe"
"Whatever. Just get in" Orpheus walked into the reception and made a beeline for the reception desk
"How may I help you?" the woman behind the reception desk asked with a smile on her face
"We wish to apply for a duel" Orpheus said
"Okay," she brought out two forms "the participants should fill this out please"
Orpheus and Marios picked up the form and left, each to a corner to fill them out
~What's with all these questions and boxes?~ Orpheus eyebrows twitched
[Is this academy a half police firm or what?]
After a few minutes, the both of them returned their forms to the receptionist. She viewed the form and immediately stared at both of them in shock
"Which one of you is the junior magus?" she asked
"That doesn't matter," Orpheus said "just move on with the preparation"
"Okay, sure." She nodded "any bet placed?"
"Yeah"
"Okay," she brought out another sheet of paper "Write it here with a blood stamp from each of you. In addition, if any of you breaches this contact, he will be crippled. For life. I hope you are aware of this?"
"Yeah. Just be quick dammit. I have four body guards waiting for me" Marios returned the paper back to the receptionist.
"Any weapons?" she asked again
Orpheus brought out his chained blades and Cosmos from his shadow and handed them over to her while Marios handed over a red spear with a pointed end to the receptionist.
"Um, Orpheus" she stared at his weapons. "I'm afraid only one pair of weapons is maximum limit"
"It's fine" Marios said "Just let him do what he wants. I'll still win him anyway"
"Okay. If you say so" she handed them back their weapons
"The duel is now official. Please make your way to the dueling arena while I make the announcement"
"Um boss," Ignatios called out after they had left the reception "I feel like you may have made a mistake on letting Orpheus carry his weapons"
"How do you mean?" Marios asked
"Don't you think his twin daggers are to strong? The aura I felt from them are too powerful"
"Relax man," Marios said with a smug look on his face "No matter how powerful it is, it cannot beat my 3-star spear that was made from the talons of a 3-star phoenix"
… …
<
"What!! It's the late bloomer versus Marios. Are you kidding me?"
"The late bloomer must be deterred to fight Marios"
"Wait for me man, I can't miss this"
All the students began to rush down to the battle arena where Orpheus and Marios stood opposite each other with Mr. Stylianos between them
"Are you all ready?" Mr. Stylianos asked
"Mmmm" they nodded
"Good. Begin!"