"Above" Orpheus looked up, startled
*Boom*
A cloud of smoke covered his position, making the audience unable to see whether or not he survived the hit
"Why did she go at full power? She's supposed to beat him, even with her arms tied behind her back" Raya mumbled while staring at the large smokescreen.
The smoke began to clear, showing Orpheus standing at a fair distance from Rhea. For some reason, she wore a look of shock and disbelief while everyone stared at Orpheus with dropped jaws
"He blocked it?"
"That's not possible. Rhea's axe kick never misses. Maybe she's feeling a little dizzy"
"Before the two had clashed, Rhea had jumped to perform the axe kick…"
"Enough with your analysis man. It's getting annoying"
**
~Wind. I can swear that was wind. He just used wind!! ~ Rhea thought in utter shock ~I thought he was meant to have only five elements; Fire, Dark, Telepathy, Telekinesis and Sound ~
"Thank fate I was able to use wind to parry her leg a little" Orpheus sighed in relief
[She knows you used wind]
~I know ~ Orpheus stared at Rhea and activated telepathy
"Okay" she nodded, putting away her domain "It looks like you're stronger than I had estimated. Let's take it up a notch then"
Rhea drew her katana, cast the sheath aside before disappearing from her position and appeared before Orpheus, swinging her blade at him
"Shit!" Orpheus panicked and put up a shield made of his shadow but it was swiftly cut like hot knife passing through butter
"Light! My arch enemy" he clicked his tongue on noticing the faint yellow glow on the blade of the katana
Seeing the blade falling towards him at a threatening speed, Orpheus quickly transformed his two daggers into two identical swords and positioned them in a cross-shaped manner to defend himself.
*Clang*
The three blades collided, sending a small shockwave to their surroundings. Seeing that Orpheus wasn't budging, Rhea smirked and released her gravity domain while adding more strength to her push on the sword.
While Orpheus was trying to battle with the force that Rhea was exerting on his two blades, he suddenly felt a familiar increase in pressure and his knees fell to the groung, creating a crater that began to deepen little by little.
~I need help! What do I do? ~
[Send a sound blast at her]
~How?! My two hands are occupied and I do not have a domain ~
[You can channel it through your swords, your leg or even any part of your body. Seriously, what were you doing during your ability training classes]
~What the hell was I meant to be doing. I didn't even have an element by then ~
[Just continue your duel, please]
Orpheus sighed in his heart and covered his swords with sound energy. Then, he shot a sound blast at Rhea, pushing her away from him.
After gliding to a stop, Rhea coated her free hand with lightning and punched the ground, sending pieces of rocks and stones into the air
"Is she that frustra… What the…!" Orpheus' eyes widened in shock "It can be used like that?"
The pieces of stones had frozen in mid-flight and began to circle around Rhea.
"This skill of hers will surely end this match" Raya said happily
The stones circling around Rhea was as a result of telekinesis and could be used for both offence and defense, posing a great threat to her opponent
"Haa" Orpheus exhaled loudly and began to run towards Rhea at full s peed while concentrating on his surroundings.
"It's futile" Rhea smirked and sent five stones flying at him
Seeing the stones flying towards him, Orpheus switched the two daggers with his chained blades and began to swing them around him, forming a barrier of some sort. the five stones soon collided with the 'barrier' and shattered into pieces
"I'm beginning to think the underdog might survive this onslaught" someone in the audience muttered
"Rhea still has about seven elements while Orpheus must have probably used all the tricks in his arsenal"
Meanwhile, Orpheus had already defended himself from all the stones. Noticing he was still unhurt, the smile on Rhea's face became wider
"Let's get serious, then" she coated the blade of her katana with lightning and swung it towards Orpheus, sending an arc of lightning at him
Perceiving the oncoming threat, Orpheus immediately switched back to Cosmos and responded with two fire arcs of his own
The lightning arc crashed with the first fire arc, instantly cancelling it out, but not before its energy was reduced by a slight margin. A second later, it clashed with the second fire arc, creating an explosion that scattered debris everywhere.
After the smoke from the collision had cleared, Orpheus began to look around for opponent, but all to no avail. It looked like she had disappeared along with the smoke.
[Be beware of your surroundings]
~I can't be 'beware' if you keep on interrupting my thoughts ~
Orpheus suddenly waved his dagger behind him, deflecting a katana that was about to slice his neck
"Is she trying to kill me?" a sweat slid down his face as he asked the question that was on everyone's mind after they had witnessed that life-threatening attack
"She's fallen too deep into the battle. That means she has recognized him as a formidable opponent" Raya said "I hope he can hold on though"
"Why does he like taking such a risk?" Sara spoke for the first time since the duel started
"Who knows?" Thalia shrugged "Things are about to get interesting"
Meanwhile, Rhea again, wore another look of disbelief ~How far has he developed his perception? Well, I'll see how long you'll last"
Rhea disappeared again and appeared at another position, swinging her blade at Orpheus, but it was deflected once more. Not allowing the failure of her attack to affect her, she disappeared once more and began to appear at different positions trying to hit Orpheus, but the strike still kept getting deflected to the marvel of the spectators
"Whoa. It's like he has 360-degree vision"
"His perception range should be high enough to notice Rhea's hit-and-run tactics"
"Unfortunately, she would get worn out soon if she keeps moving through space like that"
"Yeah. I heard that overusing psychic elements can damage the brain, crippling the user for life unless"
The psychic element had to do with the user's mental power. If his mental power was weak, the power of the psychic element would be weak. Also, overusing it would put a strain on the mental heat and can damage the brain if the user's mental power is depleted, crippling the user's mental ability for life unless something like a miracle happens
"Hey! You're going to end up killing yourself if you don't stop" Orpheus advised Rhea after noticing her pale face while he was defending himself from her constant attacks
"I'll switch then" Rhea covered herself with lightning, forming a lightning armor before continuing her attacks, although the speed of the attacks was slower than when she was using the space element
"I'm getting really tired of this. It's like she's a machine that won't stop until it has finished it's task" Orpheus gritted his teeth and stomped his right leg on the ground, sending circular sound waves to all direction with him at the center.
As the speed of light is greater than that of sound, Rhea managed to land a heat on him, making a deep gash in his arm before being thrown away.
"Shit! I'm going berserk" Orpheus cursed while holding his bleeding arm
[Uh, you're still in a perfectly sane mind to me]
"I meant I want to go berserk, you fool" he muttered though clenched teeth
[Oh, that's what you meant. Simple grammar, man]
In the meantime, seeing Orpheus being the first person to get hurt after a long period of time since the duel had started, the audience let out a loud cheer and began to chants Rhea's nickname; 'Battle Demon'
"I'm beginning to feel Orpheus shouldn't have made this bet" Andrian said
"It was you who put him in this position in the first place" Aster almost yelled
"Let's have faith in him" Aella said
"What's going on?" Tana asked while staring at Orpheus from her position
"He's planning to go all in" Aella guessed
"Hmmm?" Rhea stood up from the floor while staring at Orpheus with wariness in her eyes
While everyone was discussing, Orpheus had begun to emit a strong psychic energy, making everyone to stare at him
"H-he's flying?!"
"That's not possible. He's not yet a demi-god"
"But that's exactly what he's doing. Or, are my eyes beginning to play tricks on me?"
"He's going berserk with the telekinesis element?!" Mr. Antonius finally spoke out loud in shock after being silent for a long time. "I think I'm going to need help here! There's gonna be a lotta shockwaves!"
Five other instructors appeared behind Mr. Antonius to put up a barrier, shielding the audience from the two participants.
Suddenly, Orpheus opened his eyes, releasing an energy burst powerful enough to create some ripples in the barrier. The former gold of his eyes now had a slight tint of pink in them while the debris that had been scattered around him as a result of the shockwaves instantly became airborne
"Finally decided to get serious? Let's begin the real duel then" Rhea covered herself with the lightning armor once again. Suddenly, the two of them disappeared from their positions
"Where are they?"
"Look! They're in the air!"
*Clang*
*Boom*