"Just think of me as the late bloomer that defeated a battle demon" Orpheus smirked
"Is that... Orpheus?" Sara gasped "Like, the one I know?"
"Who knows?" Thalia shrugged
"I knew he was special. Can't wait to him... The Demon Slayer" Emilios said with fire in his eyes
"Such a battle maniac" Sara shook her head "Demon Slayer has a nice ring to it"
Unknown to the two, their little dialogue had already stirred up an uproar in the crowd as the title, 'Demon Slayer' began to reverberate through out the arena
"So, he was strong? I never knew he was an advanced magus"
"Are you sure he won't come back for us? I mean, calling him a late bloomer and all that"
"I don't think so. But Marios and the others should watch their backs"
"Yeah. Come to think of it, I haven't been seeing Marios around lately"
"I heard his parets withdrew him from the school for a while. Kind of a mid-holiday"
"I just hope if Orpheus wins the duel, won't tell Rhea to deal with Marios when he returns"
"Oof! Just thinking of it is sending chills down my spine"
***
"Rhea, calm down! You've got two elements left while he probably has nothing up his sleeve" Raya shouted while thinking ~Was she right? Is she going to loose?"
Meanwhile, Rhea stood up from the floor and tiny green spheres began to appear around her "Don't get so cocky yet. You haven't won"
"Whoa, what are those?" Orpheus asked no one in particular, completely ignoring Rhea's statement
[Those are gravity balls. Do not let any one of then touch any part of you, no matter what happens]
~What's gonna happen if it does? ~
[Whatever it touches would experience either a great increase or decrease in gravitational pressure. it depends on the caster's mental capacity though]
~I can create one, right? ~
[Yes. Unfortunately, you can only be able to create it from your hands but not out of thin air, like she's just done. You'll need a gravity domain to do that]
"Hmm..." Orpheus suddenly lowered his head in deep thought "Domain... Got it!"
[What?]
~You'll see ~
Orpheus released his fire domain to the fullest and created fire balls of his own, matching the number of Rhea's gravity balls. A second later, two familiar wings sprouted out of his back and he rose into the sky. Orpheus then joined the two scythes together, forming a double-bladed scythe, and swung it towards Rhea.
*Whirlwind Slash*
A circular sword wave flew towards Rhea at a very fast rate while spinning violently.
Rhea sent all her gravity balls at the sword wave, but they all got cancelled out after slowing down the sword by a large margin. She then swung her katana vertically, instantly cancelling out the sword wave
"Wha-" her eyes widened in shock
*Boom*
"What happened? I thought she deflected the whirlwind slash?" Raya gasped
"This human..." Kers' eyes wideneed in astonishment "He camouflaged the fire balls with the light element and sent it behind the sword wave"
"How about I give you the options you gave me, but in a better form" Orpheus landed before Rhea "Concede or get defeated by me"
~Please concede. I'm at my limit already ~ he cried inwardly
"Like I'll ever do that" Rhea threw her katana at him
[She must have run out of elemental energy for her to resort to physical attacks]
"Whoa" Orpheus used wind to parry the katana
"That was wind. He's got ten elements!" Mr. Antonius yelled "I hope that is the last, I can't handle any more surprises"
"Since you won't concede, I have no other choice" Orpheus gritted his teeth and swung his scythe vertically, releasing twelve sword waves
*Chaotic Omni-slash*
"*Sigh* So, you still had more up your sleeve" Rhea gave a wry smile "I concede"
*Earth Dome*
A thick layer of the earth rose and covered Rhea, protecting her from the onslaught. Meanwhile, Mr. Antonius walked up to themm with a smile on his face
"The winner of this duel due to concession... is Orpheus!!" He announced with a smile and began to walk towards the dome he created
~Wha- ~ His smile froze on his face ~My dome... It has a crack on it ~
Everyone began to cheer for Orpheus while chanting 'Demon Slayer' on hearing the announcement
"He won? Just like that?" Raya asked in shock
"Yes! He won!" Sara yelled happily
"May Aphrodite bless your union" Thalia clasped her hands together, as if praying
"I've told you countless times. It isn't love. I just owe him a debt" Sara said in frustration
"It's not what it looks like to me though" Thalia shrugged
"I give up" Sara grunted "By the way, Orpheus is going to be in big trouble after this"
***
"Whew, she was a really tough one" Orpheus muttered
"Someone, help me over here" Mr. Antonius called out while holding an unconscious Rhea
"What happened to her?" Raya ran over
"The shockwaves from Orpheus' final attak knoked her out" He handed Rhea over to her "I trust you can take her to the infirmary?"
"Yes sir" Raya took Rhea and disappeared
"Orpheus, are you okay?" Aella and the others appeared before him
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy" Orpheus suddenly felt light-headed and fell unconscious into Aella's arms
"You would take care of him?" Mr. Antonius walked over to them
"Sure. See you" Aella carried Orpheus and began to walk away with the others
"Make sure he is protected well" Mr. Antonius' mind flashed back to the crack on his dome "He's going to become a monster one day"
"Yeah, thanks" They disappeared
---
"How are we going to handle this?" Aella dropped Orpheus on his bed after they had arrived at his dorm room
"Handle what?" Tana asked
"Orpheus exposed the light element in the duel today. That's going to pose a great problem for him in the future" Andrian sat on the floor
"Oh, that Why would he even do that?" Aster said while he, Aella and Tana sat on the floor with Andrian, forming a circle.
"Who knows? Maybe it's because of the upcoming tournament and he desperately needs a master" Tana pointed out
"It doesn't matter to me. Worst comes to worst, we'll protect him with our lives, even if it means risking our identities" Aella said with resolve in her eyes
...
The news about Orpheus' duel and his possession of contrastivve elements had already spread like wildfirearound the whole academy
"He has both the Light and Dark elements?!" Mr. Philippos shot up from his chair in shock
"Precisely, sir" Mr. Antonius nodded
"What to do... what to do..." Mr. Philippos began to pace to and fro in his office "I can't keep a tight lid on this. It'll be too late then"
"I shouldn't worry about that. He's got four strong bodyguards with him" Mr. Antonius said
"That won't be enough. The Cages would surely act this time" Mr. Philippos stoped pacing "Get me Zissis and Stylianos"
"Yes sir" Mr. Antonius left the room
...
At the East family mansion, a man was sitting in his office with two bodguards standing behind him. He had a scar on his face that stretched from his left eye to his chin.
*Knock*
"Come in" He said
"Good day, Lord Joshua" Jason walked into the office
"Ah, it's you, Jason" Joshua smiled "How may I help you"
"I just recieved a report that a kid with contrastive elements has appeared at Ace Academy" Jason said
"What did you say?" Joshua raised his brows "Isn't that the samme academy that houses the newly advanced demi-god?"
"Yes sir" Jason nodded
"It seems that fool's academy is blessed by fate" Joshua relaxed in his chair "What do you suggest we do?"
"Why don't we pay them a visit?" Jason smirked
"That's too rash" Joshua shook his head "Why don't we wait for the Cages to take action. If they don't, then we can pay the academy a visit"
"That's not advisable, sir. The Cages have disappeared from thepublic eyes from the public eyes for a while now. They didn't even show up when the demi-god appeared. Besides, if we wait a little, the others may take this opportunity away from us" Jason protested
"You may be right about that" Joshua began to twirl around in his chair before coming to a stop "Why don't we pay them a visit, asking them 'politely' to see the kid. If they don't give in... I'll act on the matter myself"
"Okay sir" Jason said and left the office
~Philippos, you'll soon pay ~ Joshua rubbed the scar on his chin before laughing loudly
...
*Yawn*
"Man, I feel refreshed" Orpheus got up from the bed and stretched himself
"The brat's finally awake" Aster said
"Oh, you guys are still up" Orpheus stared at the four demi-humans sitting on the floor "How long was I asleep for?"
"Uh, 15 hours. It's 6am in the morning" Aella answered
"That's good then. Let's go" Orpheus stood up and walked towards the door
"To where?" They asked simultaneously
"Isn't that obvious? To see my master" He left the room
"He hasn't even freshened up" They put on their masks and followed him out of the room