Zyriel Versalys's Point of View
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Areyos returned to his friends, hands still in his pockets, drawing the astonished gazes of the students. For him, it wasn't a fight but a means to assert his dominance. He didn't even go all out. Maybe his group of friends was just as strong as he was.
"Your fight was super boring, Rey," Erina said, a provocative smile on her lips.
"Would you have preferred to crawl in place of Corvus?" he replied with the same smile.
"You'd have to make me crawl first," she said, tilting her head to the side.
"Haha, true, I would have preferred to fight you; the battle would have been much more exciting," Areyos answered.
"Areyos vs. Erina would be very pleasant to watch, I must admit," said Kaiser.
"Yes, it would push Areyos to go all out from the start," Yoko added.
"That fight would indeed be interesting. Let's hope luck brings it about next time; maybe the magical selection system will choose you two," said the professor, smiling.
"My greetings to you, Areyos Orionis. I am Zyriel Versalys, Princess of Atheria, and I'm delighted to meet such a warrior as you," I said, extending my hand in greeting.
"Nice to meet you too, Princess Zyriel Versalys. Your fight was excellent and particularly instructive," he responded, shaking my hand.
"Your fight was impressive too. But there are things that intrigue me, like how you weren't affected by lightning or sound," I said, my gaze piercing.
Areyos simply smiled and gave me a simple yet obvious answer. "I just covered my body with a void aura created through my advanced airbending." This answer was obvious given the extremely advanced demonstration of his airbending.
"Of course! The void is the perfect electrical insulator. And without air, sound can't propagate," said Sorey, perplexed.
"Exactly. If Corvus could use lightning magic, then his bolt would have hit me head-on because magical elements aren't subject to the specific existence conditions of natural elements like those used with chi," Areyos explained.
"So he really had no chance of beating you then," said Yoko.
"Nah, none," Areyos replied, nonchalant.
"It's still crazy to think you crushed Corvus even though he was transformed, but you weren't," Yoko exclaimed.
"Despite the power Corvus gained, his physical strength and resistance remained far below Areyos's, whose strength and resistance are almost equivalent to mine," Kaiser analyzed.
"Moreover, with two of Corvus's elements being ineffective, and Areyos likely having incredible resistance to wind attacks, Corvus had almost no attack options," Erina added.
"That's why he grabbed his lance and tried to attack in close combat, hoping to end it by hitting a vital point. But unfortunately for him, Areyos is by far the best swordsman I know. He won the best swordsman competition 100 times without ever losing a duel, and that's against swordsmen from all over the world. He was only 14 at his 100th victory and 7 at his first," Yoko explained.
"Wow! Corvus really had no chance then," said Keldo, looking shocked.
"You said it," Sorey agreed, equally shocked. The fleeting looks of the students around us carried the shock of what they had just heard.
"Interesting. Extremely effective Kenjutsu, incredible airbending, a hybrid with one race unknown that can transform," I said pensively.
"I have a question for you," he began in a grave tone, his eyes piercing mine.
"How do you know the name Astarus Shielden?"
"You mean the Black Storm? Who doesn't know him in the territories of the Aegyls and humans?" Zayren answered, approaching with his brows furrowed.
"I doubt we're really allowed to talk about him," I added hesitantly, casting a fleeting glance around us.
Areyos remained impassive, but his words resonated like thunder. "Astarus was my father."
"What?!" Erina, Sorey, Keldo, my brother, and I exclaimed in unison, our voices overlapping from shock.
"That... explains so much," Sorey whispered, still reeling from the revelation.
Areyos, surprisingly calm, let out a sigh before looking at us with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. "I must admit, your reactions intrigue me. What do you really know about him?"
"There's a story that on a moonless night, a lone man, cloaked in darkness and surrounded by an icy aura, changed the course of history. This man, known as Astarus Shielden, was both an elusive shadow and an implacable force of justice. The oppressed peoples still remember that night as the one where even the stars seemed to avert their shine, terrified by the acts of one man.
Astarus was driven by a quest: to eradicate the tyranny poisoning the human and Aegyl kingdoms. In one night, he infiltrated the palaces of seventeen kings and queens, bypassing their defenses as if they didn't exist. Guards and assassins who tried to stop him were neutralized without even understanding where the attack came from. His mastery over the eight silver blades he controlled by levitation was as fearsome as it was hypnotic. These blades danced around him, swift and silent, executing his enemies with icy precision.
When dawn broke, the thrones were empty. On the walls of royal chambers, messages written in the blood of the sovereigns stood like oracles of doom: 'Woe to the tyrants who claim these thrones. My shadows watch, and they will carry you into the abyss as I did your predecessors.'
But it wasn't just a warning. It was a promise. After his death, the Phantom Order, a secret elite of warriors formed by Astarus himself, watched from the shadows. Tyrants attempting to seize power were systematically eliminated by these elusive figures, perpetuating Astarus's legend long after his disappearance.
For the peoples, Astarus Shielden is an ambivalent figure: adored for breaking the chains of oppression, but also feared as an entity that transcends conventional justice. He freed himself from the moral constraints imposed by the world's justice, becoming an executioner of tyranny. Refusing to sit on the thrones he had liberated, Astarus wanted the peoples to build a better future for themselves.
Even today, whispers echo through the palaces: Astarus's shadows are watching. And when corruption grows, dark figures rise to remind them of the promise etched in the blood of kings." Zayren recounted, capturing the attention of the students around us.
"In one night?!" Kaiser exclaimed, his voice trembling with disbelief.
Areyos, frowning, murmured as if lost in thought: "He fought with eight silver blades...?" His voice calm, lost in his thoughts.
Yoko shivered, crossing her arms as if to warm herself. "Incredible... This story gives me chills," she admitted, her gaze fixed into the void.
Zayren, always calm, continued. "That's a summary of his story. A legend that seems unreal but is firmly rooted in reality."
Areyos, visibly intrigued, asked the question that seemed to weigh on his mind. "And how... how exactly did he die?"
A heavy silence fell before I spoke. "Actually, his body was never found. We don't even know the exact circumstances of his disappearance."
Areyos frowned. "Then why do you believe he's dead?"
Zayren took a deep breath. "General Barrios and the Phantom Order officially confirmed his death. But there are many rumors. Some say he might have retired, but others believe he was killed by Thaleus Sendaris during the Great War. The confrontation would have been as tragic as it was titanic, a clash between two visions of justice. The outcome of that duel is said to have cost Astarus his life, as well as Thaleus's."
Areyos's face suddenly froze. His eyes widened, as if assaulted by visions only he could see. "Impossible... It can't be him in my vision..." he murmured, his voice wavering, marked by deep disturbance.
"What are you talking about?" Kaiser asked, visibly confused, breaking the heavy silence.
Areyos didn't answer immediately, his mind evidently preoccupied with darker and more mysterious thoughts. The mystery of Astarus Shielden seemed far from fully resolved. But alas, before we could finish, the professor initiated the search for the next fighters. While we were talking, Corvus was taken to the infirmary, presumably to ensure his mental well-being.
"Well! For our final fight, we have..." the professor began as the mana screen searched for the candidates. The suspense was unbearable, a profound silence settling among the students, their eyes fixed on the giant screen.
"What a happy coincidence, Erina Shelter vs. Zyriel Versalys!" the professor declared.
"Wow!!! This fight will be magnificent!!!" the students exclaimed.
"I must admit, I wonder who would win between the two," Kaiser said, enthusiastic. I wasn't as enthusiastic. Klaus, who had witnessed the power of Kayn Shelter, Erina's brother, had often told me stories about the art of killing he mastered. What I heard had sent shivers down my spine. Kayn was, by far, one of the world's most formidable assassins, even surpassing the logic of violence. Erina, although not as strong as him, must have been trained in the same way, making this confrontation even more daunting. I didn't want to know how far her training could take her. I couldn't even imagine what kind of training the world's best assassin would give to his own children.
"She's just fought, professor, it would be better to give others a chance," Erina said nonchalantly, arms crossed.
The students began to murmur, some nodding timidly.
"That's true, professor," they said, their enthusiasm suddenly dampened by this girl's authority.
A mocking smile spread across Zayren's lips, standing behind her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What's the matter, are you afraid of my sister?" After a brief moment of silence, as the tension rose, Erina cast a cold glance over her shoulder. A gigantic pressure was felt among the students, making them tremble. Erina turned, a black aura escaping her, her eyes almost glowing with an alarming red.
"Tell me, you must be about as strong as your sister, aren't you?" she asked Zayren as Areyos briefly looked at the professor.
"I don't see how that's--" Zayren was saying when, in a blink, Erina was no longer in my field of vision. Instinctively, I glanced at Zayren and saw Erina before him, piercing his neck with a metal blade emerging from her palm, then gripping his neck with force and lifting him off the ground, her black aura growing more visible and ominous. Zayren's blood spurted from behind his neck, his voice cut off due to his destroyed vocal cords. As the others, except for Areyos, barely had time to be shocked by the act, orange and red energy particles appeared around Erina's hand. Zayren's look filled with terror in an instant, realizing what Erina was about to do.
"Are you afraid?" Erina asked in a calm, icy voice, thus returning Zayren's earlier provocation. "You haven't seen anything yet," she added.
"Erina, no!" Yoko screamed, terrified, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of a devastating explosion. A flash of light burst from Erina's hand, sending Zayren's head into the air while his body, thrown backward, almost disintegrated from the impact of the blast. The students, frozen, backed away in a hurry, unable to look away from the carnage. It all happened so fast that the professor didn't even have time to intervene. In this silence of terror, Erina stood there, my brother's blood on her hands.
In just a few seconds, Erina Shelter, the only daughter of Demios Shelter, had instilled a certain fear in the hearts of the students, making them understand she could take anyone down, anywhere, even a prince.
An Aegyl, her voice trembling, murmured: "She... she just killed a prince!?"
Whispers multiplied, terror spreading like a shockwave. "This girl is more terrifying than I thought. We must not approach her," another student cried out, his voice cut off by anxiety.
"You... you dared to kill my brother? ...the prince of the kingdom of Atheria..." I said, torn between rage and terror while trying to stay calm. Erina turned towards me, her presence cold and deadly, then said in an icy voice: "Watch your brother next time; his words might well be the flames that forge the blade I'll use to silence both of you."
When she said these words, my brother's body and head turned into mana particles before the confused gazes of the students as Erina returned to her place. Clearly, the professor had activated the magical simulation before Erina killed Zayren. He reappeared a few seconds after his magical avatar had vanished.
"Ahh...Ahh...you are--" Zayren began, breathless with fear.
"Shut up, Zayren!" I shouted. "Shut up...please shut up...I don't want to lose you." I said, lowering my voice, frustrated, angry, but also terrified knowing that if the simulation hadn't been activated at the right moment...
"You went too far, Erina!" Yoko exclaimed. Erina slowly turned her gaze towards her, and the same black aura escaped from her body once more. Yoko, scared, took a few steps back. The students, frozen, instinctively felt a need to retreat, their gazes avoiding direct contact with her. A heavy silence fell, thick with tension, until a calm voice broke the tense atmosphere.
Areyos stepped forward, took a hand out of his pocket, and gently placed it on Erina's head, "Don't touch Yoko," he said in a calm tone, his gaze piercing. "Calm down instead, I think Zayren has learned his lesson. Don't let him get into your head and ruin your mood," he added. Erina looked at Areyos with a piercing gaze for a few seconds while he maintained his nonchalant expression.
"Fine, but take your hand off my hair," she said, closing her eyes in resignation. Areyos had managed to calm this monster. So either she respected him a lot, or he was much stronger than her...or a mix of both.
"Well then, luckily the professor anticipated the danger and thus activated the simulation for Zayren," said Keldo, still perplexed.
"To be honest, Areyos looked at me right when it was about to go south; I understood immediately that I needed to activate the simulation," the professor confided. So, Areyos had anticipated the scenario. But the scariest part is that he didn't bother to speak; he let the professor guess what needed to be done without caring if the professor acted correctly. In other words, he didn't care what could have happened to Zayren. His action was more of a psychological experiment than empathy towards his peers. However, he protected Yoko despite his nonchalant air... making Yoko someone special in his eyes... and also someone not to be touched.
"Erina, I would ask you not to kill your classmates, or you might end up imprisoned," the professor said firmly. Erina stared at the professor straight in the eyes for a few seconds, leaving a slight tension in the air. She finally resigned herself. "Understood, I'll try," she said, looking away.
"Good, I prefer that," said the professor, relief in his voice. "Are you all right, Mr. Zayren?" he then asked my brother.
"I'm fine, thanks to you... thank you," he said, then cast a cold look at Erina, who simply ignored him.
"So, professor, can the fight begin?" Keldo asked, drawing surprised looks from the other students. Knowing that the fight should have been Erina against me and that Erina had just demonstrated her power by virtually killing my brother in one hit, this question was filled with inexplicable sadism.
"Are you stupid or what? The fight is mega unbalanced, the confrontation is pointless," Sorey exclaimed.
"Although it would be an opportunity to see Erina's capabilities, I think it would be better to change the participants for now," the professor confessed. It pains me to admit, but he was right. My brother is a bit stronger than me if we don't consider my ability to summon the Phoenix King Ardentis. He's also much more resistant and faster. If he got killed in one hit, then my chances of beating Erina one-on-one are nearly zero. Plus, what was that black aura before her movement? In any case, Keldo seemed disappointed by the professor's decision.
"Ah, too bad," he said, eliciting hateful looks from the humans likely from the kingdom of Atheria. Keldo seemed completely unbothered by their stares. With this fight canceled, we awaited the next one, our eyes fixed on the giant magical screen.
"Here are the new participants for the next fight," the professor declared as the magical screen searched for the participants.
"Prepare to enter the scene, Kaiser," Areyos said, nonchalant as usual.
"Why do you think that--" Kaiser started when, to his great surprise, the giant screen displayed him as the first fighter.
"How did you know?" Yoko exclaimed, surprised.
"Well, it's quite obvious. Today's class was about racial transformations. The fighters weren't entirely chosen at random, contrary to what the magical system might suggest. Each fighter was capable of transforming, the purpose of these fights being to see the first transformation of each race," he explained while the system was still looking for Kaiser's opponent.
"So we've seen Keldo's Base Gear mode, the Elves' Enchantys, Areyos's Crescent Moon, the Devas' Ketsurei, and finally, the Aegyls' Path of Wind," Erina added.
"Exactly. Which means the last transformation to see is indeed the Metaryons' Overcharge mode. And knowing that Erina and you are the only Metaryons here who can use this mode, and since Erina's fight was canceled, your participation in the next fight was certain." Areyos concluded. The students around were stunned by such a level of analysis. Areyos is an attentive observer. I had already realized this when he anticipated Erina's action, and here again, he showed perfect analysis.
"I see, it's sometimes tempting to have your brain," Kaiser said, looking both perplexed and amused.
"I think that sometimes too," Yoko confessed. Areyos just smiled at her before looking back at the mana screen, which was still searching for Kaiser's opponent. Finally, the screen displayed the last fighter.
"Incredible... we have the second fighter." The professor said, as enthusiastic as he was shocked. Surprise crossed the looks of absolutely all the students staring at the names of the fighters on the giant magical screen:
[Kaiser Mendoris VS Anos Sendaris]
To be continued...