Damien slept in later than usual. The sun was already brimming with its energy giving life to countless beings. Damien awoke to the clattering of noise everyone was making. The whole academy was in high spirits and no one dared to leave anywhere on the first day of the off week. The duel didn’t start until later in the day, but everyone wanted to have a good seat so they made their way hours ahead.

Damien dressed himself in the usual academy attire and grabbed his sword, Thunder, to strap it on his back. He looked at himself in the mirror to find a slightly different boy since he had arrived. He had grown 5 cm in this past year, but also, there was now a confidence oozing from his posture like he belonged here and he knew it. Besides that, nothing more has changed. He was still lanky, misleading others of the power his body possessed and his hair was still a mess as ever. He tried fixing it to no avail, so he let it be as it alway has been.

He felt somewhat satisfied so he exited his room to find all of his friends huddled together at the front of his door. Behind them were a great deal of students trying to have an interaction with him, negative or positive, but they were stopped by Yuki who everyone feared.

“Hey guys, what’s going on out here?”

Yuki snapped her head back at him.

“Are you stupid, blind, or deaf? Or all three? Nevermind, let's just get out of here.”

She paved the way through the sea of students with their group in tow. No one dared to follow them and they arrived into a private room within StarPoint Arena, without any issues. There was only a couple of hours left and they spent the time talking about random things since there wasn’t anything more they could do at this point. Damien was as relaxed as he could ever be. They shared laughs from their past experiences together and the time came closer.

“Thank you. I appreciate everything you guys are doing. You don’t need to worry anymore. This was my decision and I will follow it through to the best of my abilities.”

He walked them out so he could have the final moments to himself to alter his state of mind. One by one they left, wishing him luck. Cal and Erik hugged him as well. With 10 minutes to spare he meditated until he heard a loud speaker call out his name. Zurat’s came after, followed by cheering that was not present for his name.

Without further ado, Damien left his room and walked along the path that led directly to the arena. He had been here a couple of times before so he could envision this day. The arena was simple by design, boasting a size of 100 square meters. Surrounding it was a stadium of seats, filled with academy students of every Point. Above the arena were the higher-ups of the academy. Only those interested came to watch as duels were a common sight, however those above were of good company. Ari, the Headmaster of StarPoint Academy, the Directors of each Point, one of them being Nora for Point 1, the Keeper and Omarion, the library guardian.

Ari looked at everyone individually and stopped directly on Omarion, looking at him with obvious delight.

“Omarion, it is rare to see you these days. Especially for something as trivial as this. Besides that, are you sure you can focus with your clone here while you are doing your duty?”

“It is no issue, you should know this by now, Headmaster. Anyways, the white-haired kid has been of interest to me recently. I just came out of curiosity.”

“That’s a high assessment if it's coming from you. Who do you think will win?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“It does not matter. The one is meant to win, will win. It is as simple as that.”

“Boring answer as usual, Omarion. Nora, you are one of his professors, what do you think?”

Everyone turned their head to Nora, with the exception of Omarion. She was calm with a trace of a faint smile on her. The Keeper wagged his large tail rapidly creating a strong gust of wind. He got up so he could lay behind Nora as if she were one of his best friends.

“Damien is a bit of a mystery to me. In terms of swordsmanship there is no doubt of his incredible talent, he was raised by Veron. Even still I don’t see that being enough to close the gap with your prodigy. However, there is something Damien is hiding, I can tell this will be a very insightful duel. That is my opinion, Headmaster.”

“Don’t call him my prodigy. I just took him in because I felt bad at the moment and all I gave was a place to be. If he were to be a threat to us I would kill him like I did his mother.”

The room went silent for a moment, as everyone felt the heartless words seep in them. As they contemplated the results, Damien and Zurat were already facing each other on stage. Down below a professor stood between them both, ready to officiate the duel. He then began to announce the rules for all to hear.

“This is a duel you two approved. The winner will be the last man standing in the arena. I’ll warn you now, there will be no intentional fatal hits or you will be punished to the highest degree. That being said, introduce yourselves and wait for my signal.”

Damien and Zurat stared at each other from one end to another. There were no words exchanged between them as Zurat felt it was below him and Damien was too concentrated on the signal to start.

‘I need to react the instant it begins or else it will be my loss if I don’t set the rhythm.’

Damien drew his sword from its sheath on his back. He put himself in a stance where he could launch himself with all of his strength. On the other hand, Zurat stood there uncaringly while he analyzed his sharp pointed nails. The referee looked at each of them and raised his arm for all to see. He swung it down with enough force to create a sound wave bursting through the stadium.

“Begin!”

Not even the second had passed and Damien had already taken the first step. As he went head on as he drew a Wind Rune Spell.

“Wind’s blessing.”

He had gotten so proficient with his Mana control that he did not need to use his finger to form the Rune Spell. Instead he formed it directly with his will. The Rune Spell gave him a significant boost to his speed and he made his sword as light as a feather to garner the most speed he could. Zurat watched as he shot toward him like a bullet and smiled wickedly.

“You think you are the only one to think of something so simple and stupid. Your age is really showing right now.”

Zurat opened his mouth more widely than anyone expected from his small lips. It was as if he ripped apart the skin on his face to achieve an insane appearance. With his razor sharp teeth displayed, he started devouring the Mana aiding Damien. Instantly the green aura encircling Damien’s legs disappeared halfway through his attack. Damien lost a large amount of his momentum and speed, but he had no choice but to continue.

‘It was worth a shot but like Yuki said, I can only rely on my physicality. This clash will let me know if it is helpless.’

Zurat closed his mouth after he saw Damien now forgo all use of his Mana. He smacked his lips loudly like he had eaten a delicious meal.

“Your Mana was the best I’ve ever had. Give me more!”

Obviously Damien declined his request to keep feeding him, and he reached Zurat in combat for the first time. He knew Zurat was prepared for his attack but it did not matter, as he was letting him have a go head on without dodging. Damien swung down to make use of the maximum weight his sword could output. Zurat simply put his hands outwards over his head to block the attack. In the next moment, Damien felt as he reached an unmovable object. His attack connected, transferring all of the power through Zurat’s arms, but he took it easily. The power went down to his legs only causing him to crack and sink into the floor slightly.

‘This is bad! He’s got a hold of my sword and I can’t regain control.’

Damien used all of his strength to pull it out of his hands. Zurat amusingly brought Damien close to his face so he could whisper to him only.

“Even with all of your achievements and uproars you made this year, you are still nothing. I gave you this chance to show you how futile humans truly are.”

Zurat took the chance to sneer in his face before his muscles bulged with superior strength, proceeding to throw Damien across the floor. Damien stumbled viscously alongside his sword. Halfway through, he was able to stabilize the momentum to get to his feet to diffuse the remaining force. Damien ended up at the very edge of the arena with a visible track of where his feet dragged. While Damien looked up to locate Zurat, he found him gone from his original location.

‘Crap!’

Damien felt a premonition of intense danger, worse than he ever felt from the King Fiery Ape, but it was all for naught. His reaction was too slow and he already heard the wind blow behind him.